he finite and transient
to the infinite and the everlasting, frames to itself from its own
fulness lovelier and sublimer forms than it beholds, discerns the
harmonies between the world within and the world without us, and finds
in every region of the universe types and interpreters of its own deep
mysteries and glorious inspirations. This is the greatness which
belongs to philosophers, and to the master-spirits in poetry and the
fine arts.

Next comes the greatness of action; and by this we mean the sublime
power of conceiving bold and extensive plans; of constructing and
bringing to bear on a mighty object a complicated machinery of means,
energies, and arrangements, and of accomplishing great outward
effects. To this head belongs the greatness of Bonaparte, and that he
possest it we need not prove, and none will be hardy enough to deny. A
man who raised himself from obscurity to a throne, who changed the
face of the world, who made himself felt through powerful and
civilized nations, who sent the terror of his name across seas and
oceans, whose will was pronounced and feared as destiny, whose
donatives were crowns, whose antechamber was thronged by submissive
princes, who broke down the awful barrier of the Alps and made them a
highway, and whose fame was spread beyond the boundaries of
civilization to the steppes of the Cossack, and the deserts of the
Arab; a man who has left this record of himself in history, has taken
out of our hands the question whether he shall be called great. All
must concede to him a sublime power of action, an energy equal to
great effects.

JOHN JAMES AUDUBON

Born in New Orleans In 1780, died in New York in 1857;
educated in France, where he was a pupil of David; failing
to establish himself in business in America, he devoted his
time to the study of birds, making long excursions on foot;
published his "Birds of America" in 1827-30, the price per
copy being $1,000; published his "Ornithological Biography"
in 5 volumes in 1831-39.

WHERE THE MOCKING-BIRD DWELLS[48]

It is where the great magnolia shoots up its majestic trunk, crowned
with evergreen leaves, and decorated with a thousand beautiful
flowers, that perfume the air around; where the forests and fields are
adorned with blossoms of every hue; where the golden orange ornaments
the gardens and groves; where bignonias of various kinds interlace
their climbing stems around the whi