heaven's name this haste? You
have time enough. No enemy threatens you. No volcano will rise from
beneath you. Ages and ages lie before you. Why sacrifice the present to
the future, fancying that you will be happier when your fields teem with
wealth and your cities with people? In Europe we have cities wealthier
and more populous than yours, and we are not happy. You dream of your
posterity; but your posterity will look back to yours as the golden age,
and envy those who first burst into this silent, splendid nature, who
first lifted up their axes upon these tall trees, and lined these waters
with busy wharves. Why, then, seek to complete in a few decades what
the other nations of the world took thousands of years over in the older
continents? Why do rudely and ill things which need to be done well,
seeing that the welfare of your descendants may turn upon them? Why, in
your hurry to subdue and utilize nature, squander her splendid gifts?
Why allow the noxious weeds of Eastern politics to take root in your new
soil, when by a little effort you might keep it pure? Why hasten the
advent of that threatening day when the vacant spaces of the continent
shall all have been filled, and the poverty or discontent of the older
States shall find no outlet? You have opportunities such as mankind has
never had before, and may never have again. Your work is great and
noble; it is done for a future longer and vaster than our conceptions
can embrace. Why not make its outlines and beginnings worthy of these
destinies, the thought of which gilds your hopes and elevates your
purposes?"

[Illustration: VIEW OF THE CONVENT OF SANTA MARIA DE LA RABIDA (HUELVA),
SPAIN, WHERE COLUMBUS TOOK REFUGE.

This convent has been restored and preserved as a National Museum since
1846.

(See pages 17 and 275.)]

AMERICA'S UNPRECEDENTED GROWTH.

EDMUND BURKE, an illustrious orator, statesman, and philanthropist.
Born in Dublin, 1730; died, July 9, 1797. To Burke's eternal credit
and renown be it said, that, had his advice and counsels been
listened to, the causes which produced the American Revolution
would have been removed.

I can not prevail on myself to hurry over this great consideration--the
value of America to England. It is good for us to be here. We stand
where we have an immense view of what is, and what is past. Clouds,
indeed, and darkness, rest upon the future. Let us, however, before we
descend from this n