My Native Land
By Sir Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832): A Scotch poet and novelist. "Marmion," "The Lady of the Lake," and "The Lay of the Last Minstrel" are considered the best of his poems; and of his many novels probably "Ivanhoe" and "Kenilworth" are most read. Children enjoy "The Tales of a Grandfather," stories from Scottish history written for his own little grandson.
This selection is from "The Lay of the Last Minstrel."
1. Breathes there the man with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
"This is my own, my native land!"
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned,
As home his footsteps he hath turned
From wandering on a foreign strand?
2. If such there breathe, go, mark him well!
For him no minstrel raptures swell.
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim—
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentered all in self,
Living shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.
Strănd: shore. Pĕlf: money; riches. Cŏn çĕn´tẽred: concentrated; fixed.
Hunting the Grizzly[1]
By Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt (1858 ——): The twenty-sixth President of the United States. He was made Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1897, and the next year resigned to organize with Dr. Leonard Wood the First U. S. Cavalry Volunteers, popularly called Roosevelt's Rough Riders. The regiment distinguished itself in action in Cuba, and Roosevelt was made colonel for gallantry in the battle of La Quasina. In 1898 he was elected Governor of New York, and in 1900 Vice-President. On the death of President McKinley, September 14, 1901, he became President. He has done much big game shooting in the West, and is the author of a number of books, among which are "The Winning of the West" and "The Life of Gouverneur Morris."
[1] From "Hunting Trips of a Ranchman," published by Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons.