It was not so with Daniel Webster. He had a fund of reserved power which great occasions never drew upon in vain. It might be that in an ordinary case in court, where his feelings were not aroused, and no fitting demand made upon his great abilities, he would disappoint the expectations of those who supposed that he must always be eloquent3. I heard a gentleman say once, “Oh, I heard Mr. Webster speak once, and his speech was commonplace enough.”
“On what occasion?”
“In court.”
“What was the case?”
“Oh, I don’t remember—some mercantile case.”
It would certainly be unreasonable4 to expect any man to invest dry commercial details with eloquence5. Certainly a lawyer always ambitious in his rhetoric6 would hardly commend himself to a sound, sensible client.
But Mr. Webster always rose to the level of a great occasion. His occasional speeches were always carefully prepared and finished, and there is not one of them but will live. I now have to call special attention to the address delivered at the laying of the corner-stone of Bunker Hill Monument, at Charlestown, June 17, 1825. It was an occasion from which he could not help drawing inspiration. His father, now dead, whom he had loved and revered8 as few sons love and revere7 their parents, had been a participant, not indeed in the battle which the granite9 shaft10 was to commemorate11, but in the struggle which the colonists12 waged for liberty. It may well be imagined that Mr. Webster gazed with no common emotion at the veterans who were present to hear their patriotism13 celebrated14. Though the passages addressed to them—in part at least—are familiar to many of my readers, I will nevertheless quote them here. Apart from their subject they will never be forgotten by Americans.
“Venerable men! you have come down to us from a former generation. Heaven has bounteously15 lengthened16 out your lives that you might behold17 this joyous18 day. You are now where you stood fifty years ago, this very hour, with your brothers and your neighbors, shoulder to shoulder in the strife19 of your country. Behold how altered! The same heavens are indeed over your heads; the same ocean rolls at your feet; but all else how changed! You hear now no roar of hostile cannon20, you see now no mixed volumes of smoke and flame rising from burning Charlestown. The ground strewed21 with the dead and the dying; the impetuous charge; the steady and successful repulse22; the loud call to repeated assault; the summoning of all that is manly23 to repeated resistance; a thousand bosoms25 freely and fearlessly bared in an instant to whatever of terror there may be in war and death—all these you have witnessed, but you witness them no more.
“All is peace. The heights of yonder metropolis26, its towers and roofs, which you then saw filled with wives and children and countrymen in distress27 and terror, and looking with unutterable emotions for the issue of the combat, have presented you to-day with the sight of its whole happy population come out to welcome and greet you with an universal jubilee28. Yonder proud ships, by a felicity of position appropriately lying at the foot of this mound29, and seeming fondly to cling around it, are not means of annoyance30 to you, but your country’s own means of distinction and defense31. All is peace, and God has granted you this sight of your country’s happiness ere you slumber32 forever in the grave; he has allowed you to behold and to partake the reward of your patriotic33 toils34; and he has allowed us, your sons and countrymen, to meet you here, and in the name of the present generation, in the name of your country, in the name of liberty, to thank you!
“But, alas35! you are not all here! Time and the sword have thinned your ranks. Prescott, Putnam, Stark36, Brooks37, Read, Pomeroy, Bridge! our eyes seek for you in vain amid this broken band. You are gathered to your fathers, and live only to your country in her grateful remembrance and your own bright example. But let us not too much grieve that you have met the common fate of men. You lived at least long enough to know that your work had been nobly and successfully accomplished38. You lived to see your country’s independence established, and to sheathe39 your swords from war. On the light of liberty you saw arise the light of peace, like
‘another morn,
Risen on mid-noon;’
and the sky on which you closed your eyes was cloudless.”
After a tribute to General Warren ‘the first great martyr40 in this great cause,’ Mr. Webster proceeds:
“Veterans, you are the remnants of many a well-fought field. You bring with you marks of honor from Trenton and Monmouth, from Yorktown, Camden,. Bennington and Saratoga. Veterans of half a century, when in your youthful days you put everything at hazard in your country’s cause, good as that cause was, and sanguine41 as youth is, still your fondest hopes did not stretch onward42 to an hour like this. At a period to which you could not reasonably have expected to arrive, at a moment of national prosperity such as you could never have foreseen, you are now met here to enjoy the fellowship of old soldiers, and to receive the overflowings of an universal gratitude43.
“But your agitated44 countenances45 and your heaving breasts inform me that even this is not an unmixed joy. I perceive that a tumult46 of contending feelings rushes upon you. The images of the dead, as well as the persons of the living, throng47 to your embraces. The scene overwhelms you, and I turn from it. May the Father of all mercies smile upon your declining years and bless them! And when you shall here have exchanged your embraces, when you shall once more have pressed the hands which have been so often extended to give succor48 in adversity, or grasped in the exultation49 of victory, then look abroad into this lovely land which your young valor50 defended, and mark the happiness with which it is filled; yea, look abroad into the whole earth, and see what a name you have contributed to give your country, and what a praise you have added to freedom, and then rejoice in the sympathy and gratitude which beam upon your last days from the improved condition of mankind!”
Not only were there war-scarred veterans present to listen entranced to the glowing periods of the inspired orator51, but there was an eminent52 friend of America, a son of France, General Lafayette, who sat in a conspicuous53 seat and attracted the notice of all. To him the orator addressed himself in a manner no less impressive.
“Fortunate, fortunate man! with what measure of devotion will you not thank God for the circumstances of your extraordinary life! You are connected with both hemispheres, and with two generations. Heaven saw fit to ordain54 that the electric spark of liberty should be conducted, through you, from the New World to the Old; and we, who are now here to perform this duty of patriotism, have all of us long ago received it in charge from our fathers to cherish your name and your virtues55. You will account it an instance of your good fortune, sir, that you crossed the seas to visit us at a time which enables you to be present at this solemnity. You now behold the field, the renown56 of which reached you in the heart of France, and caused a thrill in your ardent57 bosom24; you see the lines of the little redoubt thrown up by the incredible diligence of Prescott, defended to the last extremity58 by his lion-hearted valor, and within which the corner-stone of our monument has now taken its position. You see where Warren fell, and where Parker, Gardner, McCleary, Moore and other early patriots59 fell with him. Those who survived that day, and whose lives have been prolonged to the present hour, are now around you. Some of them you have known in the trying scenes of the war. Behold! They now stretch forth60 their feeble arms to embrace you. Behold! They raise their trembling voices to invoke61 the blessing62 of God on you and yours forever.”
I should like to increase my quotations63, but space will not permit. I have quoted enough to give my young readers an idea of this masterly address. When next they visit the hill where the monument stands complete, let them try to picture to themselves how it looked on that occasion when, from the platform where he stood Mr. Webster, with his clarion64 voice, facing the thousands who were seated before him on the rising hillside, and the other thousands who stood at the summit, spoke65 these eloquent words. Let them imagine the veteran soldiers, and the white-haired and venerable Lafayette, and they can better understand the effect which this address made on the eager and entranced listeners. They will not wonder at the tears which gathered in the eyes of the old soldiers as they bowed their heads to conceal66 their emotions. Surely there was no other man in America who could so admirably have improved the occasion.
点击收听单词发音
1 oration | |
n.演说,致辞,叙述法 | |
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2 attain | |
vt.达到,获得,完成 | |
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3 eloquent | |
adj.雄辩的,口才流利的;明白显示出的 | |
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4 unreasonable | |
adj.不讲道理的,不合情理的,过度的 | |
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5 eloquence | |
n.雄辩;口才,修辞 | |
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6 rhetoric | |
n.修辞学,浮夸之言语 | |
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7 revere | |
vt.尊崇,崇敬,敬畏 | |
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8 revered | |
v.崇敬,尊崇,敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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9 granite | |
adj.花岗岩,花岗石 | |
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10 shaft | |
n.(工具的)柄,杆状物 | |
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11 commemorate | |
vt.纪念,庆祝 | |
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12 colonists | |
n.殖民地开拓者,移民,殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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13 patriotism | |
n.爱国精神,爱国心,爱国主义 | |
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14 celebrated | |
adj.有名的,声誉卓著的 | |
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15 bounteously | |
adv.慷慨地,丰富地 | |
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16 lengthened | |
(时间或空间)延长,伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
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18 joyous | |
adj.充满快乐的;令人高兴的 | |
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19 strife | |
n.争吵,冲突,倾轧,竞争 | |
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20 cannon | |
n.大炮,火炮;飞机上的机关炮 | |
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21 strewed | |
v.撒在…上( strew的过去式和过去分词 );散落于;点缀;撒满 | |
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22 repulse | |
n.击退,拒绝;vt.逐退,击退,拒绝 | |
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23 manly | |
adj.有男子气概的;adv.男子般地,果断地 | |
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24 bosom | |
n.胸,胸部;胸怀;内心;adj.亲密的 | |
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25 bosoms | |
胸部( bosom的名词复数 ); 胸怀; 女衣胸部(或胸襟); 和爱护自己的人在一起的情形 | |
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26 metropolis | |
n.首府;大城市 | |
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27 distress | |
n.苦恼,痛苦,不舒适;不幸;vt.使悲痛 | |
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28 jubilee | |
n.周年纪念;欢乐 | |
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29 mound | |
n.土墩,堤,小山;v.筑堤,用土堆防卫 | |
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30 annoyance | |
n.恼怒,生气,烦恼 | |
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31 defense | |
n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩 | |
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32 slumber | |
n.睡眠,沉睡状态 | |
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33 patriotic | |
adj.爱国的,有爱国心的 | |
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34 toils | |
网 | |
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35 alas | |
int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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36 stark | |
adj.荒凉的;严酷的;完全的;adv.完全地 | |
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37 brooks | |
n.小溪( brook的名词复数 ) | |
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38 accomplished | |
adj.有才艺的;有造诣的;达到了的 | |
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39 sheathe | |
v.(将刀剑)插入鞘;包,覆盖 | |
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40 martyr | |
n.烈士,殉难者;vt.杀害,折磨,牺牲 | |
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41 sanguine | |
adj.充满希望的,乐观的,血红色的 | |
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42 onward | |
adj.向前的,前进的;adv.向前,前进,在先 | |
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43 gratitude | |
adj.感激,感谢 | |
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44 agitated | |
adj.被鼓动的,不安的 | |
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45 countenances | |
n.面容( countenance的名词复数 );表情;镇静;道义支持 | |
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46 tumult | |
n.喧哗;激动,混乱;吵闹 | |
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47 throng | |
n.人群,群众;v.拥挤,群集 | |
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48 succor | |
n.援助,帮助;v.给予帮助 | |
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49 exultation | |
n.狂喜,得意 | |
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50 valor | |
n.勇气,英勇 | |
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51 orator | |
n.演说者,演讲者,雄辩家 | |
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52 eminent | |
adj.显赫的,杰出的,有名的,优良的 | |
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53 conspicuous | |
adj.明眼的,惹人注目的;炫耀的,摆阔气的 | |
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54 ordain | |
vi.颁发命令;vt.命令,授以圣职,注定,任命 | |
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55 virtues | |
美德( virtue的名词复数 ); 德行; 优点; 长处 | |
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56 renown | |
n.声誉,名望 | |
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57 ardent | |
adj.热情的,热烈的,强烈的,烈性的 | |
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58 extremity | |
n.末端,尽头;尽力;终极;极度 | |
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59 patriots | |
爱国者,爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 ) | |
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60 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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61 invoke | |
v.求助于(神、法律);恳求,乞求 | |
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62 blessing | |
n.祈神赐福;祷告;祝福,祝愿 | |
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63 quotations | |
n.引用( quotation的名词复数 );[商业]行情(报告);(货物或股票的)市价;时价 | |
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64 clarion | |
n.尖音小号声;尖音小号 | |
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65 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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66 conceal | |
v.隐藏,隐瞒,隐蔽 | |
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