ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1865, BY

JOHN D. PHILBRICK,

IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE

OF THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS.

RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE:

STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY

H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY.


PREFACE.

The design of this book is twofold,--to meet the present demand for new
selections suited to the spirit of the hour, and also to furnish a choice
collection of standard pieces for elocutionary exercises on which time has
set its lasting seal. In the execution of this design no pains have been
spared in selecting and preparing the best pieces, both new and old.

The extracts from recent productions, numbering about one hundred, by more
than fifty different authors, are now for the first time presented in a
Speaker. They are for the most part the eloquent utterances of our best
orators and poets, inspired by the present national crisis, and are
therefore "all compact of the passing hour," breathing "the fine sweet
spirit of nationality,--the nationality of America." They give expression
to the emotions excited, the hopes inspired, and the duties imposed by this