assigned to each. Wisely were the altar and the hearth conjoined in
one mighty sentence; for the hearth, too, had its kindred sanctity.
Religion sat down beside it, not in the priestly robes which
decorated and perhaps disguised her at the altar, but arrayed in a
simple matron's garb, and uttering her lessons with the tenderness
of a mother's voice and heart. The holy hearth! If any earthly and
material thing, or rather a divine idea embodied in brick and
mortar, might be supposed to possess the permanence of moral truth,
it was this. All revered it. The man who did not put off his shoes
upon this holy ground would have deemed it pastime to trample upon
the altar. It has been our task to uproot the hearth. What further
reform is left for our children to achieve, unless they overthrow
the altar too? And by what appeal hereafter, when the breath of
hostile armies may mingle with the pure, cold breezes of our
country, shall we attempt to rouse up native valor? Fight for your
hearths? There will be none throughout the land.

FIGHT FOR YOUR STOVES! Not I, in faith. If in such a cause I
strike a blow, it shall be on the invader's part; and Heaven grant
that it may shatter the abomination all to pieces!