Excerpt from An Oration, Delivered by Nathaniel Smith, Esq., At Woodbury, Conn., On the Fourth of July, 1865 Above Washington, the Potomac is a rapid stream, hurrying with restless energy through a rocky channel overhung with precipices. Its eager waters impatient of restraint, whirl and leap, with froth and spray, past buttress and boulder. There is ash and glitter on the rushing sur face, but nowhere does it re ect other than distorted images of the clear blue heavens above. At length, just where first there opens to it an unobstructed view of the Statue of Liberty surmounting the dome of the Capitol, its turbulence subsides - henceforth, the ood moves broad and smooth between banks of almost tropical luxuriance. From that moment when it grows calm beneath the overshadowing presence of Freedom, it steadily bears on its silvery bosom, the re ected glory of the skies, till from between ever receding shores it passes out, into the broad ocean. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."