Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1865-11-17
{. DICKERsoN,
County Supt.

Ak EssAY.-The following composition
was forwarded us by William c. Rifle. under
date of St. Francis College, Loretta, Cam.
bria county, Penn'a., Nov. II, 1865 We
recommend it to his many associates and &C.
quaintances here. He fully demonstrated
his love Of country by three years hard ser
vice in the Southern States, endeavoring to
crash the rebellion:
Love Of country is one of the noblest teel-
ings that animates the heart of man. It's
feeling thai should be cherished by every one.
And dead must be the soul Of man whose
heart has never beat with pride when he reads
the history of his country With feeling of
pride the native of this country says, am an
American. Look at the present condition of
America and see what love Of country has
done. A few years ago very little Was known
Of America, but now she stands foremost in
history. No country can show a nobler his
tory than this; and what has done it, an
swer, love of country-that love that anima-
ted the hearts of men like Washington, Ad.
ans, Jefferson, and host of others, to do
and dare what they did What kept up the
spirits of his noble sons at Valley Forge, and
in fact throughout the whole of that dark
period known as the Revolution II was
that love that helped them to battle for free
dom and justice. IF they had not felt that
feeling, to-day America would be groaning
beneath the iron rule of England. But, thank
God, we are to-day free and independent
nation, enjoying liberty as no other nation
does. But every rule has its exceptions, and
this one is not exempt. We have men in our
midst who have not one spark of patriotism;
men who have never felt that noble senti-
ment. But dark and narrow is the soul of
that man who is dead to all the noble impulses
Of the soul. / can compare him TO nothing
but the miser whose God is gold Arnold,
the traitor was man Of that class, and what
did he gain by it? Nothing but the abhor-
renee of all men; friends and enemies desert
ed him. History tells us that he died in a
garret in London, despised by ALL Judas
and Arnold were alike: one sold his God, the
other his countrr; and / am sorry to say that
We have men of that class to-day, but they
win gO down to their graves unhonored and
unwept.
Love of country is not a momentary feel
ing; an impulse of the moment; but, as last
ing as life. fit was an impulse of the mo-
ment, what would be gained by it. Go to his
tory and see the many examples of its lasting
character. When we are distance from
home, in a foreign land, then we feel the
force of the instinct by which we are attached
to it. When man is far away from home,
no tender assiduities of friends, no wellknown
voice, no wife, or sister, or mother to sooth
his sorrows or close his eyes in death, and
none but strangers surround him, then does
the love of country prove itself We are
asked what ties bind us to our native land.
We may have some difficulty TO answer this at
first, but finally your answer viii come,
my love for my country. No matter what
circumstances you are placed in your thought
will instinetively go back to the land in which
you lived and loved, What sustained the
Union cause during the late war? Ask the
soldier or the sailor and he viii answer-the
love of country. But now the war is ended
and peace reigus throughout the land. Yet
that spirit which filed the hearts of the son
ef freedom sill remains, and shall, while
America remains. And may the same noble
feeling be transmitted to generations yet un-
born and may they like their ancestors, strike
Tor God, their country and liberty.
'Breathes there a man with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own my native land?
Whose heart has ne er within him burned,
As his footsteps he hath turned
From wandering on a foreign strand?
If such there breathe, mark him well
For him no minstrel raptures SWELL