Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-23
A HOMILY ON SENTIMENT.
The E1-President Speaks to Students
on Healthy Patriotism.
MICHIGAN LOADED WITH BIG MEN.
More Than One Presidential Possibility
Talks at Detroit.
SPEECHES By LLGER AND MCKINLEY

ence of ex-President Grover Cleveland, ex
Governor Campbell, of Ohio, and othe
prominent Democrats. Fully 1000 stu
dents, noisy with tin horns and their col
1ege yells, greeted the train as it pulled W
to the depot. The hill on one side was Gov
cred with about TO- 600 citizens, less noisy
but just as eager as the students.
When Mr.. Cleveland stepped from the
car he was met by Mayor Doty, of Ann
Arbor, and the Aldermen of the city. The
Mayor bore leather case inclosing an en-
bossed silver casket, which contained &
document certifying that the freedom of the
city was given tc Mr.. Cleveland. This he
presented to the ex-President in a neat lit
tie speech. In response Mr.. Cleveland ex
pressed his thanks
The ex-President was then received bv
President Angel and the procession pro-
ceeded to the City Hall and dispersed for
lunch. Mr.. Cleveland addressed the students
in University Hall at p. NJ. on "Senti.
ment in Our National Life. " The following
are Characteristic extracts from his speech:
His Opening Tribute to Washington.
Among the few holidays which the rush
surely no one of a secular character is so
suggestive and impressive as the day we
celebrate on this occasion. We not only
commemorate the birth of the greatest
American who ever lived, but we recall as
insepaIaDly connected with his career, all
the events and incidents which led up to the
establishment of free institutions in this
land of ours, and eliminated in the erection
of our wondrous nation.
Washington had more to do with the
formation of the Constitution than our en-
thusiasm for other phases of the great work
he did for his country usually makes prom
inent. He fought the battles which cleared
the way for it. He best knew the need of
consolidating under one government tine
colonies be had made free, and he best knew
without this consolidation, wasting war,
the long and severe privations and suffer
ings his countrymen had undergone and his
own devoted labor in the cause of freedom,
were practically in vain. The beginning
OF a public sentiment looking to the for
nation of our nation is traceabie to his ef-
forts. The circular letter he sent to the
Governors of the States, as early as the close
OF the war OF the Revolution, contained the
germ Of the Constitution; and all this was
recognized by his unanimous choice to pre-
side over the convention that framed il.
His spirit was in and through it all.
Scholarship at the Expense of Sentiment.
II 1T be true, as is often claimed, that the
scholar in politics is generally failure, it
may well be due to the fact that during his
formative period, when lasting impressions
are easily received, his intellect alone has
been cultivated 1t the expense of whole
some and wel-regulated septiment.
l speak to-day in advocacy of this senti-
ment. II it is not found in extreme and ex-
elusive mental culture, neither is it found in
the busy marts of trade, nor in the confu-
fusion of bargaining, nor in the mad rush
after we<h. Its home is in the soul and
memory of man. 1t has to do with the
moral sense. 1t reverenceS traditions, it
loves ideas, it cherishes the names and the
deeds of heroes and it worships at the
shrine of patriotism plead for it because
there is sentiment which in some features
is distinctively American, that We should
never allow to languish.
When we are told that we are practical
and common sense people, we are proud of
truth is attributable to the hard work we
have had to do ever since our birth as a ma
tlon. There Is cause to suspect, however,
that another and less credtable reason for
our qualification, arises from feeling that
there is something heroically American in
treating with Indifference or derision all
those things which in our view do not di-
rectly and palpably pertain to what we call
with much satisfaction, practical affairs.
Not Advocating a Weakness
The elements which make up the senti-
ment of people should not be counted as
amiable weaknesses because they are not at
all times noisy and turbulent The gentle.
ness and loveliness OF woman do not cause
US to forget that she can inspire man to
deeds of greatness and heroism; that as wife
she often makes mans career nobler and
grand and that as mother she builds and
fashions IN her sons the strong pillars of a
State. So the sentiment of people which
in peace and contentment decks with flow
ers the temple OF their rule may, in rage and
fury, thunder at its foundations.
Sentiment is the cement which keeps in
place the granite blocks of governmental
power, or the destructive agency whose ex-
plosion heaps in ruins their scattered frag-
ments. None of us can be ignorant OF the
ideas which constitute the sentiment under
lying our national structure. We know they
are a reverent belief in God, a sincere recoC-
milton OF the value and power of moral prin-
clple and those qualities OF heart which
make a noble manhood devotion to unre-
served patriotism, love for mans equality,
unquestioning trust in popular rule, the ex-
action OF civic virtue and honesty, faith in
the saving quality of universal education,
protection of Il Tree and unperverteG ex-
preston OF the popular WILL and an insist
ence upon a strict accountability OF public
officers as servants OF the people.
Washington's Love For His Mother.
/ should be ashamed of my country, if in
further speaking of what Washington has
done for the sentiment of his countrymen
it was necessary to make any excuse for a
erance, as boy and man, for his mother
This filial love is an attribute OF American
manhood, a badge which invites our trust
and confidence, and an indispensable ele
ment of American greatness. man may
compass important enterprises, he may win
the applause of his fellows, he may even do
public service and deserve a measure of
popular approval. but he is not right at
heart and can never be truly great if he for
gets his mother.
In the latest biography OF Washington we
find the following statement concerning his
mother:
doubted, for she retained TO the last q profound
hold upon the revcrentia devotion of her son: and
yet as hc rose steadily to the pinnacle of human
greatness, she could only say that George had
been good boy and she was sure he would do his
duty
- / cannot believe that the American people
will consider themselves called upon to
share the deprecatory feeling of the biog-
Iapher, when he writes that the mother of
W Washington could "Only" say of her SON.
that sne believed he would be faithful to the
highest earthly trusts, because he had been |
good: nor that that they will regard her |
words merely as an amiably tolerated eX- |
preston of a fond mother. If they are true |
to American sentiment, they will recognize |
goodness such as Washingtons is the best |
guaranty for the faithful discharge of public |
duty.
Believes in the Hatchet story.
l will not plead guilty to the charge of |
dwelling upon the little features of a great /
subject. / hope the day will never come |
when American boys cannot know of some
trait or some condition in which they may |
feel that they ought to be or are like Wash
ngton. / am not afraid TO assert that a
multitude of men can be found in every part
Ot our land, respected for their probity and
worth, and most useful to the country and
10 their fellow men, who will confess their
to the story of Washington and
MS hatchet: and many a man has won his
way to honor and fame Notwithstanding
limited school advantages, because he found