The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1895-05-16
PATRIOTISM.

do if he wished. 10 skim llghtly
over the surface. touching here
and there, is all that is possible
to me, and to older and wiser
heads, will be left the task OF pre-
senting this topic in form COM
mensurate with it's magnitude.
1t is generally admitted that
there is no quality III citizen
more desirable than patriotism.
It is upon the love which each
and every member of the COM
monwealth bears to his own coun-
try that the safety, the very life OF
the nation depends. No free ma
ton can exist without it, and
government even as a despotlsm
exists only in constant danger
of foreign aggression. 1t IS IN
that period only when the spirit OF
liberty is coupled with love OF
country, when a man is ready to
die for "the hearth-stone OF his
fathers and the temples of his gods
that any height in national great
ness can be obtained. A nation,
however small in territory and In
population, if each citizen is i'm
bued with a spirit of pride in his
nation, and if the thoughts OF his
own safety give place to thoughts
of the safety Of his own country,
is far more powerful than any ma
ton however large in which ava
rice has Slapped the strength OF
patriotic sentiment.
Within our own country many
projects are on foot for the pur-
pose of keeping alive patriotic
sentiment. There is nothing more
laudable than such an effort. In
this era of partisan conflict, when
members Of one party look askance
at those of another, such instruc-
ton is necessary. Without COM
mon love of country, tie which
binds tighter than any other, we
should soon find ourselves divided
into two hostile camps each doing
it's best in order to pave the way
for an American Caesar.
In seeking to instill into the
minds of the people love Of coun-
try, the frststephas been to instruct
the young. To try to bring back
the old, who have gone astray,
would be a sheer waste Of time.
1t is the young growth which must
be secured, and if the old is lost
beyond recovery, the harm is slight
Soon they pass off the stage OF lite
and others take their places. The
attempt should be to give rise to a
lofty and true patriotism. not 6
mere flag sentiment. The young
should not be taught to love the
flag first but to comprehend thai
which the flag represents; the res
will follow. To one understanding
the suffering, the noble self-sacri
fcing, the grand struggles agains
oppression for which the banner
of stars and stripes is an emblem
cannot but hold them sacred. TX
him, it contains memory OF
glorious past. Every one Of tn
fourty-four stars stands as a sigl
of it's present glory just as ever,
one of the thirteen red and whit
stripes is representative of the pas
grandeur.
There is one pernicious influ
t>n II
namely, the feeling of sectional
ism. The late civil war has mum
bered among its disadvantages tn
fact that it has given birth to
large class of sectional patriot;
Gases of the most bitter and il
tense hatred of the South hay
come under the eye OF the write
and he doubts not, that IN til
South, there are cases equally baC
He has seen men who never saw
rebel and who never volunteers
their services to the nation. WI
possess a hatred for the South whlc
cannot be accounted for eXce]
by the fact that the Almighty,
making them, by mistake, allottt
them a larger amount than usu
of bile. There are men who new
saw line of battle, who never d
more than cheer the flag in Il
time of war, who staid at hon
and hilled the corn or fed the pig
or at the corner grocery CRITICS.
the management of the war al
submitted plans by which t.
struggle could be closed i'll
single campaign! And their ze
and hatred was never lessened
meeting face to face the bra
men on the other side, fighting
rbo+ +bov oOpCida rad riUbt The