The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-06-24


ton, Identified with its interests and
4 charged with its welfare" Those lofty
words are not only wise and true but
they have deeper meaning than the
mere statement of a general principle
/ They dedicate this college and the stu
dents of this college to that highest
ideal Of citizenship, the true. loyal and
| Intelligent service of the state
Aristotle, in a famous passage, tells
I US that man is, by nature a political
I animal. and pictures the condition OF
/ one who is without state, homeless,
! laWless. friendless, and then adds in a
I figure of pathetic meaning He may
be compared to bird which flies
alone" The social instinct. the desire
/ for partnership, the perception that
all human benefits are sweeter when
shared with others. enters into the very
idea Of patriotic duty Some Of you-1
/ hope all-have read that marvellous
1 story of Edward Everett Hale, which,
once upon a time. made men weep as
think no other book ever did. Tt was
published-who can forget that year Of
/ agony2-in 1868, when the question
whether we We're long to have cOun-
try was pressing hard on all our hearts
! We knew 1t was pure fiction from pc
ginning to end; and yet, it was so true
that those who sat by stricken ire
sides, blessed the hand that wrote it,
and the soldier marching forward to
the foe clutched his musket with a
6rmer hand as he thanked God that he
was not Philip Nolan, The Man With
out Country"
In the hurry Of life, planning, schem-
ing cutting paths in which our ambi-
tiOns may march untrammelled, our
truest sentiments are often Obscured
and sometimes Oblterated. Living
i'm the state protected by the
state. we become insensible Of
the state. Love of country. like every
other passion. has its varying moods.
lit is lulled to rest when the winds blow
fair. and slumbers in the midst of un-
/ seen dangers. But patriotism implies
something more than courage TO meet
an enemy; something more than a
/ readiness to follow the drums. Tt
means these, certainly, but it means,
also, that in calm untroubled times
when all things seem moving to happy
eonsummatiOns, we must study the
stars
History has been teaching. from the
age OF Pericles to ours, that the great
est national perils do not, as rule
come by the sword The reason is that
great emergencies transform the
latent into the active, and wiring heroic
virtues from unherOic days. 1T was not
the gross humOr of Falstaff, but the
deep wisdom OF Shakespeare speaking
through him. that perceived the cank-
ers of q calm world and along peace"
A nation that can withstand the mere
cOrrOsion of quiet times. the dangers
OF prosperity aand or commerce. need
fear little else Through such period
we have been passing; whether safely
or not is another question 1t is more
than 80 years since we gathered the
apple blossoms at AppOmattOxs years
that have taught both north and south
that this nation was worth all it cost
Gentlemen, IS 1t worth less now 5or-
rows we have known that cannot al be
told. but the added years have healed
some wounds which, it once seemed,
[ an ampler region where old contentious
are changed to harmOnies, and the
{ splendcr of q new destiny beams upon
US like the promise Of the dawn.
But now. even as in those unfOrgOt-
ten days when holy purposes famed in
every heart, the duty and the OppOr-
tunity lie close together The saving
oI nations IS not single operation
achieved in the white heat Of a crisis
but continuing process. keeping pace
with the wears. If our current history
seems sOrdid and mean if the romance
/ is gone and all our days are given to
petty aims, the cure, and the only cure.
is to put more and more of the noble
ana generous into Individual character
DO you mourn the decay of civic vir-
tue2 Then, do you confess the decline
of personal honor 1t is a truth from
ever work of regeneration is set for US
as citizens, must always be wrought
primarily upon ourselves What is
naJlOn! II IS but an aggregation of
units welded together by common in
terests and by locality, language, faith
and zinship. But the unit itself, the
Hty-which is the one thing no
human soul can escape-nOves in a
solitary path more sacred than the
Worn ways Of cathedral aisles.' What
sOeVer duty rests upon any man is
solely and indivisibiy his: and in his
own chancery all appeals must ulti-
mately be heard
If our present problems do not shake
and SLarue the judgment, as did those
which came in the hot blasts of civil
conflict, they are, in many ways more
difficult and perplexing- Then we saw
with eyes inumined; now we must solve
by patient effort. and grope, as best we
may, to right conclusions. 1t is many
years since was a student Of philOsO-
ply. but do not the wise men tell US
{ that the will however fU0npTi071G OIL
ways Obeys the strongest mOtive2 All
the phenomena which consciously,
unite in what we call progress. simply
transform ideas into acts. Back of
every brave deed is the moral senti-
ment which inspired it. 1T was not
from the prov Of his storm tossed car
avel that Columbus saw the welcoming
/ shores of the new world.
Long before, bro0ding over his charts,
musiug through silent nights upon the
mystery OF the universe, struggling
with obstinate questiOnings that could
not be put aside, there rose before his
inward vision the sublime conception
of pathway to the orient over the
western sea This was the real discOv-
cry; and all the rest the orderly course
of events that could not fail to follow.
lit is not the eye. but the soul that dis
Germs. and 1t discerns because it Gre
ates. We have been taught to love the
American nag; but to the true Ameri-
can it is precious only as he sees in it
that which is more beautiful than the
blending cOlOrs- Who has not felt the
awe and mystery of holy emblems2
"a hat faith has not been Quickeled by
signs and symbols that represent the
[ eternal things of which human lips
can never rightly speak2 The United
States is greater in what it means
than in what it is Farms and factor
les and ships and armament have, in
deed. their values. but it is not by
these that, we are told a nation is ex-
allied. The census stirs our pride with
its story of wealth and population. but
/ patriotism cannot be nOurished upon
| trsasures while feds weld harVests