The times., 1896-06-26

and girls 1 am talking to. Any one Of
them may become famous and great,
distinguished and wealthy, if he or she
has natural talent and the genius for
hard work.
"All that may sound commonplace,
but it is only because you have heard it
so often. 1t would not have been SO If
it had not been for the Fourth Of July
and what was done that day. Before
then laws were made for our people
without their consent. They were gov
erned, not by themselves, as we are to-
day, but by strangers in another coun-
| try who were sometimes friendly to
| them and sometimes were not. They
were subject to what was called the di-
vine right of kings, which means that
God in some mysterious way selects
certain men to rule over nations and
keep the people in some sort of condi-
tion of bondage. AS you know, we do
not believe in anything of that kind
| now, and no king or ruler can claim
| obedience from us. We make our own
laws and put our servants in charge of
things to see that those laws are OBJ
| served.
ST am saying all this principally to
the younger children" continued the
young schoolteacher, "but it seems to
me good thing that some of us older
ones should stop and think about it
from time to time, so that we may real
ize how simple it is, and yet how i'm
portant. And the Fourth Of July, which
we are proud to call Independence day,
| is the time of adj times when we should
| do this hocousa that. dav some of
our forefathers took their lives i'll their
hands and signed that declaration OF
human rights which resulted in free
government. They were called traitors,
and in q certain sense they were guilty
of treason, but their treason was glo-
rious loyalty to the human race.
"And now what want the children
to learn from all this is, first, that each
one of them is responsible for the good
government Of this land. AS they grow
up they have the duty of maintaining
the laws of their country. When they
are grown, they will have the response
bility of changing those laws in any
| particular in which those laws are
wrong. 1t is not enough for US to say
that the majority should rule. That is
| perfectly true, but single man or wom-
an who has the support of the Almighty
is in the majority. 1t was only hand
full Of men who signed the Declaration
Of Independence, but it afterward proved
that they were in the majority. And it
has happened in the course of the history
| of our government more than once that
| q few men and women have used their
| influence to change our laws, and by
| continual effort have brought the entire
nation to see that they were right. And
| so, while it is the first duty Of an Amer
lean citizen to obey the laws, it is his
second duty TO see that the laws are
what they ought to be. And that is the
true lesson of Independence day"
'It appears to me, F" said Mr.. Perkins
| to the old minister after the audience
had given three hearty cheers for the
young schoolmaster, THAT was pretty
good sort of speech. have heard lot
that were longer, and 1 have heard a
| good many speakers that made more
noise, but Mr.. Whitney seems to get at
the kernel in the nut. "
~ think it was bully" said little
Peter Perkins, land now understand
why the people ought to make such a
noise on the Fourth. And it does seem
to me as if we ought to make a noise in
our village"
The older ones thought 80, too, and
Some Of the men arranged to fire salute
G0