The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-07-05
PATRIOTIC SERVICE,
Excellent Address Made by the Re
 Stewart NIenns.

There was patriotic service at 8 ed church. The attendance was quite large. Rev. Dr. E. S. Lines, chaplain of the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution, in whose charge the meeting was held, presided. The music was of a patriotic nature. The principal address of the service was made by the Rev. Stewart Means, rec tor of St. Johns Episcopal church. He said in part:
 On this birthday of the republic it is | inevitable that we think of those things which contribute most to her welfare and are most essential to her greatness. Everything which goes to enrich the national life by preserving the noblest memories of the past is of vastly more significance and importance than the | most gigantic mercantile undertaking which was ever conceived. It is the object of the Daughters of the Ameri- can Revolution and other similar socie- ties which have come into existence during the present generation to do just this. In so doing they are asserting that the nation is a reality and that it's
 
 noble. In saving out of the general wreck of time that which is best in the past they declare for the sacredness of history and save us from the barren vulgarity of the mere present. The monotonous lack of contrast in the spir- itual life of to-day and the dead level of mediocrity which to so many seems so admirable, and therefore so near excel lence, will destroy all genuine vitality and reduce us to a mere hive unless from those distant hills where our life began there flow some streams of in- spiration which will make our hearts beat again for the noble dreams of our youth and fix our eyes upon those lofty visions of simplicity, sincerity, noble ness and truth which once seemed so great and so good.
 Is there anything in our national past 1 worth preserving? National vanity in it's boastfulness, without measuring it's real value, says, Much" National in difference and the life which is absorb ed in the present say Nothing" It is not likely that either is right
 A nations worth is measured not by quantity, but by quality. Not by it's men, but by it's great men. Greece with her little band of immortals outweighs all Asia with her crowded millions. The test and standard of greatness, too, must not be national but universal. ] The greatest men of a great nation are always on 6 footing of friendship with the nOblest of the past Frenchmen of the last century were fond of coupling the name of Washington with the greatest names In the ancient Roman republic. The history which lives the longest is that which shows forth the splendor of a man. What we care for in the past is not the achievements of the huge, brute mass, the building of pyramid, the carving of sphynx, but the story of a life that still has power to lift us up. Plutarch is worth all the monuments of antiquity.
 With us the national imagination and the national character are too much en- grossed with things. Material success is regarded as the highest test of great ness. Therefore the finest task for those who love their country is surely to raise the standard of excellence and inspire the imagination with the highest ideals. To do this effectively it is necessary that we pass beyond the range of those l rise above those tendencies which all must admit are some of the most char acteristic of our American life to-day.
 The suggestions and import of such a day as this lie in the fact that the mind is carried away from the material values up to the spiritual estimate of life. It is the thing which lasts which . counts in history The strength of the republic lay in the character of it's founders and these will not be forgot ten. The greatness of the past lay in the greatness of the men.
 - The people Washington led have mul- tiplied thirty-fold and the thin strip of land has swept out to the boundless west and includes a continent But in all the magnificent landscape and in all l the vast achievements there is none which bears upon it the high stamp of f greatness which belongs to that stern 5 winter in Valley Forge. To keep the } high purpose and heroic spirit of the v past burning bright and clear is nc common task. To treasure up the mo- 7 ble memories of our forefathers is a , sacred duty. To the women of Rome 7 was given the holy office of preserving the sacred fire which was the symbo of the national life and the eternity of the republic. It is the women of the commonwealth who make the greatest sacrifice on the altar of the republic The doing of great deeds seems easy when there are those who can discern the greatness and cherish it as theil dearest treasure. The preservation o1 this heroic tradition has ever been the high office of the women of the nation
 We are making history to-day. The sons of the republic are shedding theil blood under the burning sun of the south and in the far off islands of the sea. Shall this blood be shed for the mere vulgar dream of material ad. vancement and greedy schemes of con. quest, or shall the closing years of this country be marked by the same sense of justice, love of righteousness, unsel- fishness and peace which stamped the great struggle of the people of this land generation ago?
 With clean hands and pure hear