The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-12-02

great unless a great drama was being
played on some great stage and he got
a part. Nature deals you a hand, and
all she asks is for you to have the sense
to play it. If no hand is dealt to you,
you win no money. II4aughter.1
You must have the opportunity, must
be OF the stage, and some great drama
must be there. Take it in our own coun-
try. The Revolutionary war was
drama, and a few great actors appear
ed; the war of 1872 was another, and
a few appeared; the civil war another.
Where would have been the heroes
whose brOWs we have crowned with
laurel had there been no civil war;
What would have become of Lincoln,
lawyer in country town? What would
have become of Grant? He would have
been covered over with the mantle Of
abs clute obscurity, tucked in at all the
edges. his name never heard of by any
human being not related to him.
(Laughter.)
Now you have got to have the
chance, and you can't create it. heard
a gentleman say here a few moments
ago that this war could have been
averted. That is not true. 1 am not
doubling his veracity, but rather his
philosophy. Nothing ever happened be-
meath the dome of heaven that could
have been avoided. Everything that is
possible happens. That may not suit
all the creeds, but it is true. Iaugh-
ter.) And everything that is possible
will continue to happen. The war could
not have been averted, and the thing
that makes me glad and proud is that
it was not averted. (Applause.) I viii
tell you why. 1t was the first war in
the history of this world that was
WageG unselfishly for the good OF 9TH
ers: the first war. Almost anybody VIII
fight for himself; great many people
will fight for their country, their fellow
men, their fellow citizens; but it re-
quires something besides courage 10
fight for the rights of aliens; it requires
not only courage, but principle and the
q WA roH
to compel Spain to take her bloody
hands from the throat of Cuba. That is
exactly what it was waged for. An
other great drama was put upon the
boards, another play was advertised
ard the actors had their opportunity.
Had there been no such war many of
the actors we never would have heard
of. (Applause.)
But the thing is to take advantage
of the occasion when it arrives. In this
war we added to the greatness and the
glory of our history. That is another
thing that we all fell heirs to-the his
tory of our people, the history of our
nation. We fell heirs to all the great
and grand things that had been ac-
cOmplished, to all the great deeds, to
the splendid achievements either in the
realm of mind or on the field of bat
tie. (Applause.)
Then there was another great dra-
ma The first thing we knew a man in
the far Pacific, a gentleman from Yer
mont, sailed one May morning into the
bay OF Manila, and the next news was
that the Spanish fleet had been beach
ed, burned, destroyed, and nothing had
happened to him. (Applause). I have
read a little history, not much, and a
good deal that I have read was not
ture. I have read something of our
own navy, not much. 1 recollect when
was boy my hero was Paul Jones
he covered the ocean-and afterward
knew of Hull and Perry and Decatur
and cambridge and a good many 9TH
ers that I don't remember now. And
then came the civil war, and I remem-
Der little about F'arragut, a great ad-
miral, as great as ever trod deck, in
my judgment. And have also read
about the admiraIs and the sailors over
the world. knew something of Drake,
and have read the life of Nelson and
| several other sea logs; but when I gof
the news from Manila I said: There
Is the most wonderful victory ever won