The record-union., 1899-06-01
| PRESENT DAY THOUGHTS.
By G. Grosvenor Dave.

The Returning Hero.-A few weeks
from now, and the quiet, self-conta1neo'
clear headed man who scored the first
and Last victories of the war with SPAIN
will be here; not with the thought OF
displaying himself to the admiring gaze
of his fellow countrymen, but in order
to seek rest after his labors. Admiral
Dewey is so modest about himself that
I doubt whether he at all gauges the
feeling Of boundless enthusiasm IN a
nation when one Of it's sons does a
dread task we'll and, as far as War will
permit, mercifully. For him, whenever
he appears in public, waves upon waves
of sound will roll back and forth in our
crowded streets. For him the flag that
he has upheld will be flung to the breeze
in honor of his national faith. For
him, as an echo from the lSt of May,
1898, there will be the rending roar
of the cannonS of peace supplanulng be-
cause of his. work, the cannons Of war.
For him there will be honorS shown in
a myriad ways by all who can get him
to accept them. All of these things and
more also will be none too many for
this man who, by his work, has dem
onstrated to us our own strength. has
increased our sense of responsibility,
and thrust us out to where We must
as a nation learn more definite lessons
of self-control in our attitude toward
all other nations How admirable and
also how American was the definite
way in which he went at his task,
sWerving not one hairs breadth either
to the right or to the left. How des-
perate were the odds against him. and
yet how quietly and how correctly he
estimated the strength of those who
We're under him, knowing that, not in
his Individual proves, but in their
GOODNESS and mettle were the real turn
ing points of victory. Amid all the
huzzas that will greet him, and amid
all the extravagant oratory that will be
harder for him to face than an enemy's
gun, let lis sum for our own guidance
all that he has been. He is simply this,
one more in the long list Of those who,
being conscious that the nation, as
nation, was a real thing, and national
honor even more real-though duty
meant danger, did the duty, and did it
well. That is all he is, one who did
what he ought
The Out-of- Sight Hero.-Not every
man can lead Some have to be mere
obedienr machines in every kind of war;
fare, they are bodies for other peoples
brains, moved by other peoples wills.
Here comes in some Of the sha1owness
of cur human nature. We too often
forget the out-of- sight man who makes
all conquest possible to the man who
uses him best 1t is as though we for
got the fact that no monument can
stand except upon out-of-sight founda-
| tions; that there can be no apex to a
pyramid save for the Sloping stones on
the sides and the buried material of
the center. You would find it true, that
in Dewey's great victories there were
men who, just because they were told
to do so, crouched in passage ways near
| important bulk heads, or were buried in
the magazines and toiled strenuousiy
there, or sweated down near the fiery
| furnaces. These did not so much as fire
| a gun nor even see gun fred yet, if
We estimate things in their right way,
| these were doing duties not so notice.
able as Others and yet just as neces-
sary. Therefore, in any estimate as to
| the causes that operated to the de-
struction Of our enemy and to the tri-
umph Of ourselves. we must not forget