The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1900-06-07

nation has purged them away and has
not been destroyed by them. The
spells system has been largely modi-
fled. Nearly 100000 offices have been
transferred from the disgraceful poll
tical scramble to the basis of merit.
This is a tremendous reform. 1t is
full of encouragement. There is no
evil that affiicts us to-day which shall
be perpetual. The achievements of
yesterday are the promises for tomor-
| row.
2. History shows us how crises have
been passed.
The real critical period, Mr.. Fiske
assures us, was the time between the
victory of Yorktown and the adoption
of the Constitution. Then, for a
while, it seemed as if all that had been
gained by the war might at last be
lost. But the danger was passed. The
Constitution was adopted, and the ma
tlOn set upon its career under the lead
ership Of Washington. The other
great crisis was our Civil War. Then
came the period of Reconstruction and
! threatened Reputation. But in all
the national prowess was displayed,
the national honor maintained. In
the Scripture promise, the deliverance
from six troubles is the surety for
deliverance from the seventh.
3. History shows us the things of
real importance upon which we must
lay the emphasis to-day.
! a. We have learned from the past
to exalt the Union above the section.
We are One-One nation and one
people. We are one by all the memo
rieS of the past and one by all the
hopes OF the future. We are one by
the trials and struggles in which the
foundations OF our misunderstanding
were laid; one by the purpose of God,
revealed in the course of our great
rivers and mountain ranges, that run
east and west to divide: one by the
verdict of a hundred battle fields where
the attempts at separation lie dead
and doomed forever. North and South
are inseparably bound together. The
interests of one are the interests of
both. The destiny of one is the COM
mon destiny. Divisions must be heal
ed, prejudiceS must die. fraternity
must triumph.
~ Necessity of education for the
VII ?le people.
TIE ballot in the hands of ignorance
and depravity is not a sceptre. 1t is
the torch of an incendiary. 1t is the
| hammer of Thor in the hands of a
blind and crazy giant, dealing destruc-
ton on the right hand and on the left.
Better an absolute despot, backed by a
standing army, than degraded, vul-
gar, and fostering democracy or repub-
lie. Better one tyrant than ten thouS-
4 and!
(3) The maintenance of religious
liberty. ...
Freedom to worship God according
to the dictates of conscience. Free
dom to abstain from worship, if con-
science SO dictate. Church and State
forever distinct and separate. One
church to stand on the same footing
with every church, sol far as the law of
the land is concerned. No dollar of
public funds for any Sectarian purpose
educational or otherwise. No ling
ering rag or remnant of eccleSiaSticiSm
ever to be pinned to the national ban
ner! .......... 49,.
! az The dignity of human nature in
all conditions.
Ridpath, in the closing pages of his
| history tells us: cit is the mission of
the United States to ennoble toll and
honor the tOiler. In other lands, to
labor had been considered the lot of
SerfS and peasants; to gather the fruits
and consume them in luxury and war,
| the business of the great. Since the
medieval times European society has
been organized on the basis of a no
bility and people. To be a nobleman
was to be forever distinguished from
the people; to be one of the people was
to be forever DECLARED from nobility.
Thus has been set on human industry
the stigma OF perpetual disgrace.
Something of this has been transmit
ted to the new civilization of the
West. Let the Odious distinction per-
lsh. 1t is the genius of American in
StitutionS in the fullneSS of time to
wipe the last OpprObriouS stain from
the brow of toll and to crown the
tOiler with the dignity, luStre, and
honor of a full and perfect manhood"
These are the principles that astudy
OF the past shows have made us what
we are; they are the principles to
which we must cling in the years to
come. New occasions will arise new
duties will be laid upon us, new light
will be required But the past can
never be ignored. Surely the more we
study it, the more shall we feel the
impulse to meet the new occasions in
the spirit of those who have gone be-
fore us, and to disharge the new duties
SO as to prepetuate and preserve their
work. To that work we may add. To
that structure we may contribute new
grace and strength. But other foun-
datiOn can no men lay than that is /
laid-laid on the village green at Lex !
ington, laid by the running stream at !,
Concord, laid on the heights of Bunker
Hill, laid in the halls of the Continent
tai Congress, laid in the councils of |
the Constitutional Convention.
One Fourth of July, few years ago,
| stood upon historic ground. Old
Trinity church in New York City
stands at the head of Wall street, on
Broadway. In the churchyard there,
S a monument erected to certain pa
riots WHO during the r evolutionary
War, had been imprisoned in that city
for their patriotism. Graves of the
memorable dead were all around. A
tablet to Montgomery was in the wall