Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1901-12-06

AAllh Nlldl ulSO Is Il Spurious DalTlOtlSm
which closes its eyes to its country S
faults and blindly believes that it is infal-
lible and can never go astray. There is an
egotism of the individual which makes
! him obvious to his own mperfections
and insufferable to his fellow-men.
There is also civic egotism which often
seizes upon many a self-styled patriot
and paralyzes his critical faculties, ex-
aggerates his ideas of national virtue.
and dulls his vision to the mistakes of
party or country. We have seen him in
private and public affairs. We have seen
the Boosting, provincial American. We
have seen the unteachable partisan We
have seen the man who loved his country
so unwisely as to gloss her sins and ig-
more her follies.
But the love that encourages wrong by
silence, the love that browns the voice
of conscience in patriotic noise, or the
love that forgets it's five senses when
satan moves to attack, is a love in such
poor estate that ii has lost the power of
salvation and has become a menace and
a danger. My country, right or wrong?'
Yes and no! No, IL you mean unprotcst-
ing acquescence in her unrighteousness
Yes. If you mean the honest recognition
of her error and then standing by her
In the hour of humiliation to uplift and
to save.
Holding the aegis of protection over ma
tional crimes is not patriotism APP
proving in the body polite what You
would condemn in a private citizen
is not patriotism Standing silently
on guard, while politicians are re-
moving the decalog and the Sermon
on the Mount from our code of public
ethics is not patriotism. The vanity of
bigness, the obstinancy Of partsanshlp,
the buster of freedom, the fanaticism
that blurs the distinctions of right and
wrong, are not patriotic qualities Let us
call them by any other name, but never
by the honorable and sacred name of
patriotism
Patriotism asks, in the first place, that
men shall make themselves intelligent
enough to know the reasons for the po-
littcal convictions they hold. Knowledge
alone certainly cannot save a people from
political sins. But it is the light that
shows the way. And here in our own
country, where the popular will is the
ultimate seat of authority, public opinion
must be based on a knowledge of our
institutions, on an understanding of what
the government is, and what the flag
stands for or else the sentiment of pat
riotism becomes an irresponsible force
ever source of danger, ever at the
mercy of the demagog and the party boss
1t is not enough that a man be born on
the soil, or that he take the oath of al
legiance. or that he follow in the political
footsteps Of his father to perpetuate the
family loyalty. Patriotism asks more and
requires more. 1t demands that man
shall know why, shall be capable of in
dependent judgment, shall understand
the duties of citizenship, and shall intel
ligenty enjoy and nationally maintain
the rights and liberties which he accepts
at his countrys hands.
Patriotism then asks for personal sacri-
fice-asks that man shall feel and act
as If he were for the country and not
alone the country for him. The loyal cit
izen is expected to be loyal not only in
great emergencies, but also in the com
monplace obligations of civil life: not only
to keep the law and pay his taxes. but
also to take his full share of public work
and responsibility; and to withhold that
service is to weaken the strength of good
government is to encourage dishonesty
and wrong, is to confess himself indiffer-
ent to the welfare of the very power that
makes possible his prosperity and free
dom
But II patriotism calls for activity and
sacrifice, 1t calls also for courage There
Is courage of the martyr at the stake
of the soldier on the field of battle. But
there is a courage quite as noble and
sublime which dares to rebuke wrong in
high places and to stand erect in con-
demnation of national and party sins.
There are malcontents and grumblers
There are pessimists who look through
hopeless eyes There are men who stand
apart from the procession to scoff and to
criticise. They are Joined to their idols,
Let them alone. Verify, they nave their
reward But there is another class of
men who march with the column, who
love their country, and who are so devot-
ed to her good that, when they think they
see the false step or the coming danger
or the glaring wrong, they give the alarm
or speak the word of righteous indigna-
ton. These are the men of patriotic
courage. These are the men whose agi-
tation cleanses public life, and whose
sentinel cry terrifies the doors of evil.
No country is safe without them. No
time or age can be so secure as not to
need them. The world would still be
in its cradle If there had not been in every
generation somebody to challenge wrong
and smite it in the forehead.
Finally, patriotism asks of the citizen
a personal character that is manly and
clean and above reproach. Does that
sound remote from the theme? Shall we
say that a mans moral life his private
ideals, his business and professional be-
haVior, have nothing to do with his love
for country and his official service? Nay,
let us rather declare that they are linked
together by the iron logic of cause and
erect, ana tnat no man PATRIOTISM can
ever be complete until it shines out from
the setting of an honest and upright life.
l know history is starred with the
names of men whose public service
was great and whose personal life was
bad. But while we sing their heroic
work, we mourn their private meanness.
Our sorrow is the argument. The regret
we feel, the shame we suffer, the wish we
hold that they might have been nobler,
show how incomplete their example of
patriotism is unsupported by blameless
character.
Behind all glorious deeds, behind all
pomp and power and public worth, is the
man himself; and If he be untrue as a
man, the work he does and Interpolation
he builds and the example he sets are
tainted and damaged with the falseness
of his own inner life. That is the law
If he is unjust to his neighbor, the max
inns of human rights will sound hollow on
his lips. If he is dishonest in business
his call to public honesty will lose its
force. If he is disloyal to the ideals of
manhood, who will believe him
when he talks of patriotism from the
So it is always. The individ-
ual is the unit of the national character.
Back from the nights of power and halls
of legislation comes the responsibility of
itself out in ten thousand fla