The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-12-22

nero1Sm and; no names or heroes WOr-
| thier Of immortality and immortal graf.
| itude than the deeds and the names that
are recalled tonight.
Living, Breathing Heroes.
! Eve may well style the age of the
4 Pilgrims the heroic age of American his
tory. The heroic age of every other peo-
| pie Is wrapped in obscur1ty and fable.
of unreality which charms the fancy Of
| the poet, but perplexes the student whose
atm is truth and accuracy. We know
| but little of the heroes of antiquity, for
| they lived in that shadoWy period Of
prlmeval history when heroes were in
| vested with the vices and virtues of the
| gods Of a pq diane mythology and it is
often a difficult task to separate their
1t is not from the pages of authentic
| records, but from THE tales and tradi-
tons Of the people, crystallized in the
songs OF the Laureate, that we know
we gaze on Arthur as he sits at the
| head Of his tables9round; that we are
/ thrilled by the bravery of Lancelot or
saddened by the sin of Guiniyere.
| 1.-The heroes of our heroic age stand out
clear and distinct upon the theater of
| history. They are actual breathing, hui
man flesh and blood. They lived in an
/ age of printing. presses, diaries and jour
recorded by friend and foe on tablets
| that can never fade. They themselves
| have written the daily doings of their
lives, and neither friendly nor unfriendly
hand can change the record. We of to-
day, know as much about Robinson,
| Brewster, Carver and StandiSh as we do
| about George Washington or Thomas
| Jefferson The age of the Pilgrims then
| ical or obscure. but IN higher and no
bier sense the term may we'll be oppl1ed
| to that era which commenced with thu
| landing on Plymouth Rock.
CTR cla7
| that event is replete with patriotic in
| terest band of men and women, rep
resenting the best brain and blood of
England, and her highest patriotism and
| morality, had fled from their. native land
to practice in an adjoining country those
| rules OF life and faith which they had
| drawn from a study of Revelat ton, ana
! from the light OF grace and prayer. Fear
full that even their foreign asylum might
be denied them, they resolved to go
| forth like the ISraelites of old into far-off
| lands and barbarous countries, bearing
| with them the priceless boon of free
| dom of thought and worship. 1t is diff
| cult for us who live today in the full en-
| jeyment of civil and religious liberty to
! properly estimate the motives and the
| character of the first pioneer in that
| great struggle between king and people
which ended in the establishment Of the
| principles of free and constitutional gov
ernment of which our own constitution
| is the full and perfect flower The men
believed in the doctrines of Christianity
with real and living faith. Their God
! was not the vague and shadowy god Of
| evolution, but He was instead the per-
| sCnal deity of scriptures, ever present,
| omnipotent, all proyident. Their relig-
| ion was not the holiday garment of a
! single day Of the week. but the vesture
, OF their every hour, the inspiration OF
| every act. The salvation of their souls
was not the secondary purpose of this
| earthly life, but to them life was only
| an incident and a transition to an ex-
! 1stence eternal in the realms beyond the
! and seriousness the title of Pilgrims,
| to denote the temporary and fleeing
| character of their sojourn below, the
| everlasting duration Of the existence
| of the church they would fearlessly have
| faced the lions and gladiators of the
| coliseum and chanted the martyrs song
| Of Christian hope ard defiance high above
| the savage roar of the Roman mob.
Men like this reckoned but little that
James I. refused their colony charter
| In MS possessions beyond the sea, and
that his best promise was to treat it with
| North of their Intended destination. they
beheld on that bleak morning PSI years
ago the barren coasts of Cape Cod in
stead OF the green shores Of Virginia,
| but with hearts full of thankfulness to
| the king of kings the men of the COM
pany gathered in the cabin Of the May
| flower and signed a compact embodied
! in the following words:
Their Solemn COmpact.
We solemnly and mutually in the
presence of God and one of another cove
! nant and combine ourselves together into
| a civil body polite, for our better order
ing and preservation ana fuftherance of
/ the ENDS aforesaid and by virtue thereof
to enact, constitute and frame such Just
and equal laws, ordinances acts, constitu-
uons and officers from time to time as
Snail be thought most convenient for the
| general good of the colony. Unto which
we promise all due submission and ODE
dience'
- nave just read, gentlemen the title
deed of every American citizen to the lib
erty which he enjoys today We thank
600 tonight that it was executed in the
cabin of the Mayf1ower, instead of the
palace at Whitehall, and that instead of
| the sign manual Of a Stuart king it bears
| the names of that grim and gallant COM
! pany,1 who on that December day ded1-
Gated this land to freedom and to law for
| all ages to come
We detract nothing from TIE j,re.t claims
| OF otner sections of the country when we
| say that the settlements Of New England
| bear the stamp of an heroic age. The
Pilgrims contended with a jealous king.
! a harsh and rigorous climate and an I'm
| placable savage foe. The smiles of royal
| other colonies, but the story of Plymouth
Salem, New Haven, Connecticut and
| Massachusetts Is a story of priyation.
| suffering and death, an unyielding fight
| against physical and moral oppression.
| We are proud of their material success.
| but we are prouder and more grateful be-
| cause the colonies of New ENGLAND never
| for a single moment relaxed their fight
| for civil freedom The yeomanry of New
| England in all their history have been
| true representatives of that earnest and
| irresistible body OF men, style them as
| you may, Puritans, Independents, Separ-
| atists or Roundheads. who on the battle
fields of Naseby and Marston Moor
! struck down forever the maxims of king
| 1y oppression and erected a new creed
| OF government and citizenship. The coli
| onists of New England had they been on
Enghsh soil would have charged to VIC
| tory with Monk and Cromwell and they
received and perpetuated the principles
| or republican government which were
forever fixed in the British constitution
| by the British revolution. The men of
! New England We're but true to the tradi-
| tons of Plymouth Rock and to all the
| teachings OF their sires when they GATH
cred in battle array at Lexington and
Concord and when in another era they
answered their presidents call for men
when armed rebellion fired upon the
! flag
But who would dare to estimate the
influence for good that the Pilgrims
teaching has eXerted?
A Glorious Commonwealth.
'"The commonwealth of Massachusetts is
their peculiar glory and creation, and