The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1903-09-15
The Fundamental Virtues of Good Citizenship.

"hOSO ODJCCG IL Is throughout lie to SllFk the
duties which life ought to bring. Life can mean
nothing worth meaning, unless it's prime aim is
the doing of duty, the achievement of results
worth achieving. A recent writer has finely said:
after all, the saddest thing that can happen
to a man is to carry no burdens. To be bent
under too great a load is bad; to be crushed by it
Is lamentable; but even in that there are POSSIBLE
ties that are glorious. But to carry no lead at
iall-there is nothing in that. No one seems to ar
rive at any goal really worth reaching in this
world who does not come to it heavy laden"
Surely from our own experience each one of.
us knows that this is true. From the greatest to
the smallest, happiness and usefulness are large
ly found in the same soul, and the joy of life is
won in it's deepest and truest sense only by those
who have not shirked life's burdens. To win sue
cess in the business world, to become a f~rst-class
mechanic, a successful farmer, an able lawyer or
doctor, means that the man has devoted his best
energy and power through long years to the
achievement of his ends. So it is in the life of
the family, upon which in the last analysis the
whole welfare of the nation rests. The man or
woman who as as b~read-winner and home-maker,
or as wife and mother, has done all that he or she
can do, patiently and uncomplainingly is to be
honored; and is to be envied by all those who
HHNC CFN LAHU CC SOOu Cu1G u ~ JIG uG0u
and duty of doing such work. The woman who
has borne, and who has reared as they should be
reared, a family of children, has in the most en-
phatic manner deserved well of the Republic. Her
burden has been heavy, and she has been able
to bear it worthily only by the possession of reso-
luton, of good sense, of conscience, and of I'M
selfshness. But if she has borne it we'll, then to
her shall come the supreme blessing, for in the
words of tho O1dpCt oDA 0rao+oC+ Of bOOlc GHor
children shall rise up and call her blessed; - and
among the benefactors of the land her place must
be with those who have done the best and the
hardest work, whether as Iaw-givers or as soldiers,
whether in. public or in private life.
This is not a soft and easy creed to preach.
1t is a creed willingly learned only by men and
women who, together with the softest virtues,
possess also the stronger; who can do, and dare,
and die at need, but who while life lasts will never
finch from their allotted task. You farmers, and
w~age-workers, and business men of this great
State, of this mighty and wonderful nation, are
gathered together to-day, proud of your State,
and still prouder of your nation, because your
forefathers and predecessors have lived up to just
this creed. You have received from their hands a
great inheritance, and you will leave an even
greater inheritance to your children and your
children's children, provided only that you prac-
tice alike in your private and youE public lives
the strong virtues that have given us as a people
greatness in the past. It is not enough to be
~weIl-meaning and kindly, but weak; neither is it
enough to be strong, unless morality and decency
go hand in hand with strength. We must possess
the qualities which make us dc our duty IN our
homes and among our neighbors and in addition
we must possess the qualities which are indis-
pensable to the makeup of every great and mas
terful nation-the qualities of courage and hardi-
hood. of individual initiative and yet OF power
70 combine for a common end, and above all, the
resolute determination to permit no man and no
L. 80 from tho other nv