Crittenden press. [volume] (Marion, Ky.) 1879-1907, 1903-08-27
FROM HERO TO TRAITOR I!

e The loss OF his influence an
= power among men caused him I
> take the life of his fellow mar
And thus ending his hope fo
? honor in his own country, h
dreams of a Mexican empire. II
would give his mortal soul, b
would commit high treason, yes
he would sell his country for
price, if he could only regain tina
which be has lost.
Ali, my friends, the real secre
of that life of shame is within
that mortal body! 1t was borr
there; it was fed, and it thriveC
we'll; by and by to burst forth ia
all its fury, and sink a mortal mar
in despair No hero depends upon
Interior circumstances for h i
place in the hearts Of men. Aaron
Burr might have been denounced
yea, in the name of traitor, snathe.
matized by every power; yet had
his life held sacred reasons for &C.
tons, had his soul been true to
Gods mandates as he read them,
all on the strength of Earth and
Heaven could not have done less
than work out for him,the heritage
of clean and glorious name.
Let us be glad of this. Let us
be grateful for a destiny that
shapes the place of the honest
man, rough hew it as we will.
Thank God today when from the
peaceful horizon of thirty-five
years of peace the smoke of sec
tional hate and misunderstanding
has drifted away. Behold, what a
change, what revelation,
Lincoln the depised abolitionist,
mounts to Heaven as the one
friend the South could i'll afford
to lose. Jefferson Davis becomes
an honest president Of an honest
Southern Confederacy So pride,
vanity, egotism, so unamiable and
offensive in private life, are vices
in the conduct of public affairs.
The unfortunate victim of these
passions cannot see beyond the
petty, contemplate circle of his
own personal interests. All his
thoughts are withdrawn from his
country, and concentrated on his
consistency, lis firmness, himself.
But that man absorbed in "ons
sole transporting thought of the
good and glory" of his country,
possesses the high, the exalted, |
he sublime emotions of a patriot
SIN, which scars toward Heaven.
lad rises far above all mean, low |
md selfish things. That patroit- |
SIN which. catching its inspiration |
If the immortal God, and leaving |
It an unreasonable distance below |
III lesser, groyeling, and prompts
o deeds of self-sacrifice, of Valor,
# devotion, and Of death itself"
That is heroism; that is the mob |
est, the sublimest of all beroism.
Then out OF the thought there is
out a step from hero to traitor,
comes the nations anxious cry:
Give Us men!
Strong and stalwart ones:
Men whom highest hope inspires,
Men whom purest honor tires,
Men who trample self beneath them.
Men who make their country wreath
them
As her noble sons,
Worthy Of their sires.
Men who never shame their mothers.
Men who never fail their brothers,
True, however false to Others,
Give Us men. ! say again
Give Us men!
Give Us men!
Men who when the tempest gathers,
Grasp the standard OF their fathers,
In the tnickest Of the fight:
Men who strike for home and altar
LET the coward cringe and falterJ,
God defend the right.
True as truth, though loTn and lonely,
Tender, as the brave are, only:
Men who tired whore saints have trod,
Men for country and for God:
GIVE Us men! | say again,
Give Us such men! II