The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-06-22

ty was most splendid. But with man 1 like Washington or Lincoln, who
 worked for others and not for himself, you will find in each stage of his ca reer a growth of mind and heart which
 made his followers love him more and
 which makes history yield him larger need of admiration. The successes of Napoleon left him each year smaller, The failures of Washington or Lincoln l left them larger.
 l In the verdict of history the question
 whether man possessed this uuselfish- ness counts for more than any peculiar i ities of his intellect or character, or Ihan any arguments as to the rightful- ness of the cause he advocated. Never
 were there two men more utterly and radically different in character, in in-
 tellect and in position, than the great
 civil war leaders, Grant and Lee. But
 as we are passing somewhat from the 1 heat of passion and narrowness of Vii
 sion engendered by war, we see that the dominant trait of each of these men
 was that he counted his cause for eve
 rything and himself for nothing. It
 was this trait which gave them their greatest power as commanders of their
 respective armies, and which distin- guished them from many other gene
 rals, perhaps equally able, in securing
 them a common tribute of personal re- | spect from the children of friend and foe. Nor is it in war alone that the
 power of unselfshness to make the man comes conspicuously to the front. In every line of lifework, whether com
 mercial or political. professional or
 charitable, we see and feel the distinc-
 tion between the man who is looking
 out for himself and the man who for gets himself in looking out for others.
 We suspect the man of the former type,
 even when he is doing things which
 seem desirable. We honor the man of the latter type, even when we regard his methods as mistaken and his aims
 as chimerical.
 | But really unselfish action in peace
 or war does something more than make
 a man himself great. It helps others to
 be like him. Where the leader is taint- ed with selfishness, the followers will be
 selfish, too. Where the leader works for other men, each of those other men,
 according to the measure of his power,
 will be stimulated to go outside of him.
 self and work for a common cause.
 The fact that Washington could bear his burdens so patiently in dealing with
 congress and with commissioners was a powerful influence in helping the sol-
 diers of his army to bear their totally
 different burdens of hunger and cold in
 the winter at Valley Forge. Unself1sh leadership gives an inspiration which
 people sometimes catch with surprising quickness, and habitually hold with yet more surprising tenacity. There is in 1 the human heart capacity for hero
 worship which is the chief thing that makes political progress possible. Peo- l pie will not hazard their comfort for new theory. They are suspicious ot 1 philosophic argument. But once let | them see a man who is living for some thing better than that which they have seen before, and they will follow him to the ends of the earth.
 The really great leader, we may say with all reverence, is the revelation of God to his followers. If he, with his wide vision and large powers, subordi- mates himself to an unselfish purpose be it the alleviatA0n of the sufferings of his fellow men, or the emancipation of a doWn-trodden race from it's conquer ors, or the development of new social order-otherS are ready to accept his leadership and to regard his sayings and doings as revelations of the divine purpose. When David poured out upon the rocks the water which had been brought through so much peril, it was | the token that he was working for the Lord, and not for himself. It was just because his soldiers blood was destined by him for the Lords service and not for his own that they were ready to shed that blood in the fulfllment of his slightest wish. It was his devotion which made their devotion, and which enabled him and his soldiers together Judah. And when, centuries later, the Christ who might have made himself king of the Jews and surrounded his disciples with all the pleasures of king ly authority, offered himself as sacri- flee for his work, it was the pouring out of his blood which made possible among those disciples that new under standing of religion which founded kingrom that was not of this world, but was greater far than anything which the fishermen of Galilee or the populace of Jefusa1em had ever conceived.
 The revelation of God in the life of Jesus Christ meant more to the world in teaching the possibilities of religion than all the theology that was ever written. And in the measure that our life is like his, we have the same pow CT to reveal God to others. None of us lives to himself Every act of self-su- bordination, however small; every sac