Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-05-31

tuiCS lhotCao VI lhoIllSCs oiu
impulses where force listens to rea-
son and love is the bond of perfect
ness.
The Heroic in Life.
I'VE are accustomed to think of he
roes as those who have done such
great things that the eyes of the world
behold their greatness. The hero in
religion, the hero in literature, the
hero in war is the greatest of his kind.
This is well enough but there is hero
ism in common life which needs to be
noticed, for the greatness of the people
is more than the greatness of any man.
They can do more, they are more than
any one man. One definition of hero
ism uses these words, "it is contempt
Of danger, not from ignorance or in
considerate levity, but from devotion
to some great cause and just conf
dence of being able to meet danger in
the spirit of such cause
Illustrations of Heroism.
IF | read history Alright more than
once has this definition of heroism
received illustration in the life of this
nation. One certainly when the colo
MES were led to declare their inde-
pendence. Another time, certainly
when in our civil war men fought to
make civil liberty mean freedom to all
the people, black as well as white, and
also to give answer to the heresy Of
state sovereignty which had grown out
of the. institution of negro slavery
Were these not great causes? Was
there not great devotion to great
causes? And did not men have a
Of 10Th
national independence and national
union and equality before the law?
The Rank and File.
''And who were the men thatfought?
Were they simply the generals, the
leaders, or were they not the common
soldiers as well, the many who execut-
ed the generals orders The old COM
mander, General Grant, whose fame
is growing greater with the passing
years, knew this and recognized it.
July 4, 1868, was day of great re-
joicing in the North. Gettysburg had
been fought and won. A decisive vic
tory had been won by General Grant
and the boys in blue at Vicksburg.
When congratulatory dispatches were
pouding in upon Grant and his subord-
mates were earnest in his praises he
quietly remarked, let us not forget the
brave soldiers who have done the
watching and fighting, the glory be-
longs to them.
The Stuff in Heroes.
'"On one OCCASION says the Rev. H.
w. Bolton, while Mcclellan was keep
ing us in the mud along the Potomac.
a drummer boy was shot, The bone
in his leg was shattered A battle
was on. He said, carry me on your
shoulder and let me drum it out!' OF
such stuff are heroes made
1.-THE heroes were not simply the
Grants, Shermans, Sheridans, Logans,
Thomases and Meads. but the rank
and file as we'll, the men who did the
and fighting.
THE good soldiers, whether officer
or private, alike had the characters
tics of the true hero. Courage, modes
ty, conservation, self-forgetfulness, de-
votion to a great cause and contempt
of danger belong to them and these
are now and ever will be the marks of
the heroic in life.
Heroism of the People.
"The spirit of true heroism therefore,
belongs not exclusively to those per
sons who are great in the eyes of men,
but to all men and women who have
toiled and suffered that we might have
the blessings of national life-to the
officers, to the common soldiers, to
the women who said goodbye and God
bless you to husbands and sons, to
statesmen, to teachers, to artisans, to
them all. This is the heroism of the
people. the poetry of their lives. the
and pledge under God, of
the blessings of civilization. 1t is the
greatness of the nation.
Results of the Wars.
"Think of what has come through
their tolls and sacrifices. The United
States is nation with one flag. The
national idea has triumphed. We
younger people, some of although liv
ing then. too young to have an active
part in the war of the north and the
south, owe an everlasting debt of graf
itude to you soldiers, because you be
lieved that this people should be one
people and laid your lives upon YOU
country's altar, We shall never for
get it and our prayer is that we may
be worthy of and faithful to the natior
you gave yourselves to save
AnOlner DleSSlHS 10 civil llpeity III
all the people. Our forefathers came
to this and to have civil and religion:
liberty. They really believed in liber
ty. Believing in this the logic O
events must lead on sooner or later tt
the destruction of human slavery.
Blessing of Equality
"Another blessing is equality before
| the law and before the door of oppor
tunity. Prejudices may linger because
of the color of the skin or the curve O
the foot but the colored man may BIZ
graduate from Harvard or he ma,
be Booker T. Washington, making
the best speech as the spokesman o
the coored people at the Atlanta ex
position.
Whenever a Booker T. Washington
l ,,lan dir, O in his manly and maSi arfu