Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-03
THE AMERICAN IDEAL
Citizenship Discussed by Justice
w. P. Stafford.
PATRIOT IN WAR AND PEACE
Service Rendered by Poets, Artists,
Traders and Mechanics.
HEROES AND OUR COUNTRY"
Nathan Hale, With Hands Bound,
Waiting to Be Hanged-Prev-
alent Weaknesses.

Justice Stafford Of the District Supreme
Court, at a meeting of the Military Order
of the Loyal Legion, held Thursday even
Ing. delivered an address on THE Ideal
Citizen" Justice Stafford said:
Citizenship is the relation between a man
and his country. Life itself is a group OF
relations. A hermit in so far as he sue
ceeds has no relations, and 50, as We I'M
derstand it, he has no life. He cannotsuc-
coed completely; he must still shiver in the
wind of winter and bask in the summer
sun; he still sees the pomp of sunrise and
sunset, and his heart is subdued by the
glory of the stars. He must tug at the
earthS hard bosom somewhere for a little
Sustenance, or he cannot even pass his
days in the solitary contemplate On that he
loves. And so he cannot sever all relations;
he cannot cut himself Off completely IRON
the world unless he dies. Every new rela-
ton adds something to the interest of life.
The fuller and more varied. the relations,
the richer the life. We pity the man who
has never held his child upon his knee. We
pity the woman who has never known the
pain and bliss of motherhood We feel that
they have been cheated of something that
belonged to them. We believe the world IS
to be used, not TO be thrown away; and SO
our ideal woman is not a run, but
mother; our ideal man is not an anchorite,
but lover, a husband a satlp.c, a friend,
a patriot, a citizen.
Ideal Citizenship.
1.-THE ideal citizen is patriot in The ways
and walks of peace. A patriot is one who
serves his country because he loves l.er.
There are those two essentials-the deed
and the motive. Men have rendered great
and lasting service to their country who
did not render it from pure motives. They
were not true patriots; they were not ideal
citizens. Our own selfish ambition, the re-
wards of industry the good opinion Of our
fellows. these and hundred other springs
Of action may prompt US to lead Useful
lives.
The public is benefited by them 1t is
one of the proofs of a divine order that We
cannot perform any real service to ulan-
kind without becoming helpers of wider
and higher purpose than our own. We may
have wrought with an eye largely TO our
own advantage; but If we have wrought
faithfully we shall IND "a i9st that
worked for universal ends, and buiidcd bet
ter than we knew. But why should we
work thus blindly and unwirringly Tor the
public veal? Why should we not have the
happiness of working from the highest
motives and of feeling as we work that we
are true patriots and the friend of men?
Patriotic Service.
1T is fine to think what splendid patriotic
service is being rendered all the while, not
merely by the men of genius-poets, artists,
inventors, soldiers, orators; statesmen-but
by the traders and mechanics. by the vast
army of laborers who run the railroads and
the boats, who open the mines and till the
fields, and do the rough work of the world
that the comforts of life may be within the
reach of all. We may be sure that every
thing is a patriotic service which helps to
make the state strong or safe or pure, for
all these help to make her name great and
honorable in the eyes of men. .
But what is this country which we are
called upon to love? Is 1t the land itself?
We look out OF the window and see a green
glimpse of 1t; from the hillside noun
globe we trace its boundaries on the surface
of the earth. 1t IS a magnificent domain;
proud of 1t. But is that our coun-
try? Are we to lay down our lives for
sands of square miles? What then? You
say It is the people that make the country.
But when you meet them one by one
doubt If you are very much impressed. You
nerer saw a crowd SO vast that you felt
when you looked upon 1t as you feel when
you look upon the flag.
Ideal of Heroes.
Can it be that our heroes have been
ready and eager to die for Il mass of people
they would hardly have glanced at If they
had met them one by one upon the street?
No, It is not the people we think of when
we say our country 1t is an idea, or
better still, it is an Ideal. 1t is a sublime
creation of the heart and mind. Men of
imagination have striven to make 1t real to
US. Sculptors have loved to chisel her in
marble or cast her an bronze. Poets have
sung of her, music has breathed of her,
orators nave invoked ner, Ontll, although
we never touched her robe. nor looked into
her eyes, nor heard her voice, she has be-
come real and living presence to every
one of as.
did you ever think how much has gone
to make up that inspiring conception? Why.
all her past is in ii, all the great deeds that
have been done, all the great words that
have been spoken, all the pure and generous
lives that have been lived, all the costly
sacrifices that have been made in her whole
history-all these have blended to give
beauty and grandeur to the idea that fills
our minds when we say Our Country. We
think of what she has stood for before the
world--for liberty, for justice, for equality
between man and man, for the brotherhood
of all men. We think OF her great achieve
ments-how she shook off the foreign yoke,
battled with nature, hewed down the for
ests, forded the rivers built the railroads
and subdued the continent-how she wiped
out with her best blood the single stain
upon her beautiful banner. And then We
recall how in these latter days she became
the champion of an oppressed people; how
she put an end to Spanish tyranny, and
stepped proudly into her new place among
the nations of the earth. And then we
think of all we hope and believe she is yet
to be. Beside all the garnered golden fruit
of her past we see all the bright flower and
promise of her future. All this we see and
mean when we say Our Country
Touch of Poetry.
Everybody has touch of poetry about
him somewhere, and If he is patriot he
shows 1t in this idealization of his country.
Was 1t not some such splendid vision that
Nathan Hale had before his eyes when,
as he stood with hands bound behind him
waiting to be hanged, he lifted up his face
and exclaimed: regret that I have but
one life to lose for my country What Won
der that men have been willing to die for
an ideal like that? Happy is the man who
by his life or his death shall be able to add
a single ray or sparkle of luster to her
splendid name,
"A patriotic life is life lived for the
good of others. and so patriotism is at
heart a Christian sentiment. Yet II
were to choose the single incident which
best illustrates its spirit to my mind
should go back to pagan times. I should
remind you of that Spartan youth who
came running home joyfully to his mother
to tell her the result Of test or trial that
had been had to determine which were the
best and strongest men in Sparta. Fifty
were to be chosen for some daring enter
prise, and he had gone, hoping to be found
worthy. He returned exulting. not because
he had been chosen, but because he had
been rejected. Rejoice with me, mother
he cried, for. strong and brave as am.
Sparta has fifty heroes stronger and Drawer
than L. II we cannot render any great
conspicuOuS service tn orr country we