The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-03
REV. A. J. HAYNES
 ON NATHAN HALE His Story the Most Roman tic in Annals of Our
 Country. ELECTED MARTYRDOM Universally Known as the Lycidas of Our Heroic
 Dead.

Rev. Artenas J. Haynes, pastor of United church on the green, preached an eloauent sermon in the church yes- terday morning taking for his subject '4The Story of Nathan Hale" Notwith- standing the indictment weather the att tendance was quite large. The sermon in full follows:
 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends "-St. John, XIV, 13.
 On the afternoon of April 21, 1775, a messenger rode into New London with the startling tidings of the battle of Lexington. At once the most intense excitement prevailed IA town meeting was called and convened at twilight in the old court house, Speeches were made urging upon the people the neces- sity of taking Up arms against the en- emy. The most notable of appeals was that of a youth of nineteen, one who had recently come to New London as a schoolmaster. It would seem from the record of that stirring occasion that this youth made a profound impression upon his hearers. His closing words have come down to us-"Let us march immediately, and never lay down our arms until we have obtained our inde- pendence.'
 It Is of this youth that I would speak this morning, outlining the brief his- tory of his life dwelling upon the su- nt Af dar baf summation in an heroic death, and passing to the consideration of those plain lessons of patriotism that may be drawn.
 Is it too much to say that the story of Nathan Hale is the most romantic in the annals of our country? It has all the elements necessary for an epic poem of tragic proportions. By some strange chance, or mischance, of our literary history this material still lies unused. When will the great master come-be he poet or novelist or artist to refine. in the fairy furnace of his genius, the rough ore mined by the un- weared labors of historians who have brought together the essential facts of his life? For reasons not hard to de- fine the story of young Hale requires unconventional and creative treatment There is to it no little of the tangible, and yet by that little so much is sug- gested. The rude camp basket. the empty powder horn, the diary, with leaves torn from the beginning, and the letters to various friends, fragrant as they are with the breath of heart-loy- alties-these are the few and fitting symbols of a spirit itself unconvention- al and creative Though he may not as did the Lycidas of whom Milton wrote, have known himself to sing and build the lofty rhyme" yet was he a poet, poet as the powboy Burns would have been poet had he never written line.
 To those in this presence to-day il should hardly be necessary to recount the main facts of Nathan Hale's life; yet it may be to our profit to recresh our memories by brief summary He was born in a Connecticut town or the 9th of June, 1755. His family, dis tinguished before his time, has since adequately maintained the noblest tra- ditions of public service. Being of Pur- itan blood he inherited the training oi a Puritan household founded upon a deep sense of obligation to God. ex- pressing itself in full loyalty to the stern ideal of duty, and unwaverlna progress in the path of moral rectitude Thus reared, his character became like a, rock. A life built upon such a char. acter may be compared to the house oi which the great Master speaks, "and the rain descended, and the floods came and the wind blew and beat upon that house, and it fell not; for it was found ed upon a rock"
 It is not to be forgotten in any esti- mate of young Hale's character that he was born and reared in the country His work was that of a country boy and his sports as we'll. He learned tc run fast, to jump high, to shoot straight He could do almost anything with his hands, so he said of himself laughingly, he "could do anything but Bpin" "He belonged" to quote the words of one who has written of him Ito the epic age of homespun." We are not to think of him as the fine gentle man or the courtly soldier, but as a country youth-frank, manly and