The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-08-21

have and TO develop. Let us see
10 " that we do not lose what is
more important stlll3 that we do
not lose tile Puritan's iron sense
OF duty. his ,inbending, unflinthing
VIII to do the right as N was given
him TO see the right 1t is n good
thing that life should gain IN
< sweetness. but only provided that
II does not lose in strength. Ease
things. but only II they come as
tho reward OF work we'll ,lsne, of
good fight VOL won, OF strong
effort resolltelv made and crowned
by high achievement The lifo of
mere pleasure, OF more eifortless
ease. is MS ignohlo for q nation as
for an individual. The man Is but
a poor father who touches hts sons
that ease and pleasure should be
their chief objects in life; the wo-
man who Is n mere petted toy,
incapable Of serious purpose,
shrinking from effort and duty, Is
more pitiable than the reriest over
worked drudge. 50 he is but
poor lender of the people, but
poor national adviser, who seeks
to make the nation In any way
subordinate effort to ease, '@ho
would teach the people no, to
prize as the greatest blessing the
chance 10 DO any work, no matter
how tara, If II becomes their duty
TO do 1T. To the sons Of the Puri-
thns III is almost needless to say
that the lesson above all Others
which Puritanism can teach this
nation Is the all Importance of the
resolute performance of duty. II
we are men we viii pass by with
contemptuotts disdain alike the ad-
yisers who would seek to lead us
i. ~ .t,r,. xI,t M "a. ttI
those who would teach us To al
mire successful wrongdoing. our
ideals should be high, and yet they
should be capable of achievement
in practical fashion: and we are
as little TO be excused If we per-
nit our ideals to he tainted with
what is sordid and mean and base:
as II we allow our power oil
achievement to atrophy and be-
come either incapable of e;iort or
CAPABLE only of such fantastic ef-
fort as to accomplish nothing of
permanent good. The true doctrine
to preach to this nation, as to the
individuals composing this nation.
is not the life of ease, but the lie
OF effort If IL We're in my power
to promise the people of this land
ANYTHING. wonld not promise
them pleasure. ! would promise
them that stern happiness WHICH
comes from the sense OF having
done in practical fashion din
cult work which was worth doing.
Life OF ordered Liberty.
The Puritan owed his eNtraordi-
nary success in subduing TINS con
tinent and making it the founua
zion for a social life of ordered
liberty primarily to the fact that
h. combined in a very remarkanie
degree both the power of indi-
yidual initiative, OF individual sell
helD. and the power of acting IN
combination with his fellows, ana
that. Furthermore, ne Joined 10
high heart that shreWd common
ssr1se which saves man from the
h.ss.ttfnC sins OF the visionary and
the doctrinaire. He was stout
hearted and hard headed. he had
is,f.y purposes. but he had prac-
teal good sense, too. lie couiu
hold HIS own in the rough worh-
adsy world without clamorous IN
Sistence upon being helped by
others, and Vet he could combine
with others whenever il became
necessary 10 do a job which could
NOT be as well done by any one
man individually.
These were the qualities which
enabled him to do his work. and
they are the very qualities which we
must show in doing our work to-
day. There is no use in our COM
ing here to pay homage TO the
men who founded this nation un-
less we first OF all come in the
spirit of trying TO do our work
to-day as they did their work in
the yesterdays that have vanished.
The problems shift from genera
ton to generation, nut the spirit in
which they must he approached,
If they are TO be successfully
solved, remains ever the same. The
Puritan tanned the Wilderness, and
built up a free government on the
stump dotted clearings amid the
primeval forest. His descendants
must try to shape the life OF our
complex Industrial civilization by
new devices. by new methods. so
as to achieve in the end the same
results of justice and fair dealing
toward all. He cast aside nothing
old merely for the sake of innova
ton, yet he did not hesitate to
adopt anything new that would
serve his purpose. When'h he plant
ed his commemorative on this
rugged coast he faced wholly new
conditions and he had to devise
new methods of meeting them. SO
we of to-day face wholly new con-
ditions in our social and industrial
life. We Should certainly not adopt
any new scheme for graphing with
them merely because 1t is new and
untried: but we cannot afford to
shrink from graphing with them
because they can only be grappied
with by some new scheme.
The Puritan was no Laodicean,
no laissez-faire theorist. When he
saw conduct which was in viola
ton of his rights-of the rights of
man. the rights of God, as he un-
derstood then1-he attempted 10
regulate sucjl scndpct with instant.
unquestionlng. .proniptness and eff
fectiveness. If there was no other
way to secure conformity with the
rule of right. then he smote down
the transgressor with the iron of
his wrath. The spirit of the Puri-
tan was n spirit which never
shrani from regulation OF conduct
if such regulation Uas necessary
for the public veal; ana this Is the
spirit which we must show to-day,
whenever 1t Is necessary.
Changed Conditions, New Methods.
The utterly changed conditions of
our national life necessitate