Evening star., 1907-08-20
LAYING OF CORNER STONE
If the Pilgrim Memorial Monument
There.
.EMARKABLE CHARACTERISTICS
shrewd Common Sense, Soundhearted,
Hardheaded and With Lofty Pur-
poses-Present Conditions.

grims' memorial monument at Province
town. Mass. today:
1t is not too much to say that the event
commemorated by the monument which we
have come here to dedicate was one OF
those rare events which can in good faith
be called of world Importance. The COM
ing hither of the Puritan three centuries
ago shaped the dest!nles of this continent
and therefore profoundly affected the des-
tiny of the whole world Men of other
races. the FrenChmln and the Spaniard the
DutChman. the German. the Scotchman and
the Swede made settlements within what Is
now the United States. during the colonial
period of our history and before the Decla-
ration of Independence. and since then
there has been an ever-sweliing immigra-
tion from ireland and from the mainland
of Europe but II was the EngliShman who
settled in Virginia and the EngliShman who
settled in Massachusetts, who did most in
shaping the lines of our national develop
ment.
Influence of the Puritan.
We cannot as a nation be too profoundly
grateful for the fact that the Puritan has
stamped his influence so deeply on our ma
tional life We need have but scant pa
tience with the men who now rail at the
Puritan's faults. They were evident, of
a
that their failings. like their virtues. should
stand out in bold relief. but there Is moth
Ing easier than to belittle the great men of
the past by dwelling only on the points
where they come short of the universally
recognized standards of the present. Men
must be judged with reference to the age
in which they dwell, and the work thay
have to do. The Puritans task was to con-
quer a continent; not merely to overruu it,
but to settle it. to till it, to build uron 1t a
high industrial and social life: and. while
engaged in the rough work of tanning the
shaggy wilderness. at that very time also
to lay deep the inlmovable foundations of
our whole American system of civil.
political and religious liberty achieved
through the orderly process of law. This
was the work allotted him to do; this is the
work he did: and on'y a master spirit
among men could have done it.
We have Travelled far since his day. That
liberty of conscience which he demanded
for himself now realize must be as
freely accorded to others as it is resolutely
insisted upon for ourselves. The splendid
qualities which he left to his children We
blood also claim as our heritage. You, sons
of the Puritans, and we who de-
scendants from races whom the Puri-
tans would have deemed alien-we are
the same pride In the genesis, in the his
tory, of our people; and therefore this
shrine of Purtanisn Is one at which we
all gather to pay homage no matter from
what country our ancestors SprdnS.
Have Gained Some Things.
We have gained some things that the
Puritan had motive Of this generation, we
of the twentieth century, here In this great
republic: but are alse in danger of los
ing certain things which the Puritan had
and which we can by no manner of means
afford TO lose. We have gained ioy of
living which he had not. and which it is a
IN 40 - Ln,.o -
develop. Let US TO it that we do not
lose what is more important still: that we
do not lose the Puritan's iron sense of duty
his unbending, unfinching will to do the
rlSht as II was given him to see the right.
1t Is good thing that life should gain in
sweetness. but only provided that it does
not lose In strength. Ease and rest and
pleasure are good things. but only If they
come as the reward of work we'll DONE of
good fight we'll won of strong effort reso-
luteiy made and crowned by high achieve
ment. The life of mere pleasure, of mere
enortless ease, Is as ignoble for a nation
as Tor an individual. The man Is but
poor father who teaches his sons that ease
and pleasure should be their chief objects
IN life; the woman is a mere petted
toy, Incapable of serious purpose. shrinking
from EFFORT and duty, is more pitiable than
the veriest overworked drudge. So he is
but a poor leader of the people. but a poor
national adviser. who seeks 10 make the
nation In any way subordinate effort to
ease. who would teach the people not to
prize as the greatest blessing the chance to
do any work. no matter how hard if it be-
comes their duty to do it, To the sons of
the Pur!tans II is almost needless to saw
that the lesson above all others which Pur-
ltanism can teach this nation is the all
Importance of the reso!ute performance of
uulJ III we are men We will pass by with
contemptuous disdain alike the advisers
VINO would seek TO lead into the paths
OF lgnohle ease and those who would teach
US to admire successful wrongdoing Our
ideals should be high. and yet they should
be capable of achievement In practical
fashion; and We as little to be excused
IL We permit our ideals to be tanned with
what Es sordid and mean and base as If we
allow our power OF achievement to atrophy
and become either incapable of effort or
cdpdhie only of such fantastic effort as to
accomplish nothing OF permanent good. The
true doctrine to preach to this nation as
10 the individuals composing this nation
Is not the life of ease. but the life of effort
II II We're IN my power to promise the peo-
pie OF this land anything would not prom
lse Them pleasure. l would promise them
'hat stern happiness which comes from the
sense Of having done in practical fashion n
GIht'uIt WORK which was worth doing
The Puritan's Common Sense.
The Puritan owed his extraordinary sue
cess In subduing this continent and making
IL the foundation for social life of ordered
liberty primarily to the fact that he com
H4AA'o ia q very EtiHarkaD.e degree both
the power of individual initiative. of indi
vidual sef-help and the power of acting
In combination with his fellows; and that
1uftherInor" he joined to 4 high heart that
shFe"d common sense which saves a man
from tHt beSettlng sins of the visionary
ana the dOctrinaire. lie was stout hearted
and hard headed. He had lofty purposas
but he had practical good sense too. He
could hold his own In the rough wOrkadav
world without ClamOrous ins!stence upon
being helped by others, and vet he coIil1
combine with others whenever il b4car,a
as well done by any one man individually
These were the qualities which enabled
lin to do his work, and they are the very
Qualities which must show in doing our
work today. There is no use in our com
Ing here to pay homage to the men who
founded this nation unless first of all
come In the spirit OF trying to do our work
today as they did their work in the yestcr-
days that have vanished. The problems
SHIFT from generation 10 generation. but
tie spirit in which they must be ap-
preached. If they 10 be successfully
solved. remains ever the same. The Puri-
tan tanned the wilderness and built up a
free government on the stump-d dotted clear
legs amid the primevdl forest. HIS de-
scendauts must try 10 shape the life OF our
complex industrial civilization by new de-
vices. by new methods, so to achieve in
the end the same results of justice and
fair dealing toward all. He cast aside