The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1910-06-02
PATRIOTS AND THE PAST.

PAIKlUlS ANU IHE PASl
Decoration Day came with its recur-
rent interest of campfire memories and
the recollection of campaigns fought by
men who on this or the other side of
the great divide have made records i'm
perishable as the highest hopes of hu
mainly. The patriotism of those whose
memories were honored at the ceme-
teries of the land is the patriotism of
the past. 1t is fragrant with the days
when men whose high purpose it was
to maintain the Union undivided and to
advancess..the cause of human freedom
went forth to engage in the inevitable
conflict. Those days are happily over;
the Union is without sections or
sectiOnalism. The greatest nation of
freemen..the world has ever known is
marching upon its course OF destiny to
the great things yet to be. 1t is well
to take up the lesson of patriotic tervor
and con the chapters of lofty history.
1t is well to refresh the mind with the
things that thrill the heart. AS long
as there remain those who beneath the
silent stars slept unmindful of the sure
carnage of the dawning day, as long as
they abide who when the shot was
hottest and the conflict most desperate
stood firm fronting the foe, there will
remain living examples of heroism for
the inspiration of the youth.
The patriotism of the past has been
projected and widened in the passage
of the years. 1t is now the patriotism
of united people. The nation feels
the impulse Of a common purpose, and
1t moves with the majesty of the
mighty impact of great people with
the problems of a noble career. No
one has ever undertaken to fully de-
cipher the hand Of God in the move
ments that are recalled in the sweet
service of placing flowers upon the
graves of the departed heroes. No one
has undertaken 10 set forth the
prophetic purpose of the conflict that
brought to the fore the latent nation
one has given adequate attention to the
vast moral inheritance that came as a
frmtage of that conflict.
Who can estimate the moral power of
the United States among the nations Of
the earth without estimating at the
same time the value placed by the
world upon the remarkable instance of
devotion to human liberty that led
thousands to march out upon the green
fields and mountain sides and bedew
them with the blood Of patriotism? The
United States is great because it has
risen above the level of national sell
fishness and rapactY. 1t is great be
cause it has manifested signal power to
use the free purpose of a republic Of
sovereigns to magnify and dignity the
stat re of manhood. The mere fact of
the liberation of multitude Of human
beings sinks into insignihcance in COM
parison with the liberation of the vast
er multtudes of men already free from
the moral odium of perpetuating an in
stitution that has never thriven except
ct the loss and destruction of the cOun-
try where found Here is the real
genius of that crucial conflict. Here is
the inherent nobility of the men who
wore the colors of the nation-tha
they should have perceived that they
were bent not only upon preventing a
division of the nation, but in arresting
the moral decay that was fast setting
IN. Happily, the entire land and nation
rejoices with one breath in the estab-
lished fact of the freedom of the United
States from alliance with any form of
social usage or Institution that tends to
degrade the manhood Of the people.
A nation lives in its ideals. 1t pro-
crosses in the orbit of it's destiny. No
one can confne its ideals or define them.
They are the intangible essence of
peoples life. They are its inspiration.
They constitute its mama in the wilder
ness in times Of adversely. They frame
the policies of government. They hold
the fortunes OF the land in the scales of
their weighing. AS long as a nation has
ideals it grows, it lives, it survives.
When these become degraded it dies.
1t would be impossible to estimate the
service to America and the world of the
men who made concrete the noblest
ideals of a great nation. They found
the framework of these ideals in the
law of Almighty God, apart from which
there are no ideals of the race worthy
of cherishing. They made the Bible
the law of American right. They gave
to goodness a new dignity in the estima-
ton of the American people. They
wove into the fabric of the growing ma
ton the sanctities of divine purpose.
Religion is potential and life is far and