The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1913-07-24
GETTYSBURG WAS OPPORTUN-
ITY

In our thought and talk about
Gettysburg we are apt to confound
an exceptional opportunity with ex-
ceptional qualities.
With all reverence for the valor OF
the men who attacked and the men
who defended on that day OF smoke
and confused noise and garments
rolled in blood, the Republic is con-
strained to believe that day simply
revealed the stuff of which Ameri-
cans are made. 1t did not trans
form; it only evoked.
1t is but little more than year
since a company of American bust
ness men stood on the deck of the
worlds greatest steamship in the
midst of an icy sea and saw boats
launched which contained seats but
for a few of them. They quietly
stood in the background until the
boats were filled and sent away.
Some of the men kissed their wives
good-by and stepped back; the wives
of others refused to let death sepa-
rate those whom love had joined.
And then, in the darkness, they
calmly awaited the coming OF the
end.
These men proved to the world
the eXistences of qualities, even in
the ricn and most pampered portion
CT our populace, which had slumber-
cd unsupported by many OF their fell
lows, just as Gettysburg showed that
plain American citizens by the ten
thousands We're ready to die in a
manner worthy of Thermopylae.
The Republic believes that the
imam in the street" in this so-called
unherOic age is as capable OF the
great remuneration, the supreme sac
rifice, as was the man of 81. What
lacks is the occasion. We meet each
other on the basis of petty concerns
and small endeavors; we fail to
know-yes, to suspect-the highest
and deepest in one another.
Immortal hOnOrS await the man
who will hit on way of tapping the
reservoirs of courage, of self-sacri-
flee, of remuneration, hidden deep in
the souls of the commonplace folk
about him. Where is there fight
big enough to evoke the supreme
things? Where shall we find war
great enough to make supreme sacri-
flee reasonable? AS a matter of fact,
present day are concerned mainly
with the dividing up of our bountiful
stores of material things. They are
important questiOns-taritf, curren-
cy, trades-unionism, etc.-and we do
we'll to labor to solve them. But
men are capable of absorption in
matters much greater than these.
Sherman's men lived on So month;
Johnston's lived on hope and ire
deemable paper money-but how
they fought, and how their hearts
thrilled to their work!
This is an age ''beastly prosper
ous," as Matthew Arnold said OF us,
but we concern ourselves over the
less only in the absence of the
greater. Probably no decade OF
American history seemed more given
over to sordid pursuit of wealth then
the 'tfties of the last century-a
decade of prosperity, of compromise,
of -apparently-of the
spiritual side of things. And then
Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Pickett's
charge, the stand of the Second Min
shrines, at which bow the worship
pers of heroes and patriots.
What will the new crusade be?
Where next will be lifted the banner
which shall be consecrated by the
blood of the bravest and best? In an
age Of peace and safety, how shall
men be made to know what Gettys-
burg revealed what the Titanic dis
aster revealed, of the things God has
hidden in the hearts of common
persons" heroes but for the lacking
oppoclunity?-St. Louis Republic.