The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-07-05

naive appeal to the moral judgment of
4 mankind to take notice that a govern
ment had now at last been established
| which was to serve men not masters
1t is secure in everything except the sat
| isfaction that its life is right, adjusted
to the uttermost to the standards of right
| eousness and humanity. The days of sac
rifice and cleansing are not closed. We
have harder things to do than were done
in the heroic days of war, because harder
to see clearly, requiring more vision. more
calm balance of Judgment a more can
did searching of the very springs of
right.
| Look around you upon the field of Get
! tysburgi Picture the array, the fierce
heats and agony of battle, column hurled
against column, battery believing to bat
| teryl Valor? Yes. Greater no man shall
| see in war; and self-sacrifice, and loss
I to the uttermost; the high reclSlessness
of exalted devotion which does not count
, the cost. We are made by these tragic,
| epic things to know what 1t costs to
make a nation-the blood and sacrifice
of multitudes of unknown men lifted to
| a great stature in the view of all gen
erations by knowing no limit to their
manly willingness to serve. In armies
| thus marshaled from the ranks of free
! men you will see, as 1t were, a nation
embattled, the leaders and the led. and
may know, If you will, how little except
in form its action differs in days of peace
from its action in days of war
May we break camp now and be at
| ease? Are the forces that fight for the
nation dispersed, disbanded, gone to their
! homes forgetful of the common cause
Are our forces disorganized, without con-
stituted leaders. and the might of men
consciously united because we contend,
not with armies, but with principalities
| and powers and wickedness in high
| places. Are we content to lie still? Does
our union mean sympathy, our peace
| contentment. our vigor right action our
maturity self comprehension and a clear
confidence in choosing what we shall do?
War fitted us for action, and action never
| ceases.
Leader of Nation
| I have been chosen the leader of the ma
| ton. | cannot justify the choice by any
qualities of my own, but so ii has come
about, and here / stand Whom do
command? The ghostly hosts who fought
upon these battle fields long ago and are
| gone? These gallant gentlemen stricken
| i'm years whose fighting days are over,
their glory won? What are the orders for
them. and who rallies them? | have in
my mind another host, whom these set
| free of civil strife in order that they
might work out in days of peace and set
tied order the life of a great nation. That
host is the people themselves the great
| and the small, without class or differ
ence of kind or race or origin; and un-
divided in interest, If we have but the
vision to guide and direct them and order
| their lives Alright in what we do Our
constitutions are their articles of enlist
ment. The orders of the day are the laws
upon our statute books. What we strive
for is their freedom. their right to lift
themselves from day to day and behold
the things they have hoped for and sc
make way for still better days for those
| whom they love who are to come after
them. The recruits are the little children
| crowding in. The quartermaster' $ stores
are in the mines and forests and fields In
the shops and factories. Every day some
| thing must be done to push the campaign
forward; and 1t must be done by plan
and with an eve to some great destiny.
| How shall we hold such thoughts in
| our hearts and not be moved? [ would
not have you live even today wholly in
| the past but would wish to stand with
| you in the light that streams upon us
now out of that great day gone by. Here
| is the nation God has builded by our
hands What shall we do with it? Who
| stands ready to act again and always in
| the spirit of this day of reunion and
| hope and patriotic fervor? The day OF
| our countrys life has but broadened into
| morning. Do not put uniforms by. Put
the harness of the present on. Lift your
| eyes to the great tracts of life yet to be
| conquered in the interest of righteous
| peace, of that prosperity which lies in a
| peoples hearts and outlasts all wars and
errors of men. Come, let us be COM
rades and soldiers yet to serve our fell
low men in quiet counsel, where the blare
of trumpets is neither heard nor needed
and where the things are done which
| make blessed the nations of the world in
| peace and righteousness and love-