The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1913-01-31

, the Old World, help to bring the Kingdom
of God upon earth. We show that we in
truth believe in the Fatherhood of Cod
and in the brotherhood of man. We must
show that we really believe that all men
were born free and equal. We can live in
America as well as in Scotland the gospel
of Robert Burns. There is need that we
! should do it. Never before was the pres
| sure of existence greater. Never the de-
| mand for loyalty in business and in civic
| life more keen. We must resolve politics
| and reforms into terms of human life. We
must look upon government and office as
avenues for service, and not for gain We
which killed Robert Burns. 1t is snobbery
| which killed Robert Burns. 1t is snobery
which has caused all of the wars, and all
/ of the cruelties of mankind Do you think
| that the ruling classes of England would
| have driven the tenantry from the soil
| and made two hundred and fifty offenses
| punishable by death if they had any regard
| for that tenantry? Do you think that they
ever would have provided that boy
should be hung for shooting rabbit? Do
| you think that the lords of Scotland would
| have ever devastated the highlands and
driven the sons of the poor to wander over
! the face of the earth, if they had any re-
gard for those people? If they had not had
! the snobbsh idea that some how or other
| they were better and of a different mold
than of their fellows? | say that even in
/ America if we would save the common
| man we must cease to be snobbish and be-
gin to believe in him.
! 1t was the sense of brotherhood which
made Scotland free. 1t was the peasants
pike, and not the nobeman's lance which
! won the battles of Bannockburn and of
Sterling Bridge. 1t was in the kneeling
front ranks of the Scottish squares that
liberty was born, for there was self sacri-
lit oh,
liberty can never be. Did you ever stop
to think of the Scottish square, the inven-
| ton of Wallace, and what it has meant to
Scotland and to the human race? 1t over
| threw Feudalism. 1t showed the common
man that if only he would be loyal and
| would sacrifice himself he could over
! throw kings. 1t showed that there was a
divinity in the common man, that often,
and not merely now and then, the cotters
child was royal born by right divine. The
English under Edward ii had all of the
wealth of the Island They had, therefore,
the knighthOod, the armor and the cavalry.
Armor and horses cost money, and the
vested interests then as now had the pow.
er. The Scotch force was largely com.
posed of unarmored spearmen. They had
not the money for coats of STEEL Singly
they were powerless against the knights OF
England, encased as they were in mail
and mounted on chargers also heavily ar.
mored. William Wallace invented the
square, but back of the square was the
nobility and loyalty of the spearmen. The
front rank knelt with their lances tilted
forward, butts resting upon the ground
The second rank stood with their spears
held out. hedge OF steel. Behind them
another hedge, and in the center men who
threw their lances at the advancing foe.
But it was the kneeling front rank that
met the shock of the charging SuuadrOnS
1t was on their spears that the horses were
impaled and the chivalry of England was
halted The laundering charge was oil
no avail. But the kneeling front ranks
though they transfxed and halted the
horses of their foes, were, themselves
| trampled down and crushed to the earth
beneath the iron hoofs of the armor-weight
ed cavalry They were transfixed by the
spears of the riders. They persisted, but
the squares stood firm. No kneeling man
can resist the weight of two tons of steel
clad horse and man. They perished but
Scotland was freed. They knew of this in
evitable fate before they knelt, and it was
because of their willingness to kneel side
by side and shoulder to shoulder, and to
sacrifice themselves for the common veal
that the battles were won. 1t was because
in them the love of friends and home and
country and fellow-man was great enough
England was crushed and overwhelmed
The same is true of the embattled squares
of the Highlanders at Waterloo and at
Balaklava.
1t is well for us, indeed, to remember
that back of the liberty and the opportun
ity that we now enjoy the thousands OF
lowly martyrs and heroes of every country
and of every cline, who have dared the
scaffold and the gibbet, and who have
knppIp0 N he ic
that they should have knelt, for / know
of no prayer more eloquent than the silent
sacrifice of those consecrated lines. Burns
is right, the history of the world has shown
that not merely now and then, but often
"a cotters child is royalborn by gift di
vine.'
WEALTH AND VULGAR DISPLAY.
1t is well for us and for America tina,
in this day of Wanting wealth and vulgar
display, of Bradley Martin balls and OF
brainless Four Hundreds, we should cele
brate the birthday of the poet of the poor