The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1913-07-05

of unknown men lifted to a great sta
ture in the view of all generations by
knowing no limit to their manly willing.
ness to serve. In armies thus marshaled
from the ranks of free men YOU will see
as it were, a nation embattled, the lead
ers and the led and may know, II You
will, how little except in form its ac-
ton 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 constituted leaders and the
might Of men consciously united because
we contend. not with armies, but with
prineipalities and powers and wicked
ness in high places. Are we content
to lie still? Does our union mean sym
patty, our peace contentment, our Wig
or right action, our maturity selfcom
prehension and a clear confidence in
choosing what we shall do? War fitted
us for action, and action never ceases.
81 have been chosen the leader OF
the nation. cannot justify the choice
OF any qualities of my own, but so it
has come about. and here ! stand Whom
do | command? The ghostly hosts who
fought upon these battlefelds long ago
and are gone? These gallant gentle
men stricken in 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 settled order the life of
a great nation. That host is the people
themselves, the great and the small,
without class or difference of kind or
race or origin; and undivided in inter
est, 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 enlistment. The
orders of the day are the laws upon our
statute books What we strive for is
their freedom, their right to lift them
selves from day to day and behold the
things they have hoped for, and so make
way for still better days for those whom
they love who are to come after them.
The recruits are the little children crowd
ng in. The quartermaster's stores are
in the mines and forests and fields in
the shops and factories Every day
something must be done to push the |
forward; and it must be done |
~ plan and with an eye to some great |
lestiny.
How shall we hold such thoughts in |
'ur hearts and not be moved? ! would I
Tot have you live even to-day wholly in
he past, but would wish to stand with |
rou in the light that streams upon us
low out OF that great day gone by. /
Iere is the nation God has builded by |
m hands. What shall we do with it,
Who stands ready to act again and al
Ways in the spirit of this day of reunion
nd hope and patriotic fervorg The day
+ our country's life has but broadened
nto morning. Do not put uniforms by.
tut the harness of the present on. Lift
our eyes to the great tracts of life vet
o be conquered in the interest of right
Gus peace, of that prosperity which lies
4 a peoples hearts and outlasts all
rars and errors of men. Come. let us
e comrades and soldiers yet TO serve our
elbow men in quiet counsel where the
lare Of trumphets is neither heard nor
eeded and where the things are done
hitch make blessed the nations of the
-orld in peace and righteousness and
)ve,"