Norwich bulletin., 1915-07-03
Sunday Morning Talk
THE REAL THING IN PATRIo-
 TISM.


 Strangely enough patriotism has of
 ten been held by thinking men to be a vice rather than a virtue Dr. John son called it the last refuge of scoun-
 drels. Tolstoi saw in it, because us-
 ually associated with wars and killing, the great obstacle to civilization. More
 modern writers have denounced 1t as
 mere cloak beneath which avarice and
 bump ptious<prfde take refuge.
 Such criticism Is understood when
 we realize how often jingoism and
 patriotism have been synonymous. It
 present drenching Europe in blood.
 Through the battle smoke it seems indeed a frightful thing The willing ness to ride rough shod over human bodies and human homes toward ei1l- pire Is horrible and not admirable The eagerness to kill men simply because they belong to another nation is akin to plain sayagery. When love of 1 country means simply the use of siege
 guns and shrapnel on ones neighbor it Is impossible to praise 1t.
 Patriotism is a right love of ones country. A right love is anxious that the country stand for honor. justice, freedom. It is therefore exhibited not
 alone In the hour when flags are flying
 and the war drum thfoBs the call to arms. As Milton said to Cromwell. | l C61SC~ AA0tA nC1 N4CGOtlcS HO 1GSS IG- nowned than war" It is ''sweet and glorious to die for ones country when | the country needs that particular form of sacrifice, but it is equally sweet and glorious to live for ones country every day in the year. An honest alderman. a diligent teacher, a faithful clergy
 man, a devoted physician is. each one, | showing a patriotism of quite as fine
 a sort as that of the soldier. Patriotism needs careful definition
 by those of us who live under the Star Spangled Banner. We are among the
 biggest of nations. and, in these awful
 months of European havoc we are rapidly becoming the richest one There is power in our very location with great oceans east and west. There
 Is power in our mines and forests and | fields of waving grain. To elaborate | cause the mind does not really grasp | the significance of the figures. Such l inflated talk Is unwise also for another | reason. In none of these things does
 true greatness consist. As Sidney | Lanier said to Walt Whitman. You can't make a republic out Of muscles
 brains or Rocky mountains. Repub- lies are made of spirit
 Was there ever a time since Eden's
 dawning day when right patriotism I was more needed than now? We need regard for law in an age when disre4 i gard for it seems to characterize men and nations We need honesty in an age when dishonesty is so often made l to appear profitable. We need public spirit as over against the prosecution l of selfish ends in higher and In low I places. Patriots must have
 Some sense of duty. something of s faith,
 Some reverence for the laws ourselves l have made.
 Some patient force to change them when we will,
 Some civic manhood firm against the | crowd.
 Such are the tasks to. which tht needs of the modern state summon thu modern citizen In an hour wl1er of Europe are loving country enough tt to live for her in pefsona1 feetfttiflt and in civic righteousness.
 James Russell Lowell once wrote to his friend Charles Eliot Norton: "Thers is something magniicient In having 2 country to love-" It is as true teSas as in days of '76 or f61, nor does thai love need the po1np and cireumstahes Iof arms to keep it alive. AS said oul sires, so say we of F'atherlafd:
 l What were our lives without Thee And what our lives to win Thee.
 ] We reck not what we give Thee,
 We will not dare to doubt Thee,
 But ask whatever else and we VII | -. ..ss..a-s.su