The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1916-03-31

] having not, cannot hope to have 1t.
! 1t is easy to go along beaten paths,
to follow age worn ruts, to do things
as they have been done, but gumption
! is for tracing out new ways, trying
! new methods, organizing success by
/ any method which is legitimate even
| if never tried before. U. S. Grant was
an example. He had new problems, met
/ them in new ways, committed the sin
of leaving behind him his base of sup
plies and by any plan winning his
way and he found an Appomattox and
victory. Abraham Lincoln in larger
way in battle without arms but new
ertheless vast and age-important,
lhewed out new ways, stood alone in
magnificent independence, reached
down to the people whose he was and
whom he served, and up to the God to
whose allegiance he came through
the magnitude of his needs, and so
came to victory sanctified by his own
blood.
All who have achieved through
gumption have met two foes, intimiGa-
ton and stagnation. Intimidation
takes all forms to turn men from their
purposed plans and process, while
stagnation, is the more to be dreaded
of the two. 1t is the pendulum whose
business is ceaseless activity, at rest
in the center while all that depends
upon it is at standStill., 1t is death
in the midst of life. 1t is Sargasso
sea, nothing wrong with the sea, but
the strange, floating growth upon it
has made it a graveyard of ships and
hopes. No storm can disturb its
calm, no ship, caught in its tangled
surface can escape the grip or the
life which is death.
Grit is not so much in the field as
in the citadel 1t is the method OF
defense. 1t equals endurance, resist
ance. Grit is method of taking pun
ishment rather than the giving CT
blows and that is the larger part OF
the battle. Dying easy is popular
thing, dying hard is the plan of the
man of grit, and in the process of dy-
ing hard, he usually lives as the re-
suit of his struggle against death.
There are three necessities to grit,
they are, courage, which makes pos
sible a purpose of value, faith which
believes in the righteousness of the
contention, and hope which expects
the one issue. The citadel which rep
resents the contention must be held
ar all hazards.
George Washington was a splendid
example of man who chs mp 2nel a
belle aguered nation i'll the hour o. It's
weakness, who resisted though in the
open, the attacks OF force, and in
spite of treason, pecuiation, jealous
les of his compearS, and the skilled
antagonists who bought the best that
force caul' furnish against him, yet
with ragged and half starved forces,
unframed and half fed kept his foes
engaged and saw their defeat at York
town. He had the grit which made
possible the dream of those who
founded the nation.
Grace equals the Divine plus. That
this Divine plus is, appears by the
differences of nature, the needs of the
human and the nature of the Divine
which is Live. 1t is through this d.
vine plus, the grace Of God, that the
character is rounded out which mas IN
all the years rendered the best serv-
ice to the race. Among the anclents,
Abraham, Moses, Socrates, Jesus
Christ. showed forth these qualities
and wrought great things for men.
Among the moderns, John Bright,
Gladstone Lincoln have wrought by
the same method and with the same
success. :,
Senator Benson of st. Peter made
a few remarks, referring especially
TO the improvements in North Man.
kato and the prospective bridge. He
spoke also of the responsibility which
this country is assuming at this time.