Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1916-12-14

MS Nllu Ddluk OF numDle ministry. ne
had never before addressed so large an
audience as this. Sunday after Sun
day, the ten or twelve who made up
his little Calvinistic flock, lacking a
church building. gathered in the homes
of his elders, Henry Rice and James
Armstrong; tb- foundations of Goshen
chapel had been scarcely planned; but
today he found "a hundred men and
women watching him, expectant of
spiritual comfort. No one appreciated
better than he the sufferings, the be-
reavements through which they had
passed. In his meek and heroic spirit
he thanked God for the high honor be-
slowed upon him, that to him should
be given the words to address so great
a company. In a voice that rang
with prophecy, he read aloud that
thrilling call which concludes the four
teenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke;
and as he lifted his eyes from the
book, he found resting on him the clear
steady gaze of the threescore back
woodsmen.
81 am going to speak to you about
tenaclty of purpose" he began, 'the
quality of soul which enables you to
hang on to the thing you have begun
until you have finished it.
"Not n of you men and women but
despises a man who gives up in the
midst of a fight. This feeling is a part
of your very blood, for you have been
brought up in the midst of dangers
such as no other generation of men
has known. 1t is upon resistance up to
the last notch that your lives them
selves depend. That man among you
who surrenders imperils the lives of
all of you. There is not one of you
whose resolution has not been tried
and tried sorely by the almost insuffer-
able burdens of this new land. A hun
dred times you have said, why did l
not remain in the land which my IA
Tiers have made safe and pleasant for
me?' And a hundred times you have
fought off that feeling of discourage
ment.
you are about to be put to a test
more severe than any you have vet I'M
dergone. You have won the fight at Tip
pecanoe; but do not be mistaken: all
the pitiless warriors of the forest will
gather again and crush you out en-
tirely if they can; and behind them is
the power of that nation across the
seas, whose tyranny our fathers have
overthrown at such tremendous cost.
"'And whosoever doth not bear his
cross, and come after me, cannot be
my disciple!
"The words are those of the greatest
fighter Of all. They are the words of
a man who, without a single follower,
proclaimed his convictions before the
most hostile and unfriendly of all gen
erations. The whole crushing weight
of it's hate fell upon him, but he chung
to those beliefs to the very last-gave
up his life, rather than give them up.
He, of all men, knew what it mean to
cling to a purpose in the face of tre-
mendous difficulties. Yet he says that
whoever cannot equally endure the
burdens Of the march through life is
not fit to be a man.
"Thirty-twO years ago a little band
of men-settlers like you, and not so
many as are now before me-followed
George Rogers Clark through unimag-
Unable h%ardships across the wintry
prairies from Kaskaskia to Vincennes.
Last week I passed by the crumbling
timbers of the old fort and found their
bullets sunken in the logs inside the
~embrasures. Some of you men in this
audience were with him in that ter
rible march and daring assault. 1t is
useless to say that we will never for
get what YOU have done for us. Cen
eral Clark is now q penniless and pal
sled cripple in his sisters home. Do
not expect that a republic which has
no rewards for the leader will be less
forgetful of the man in the ranks.
"You have not entered on this death
lessly heroic struggle with the wilder.
ness with the expectation of material
reward alone: you have come here
from the old quiet places in Virginia
in Massachusetts, in Connecticut, in
Pennsylvania and New Jersey because
you have the fighting spirit in you
and you stay here because the fighting
spirit stays in you.
"'For which of you, intending tt
build a tower, stitch not down first
and counteth the cost, whether he hav'
sufficient to finish itT
"'Lest haply, after he hath laid thu
foundation, and is not able to finish 1t
all that behold it begin to mock him
"'Saying, "This man began to build
and was not able to tinlsh."'
"The tower that you have begun t.
build is an invisible tower: a new an,
mighty nation. Today you sit down t
, count the cost Of the building, to Sc
whether you have sufficient with whicl
to finish the vast edifce. What is tn
9 cost? The world watches you, and no
only its generations of today but thos
a unborn generations who will weig
r your work to see whether it was goo
or bad. l know that you have counte
the cost and are willing, ready to pa
it: q treasure of sacrifice, a treasur
of blood and wounds and dreadft
- agonies and bitter tears. But you wi
e pay it. You will pay it to the uttel
r most, holding yourselves to the girl
account with iron wills, forcing you
selves on with unconquerable resolve,
mot of you shall 1t ever be said
After he hath laid the foundation, an
Is not able to finish 1t, all that behol