Tombstone epitaph., 1917-05-20

or men-settlerS Ike you. and not 90 many as are now before me-followed George Rogers Clark through unimag- | inable hardships across the wintry prairies from Kaskaskia to vincennes. Last week passed by the crumbling | tfmbers 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. IL is useless to say that we will never for get what you have done for us. Gen. | eral Clark Is now a 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 to build tower. sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost. whether he have sufficient to finish itf
 "Lest haply. after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish 1t, all that behold 1t begin to mock him.
 "'Saying. This man began to build. and was not able to finlsh."'
 ''The tower that you have begun to build Is an invisible tower: a new and mighty nation. Today you sit down to count the cost of the building. to see l whether you have sufficient with which | to finish the vast edifice. What is the | cost? The world watches you. and not | only its generations of today but those | unborn generations who will weigh your work to see whether 1t was good or bad. I know that you have counted the cost and are willing, ready 10 pay 1t: treasure of sacrifice, a treasure of blood and wounds and dreadful agonies and bitter tears. But you will pay 1t. You will pay 1t to the utter most, holding yourselves to the grim account with iron wills, forcing your selves on with unconquerable resolve.
 Not of you shall 1t ever be said After he hath laid the foundation. and is not able to finish 1t, all that behold 1t began to mock him.
 "'Sayiag. This man began to build, and was not able to finish."'
 For the tower which you build is not built with hands. but with souls.
 "'So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
 "'Salt is good: but If the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be seasonedF
 All of you know how hard it is to get salt in this new country-how we have to haul bushels of salty earth from the spots which the red deer of the forest have discovered, the deer licks.' You put this salty earth in an ash hopper, pour water over It and catch the water in a trough after It has leaked through the dirt. And then you boil the salty water down till there is left a little of the precious mineral with which We can preserve our meats. You all know how labo- rious and tiresome a process it Is. and how much the salt means to the set tier. How. the cattle moo for a taste of itl What would our children do without milkI
 "We can all understand this manner of speaking: Salt is good: but if the salt have lost its savor. wherewith shall 1t be seasOnedT
 That great soldier, Christ, means to say that he looks to his followers not only to begin great tasks. but to con- tinue in them; for there are no greater soldiers than the soldiers who fight in a good cause. The man who stops mid way in his fight Is like salt that loses Its essential quality. There is no longer any reason for its existence. Better not be at all. than to cease from being strong. For then who Is left to give new strength to the salt? There is no one for you to fall back on-you have chosen a certain work in life and you must stick 1t out to the end.
 T want you to remember this through all the great struggles which are left before you. Today we are waiting. and waiting for the appear ance of a terrible foe. They may come to raise the war-whoop or they may come in peace. But however they may come they will find us ready, like the wise king who hath consulted and found himself ready to meet the force that cometh against him. For you have learned to fight the greater strug- gles of the spirit. You have learned to be cool, temperate and steady, first of all; and having learned these virtues of manllness and pluck and mastery over self, you will add to them the su- preme virtue of tenacity: to keep. to hold, to grip as In a wise the purpose to which you have consecrated your selves.
 And then, some day, the tower of this new and beautiful nation will stand as dream made visible. The foundations Washington laid. and Clark and Harrison have added to; the great timbers of the walls which you are raising will be strengthened by <SrAora u,htch vcur come ,rtll