, 1917-03-22

pie OF the countryside had gathered to
give thanks to God for the victory over
their savage foes. The vigor of the
chant Swelled in a stern strength which
was made beautiful by the rough voices
OF he pioneers. In the little room the
hymn echoed with the majesty of II
cathedral chant:
Come. thou Almighty King,
Help us thy name to sing,
Help me to praise!
rather! all glorious,
Ger all victorious,
Come and reign over us,
Ancient of daysi
David felt himself thrill in every
nerve; his wife's hand trembled in his
and he knew that, like himself, she
felt the mighty glory of life and love,
of trial undergone, of good triumphant
over Ill, of yearnings toward the inef-
fable. Tears of happiness stood in his
eyes. The pean of victory ceased.
The minister, a man of God, rose slow
ly to his feet. He, too, felt tears rising
from the depths. Love had made him
the apostle of the people of the will
derness and he had knit their hearts to
his with bands of humble ministry. He
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; the foundations of Goshen
chapel had been scarcely planned; but
today he found a hundred men and
watching him. expectant of
spiritual comfort. No one appreciated
better than he the sufferings, the he
reavements through which they had
passed. In his meek and heroic spirit
he thanked God for the high honor be-
slowed upon him, hat 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
zenith 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.
Il am going to speak to you about
tenacity 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 one 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 S%urrenders 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 1
not remain in the land which my IA
Tiers have made safe and pleasant for
me?' And a hundred times you have
fought off hat feeling of discourage
ment.
You are about to be put to a test
more severe than any you have yet IN
dergone. You have won the fight at Tip
pecanoe; but do not be mistaken: all
he 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
oyerthrown at such tremendous cost.
".And whatsoever doth no 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 its hate fell upon him, but he chung
TO those beliefs TO the very last-gave
nm his life, rather than give them up.
He. of all men, knew what 1t mean to
cling to a purpose in the a of ire
mendous difficulties. Yet he says that
whoever cannot eC''nllN endure the
burdens of the march through life is
not fit to be a man.
.'Thirty-two years ago a little banu
Of men-settlers like you, and not so
many as are now before me-follOwed
George Rogers Clark through unimag-
Unable hardships across the wintry
pralries from Kaskaskia to Vincennes.
Last week l 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 hat we will never for
get what you have done for us. Gen
eral Clark is now u penniless and pal
sled cripple in his sisters home. Do
not awnact that q rannhlic which has