The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1917-06-14
HENEVER we hear
these patriotic airs
it stirs within us that
rrnot louo thot mn fool

H&ES4kk 1t stlrs within us that
G&g2gg great love that we feel
for our country. And it usually
takes us back to the early days
when the nation was in a struggle
for its very existence. The men
who wrote many of these pieces
we're inspired to do so by seeing
actual deeds of bravery. They saw
men so that the cause they believed
in might live. No sacrifice was
too great for them to make so that
government of the people for the
people and by the people'' might
not perish.
/ know of no more patriotic SUBJ
ject to talk on than that of our own
country and our own people. And
owing to the seriousness of the
present time when war clouds are
lowering around us we can find
great consolation in looking over
past events in our history, the tre-
mendous difficulties we have had
to overcome, and that we are still
in the ring to-day, a bigger nation,
a stronger nation, more united
nation than ever before and with
the same ideals as we had in 1776
to let alone and to be left alone.
Last month we celebrated the
142nd anniversary of the famous
ride of Paul Revere, when he made
his name a household word by
awakening the people to the ap-
proach of the British, and likewise
the starting of the war that was to
throw off the yoke of foreign rule.
Have you ever stopped to con-
slider the gigantic task that these
people undertook to accomplishs
They had not single warship and
no organization to speak of what
ever; yet they dared to defy one of
the most powerful nations of that
day. IT'S true that in the begin
ming they had no intention of sew
ering their allegiance from Eng
land, yet they stood out for the
principles they believed in-no
taxation without representation.
And from the battle of Bunker
Hill, when they followed the Pine
Tree flag with the appeal to Heav-
en- inscribed upon it and the first
flag of the Colonists, till the battle
of Yorktown, when they fought
under the Stars and Stripes and
defeated their enemy, making in
dependence inevitable. No pen
could write nor can any mind con-
ceive the hardships they had to
endure. It would be folly to try
and conceal the murmurings of
some against these hardships, and
it would be impossible to make
you believe that they were all
united on one course, for when
Richard Henry Lee of Virginia,
obeying the voice of his people,
introduced the resolution in Con-
gress, that these states are and of
a right ought to be independent
states in June, 1776, the MUIR
murs against it almost disheart-
ened those to whom it was so dear.
And when on July 4, 1776. Con-
gress passed the resolution of the
Declaration of independence, the
number of deserters was by NO
means insignificant, and even those
who were loyal and followed the
cause had to be coerced many
times to keep them from giving
up. But when the tide of battle
changed and new light dawned
on the horizon, the same then as
any time since, we see the band
wagon full and overfowing.
When the treaty of peace was
signed in 1888, making this coun'
try free and independent, the task
was by no means completed. There
was to come many obstacles; many
difficulties had to be dealt with
But it did open up a new worle