Norwich bulletin., 1917-05-28

which conception of the nation ani- l mates it. It is one thing to die for a Nero. another to die for an Arthur
 or a Galahad. The true patriots loy- atty is an intensely spiritual thing, and the nation which is its true ob- ject is the spirit. invisible, but the ul- frontiers. dor1ning the institutions, binding the group in one. Where that is lacking there is no real nation or country for a man to love.
 Ameriea An Ideal.
 America? Oh: my countrymen. America is an ideal. hope. a pas sion! Men fought and toiled and agon-
 died, and women wept but cheered them on. to save it. And men will do it again and yet again till the hope comes true. America Is not the whim
 posed 'apgsrs npon u. t fyranny is What int 1t
 Is by our free and united will born,
 in each generation. of our souls. as it
 was born at first of the souls of our a new sense of what can and ought to
 be.
 Here is an object worthy of devo- tion. Here one feels patriotism in it's real nobility. The breath of a mans
 best aspiration for himself and his finest feeling for others Is in it. God forbid that to give up everything
 biindly, unreasonably, to Moloch- StdLG De LAS nlSheSL OI human attain ment. Let me give myself open-ey- ed, free hearted, to something that an honest man can love- Government as such has no claim on the soul of a people, unless. in Lincoln's phrase, it is of and for the people. Because America has always aimed at that, and, with all her stumbling, pushes on toward that. with the love of men and the passion for free manhood in her heart, our hearts burn with love of a VI ixynG fortunes. and out sacred honor"
 Liberty and Union.
 It is in this pursuit of freedom that we have found and shall find our unf- ty. In spite of many to whom, the old allegiance and the name of the moth er-country, however misgoverned. were dear. an American conscience ness sprang to life among these scat tered colonies -at the sound of the shots at Lexington. In their common hope they made common cause, and to- gether became their own masters. Then, at least they lose again their hard-won liberties, they came at length into stable union as one free people. whose first declaration of mans right as man to live his life has world. Again in those Civil War days how bitter a struggle it was to make good Webster's proud phrase, liberty and union. one and insepara ble!" Yet
  testimony that it was not just a phrase, a resounding bit of rhetoric, but a fragment of eternal truth.
 I believe this present hour. in which of conflict and summoned us to take our places on the side of liberty, is all so to make one again American grown diverse. We have been busy with selfish advantage. and self seek ing is always divisive. We have come from hundred quarters, and brought the affections and the preju- dices of our origin with us- But why are we here Is that selfish advantage the whole story? AEe we Americans solely from love of gain? No, it is the ideal, after all, that made all of us Americans. No man has chosen this land for a home. and cast in his lot with us as a citizen without at least his fathers of the invisible something for which this nation stands. which has made possible his opportunity, and to which in the hour of need his soul will answer.
 That hour has struck; sooner of lat CT faith in democracy ardor for free dom, must flame again in every breast. We are at war with the government of Germany, and must be or stuItify our selves. This is a tragic thing for large among us whose friends and kin support that government in arms So was 1t tragis when colonists of Bf1llSn DlOOd W1tnStOO0 the govern ment of Britain. or It's misgovernment in King George. So was it tragic when you were called to war with your fellow Americans of the South. An ideal unrealized may at any time cut across the dearest ties nd demand the costliest sacrifice. It is only in ideals achieved and duty 1 done that we shall reach the untroubi- | ed unity of our final peace.
 Seekers of Larger Leeway.
 Not man among us who knows the | of self government and has | seen a vision of freedom and oppor- i tunity but owes that ideal an imper- ative duty of service-to set his cou- ntry right if she forsakes it, and to | sustain her to the end if she is true. | Our fellow citizens of German origin l are committed to these very hopes. 1 They are here not because the scenes | of their childhood ceased to be at | tractive to them. or because they for 1 sock love of kindred and kindly wish | es for their neighbors' welfare. but as 1 seekers with Us of larger leeway, 1npler opportunity, and more equal | freedom Out from under the ec- | clesiastical intolerance of the 17th and | 18th centuries came those devout and | highly independent German Christians l who found a congenial abiding place In Pennsylvania Europe's struggle i for political freedom which cumlinat- | ed so disastrously in 1s4s sent at new |
 
 here the fulhllment of hopes which had l been denied them wonder. The men | who care for individual freedom have | not been encouraged in Germany for l a good while past. and from the steadi- 1 ly subduing pressure of too rigid a | class system formal state church, a | oligarchy, an overwhelming i! and civil order which de- i bends too much on regulation and 1 leaves too little to willing initistive, ] thousands have instinctively sought re- l lief not only as residents of this land l but as citizens of this nation.
 And in crisis they have not for | gotten the lodestar of their destiny. | They helped work out the freedom of | these colonies. Whey espoused the | cause of a free and united democracy | In the Civil war. They stood should | er to shoulder with all our men in | arms, as peristant as any and gall ant as the best. And now that con fict impends between their chosen | and their kin, know that they | will rally with us to the defense of the hopes that brought them hither. Ar