iotic description. Next to the love of God it placed the love
of country. "Can the cadet fear or be a coward?" was one of its
questions, with the response, "I know not how to answer, for both the
word and the thing for which it stands are unknown to me." This was no
mere ornamental flourish: for a dauntless courage is one of the most
distinctive characteristics of the Polish race, whether of its sons or
daughters. No opportunity was lost, even in the textbooks of the school,
to impress upon the students' minds that above all their lives belonged
to Poland. Let them apply themselves to history, said the foreword of an
encyclopaedia that Adam Czartoryski wrote expressly for them, so that
they shall learn how to rule their own nation; to the study of law, that
they may correct the errors of those lawgivers gone before them. "You
who have found your country in this most lamentable condition must
people her with citizens ardent for her glory, the increase of her
internal strength, her reputation among foreigners, the reformation of
what is most evil in her government. May you, the new seed, change the
face of your country."

In this environment Kosciuszko spent the most impressionable period of
his youth. Early portraits show us the winning, eager, mobile young face
before life moulded it into the rugged countenance of the Polish
patriot, with its stern purpose and melancholy enthusiasm, that lives as
the likeness of Tadeusz Kosciuszko. Even as a cadet Kosciuszko was
distinguished not merely for his ability, but still more for his dogged
perseverance and fidelity to duty. Tradition say that, determined to put
in all the study that he could, he persuaded the night watchman to wake
him on his way to light the staves at three in the morning by pulling a
cord that Kosciuszko tied to his left hand. His colleagues thought that
his character in its firmness and resolution resembled that of Charles
XII of Sweden, and nicknamed him "Swede." Truth and sincerity breathed
in his every act and word. What he said he meant. What he professed he
did. The strength that was in him was tempered by that peculiar
sweetness which was native to him all his life, and which in later
manhood drew men as by magic to his banners, even as in his school-days
it won the respect and love of his young comrades. The esteem in which
his fellow-cadets held him is illustrated by the fact that on an
occasion when they were mortally offended by some slight put upo