iful bow of
freedom.

These grand men were enthusiasts; and the world has only been raised
by enthusiasts. In every country there have been a few who have given
a national aspiration to the people. The enthusiasts of 1776 were the
builders and framers of this great and splendid government; and they
were the men who saw, although others did not, the golden fringe of
the mantle of glory that will finally cover this world. They knew, they
felt, they believed that they would give a new constellation to
the political heavens--that they would make the Americans a grand
people--grand as the continent upon which they lived.

The war commenced. There was little money, and less credit. The new
nation had but few friends. To a great extent, each soldier of freedom
had to clothe and feed himself. He was poor and pure--brave and good,
and so he went to the fields of death to fight for the rights of man.

What did the soldier leave when he went?

He left his wife and children.

Did he leave them in a beautiful home, surrounded by civilization, in
the repose of law, in the security of a great and powerful republic?

No. He left his wife and children on the edge, on the fringe of the
boundless forest, in which crouched and crept the red savage, who was at
that time the ally of the still more savage Briton. He left his wife to
defend herself, and he left the prattling babes to be defended by their
mother and by nature. The mother made the living; she planted the corn
and the potatoes, and hoed them in the sun, raised the children, and
in the darkness of night, told them about their brave father, and the
"sacred cause." She told them that in a little while the war would be
over and father would come back covered with honor and glory.

Think of the women, of the sweet children who listened for the footsteps
of the dead--who waited through the sad and desolate years for the dear
ones who never came.

The soldiers of 1776 did not march away with music and banners. They
went in silence, looked at and gazed after by eyes filled with tears.
They went to meet, not an equal, but a superior--to fight five times
their number--to make a desperate stand--to stop the advance of the
enemy, and then, when their ammunition gave out, seek the protection of
rocks, of rivers and of hills.

Let me say here: The greatest test of courage on the earth is to bear
defeat without losing heart. That army is the bravest that can be
whipped the greatest n