d. They will do this in thousands, the poorest
better than the richest often, the humblest just as heroically as the
leaders of the people. And therefore, we say, thank God for the
elevating power of Patriotism, for national Pride, for national
_prejudice_, if you will, that can, by this great love of country, so
conquer selfishness, meanness, cowardice, and all lower loves, and make
the very lowest by its power a hero, while the mortal man dies for the
immortal Nation! Let a man commit himself boldly to the tendencies and
influences of his race then. Let him work with them, not against them.
He cannot be too much an American, too thoroughly penetrated with the
convictions and the spirit of his country. And he need fear no
contracting narrowness. The Nation's aims are wiser far and loftier far
than the wisest and the loftiest of any one man, or any one generation.

We have faintly shadowed out here something of the meaning of THE
NATION. If we are right, we can pay no price that shall come near
its value. For ourselves, for our children, for the ages coming, it is
verily the Ark of the Covenant. We have seen that we are here to build
it. Because GOD needed these United States, He kept a continent
till the time was ripe, and then sent His workmen to the work. We are
all, in our degree, builders on those walls. We are building fast, these
days. Some rotten stones have entered into the structure, and it is hard
work to get them out, but we shall succeed. We shall see that no more of
that kind get in. Let us build on the broad foundation of the fathers a
stately palace, of marble, pure and white, whose towers shall flash back
in glory the sunlight of centuries, towers of refuge against falsehood
and wrong and cruelty forevermore.

We are all builders, we say. The humblest does his share. There's fear
in that thought, but more of hope. Nothing perishes. The private, who
falls, bravely fighting, does his part like the general. The ploughman's
honest life gives its contribution to the Nation's greatness as the
life of Webster does. All is telling in 'the long results of time,'
helping to decide what style of manhood shall be fashioned in America
for generations.

For the great Nation grows slowly upward to its perfect proportions, as
the parent and teacher of men. And all things and all men in it help to
decide and develop that capacity. Not dazzling battle-bursts alone, not
alone victorious charges on the trampled plain, no