We must think of those who, ever since that time, when ever the liberty or the unity of the nation has been in peril, have sprung to its defense.
At the end of the war of the revolution, Washington was at the head of a mighty army, and was the object of the enthusiastic love of the whole people. He might easily have made himself a king or an emperor. It was a marvel to the civilized world when he quietly laid down all his power.
He suffered himself to be twice chosen president; and then he became simply a private citizen. This seems to us now the most natural thing in the world; but really it was something very rare, and gave him a fame such as few heroes of the world enjoy.
There have been heroes in peace as well as in war, men who have conquered the wilderness, who have upheld justice, and have helped on whatever was good and n.o.ble. And there are also many persons among us who are unworthy to live in our country, because they are not willing to suffer the least inconvenience on its account.
Then there are many men who are even so unpatriotic as to sell their votes. Think of all the cost of money and of n.o.ble lives at which our liberty has been won. Think how, in many parts of the world, men are looking with longing at the liberty which we enjoy; yet there are those to whom this hard-won freedom means so little that they do not strive to further the country"s interests in any way.
We must never forget, as we think or speak of patriotism, that such private virtues as honesty and industry, are its best helps. Whatever tends to make men wiser and better is a service to the nation. The country will one day be in the hands of those who are now boys and girls; and to you, we say, serve it, guard it, and do all that you can to promote its good.
There is a fine field for the exercise of patriotism in trying to improve the condition of affairs in the towns and cities in which we live. We find ourselves in the midst of a conflict between the criminal cla.s.ses on the one hand, and the people on the other,--a conflict as stern as was ever endured upon the battlefield, amid the glitter of cold steel and the rattle of musketry.
The man or woman of the school committee, working conscientiously that the boys and girls shall have the best education to fit them for future life, is a patriot. The teacher who patiently works on with that great end in view, is the same. If greed or bigotry claims from town, city, or country, that which will debase her people, every boy and girl, every man and woman, should instantly frown it down. This is true patriotism, and the influence of every person is needed for the right.
Every good man in politics wields a power for good. Every good man not in politics is to blame for political corruption, because by neglecting his plain duty he adds to the strength of the enemy. Let it be known that, with you, principle amounts to something; that character counts; that questionable party service cannot count upon your suffrage.
JOHN ADAMS.
But little has been written of the child-life of John Adams, the second president of the United States; a man of unflinching honesty, and a patriot of the n.o.blest order.
The Adamses were an honest, faithful people. They were not rich, neither were they poor; but being thrifty and economical, they lived with comfort. Stern integrity was the predominant quality of the farmer"s home into which John Adams was born in 1735. It must be remembered, throughout his life it was the st.u.r.dy qualities of his ancestors that made him the statesman and patriot whom we know.
The boy did not show much fondness for books. He preferred life out of doors among the birds and the squirrels, roaming the woods,--living just the life a wide-awake boy on a farm would lead nowadays.
His father gave him the opportunity of a liberal education, and he entered Harvard College when he was sixteen years old. It is curious to note that the students were all enrolled according to social position, and John Adams was the fourteenth in his cla.s.s. In college he was noted for integrity and energy as well as for ability,--those qualities which the st.u.r.dy line of farmers had handed down to their children.
The year he graduated, then twenty years of age, he became teacher of the grammar school in Worcester, Ma.s.sachusetts. There he earned the money to aid him in studying his profession, and the training was excellent for the young man. He decided that he would be a lawyer, and he wrote: "But I set out with firm resolutions, never to commit any meanness or injustice in the practice of law."
There were stirring times in the colonies when John Adams was thirty years old. The British government imposed taxes and searched for goods which had evaded their officers. The matter was brought before the Superior Court. James Otis argued the cause of the merchants; and John Adams listened intently to all this great man said. He afterwards wrote: "Otis was a flame of fire.... American independence was then and there born. Every man appeared to be ready to get away and to take up arms."
Then the Stamp Act was issued. John Adams"s whole soul was fired with indignation at the injustice. He drew up a set of resolutions, remonstrating against it. These were adopted, not only by the citizens of Braintree, but by those of more than forty other towns in Ma.s.sachusetts; and the landing of the Stamp Act paper was prevented.
Courts were closed, and the excitement was intense. John Adams boldly said that the Stamp Act was an a.s.sumption of arbitrary power, violating both the English const.i.tution and the charter of the province.
In connection with what is known as "The Boston Tea Party," came the closing of Boston"s ports, because the tea had been thrown overboard, and the city would not submit to the tax. A Congress was convened in Philadelphia, and John Adams was one of the five delegates sent from Boston. He knew the grave responsibility of the time. With intense feeling he exclaimed: "G.o.d grant us wisdom and fort.i.tude! Should this country submit, what infamy and ruin! Death in any form is less terrible!"
Jefferson and Adams were appointed to draw up the Declaration of Independence. Mr. Adams insisted that Jefferson should prepare it, and he with forty-four others signed it. Mr. Jefferson wrote: "The great pillar of support to the Declaration of Independence, and its ablest advocate and champion on the floor of the House, was John Adams. He was our Colossus."
In various ways, John Adams served his country with unswerving loyalty.
When Washington was chosen president, Adams was chosen vice-president for both terms, and was then elected president. To the very last he was always ready to give his word--strong, convincing, powerful as of old--in the defense of the right, even if he had to stand entirely alone. And the story of his manly independence will always add to the dignity of the early history of our nation.
[Footnote: See "Life and Works of John Adams," by C. F. Adams (10 vols.); "Life of John Adams," by J. T. Morse; and article in Appleton"s Cyclopedia of American Biography, Vol. I., pp. 15-23.]
x.x.xIII.
INDEPENDENCE.
MEMORY GEMS.
Keep out of the crowd, if you have to get above it.--M. C Peters
The freedom of the mind is the highest form of independence.--G. B. Fisk
A country cannot subsist without liberty, nor liberty without virtue.
--Rousseau
The spirit of independence is not merely a jealousy of our own particular rights, but a respect for the rights of others.
--S. Baring-Gould
The love of independence is not only instinctive in man, but its possession is essential to his moral development.--George Eliot
A great many persons carry in their minds a very mistaken idea as to what const.i.tutes a truly n.o.ble life. To live is not merely to exist; it is to live unbiased and uninfluenced by low and belittling human influences. It is to give breadth and expansion to the soul; first through a clear discrimination between right and wrong; and then in living up to the right. Full manhood, the full realization and fruition of all that is best and greatest in man, depends upon freedom of thought and independence of action.
Some countries have given especial attention to the cultivation of this trait. For example: It has been pointed out that "among the bestproducts of Scotland has been her love of independence. A ruggedness of spirit has marked her children. Strength stamps her heroes. The gentle Burns was as strong as Knox,--not in character, but in the a.s.sertion of "A man"s a man for a" that;" and a great many of Scotland"s n.o.blest sons have been brought into public notice through the manifestation of their strong personality."
Vast numbers of men and women ruin their lives by failing to a.s.sert themselves. They sink into the grave with scarcely a trace to indicate that they ever lived. They live and they die. Cradle and grave are brought close together; there is nothing between them. There have been hundreds who could have rivaled the patriotism of a Washington, or the humanity of a Howard, or the eloquence of a Demosthenes, and who have left behind them no one memorial of their existence, because of lack of lofty courage, sublime moral heroism, and the a.s.sertion of their individuality.
The world"s greatest things have been accomplished by individuals. Vast social reformations have originated in individual souls. Truths that now sway the world were first proclaimed by individual lips. Great thoughts that are now the axioms of humanity sprang from the center of individual hearts. Do not suffer others to shape your lives for you; but do all you can to shape them for yourselves.
Sydney Smith insisted upon this quality of manhood and womanhood as indispensable. He said: "There is one circ.u.mstance I would preach up morning, noon, and night, to young persons for the management of their understanding: Whatever you are by nature, keep to it; never desert your own line of talent. Be what Nature intended you for, and you will succeed; be anything else, and you will be ten thousand times worse than nothing."
It is a good thing for a boy to wait upon himself as much as possible.
The more he has to depend upon his own exertions, the more manly a fellow will he become. Self-dependence will call out his energies, and bring into exercise his talents. It is not in the hothouse, but on the rugged Alpine cliffs, where the storms beat most violently, that the toughest plants grow. So it is with man. The wisest charity is to help a boy to help himself. Let him never hear any language but this: You have your own way to make, and it depends on your own exertion whether you succeed or fail.
Sherman once wrote to General Grant, "You are now Washington"s legitimate successor, and occupy a position of almost dangerous elevation; but if you continue, as heretofore, _to be yourself_,-- simple, honest, and unpretending,--you will enjoy through life the respect and love of friends, and the homage of millions of human beings."
Of course we must guard against the error of carrying our sense of independence too far. Wordsworth hit the truth when he said: "These two things, contradictory as they may seem, must go together,--manly dependence and manly independence,--manly reliance and manly self-reliance."
Still, after all is said, we do need more healthy independence. Looking out upon society, we see how slavish men and women are to fashion and frivolity. Society life is largely a surface life, spoiled by fear of gossip. Young people need to take clearer views of this matter, and to stand by their own convictions at any cost. The question to be settled by most of us is, Shall I steer or drift? Our advice is, by all means have a lofty purpose before you, and then remain loyal to it.
Some boys think independence consists in doing whatever they please.
They think it is smart to be "tough." A story told by Admiral Farragut about his early boyhood, aptly ill.u.s.trates this phase of young America"s independence. He says: "When I was a boy, ten years of age, I was with my father on board of a man-of-war. I had some qualities that I thought made a man of me. I could swear like an old salt; could drink as stiff a gla.s.s of grog as if I had doubled Cape Horn; and could smoke like a locomotive. I was great at cards; and fond of gaming in any shape. At the close of dinner one day my father turned everybody out of the cabin, locked the door, and said to me: "David, what do you mean to be?" "I mean to follow the sea." "Follow the sea! yes, to be a poor, miserable, drunken sailor before the mast; be kicked and cuffed about the world; and die in some fever hospital in a foreign clime." "No," said I, "I"ll tread the quarter-deck, and command as you do." "No, David; no boy ever trod the quarter-deck with such principles as you have. You"ll have to change your whole course of life if you ever become a man."
"My father left me and went on deck. I was stunned by the rebuke, and overwhelmed with mortification. "A poor, miserable, drunken sailor before the mast!" That"s my fate, is it! I"ll change my life, and change it at once! I will never utter another oath; I will never drink another drop of intoxicating liquor; I will never gamble! I have kept these three vows to this very hour. That was the turning point in my destiny."
A great many men begin to lose their individuality of conviction the moment they begin life"s business. Many a young man has sacrificed his individuality on the altar that a profligate companion has built for him. Many a young man who knew right, has allowed some empty-headed street-corner loafer to lower his own high moral tone lest he should seem singular in the little world of society surrounding him. And many a lad whose life promised well at the beginning, has gone to the bad, or lost his chance in life, because he never learned to say "No!"
In the Revolutionary War, after the surrender of General Lincoln, at Charleston, the whole of South Carolina was overrun by the British army.
Among those captured by the redcoats was a small boy, thirteen years of age. He was carried as a prisoner of war to Camden. While there, a British officer, in a very imperious tone, ordered the boy to clean his boots, which were covered with mud.
"Here, boy! You young rebel, what are you doing there? Take these boots and clean them; and be quick about it, too!"
The boy looked up at him and said: "Sir, I won"t do it. I am a prisoner of war, and expect proper treatment from you, sir." This boy was Andrew Jackson, who afterward became president of the United States. Boys with such a spirit make n.o.ble men.