The Gavelyte, February 1908

The Gavelyte. VOL. Ill FEBRUARY , 1908. one American Spirit BY ERNEST l\I'CLELLAN, '09. :-; .. ·n :-'l'l,i,.: nntlinn wa,.; dPli1·<• rerl l,1· lii P aull101·:11 rll,• 11111111111 Hl :11<' <1r.llo1i,·,1I <:0111P,.:i ll(' idn t \\' on,.;l c- ,:. l·'Plin1,1r,r II, l!il:-4. NO. 2. Deep in the hearts of every people, are rooted the principles of its national individuality. The eloquent tributes each nation ren– ders to its heroes are but the outpouring of gratitude for the realization of its cherished ideal~. The mighty monarch of the Orient represented to his fawning subjects all that was desirable in power, wealth, and sensual pleasure. The Grecian Archons to their followers embodied the vain hope for government by the few and the best. The ancient Roman adored the majesty of the law and fought the battles of his emperor, flushed by conquest and with t he desire for universal dominion and perpetual predominance. But the ..\merican reveres his liberty-loving leaders, who, with courage of eonvictions, in all our history, whether in peace or in war, have main– tained, at any cost, our invaluable principles of freedom, equality, . ( and urnon. ,'ix score year:-\ and more have come and gone since the spirit of American freedom ancl independen('e burst the bands of British oppression. Through trials that can never be told, slowly, but surely, our fore-fathers cherished their ideals until they became a signal for the storm-tossed of other nations, increasing in their henefieienee at home, until they have become sentiments endeared to f'Very heart, eonfirming our citizens in their principle. and guiding them onward ancl upward to that destiny which makes unavoidable duty freE>clom without restriC'tion to all classe::i and conditions of men. It is· ineuml,ent. then, upon us that we perpetuate the principle:-; haml<•<l down from former generatiorn\ not alone fo r our own advant– agf', hut with a view ever to the welfare of posterity, real izing that th<:' best way tn eommemorate tlw deeds of our heroes is to live for what thf'y {oug:ht for. an<l to trnm~mit it, unsullit?<l a n<l inc rt?ast?cl in