“Who pitched a state as other men pitch tents,
And led the march of time to great events.”
The pioneers of this Commonwealth were men who here pitched a state
as other men pitch tents, and are leading the march of time to great
events. The age, America, offer great opportunities to educated young
men and women. Use them with courage. King Henry IV. of France once
gained a great victory at Arques. After the battle, as he was leading
his troops toward Paris, he met one of his generals coming up late with
a detachment of the army, and thus greeted him, “Go hang yourself,
brave Crillon! We fought at Arques and you were not there,” as though
the greatest privilege in life were an opportunity to contend and win
for one’s self a victory.
A few years ago I went to Ayr, the birthplace of Burns. I visited
the poet’s cottage, walked by the Alloway Kirk where Tam o’ Shanter
beheld the witch dance, crossed the Auld Brig and wandered by the
banks and braes o’ bonny Doon—and it is a beautiful stream. I found
myself repeating lines from “Tam o’ Shanter,” “Bonny Doon,” “Scots Wha
Hae wi’ Wallace Bled,” and from some of the sweeter and nobler songs
of Burns. And I thought of the mission of the poet. The scenery in
and about Ayr is beautiful, but there is many another region equally
attractive. The people with whom Burns dwelt, his neighbors and
friends, were commonplace men and women, knowing the hardships, the
drudgery, the pettiness of life. And yet he so sang of these scenes and
these people, so touched every chord of the human heart, that annually
thirty thousand travellers visit Ayr to pay their homage at the poet’s
shrine. The poetic view of life is the right one. The poet sees the
reality in the commonplace. Our surroundings are filled with wonderful
and varied beauty when we open our eyes to the truth. Our friends and
companions are splendid men and women when we see them at their worth.
For happiness as well as success add poetry to heroism.
“The Inscrutable who set this orb awhirl
Gave power to strength that effort might attain;
Gave power to wit that knowledge might direct;
And so with penalties, incentives, gains,
Limits, and compensations intricate,
He dowered this earth, that man should never rest
Save as his Maker’s will be carried out.
* * * * *
There is no easy, unearned joy on earth
Save what God gives—the lustiness of youth,
And love’s dear pangs. All other joys we gain
By striving, and so qualified we are
That effort’s zest our need as much consoles
As effort’s gain. Both issues are our due.
* * * * *
Better when work is past
Back into dust dissolve and help a seed
Climb upward, than with strength still full
Deny to God His claim and thwart His wish.”