III


We can count on a minority who will see wisdom in such a discussion; it
must be our aim to make the discussion effective. We must be patient as
well as resolute. We are apt to get impatient and by hasty denunciation
drive off many who are wavering and may be won. These are held back,
perhaps, by some scruple or nervousness, and by a fine breath of the
truth and a natural discipline may yet be made our truest soldiers.
Emerson, in his address at the dedication of the Soldiers' Monument,
Concord, made touching reference in some such in the American Civil War.
He told of one youth he knew who feared he was a coward, and yet
accustomed himself to danger, by forcing himself to go and meet it. "He
enlisted in New York," says Emerson, "went out to the field, and died
early." And his comment for us should be eloquent. "It is from this
temperament of sensibility that great heroes have been formed." The
pains we are at to make men physically fit we must take likewise to make
them mentally fit. We are minutely careful in physical training, drill
regulations and the rest, which is right, for thus we turn a mob into an
army and helplessness into strength. Let us be minutely careful, too,
with the untried minds--timid, anxious, sensitive in matters of
conscience; like him Emerson spoke of, they may be found yet in the
foremost fighting line, but we must have patience in pleading with them.
Here above all must we keep our balance, must we come down with sympathy
to every particular. It is surely evident that it is essential to give
the care we lavish on the body with equal fulness to the mind.