of an Edison, a Burbank, a Goethals, a McDowell, the devotion of a
John R. Mott, a Frank Higgins, a Jane Addams and the long honor
roll of men and women made great through their service. America
also embodies all that was wrought by those early comers who
endured hunger, disease, suffering, that they might conquer a
wilderness and make it a land of opportunity. It holds the fruits
of service and sacrifice purchased by those later ones who
willingly faced death "that government for the people and by the
people" might replace tyranny and oppression, and the imperishable
glory of those others who counted not their lives dear but laid
them down that sweet freedom might be the right of every man, of
whatever race or color. Beside all these stood the strong, true
women who suffered, endured and triumphed with them.

The rich heritage bestowed by a Washington, a Lincoln, a Lee, a
John Eliot, a Charles Sumner, a Marcus Whitman, a Sheldon Jackson,
a Harriet Beecher Stowe, a Frances Willard, and a host of others,
constitutes the infinitely precious treasury of our national life.

Bayard Taylor expresses the peculiar genius of America in his
national ode:


From the homes of all, where her being began
She took what she gave to man.
Justice, that knew no station,
Belief as soul decreed,
Free air for aspiration,
Free force for independent deed.