national consciousness around their great heroes, among them the greatest
of all, Bolivar, one of those men who appear in the world at long
intervals, selected by God to be the leaders of multitudes, to be
performers of miracles, achieving what is impossible for the common man.
They live a life of constant inspiration, as if they were not guided by
their own frail judgment, but, like Moses, by the smoke and the flame of
God through a desert, through suffering and success, through happiness and
misfortune, until they might see before them the Promised Land of Victory,
some destined to enjoy the full possession of it, and others to die with no
other happiness than that of leaving an inheritance to their successors.

These few pages, devoted to the life and work of Simon Bolivar, the
great South American Liberator, will attain their object if the reader
understands and appreciates how unusual a man Bolivar was. Every citizen of
the United States of America must respect and venerate his sacred memory,
as the Liberator and Father of five countries, the man who assured the
independence of the rest of the South American peoples of Spanish speech;
the man who conceived the plans of Pan-American unity which those who
came after him have elaborated, and the man who, having conquered all
his enemies and seen at his feet peoples and laws, effected the greatest
conquest, that of himself, sacrificing all his aspirations and resigning
his power, to go and die, rewarded by the ingratitude of those who owed him
their existence as free men. The more the life of this man is studied, the
greater he appears, and the nearer he seems to the superhuman.

The American people, made free by Washington, do not begrudge the
legitimate glory of other illustrious men, and if they have not rendered up
to this time the homage due to Simon Bolivar, it has been mainly through
lack of accurate knowledge of his wonderful work. The city of New York, the
greatest community in the world, is now honoring his memory by placing in