LOYALTY 553 



stops to ask whether his brother has the right of it? The loyal man 

 simply says, " We'll settle that later, but for the time being I stand 

 with my brother." And loyalty doesn't look to see whether the battle 

 is to be lost or won. 



Remember too that loyalty, like charity, begins at home. When 

 can one see a finer sight than that of a family that stands compactly 

 together, helping and encouraging one another within, and defending 

 each other from without. 



As students in this, to you, new community, I trust you will ever 

 remain loyal to the high resolves you bring with you, loyal to the com- 

 munities, the schools and the friends you have left behind, and that you 

 may cultivate here a new loyalty to your alma mater, to your class, 

 and to whatever organizations you belong, and above all loyalty to the 

 purposes of your education. Never lose sight of the important fact, 

 however, that .loyalty demands submission to the rules of your order 

 or organization; no properly constituted society will admit a member 

 who will not subscribe to its constitution and by-laws. In practise you 

 will not be called upon to do anything spectacular, but you will have 

 to impress upon yourselves the necessity of steadfastness of purpose. 



And don't expect too much of anybody. We are all human, and 

 human frailties are in our blood and bones. Whether the object of 

 your loyalty to a person, an organization, a party or a principle, you 

 must not expect it to be perfect. None of the relations of this life are 

 altogether satisfactory. 



As a citizen be loyal to the legitimate and reasonable interests of the 

 community in which you live, and you will not be found lacking in 

 loyalty to the country at large. It is of loyal citizens and of loyal 

 citizens only that great nations are made. Tyrants can not long op- 

 press, nor can powder and bullets conquer, a people permeated with and 

 true to such sentiments. 



You will note that loyalty demands that you assume certain risks. 

 This is inevitable. Loyalty without risks must be of a pretty poor 

 quality. If there is anything especially pusillanimous in human nature, 

 anything that one instinctively despises, it is the disposition to stand 

 aside when there is danger to be faced, or to wait to see which side is 

 going to win before choosing that particular side. Take the risks and 

 go cheerfully forward. 



Loyalty is one of the big and far-reaching virtues; it makes trust- 

 worthy men and great men; as a national virtue it makes a people 

 great. For if it is love that makes the world go round, it is loyalty 

 that holds the world together. 



