56 Latitude and Longitude 



he was, if practicality is held to include wisdom 

 and high purpose. He did not permit himself to 

 be affected by their position. He did not yield to 

 what they advised when it was impracticable, nor 

 did he permit himself to become prejudiced against 

 so much of what they championed as was right and 

 practicable. His ideal was just as high as theirs. 

 He did not lower it. He did not lose his temper 

 at their conduct, or cease to strive for the abolition 

 of slavery and the restoration of the Union; and 

 whereas their conduct foreboded disaster to both 

 causes, his efforts secured the success of both. So, 

 in our turn, we of to-day are bound to try to tread 

 in the footsteps of those great Americans who in the 

 past have held high ideal and have striven mightily 

 through practical methods to realize that ideal. 

 There must be many compromises; but we can not 

 compromise with dishonesty, with sin. We must 

 not be misled at any time by the cheap assertion 

 that people get only what they want ; that the editor 

 of a degraded newspaper is to be excused because 

 the public want the degradation; that the city offi 

 cials who inaugurate a "wide-open" policy are to 

 be excused because a portion of the public likes vice ; 

 that the men who jeer at philanthropy are to be 

 excused because among philanthropists there are 

 hypocrites, and among unfortunates there are vi 

 cious and unworthy people. To pander to depravity 



