460 Presidential Addresses 



outset, I hail the work of this society as typifying one 

 of those forces which tend to the betterment and 

 uplifting of our social system. Our whole effort 

 should be toward securing a combination of the 

 strong qualities with those qualities which we term 

 virtues. I expect you to be strong. I would not re- 

 spect you if you were not. I do not want to see 

 Christianity professed only by weaklings ; I want to 

 see it a moving spirit among men of strength. I 

 do not expect you to lose one particle of your 

 strength or courage by being decent. On the con- 

 trary, I should hope to see each man who is a mem- 

 ber of this society, from his membership in it be- 

 come all the fitter to do the rough work of the^orld; 

 all the fitter to work in time of peace; and if, which 

 may Heaven forfend, war should come, all the fitter 

 to fight in time of war. I desire to see in this country 

 the decent men strong and the strong men decent, and 

 until we get that combination in pretty good shape 

 we are not going to be by any means as successful 

 as we should be. There is always a tendency among 

 very young men and among boys who are not quite 

 young men as yet to think that to be wicked is rather 

 smart; to think it shows that they are men. Oh, 

 how often you see some young fellow who boasts 

 that he is going to "see life/' meaning by that that 

 he is going to see that part of life which it is a 

 thousandfold better should remain unseen! I ask 

 that every man here constitute himself his brother's 

 keeper by setting an example to that younger brother 

 which will prevent him from getting such a false 



