ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 241 



Leaving the part of Hamlet out of the play of Hamlet 

 would be more reasonable than leaving Juliet out of Ro- 

 meo and Juliet. The story of the war is wholly incom- 

 plete without the women of the war. 



Correspondence from home was the constant solace of 

 the soldier in the field. But rare indeed was any letter 

 ever received which did not urge the soldier in the front 

 to do his duty to the end. Fellow-citizens, on such oc- 

 casions as these, we lay aside all matters of differences 

 in politics; we meet today not as partisans, but as pa- 

 triots. All religious creeds, except the broadest and most 

 comprehensive principles of Christian fellowship, are 

 forgotten on an occasion like this. 



Whilst from this platform nothing would be more im- 

 proper than to discuss the relative merits of different 

 political parties; still I will go far enough to say that 

 every American, young or old, should manifest his con- 

 cern in public affairs by taking an active interest in all 

 political questions. I believe it is better to be on the 

 wrong side of a question of this kind than upon no side. 



The man who makes a mistake by taking the wrong 

 side of a public question may, upon consideration, change 

 his views ; but the man who feels so little interest in his 

 country as to stand neutral upon living issues, is not so 

 likely to get right upon anything. He is a deadhead on 

 the body politic. As wind purifies the air, as the current 

 enlivens the water of the stagnant pool, so activity in 

 political life makes the body politic vigorous and healthy. 

 Whilst people remain awake and take sides, they will con- 

 tinue to deserve to be free. 



The greatest of all centuries is coming to a close ; the 

 eastern sky is already lightened with the approaching 

 dawn of the twentieth century. On no country does that 

 century bid fair to rise so gloriously as upon our own. 



When the war of 1861 broke out, ours was a nation of 



