8 



service. In the early days of the civil war our army 

 was in the process of training. The early battles re- 

 sulted in defeat. But the army grew stronger with 

 every reverse. Fidelity to duty in the hearts of our 

 patriot soidiery was the inspiration of a new resolve in 

 those dark days, when the fate of the nation hung in the 

 balance. The training of the camp, the knowledge of 

 luetics, the hardening of the body inured to hardships, 

 were elements of strength in that contest when an invin- 

 cible army moved on dauntless, through the wilderness 

 of death, and swept over the fields of Georgia — adding 

 victory to victory, till the battle was won and the sol- 

 diers rested at Appomattox. It was strength devoted to 

 a grand purpose. It was the result of discipline. What 

 is an army good for if it will not fight? What is a man 

 worth if lie shirks responsibility, fails in the time of 

 greatest need ? What is a man worth if he will not 

 work ? This is the more important, when we consider 

 that in all tilings conflict is necessary in order to succeed 

 — an easy victoiy means small gain. The most success- 

 ful man is he who has the most to do. His fertile brain 

 devises the plans of life ; his hands carry out the things 

 devised. You cannot gather so much gold as to be able 

 to secure success to your son by any foundation on which 

 you place him. Work, work, work, is the secret of all 

 progress. Not the treadmill as in slaveiy, not the blind 

 following instinct as the squirrel gathers nuts, but the 

 work of hand and foot, guided by an active brain. The 

 most successful nation does not live in tropical lands, 

 where nature is most opulent with her gifts. But that 

 nation whose ships float on every sea, whose people en- 

 ter witli pride the rivalries of common lives, where the 

 soil is less productive, and nature's forces are held in re- 



