126 Overdoing the Past 



hour. The existent conditions produce the 

 men required for them, and when the de- 

 mand is for heroes, heroes will stand forth. 

 In the humdrum conditions of the present 

 merely money-getting days, of what earthly 

 use would a Washington or a Lincoln be ? 

 If they applied their talents to the present, 

 as they did to the conditions of their times, 

 they would inevitably take the fatal step from 

 the sublime to the ridiculous. 



But this is base ingratitude, some one, 

 having the Revolution in mind, cries out. 

 These men fought and bled for our liberties. 

 Let us think a moment. Is this charge of 

 ingratitude as serious as it sounds ? How do 

 we know the heroes of other days did any- 

 thing of the kind ? They have left no record 

 of great concerns as to their great-grandchil- 

 dren. They did concern themselves with 

 their children, for the latter were then very 

 much in evidence ; but here is an ugly faft 

 that confronts those that talk of ingratitude. 

 Never a hero but was concerned more about 

 his own neck than about the necks of those 

 to come after him. The men of troublous 

 times, in years gone by, had their own im- 

 mediate interests, and were necessarily moved 



