Page:Modern Eloquence - Volume 1.djvu/91

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JAMES M. BECK

a united country. If wounds there have been, they are healed; if cause for quarrel, it has gone. East and west from the Father of Waters, north and south of Mason and Dixon's line, we are one to-day, my fellow-countrymen; one, in the proud possession of a glorious past; one, in a resolute purpose to meet the duties of the hour, and one, in an abiding faith in the future of our beloved country. For one land, one people, one flag, and one destiny, let us reverently thank the God of our fathers. May the glory of the Republic be as lasting as the day which shines upon her flag, and her beneficent influence upon future generations as ceaseless as the majestic flow of the Mississippi to the sea.

Such has been the marvellous growth of the democracy of the "Mayflower." It has realized, beyond his most far-reaching imagination, the vision of the Puritan poet, Milton, when he said: "Methinks I see in my mind a noble and puissant nation, rousing itself like a strong man after his sleep, and shaking her invincible locks. Methinks I see her as an eagle mewing her mighty youth and kindling her undazzled eyes at the full midday beam, purging and unsealing her long-abused eyesight at the fountain itself of heavenly radiance." [Applause.]

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