It is a splendid thing to feel that the wholesome
blood of a great country can be united in common purposes, and that by
frankly looking one another in the face and taking counsel with one
another, prejudices will drop away, handsome understandings will arise,
a universal spirit of service will be engendered, and that with this
increased sense of community of purpose will come a vastly enhanced
individual power of achievement; for we will be lifted by the whole mass
of which we constitute a part.
Have you never heard a great chorus of trained voices lift the voice of
the prima donna as if it soared with easy grace above the whole
melodious sound? It does not seem to come from the single throat that
produces it. It seems as if it were the perfect accent and crown of the
great chorus. So it ought to be with the statesman. So it ought to be
with every man who tries to guide the counsels of a great nation. He
should feel that his voice is lifted upon the chorus and that it is only
the crown of the common theme.
[G] This was at Princeton, in 1902 and 1903.
TO NATURALIZED CITIZENS
[Address delivered at Convention Hall, Philadelphia, May 10, 1915.
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