Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the National Institute of Arts and Letters

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1910 Excerpt: ...Emmanuel, the sweep of its serried steps echoing the tread of hundreds of reverent feet. The bronze was cast when the victorious legions of the empire crowded the Appian Way; the marble was chiseled only a few years ago, and the sound of the completing hammer is still heard along its unfinished front. Both express the gratitude and homage of nations enriched and glorified by the personal achievements of men with but a single eye to their country's good. Both men in the highest and widest sense stood head and shoulders above their brothers. Both men were national assets. Behind the outburst of gratitude which prompted these tributes to their deeds, perpetuating their names so that all the people might see, lay a deeper and more significant meaning, one full of purpose. This was that neither their own nor subsequent generations should forget. England thus laid the foundation of her empire, so that to-day her written history is only a repetition of the names of the men who made her great. Perhaps in a new civilization like our own, where, as has been the case in other young republics, each and every man was king, one as good as the other, it was to be expected that, at least for a while, the nation could do without heroes. More important things absorbed us, and influenced our national life, the converting of stone into bread being one. Then there followed the struggle for family existence inside and outside the blockhouse, and, as the years wore on, there came the struggle to repair the fences that the War of the Revolution had laid low. Only one or two heroes loomed up, and these were duly honored in marble and brick, notably the Father of his country, as well as a few of those who had been of immediate use in giving the new republic the right to live. With t...