,the ,william ,penn ,lectures  ,,heroes 
,,in ,,peace  ,illustration3 ,john      
,haynes ,holmes' signature4        #aibj
 ,walter ,h4 ,jenkins1 ,printer         
,philadelphia     ,this is the sixth of 
the series of lectures known as the     
,,william ,,penn ,,lectures4 ,they are  
supported by the ,young ,friends'       
,movement of ,philadelphia ,yearly      
,meeting1 which was organized on ,fifth 
month #acth1 #aiaf1 at ,race ,street    
,meeting ,house in ,philadelphia1 for   
the purpose of closer fellowship1 for   
the strengthening of such association   
and the interchange of experience1 of   
loyalty to the ideals of the ,society of
 ,friends1 and for the preparation by   
such common ideals for more effective   
work through the ,society of ,friends   
for the growth of the ,kingdom of ,god  
on earth4  ,the name of ,william ,penn  
has been chosen because he was a ,great 
,adventurer1 who in fellowship with his 
friends started in his youth on the holy
 experiment of endeavoring to live out  

the laws of ,christ in every thought and
 word and deed1 that these might become 
the laws and habits of the ,state4      
,john ,haynes ,holmes1 of the ,community
 ,church1 ,new ,york ,city1 delivered   
this sixth lecture on ,heroes in ,peace1
 at ,race ,street ,meeting ,house1 on   
,fifth month #ith1 #aibj4               
,philadelphia1 #aibj4     ,heroes in    
,peace   ,in an essay published some    
years ago on ,thomas ,carlyle's famous  
book1 ,heroes and ,hero ,worship1 ,prof4
 ,mac,mechan1 a well-known student of   
literature in ,england1 makes the       
following observation3 ,in #ahdj1 'hero'
 meant1 most probably1 to nine          
,englishmen out of every ten1 a general 
officer who had served in the           
,peninsula1 or taken part in the last   
great fight with ,napoleon1 and who     
dined year after year with the ,duke at 
,apsley ,house on the anniversary of    
,waterloo4 ,to most people 'hero' means 
simply 'soldier1' and implies a human   
soul greatly daring and greatly         

enduring4  ,what ,prof4 ,mac,mechan here
 tells us about the ,englishman of #ahdj
 is equally true of the ,englishman of  
today--is true1 indeed1 of all peoples  
in all ages of history4 ,heroism has    
nearly always been taken to imply       
physical courage2 physical courage has  
always found its most terrible and      
dramatic expression in warfare2 and1    
therefore1 by a natural association of  
ideas1 the hero has come to be          
identified with the soldier4 ,when we   
think of heroes1 we almost instinctively
 find ourselves thinking of armored     
champions of ,greece and ,rome1 who were
 helped to immortality by ,plutarch1    
whom ,emerson calls the doctor and      
historian of heroism2 of ,king ,arthur1 
and his knights of the ,round ,table2 of
 ,harold and his men of iron on the     
field of ,hastings2 of the ,crusaders1  
who marched to the ,east with the sword 
in the one hand and the crucifix in the 
other1 to wrest the holy city from the  
profaning clutch of the hated ,moslem4  

,or1 coming down to the more modern     
times1 if we speak of heroism to the    
,frenchman1 he thinks of the first      
,emperor and the old guard which dies   
but never surrenders2 to the ,italian1  
he hails the names of ,garibaldi and the
 ,thousand2 to the ,englishman1 he      
acclaims the thin red line of heroes who
 held the field of ,waterloo1 conquered 
,india and ,egypt1 and recently defended
 the ,empire from the onslaughts of the 
,germans4 ,and the same thing holds true
 of the ,american6 ,to you and to me1   
the word hero means ,george ,washington 
and the ragged ,continentals who starved
 and froze amid the snowdrifts of       
,valley ,forge2 ,commodore ,perry and   
the sailors who shattered the ,british  
fleet upon the waters of ,lake ,erie2   
,general ,grant and the boys in blue who
 fought and conquered ,general ,lee and 
the equally heroic boys in gray4 ,the   
national heroes of all countries are    
soldiers4 ,walk the streets of any city 
in any land1 and everywhere you will see

 statues of military chieftains1 as     
though these were the only heroes the   
world had ever produced who were worthy 
of commemorative monuments4 ,to most    
people1 as ,prof4 ,mac,mechan has well  
said1 'hero' means simply soldier2 or1  
if we be enlightened enough now and then
 to extend this title to men who have   
achieved fame in other walks of life1 it
 is because we see in them some analogy 
to the warrior4 ,it is to the military  
attitude of the soul1 says ,emerson1    
that we give the name of heroism4  ,now 
that the universal instinct of humanity 
to identify the hero and the soldier is 
sound and wholesome1 to a large extent1 
we must all agree4 ,i would be among the
 last1 ,i trust1 to deny to the soldier 
the possession of those heroic qualities
 which are so manifestly his4 ,i must   
confess that ,i have both admiration and
 love for the men who march away to     
trench and battlefield1 there to fling  
away their lives as little things for   
the sake of some great cause which they 

hold to be supremely dear4 ,every heroic
 act1 says ,emerson again1 in his essay 
on ,heroism1 measures itself by its     
contempt of some external good2 and what
 man1 ,i ask you1 has more contempt for 
certain external goods1 and therefore   
more heroism1 than the loyal soldier8   
,material comfort1 physical security1   
the familiar sights and sounds of home1 
the love of friends and kindred1 the    
laughter of little children1 the dreams 
of quiet old age1 the precious boon of  
life--these are some of the more        
elementary things which a man shows to  
us that he holds in contempt1 as        
compared with the happiness and safety  
of his native land1 when he voluntarily 
enlists for active service4 ,there are  
some soldiers1 of course1 who are mere  
adventurers4 ,there are some others to  
whom war is nothing more nor less than a
 trade4 ,there are still others who see 
in war only an opportunity for the      
release of the brutish passions which   
are inconsistent with the ordered ways  

of peace4 ,but even these men bear a    
certain aspect of heroism4 ,i naturally 
love a soldier1 says ,sir ,thomas       
,browne1 in his ,religio ,medica1 and   
honor those tattered and contemptible   
regiments that will die at the command  
of a sergeant4 ,and when we come to the 
ordinary man who goes to the front in   
time of war1 such as the farmer         
described by ,john ,masefield in his    
elegy1 ,august1 #aiad1 who looks with   
fond eyes upon his furrowed fields1 his 
barns1 his hay-ricks1 his friendly      
horses--      ,the rooks1 the tilted    
stacks1 the beasts in pen 99 99 99      
,the fields of home1 the byres1 the     
market towns  and then1 with weary      
heart1 leaves all these things behind to
 perish in the misery of the soaking    
trench1 we find the sublimity of        
sacrifice4 ,the true soldier is indeed a
 hero4 ,in this age1 of all ages of     
human history1 are we unable to give    
denial to this fact4 ,millions of men1  
on a dozen different battle-fronts1 have

 recently taught us the heroisms which  
make war almost as glorious as it is    
hideous4 ,not a day passed during more  
than four terrible years1 but what we   
read with tingling hearts how brave men 
suffered without complaint1 and died    
without fear1 for the countries that    
they loved4 ,i remember1 for example1   
reading on a certain day in #aiaf1 in a 
single copy of an evening newspaper1 of 
three young soldiers who were heroes4   
,one was a ,german lad1 unnamed1 who was
 found stricken unto death by the side  
of a dead ,englishman1 whose wounds he  
had tried to staunch1 and whose thirst  
he had quenched from the water of his   
own canteen--a second ,sir ,philip      
,sidney1 nobler than the first1 since he
 gave succor not to a friend but to an  
enemy4 ,the second man was an           
,englishman1 ,capt4 ,alexander ,seaton1 
who fell fighting bravely at the        
,dardanelles4 ,a classical scholar of   
repute1 a fellow in ,pembroke ,college1 
,cambridge1 devoted to his work as a    

tutor and lecturer in history1 it was   
written of him1 by one who knew and     
loved him1 ,not a soldier by            
inclination1 he left his peaceful life  
at ,pembroke solely because he conceived
 that his duty lay that way1 and that   
the hour had come for every man to      
strike a blow for his country4 ,the     
third man was a ,frenchman1 a poet1     
,ernest ,psichari by name1 who fell at  
,verton1 in ,belgium4 ,his battery had  
been ordered to keep the enemy in check 
while the army was falling back1 ran the
 story4 ,they were expected to hold     
their ground for a few hours1 and they  
did so for a whole day2 and when the    
last shell had been spent1 officers and 
gunners were killed to a man on the guns
 they had taken care to render unusable4
  ,such are the stories which came to us
 through the period of the ,great ,war4 
,all of them are eloquent of the fact1  
are they not1 that the instinct of      
humanity is right in its ascription of  
heroism to the soldier8 ,if this        

instinct has gone astray1 it is only in 
the tendency which it has shown to      
ascribe heroism exclusively to the      
soldier4 ,in attempting to do full      
justice to the man who has fought and   
died amid the terrors of the            
battlefield1 it has been tempted again  
and again to do something less than     
justice to the man who has fought and   
died as gallantly in fields less        
dramatic but no less terrible than those
 of war4 ,for whether we judge heroism  
as involving contempt of comfort1 hazard
 of death1 or the simple eager quest for
 fullness of life1 we find it1 ,i       
believe1 even more truly1 though less   
frequently1 characteristic of the       
circumstances of peace than those of    
war4 ,it was upon this plain fact that  
,william ,james sought to vindicate the 
possibility of what he called1 in his   
famous essay of that title1 a moral     
equivalent of war4 ,he affirmed that the
 war party is assuredly right in        
affirming and reaffirming that the      

martial virtues are absolute and        
permanent human goods4 ,but1 he         
continues1 patriotic pride and ambition 
in their military form are1 after all1  
only specifications of a more general   
competitive passion4 ,they are its first
 form1 but that is no reason for        
supposing them to be its last form2 nor1
 we may add1 its only present form4 ,it 
would be simply preposterous1 says      
,james again1 if the only force that    
could work ideals of honor and standards
 of efficiency into ,english or         
,american natures should be the fear of 
being killed by the ,germans or         
,japanese4 ,great indeed is fear1 but it
 is not1 as our military enthusiasts    
believe and try to make us believe1 the 
only stimulus known for awakening the   
higher ranges of men's spiritual energy4
 ,strenuous honor and disinterestedness 
abound everywhere4 ,priests and medical 
men are in a fashion educated to it4    
,the only thing needed henceforward is  
to inflame the civic temper as past     

history has inflamed the military       
temper4 ,and it is here that ,james     
urges1 as his moral equivalent of war1  
the conscription of our young men to    
coal and iron mines1 to freight trains1 
to fishing fleets in ,december1 to      
dish-washing1 clothes-washing1 and      
window-washing1 to road-building and    
tunnel-making1 to foundries and         
stoke-holes1 to the frames of           
sky-scrapers1 there to pay their        
blood-tax--in the immemorial human      
warfare against nature4 ,all of which   
means1 among other things1 that those   
men and women today who are already     
mining coal1 and washing dishes1 and    
making tunnels1 and stoking furnaces1   
and building sky-scrapers1 are already  
heroes1 trained like the soldier to the 
military ideals of hardihood and        
discipline6  ,there is a heroism of     
peace comparable in every way to the    
heroism of war4 ,nay1 we would go       
further and say that there is a heroism 
of peace superior in many ways to the   

heroism of war4 ,the true soldier1 as we
 have seen1 is necessarily a hero2 but  
the true hero is by no means necessarily
 a soldier4 ,on the contrary1 there have
 been thousands of men who have ascended
 to heights of heroic endeavor and      
achievement1 to which the soldier from  
the very nature of his profession has   
never been able to attain4 ,emerson     
declares in his great essay that the    
heroism of war is heroism in its rudest 
form4 ,may we not also say1 perhaps1    
that heroism of war is heroism in its   
easiest and therefore least             
extraordinary form8 ,for there are      
certain circumstances surrounding the   
conduct of campaigns and the fighting of
 battles1 which make heroism as simple  
and natural as1 under other             
circumstances1 it is difficult and      
unnatural4 ,i am even tempted to go so  
far as to assert that a man can be a    
hero in war and still be a coward at    
heart4 ,he can at least meet the test of
 heroism amid the fury of armed combat1 

with some degree of success1 when he    
would crumple up before this test1 like 
a rotten lance against a shield1 under  
every other condition4 ,indeed1 we have 
only to strip away the trappings1 the   
artificial characteristics of           
militarism1 in order to see how the     
heroism produced by war1 even at its    
highest and best1 is of an inferior     
type1 as compared with the purer and    
nobler type of heroism produced by the  
ordinary and therefore more moral       
experience of peace4 ,from this point of
 view1 it seems to me that there are at 
least three circumstances1 altogether   
peculiar to warfare1 which make the     
heroism of the soldier to be easy1 and  
therefore of a type distinctly lower    
than that manifested by men in other1   
more commonplace1 less dramatic1 but no 
less terrific crises of experience4  ,in
 the first place1 let me point out that 
there is a pageantry about war1 which   
makes even the meanest heart to beat    
with a deeper throb and thus feel a     

loftier courage than is its wont4 ,there
 are the uniforms in which the soldiers 
are clad1 the gleaming swords and rifles
 which they carry1 the brilliant flags  
which flutter over their heads1 the     
crashing music which marks the time for 
their marching feet4 ,everywhere1 in    
camp1 on the march1 on the battlefield1 
there is color1 glitter1 glory1 beauty  
of sight and sound1 the whole           
paraphernalia of pomp and circumstance4 
,and all this has the inevitable effect 
of making it easy for the ordinary man  
to forget his fears and throw himself   
like a hero into the stress and strain  
of combat4 ,even those who hate war the 
worst and are therefore subject the     
least to its artificial glamor are swept
 away in spite of themselves4 ,richard  
,le ,gallienne has written of this very 
experience in his famous poem1 ,the     
,illusion of ,war4 ,he starts out by    
confessing that he abhors war4 ,and yet1
 he says1 ,how sweet      ,the sound    
along1 the marching street         of   

drum and fife 99 99 99  ,and he         
continues--      99 99 99 even my       
peace-abiding feet     ,go marching with
 the marching street1     ,for yonder1  
yonder1 goes the fife1     ,and what    
care ,i for human life6     ,the tears  
fill my astonished eyes     ,and my full
 heart is like to break4  ,and then1    
recovering himself again1 he points out 
how wicked it is to clothe such a       
monstrous thing as war in pageantry3    
99 99 99 like a queen     ,that in a    
garden of glory walks2  and brings      
against art the charge of infamy for    
hiding in music this hideous grinning   
thing1      ,till good men love the     
thing they loathe4  ,now if all this    
tinsel glory of war has this effect on  
the mind of such a pacifist as ,mr4 ,le 
,gallienne1 what shall we say to its    
effect on the minds of men who have no  
particular convictions upon the subject8
 ,the fact of the matter is1 there is no
 accident about all the artificial      
splendor which has been thrown about the

 conditions of warfare from time        
immemorial4 ,the flags1 the uniforms1   
the marching1 the heady music1 have all 
attached themselves to war for the good 
and sufficient psychological reason that
 they exercise a transforming influence 
upon the human heart4 ,napoleon         
understood this when he issued his      
famous bulletins to his soldiers before 
going into battle4 ,general ,hancock    
understood this at ,gettysburg when1 in 
the fateful moments just preceding      
,pickett's charge1 he rode along the    
crest of ,cemetery ,ridge clad in his   
dress uniform and mounted on a white    
horse with golden trappings4 ,the       
,germans understood this when they sent 
their men into the conflict with the    
music of military bands and with the    
choral chants of ,luther on their lips4 
,every humblest subaltern officer in any
 army understands this when he places   
the flag at the head of the moving      
regiment4 ,such appeals to the senses   
change men on the instant--make the best

 of them into saints and the worst of   
them into momentary heroes4 ,they become
 stimulated as by some strange          
intoxicant1 transformed as by some      
mystic conversion of the soul4 ,they    
forget the horrors of the struggle1 the 
peril of disaster1 the chances of life  
and death4 ,they are conscious only of  
glory and delight4 ,their eyes gleam1   
their hearts throb1 the earth changes to
 beauty1 the heavens break into song4   
,and straightway deeds of valor become  
easy1 heroism commonplace1 and sacrifice
 the order of the day4      ,sound1     
sound the clarion1 fill the fife1       
,to all the sensual world proclaim1     
,one crowded hour of glorious life      
,is worth an age without a name4  ,now  
heroism1 which is performed under       
circumstances such as these1 is heroism 
still4 ,but ,i want to lay down the     
principle that such heroism is of a type
 inferior to that performed under the   
drab1 uninspiring1 familiar             
circumstances of daily life4 ,the       

soldier who goes marching into battle   
with the flag before his eyes and wild  
music in his ears1 is a brave man--but  
the sailor who leaps into the foaming   
sea1 the miner who descends into the    
flaming pit1 the locomotive engineer who
 dies at his post of duty1 without so   
much as a single human voice1 perhaps1  
to give him cheer1 is a braver man4 ,i  
always recall in this connection1 as a  
type and symbol of what we may term the 
heroism of common life1 a story which ,i
 read some years ago in the newspapers4 
,it concerned two laborers1 ,william    
,phelps and ,james ,stansbury1 who were 
one day cleaning out the inside of a    
large boiler at the ,cerealine mills in 
,indianapolis4 ,by the error of another 
workman1 live steam was turned into the 
boiler before the cleaners had left it4 
,instantly1 by a common impulse1 the two
 men jumped for the single ladder which 
led to safety4 ,phelps got there first1 
but no sooner had his foot touched the  
rounds than he stepped aside1 seized his

 companion and boosted him up4 ,you     
first1 ,jim1 was his gasping cry1 you   
first4 ,pushed and thrust by his friend1
 ,stansbury escaped1 but ,phelps was    
rescued only to die two hours later in  
dreadful agony4 ,and when told1 just    
before he died1 that ,jim was all right1
 he said1 ,that's good--nobody'll miss  
me1 but ,jim had the wife and the kids4 
,it was a wise reporter who put the     
story on the wire1 for he closed it with
 the words1 ,no soldier in the siege of 
,pekin or the battle of ,santiago ever  
proved himself a greater hero4  ,stories
 of this kind might be multiplied       
indefinitely1 but ,i can sum up all that
 ,i would say upon this point by        
describing a strange little building    
which ,i chanced to discover in an      
out-of-the-way corner of ,london some   
years ago4 ,for many weeks ,i had been  
looking upon cathedrals and public      
buildings and city squares1 where       
monuments to soldiers were as common as 
daisies in a summer field4 ,suddenly1 on

 a certain morning1 ,i came upon a      
little plot of grass and trees1 near the
 great postoffice in ,st4 ,botolph's1   
,aldergate1 which is called the         
,postman's ,park1 and at one end of it  
saw the little open gallery1 erected in 
#ahhg by the great painter1 ,george ,f4 
,watts1 with its forty-eight tablets    
placed in commemoration of certain      
heroes and heroines who died unknown in 
the endeavor to save the lives of       
others4 ,here was name after name which 
meant nothing1 but story after story    
which meant everything4 ,tablet #a was  
in memory of ,tom ,griffin1 aged #ba1 a 
steamfitter1 who on ,april #ab1 #ahii1  
was scalded to death while trying to    
save his mate from an exploded boiler2  
,tablet #c1 in memory of ,mary ,rogers1 
stewardess of the steamship ,stella1 who
 on ,march #cj1 #ahii1 went down with   
her ship after embarking into life boats
 all the women passengers committed to  
her care2 ,tablet #e1 in memory of      
,elizabeth ,boxall1 aged #ag1 who on    

,january #bj1 #ahhh1 died from injuries 
received in trying to rescue a little   
child from being run over2 ,tablet #h1  
in memory of ,dr4 ,samuel ,rabbath1     
officer of the ,royal ,free ,hospital1  
who died on ,october #bj1 #ahhd1 from   
diphtheria contracted by sucking through
 a glass tube into his mouth the        
infected membrane from the throat of a  
strangling child2 ,tablet #aj1 in memory
 of ,william ,goodrum1 aged #fj1 a      
railway flagman1 who on ,february #bh1  
#ahhj1 stepped in front of a flying     
train to rescue a fellow-laborer1 and   
was instantly killed2 ,tablet #af1 in   
memory of ,ella ,donovan1 a woman of the
 slums1 who on ,july #bh1 #ahgc1 entered
 a burning tenement to rescue little    
children1 not her own2 ,tablet #bc1 in  
memory of ,henry ,bristow1 a boy of #h1 
who on ,january #e1 #ahia1 died from    
injuries received in trying to save his 
little sister1 aged #c1 from being      
burned to death4 ,and so the tablets    
tell their pathetic tales6 ,you read one

 after another until your eyes are      
dimmed with tears and you can read no   
more4 ,and then you seat yourself for a 
moment in the quiet park1 with all      
,london roaring in your ears1 and you   
think of these humble men and obscure   
women who1 without the blare of any     
music or the flashing colors of any flag
 or the thrilling excitement of charge  
and countercharge1 laid down their lives
 for their friends4 ,is my face cut8    
said ,william ,peart1 a locomotive      
driver commemorated on ,tablet #b1 as he
 was pulled from out the wreckage of his
 exploded engine4 ,he was told that it  
was4 ,never mind1 he replied1 with his  
last breath1 ,i stopped the train4 ,here
 is heroism of a new type--dull1        
commonplace1 everyday1 without one trace
 of color or romance4 ,but for this very
 reason do ,i believe it to be heroism  
of a higher type than that of the       
soldier4  ,but there is a second        
circumstance peculiar to the life of the
 soldier1 which makes martial heroism to

 be of an easier and therefore inferior 
type4 ,i refer to the fact that the     
soldier performs his deeds of valor not 
only under the stimulus of pomp and     
circumstance1 but also under the sweet  
influences of companionship4 ,the       
soldier is always one of a company or   
regiment4 ,except on occasional scout or
 sentry duty1 he is always moving with  
the collective motion of a great host of
 his fellowmen4 ,he is never working1   
fighting1 suffering alone1 and is       
therefore never left to the             
heart-breaking task of bearing his      
burden in solitude4 ,on the contrary1 as
 he walks1 he keeps step with thousands 
of marching feet2 as he advances into   
battle1 he rubs shoulders with his      
mates2 as he falls headlong in the      
trenches1 he is picked up and ministered
 to by the hands of those he loves4 ,and
 out of this solace of companionship1   
out of this inspiration of collective   
life1 there comes creeping into his     
heart a sense of uplift1 a contagion of 

spirit1 which makes heroism inevitable4 
,i have never seen this aspect of       
military experience more wonderfully    
expressed than by ,prof4 ,perry1 of     
,harvard1 in an article in the ,new     
,republic1 in which he describes his    
impressions as a ,plattsburgh rookie4   
,soldierly experiences1 he says1 are    
common experiences1 and are hallowed by 
that fact4 ,you are asked to do no more 
than hundreds of others 99 99 99 do with
 you4 ,if you rinse your greasy mess-kit
 in a tub of greasier water1 you are one
 of many gathered like thirsty birds    
about a road-side puddle4 ,if you fill  
your lungs and the pores of your sweaty 
skin with dust1 fellows in adversity are
 all about you1 looking grimier than you
 feel2 and your very complaints uttered 
in chorus partake of the quality of     
defiant song4 ,to walk is one thing1 to 
march albeit with sore feet and aching  
back is another and more triumphant4 ,it
 is ',hail6 ,hail6 the gang's all       
here'--it matters not what the words    

signify1 provided they have a rhythmic  
swing1 and impart a choral sense of     
collective unity4 99 99 99 ,every late  
afternoon1 he continues1 the flag is    
lowered1 and the band plays ',the ,star 
,spangled ,banner4' ,men in ranks are   
ordered to attention4 ,men and officers 
out of ranks stand at attention where   
they are1 facing a flag1 and saluting as
 the music ceases4 ,thus to stand at    
attention toward sundown1 listening to  
solemn music sounding faintly in the    
distance1 to see and to feel that every 
fellow-soldier is standing also rigid   
and intent1 to experience this reverent 
and collective silence 99 99 99 is at   
once to understand and to dedicate that 
day's work4  ,now all this is very      
beautiful4 ,but its very beauty is what 
makes the heroism of the soldier as easy
 as the heroism of others is oftentimes 
difficult4 ,compare1 for example1 the   
courage of even the most gallant soldier
 with the courage of the pioneer1 who   
goes alone into vast and unfamiliar     

solitudes1 and there amid killing labors
 and strange perils1 hews out a path to 
life1 with never the face of a comrade  
or the voice of a woman to give him     
cheer4 ,i think that ,i never knew the  
meaning of loneliness1 and never        
understood therefore the sublime heroism
 of the pioneer until ,i journeyed      
through the prairies of ,kansas1 the    
deserts of ,arizona and the pasture     
lands of ,idaho and ,montana4 ,those of 
you who have traveled through the great 
west will recognize the sensation that  
came over me as1 hour after hour1 ,i    
gazed upon those uninhabited wastes and 
saw only at rarest intervals the traces 
of human beings4 ,i remember looking out
 upon the prairies late one afternoon   
and watching the slow fading of the day4
 ,for three hours1 from four until seven
 o'clock1 ,i saw on the passing         
landscape one horseman1 as lonely as a  
solitary sail at sea1 one prairie wagon 
with three men gathered about the       
evening camp fire1 and two houses on the

 far horizon4 ,from seven to eight      
o'clock came on the darkness1 and soon  
we were riding through impenetrable     
night2 and twice1 perhaps three times1  
at intervals of an hour or more1 ,i saw 
a single light twinkling in the         
distance1 marking where some man or     
perhaps some family1 was living in the  
solitudes4 ,and ,i dreamed that night of
 the men1 and the women1 too1 who first 
came out into these vast spaces1 leaving
 home1 friends1 companionship behind to 
make a trail1 build a home1 prepare the 
way for the coming of civilization4 ,the
 very road over which my train was      
moving was the old trail of the ,santa  
,fe1 which had been trod by the feet of 
thousands of lonely and intrepid souls1 
who dared the wilderness and the desert 
as the forerunners of the nation's life4
 ,these men1 and the women also who were
 with them1 to rear their homes and bear
 their children1 were heroes of a type  
sublime--heroes who never knew the joy  
of comradeship1 the consolation of      

co-operation1 but lived and toiled and  
died alone1 with only a dream of the    
future in their hearts to give them     
courage4 ,it was fitting1 and yet how   
sadly belated recognition which was     
given them in the noble monuments at the
 ,world's ,fair in ,chicago1 which bore 
these inscriptions from the pen of      
,president ,eliot3      ,to the         
,brave ,settlers     ,who ,leveled      
,forests     ,cleared ,fields     ,made 
,paths by     ,land and ,water     ,and 
,planted     ,commonwealths4      ,to   
the     ,brave ,women     ,who in       
,solitudes     ,amid ,strange           
,dangers and     ,heavy ,toils          
,reared ,families     ,and ,made ,homes4
  ,such is the heroism of solitude6 ,but
 not yet have we reached its purest and 
noblest form4 ,these men and women were 
lonely1 it is true2 but they were       
sustained1 after all1 by a great hope of
 the future1 by dreams of prosperity and
 happiness to come as the fruit of toil1
 by ambitions for the children who would

 survive to better and fuller days4     
,braver even than these are the men who 
have faced loneliness without hope--who 
have looked not merely on solitude1 but 
on solitude ending in defeat and        
death--and still have lived as those who
 had no fear4 ,the classic example of   
this great heroism has been given to the
 world by our own age1 in the story of  
,captain ,scott4 ,whenever my own faint 
heart begins to fail under the strain of
 burdens absurdly light1 ,i take up a   
copy of ,captain ,scott's ,journals1 as 
,i would take up a copy of holy         
scripture1 and ,i read as long as my    
tear-filled eyes can see the page the   
items that he jotted down in his diary  
on those last terrible days before he   
died4 ,here he is in the midst of the   
vast solitudes of the arctic wastes1    
struggling along with his two half-dead 
companions1 his feet frozen1 food gone1 
fuel gone1 and a hurricane beating him  
helpless to the ground4 ,he knows he    
cannot get through to his goal1 he knows

 there is no living soul within hundreds
 of miles to bring him succor4 ,on      
,march #aith he speaks of their forlorn 
hope2 on the #bbnd he confesses that he 
must be near the end2 on the #bith he   
speaks of death and says flatly1 ,i do  
not think we can hope for any better    
things now4 99 99 99 ,we are getting    
weaker1 and the end cannot be far4 ,but 
never once1 for all his anguish and     
solitude1 does he give way4 ,we shall   
stick it out to the end1 is his word4   
,he can even joke at one time in a grim 
and terrible sort of way4 ,no human     
being could face 7this7 storm1 he writes
 on ,march #ahth1 and we are nearly worn
 out4 ,my right foot is gone--two days  
ago ,i was the proud possessor of the   
best feet4 ,these are the steps of my   
downfall4 ,and then there come the last 
hours4 ,his two companions lie dead1 one
 on either side of him4 ,outside of his 
little snow hut is the raging storm4 ,he
 is alone with death4 ,and as calmly as 
though he were writing a report in the  

naval offices in ,london1 he scrawls    
with frozen fingers those immortal      
letters1 first to ,mrs4 ,wilson and     
,mrs4 ,bowers1 the mothers of the two   
men whose bodies are beside him1 then to
 his own mother and his wife1 then to   
his friends1 ,sir ,james ,m4 ,barrie and
 ,vice-,admiral ,egerton1 then the      
statement to the public with its closing
 words1 ,i do not regret this journey1  
which has shown that ,englishmen can    
endure hardships1 help one another and  
meet death with as great fortitude as   
ever in the past4 ,we took risks1 we    
knew we took them2 things have come out 
against us1 and therefore we have no    
cause for complaint1 but bow to the will
 of ,providence1 determined still to do 
our best to the last4 ,but had we lived 
,i should have had a tale to tell of the
 hardihood1 endurance and courage of my 
companions which would have stirred the 
heart of every ,englishman4 ,eight      
months later his body was found1 sitting
 erect1 his arms extended to his dead   

companions on either side as though his 
lonely soul sought at the end the       
comfort of even their frozen bodies1 and
 on his face a smile as beautiful as    
that of a child just fallen into        
slumber4  ,heroism6 my friends6 ,what is
 the heroism of even the bravest soldier
 compared to heroism such as this8 ,i   
would not disparage the men who have    
suffered and died on the fields of      
,flanders and ,galicia4 ,but is it not  
true1 after all1 that we can do much if 
only we have the dear friends to bear us
 company1 and that the real test comes  
when we stand alone1 alone1 all1 all    
alone1 with the universe and ,god4 ,to  
work alone1 like the pioneer1 with never
 a hand to clasp and help his own2 to   
die alone1 like ,captain ,scott1 with   
wife1 child1 mother1 friends thousands  
of miles away1 all ignorant of his fate1
 and still to do the best to the        
last--this is heroism4 ,the soldier as a
 soldier for all his courage cannot     
match it4  ,but there is still a third  

aspect of the soldier's life which      
touches very vitally upon this question 
of heroism4 ,i refer to the fact that   
the soldier1 in the vast majority of    
cases1 is engaged in a business which   
has the enthusiastic endorsement of his 
fellowmen4 ,he is distinctly on the     
right side4 ,he is doing the popular    
thing4 ,the eyes of the people are upon 
him4 ,he marches away to the waving of  
flags and the applause of multitudes4   
,children cheer him1 women embrace him1 
old men bless him4 ,if he is wounded1 he
 is tenderly cared for by the nation4   
,if he performs some gallant deed1 he is
 rewarded by orders of merit1 and       
perhaps by the gift of the ,victoria    
,cross4 ,if he dies1 he is buried amid  
sounding eulogies and commemorated by   
statues and inscriptions4 ,victory1 or  
,westminster ,abbey1 cried ,lord ,nelson
 as he sailed into the battle of        
,trafalgar4 ,and similar1 to the degree 
of humble deserts1 is the cry of every  
soldier or sailor who takes up arms for 

his country4 ,for the moment he is the  
symbol of the nation4 ,he embodies      
within his own single person the hopes  
and praises of an entire people4 ,he    
lives1 and1 if he dies1 he dies in the  
good opinion of mankind4 ,and ,i can    
tell you that nothing makes life so     
smooth and death so comparatively simple
 as this good opinion of which ,i speak4
 ,the hardest suffering seems easy1 and 
the most untimely death not altogether  
unwelcome1 if only we can know that all 
men are our friends1 and we live or die 
with their blessings upon our heads4 ,a 
good name1 says the preacher1 is better 
than precious ointment2 and again he    
declares1 ,a good name is better than   
riches4 ,by which he means1 ,i take it1 
that there is nothing in the outer      
world1 however desirable in itself1     
which can give us compensation for the  
loss of favor of mankind4  ,now we begin
 to get just a glimpse1 at least1 of a  
nobler and rarer type of heroism than   
that of the soldier1 when we look upon  

the man who1 in obedience to some inner 
impulse of the soul1 deliberately       
alienates himself from the sympathy and 
the applause of his fellows4 ,such a man
 must be regarded as a kind of pioneer  
or explorer1 who goes into the solitudes
 not of the physical but of the         
spiritual realm1 there to blaze new     
trails1 and1 perhaps like ,captain      
,scott1 to die alone4 ,a striking       
example of heroism of this kind1        
presented in exact antithesis to the    
ordinary heroism of the soldier1 may be 
found in ,john ,galsworthy's play1 ,the 
,mob4 ,at first accepted only as a      
brilliant piece of imagination1 the     
drama becomes charged with real         
significance when we learn that its     
action is a more or less exact          
reproduction of the situation which was 
precipitated in ,england during the     
,boer ,war by ,lloyd-,george and his    
famous ,stop-the-,war party4 ,the story 
of the play1 and to a large extent of   
,english history in #ahii1 is that of a 

,cabinet ,minister1 ,stephen ,more by   
name1 who opposes from his seat in the  
,house of ,commons a war threatened by  
,england against a weaker nation1 and   
continues his opposition after the war  
has been declared and an ,english army  
has been slaughtered4 ,resigning his    
office1 he stumps the country in a      
campaign for peace1 alienates his wife1 
who is outraged by his attitude1 faces  
persistently the attacks of angry mobs1 
and at last is murdered and thus made a 
martyr to his cause4 ,the spiritual1 if 
not the dramatic1 climax of the play    
comes in the second scene of the last   
act1 where ,stephen ,more1 in answer to 
his wife and his father-in-law1 who are 
appealing to him for the last time to   
abandon his mad purpose1 contrasts his  
deeds with those of the soldiers at the 
front4 ,our men1 answers ,more1 are     
dying out there for the faith that's in 
them4 ,i believe my faith the higher1   
the better for mankind4 ,am ,i now to   
shrink away8 7,mine's7 a forlorn        

hope--not to help let die a fire--a fire
 that's sacred--not only now in this    
country1 but in all countries for all   
time4 ,and in this spirit1 with the     
execrations of his family and of an     
entire people on his head1 he goes alone
 to a cruel death4  ,what we see in this
 drama of ,mr4 ,galsworthy is only what 
we see again and again after all in the 
infinitely greater drama of humanity4   
,the noblest testimony to the quality of
 men's souls that we have anywhere1 is  
that which has been given to us by the  
noble company of the apostles1 the      
goodly fellowship of the prophets1 the  
noble army of martyrs1 who1 refusing to 
take the easy road of popularity1 have  
deliberately chosen the thorny path of  
insult1 ignominy1 destruction1 for the  
faith that glowed within their souls4   
,isaiah1 ,jeremiah1 ,socrates1 ,st4     
,paul1 ,wycliff1 ,huss1 ,savanarola1    
,martin ,luther1 ,john ,knox1 ,george   
,fox1 ,john ,wesley1 ,joseph ,priestly1 
,theodore ,parker--how the names        

multiply1 all as sweet as honey to our  
lips1 of those who refused to barter    
their souls even for the good will of   
men4 ,and first among them all1 of      
course1 is ,jesus1 the ,nazarene4 ,the  
noblest thing that was ever said of the 
,carpenter-,prophet was this--that he   
made himself of no reputation4 ,the     
noblest and also the most pathetic thing
 that ,he ever said of ,himself was     
this--that the birds have nests and the 
foxes holes1 but the son of man hath    
nowhere to lay his head4 ,the noblest   
thing ,he ever did was this--to walk    
from the house of ,pilate to the crest  
of ,calvary1 with the cross upon ,his   
back and the railing mob behind ,him and
 before1 and never once to falter and   
complain4 ,hated and hooted by the      
multitudes who at one time followed ,him
 gladly1 deserted even by the twelve who
 had pledged to ,him their lives1       
misunderstood1 despised1 condemned1 spat
 upon--a stranger even to ,his mother   
and ,his brethren--what a fate was this6

 ,and what consummate heroism was needed
 to meet it unafraid6 ,in the face of   
such a supreme spectacle of sacrifice as
 this1 how foolish1 how unjust to       
identify the hero1 to any degree of     
exclusiveness with the soldier4 ,the    
soldier is a hero1 without doubt1 but   
greater than he is the hero who bears   
not arms but a cross1 wears not a crown 
of laurel but a crown of thorns1 and    
dies not on the field of battle but on  
the field of the skull4 ,he was despised
 and rejected of men2 a man of sorrows  
and acquainted with grief2 one from whom
 men hid their faces2 99 99 99 he was   
oppressed1 stricken1 smitten of ,god 99 
99 99 yet when he was afflicted he      
opened not his mouth--of whom such      
things as this may be truly said1 ,he is
 the noblest hero of them all4 ,james   
,russell ,lowell has set forth this     
abiding truth in his ,present ,crisis3  
,count me o'er earth's chosen           
heroes--they were souls who stood alone1
   ,while the men they agonized for1    

hurled the contumelious stone1   ,stood 
serene1 and down the future saw the     
golden beam incline1   ,to the side of  
perfect justice1 mastered by their faith
 divine1   ,by one man's plain truth to 
manhood and to ,god's supreme design4   
,such are the types of heroism which ,i 
have thought it well to bring to your   
attention this afternoon4 ,accepting the
 soldier as the traditional and not     
unworthy standard of all heroic types1  
,i have nevertheless tried to show that 
there are other men who meet all the    
hazards of suffering and death which he 
encounters1 and yet are denied the aids 
and comforts which are his4 ,i have     
contrasted the utter commonplaces of the
 obscure heroisms of daily life with the
 pomp and pageantry of martial life4 ,i 
have contrasted the awful solitude of   
the men who made new paths and faced    
unfamiliar perils on prairie1 desert and
 arctic sea1 with the cheerful          
comradeship which hallows the experience
 of the soldier4 ,and ,i have contrasted

 the popular acclaim which is the very  
breath of the warrior's nostrils with   
the popular odium and hatred which kill 
the prophets of the new and better day4 
,thus have ,i moved from what ,i believe
 to be1 from its very nature1 the       
lowest1 or rudest1 grade of heroism1 to 
those which ,i believe to be the higher 
and finer grades4 ,and it must have long
 since become evident to you1 that every
 step that ,i have taken in the progress
 of my argument has been away from what 
we may well call the more physical      
expression of heroic endeavor1 to those 
which are more moral1 or spiritual4     
,that the true soldier is possessed of  
something more than mere brute courage1 
,i would be among the very last1 ,i     
trust1 to deny4 ,but however fine and   
pure may be the valor of his soul1 it   
still must be admitted1 in the last     
analysis1 that the soldier never rids   
himself of the material accessories and 
trappings of the world4 ,the flag that  
greets his eye and the music that beats 

upon his ear1 the personal contact of   
his fellows upon the march and in the   
trenches1 the medals and monuments that 
embody a nation's applause and          
gratitude--all these things1 with       
however high an admixture of spiritual  
elements1 are still fundamentally of the
 earth1 earthy4 ,and so essential are   
they to the soldier's life1 that we     
cannot think of that life without them4 
,but how different is the situation when
 we turn to these other types of heroism
 of which ,i have made mention6 ,how do 
the earthly foundations seem to         
disappear1 and those foundations which  
are only spiritual take their place6    
,these unknown heroes1 whose names and  
deeds are recorded on the tablets in the
 ,postman's ,park--what stirred them to 
action save the spontaneous promptings  
of their own hearts8 ,those brave       
settlers1 and brave women who cleared   
fields and made homes in solitary       
places--,captain ,scott who faced death 
all alone in terrifying storms of the   

,antarctic--what sustained them but the 
secret counsel of their inward spirits8 
,and ,jesus of ,nazareth as he hung upon
 the cross--upon what did he rely1 if   
not upon ,god and his own soul8 ,the    
heroism of the soldier1 even at its     
best1 is more or less a fleshy1 worldly 
thing4 ,the heroism of these others is  
more and more a spiritual unworldly     
thing1 until1 at the topmost grade of   
all1 we meet the prophet1 the saint1 the
 martyr1 who matches his naked soul     
against the world1 and gladly loses the 
one that he may save the other4  ,it is 
when we attain to this viewpoint1 that  
we begin to understand the mistake of   
ordinary opinion in identifying the hero
 with the soldier4 ,especially in this  
age of waxing militarism1 it is well for
 us to note the fallacy which is        
involved in this primeval superstition4 
,heroism1 at its truest and best1 is    
spiritual4 ,it is an obedience1 says    
,emerson1 to a secret impulse of an     
individual's character4 ,it needs no    

other stimulus1 hides in no gorgeous    
trappings1 craves no companionship in   
suffering1 accepts no rewards of merit  
or applause4 ,contemptuous of external  
good1 it seeks its own counsel and obeys
 the mandates of its own spirit4        
,heroism of this kind flourishes in     
times of war as in all times of terror4 
,but so essentially brutal1 hideous1    
cruel is every circumstance of war1 that
 even the noblest heroism is degraded   
and defiled by it4 ,it is only when the 
arms of the flesh are broken and cast   
aside1 and the soul stands naked before 
its ,maker1 that heroism becomes        
transcendant in obscurity1 loneliness1  
persecution2 when all things that the   
world can give have failed and dropped  
away it reveals itself1 like a star at  
midnight1 shining to the glory of       
,almighty ,god4 ,emerson has summed it  
all up1 in his introductory lines to his
 essay on ,heroism--      ,ruby wine is 
drunk by knaves1     ,sugar spends to   
fatten slaves1     ,rose and vine-leaf  

deck buffoons2     ,thunder clouds are  
,jove's festoons1     ,drooping oft in  
wreaths of dread     ,lightning-knotted 
round his head2     ,the hero is not fed
 on sweets     ,daily his own soul he   
eats4          99       99       99     
99       99       ,,the ,,christian     
,,life     by     ,elbert ,russell      
,,the ,,quaker ,,of ,,the ,,future      
,,time     by     ,george ,a4 ,walton   
,,the ,,christian ,,patriot     by      
,norman ,h4 ,thomas      ,,the          
,,christian ,,demand ,,for     ,,social 
,,reconstruction     by     ,harry ,f4  
,ward      ,,religion ,,as ,,reality1   
,,life ,,and ,,power     by     ,rufus  
,m4 ,jones      ,,heroes ,,in ,,peace   
by     ,john ,haynes ,holmes            
,william ,penn ,lectures are published  
by the ,young     ,friends' ,movement4  
,copies may be obtained from     the    
,headquarters1 at the ,central ,bureau  
,office1     #aed ,n4 #aeth ,street1 or 
from ,walter ,h4 ,jenkins1     #adj ,n4 
#aeth ,street1 ,philadelphia1 ,pa4      

,paper-bound     copies at -- cents2 in 
cloth1 -- cents4