The living can best show their respect for the memory of the great dead by the way in which they take to heart and act upon the lessons taught by the lives which made these dead men great.

We would be unworthy citizens did we not feel profound gratitude toward him, and those like him and under him, who, when the country called in her dire need, sprang forward with such gallant eagerness to answer that call.

Their blood and their toil, their endurance and patriotism, have made us and all who come after us forever their debtors.

They left us not merely a reunited country, but a country incalculably greater because of its rich heritage in the deeds which thus left it reunited.

Moreover, our homage must not only find expression on our lips; it must also show itself forth in our deeds.

But it is a shameful thing for a nation, if these memories stir it only to empty boastings, to a pride that does not shrink from present abasement, to that self-satisfaction which accepts the high resolve and unbending effort of the father…

We of the present, if we are true to the past, must show by our lives that we have learned aright the lessons taught by the men who did the mighty deeds of the past.

We must have in us the spirit which made the men of the Civil War what they were; the spirit which produced leaders such as Sherman; the spirit which gave to the average soldier the grim tenacity and resourcefulness that made the armies of…

Their lives teach us in our own lives to strive after, not the thing which is merely pleasant, but the thing which it is our duty to do.

We can not afford to lose the virtues which made the men of ’61 to ’65 great in war.

It is of even more instant need that we should show their spirit of patriotism in the affairs of peace.

The duties of peace are with us always; those of war are but occasional; and with a nation as with a man, the worthiness of life depends upon the way in which the every-day duties are done.

The nation is nothing but the aggregate of the families within its border; and if the average man is not hard-working, just, and fearless in his dealings with those about him, then our average of public life will in the end be low; for the…

But in addition we need to remember that a peculiar responsibility rests upon the man in public life.

And so the most successful governments are those in which the average public servant possesses that variant of loyalty which we call patriotism, together with common-sense and honesty.

We can as little afford to tolerate a dishonest man in the public service as a coward in the army.

The murderer takes a single life; the corruptionist in public life, whether he be bribe giver or bribe taker, strikes at the heart of the commonwealth.

Remember that in popular government we must rely on the people themselves, alike for the punishment and the reformation.

Those upon whom our institutions cast the initial duty of bringing malefactors to the bar of justice must be diligent in its discharge; yet in the last resort the success of their efforts to purge the public service of corruption must…

In the long run, then, it depends upon us ourselves, upon us the people as a whole, whether this Government is or is not to stand in the future as it has stood in the past; and my faith that it will show no falling off is based upon my…

The one supreme duty is to try to keep this average high.

To this end it is well to keep alive the memory of those men who are fit to serve as examples of what is loftiest and best in American citizenship.

I want to dwell, however, upon the fact that we have the right to claim from you not merely that you shall have heart in your work, not merely that you shall put your souls into it, but that you shall give the best that your minds have to…

If our powers are not guided aright it is better that we should not have them at all; but we must have the power itself before we can guide it aright.

Ready both in body and in soul; that means that we must fit ourselves physically and mentally, fit ourselves to work with the weapons necessary for dealing with this life no less than with the higher, spiritual weapons; fit ourselves thus…