The C<ui)i>'ji) /( Battle of Lyru-hhu^j. 813
heroic struggle, and to so preserve them, that they shall become the well-established traditions of our people. Such traditions are a part of the wealth of a race. They both elevate and stimulate succeed- ing generations. By them a high national character is established, and under their influence that species of patriotism is engendered whence springs the glorious sentiment,
' ' Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. ' '
The fires of patriotism do not burn most fiercely where the land is most productive, or where wealth most accumulates. Nations which have owned broad savannahs upon which nature has been most lavish have often been driven from their country with little show of manly courage and v without that zealous patriotism which creates heroes, while the peasant of Switzerland and the cottager of the Highlands, neither of whom can afford greater luxuries than oat- meal and goat's milk, have held their vales and their fastnesses for centuries against all odds. To them each dell has a story of val- iant deeds of their forefathers, and each mountain is crowned by traditions which tell of the great achievements of their race. For dells and mountains thus sanctified by the glories of the past, the peasant and the lord of the manor alike are willing to die. It was their love for the stories and romance of their race which sustained the nerve of the Swiss Guards in the discharge of their duty to the King, when, without a faltering nerve, one by one they sunk under the blows of the infuriated Jacobins of Paris, and well won the grand inscription to their courage on the Lion of Lucerne. A like love was the foundation of the wonderful heroism of the Highlanders at Lucknow and of the Scotch who climbed the Heights of Abraham at Quebec. So it was their love for the historic memories of Vir- ginia which nerved the courage of that dauntless division which, under a fire never before poured on line of battle, reached the brow of the hill at Gettysburg.
By gathering the traditions of the Highlands and thus perpetua- ting them, Scott has done a^great work for Scotland. Others have done the same thing for England. It is for this generation to gather the same wealth for Virginia. Thus will the history of her people, of her valleys, her rivers and her mountains be preserved, and the facts be secured to generations yet to come, which, when mellowed by time, will be perpetuated in story, in poetry and in song.
Thus, and thus only, can we keep Virginia and her people on the elevated plane upon which they have stood for centuries, and thus
