much from it.

King Edward of Britain was deeply impressed by the provisions of the
fund, and wrote me an autograph letter of appreciation of this and
other gifts to my native land, which I deeply value, and hence insert.

_Windsor Castle, November 21, 1908_

DEAR MR. CARNEGIE:

I have for some time past been anxious to express to you my
sense of your generosity for the great public objects which
you have presented to this country, the land of your birth.

Scarcely less admirable than the gifts themselves is the
great care and thought you have taken in guarding against
their misuse.

I am anxious to tell you how warmly I recognize your most
generous benefactions and the great services they are likely
to confer upon the country.

As a mark of recognition, I hope you will accept the
portrait of myself which I am sending to you.

Believe me, dear Mr. Carnegie,

Sincerely yours

EDWARD R. & I.

Some of the newspapers in America were doubtful of the merits of the
Hero Fund and the first annual report was criticized, but all this has
passed away and the action of the fund is now warmly extolled. It has
conquered, and long will it be before the trust is allowed to perish!
The heroes of the barbarian past wounded or killed their fellows; the
heroes of our civilized day serve or save theirs. Such the difference
between physical and moral courage, between barbarism and
civilization. Those who belong to the first class are soon to pass
away, for we are finally to regard men who slay each other as we now
do cannibals who eat each other; but those in the latter class will
not die as long as man exists upon the earth, for such heroism as they
display is god-like.

The Hero Fund will prove chiefly a pension fund. Already it has many
pensioners, heroes or the widows or children of heroes. A strange
misconception arose at first about it. Many thought that its purpose
was to stimulate heroic action, that heroes were to be induced to play
their parts for the sake of reward. This never entered my mind. It is
absurd. True heroes think not of reward. They are inspired and think
only of their fellows endangered; never of themselves. The fund is
intended to pension or provide in the most suitable manner for the
hero should he be disabled, or for those dependent upon him should he
perish in his attempt to save others. It has made a fine start an