ow is the time
for the true champions of Samoa to stand forth. And who is the true
champion of Samoa? It is not the man who blackens his face, and cuts
down trees, and kills pigs and wounded men. It is the man who makes
roads, who plants food trees, who gathers harvests, and is a profitable
servant before the Lord, using and improving that great talent that has
been given him in trust. That is the brave soldier; that is the true
champion; because all things in a country hang together like the links
of the anchor cable, one by another: but the anchor itself is industry.

"There is a friend of most of us, who is far away; not to be forgotten
where I am, where Tupuola is, where Poe Lelei, Mataafa, Solevao, Poe
Teleso, Tupuola Lotofaga, Tupuolo Amaile, Muliaiga, Ifopo, Fatialofa,
Lemusu are. He knew what I am telling you; no man better. He saw the day
was come when Samoa had to walk in a new path, and to be defended not
only with guns and blackened faces, and the noise of men shouting, but
by digging and planting, reaping and sowing. When he was still here
amongst us, he busied himself planting cacao; he was anxious and eager
about agriculture and commerce, and spoke and wrote continually; so that
when we turn our minds to the same matters, we may tell ourselves that
we are still obeying Mataafa. Ua tautala mai pea o ia ua mamao.

"I know that I do not speak to idle or foolish hearers. I speak to those
who are not too proud to work for gratitude. Chiefs! You have worked for
Tusitala, and he thanks you from his heart. In this, I could wish you
could be an example to all Samoa--I wish every chief in these islands
would turn to, and work, and build roads, and sow fields, and plant food
trees, and educate his children and improve his talents--not for love of
Tusitala, but for the love of his brothers, and his children, and the
whole body of generations yet unborn.

"Chiefs! On this road that you have made many feet shall follow. The
Romans were the bravest and greatest of people! mighty men of their
hands, glorious fighters and conquerors. To this day in Europe you may
go through parts of the country where all is marsh and bush, and perhaps
after struggling through a thicket, you shall come forth upon an ancient
road, solid and useful as the day it was made. You shall see men and
women bearing their burdens along that even way, and you may tell
yourself that it was built for them perhaps fifteen hundred years
before,--perhaps