est for me?" but, "What is best for my country?" Patriotism
assumes as many forms as there are circumstances and ways in which the
welfare of the country may be promoted. In time of war the patriot
shoulders his gun and marches to fight the enemy. In time of election he
goes to the caucus and the polls, and expresses his opinion and casts
his vote for what he believes to be just measures and honest men. When
taxes are to be levied, he gives the assessor a full account of his
property, and pays his fair share of the expense of government. When one
party proposes measures and nominates men whom he considers better than
those of the opposite party, he votes with that party, whether it is for
his private interest to do so or not. The patriot will not stand apart
from all parties, because none is good enough for him. He will choose
the best, knowing that no political party is perfect. He will act with
that party as long as it continues to seem to him the best; for he must
recognize that one man standing alone can accomplish no practical
political result. The moment he is convinced that the party with which
he has been acting has become more corrupt, and less faithful to the
interests of the country than the opposite party, he will change his
vote. Self first, personal friends second, party third, and country
fourth, is the order of considerations in the mind of the office-seeker,
the wire-puller, the corrupt politician. Country first, party second,
personal friends third, and self last is the order in the mind of the
true citizen, the courageous statesman, the unselfish patriot.

THE REWARD.

+In return for serving our country we receive a country to serve.+--The
state makes possible for us all those pursuits, interests, aims, and
aspirations which lift our lives above the level of the brutes. Through
the institutions which the state maintains, schools, almshouses, courts,
prisons, roads, bridges, harbors, laws, armies, police, there is secured
to the individual the right and opportunity to acquire property, engage
in business, travel wherever he pleases, share in the products of the
whole earth, read the books of all nations, reap the fruits of scholarly
investigation in all countries, take an interest in the welfare and
progress of mankind. This power of the individual to live a universal
life, this participation of each in a common and world-wide good, is the
product of civilization. And civilization is impossible witho