ng peculiarly beautiful and peculiarly touching
about that. Whenever a man who is still trying to devote himself to the
service of the Nation comes into a presence like this, or into a place
like this, his spirit must be peculiarly moved. A mandate is laid upon
him which seems to speak from the very graves themselves. Those who
serve this Nation, whether in peace or in war, should serve it without
thought of themselves. I can never speak in praise of war, ladies and
gentlemen; you would not desire me to do so. But there is this peculiar
distinction belonging to the soldier, that he goes into an enterprise
out of which he himself cannot get anything at all. He is giving
everything that he hath, even his life, in order that others may live,
not in order that he himself may obtain gain and prosperity. And just so
soon as the tasks of peace are performed in the same spirit of
self-sacrifice and devotion, peace societies will not be necessary. The
very organization and spirit of society will be a guaranty of peace.

Therefore this peculiar thing comes about, that we can stand here and
praise the memory of these soldiers in the interest of peace. They set
us the example of self-sacrifice, which if followed in peace will make
it unnecessary that men should follow war any more.

We are reputed to be somewhat careless in our discrimination between
words in the use of the English language, and yet it is interesting to
note that there are some words about which we are very careful. We
bestow the adjective "great" somewhat indiscriminately. A man who has
made conquest of his fellow-men for his own gain may display such genius
in war, such uncommon qualities of organization and leadership that we
may call him "great," but there is a word which we reserve for men of
another kind and about which we are very careful; that is the word
"noble." We never call a man "noble" who serves only himself; and if you
will look about through all the nations of the world upon the statues
that men have erected--upon the inscribed tablets where they have
wished to keep alive the memory of the citizens whom they desire most to
honor--you will find that almost without exception they have erected the
statue to those who had a splendid surplus of energy and devotion to
spend upon their fellow-men. Nobility exists in America without patent.
We have no House of Lords, but we have a house of fame to which we
elevate those who are the noble men of our race, w