and smooth shaven, but, like many of the successful men of Benham, he
now wore a chin beard--a thick tuft of hair which in his case tapered so
that it bore some resemblance to the beard of a goat, and gave a
rough-and-ready aspect to his appearance suggestive alike of smart,
solid worth and an absence of dandified tendencies. Mr. Parsons had a
thicker beard of the same character, which Selma regarded with favor as
a badge of serious intentions.

"My friends," he began when the applause had subsided; then paused and
surveyed his audience in a manner which left them in doubt as to whether
he was struggling with emotion or busy in silent prayer. "My friends, a
month ago to-day the citizens of Benham assembled to crown with
appropriate and beautiful services the monument which they, the
survivors, have erected with pious hands to perpetuate the memory of
those who laid down their lives to keep intact our beloved union of
States and to banish slavery forever from the confines of our aspiring
civilization. A week ago an equally representative assembly, without
regard to creed or party, listened to the exercises attending the
dedication of the new Court House which we have raised to Justice--that
white-robed goddess, the guardian of the liberties of the people. Each
was a notable and significant event. On each occasion I had the honor to
say a few poor words. We celebrated with bowed heads and with garlands
the deeds of the heroic dead, and now have consecrated ourselves to the
opportunities and possibilities of peace under the law--to the
revelation of the temper of our new civilization which, tried in the
furnace of war, is to be a grand and vital power for the advancement of
the human race, for the righteous furtherance of the brotherhood of man.
What is the hope of the world?" he asked. "America--these United States,
a bulwark against tyranny, an asylum for the aspiring and the
downtrodden. The eyes of the nations are upon us. In the souls of the
survivors and of the sons and daughters of the patriots who have died in
defence of the liberties of our beloved country abide the seed and
inspiration for new victories of peace. Our privilege be it as the heirs
of Washington and Franklin and Hamilton and Lincoln and Grant to set the
nations of the earth an example of what peace under the law may
accomplish, so that the free-born son of America from the shores of Cape
Cod to the western limits of the Golden Gate may remain a synon