Page:Back to the Republic.djvu/71

 good and bad, old and young, the lazy and the industrious, those who love and those who hate, the mean and lowly, the high and mighty, the wise and the foolish, the prudent and the imprudent, the cautious and the hasty, the honest and the dishonest, those who pray and those who curse—these are 'We, the people of the United States'—these are God's children—these are thy rulers, O Columbia. Into our hands thou hast committed the destinies of the human race, even to the omega of thine own destruction. And all thou requirest of us before we o'erstep boundaries blazed for guidance is what is required of us at every railroad crossing in the country: 'Stop. Look. Listen.' Stop and think. Look before and after and to the right and left. Listen to the voice of reason and to the small, still voice of conscience. . ..

"If the zealot, impatient of the wise caution and delay enjoined by the Constitution, would break down its barriers to hasty action, he should be compelled, if only as a penance, to study the Constitution and to know all the circumstances out of which it grew, the quality of the men who fashioned it, as well as the quality of the work accomplished by them. He should be taught these things in school. We have deposed the Bible in our public schools; would any American