Page:Brock centenary 2nd ed. 1913.djvu/104

 BBOCE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

A certain class of thoughtless people call us •■ flag w avers " if wr strive t(» give our young i»**< »j>l*» a true conception of the value of national life, ami «>f their dutj i" haTe a true love for their conntrj and for their Bmpire. if a flag-waver humus one whit is prond <tf a noble ancestry, and determined io prove worthy of ih<' race from which lie Bprnng;

one w 1 1 • » knowt thai his forefathers gave a wider

meaning to freedom, and who Intends to perpetnate liberty and ;ii»l In giving it a still broader and higher value; one who is grateful because his Bmpire represents the grandest revelation of unity \rt made known i<» humanity and who accepts iiiis revelation as ■ sacred trust, then I am a flag-waver, ever Influence a flag-waver who loves his flag and waves it because it represents freedom, and honour, ami justice, and truth, and unity, and a glorious history, the most triumphantly progressive thai has been achieved by any nation In the development of the world.
 * iini I shall make every boy and girl whom i can

We do well t<> celebrate the great deeds of the men and women of a hundred yr;irs ago, and h our children to give them reverence, but it If more Important for us to consider what the people

a hundred years heme will think of us than to

glorify the triumphs of a hundred years ago. The work of the world is not done. Evolution to higher ideals goes ever <>n. Bach succeeding generation has greater responsibilities and higher duties than the one that preceded it. The greatest lesson we can learn from the past is that we should prove true to the opportunities of our time; that we

should with unselfish motive and undaunted hearts

accept the responsibilities that come t«> us as part' ners In our magnificent Empire, and share In the achievement of greater triumphs for freedom and justice than have ever been recorded In the p;ist.

inspired by the records of such men as Brock, at the foot of whose monument we stand to-day and

�� �