And so with every man in arms who serves the nation--he stands and waits
to do the thing which the nation desires. America sometimes seems
perhaps to forget her programs, or, rather, I would say that sometimes
those who represent her seem to forget her programs, but the people
never forget them. It is as startling as it is touching to see how
whenever you touch a principle you touch the hearts of the people of the
United States. They listen to your debates of policy, they determine
which party they will prefer to power, they choose and prefer as
ordinary men; but their real affection, their real force, their real
irresistible momentum, is for the ideas which men embody.
I never go on the streets of a great city without feeling that somehow I
do not confer elsewhere than on the streets with the great spirit of the
people themselves, going about their business, attending to the things
which concern them, and yet carrying a treasure at their hearts all the
while, ready to be stirred not only as individuals, but as members of a
great union of hearts that constitutes a patriotic people.
And so this sight in the river touches me merely as a symbol of that,
and it quickens the pulse of every man who realizes these things to have
anything to do with them.
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