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mind and the tongue and the heart of a hero!"

But with a long and bitter cry, Nucky sprang to his feet, his arms thrown out protestingly.

"No!" he wailed. "No! You think I'm a hero, but I hain't! I'm a liar is what I am! I kilt the Rhode Island Red, -hit him in the head with a rock one day when he was feistin' around and would n't go in his coop, and throwed him in Perilous. And then I lied to you about it, because I was too proud to take a whoopin' off a woman. And I hain't seed no peace or satisfaction sence, knowin' I hain't a hero no more, but a dad-burn liar! I been tryin' to tell you all day,-I come back to tell you, but I could n't git it out! And now I want you to gimme three whoopin's, one for flingin' the rock, and two for lyin', and then maybe I can take a new start."

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He tore off his coat as he spoke, took down the switch that lived over the fireboard for Jason's benefit, and handed it

sternly to Miss Loring. She rose, trembling, and the other boys rose, looking on with grave, startled eyes. Never had she felt so inadequate to a task; never had duty so warred with inclination; never had she loved and admired Nucky as at that moment. But she held back the tears, braced her courage, and took the switch. Not through weakness of hers should a just and promised penalty be remitted, should any child lose its faith in the eternal law of the following of suffering upon sin. Feeling each stroke as if on her bare heart, she gave Nucky the hard whipping he craved. Once when she faltered, he said, "That hain't enough yet," and she was compelled to keep on, while he bravely turned away his face so that she should not see the evidences of pain.

Then at last she flung the switch in the fire and caught him in her arms. "Oh, Nucky, Nucky," she cried, "you have wiped it all out now, and are a hero through and through! And now I know that some day you will save the country!"

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And that huge Orient by a remnant held! And all those memories be half thy might!

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WHEN

ANGLO-AMERICAN PEACE

BY JAMES, CARDINAL GIBBONS

'HEN the world's history is written, will the twentieth century enjoy the proud and noble distinction of being styled preeminently the Century of Peace? If we may be permitted to judge the future by what has been achieved during the last decade in the cause of peace, I think it will richly deserve this title. Never before have more strenuous, more practical, and more sincere efforts been made to bring about happier relations between man and man, nation and nation, than at the present time. And the general response which the world is giving to the leaders in this movement is eloquent testimony of the abiding desire for peace which dwells in the human breast.

It is a splendid tribute to the high tone of the mind of the present day, to the finer feelings of our generation, and to the inborn love of justice and fair play of our people, that war, with all its atten'dant horrors, should be condemned, and declared both unworthy and incompetent to be the final arbiter between right and wrong, justice and injustice. It seems to

be the will of the people that Mars must be dethroned forever, cast down from the lofty pedestal he has occupied so long. This demand, becoming more general every hour, for the settlement of disputes and the righting of wrongs by the appeal to enlightened reason based upon a true sense of justice and a broad love of our fellow-men, heralds the dawn of a brighter day and the advent of a more perfect civilization.

It is a pleasing reflection for the American people that the most ardent advocates of peace among the nations of the world, the most unselfish workers for it, who are devoting money, high intelligence, and exalted position to its attainment, are her own sons and citizens.

It is also scarcely less gratifying to note that England has joined hands with our own country and expressed the determina

tion to add the mighty prestige of her name and the weight of her influence among the world powers to further the cause of peace among the nations.

The Government of England, indeed, deserves great praise for the good-will she has shown during the last few years to promote a better understanding and a happier state of things among her subjects and dependencies. And, in my judgment, the end is not yet. Only last year a pronounced step forward was made in the path of justice and peace by striking from the oath of coronation phrases which were not only displeasing, but grossly insulting, to the most cherished and the most sacred religious tenets of millions of English subjects not only in Great Britain and Ireland and in the Channel Islands, but also in all the British dominions beyond the seas. It is certainly a happy sign of more peaceful times when the rulers of a powerful nation are willing to free their minds from a strongly rooted prejudice, which their traditions and their creed had planted there, and which had blurred their vision for upward of two hundred

years.

Another bright augury for future peace is England's change of heart toward Ireland. The passing of the Land Bill was an evidence of a more kindly attitude and good-will to her Irish subjects. Greater peace and contentment than Ireland had enjoyed for many decades have followed in the wake of that beneficent concession. A new stimulus has been given to industry, and a feeling of security is fast taking the place of discontent and unrest; and all that Ireland now needs to fill up its cup of happiness is Home Rule, for which the Land Bill seems only the right preparation. It is to be devoutly hoped that this boon will not be long withheld from the Irish people, and that, when it is granted, Ireland, in its usual generous spirit, will bury all past grievances, wipe out all the old,

irritating scores, and become the brightest jewel in the imperial crown. With her dream of years fully realized, it seems reasonable to expect that Ireland would become England's stanch ally in the cause of universal peace.

With reference to that movement now on foot to promote closer and more amicable relations between England and this country, I am persuaded that the signing of a treaty of arbitration between Great Britain and the United States would not only be a source of incalculable blessings to these two great powers, but would go far toward the maintenance of permanent international peace throughout the civilized world.

Both of these great nations have many things in common. We speak the same noble tongue, and the English language is more generally used to-day than any other language on the face of the earth. The classic writers of England are also ours, and the classic authors of America are likewise claimed by Great Britain. The literature of both countries is a common heritage to both nations.

We also live under virtually the same form of government. The head of one nation is a king, the head of the other nation is a president; England is governed by a constitutional monarchy; the United States are ruled by a constitutional republic. And I believe that both of these nations have been more successful in adjusting and reconciling legitimate authority with personal liberty than any other country of the world.

England is mistress of the ocean. Her ships ply through every sea on the globe. Her flag floats over every harbor of the world. Her empire embraces a territory comprising ten millions of square miles, or about one fifth of the whole globe. Great was the Roman Empire in the days of her imperial splendor. It extended into Europe as far as the River Danube, into Asia as far as the Tigris and Euphrates, and into Africa as far as Mauritania. And yet the Roman Empire was scarcely one sixth of the extent of the British Empire of to-day. It was Daniel Webster who,

in a speech delivered in the American Senate about sixty years ago, thus described the extent of the British possessions: "She has dotted the whole surface of the globe with her possessions and military posts, whose morning drum-beat, following the sun and keeping company with the hours, encircles the earth with one unbroken strain of the martial airs of England."

The United States rules nearly one hundred millions of happy and contented people. Our Government exercises a dominant and salutary influence over the entire American continent. And our influence is exerted not to destroy, but to save, not to dismember our sister republics, but to preserve their peace and autonomy.

If, then, England and America were to enter into an alliance of permanent arbitration with each other, such a bond of friendship and amity would be a blessing not only to these two great powers, but to all the nations of the civilized world.

When the waters receded from the earth after the deluge, Almighty God made a solemn covenant with Noah and his posterity that the earth should never again be destroyed by water, and, as a sign of this covenant, He placed a bow in the heavens. Let Britannia and Columbia join hands across the Atlantic, and their outstretched arms will form a sacred arch of peace which will excite the admiration of the nations, and will proclaim to the world the hope that with God's help the earth shall never more be deluged with blood shed in fratricidal war.

The time seems to be most auspicious for the consummation of this alliance. It meets with the approval of the President of the United States, and I hope it will have the sanction of Congress now in session. It is strongly advocated by Sir Edward Grey, English Minister of Foreign Affairs, and hosts of the most distinguished citizens and statesmen of both countries. And it is my earnest prayer that all who are devoting themselves to this grand purpose may receive the reward promised by the Prince of Peace: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God."

TOPICS OF THE TIME

HOPE FOR ANGLO-AMERICAN

THE

ARBITRATION

HERE ought to be a statute of limitations on the prophecies of national and international conflict-a time limit beyond which the prophets of evil would be silenced by ridicule. For forty years detractors of the French have told us of the instability of the republic, and yet it has gone on, amid all the perturbations of parties and factions, administering order as vigorously as the government of any other country, and to-day it is apparently the more firmly established for the perils it has passed, and for the fact that only the oldest generation of Frenchmen retain even the traditions of the monarchy. Again, ever since the Russo-Japanese War we have been told of the imminence of the danger of invasion of America by the hordes of "little brown men" who, "drunk with ambition," are supposed to be "looking for trouble," particularly with the United States, though everybody knows that it will take years of recuperation from Japan's victory over Russia before she can command financial resources sufficient for another contest. She is now wisely and steadfastly addressing herself to the work of internal economy and progress and, we believe, without the slightest idea of an infraction of the Monroe Doctrine, or of conflict with a people who from the day of Perry's expedition, over fifty years ago, have shown for her and received from her nothing but friendliness and sympathy.

In three years it will be a century since a hostile shot was fired between the two great branches of the English-speaking people, and yet, to judge from the attitude and alarms of certain interested parties, one might think that we were perpetually on the edge of an armed conflict. On the contrary, the fiber of our relations is of the firmest our commercial interests, in spite of particular rivalries, have in the main deep and inextricable roots; the bonds of our sympathies are many and

strong, and are yearly growing more so. If in England we are sometimes still reminded of "a certain condescension in foreigners," it is more and more confined to negligible classes-knights of the drawingroom or boors of the railway train-of whom we have noble imitations in our own country. In any matter of real consequence there is, if not complete agreement, at least a basis of good understanding. Mutual respect exists between the cultivated people of the two countries, along any common line, whether it be literature, education, science, or finance. The time has come to put this international sympathy beyond the reach of the remotest peril.

We are now confronted with a great opportunity. President Taft, with the jurist's respect for law and the Chief Executive's sense of responsibility, following up the success of his treaty with Japan, which removes for at least twelve years the possibility of war, has addressed himself to the larger problem of arbitration of all questions which may arise between Great Britain and America. He has thrown down a gage of peace which has been promptly taken up by Sir Edward Grey, the British Minister for Foreign Affairs. In the effort to bring about this desideratum, which President Cleveland advocated in vain, and perhaps prematurely, he has the overwhelming support of intelligent American public sentiment. There is no less cordial support for the idea in England, but it is recognized that the chief obstacle lies here, in the constitutional prerogative of the Senate (its duty as well as its right) to "advise and consent" in the enactment of treaties. So, although the country has rapidly advanced to the position of the President that questions of national honor may well be included in the subjects of arbitration, it must be patient with its representatives in the Senate in their practical handling of the problem. Senators, on their part, have a right to ask that public opinion in favor of the largest measure of arbitration must be unmistakably mani

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