peaceful change? No, no! in such a land dynamite and the dagger are the

necessary and proper substitutes for Faneuil Hall. Anything that will make the

madman quake in his bedchamber, and rouse his victims into reckless and

desperate resistance. This is the only view an American, the child of 1620 and

1776, can take of Nihilism. Any other unsettles and perplexes the ethics of our

civilization.

 

Born within sight of Bunker Hill--son of Harvard, whose first pledge was

"Truth," citizen of a republic based on the claim that no government is rightful

unless resting on the consent of the people, and which assumes to lead in

asserting the rights of humanity--I at least can say nothing else and nothing

less--no not if every tile on Cambridge roofs were a devil hooting my words!

 

For practise on forceful selections, use "The Irrepressible Conflict," page 67;

"Abraham Lincoln," page 76, "Pass Prosperity Around," page 470; "A Plea for

Cuba," page 50.

 

FOOTNOTES:

 

[Footnote 2: Those who sat in the pit or the parquet.]

 

[Footnote 3: _Hamlet_, Act III, Scene 2.]

 

CHAPTER X