If we are inclined to look for other excuses, one may occur to us which, though by no means satisfying, may appear to gain a somewhat fanciful plausibility by reason of its reference to the law of heredity. It rests upon the theory that those who secured for American nationality its first foothold, and watched over its weak infancy were so engrossed with the persistent and unescapable labors that pressed upon them, and that their hopes and aspirations led them so constantly to thoughts of the future, that retrospection nearly became with them an extinct faculty, and that thus it may have happened that exclusive absorption in things pertaining to the present and future became so embedded in their natures as to constitute a trait of character descendible to their posterity, even to the present generation. The toleration of this theory leads to the suggestion that an inheritance of disposition has made it difficult for the generation of to-day to resist the temptation inordinately to strive for immediate material advantages, to the exclusion of the wholesome sentiment that recalls the high achievements and noble lives which have illumined our national career. Some support is given to this suggestion by the concession, which we cannot escape, that there is abroad in our land an inclination to use to the point of abuse the opportunities of personal betterment, given under a scheme of rule which permits the greatest individual liberty, and interposes the least hindrance to individual acquisition; and that in the pursuit of this we are apt to carry in our minds, if not upon our lips, the legend: “Things done are won; joy’s soul lies in the doing.” But the question is whether all this accounts for our indifference to the proper observance of public holidays which deserve observance. There is another reason which might be advanced in mitigation of our lack of commemorative enthusiasm, which is so related to our pride of Americanism that, if we could be certain of its sufficiency, we would gladly accept it as conclusive. It has to do with the underlying qualities and motives of our free institutions. Those institutions had their birth and nurture in unselfish patriotism and unreserved consecration; and, by a decree of fate beyond recall or change, their perpetuity and beneficence are conditioned on the constant devotion and single-hearted loyalty of those to whom their blessings are vouchsafed. It would be a joy if we could know that all the bright incidents in our history were so much in the expected order of events, and that patriotism and loving service are so familiar in our present surroundings, and so clear in their manifestation, as to dull the edge of their especial commendation. If the utmost of patriotism and unselfish devotion in the promotion of our national interests have always been and still remain universal, there would hardly be need of their commemoration.