Yet when slain Weakness, dying at thy door, Summoning thy right arm’s vengeance, clasps thy feet,— Thy sword that drinks her murderer’s blood is pure As laughing sickles in the saffron wheat. Clearing a crimson path where Peace may tread More safely; thou dost play thy patient part, Love’s pledged ally,—yea, though thy blade be red; Thrusting War’s weapons thro’ his own false heart. O goddess, arctic-crowned and tropic-shod And belted with great waters, hear our cry,— More honest never reached the ear of God,— We’ll serve thee, laud thee, love thee, till we die! A RENAISSANCE OF PATRIOTISM[13] BY GEORGE J. MANSON A RENAISSANCE Within the past few years there has been what ex-President Harrison once happily termed “a renaissance of patriotism.” It started with the centennial anniversaries of 1776, which had the effect of carrying the memories of the people back to the period of the Nation’s birth, and subsequently resulted in the formation of several societies which will be the means of fostering the patriotic spirit and love of country, and recall remembrances of our Revolutionary struggle. The organizers of these societies found that there was a growing lack of what may be called national patriotism—the patriotism that grows out of a lively recollection of the early making of the country through battle, toil, and hardship of the fathers. This lukewarm spirit was not charged to the flood of immigration, or to the lapse of time, but was principally due to neglect on the part of the descendants of Revolutionary heroes to perform their duty of keeping before the public mind the memory of the services of their ancestors, the times in which they lived and the principles for which they contended. THE SONS OF THE REVOLUTION One of the first of these societies to be started was the “Sons of the Revolution.” This was organized February 22, 1876, reorganized December 4, 1883, and incorporated May 3, 1884. The aim of this society is to perpetuate the memory of the men who, in military, naval or civil service, by their acts or counsel, achieved American independence. The members promote and assist in the proper celebration of the anniversaries of Washington’s Birthday, the battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill, the Fourth of July, the capitulation of Saratoga and Yorktown, and the formal evacuation of New York by the British army, December 3, 1783, as a relinquishment of territorial sovereignty, and other prominent events relating to or connected with the War of the Revolution.