“Listen to the last words of the President of the United States: ‘_The Union! The Flag!_’ That is what he lived for and died for, that is what he loved. ‘_The Union! The Flag!_’ “My friends, they say patriotism is dead in this land. They say we are eaten up with love of money, tainted with a yellow streak that makes us afraid to fight. It’s a lie! I am ready to give every dollar I have in the world to help save this nation and it’s the same with you men. Am I right?” A roar of shouts and hysterical yells shook the building. “I am sixty years old, but I’ll fight in the trenches with my four sons beside me and you men will do the same. Am I right?” Again came a roar that could be heard across Chicago. “We all make mistakes. I do nothing but make mistakes, but I’m sorry. I have said hard things about public men, especially about German-Americans, but I’m sorry.” With a noble gesture he turned to Bernard Ridder, who sprang to meet him, his eyes blazing with loyalty. “There are no German-Americans!” shouted Ridder. “We’re all Americans! Americans!” He clasped Roosevelt’s hand while the audience shouted its delight. Quick on his feet came Charles Edward Russell, fired with the same resistless patriotism. “There are no more socialists!” he cried. “No more proletariat! We’re all Americans! We’ll all fight for the Union and the old flag! _You too!_” He turned to William Jennings Bryan, who rose slowly and with outstretched hands faced his adversaries. “I, too, have made mistakes and I am sorry. I, too, feel the grandeur of those noble words spoken by that great patriot who has sent us his last message. I, too, will stand by the flag in this time of peril and will spare neither my life nor my fortune so long as the invader’s foot rests on the soil of free America.” “Americans!” shouted Roosevelt, the sweat streaming from his face. “Look!” He caught Bryan by one arm and Russell by the other. “See how we stand together. All the rest is forgotten. Americans! Brothers! On your feet everybody! Yell it out to the whole land, to the whole world, America is awake! Thank God, America is awake!” CHAPTER XXII ON CHRISTMAS EVE BOSTON THEILLS THE NATION WITH AN ACT OF MAGNIFICENT HEROISM Now all over America came a marvellous spiritual awakening. The sacrifice of the President’s noble life, and his wife’s thrilling effort to shield her husband, was not in vain. Once more the world knew the resistless power of a martyr’s death. Women and men alike were stirred to warlike zeal and a joy in national sacrifice and service. The enlistment officers were swamped with a crush of young and old, eager to join the colours; and within three days following the President’s assassination a million soldiers were added to the army of defence and a million more were turned away. It was no longer a question how to raise a great American army, but how to train and equip it, and how to provide it with officers.