Sometimes we refer to these pioneer Americans as "common people." In fact they were most uncommon. The wilderness environment made them deeply spiritual, even mystical. In men like Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln their basic qualities, however crude the outward aspect, took on the forms of genius. The mind and the spirit of this individualistic American is seen in everything he was and did. He built his solitary house, hidden among the trees, upon his own land. In physical form and manner he came to resemble the native Indian quite as much as the European. He grew to be slender, "rangey," keen of eye, and ready of hand--a "Jack of all trades." This type to-day can not possibly live in American cities as it is unless it keeps one foot in the country. As to unlovely qualities, we Americans have no doubt been richly endowed. The frontiersman farmer readily enough fights his neighbor with fists or firearms. The laws we make for ourselves we often find too irksome to obey. We are careless, often inefficient, and most wasteful of our national resources. Recently we have been led far astray by the deceitfulness of riches. Finally we are apt to become blind to the quieter graces and refinements of life. In certain sections an original austerity gives way these days to pleasures that do not really please anybody. Having conquered a continent with such tumult and shouting, we have not yet learned how to live sanely or even safely. The finer values of life easily elude us, even when we try to seek them out. Yet, are we entirely in error when we claim that we, as a people, have had something valuable placed in our keeping by our history and evolution? Are we not worth preserving in the world? We know that we are. Even in the moments marked by failure and humility we can not lose our national pride and sense of worth.