TR on War Veterans

A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal afterward. More than that no man is entitled to, and less than that no man shall have.
Theodore Roosevelt, Springfield, Ill., 1903

THEODORE ROOSEVELT STANDS AT ARMAGEDDON

What happens to me is not of the slightest consequence; I am to be used, as in a doubtful battle any man is used, to his hurt or not, so long as he is useful and is then cast aside and left to die. I wish you to feel this. I mean it; and I shall need no sympathy when you are through with me. . . .

 It would be far better to fail honorably for the cause we champion than it would be to win by foul methods the foul victory for which our opponents hope. But the victory shall be ours, and it shall be . . . clean and honest fighting for the loftiest of causes. We fight in honorable fashion for the good of mankind; unheeding of our individual fates; with unflinching hearts and undimmed eyes; we stand at Armageddon, and we battle for the Lord.
(Before the Republican National Convention, Chicago, 1912)

Woman's sacrament

Men were His last companions at the table
At that sad meal, within the upper room,
Striving to do the utmost they were able
To lift the shadow of His coming doom.

Men broke with Him the bread of consecration
And drained with Him the sacramental 'cup
 Through men He also suffered condemnation;
 By them the cruel cross was lifted up.

 The women He had taught and treated kindly,
Who had sat daily at the Master's feet,
Gathered in little' groups and waited blindly,
As they had waited in the learner's seat.

 For them there was no promise of tomorrow,
 No hope to carry with them through the years,
Upon their tongues the acid bread of sorrow,
And, on their lips, the bitter wine of tears.

 But, on the morning of the Resurrection,
Women were first to reach the open tomb,
 First with the evidence of their affection,
 First to put off the clinging shroud of gloom.

ANNA M. PRIESn.h

TO THE BOYS OF AMERICA

Of course what we have a right to expect from the American boy is that he shall turn out to be a good American man. Now, the chances are strong that he won't be much of a man unless he is a good deal of a boy. He must not be a coward or a weakling, a bully, a shirk or a prig. He must work hard and play hard. He must be clean-minded and clean-lived, and able to hold his own under all circumstances and against all comers. It is only on these conditions that he will grow into the kind of a man of whom America can really be proud. In life, as in a football game, the principle to follow is: Hit the line hard, don't foul and don't shirk, but hit the line hard.

                                                     Theodore Roosevelt.