CHAPTER XXV.

PATRIOTIC SOCIETIES.

"Patriotism," says Disraeli, "depends as much on mutual suffering as on mutual success; and it is by that experience of all fortunes and all feelings that a great national character is created." So great a length of time has elapsed since Americans have had to face the stress of war, that they have almost come to regard it as a romantic characteristic of bygone ages--as did the patricians of imperial Rome in the voluptuous days before the overwhelming barbarian invasions. Happier we than those unfortunate Romans if our patriotic societies can keep us alive to the truth that only by being ready to suffer for our national ideals can we hope to retain our liberties.