"They had blood and iron in their heart, they had the nerve to dare, the strength to do. I do not believe in battle for battle's sake; but I never want to see our people when they are not willing to fight, and able to fight. The only guarantee of peace and liberty is the ability and willingness to do battle for your rights. Refinement alone is not strength, culture alone is not virtue. Absalom, Alcibiades, and Burr stand in history as the most polished, cultured men of three ages, yet they were more a menace than a brace to the liberties of their time. In stress, the world calls upon the Calvins, the Cromwells, the Jacksons, Browns, and Lincolns. They were stalwart, strenuous, courageous men; not cultured and refined, but rich in royalty and daring. It is the rugged and the strong, and not the gentle and the wise, who gather in their hands the reins of fate and plough deep furrows in the fields of human events. It is they who have driven the car of progress and have woven the deepest colors in the fabric of human happiness. It is true that some of our Western torch-bearers were not perfect; none of them were ever anointed with the oil of consecration; around them surged the temptations of a wild and boisterous age; through their hearts and souls there swept the impulses and passions of the strong; if they sinned, it was against themselves, not their country. Let their frailties be forgotten, and their good cherished. Often rough and defiant of the conventionalities, they were ever true and loyal, and most of these empire builders can stand before the great white throne with open hearts. They were the architects, the Hiram Abifs of these Western empires. They laid the foundations in courage and liberty."
Let no one fancy that Pueblo is a primitive Western city devoid of electricity, telephones, motor cars, or even Marconigrams. Let no one fancy it is too far from Paris to have the latest French fashions. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that it demands the best and the most up-to-date ideas of the Eastern cities to be at all eligible in these Colorado towns. Pueblo has a most delightful club-house on the edge of a lake--the lake is artificially created, and being made to order, is, of course, exactly the kind of lake that is desired, the water being conducted from the mountains into a large natural depression--where great open fires in every room greet the daily visitor; where there are large reading-rooms, a dining-room, and a ball-room; no intoxicating beverages of any kind are allowed to be sold, so that youths and maidens may at any time enjoy the club with no insidious dangers to their moral welfare.