Times like these demand women! Let American girls be taught in the home and in the school and by the example of their mothers to be women among women.
"Be women! on to duty! Raise the world from all that's low; Place high in the social heaven Virtue's fair and radiant bow; Lend thy influence to each effort That shall raise our nature human; Be not fashion's gilded ladies,-- Be brave, whole-souled, true women!"[2]
To help to make such men and women of all American boys and girls--Americans in _deeds_ as well as in _words_--Americans, who knowing their rights, dare maintain them "_without compromise and at any cost_"--this is the purpose of the following selections.
'Tis fine to see the Old World, and travel up and down Among the famous palaces and cities of renown, To admire the crumbly castles and the statues of the kings-- But now I think I've had enough of antiquated things.
_So it's home again, and home again, America for me! My heart is turning home again, and there I long to be, In the land of youth and freedom beyond the ocean bars, Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars._
Oh! London is a man's town, there's power in the air; And Paris is a woman's town, with flowers in her hair; And it's sweet to dream in Venice, and it's great to study Rome; But when it comes to living, there is no place like home.
I like the German fir-woods, in green battalions drilled; I like the gardens of Versailles with flashing fountains filled; But, oh, to take your hand, my dear, and ramble for a day In the friendly western woodland where Nature has her way!
I know that Europe's wonderful, yet something seems to lack: The Past is too much with her, and the people looking back. But the glory of the Present is to make the Future free-- We love our land for what she is and what she is to be.
_Oh, it's home again, and home again, America for me! I want a ship that's westward bound to plough the rolling sea, To the blessed Land of Room Enough beyond the ocean bars, Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars._
The following address was delivered by President Wilson at the celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Washington, D. C., October 11th, 1915. It is given here by special permission of the president.