| Finding the Way |
Chapter 19 |
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Strength is God’s gift and should be used only in worthy ways; to use it in any unworthy way is sacrilege. The device of a French admiral was a burning and flaming oar, as a sign of his fervent and zealous activity on the sea for his king and his country. Underneath the oar was the motto: “For another–No.” While he was ready always to gird himself to fight for his country, he was not ready to do battle for any other cause. Dora Greenwell has written these lines on this motto:
“I gird me not for every cause,
I answer not to every call,
I do not wear my heart for daws
To peck, nor weep when sparrows fall,
But when I give, I give my all;
For her my love, for him my friend,
My steel, my gold, my life, I spend.
My sword shall flash, my blood shall flow
For these, but for another–No!
“Show me but cause for quarrel strong,
That arms the right against the wrong,
That bids me battle with the brave
To crush the tyrant, free the slave;
Then trough the wave I winged will fly,
Will cleave with oars the yielding sky,
Will flame through ocean, float through air,
With all things suffer, do, and dare.
For friend I love, for cause I know,
I fight. But for aught other–No.”
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