What a point of space is a century midway between the ninth and nineteenth! Few are long-sighted enough in historic vision to touch that point with a cambric needle.

It may seem unfeeling to say it or think it; still it is as true as the plainest history of the last millenium.

There is a patriotism that looks at the future through a gimlet hole, and sees in it but a single star.

That patriotism is a natural, and most popular sentiment.

It was strong in the Welshman's breast a thousand years ago, and in the Scotsman's half that distance back in the past.