AFTERWORD

THE glory of the Great Valley is in the deeds of her heroes whose conquests are blazoned on the tablets of the nation's memory.

Her prosperity is in the genius of her inventors and the hands of her artisans—those renowned creators of her colossal fortunes.

But her safety lies deep in the hearts of her common people whose names are seldom heard.

On their integrity depends the fate of this land. They are the very life of the United States.

How can we better understand the stuff whereof our people are made, the labor they have done, the ideals they have created, the institutions they have reared in the two centuries since they first set foot in this valley, than by studying their present by the light of their past?

How can we thank them more appropriately for the treasures they give us, than by imitating the sincerity of their lives?

One of them, a boy pioneer, who lived in the times half-way between the lads of to-day and the young men who built the fort at Ouiatanon, has told us his story. It is the plain tale of his hardships and successes in the struggle for a home, where his small daily tasks might help to keep alive, upon the altar of its hearth, the sacred flame of love.

Through his adventures runs the plea for honest citizenship.

His acts declare: Not in war, but in work uplifted by service for others, in peace fraught with neighborly good-will, in self-sacrifice for our country's sake, is the spirit of patriotism that will keep afloat forever over the Great Valley the flag of the Stars and Stripes!

THE END

BOOKS BY
KATE DICKINSON
SWEETSER

"Particularly spirited is Miss Sweetser's biographical work. Accuracy of historic fact has been the author's commendable aim in all her books. Luckily she has likewise treated her characters as human beings, something which cannot be said of most writers of biography for children."—The Nation.

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