Baby in the Tree-top." But it is for our children the voice is singing now.

And so over and over again the divine story goes on! All that we are all that we would be-we owe to women. In the home, in the office, in public life-everywhere. We mustwe should we do pay tribute to them.

I shall name no date in this anniversary. I am entirely indifferent to the flight of time-because I hold with those who perceive that time is an illusion.

Time may have dusted my hair, but I have never been over twenty-five-and I have never seen and I shall never see a woman looking older than twenty-one.

I am sure that my boy friend, dear Otis Skinner, is of the same opinion.

To go back to the date of which this to me is a happy anniversary, let me quote the old song:

When I was young and had no sense,

I bought a fiddle for eighteen pence,
And the only tune that I could play
Was "Over the Hills and Far Away."

After my wandering, barn-storming, poverty-stricken, hungerpinched, youthful days, when I first saw New York, I knew that at last I had reached home; that next to California-God's own golden land that gave me birth-this was the dearest spot on earth, the spot where dreams come true.

This wonderful scene to-night is like a dream to me a far cry from my shabby little garret in old Fourteenth Street where I first found shelter in this city.

The lights, the friendly faces, the wonderful welcome, form a moving and beautiful picture. A picture to stay fixed in the mind and to carry away with me.

As I stand here . . . all the teeming memories of the past come surging back and I seem to see among you many a friend and comrade of other days whose names have long been written in the Book of Death: John McCullough, Edwin Booth, Lawrence Barrett, the Wallacks, Augustin Daly, Richard Mansfield, Billy Florence, Charlotte Cushman, Adelaide Neilson, Ada Rehan, Henry Irving and Helena Modjeska.

I can scarce credit that it is I who am here; that all the strange, eventful experiences of my life have actually befallen me!

And now a thousand affectionate thanks! A thousand times my gratitude.

Dear friends: it is not likely that we shall meet again-not all of us. No, that is impossible.

Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing,
Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness;
So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another,
Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.

The beauty of life, and all the beauty of life, lies in the look and the voice before we pass each other in the silence-the courage and love we give to each other in the very brief years we are in this world. For each day we must say with the prophet, "How long shall I see the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet?"

And so, dear friends, I echo our own great Brutus: "If we do meet again, why, we shall smile. If not, why then the parting was well made."

MICH

ALBERT J. BEVERIDGE

THE REPUBLIC THAT NEVER RETREATS

Speech of Senator Albert J. Beveridge delivered at a banquet of the Union League Club, Philadelphia, Penn., February 15, 1899. The president of the club occupied the chair. His speech "The March of the Flag" is given in Volume XI and his introduction "Public Speaking" in Volume V.

MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN:-The Republic never retreats. Why should it retreat? The Republic is the highest form of civilization, and civilization must advance. The Republic's young men are the most virile and unwasted in the world, and they pant for enterprise worthy of their power. The Republic's preparation has been the self-discipline of a century, and that preparedness has found its task. The Republic's opportunity is as noble as its strength, and that opportunity is here. The Republic's duty is as sacred as its opportunity is real, and Americans never desert their duty.

The Republic could not retreat if it would. Whatever its destiny it must proceed. For the American Republic is a part of the movement of a race-the most masterful race of history-and race movements are not to be stayed by the hand of man. They are mighty answers to divine commands.

What is England's glory? England's immortal glory is not in Agincourt or Waterloo. It is not her merchandise or commerce. It is Australia, New Zealand, and Africa reclaimed. It is India redeemed. It is Egypt, mummy of the nations, touched into modern life. England's imperishable renown is in English science throttling the plague in Calcutta, English law administering order in Bombay, English energy planting an industrial civilization from Cairo to the Cape, and English discipline creating soldiers, men, and finally citizens, perhaps, even out of the fellaheen of the dead land of the Pharaohs. And