The Heroes Of Our Day

Heroic deeds in every age     Command the world's esteem;     Each finds a place in history's page,     'Midst gloom a glory beam.     And we full oft revert to this,     To show man's true descent     From Him who is the source of bliss,     Tho' now by passions rent.     But we need not consult the past;     The present bears this fruit:     The hero race will ever last;     The tree is sound at root.     And never has the world excelled     The present in this line;     Our loving Lord has not withheld     From us this trait divine.     And we should not from them withhold     The praise we feel is due     For deeds of love, and actions bold,     For spirit kind and true.     Their worth we now should recognize,     Not chant it o'er their graves;     The hero of the past we prize,     No less the man who braves     The dangers of the present hour,     The sneers which now are rife,     Not for the sake of earthly power,     Nor yet to save his life.     But for the good of fellow man,     And for his Master's sake,     He shuns no cross, and fears no ban;     'Tis these a hero make.