The Nemesis of Mediocrity by Ralph Adams Cram

"Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us. The Lord hath wrought great glory by them through his great power from the beginning. Such as did bear rule in their kingdoms, men renowned for their power, giving counsel by their understanding, and declaring prophecies. Leaders of the people by their counsels, and by their knowledge of learning meet for the people; wise and eloquent in their instructions. Such as find out musical tunes and recited verses in writing. Rich men furnished with ability, living peaceably in their habitations: All these were honoured in their generations and were the glory of their times. " -- ECCLESIASTICUS: XLIV.

Already the revelations of war have cast their searching and mordant light on all that was brought over to us out of the last century, and nothing is as it seemed in those far and half mythical days when there was no war and we maintained a serene content well grounded on its broad base of solid accomplishment. It was a proud, even an august possession, this hoard of coined wealth such as men had never gathered before, made up as it was of all the broad and shining counters minted out of Renaissance, Reformation and Revolution, and with this vast reserve our solvency seemed beyond suspicion. The touch of war is like that of the magician in the fairy tale, and enough of the bright counters already have turned to dried and worthless leaves to make us wonder if in the end a single coin may remain to us, honest gold, unclipped and undebased.