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Only Two Days More!
Two days more only may be given to recruiting and then comes — the draft! The noble work of filling our State quota under the two last calls goes proudly forward. Forty-eight hours more of active, earnest work will place Illinois in the van! A long pull, a strong pull and a pull altogether, will crown the effort with success. Read what the Continental says and then unite for one grand and successful effort:
"Men! rise up and go forth. You will acquire a patent of nobility by serving in this war, which will be worth more to you and yours in coming days than any title on earth. You go to great risks — but not to anything which can outweigh the good you can do for this truly holy cause. Have you lived lives ‘of no great account’ — now is the time to rise to a position — to be somebody, and make your mark. Have you been a mere cypher in the great sum of life — a neglected trifle — now is the time to raise yourself to a real value. It can never be said of a man who served in this war, that he was of no great account.
Has your life been stained — by misfortune or your own faults? Now is the time to wipe out the old score and begin afresh. What cautious, timid Peace rejects as bad, bold, hearty War grasps at with eagerness and makes good and great.
Are you poor, and dragging but a dull, base life, more sluggishly than your abilities deserve? Go to the war — in God's name, go to the war! Who knows what changes in life you may live through — what new opportunities may open before you? In that wide South land, lie a million homes, and there will be those left behind who — if you fight bravely — will give the matter no rest till you are richly rewarded. There is not a soldier in this war at this instant who is not acquiring what may be a fortune. Somebody must occupy the lands left vacant in the South!
Are you a lover? Make her proud of you.
Do not fear the risk. That is a poor wretched life which has never run the chances of death.
Fast in battle the bullets fly.
But many a soldier the bullets pass by.
Arise, all! Up, Guards, and at 'em! Let there be a general up-stirring, and a hearty good-will in this matter. The enemy have brought every white man among them into the field. They are kept alive solely by the blacks. One tremendous effort, such as we are capable of making, would sweep them from the face of the earth. Another struggle and we reach the shore."