A nation which fails to keep in touch with its past, as has been very truly said, is as near to drying up as a tree with severed roots. The same might be just as truly said of any of the communities, large or small-cities, towns, parishes, villages, hamlets-of which a nation is composed, for their past is the nation's past; its roots are their roots and even the least of them has made some contribution to the life of the nation.