Show ABRAHAM LINCOLN by JOHN 4 FELLERS FELLEM it was in 1809 the pendulum that ticks j off the years has swung back to its starting point more than a hundred times since bince then W charles darwin to natural natura I 1 science as the foremast ore moat evolutionist of his time mendelssohn the musician who has given us ua choso delicate and beautiful fancies songs without words tennyson once the english poet laureate oliver wendell holmes the autocrat of the breakfast table edgar al allan poe whose life story has filled more eyes with tears perhaps than any other in the annals of literature william E glad stone who has written his name in En glands history as her very greatest states statesman an and our beloved abraham lincoln were each born that year the nineteenth century was one in which education du Idu catlon cation commerce states statesmanship enship and christianity found freer br breath cath than boy had ever known before in the entire world no other man of that century so completely represented the spirit of those vast movements as did ibraham abraham lincoln notwithstanding the rude surroundings of tho the kentucky hut in which he was iras born he represented new england righteousness now jersey justice I 1 pennsylvania enn sylvant sympathy and virginia chivalry for all wed much to aso cheso qualities mingled in the blood of his ancestors who H J S ancestors had na emigrated from those states in abraham lincoln great currents of character met and produced that rare type of american manhood rugged honesty quaint humor and firm purpose which have written his name in the history of the world not only as the eman elzator of men but of races and nations of his early education or lack of education much has been written an and said bald but the best information we have indicates that the principal books t to which he had access in early life were tho the bible the pilgrims progress CBS the life of washington and shakespeare abraham lincoln however oven even when a boy learned deeper things than books teach from the great school of nature which Is always in session and whose students never graduate in this school ho he learned those wonderful lessons which brought him closer to tho the heart of humanity than any man of hla his time and so it came about that one day when a vast crowd had gathered and a whole nation was waa listening he thrilled the world with that simple statement this nation cannot continue to exist half slave and halt half free those words were not very eloquent but they found a response in the popular thought because of the stubborn fact they stated and because a great man had spoken thorn them this was waa one secret of mr air Lincol ns power and influence an influence and power still widening as they answer tho the call of tomorrow tor for yesterdays record of great things and great deeds mr air Lincol ns tomorrow of prospect was waa always good because hla his yesterday of retrospect was well pleas real secret of ol 01 ing to himself and to those who know him best the Lincol ns powers genius of this groat great man Is IB diffused but it can never be lost there Is no american home that Is not a part of at abraham lincoln py dy tho the side of every man who today contends for justice and equality among men stands abraham lincoln h ad face rebuking the least sign ol of compromise with injustice and wrong A recent writer has baa given the following epitome of abraham Lincol ns blog biography errand boy farm hand flat boatman rall splitter clerk storekeeper soldier surveyor postmaster congressman country lawyer politician statesman president hero martyr struggling up through difficulty and through the years of preparation mr lincoln began the practice of law in 1837 viewed from today it would seem that t there h ore was something in the general atmosphere of those times to which his nature responded the worlds thinkers were on good terms nations were at peace england was the central sun in the political skies queen victoria gentle kind and tactful was waa just coming to the throne napoleon loon was sleeping in the island of 9 st L helena and tho the duko of wellington was still alive emerson was lecturing and writing in america carlisle in england was waa publishing unhindered the french revolution victar hugo hug was waa establishing la in france the romantic school of the nineteenth century heinrich heine was singing his german songs fredercka Freder lka time was rip 0 bremer was waa I 1 weaving into pretty romance the peasant jor for his comino coming life ot of and nd norway and tho the irish melodies ol oi thomas thomaa were finding their way to the universal heart Is it any wonder that tho the genius of abraham lincoln should begin to bloom at that time it Is any wonder that oven even in the swish and swirl of tho the river on its way to the sea he heard beard a song of liberty and freedom that filled his soul with enthusiasm and love the story of his wonderful development in forensic power and in po popular pular and political advancement la Is one of the most remarkable in history ile he appears to have felt disinclined dis inclined to accept the estimate which others p placed I 1 a C e d on oil his character men alen whom god selects for great achievement soon learn that what they WANT TO DO has but little relation to what they MUST DO ile he could never quite understand why lie ho was called from time to time to greater things there was such an absolute absence of 0 self confidence in his character and he was so conscious of his lack of education his homely appearance and awkward manner that the demands laid upon him calling him to greater achievements seemed humorous at times to him and in this fact perhaps lay his aptness in the matter of story Itell telling hig for which lie he Is so well known abraham lincoln more than all others of our public men repudiated the dictation of heredity and lifted his ancestry from obscurity to a creditable p place knour in our count rys history was he educated ills his scholar S P 0 ka ufa life and work answer yes and leave those who hold at gettysburg diplomas to prove that ho be was not ills his gettysburg address bears tho the mint marks of the scholar it was waa the profoundest utterance of the worlds spoken thought save one the sermon on tho the mount ile he stood there among the graves of the heroic dead and this Is what he said fourscore and seven years kgb our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that of ill men are created equal now we are engaged in a great civil war testing whether that nation or any nation so go conceived and so dedicated can long endure we are met on a great battlefield of that war we have come to dedicate a portion of it as aa a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live it Is altogether fitting and proper that we should to lo this but in a larger sense wo we cannot dedicate we cannot consecrate we cannot hallow this ground the bravo brave men living and dead who st struggled rug aled here have consecrated it tar far above our poor power to add or to detract tho the world will little note nor long remember what we may say here but it can never forget what they did here it Is fous the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they abo who fought here havo have thus far so nobly advanced it Is rather for us to be hero here dedicated to tho the great task remaining before us that from those these honored dead we take increased devotion to 10 that cause causa for cor which they here gave the tha last full measure of devotion that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain that this nation under god shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people by the people tor for the people shall not perish from the earth the binds of that chill november day boro bore that message to the ears of those who stood farthest and when the last word died away the immense an throng approved what he had bad said by a holy hush which message massage to all made him feel that he had bad tailed failed that silence was a nations of earth GREAT AMEN that consecrated and dedicated a sentiment to generations yet unborn and what shall we say of his second inaugural where among all stats state papers can one be found that favorably compares com parea with that address for beer like and sustained majesty chastened chasteney Chast ened by war taught by its great crises and tragedies he was conscious that he was speaking inet only to men but to nations with malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right as god gives us to see the right let us strive to finish the work that we are in to bind up the nations wounds to care tor for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and orphans to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations however far we wander to whatever issues outlives our lives are touched however wide our horizon may have broadened when friends betray and prom ibea tall fall like tired children we long to lay our heads again in the lap of home on the tha morning of tho the lu day mr lincoln lived while out driving with his bis wife among other things he said mary we have had a hard struggle since wo we came to washington but tho the war la is over and we may now hope tor for four years of peace and happiness then we will go back to our springfield homo home and pass the rest of our lives in quiet wo have saved a little money and during abla term we will try and isryl up more inore but we shall not have enough to io support us I 1 will open u 6 law office at springfield and practice law I 1 am sure we WI shall do well such were tho the daydreams day dreams of oui lamenta d prisident on the last day of hla his earth life and with that vision of tho the homecoming home coming back to his beloved atall flooding hid memory ho he aul quietly etly and without warning into tha hadow ow and was laid to rest real la in the re of a a Nat nations fons griel grief J |