Show I Shaky Before Making Address Address Address Ad Ad- I dress to Great Throng Lincoln Was Transformed med 1 a as He Began egan to Talk By JOSEPH H. H CHOATE I Famous American Statesman Historian Historian His His- torian and Friend of Lincoln Abraham Lincoln was born great ireat i I His Its Inherent capacity mental moral rai and physical having havinga I a been recognized by byI bythe bythe the educated intelligence intelligence intelli intelli- I gence of ot a a. free tree people peo peo- plc they the happily 4 l chose hos him for their I v ruler in a day of i deadly peril peri It I Is Js now six fifty years since I first saw saw and heard Abraham Abraham Abra Abra- i ham Lincoln but the S impression that ht he left upon my mind Is la ineffaceable After his great success Inthe in inthe inthe the West he came to toNe Ne New York to make a apolitical apolitical political address adress H He lie J. J H H. H Choate appeared in every eer sense sense of t the word like e one of the plain pe people amon among whom he loved to be counted As he talked to me before the meeting meeting meeting meet meet- ing ing- he seemed ill 1 at ease with that sort of apprehension which h a young oung man might feel teel before lefore pre presenting enUng himself himself himself him him- self to a new before and strange audience It I was ws a reat audience including I I I I I I I all al the noted noted menlo men of his party in n New NewYork NewYork NewYork York editors clergymen statesmen lawyers merchants critics They were all al curious to hear bear him His fame as asa asa a powerful speaker had preceded him and exaggerated rumor of ot his wit wi the tIme worst forerunner of ot an orator had reached the East When William Cullen Bryant Biant presented presented presented pre pre- Lincoln on the high platform of the Cooper institute a vast sea of ot eager upturned facts faces greeted hUn him him full tul of ot intense curiosity to see what this r rude de child of the people was like Lincoln Lin Lin- coin coln was was' equal l to the to the occasion When h he he spoke he lie was transformed his eye kindled his voice rang his face shone and d seemed to light up the whole hole assembly For an hour and a half he held helel hi his audience in the hollow of his hand Ills His st style le of speech was extremely simple With no attempt at ornament or rhetoric without parade or pr pretense pre pretense pre pre- tense h he spoke straight to the point pint If 1 any came came expecting the turgid turid eloquence elo do- do quence or the ribaldry of the frontier they must have been startled at at the earnest and sincere purity of his ut ut- ut It I was marvelous to see how this untutored man b by mere discipline and the time chastening of pt his own spirit had outgrown all al meretricious arts ars and found his own ay way to the grandeur and strength of absolute simplicity Jn Jim the Id kindliest spirit he lie prote protested ted against as the avowed threat of ot the Southern states to d destroy stroy the union if in in order to seure secure tr freedom edom in those vast regions out of t which future states were to be ue carved a Republican president president president dent were elected He closed wih with an appeal to his audience to maintain their political purpose on that Un Unassailable n ha- assailable issue of right and wrong which alone could justify it f. f and not notto notto notto to be intimidated by any threats of t destruction to the government or of ruin rIn to themselves Lincoln concluded with wih this telling sentence which drove the whole argument argument agu- agu ment h home me to all 31 hearts Let us have faith faithS that right makes might a and aid d in that that faith let letus us to the tIme end dare to do our duty as we c understand it it During his brief briet term ter of ot power he was probably the tIme object of more abuse vilification and ridicule than any other man In the world but when lien he fell by bythe bythe the thc hand of an assassin at the very er mom moment nt of hi his stupendous victory all aU the tIle naton's nations vied with uth one another in pa paying ing homage to his lila character The Thc rUt fifty years ears that have since elapsed ha have se established his place in history as on ore of the gre great t benefactors of the human humA n lace |