Show W aw ff in linc a k marturet martyred Marty red president most illustrious example of what world calls the self made ma ILI av lio lie foi sool forming and sought a position till as a clerk in a country store whether lincoln ever would have been li carrl T of led not the lie black hawk war occurred about n acar lie went to work tit at new salem sango mon county remains it question it peed need not A bother any one however because the war did occur and lincoln did go into it ns as a captain of 4 volunteers this might he be sold said to have been the turning point in ili tits career up to tills this time ho he hod not found himself lie ho was studying but drifting no iio d dors oe a not appear to lieve eliav o ind any alia in life bo yond tho the to educate himself and ami to succeed lincoln afterward said that ills experience in tile black war anve lint greater pleasure than anything that lind occurred to him up tip to r ti tant at time lie he find no opportunity to distinguish in that lint little conflict but lie returned to new salem it nian limn of more public importance than when lid left it lie ile started a store but it failed und the debts fell upon him lie was appointed postmaster the first federal 0 nice lie he ever held tn lie he ran for the legislature but was defeated but tile the next election lie he ran and was elected end later returned for another term 1 1 ORE than half a century after hla hit death Abr alluin lincoln mill Is tic most MORE nati name a andoldi personality Is history tite lie most in american am alcan there Is no mystery about tills ils the explanation Is stillie pie lincoln wits was a president who was human human in ills his genius for till and in ills his frailties human in big love for story telling and and intensely filled with tile tho that will not knowingly do tin nn unkind or unjust a att t it Is not that lie ho was perfection in any of the walks of life in which fate turned ills his steps for there liero were better lawyers in his fits time there were even better tory moty vilers than lincoln surely it not be difficult to name better military azz accra irs than lincoln was or more learned men inen and greater orators orator than lie but lincoln was n man ol of the people and americans like that lint kind of man writes jseph joseph jackson in the philadelphia public ledger they hoard heard every serap scrap of writing that the man over ever wrote enticing A stacks ills hla dilapidated old law jaw booko ills broken down book enge everything tunit once belonged to tohle hijii orin which lie imd set ills nunie Is treasured not long ago in fit new york they sold tit nt auction a still slip of f paper on in which lio lid showed that lined good politician ay as lie ile wits was thought to be lie was wao a pr hand nt at guessing results of a presidential election yet tills this slip of it paper brought 1025 and lincoln hild had riot not even signed it but it was 1 cnown blown to have been written by him it might be mentioned here her that lincoln proved himself it to be a very poor prophet prop liet and monteil tile strength of general mcclellan ills po lilledal opponent in the el election of 1864 according to Lincol ns estin linato into ho to felt sure burn of thu lie new eui l igind states all anil a few others totaling 10 brot vote s 1 in it the electoral elect orul college find lie set down ns as the iho supposed copperhead vote tile states of naw w york pennsylvania new jersey delaware mary maryland intia wurl kentucky und and illinois and their votes it lie bell believed eved would be cast for geri gen prid oral mcclellan McClell nn As it matter of fact however only now jersey jercy delaware and kentucky klimt m nt eflin till and ho he carried the election by a vote of to 22 there were reasons lor lincoln Lincol ns 8 bellef that hat the states lie ho eliud ili set down as Copper copperhead hend would go against him via the drafts of men hot had been resi resisted stell in ili more or less form ln ili ninny at 0 these cheso commonwealths notably now new york and illinois and the targe large number of en there might cnally lend lead to ills conch ivion wit nut what lie hod had not taken into the fullest account was lint hat the 04 majority of men in the north were loyal to ill lie union regardless of politics or their natural sympathies and they stood by lincoln to ille hie end was real self made man i it anyone were asked to name the ho most illustrious arious example of what we have called ole ilie self nef iii iilo in ali america there would ln tanily occur tile tho annino of lincoln in a country of bolf ande wen men liu hu stands in high relief there Is no one to tn sanko u place ace beside film for not only dill did lie over ame every dini culty placed in ills way in phils ti 0 clave art an education and nicy y were numerous tut but along with it always went that lint equally strong determination not to liy hy my any unfair means ile he admitted that ills fits education wits was defective and that was ns a weak word for it many men inen with a gl gai at deal diore have been failures and lincoln lloil I every opportunity ot of becoming a failure lint lie 1114 educational educato nal weaknesses and aud strove to them that lie ho did remove tela reems to ile bo testified to by many writers J I 1 at A pub 90 orilo it Is to bo be seen there yet yel att in one of the couenca lit K c e oxford a printed copy of u letter lincoln wrote to a ino titer who ind had given five sons that tile the union might be preserved A caliel beneath this copy of the letter bears the simple comment that tills Is one of the finest specimens of wo puru english extant ali and that comment by one of the greatest uni in the world Is on the lie work of it a man who never had a years schooling in his life it Is small wonder that hat Lincol ns life la Is upheld to the poor boy na as it a shining example of what determination to learn and succeed will do Lincol ns grandfather like many others followed tile the magnetic daniel boone into the wilderness of kentucky the at that little were not poor folks folk za its as many havo have believed tor for he flip grandfather whose name also was abraham sold its his property for before lie set out for tile unclaimed lands where some say tire camj moths still existed lint hut when later inter lie he died thomas the father of the future president did not hil inherit lerit much if anything end and had to start put out for himself tit nt an early age ile he married nancy hunks tile niece illece of tile tho man annn lie worked for and slie site became the mother of abraham lincoln tile tho Litt leChance for education kentucky then 1800 had been a state for seventeen years but it was vas it wild wilderness of a land there were few books no schools in the modern sense and lid little hope for foi anything but hard work it was exactly the kind of country for a great antin to make inake a start in ili tor for unless lie he had oine elements of greatness he never would achieve ills gool goal it was vaa V aa a country of hard h knocks ll ns as well weil ns its hard work tilia it all made for economy of tims aid study staily Lincol ns mother who was a bright dell rote role woman taught her son as iauch as site could A visiting guve gave him mille lei in the alio ordinary three aits Ks tim tho country was wak so KO sparsely settled mid so distant from civilization chilt lit at tile little church the services that were held wire conducted hy by clergymen the hoy boy lincoln grew up herp hero in it a small log lo 10 cabin that aliat was without windows and whoso choso wide elli nilley was bull built t on oil tile outside of tho the cabin at night a log in ili the he fireplace nrc place gave till all the illum ilium illation the place afforded by tills this firelight to the music of th the crackling burning logs young von lincoln extended flat on the loor floor studied and worked out little problems in arithmetic which in that section wits was regarded its as of greater im port than a deep knowledge of E english liter ill aru Lincol ns mother ailed when ile he was allne years of age or about a year after ills his father moved to In indiana and the following year ills his father married lira sally bush johnston contrary to tile tho impression pres slon mainly created fly by the old fairy tales the lie second sirs mrs lincoln was n model stepmother studied while working at tile the sainte time young lincoln wits was working us as a form liand build lie borr borrowed mcd books from neigh bory borr iid ed greedily devoured devou ird then tile one book bonk i j impressed him most molit wi weems alfo life of tie lie recel tits hla bulted idea of it the lie bather of nii ills ni i country from froin that book which dellied de ltd tile lie first president rather than lot lold hh film life UM but Lill edlu b in it and it influenced ills life lie ile read crusoe tin and bunyang nun Bun ill grinis progress and a history lil story of tile lie united states it was on these thai lie ho founded all his knowledge of blo biography graphy history lil story and Illera literature ture but he knew phoso books fly by heart for lie ho had find to memorize them ns its they nil all were borrowed lie fu walk walked d to a store where a 0 st sc loulah news paper wits taken tu to borrow it and thus lie received ills news of current events and till nil the walls ile he was working arid and working 9 laurd now ow ferrying now plowing but always in this country tor for tic he was agulto a youtie man when tits lila father removed to illinois lincoln was nebout twenty two at tho atno clien law and politics while lie was keeping a general store bjoro lie begat began the study of law ile iio once said that hint onel ond of fits first books was a copy of the laws of Ind lann and that was about all the law lie he knew up to that bilue it wits while serving ns as a legislator in Il illinois linot that lincoln first turned ills hla attention to the blot of slavery which lie he began to oppose with all his Is might and influence after lie ho decided to ret retire re from rom the legis legislature latura lie he started to practice it low W lieving been licensed to pr practice in 1837 ile ho removed to springfield where the remainder of 0 hit lays days until lie went to washington as president were mainly spent in ili 1841 1840 lie wits elected to a sent in congress but tie lie declined reelection election re and settled down to the practice ot of tits hla profess profession lon in springfield lincoln spent his spare time in the store of tits his fri friend erld joshua speed which was the rendezvous of vinny prominent men in that section lie was fi urd for ills stories arid and for ills fits keenness in debate IL it was in ili tills this little general store that lin coin first net inet douglas in debate douglas was regarded far and wide as a little giant in debate iohd lie he remarked that the he store was no place fat to war to debate any question with lincoln by this tinie time lincoln hd had become something of a politician ills party was the whig lie ile took it lively interest in political and finally took pert on oil the whig side in a joint debate with the democrats lincoln was the lust ilist speaker in that debate but ills his words took tile ho deepest hold of the spectators and added greatly to tits ills reputation it was in springfield that lincoln married mary todd who it Is interesting to note was also sought la in marriage by douglas who thus became Lincol ns opponent in love ns well us in politics but was by hirr hire in s both As it a lawyer lincoln might have appeared lazy to those who lid did not understand ills methods ile iio ulce obilee work and tile drawing of legal pit pir pers but when nhen a case had to be brought to tile attention of n jury or a I 1 court Linco lincoln lil wits in ill his element clement lie ile was a born deflator and storyteller story teller lie ile knew how to get the jury la in good humor end how to muke ills point to reach home ill air hud had the genius for putting the human touch to till nil lie he tit did ond and homely and gand stories orlis at often wen went t further than ills opponents knowl knowledge edgo of tit this low law apostle of abolition bt t it should riot not bo be Imlig imagined ined that lincoln knew no law for lint would be bd a ini stake lie ili often would sit up to lo tile lie hours oi of the night reading law and studying a case while tits hla opponents probably would be soundly sleeping alien lie went into court lie he was master oi at tits his case nud arid that goes a long way toward winning a verdict the practice of law wits beginning to tule tube a firm hold on lincoln to the exclusion of politics when tile Misso missouri url compromise was enacted that I roused ou ed hlin mid arid from that time onward lie was strongly for the he abolition of slavery ills position wits was known throughout the alio country for lie lint hail stumped tile the H east oat for taylor years before mid end the stories of ills quiet humor and fund of unee dote had penetrated the east conse quent ly when it was evident to the lie country that lint it stood on oil tile eve of a conflict between slavery sanvery and abolition lincoln ang the nominee of tile lie party that was firmly In trenched on tile principle ot of no compromise with slave holders lie ile was nominated and was enthusiastically elected nt at tile the election in ISM lie he find scarcely taken his sent when the wor war burst thou api the th auntry country ou it wits a trying time till and no ono one suffered eved under it more than linn lid did lincoln himself lint hut lie he meant to to do his fits duty end is s iwaye hat had been ills his habit ho he lid did it then it wua wits most unpleasant and most difficult when tit alic war ar nindo nado its Inri inroads lads into tunny many homes lincoln had tin nn unpleasant duty to perform lie ho with the mothers left nt at homa did chilli wa lio could for their boys tit nt tile ho f front lie ile rec received elved tho mothers tit nt tile the white house talked things over with the in ond and every of them left feeling that lier her boy had a friend who looked ater r him although lie ho was far away anay in nn in i army corps doing its his duty it was tills this gentle character who was colt coldly 1 ly struck down just when tile alie war was waa at at an enil end and the country was getting ready to rejoice tit nt tile the glor glorious lons news the country south ns well as north mourned tile lio loss for even la in tire the south where the war had been most disastrous tile tho namo of lincoln ans joined in memory with gall just juat who was even more taco ob |