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Show j TODAY WE PAY TRIBUTE TO HIS MEMORY Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth president of the United States, bom February 12, 1809. WATTERSON ON LINCOLN. Born as lowly as the Son of God, in a hovel; reared in penury, squalor, with no gleam of light or fair surroundings, sur-roundings, without graces, actual or acquired; without .name or fame or official training, it was rcserev.ed, for this strange being, late in life, to be snatched from obscurity, raised to supreme su-preme command at a supreme moment, mo-ment, and entrusted with the destiny of a nation. The great leaders of his party, the most experienced and accomplished public men of the day, were made to stand aside, were sent to the war, while this fantastic figure was led by unseen hands to the front and given the reins of power. It is immaterial whether we Avere for him or against him; wholly Immaterial. That, during dur-ing four years, carrying with them such a weight of responsibility as the world never witnessed before, he filled fill-ed the vast space allotted him in the eyes and actions of mankind, Is to say that he was Inspired of God, for nowhere else could he have acquired the wisdom and the virtue.- Where did Shakespeare get his genius? gen-ius? Where did Mozart get his music? mu-sic? Whose hand smote the lyre of the Scottish ploughman, and stayed the life of tho German priest? God, God, and God alone; and as surely as these were raised up by God, Inspired by God, was Abraham Lincoln; and a thousand years hence, no drama, no tragedy, no epic poem will be tilled with greater wonder, or be followed by mankind with deeper feeling than that which tells the story of his life and death Peroration of address before be-fore the Lincoln Union, at the Chicago Auditorium, February 12, 1905. |