The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1864-02-04

have a special care amidst all the viclssi-
tudes and trials Of life. to maintain a
quiet possession Of his own spirit.
Mrs. Stoves Estimate of Abraham Lincoln
Mrs.. Harriet Beechor Stowe writes, in
the Boston Watchman d Reflector, bi-
ographcal sketch Of President Lincoln,
from which VIC quote the following:
"The world has seen and wondered at
the greatest sign and marvel of our day,
to wit splain working Of tho POO
pie, with no more culture, instruction or
education than any such working man
may obtain for himself, called on to con-
duet the passage ota great people through
a crisis involving the dcstinics of Ihe
whole world. The eyes of princes, no
bles, aristocrats, of dukes, ea,ls, scholars,
statesmen, warriors, all turned on the
plain backw oodsmar, with his simple
sense, his imperturbable simplicity, his
determined self-r, lance, his impractica-
bic aud incorruptble honesty, as he sat
amid the war Of conflicting elements
with unpretending steadiness, striving to
guide the national ship through a chan
nel at whose pcrils the oldest statesman
stood aghast The brilliant courts of
Europe levelled their opera glasses at the
phenomenon. Fair ladies saw that he
had horny hands and dsdaincd whic
gloves. Dapper diploma,is,s were shock,
ed at his system of etiquette, but old
statesmen, who knew the tcrrors Of that
passage, were wiser than court ladies and
dandy diploma'ists, and watched him
wish fearful. curiosity, simply asking,
viii that awkward old backwoods
really get that ship through? If he does,
it will be time for US to look about US
Sooth TO say, our own politicians were
somewhat shocked at bis state papers at
first. Why not let US make them little
more conventional and fle them to a
classical pattern? No. was his reply,
i shall write them myself The people
will understand them But this or that
form of expression is not elegant, not
classical. The people will understand
it, has been his invariatle reply. And
whatever may be said Of his State papers
as compared with the classic standards,
it has been fact that they have always
been wonderfully well understood by the
people, and that since the time of Wash
ington, the state papers of no President
have more controlled the popular mind.
And one reason for this is, that they have
been informal and uudipIomatic. They
| nave more rcsembled a fathers talks to
his children than a state paper. Aud
they have had the relish and smack Of
the soil, that appeal to the simple human
heart and head which is greater power in
writing than the most arttul devices Of
rhetoric Lincoln might well say with
the apostle, But though be rude in
speech yet not IN knowledge, but we have
been thoroughly made manifest among
you in all things His rejection Of what
is called fine writing Vas as deliberate as
St. Paul's, and for the same rcason-bc
cause he felt that he was speaking on a
subject Which must be made clear to the
lowest intellect, though it should fail to
captivato the highest. But we say of
! Lincoln's writing, that for all true, man.
! ly purposes Of writing, there are passages
in his state papers that could not be oct.
ter put-thcy are absolutely perfect. -
Such are some passages of the celebrated
Springfield letter, especially that master,
ly one where he compares the conduct OF
the patriotic and loyal blacks with that
Of the treachcrous and disloyal whites.
Lincoln is strong man, but his
strength is of a peculiar kind; it is not
aggressive so much as passive, and among
passive things it is like the strength no,
so much of a stone butress, as of wire
cable 1t is strength swaying to every
influence, yielding on this side and OF
that to popular needs, yet tenacious y anc
inhexibly bound to carry its great end
auu p'oGauIy ny ~ o,nei hlnu ol strength
could our national ship have been drawn
safely thus far during the tossings ane
tcmpests which beset her way. Sur
rounded by all sorts of conflicting claims
by traitors, by half hearted, timid men, b,
border State men and free State men, b.
radical Abolitionists and Conservatives
he has listened to all, weighed the word
of all, waited, observed, yielded now her
and now there, but in the main kept on
: inhexible, honest purpose, and drawn tn
, national ship through"
NATlvITIEs The House of Repre-
scntatives is composed of 45 farmers, l
lawyers, e merchants, 7 physicians, 2 ed
itor>, mechanic, | woolgrower, l cler
gyman, ! builder, | representative,
, city clerk, ] coal miner, lumb rman.-
t Ole Nelson of Winneshlek county, is pu
t down as the youngest member of th
! House, being but "a years of ago tn