The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1864-02-18

3 4
Mrs. H.ssB. Stowe is writing series Of
articles for the Boston Watchanan and Re
fector, entitled with Abraham Lincoln.
which we publish below:
The revolution through which tie Amer.
can nation is passing il not mere local
convulsion. 1t is a war for principle
which concerns all mankind It is THE war
for the ights Of the working classes Of man.
kind, as against the usurpatien Of privileged
aristocracies. You can make nothing else
oft. That Is the reason why like a shaft
nf light in the Judgment day, it has gone
through all nations, dividing to the right
and the left the multitudes. FIR us aud
our cause, all the common working class.s
Of Europe-all that toll, and sweat, and are
oppressed. against US, all privileged class.
es, mobiles. princes, bankers, and great man
ufacturers, and all who live at ease. 81
lent instinct, piercing to the dividing Of soul
and spirit, joints and marrow, has gone
through the earth, and sent every soul with
instructive certainty where it belongs. The
poor laborers of Birmingham and Manches-
ter, the poor silk weavers of Lyons, to
whom our conflict has been present starva
ton and lingering death. have stool brave.
ly for us. No sophistries could blind or de-
ceive them-they knew that onr csu.e was
their cause, and they have suffered their
part heroicaly, as if fighting by our side,
because they knew that our victory was to
be their victory, On the other side all aris-
tocrats and holders of exclusive privileges
have felt the instinct of opposition, and the
sympathy with struggling aristocracy, for
they, too, feel that ouTvictory win DO their
doom.
This great contest has v,sib'y been held
in the hands of Almighty God, and is full
fiIment Of the solemn prophecies with which
the Bible is snwn thick as stars. that He
would spare the soul Of the needy and Judge
the cause Of the poor. 1t was He who
chose the instrument for this work, and He
chose him with visible reference to the
rights and interest Of the great majority of
mankind, for which he stands. @
Abraham Lincoln is in the strictest sense
n man ofthe porking classes All his al
vantages and abilities are tn, Sc Of q man Of
the working classes; all his disadvantages
and disabilities are those ola man of the
working classes; and his position now at
the head of one OF the most powerful ma
tins Of the earth. is sign to all who live by
labor that their day is coming. Lircoln
was born to the inheritance of hard work,
as truly as the poorest lahnrer's son that
digs in our fields. At seven years Of age
be was set to work, axe in hand, to clear
up farm in Western forest. Until he
was seventies, his lie was that OF q simple
farm laborer. with only such intervals Of
schooling as farm laborers get. Probably
the school instructions Of his whole life
would not amount to more than one year,
At nineteen he made a trip to New Orleans
as hired hand on a fat boat, and on his
return he split the rails for a log cabin and
built it, ard enclosed ten acres Of land with
rail fence Of his own, hand work. The
next year he hired himself for twelve dollars
month to build 4 fat beat and take her to
New Orleans, and any one who knows what
the life OF Mississippi boatman was in
those days, must know that il involved ev-
cry kind Of labor. In 1892. in tho Black
Hawk Indian war. the hardy boatmsn vol
unteered to fight for his country, and was
unanimously elected . captain. and served
with honor for season in frontier military
life. After this. while serving as pastmas
ter. he began his law studies, borrowing the
law books. he was too poor to buy, and ,stndy
ing by the light of his evening fire. He ac.
quired name in the country, ahont as a
man Of resources and shrewdness; he, was
one that people looked to for counsel in or.
igences, and to whom they were ready to
depute almost any enterprise which. needed
skill and energy. The surveyor Of Sanga-
mon county being driven with work, came
to him to take the survey Of a tract off from
his hands True, he had never studied
what Of that! He accept !
ed the 'job," procured chain, treatise on |
and did the work. Do we not |
see in this q parable of the wider wilderness
which in later years he has undertaken to