Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1865-05-13
Abraham Lincoln.
REMARKS AT THE FUNERAL SERVICES OF TIE PREsI
DENT, IN CONCORD, APRIL 10, 1906.
BIZ R. W. EMERSON.

We meet under the gloom of a calamity
which darkens down over the minds of good
men in all civil society, as the fearful tidings
travel over sea, over land, from country to
country, like the shadow of an uncalculated
eclipse over the planet. Old as history is,
and manifold as are its tragedies, doubt il
any death has caused so much pain to man.
kind as this has caused, or will cause, on its
announcement; and this, not so much be-
cause nations are by modern arts brought SO
closely together, as because of the mysteri-
Gus hopes and fears which, in the present
day, are connected with the name and insti-
tutions of America.
In this country, on Saturday, every one was
struck dumb, and saw, at first, only deep be-
low deep, as he meditated on the CHASTITY
blow. And, perhaps, at this hour, when the
coffin which contains the dust Of the Presi-
dent sets forward on its long march through
mourning States, On its way to his home IN
Illinois, we might well be silent, and suffer
the awful voices of the time to thunder TO US
Yes, but that first despair was brief; the
man was not so to be mOurned. He was the
most active and hopeful of men; and his
work had not perished; but acclamations of
praise for the task he had accomplished burst
out into a song of triumph, which even tears
for his death cannot keep down.
The president stood before us man of the
people. He was thoroughly American. had
never crossed the sea, had never been spoil
ed by English insularity, or French dissipa-
ton; a quite native, aboriginal man, as an
acorn from the oak; no aping of foreigners,
no frivolous accomplishments, Kentuckian
born, working on a farm, hatboatman, a
captain in the Blackhawk war, country law
yer, a representative IN the rural Legislature
of nlinois,-on such modest foundations the
60. r
slowly, and yet by happily prepared steps, he
came to his place. All of US remem6er,-it
is only history of five or six years,-the
surprise and the disappointment of the coun-
try at his first nomination by the convention
at Chicago. Mr.. Seward, then in the culmi-
nation of his good fame, was the favorite of
the eastern states. And when the new and
comparatively unknown name of Lincoln was
announced, Notwithstanding the report of
the acelamstions of that COnvention,) We
heard the result cOldly and sadly 1t seemed
too rash, on a purely local reputation, to build
30 grave trust, in such anxious times; and
men naturally talked of the chances in poll
tics as incalculable. But it turned out not to
be chance. The profound good opinion which
the people of Illinois and of the west had
conceived of him, and which they had i'm
parted to their colleagues, that they also
might JUSTLY buCulSCtbCS W
at home, was not rash, though they did not
begin to know the riches of his worth
A plain man of the people, an extraordina-
~ fortune attended him. Lord Bacon says,
manifest virtues procure reputation occult
ones, fortune" He offered no shining quail
ties at the first encounter; he did not offend
by superiority. He had a face and a manner
which disarmed suspicion, which inspired
confidence, which confirmed good will. He
was a man without vices. He had a strong
sense of duty, which it was very easy for him
to obey. Then, he had what farmers call a
long head was excellent in working out the
sum for himself; in arguing his case and con-
vincing you fairly anu firmly. Then, it turn
ed ont that he was great worker; had pro-
digious faculty of performance worked east
ly. A good worker is so rare everybody has
some disabling quality. In a host of young
men who start together, and promise so many
brilliant leaders for the next age, each fails
on trial one by bad health, one by conceit,
or by love of pleasure, or lethargy, or an ug-
ly temper,-each has some disqualifying fault
that throws him out of the career. But this
man was sound to the core, cheerful, persis
tent, all right for labor, ard liked nothing so
well
Then, he had a vast Od-nature, which
made him tolerant and acce. sible TO all fair
minded, leaning to the claim of the petition
er affable, and not sensible 70 the affection
which the innumerable visits paid to him,
when President would have brought to any
one else. And how this good-n iture became
q noble humanity, in many a ira, case which
the events of the war brought t. him, every
one viii remember; and with what increasing
tenderness he dealt, when a whole race was
thrown on his compassion. The p1Or negro
said of him, on az impressive Occasi u, MAS
sa Linkum am Everywhere"
Then his broad good Iunni 2 easily
into iocular talk, in which he delighted and
in which he excelled, was a rich gift to the
wise man. 1t enabled him to keep his Sc
eret; to meet every kind Of man, and every
rank in society; TO take off the edge of the
severest decisions; to mask hisow purpose.
and sound his companion; and TO catch with
true instinct the temper of every company
he addressed. And, more than all, il ia to a |
man of severe labor, in anxious and exhaust |
ing crises, the natural restorative, good as |
sleep, and is the protection of the overdriv- |
en- brain against rancor and insanity.
He is the author of a multitude of good |
sayings, 50 disguised as pleasantries that il is
certain that they had no reputation at first |
but as jests and only later, by the very ac-
ceptance and adoption they find in the mouths |
of millions, turn out to be the wisdom of the |
hour. am sure if this man had ruled in /
period of less facility of printing, he would |
have become neurological in very few
years, like Ksop or Pilpay, or one of the
Seven Wise Masters, by his fables and prov
erbs. But the weight and penetration of |
many passages in his letters, messages, and
speeches, hidden now by the very closeness
Of their application to the moment, are des-
hereafter to q wide fame. What preg-
Mt definitions; what Gnerring common !