The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1865-04-20

q S. ScHoFF, EDITol
4 Events crowd upon each other with start
ling rapidity. We are living whole decades
Eof ordinary history almost every week. Las
gweek we could hardly repress our Joyful
relation sufficient to write staid and sobe
Particle on the events Of the week, and the
Fweek before we we're in the same condition
D Richmond fell, and we rejoiced, and Lex
gand his army surrendered, and our Joy wa
I doubled. Already we could hear the aut
aater Of the white wings of Peace in the air.
& We had already put in type and were
Sabout to issue in an extra the admirable
Y thanksgiving Proclamation Of our excel
#lent Governor, and the dispatch of Secreta
Fry Stanton, ordering a suspension of the
Draft and no more recruiting, when. the
3sdreadful News from Washington, of the
4 double assassination of President Lincoln
sand Secretary Seward, came, striking us
sdumb and for a while paralyzing every en-
sergy. The pail of a great national calamity
s,settled down upon us, aud all was darkness
land gloom, where so late was only joy and
8gladness,
u We were never Hero worshipper--never
'sallowed ourself to become the adulator of
ssany man, any further than we believed him
Sthe representative of the principles we
Ssought to uphold and extend. But we must
gsay that we had come to honor, esteem aud
3eVen to love our lamented President as a
dnoGn rather than the President of the Re
public, and the Embodiment of those princi-
isples that we believed to be at the foundation
sof all Free Government. His homely hon
sesty of purpose-his integrity-his patriot
sism-his leniency-his great heart in which
athe attribute of mercy and forgiveness held
ssuch large place-were all those charac-
steristics which secure the highest degree of
shuman love and admiration. They had Sc
zcured ours, as they had almost every real
spatriot's in the country, and when the news
5came that he had fallen-fallen by the bloody
] hand Of the assassin, victim of this most
wicked and devilish rebeIion-we felt like
weeping aloud. Like thunder bolt from a
sclear sky, it found US unprepared for any
thing SO horrible.
And we know that we are not alone n
this feeling. Hundreds of thousands of our
fellow citizens of this glorious Union, that
has cost, and is costing such terrible sacri-
lhces, have mingled their tears with ours
This common sorrow is drawing US nearer
together as people than we ever were be-
fore. From Maine to California, the great
has had the same effect on all!
loyal friends of the Union. The wave of
sorrow has rolled over the land from the
Atlantic coast to the far off Pacific.
But time the great wonder-worker, has;
been busy binding up bleeding hearts. AL
ready we look beyond the mortal man tol
the immortal principles of which he was thes
representative-beyond the victim on thes
sacriticial altar, to the principles for which
ne died. The dagger and bullet of the as
'assln may strike the hearts of the most
owed and cherished officers of our country,
md we bury onr faces and weep hot scald- s
ng tears-but with the lapse of time comesa
he reaction and spirit of exuItation swellss
md lifts the heart that was so borne down,
hat the life of the Republic is not reached
trough the heart of any one man. WeS
ave lost great and good mana Presi-a
ent In whom all had learned to trust-butE
70 still have our country left-that coun-z
ry for whose honor and welfare, Abrahama
lincoln would willingly have laid down his
te. The shipof State which he had piloted 4
18th such skill ceaseless care andS
lgllance through the storms of rebellion, B
mid the rocks and quicksands and break q
IS OF an untried sea-though the create
Anglers are passed-stilI demands our de-g
Otion.
Though it be hard to reconcile ourselves
SDN NoA'"Lih ~ OiIdL las ON6rCak6n us
Tough our MORTAL eyes cannot discern theS
le rainbow that spans the dark cloud ofS;
II affictioI I've must bow in humility too
e chasteni ng rod. In the hour of triumph
hen victor y crowned our arms on every
'ld-when the strongholds of the rel As /
Il into our hands one after another, in b
uck success non, it was easy to ascribe thes
ory to God. We were certain then that
righteous and ov'er-ruling Providence was
citing on our side. We acknowledged
len, willingly, our faith in an over-ruling
in the affairs of men, but now#
mes the terrible test of our faith. 1t e
lrd tofsee the hand of mercy in the rodE
at thus afflicts us, but we know the same a
shteous Lord that ruled the universe last n
eek an d the week before, still governs the
estlnJ es of men and nations Wa knau