American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1865-07-12

a part in the greatest and most import
ant era of the worlds history. 1t is a
task which is never easy IN performance,
and cannot be faithfully executed until
the lapse of years shall Withdraw the OBJ
server from proximity which IS always
unfavorable to the clearest vision, and
the work is consigned TO the pen of inn
partial history. 1t isone, however, which
| have not feltat liberty todeclne.
Of Abraham Lincoln, there is little to
be said, until the voice of the people call
ed him from the comparative obscurity
ola Provincial Town in the remote West,
to preside over the destinies of this Re
public. The story of his life autecedent
to his appearance on that broader stage,
where he was destined to command more
Of the observation of the world than any
other man either of ancient or modern
times, is soon told Born in frontier
settlement in Kentucky, of humble pa
rentagc, and with no prospective inheri-
tance, but that of the coarsest toll, it was
not his hard fate to wear out his life in
the hopeless struggle for success, to
which that nativity would have consigned
him. At the age of six years, his pa
rents, warned by no vision, but by the
stern necessities Of life, removed from
the house of bondage, taking the young
child with them, to grow up in the ireer
air of that great Territory, whose funda-
mentel ordnance had insured the respec-
liability Of labor, by forbidding any bonds
| men from ever setting his foot upon its
soil There, in the vigorous young State
OF Indiana, without even the aid Of a
mothers care beyond his infant years, he
shot up-we know not how-into the
lofty stature, and robust manhood which
have since become so familiar to us all,
diyersityng his labors, and indulging
that spirit Of adventure that is 50 coip
nlou to the Pioneer by embarking at the
aye of nineteen years, as workhand at
the scInty wages OF ten dollars a month,
on one Of those prmative fiat boats, on
which the Western Farmer Of those times
was wont to launch his produce on the
bosom Of the Ohio, to find its only mark
ct at New Orleans. At the ace Of TWEEN
ty one years, without any better prospects
in lite, and inhcriting apparently the
migratory instincts Of bis father, who
had perhaps grown weary Of his lndj-
ana home, be plunged with him into the
further West, and sought AMI found a
new sett,tmcut on an unreclaimel quar-
ter section or the Public Lands in Cen
nal Illinois That he must have shared
the huuHie iabors Of that parc't in win
niug his new acquisition from state Of
nature into a ha table abode for man, is
obylpus from the fact that so limited an
area on the EXTREMIST frontier of ciyili-
2ation, could have afforded no great scope
for employment, but with the axe, or
pow aud no means whatever for mental
culture or development except those
powers OF thought aud observation, which
thc<SOltudes of nature, and the commu-
Mon Of the forest aud the field, have
sometimes awaken in those gifted spirits
that seem to be Immediately inspired Of
God. Within year or two, however,
the occurrence Of what was called the
Black Hawk War;" drew him from a
seclpsion which must have beel extreme
ly irksome to q youth of lively tempcra-
ment aud overaowing health, by offering
the temptation, which the pursuit of
arms almo invariably presents to the
young and imbitious spirits of the land.
He enlisted in a company of volunteers
who forthwith selected him as their cap
tain, but his aspirations for military re-
nown were soon cut short 10y the unex
pected termination of the war His next
appearance is as a candidste for the Leg
is ature of the State, to which he was re-
peatedly elected, and abont the same time
he turned his attention to the study of
law and was duly admitted to the Bar.
What preparation he may have made for
this transition to another and higher
field of labor is unknown to us. He has
the credit of confessing, with that sim
plicity which drew from him the ac-
knowledgment that he had never read
the wor,s Of the great Master of the
drama, that he had enjoyed the adyan-
tage of butsix months schooling in the
whole course of his life. That he had
read such books as were accessible to him,
is not to be doubted. Report says that
he had picked up in some way little
knowledge of surveying, which may
have served to train and discipline his
reasoning faculty, and was, as will be re.
membered, the youthful employment OF
the great Washington himself. Beyond
this, however, little was required in the
infant condition of afrontier settlement
which would have few attractions for
men OF such acquirments as only an old
community could afford although it is
not to be questioned that some . the most
robust intellects in the land have been
uurtured in those prlmative and truly
republican schools, where no hot-bed cul-
ture was admissible, and ever sickly plant
was doomed to die. Whether he sue
cee5ed in attaining any great distinction
in his new profession, where success is
dependent generally on popularity OF
taste or mental structure, aud where in.
dustry is so often an over match for tai
ent, is by no means clear. We know how.
ever, that his abilities and worth were
duly recognized at home by his triumph,
ant election in 1876 to the Congress Of
the Uuiled States-where he served
however, but lor a single term-as well