Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1880-04-16


What other piece of the nations good
fortune equals this, that agains. the
scene Of its supreme four years there
stands ont in strong relief the character
of p man rare rs the blossom of a CEN
tury plant \ man worthy to be the typi-
cal and representative figure of democra-
cv. Wise with the wisdom of the CON-
mon people guided always by two coun-
sellors.-the voice of the people, and
eternal right the favor of mother earth
in every word and look ; dear TO the fire.
side wiser in the cabinet than all his
ministers plant in his means to every
new emergency inexorable toward his
great end as fate itself bearing in his
heart the agony of every battlefield and
the sorrow of every stricken mother
reverent of legal form, but knowing that
law was macle for man, not man for law
ambitious for the burden rather than the
crown /. with patience like that of the
hills; fuIl of a danger to the evil against
which he set himself like the danger of
Jihe sloS-moving glacier to whatever bars
its progress sad with lifelong sorrow
for four years the leader OF the American
people, for all future years their lnspira-
ton.
At every point of his history. Lincoln
is as picture sque as he is great. He
charms that higher imagination which the
pencil can but little serve. The first
reading OF the emancipation proclamation
has been pictured, but the elements which
gave Significance to the scene defy the
artist. 1t is strange now to think that for
a wear Lincoln had been under that fire
Of criticism and denunciation, not only
from the foes of unity and freedom, but
from many of their high-minded friends.
The enthusiasts and idealists, how they
assailed him for his slowness and inert
ness The silver-tongued orator who
had championed the slave, now lashed
''the slave-hound of Illinois - Lowell
wrote about ..having to hoist your cap
tain's heart up with derrick" " The New
York Ipdcpeadcnt assalled him ina series
of editorials. after reading which he rose
from his chair with the indignant cxclama-
ton, Gam | n dog?" They thought,
these fiery gentlemen, that the national
ark was being drawn by slow and stupid
OK. whom they must goad to a quicker
pare. He bore it ms he bore everything.
At last one day he called his cabinet to-
gether They met, no man of them sus-
pecting what was to come Fancy the
looks of the company,-decorus Seward,
and grave Chase, and fiery Stanton,-
when the President took down Artemas
Wards book and read them a chapter,
shaking his sides with laughter as hercad.
Then this inscrutable Jester, with sudden
gravity, told his august councillors he had
summoned them 70 listen to document
as to whose substance his purpose was il
revocablv fixel-and read them the eman-
cipation proclamation.
Sometimes even yet one hears Lincoln
spoken of as if his kindness Of heart was
the compensation for his want of great
intellectual qualities strangely shall
low Judgment. His political speeches,
including those before he was president,
deserve the closest study, both for matter
and manner. The little book Of CLEAN
ings called The Presidents words" has
not few passages which every young
American ought to learn by heart. Lin
coins craftsmanship was OF precisely the
kind most serviceable in republic. 1t
was an Interpretation of the best thought
and d .iiberate will Of the common people.
1t VIZ rooted in a profound allegiance to
moral right, but as to the ways Of reach
ing that right it took close and constant
counsel with the traditional spirit of our
institutions, and the living voice of the
nation. The common people, to whom
he belonged, have done him full justice.
They trusted him in his life, and they
appreciated hin from the hour of his
death. When Charles Francis Adams
spoke Of him disparagingly in compari-
son with Seward it hurt the speaker Il
reputation more than any other act Of his
lie. The people recognized with true
instinct something shallow in a Judgment
that could so mistake, and they resented
an injustice TO the memory of Abraham
Lincoln us warmly as a wife resents a
slight to her husband Lowell made
atonement for ms earlier mistake in one
Of the stray passages of his greatest
poem. Nature, he says, worked by no
old pattern when this man was made =
For him her OlI-Word m0lds aside She threw,
Aud, choosing sweet clay from the breast
Oftne uneXhau-ted West,
WITH stun untaiIted shaped hero new,
Wise, sleadiasL In the strength Of God aud true.
HIS was no lovely nountan-peak Of mind
Ihru-tng 10 tain AIR Ger our cloudy bars,
sea-msrk now, now lost ia vapors blind,
b Uad prairie rather, genial. leyel-lned,
Z. .utiul and friendly for all human kind,
Yet also nightO heaven and loved OF loiticst stars