Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1891-09-17

his foot needlessly crush worm.
/ This is what orr assassinated PreSi-
dent Lincoln demonstrated when his
private secretary found him in the Capt.
| toll grounds trying to get bird back to
| the nest from which 1T had fallen, and
which quality the illustrious man ex-
hibited years before which having some
| lawyers in the carriage on the way to
court passed on the road swine fast in
the mire after awhile cried TO his horses,
s'Ho!' and said to the gentlemen, II
must go back and help that hog out of
the mire' And he did go back and put
on solid ground that most uninteresting
| quadruped.
That was the spirit that was mani
| tested by my departed friend, Hon.
| Alexander II. Stephens, of Georgia, (and
| lovelier man never exchanged earth for
| Heaven when at Washington. A sena-
| tors wife, who told my wife of the cir
cumstances, said to him, ''Mr Stephens,
| come and see my dead canary bird"
And he answered, mo, 1 could not look
at the poor thing without crying"
That is the spirit that Grant showed
when at the surrender at Appomatox he
said to Gen. Lee, s'As many of your sol
diers are farmers and will need the
horses and mules to raise the crops to
keep their families from suffering next
winter, let each Confederate who can
| claim horse or mule take it along
with him.
That is the spirit which last night ten
thousand mothers showed to their sick
children coming to give the drink at the
twentieth. call as cheerfully and as ten
derby as at the first call. Suppose all
this assemblage, and all to whom these
words shall come by printers type,
should resolve to make kindness an
overarchicg, undergirding and all-per
vading principle of their life, and then
carry out the resolution, why, in six
months the whole earth would feel it.
People would saw:
''What is the matter? 1t seems to
me that the world is getting to be bet
ter place to live in. Why, life after all
is worth living. Why, there is Shylock,
my neighbor, has withdrawn his law
suit of foreclosure against that man, and
because he had so much sickness in his
family, he is going to have the house for
one year rent free. There is an old law
yer in that young lawyers office, and do
you know what he has gone in there for?
! Why he is helping fix up a case which is
too big for the young man to handle, and
| the white haired attorney is hunting up
I previous decisions and making out q
| brief for the boy.
''Down at the bank heard yesterday
a note was due, and the young merchant
could not meet it, and an old merchant
went in and got for him three months
| extension, which for the young merchant
is the difference between bankruptcy and
success in business. And in our street is
an artist who had fine picture of the
Rapids of Niagara and he could not
sell it, and his family were suffering, and
they were themselves in the rapids; and
a lady heard Of it and said, L do not need
the picture but for the encouragement
Of art and helping you out of your dis
tress [ will take it, and on the drawing
room wall are the Rapids of Niagara.
''Do you know that a strange thing
has taken place in the pulpit and all the
old ministers are helping the young
minister's and all the old doctors are
helping the young doctors, and the
| farmers are assisting each other in
gathering the harvest, and for that
farmer who is sick the neighbors have
made 'bee,' as they call it, and they
have all turned in to help him get his
crops into the garner?
''And they tell me that the older and
moro skillful reporters who have perma
nent positions on papers are helping the
| young fellows who are just beginning to
| try and don't know exactly how to do it,
! And after a few erasureS and interpola-
lions on the reporters pad they say:
| Now, here is a readable account of that
tragedy. Hand it in and l am sure the
managing editor will take it, And
heard this morning of poor old man
whose three children were in hot debate
as to who should take care of him in his
declining days.
What is the matter? 1t seems to me
our old word is picking up. Why, the
millennium must be coming in. Kind
ness has gotten the victory"
Kindness to all! Surely it ought not
to be difficult grace to culture when we
see towering above the centuries such an
example that one glimpse of it ought to
melt and transform all nations. Kind |
ness brought our Lord from Heaven.
Kindness to miscreants, kindness to the |
crippled, and the blind, and the cata-
leptic, and the leprous, and the drop |
steal, and the demoniacal characterized
him all the way, and on the cross, kind |
ness to the bandits suffering on the side
Of Him, and kindness to the executioners
while yet they pushed the spear, and |
hammered the spikes, and howled the
blasDhemies.
All the stories of the John Towards, |
and the Florence Nightingales, and the
Grace Darlings, and the Ida Lewises |
pale before the transcendent example of !
Him Whose birth and life and death are
the greatest story that the world ever |
heard, and the theme of the might |
est hosanna that Heaven ever lifted. |
Yea, the very kindness that allowed |
both hands to be nailed to the horizontal |
timber Of the cross with that cruel |
thump! thump now stretches down |
from the skies those same hands filled |
with balm for all our wounds, forgive
ness for all orr crimes, rescue for all our
serfdoms.
And while we take this matches |
kindness from God, may it be found that
we have uttered our last bitter word, !
written our last cutting paragraph, done
our last retaliatOry action, felt our last |
revcngeful heart throb. And it would |