Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1892-02-25

been a quibbling attorney or a hypo-
critical parson.
! He was a great lawyer. There is
nothing shrewder in this world than
intelligent honesty. Perfect candor is
not only a sword but a shield.
| He understood the nature OF a man.
| As lawyer he endeavored to get at
the truth, at the very heart of a case
He was not willing even to deceive
| himself. No matter what his interest
said, what his passion demanded, he
was great enough to find the truth
and pronounce Judgment against his
| own desires.
He never was satisfied until he fully
understood not only the facts, not
only the law applicable to such facts,
| but the reason of the law.
If any one doubts his legal ability,
let him read, first, the opinion OF Chief
Justice Taney in the A1erryman case,
and then the views OF Lincoln on that
opinion.
| Mr.. Lincoln was a statesman. The
great stumbling block, the great OBJ
struction, in Lincoln's way. and in the
way of thousands, was the old doc
trine of states rights.
! This doctrine was first established
| to protect slavery. 1t was clung to
/ TO protect the Interstate slave trade.
1t became sacred in connection with
| the fugitive slave law, and was finally
used as the corner stone of secession.
This doctrine was never appealed
| to in defense OF the right-always in
support of the wrong. For many
years politicians upon both sides of
these questions endeavored to express
the exact relations existing between
! the federal government and the states,
| and | know of no one who succeeded
except Lincoln. In his message of
1861. delivered on July 4th, the defin-
| ition is given, and it is perfect:
Whatever concerns the whole should
be coniided TO the whole-to the gen.
eral government. Whatever concerns
only the state shonld be left exclu-
sively TO the state
When that definition is realized in
practice this country Becomes a ma
| ton.
Lincoln was a many sided man, ac
quainted with smiles and tears, COM
pick in brain, single in heart, direct as
light; and his words, candid as mir
rors, gave the peril 4ct image of his
| thought. He was never afraid to ask,
never too dignifed to admit that he
Wit, or kinder ilumor.
II may he that humor is the pilot of
reason. People without humor drift
unconsoiously into absurdity Humor
sees { he other Side-stands in the mind
| like n spectator, a good-naturedc critic
and gives its opinion before judgment
is reached. Humor goes with good
nature, and good nature is the climate
| OF reason. In anger reason abdicates
and malice extinquishes the torch.
Such was the humor OF Lincoln that
he could tell even unpleasant truths
ms charmingly AS most can tell the
things We wish TO hear.
lie was not solemn. Solemnity is a
mask worn by ignorance and hypoc-
risy-it is the preface, prologue, and
index to the cunning or the stupid.
He was natural in his life and
tbought-master Of the storyteIler's :
art, in illustration apt, in application
perfect, liberal in speech, shocking
Pharisees and prudes, using any word
that wit could disInfect.
! He was IA logician. His logic shed
light. In its presence the obscure be
came luminous, and the most complex
and intricate political and metaphysi-
cal knots seemed to unite themselves.
|
telligence and sincerity. 1t can not be
learned. II is the child Ola clear head
and a good heart.
Lincoln WAS candid, and with can
dor often deceived and deceitful. He
had intellect without arrogance, genius
without pride. and religion without
cant-that is TO say, without blgotry
and without deceit.
He was an ori.tor-clear, sincere,
natural. He did not pretend. He
did not say what he thought Others
thought, but what he thought.
} Ii you wish to be sublime you must
be natural-you must keep close to
the grass. You must sit by the fire
: side OF the heart; above the clouds il
is too cold. You must be simple in
; your speech: too much polish suggests
inSincerlty.
The great orator idealizes the real
/ ransiigures the common, makes even
the inanimate throb and thrill, fills
the gallery OF the imagination with
statues and pictures perfect in form
and color, brings to light the gold
boarded by memory the miser, shows
the glittering coin to the spendthrift
hope, enriches the brain, ennobles the
heart, and qnickens the conscience
: Between mis- lips words bud and bios
. som.
You wish to know fine diiferenc,
bet tween an orator and an elocutionist
! between what is felt and what Is
e said-between what the heart anC
: brain can do together and what th'
brain can do alone-read Lincoln
wondrous words at Gettsburg, ano
. then the speech oi Edward Everett.
| The Grafton of Lincoln will never h'
: forgotten. 1t will live until language
/ are dead ana lips are dust. The speecl
a OF Everett will never be read.
! The elOcutiOnists believe in the VIRTUE
1 OF voice, the sublimity OF syntax, tn
? majesty OF long sentences, ANA TN,
D genius of gesture.
= The orator loves the real, the simple
: the natural. He places the though
above all. He eknows that thegreates
+ ideas should be expressed in the short
q. est words-that the greatest statue
n need the least drapery.
: Lincoln was an immense personalit,
Y firm hut not obstinate. Obstinac,
b is egotism-frmness heroism. He in
y huenced others without effort, uncor
sciously; and they submitted to hin
[ as men submit to nature, uncor
J. sciously. He was severe with himself
e and for that reason lenient wit
I others.
d He appeared TO apologize for bein
IS kinder than his fellows.
He did merciful things as stealthil
:. as others committed crimes. Al
e plause.
e Almost ashamed of tenderness, b
Is said and did the noblest words an
n deeds with that charming confusior
l. that awkwardness, that is the perfeC
'e grace of modesty.
81 As n noble man, wishing to pay
d small debt to poor neighbor, reluc
b. antly offers a hundred dollar bill an