The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-02-14
UNION DEFENDERS DAY
Fifty Celebrated by shepley Camp, S. of
", Last Evening


Veterans. Captain E. A. Golf presided,
and referred in few appropriate words
to the occasion that had called them to-
gether to do honor to the memory Of the
martyr President. In the name of Shep-
ley Camp he welcomed all to the ball.
After piano solo by Mr.. Brent, Cap
tain Golf introduced Clarence Hale, Esq.
Mr. Hale said it was fitting thing that
Shepley Camp should celebrate the
birthday of the Great Emancipation. Lin
coin we'll said "We cannot escape histo-
ry." The statesmen who heard his
words have long since heard their last
words, but the fame of Lincoln has hand
ly begun. Abraham Lincoln stands out
as the greatest character of the last fifty
years. The books that have been writ
ten about him have not seemed to illus
trate his life. The uneducated Kentucky
boy was the master of the purest En-
glish. The man of peace mastered SO
completely the science of military move
ments that he was in effect the great cap
tain of the war. The man unlearned in
letters was master of diplomacy. The
spirit of liberty has moved on the world
Cromwell was known as one of the great
types of historical development. Wash
ington was type of the America of his
time, just as when the question was
''Shall the Union live?' Lincoln was a
type of American feeling. 1t was
question of all time and all the world,
whether a nation devoted to liberty
should live. He vitalized that ques-
ton and made it living fact. We can
say this of Lincoln, that he was the
great man of his time. He fulfilled EN-
erson's test of greatness. His life illus
trated the power Of sense. He believed
in the people, and his great political the
DRY was that it is always safe to trust
the people. He believed in govern
ment by political parties. He did not
believe that any man or woman was too
good to take an interest in public affairs.
There is no better lesson to be learned
from his life than this, that as citizens
we should see to it that great public in
terests are committed to good men, and
that if need be we be ready to give to
the country our best efforts.
After musical selection by quar-
tette, Capt Golf introduced Hon. j. FL.
Drummond, who said that addressing
an audience of the Sons of Veterans and
others, he would call them flowers of
the memory of Abraham Lincoln" He
became Lincoln man during the hot
and passionate years of the war. There
is little that can be said of Lincoln that
is new, but the more we consider his
life. the better citizens we shall be. He
became a man of national Importance be-
cause a class mate and chum of his Leon
ard SWEET, who read law here, went
West, and for years rode the same Cir
of illusions to Lincoln and the stories of
Lincoln, but the letters are lost and the
stories forgotten. II did not know in
those days. said Mr.. Drummond, ''that
we are always making history" One
pared a shallow lawyer to steam boat
he once saw that had a six-foot whistle
and an eight-inch boiler, and when the
whistle blowed the boat stopped.
Mr.. Drummond spoke of Lincoln's life,
illustrating his points by stories told of
or by Lincoln. The great debate be-
tween Lincoln and Douglass made Lin
coin President for it brought him
before the country. One other event
helped him to the Presidency, his great
Cooper Institute address in New York.
He was not an orator like Edwa.d Ever
EFT, but he was an orator in the sense
that he could take the people with him.
He spoke of the visit of James G. Blaine
to Portland in The early days of his ca
reer when he was not popular here and
played his remarkable magnetic power
and took the great audience by storm.
Lincold was an orato in that sense. He
could meet and convince, could com
mand and lead men.
Mr.. Drummond spoke of his own in
terview with Mr.. Lincoln at the time he
was a member of the Baltimore conven-
ton, when there was some opposition to
Lincoln's denomination. The reelection
of Lincoln was a proof that the people
can be trusted to maintain Republican
form Of government. Honors we pay to
A braham Lincoln can do him no good.
If we talk of him alone it is like the
idle wind, but it will be otherwise if we
apply to our own lives the lessons OF his
life. His example was given for our
example, and may we be as loyal to our
country and to d uty as was Abraham
Lincoln.
Rev. Matt S. Hughes was next intro
duced, and was given the hearty recep-
ton always --extended to. the popular
preacher in this city. Mr.. Hughes said
it gave him great pleasure to respond to
the call to do honor to the man who,
next to the immortal Washington, is the
greatest American in our history. He
spoke of his native state of Virginia,
and recalled the splendid plea for the
union made by Gen. John j. jackson in
the convention that passed the ordinance
of secession. He traced the events that
led mp to the formation of West Virginia,
including the visit of Judge Blair of the
West Virginia delegation to Mr.. Lincoln,
when he climbed into the White House
through the parlor window, and made
| his way to the Presidents private Office,
| and urged the President to sign the bill
erecting the new state 1T came as a