The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1895-06-06
Qbautauqda.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
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By Member of Glass B.


ceived into the Union, for each one devoted to
the principles of the freedom of man, one more
state was added, devoted to slavery. In the
meantime there had been growing up in the
North, feeling of intense antagonism to the
further increase of slave territory. 1t was this
antagonism that brought about the Missouri
Compromise Act, by which slavery was confined
to certain limits: beyond which, it was not to be
permitted to extend. This settled differences
for time, but for time only The abolition
party had been steadily gaining ground in the
North, urged on by the slave holders OF the
South. who by their majority in congress passed
the Fugitive Slave Law. by which the unfortu-
nate slave who had made his escape could be
hunted down in every city in the union, and re-
stored to his so-called master But this was not
all. every person was enjOined by severe penal
ties from giving him food, shelter assistance |
| of any kind.
| The brutality Of this law. not only intensified |
| the hatred of slavery in the hearts of those in
favor of abolition. but it stirred them to full ac-
tvity in the cause of the slave. The under
| ground railway came into existence. Escaping |
slaves were received with open arms safely pro- |
tected and by armed bands, when necessary, |
passed from station to station, until safely de-
lvered into the hands of friends in Canada.
!
York and the New England States, were stirred
to their very depths, by the constant attempts
of slave hunters to take from their midst not
only escaped slaves, but free negroes also.
While matters stood thus in the North. the slave
owners of the South, incensed at the aid given
to runaway slaves, and at the growth of abolition
feeling in the great mass of the northern people,
seeing that five states for nOn-slavery had been
admitted to the union. since the last slave state
came in and fearing their power was on the
wane: secured the repeal of the Missouri Com
promise Law. and insisted on the right of eX
tending the evils of slavery into the territories
of the United States, notably Kansas. This the
North stubbornly refused, and then came the
demand for secession. the firing on Fort Sumter,
and Civil War.
The hour had come when the forces of free
dom and of slavery were to be arrayed against
each other, and the man also had come, who was
to direct the forces for freedom and right. Born
of humble parentage, Abraham Lincoln first saw
the light in the year 1908, he spent his early days
ia the log cabin of poor frontier farmer. AS he
grew up an intense thirst for knowledge. de-
: termined purpose to rise above his surroundings
developed in him; toiling by day, studying by
night the eager student was preparing himself
Y for the glorious career which the future brought
me to dwell on this portion of his life, suffice is
: to say that he studied law practised it, and in
y time was called to the legislature of his state,
i and to congress by the voice of the people; and
d in 1860, by plurality of 491 1875 votes, he was
e elected president of the United States.
t From the hour of his election slavery was
r doomed this the South knew. In Abraham
Lincoln were concentrated all those forces SO long
+ pent up in the breasts of the northern people
!; that intense love of freedom, that adherence OF
slavery and all its evils. that earnest desire tC
It see Justice done to the cOlOred race, that far
a sightedness which could see the evils resulting
|, from the continuance of slavery and its further
extension into the territories and that patriotism
It which maintained through all the storm an(
carnage of war. the great principles. that free
e dom is the right of every man. and that the
d tastes of the union are one. and indiviSbe. i
e would take days, not minutes to record, not {
n short paper like this, but volume upon volume
e his words his acts his loving abnegation of self
his earnest desire for peace-but peace will
y honor-and his country's future welfare. W.
ID see this noble self-educated man, through al
re those years of strife and bloodshed, devotng al
n. his energies. directing. counselng and urgin!
he on those who had almost given up hope of ulti
as mate victory, to greater efforts greater sacri
is Then all the love in the man came forth; in TIL
re hour of victory his whole heart went out to hi
e, misguided brethren. no executions followed, N
III reyengeful acts towards the leaders of the re
If belliOn. but the earnest, intense desire to re
ceive them back into the union, as brothers. AM
If friends. Alas. All his noble desires and inten
h. tons cut short by the bullet of the assas
n sin. What those desires, and intentions We're
Of we know in part from his biographies, but al
ut the good that would have resulted, both to tn
Up South and the country at large. had his life bee
le spared to us, is known only to the reader of al
secrets.
10 The life of Abraham Lincoln, from his boy
es hood to his grave, is that of one, who from TIL
Dy depths of poverty rose to be the acknowledge
ne head of this great nation. Yet, in all tn
W. chances and changes of life which came to hin
IS. he never for one moment swerved from tn
ill path he set out to tread the path of honor
ul rectitude and love. In all his history no chal
id acter shines out more pure, more true, NOR
We honest in all tales of chvalry: none more nobl
and self-sacriticing than that of Abraham Lii
er coin. Untold millions of the colOred race bles
ne and will bless in the ages to come his name fC
at their deliverance from bondage Our children
and our children's children, will repeat the stor
or of his life, and will recognize that in singlenes
in of aim in devotion to his country, and in tn
mt good he wrought for her. that the name of Abr;
lat ham Lincoln stands pre-eminent. aye, tower
A above all others-not even excepting Washing
RI ton in the true history of these United State
And we in our day may we'll pray, that the gres
his Father may give to US another Abraham Lii
of coin, to act out those grand words he gave to
es- at Gettysburg, 1.-THE government of these Uni
ds ed States is government of the people, for til
people, by the people, and not a government I
of the beck and CALL bought and sold, bound han
1t and foot by eastern capitalists, monopolist
tut inasciers and foreign bondholders, but govern
ret ment that will rule "for the people, by the pc
nd ple and in the interests of the people, and thi
in defiance of any foreign power on the face
bly, this fair earth.