Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1895-02-22
TRIBUTE TO LINCOLN.
HENRY wATTERsoN's GRAFTON
AT CHICAGO.

HENRY wATTERsoN's GRAFTON
AT CHICAGO.
Magnificemt Audience Hears the Flo.
qucnt Kentuckian's Brilliant Effort
His Words We're Worthy--Life and
Character of the Great Ernoncipator,
In Honor of the Martyred President.
The most notable feature of the Lincoln
memorial exercises ut Chicago wns the
speech of Colonel Henry Watterson, of
Louisville, Ky. Mr.. Watterson began his
grafton by 4. reference to the poise and
dignity of the statesmen in knee brooches
and powdered wigs who signed the Dec
iaration of Independence and framed the
Constitution, and who made their influ-
ence felt upon life and thought long after
the echoes of Bunker Hill and Yorktown
had died away. 1t was not until the in
stitution of African slavery got into poll
ties as u vital force that Congress be-
came n bear garden. The men who sign
ed the declaration and their Immediate
party leaders much less decorous and
the lecturer said in part:
There were Seward and Sumner and
Chase. Corwin and Ben Wade, Trumbull
and Fessenden, Hale and Collamer and
Grimes. and Greeley, our latter-day
Franklin. There were Toombs and Ham
mond, and Slidell and Wigfall, md the
two little giants, Douglas and Stephens.
and Yancey and Mason, and jefferson
Davis. With them soft words buttered
no parsnips and they cared little how
many pitchers might be broken by rude
ones. The issue between them did not
require a diagram to explain it. 1t was
so simple n child could understand it. 1t
read, human slavery against human free
dom, slave labor against free labor, and
involved a conflict as inevitable us it was
irrcprcssible.
Lincoln Enters the Fray.
Amid the noise and confusion, the clash
ing of intcllects like sabers bright, and
the booming of the big oratorical guns of
the North and the South, now definitely
arrayed, there came one day into the
Northern camp one of the oldest figures
imaginable, the figure of u man who, in
spite of an appearance somewhat out of
line, carried IL serious aspect, if not the
suggestion of power, and, pausing n mo-
ment to utter q single sentence that could
be heard above the din, passed on and for
a moment disappeared. The sentence was
pregnant with meaning. The man bore
a commission from God on high! He said:
"A house divided against itself annot
stand. 1 believe this Government cannot
endure permanently half free md half
slave. l do not expect the Union to be
dissolved; l do not expect the house to
fall, but I do expect it will cease to be
divided" He was Abraham Lincoln.
How shall l describe him to you? Shall
1 do so as he appeared to me when 1 first
saw him Immediately ON his arrival at
the national capital, the chosen President
of the United States, his appearance quite
us strange as the story of his life, which
was then but half known and half told,
or shall l use the language of another and
more vivid word painter?
In January, 1861, Colonel A. X. Nc
Clurc, of Pennsylvania, journeyed to
Springfield, ILL.,, personally, to become ac-
quainted and to consult with the man he
had contributed so materially to elect. 81
went directly from the depot to Lincoln's
house," says Colonel Mcclure, land rang
the bell, which was answered by Lincoln
himself, opening the door. doubt wheth-
er l wholly concealed my disappointment
Mt meeting him. Tall, gaunt, ungainly,
ill-clad, with a LONELINESS of manner that
was unique in itself, l confess that my
heart sank within me as l remembered
that this was the man chosen by a great
nation to become its ruler in the grayest
period of its history. 1 remember his
dress as if it were but yesterday-snuff-
colored and slouchy pantaloons; open
black vest, held by Il few brass buttons;
straight or evening dress coat, with tight
~ fitting sleeves to e%Xaggeratc his long,
bony arms, all supplemented by an awk-
wardness that was uncommon among men
of intelligence. Such was the picture I
met in the person of Abraham Lincoln.
We sat down in his plainly furnished par
lor and We're uninterrupted during the
nearly four hours l remained with him,
and little by little as his earnestness, sim
cerity and candor were developed in con-
versation, 1 forgot all the g%rotesque quail
ties which SO COMPOUNDED me when I first
greeted him. Before half an hour had
passed I learned not only to respect, but,
indeed, to reverence the man."
Lincoln's First Inaugural.
I am not undertaking to deliver an oral
biography of Abraham Lincoln, and shall
pass over the events which quickly led
up to his nomination and election to the
Presidency in 1860.
1 met the newly elected President the
afternoon of the day in the early morning
of which he had arrived in Washington.
1t was a Saturday, l think. He came to
the capitol under Mr.. Stewards escort, and
among the rest / was presented to him.
His appearance did not impress me rs
Enthusiastically as it had impressed Colonel
Mcclure. l was more familiar with the
Western type than Colonel Mcclure, and
whilst Mr.. Lincoln was certainly not an
Adonis, even after prairie ideas, there
was about him a rugged dignity that COM
manded respect.
1 met him again the next Monday fore
noon in his apartments at Wizards Ho-
tel as he was preparing to start to his in
auguration, and was struck by his unaf-
fected kindness; for I came with a matter