The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1895-02-21

.,:Ecert Audience Hears the Flo
,r,nt kcutnckian's Brilliant Effort
Ills Words We're Worthy-Life and
character of the Great Emancipator.
;, uonor of the Martyred President.
Tha most notable feature of the Lincoln
,u,moriai exercises ut Chicago was he
.,.r,h Of Colonel Henry Watterson, of
.uf.yille. Ky. Mr.. Wutterson began his
rattan by Il reference to the poise II
irritv of the statesmen in knee breeches
nnd powdered wigs who signed the Dec
i,mtinu IF Independence and framed the
Constitution, and who made their infiu-
.,,.. felt upon life and thought long after
,bo echoes of Bunker Hill and Yorktown
head died away. 1t was not until the in
|sti,utjon Of African slavery got into poll
,irs AS "A vital force that Congress be-
came a bear garden. The men who sign
Oh thr declaration and their immediate
successors were succeeded by Il set of
par1v leaders much less decorous and
'murh more self-contident. Continuing,
tbe lecturer said in part:
There were Seward and Sumner and
Chase. Corwin and Ben Wade. Trumbull
ana J. hSStllUfll, Jldlt uuu SoiluiiiVl IN
Grimes. and Greeley, our latter-day
franklin. There were TOombs and Ham
nond. and Slidcll and Wigfall. and the
Two little giants. Douglas and Stephens.
and Yancry and Mason, and Jefferson
Davis. With them soft words buttered
no uarSnips and they cared little how
many pitchers might be broken by rude
hes. The issue between them did not
rduirc a diagram to explain it. 1t was
ST, simple a child could understand it. 1t
rad. human slavery against human free
lom. slave labor against free labor, and
involved Il conflict as inevitable as it was
.rrcprcsSible.
Lincoln Enters the Fray.
Amid the noise and confusion, the clash
ng If intcllccts like sabers bright, and
the booming of the big oratorical guns of
the North and the South, now definitely
arraycd, there came one day into the
Northern camp one of the oldest figures
Imaginable, the figure of a man who. in
spite of an appearance somewhat out of
line, carried Il serious aspect, If not the
suggestion of power, and, pausing a mo-
ucut 10 utter Il single sentence that could
Ne heard above the din, passed on and for
bmoment disappeared. The sentence was
pregnant with meaning. The man bore
commission from God on high. He said:
a house divided against itself cannot
| stand. | believe this Government cannot
udurp permanently half free and half
slave. | do not expect the Union to be
dissolved; | do not expect the house to
fail. hut | do expect it will cease to be
/ divided" lie was Abraham Lincoln.
. L1,lI I l.a.u:I L.. A.. A. Sl,II
I io 80 Is he appeared to me when | first
>aW him Immediately Oh his arrival at
Tia" national capital. the chosen President
of tHc United States, his appearance quite
a> strange as the story of his life, which
WAS thon but half known and half told.
Hr shall | use the language of another and
gore vivid word painter?
"A January. 1851. Colonel A. *. Nc
'iute, of Pennsylvania, journeyed To
Springfield, ILL.,. personally, to become ac-
iIanIted and to consult with the man he
\ nd contributed SO materially to elect. Il
@rut directly from the depot to Lincoln's
loa<,.' says Colonel Mcclure, and rang
he hcll, which was answered by Lincoln
himself, opening the door. | doubt wheth-
Hr | wholly concealed my disappointment
't r~accting him. Tall, gaunt, ungainly,
I-clad, with a LONELINESS of manner that
was unique in itself, | confess that my
heart sank within me as | remembered
THAT this was the man chosen by a great
ua'tuu 10 become its ruler in the gravest
p-rlol of its history. | remember his
''cs- as if it were but ycsterday-snutf-
cplorcl and slouc'.y pantaloons: open
hl1'n vest, held by IL few brass buttons;
>lrat-ht or evening dress coat, with tight
~ il'IuG sleeves to ~cXaggcratc his long,
hong arms, all supplemented by an awk-
"aidh'SS that was uncommon among men
10Y Intelligence. Such was the picture |
W"t m the person of Abraham Lincoln.
We sat down in his plainly furnished par
For and were uninterrupted during the
hearty four hours | remained with him,
ahd little by little as his earnestness, sin
'"ilt! and candor were developed in con-
Ncr>ation. | forgot all the grotesque quail
Hos which SO COMPOUNDED me when first
-r"t'cd him. Before half IN hour had
t1~Sod | learned not only to respect, but,
indeed. to reverence the man.
L%incoln's First Inaugural.
am not undertaking to deliver an oral
biography of Abraham Lincoln, and shall
pass over the events which quickly led
~ 10 his nomination and election to the
Presidency in 1860.
met the newly elected President the
afternoon of the day in the early morning
OF which he had arciy"d in Washington.
II was Il Saturday, | think. He came to
10" capitol under Mr.. Stewards escort, and
among the rest | was presented to him.
Ills appearance did not Impress me as
: Enthusiastically us it had impressed Colonel
Mcclure. | was more familiar with the
Western type than Colonel Mcclure, and
whilst Mr.. Lincoln was certainly not IN
Adonls, even after prairie ideas, there
was about him Il rugged dignity that ON
mandc1 respect.
met him again the next Monday fore
noon IN his apartments at Wizards Ho-
Wi ns la A..n. ~ riuLr Il. 81 rt 70 lis in.