The Newtown bee., 1896-05-01

again. in the belief as he quairtly ex- pressed it that "it is unwjSe to swap II horses while you are crossing stream" But for his UTtimely death it is hard to | tell what would have been his experience in the stormy times of reconstruction. But of this we can be assured that though friend or foe aseailed him he would have been true to his conception of duty. In the violent death of Lincoln, the whole 1 country and especially the South, lost it's | best friend. Had his sincere patriotism, | and cool common sense guided affairs | doubtless much of the violence, and many of the sad mistakes which marred 1 public life in the years immediately fol- | lowing the war would have been avoided.
 These distinguished leaders were
 MEN OF PEACE.
 l Though their manners are indissolubly aes0caCpd with our two greatest wars,
 yet they loved peace better than war. 1 The ilmurtal address of Washington is very largely the advice of an experi- enced friend how to preserve peace and 1 secure the prosperity which emanates from national tranquility. These are
 mt the words of one who loved war,
 ''WHy by Intervening our destiny with that ri any part of Europe, cntaDgle our
 p"acc and pro perty in the tolls, of Eu-
 rpp4&u ambition. rivalsh1p, interest, hu-
 nor ar caprice. HarmCnv and liberal
 intercourse with all nations are TeCOm-
 meEdcd by policy, humanity, and inter-
 est." If #A-hingtOn "a first in war he
 WH@ also first ju peace, ard loved the quiet |,i Nt7 rural home more than the excite
 mCuf. If public life. Lincoln, also, was H man nf peace. His Quaker blood was
 utrusclv opposrd to the very idea of
 >0ur. While in congress he oppose the
 Mexican var, and in one Ot bis speeches srfrrrcd to military glory as that raln-
 buW that Ti-cS in sh0Wer5 of bI0Od-that srpent that charms but to destroy"
 And again in his address on Washing tr':'e Birthday in lSGI, on the very brink If the cIvii war he said, "Ihe is no a""d of blocdahed and war. Tbere is ..5t necessity for it. ] am not in favor of
 ~ucb a course. and l may gay in advance ra3t thrr" will be no b!nOd>hed unless it + forced upon the government" But , HC loved his whole country with all the
 tuyc of an intense patriotism; and his righteous soul protested with holy in digmatiOn against every form of
 oppression. When as a young
 Han he "a pitrosscd a sIsVe auc-
 tjun in New Orleans he sid, "If : ever 1 get 9 chance to hit that thing I'll hit 1t hard" And iu many a speech and ! in many an act he did Init it hard" till
 in his great proclamation he struck its death blow, ard American slavery perish . ed forever from the earth Washington died in the closing hours of the 18th , century. Lincoln vas bora soon after
 the dawp of2 the l0 il. Are there any Uames associated with the great deeds
 of either century that shine brighter
 than these?
 Now what lesson are We to learn from
 our contemplation of these reaplendant , lives: We are in the church and not in
 the political forum, and we are to cOnsid- . pr all ques ti0us from the standpoint of
 sturdy right rather than that Of political , XpVdjrncy. May wP not then .earn to
 b" true. eeIf-saclilieing patriots? Our country does not now call u2 to face the
 pori3s of war, but to engage in the
 ] NOT LESS IMPORTANT CONTESTS OF PEACE, VI Ifen corruption presents itself in public life, municipal Or state; when the saloon power asserts it's baneful influence and
 forces it's frightful temptations upon the
 community against the protests of all that is good and true, let Us hit these evils aud hit them hard, until they go down before the righteous wrath of an
 indignant people. Shall we not learn to . do right regardless of immediate cOnse- , quences. These names that we enCwine
 with garlands to-day, represent men who were most bitterly assailed in the day of their activity ;a and the smallest scOrn : was heaped upon them for the very deeds . that are their chief glory now. But they were strong and very courageous, and l turned neither to the right hand or to the lefv in the performance of their duty a nd we hold the judgement of the world as , all men do honor to those who feared not
 to do right in the face of storms of Op. position.
 Last fall l worked my way through a tangled thicket to tke post of Confeder- ate earthwOrk in the outskirts of Atlan- ta. In front of me was a little valley,
 and on the other side the line of rifle pits once filled with Sherman's veterans as
 they eDcirCled the devoted city. 1 turned
 and in the slope of the earthwork 1 saw
 8 rifle ball, fired 30 odd years before in
 defense of our beautiful fl tg. l ssecuFed
 that little ball and have placed it with
 my trophies. It is more than little
 lump of lead to me, for it speaks of
 things that should stir the heart of every
 American patriot. It tells of weary
 marches, of awful conflicts, of trenches
 hllCd with the dead, and hospitals OVer-
 flowing with the wounded. And. natur-
 ally,tt leads the thoughts to that patient,
 gentle, tender hearted man, who bore the
 burden and sorrows of those aw ful years,
 and led nation to victory and gave to an oppressed race their freedom. As one who Knew nm well truly said, "He was
 the most perfect ruler of men the world has ever seeD,'' and as Bancroft wisely observed: "He thought always of man. 1 kind, as well as his own country; he fin- ished a work which all time could not overthrow Washington and Lincoln, they are glorious names, and we are their eodntrymeD, ,and this is a republic where in every citizen has responsibility for the welfare of the state. It is for us, under God, to say whether this nation, born and saved in the tumult of war, shall continue to prosper, and that govern ment of the people, by the people, for 1 the people, shall not perish from the earth.