Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-02-18

world has ever known. save the Son Of
God, the lOWly NaZarine whose sacred
feet once pressed the soft yielding
sands of sunny Galilee. Back through
the luStrOuS path of time and history
CLEAN bright and radiant stars which
are the passing of great men. They
mark the centuries that have passed,
by more than common stamp. The
glory Of their achievements is reflected
to our times, but their motives were
too often unworthy and unjust. Their
love of power and desire for dOmina-
ton and gain, dwarfed and lessened
the nObler gentler and more generous
impulses of the human heart and de-
yelOped dangerous ambitions. i'm
pulses and cruel purposes.
AleXander'S towering ambition was
for cruel and bloody war; Lincoln
loved peace with his whole soul; Caesar
enslayed men; Lincoln made them
free, and for this we love him. Charlie
magne sought cOnquests from affair;
Lincoln sought justice for all men:
Napoleon diSmembered states and
caused blood to flow as a raging noun
tain torrent; while Lincoln bound
them together in the ties of paternal
loyalty. No unworthy thought or
motive prompted his actions or led
him blinded from the pathway of duty
and right.
''TOO many men are honest by way
of interest, just by policy and gen
erOuS to fault by strategy" but here
was man who was honored for up
rightneSS of life and character, be-
loved throughout the nation for his
simplicity and revered for his child
like, gentle heart and his patient
thOughtfulneSS. The life and attain
+ mentS Of Lincoln reveal as much of
| the genius and possibilities of our in
stitutiOns as would Il century of Amer
lean history. Abraham Lincoln was
once asked concerning his parentage.
He said that the story would be but
| the short and simple annals of the
| poor. His ancestors had come from
| their mountain home in Virginia,
| over the mountains Of Kentucky. and
| had begun to make new home in the
WildS OF the new country. He was
( born in little log cabin, which long
since became a ruin, on Rock Creek
farm, Kentucky, Feb. y, 1909. Born
! apparently under such adverse circum-
stances and in the humblest of cOndi-
tions, he struggled against almost
overwhelming difficulties. Without
the encouragement Of facilities for an
education, he acquired one by dint of
| toll and priYatiOn. His early life was
very much the same as that led to-day
! by the mOuntaineerS of eastern Ken
| lucky. Under the inspiration of his
atfectiOnate StepmOther, Mrs. Sallie
johnson Lincoln, he received his first
encouragement to study. He became
an eager reader and the few books in
| the vicinity were read time and time
again. He frequently worked for the
neighbOrS as farm labOrer, was for
some time clerk in q store at Gentry
| Vile and became famous throughout
that region for his marvellous athletic
! powers, his tOndneSS for argument his
ineXhauStible fund for humorous anec-
dOte, and his cleverneSS in speech
making. In 1928 he made a trading
voyage to New Orleans as bOW-hand
on flat boat. He removed to Illi-
nOlS in 1880, helped his father build a
| log house and clear a farm on the
north fork of the SangamOn river,
and was for some time employed in
splitting rails for the fences a fact
which was prominently brought for
ward for political purposes thirty
years later.
| Without any to proclaim his wis
dom. he soon found the highest place
IN the councils Of the nation. At the
National Republican convention as
sembled in Chicago, after spirited
efforts made in favor of Seward, Chase
and Bates, Lincoln was nominated for
| president, May Is. 1860. On the 9th
OF November 1860, Lincoln was elected
| by Il large plurality-cOmpriSi nearly
all the northern states, but none of
the southern. The secession of South
| Carolina and the Gulf states was the
| immediate result. followed a few
months later by that of the border
slave states and the outbreak of the
great civil war. The life Of \. Lin
coin was thencefOrth merged in the
! history Of his country. Soon after his
! inauguration. March i. 81. Ft. SUM-
ter was fired upon, April 10; a general
| blockade OF the Southern states was
proclaimed and the war of the great
rebellion aggreSSiyely waged. His
character was rounded out and full
not here and there Il poor striving
virtue. but everywhere complete and
finished. To the simplicity of a child
was added the ripe and matured wis
dom OF statesman. His honest.
kindly thoughts were clothed in words
of tender beauty and pathos. The
present generation knows Washington
only from history and by that alone
can judge him. Lincoln we know by
history also, but thousands are still
living who participated in those mo-
mentions events, in which he was the
undaunted leader and master. He
may be said to be still known to the