Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1897-02-10
VOL. XVI

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try" Congress has not yet made
the 18th of February a national
holiday, but the State of Illinois has
done so, and each recurrence of the
day will, by formal public observance,
serve to recall the example and the les
son furnished by the character and
career Of the great war president
Opinions will always differ as to
which was the typical American,
Washington or Lincoln. Washington
was the prodTct of the monarchy un-
der which he was born, and in spirit,
as well as in fact, belonged to the aris-
tocracy. Lincoln was a child of the
republic, and in the strictest sense a
man of the working classes. The one
possessing hereditary wealth and the
graces of eminent social culture-the
other born to the inheritance of hard
work, and from the age of seven to
seventeen years employed as sim
pie farm laborer-it would be difficult
to find two men of more widely differ
ent spheres and characteristics. To il
lustrate, is it possible to think of
Washington. at midnight, dancing
about his chamber-with long, lean
legs protruding from an abbreviated
night gown-as Lincoln did when
Stanton carried him the news of Get
tysburg? Gen. Washington would have
arrayed himself in regimentals before
receiving the tidings or he would have
said "Mr. Stanton, | shall be in the
presidents Office tomorrow morning
at nine o'clock, if you have any COM
munication to make" Yet as a man
of affairs. pratical statesman, charged
with the duties of a momentous time,
and in all that constitutes the highest
elements of character, of personal
force. of perception of the thing to be
done, and Of how and when to do it,
Lincoln was the peer of any of the
great leaders recorded in history. 1t
will always be the glory of this coun-
try that it could offer two such men as
Washington and Lincoln. who in
monarchal or aristocratic states could
never have reached the destiny for
which they were created.
Two years ago the venerable Han
nibal Hamlin, then "the surviving
standard bearer of 1S6O,' journeyed
from Bangor to New York. in spite of
his eighty-one years, to attend the Lin
coin anniversary banquet. When COM
plimented by the toast-master, he re-
piled: Il came here to testify to the
worth of Abraham Lincoln, and to say
one thing only. We speak of the worth
and wisdom of George Washington.
We have day set apart by congress
to celebrate the memory of him, the
Father of his Country. Why not have
a day set apart to celebrate the Savior
of his Country? Old as 1 am in years,
shame covers me when / see how dis
gracefully our senators have deserted
their duty. See that the birthday of
Abraham Lincoln is made a national
holiday If the honored guest of that
occasion were still living he would re-
joice to know that this demand was
complied with by the state of Illinois.
the last legislature having passed a
bill making Feb. u. Lincoln's birth
day, a legal holiday. The occasion was
variously honored in Chicago by Grand
Army posts and other civic organiza-
tions, and the Auditorium was filled
by an enthusiastic audience to listen to
the glowing periods of Robert G.. In
gersoll over the achievements of the
great emancipator. But making a
day a legal holiday does not seem to
compel its observance in the least. All
places of business should be shut down
the same as on Sunday. All public,
private and parochial schools should be
closed. Shops and factories should be
closed and employees thereof should not
be "doc.ied" Tor loss OF time by reason
Of q uasional holiday. In fact, the only
thIng IA tho way OF making WAsalnE-
IeuS fkthdhy sns LlAeelu's bistA1ay |