The Republican., 1898-02-10
SOME RAMBLING THOUGHTS.
[Cnpyrghted by lave & Tabor. /

Fl AS TO LINCOLN:-Some of the
towering personages of history-pos-
Hsibly from our ignorance of their daily
'lives-seems more like demi-gods than
men, and we simply marvel at them;
Tor if the fame of great man has ele-
ments in it that are walls before us in
stead of steps to peep in at like child
.ren from a distance, we long vainly
for its altitude, and we pass on neither
aided nor encouraged. 1t is true be-
yond dispute that a touch of Nature
makes us allNkin, and like the unex-
pected meeting of beloved friend is
the effect upon us of the great who
have suffered as we have, worked long
years unseen as we do, and triumphed
tn some measure as we hope to at last.
We are cheered by them. In them
we discover the lineament of ordinary,
approachable humanity; their foot
steps were no longer than ours but
simply always led forward, their hours
NClC ~ Jltll lIlOSC dl-
lotted to us but all were made to bend
to purpose, their hopes remained
too often unrealized-like ours-but
in reaching upward towards them
come sublimity to the lives that we
can safely admire and emulate.
x
Among these who do not discourage
nor dazzle is our Lincoln. AS the fierce
light of the fevered hours in which we
stood uDmoved, subsidies into gentle
day whose progress is guiltless of inter
necine strife, he shows forth ever more
clearly as 1.-The great cOmmoner.n He
is a living proof of a truth we too
often doubt in our haste, that neither
the lack of money nor of pedigree are
enough to keep in subsection those
who 'will'' to shake themselves free
from impediments. He stands as an
encouragement to those who strive
against discouraging odds--by glorify-
ing the commonplace affairs of life
into actual tests of character, and by
throwing his full powers unreservedly
into every task he takes up. He
shows that the sum total expected of
a man is that he should do the best he
can:-if a great man in a small place, by
filling it to overflowing; if an untried
man in great place, by filling it
through the might and the growth
that come from modesty, humility.
teachableness. He is-surely one with
many of us-not occupied with pro-
claiming descent, but having whereof
to boast in his aScent,-not handled
by luxurious mother through the
proxy-love of hired hands, but nour-
ished by a rugged woman under those
strenuous circumstances that develop
unsung heroes along every bridle-path
of our enormous frontier. He is not
bound within the limits of any creed
of mans inventing, but throws out
his broad soul into fellowship with
those of all nations who do man-ser-
vice as God-pleasers. He does not
stalk along in gloomy abstraction,
but is "hail-fellow" in sunshiny
way with all those weary and bur
doned ones to whom laugh is more
refreshing than new wine. He is not
filled with thoughts of some future
destiny,-it is only onlookers who set
the destiny of a man,-for he is con-
tent with the next step each time that
it comes no matter where it leads. He
is not even superior to repining and
gloom, but from every hour of depres-
sion he rises to fling the gage of Des-
pair into the face of Fortune, daring
her to the conflict.