The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1898-02-17

ICeeyrtshted By Dave : raser.l

rcopyrishtsd BY Dave Taser.,
AS TO LINCOLN Some Of
the towering personages of history
possibly from our ignorance Of
our daily lives-seem more like
demi-gods than men, and we simply
marvel at them for if the fame Of
q great man has elements in it that
are walls before us instead of steps
we peep ut it like children from u
distance, We long vainly for its al-
titude, and we pass on neither aided
nor encouraged. It's true beyond
dispute that u touch Of Nature
makes us all kin, and like the un-
expected 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 triamphed in some measure as
we hope to last. We are cheered
by them. In them we discover the
lineaments of ordinary, approach
able humanity: their footsteps were
no longer than ours but simply al
ways led forward, their hours were
no more numerous than those allott-
ed to us but all were made to bend
to purpose, their hopes remained
often unrealized-like our--hut in
reaching upward towards them came
sublimity to the the lives that We
can safely admire aud emulate.
Among these who do not dis
courage nor dazzle is our Lincoln.
As the fierce light of the fevered
hours in which he stood unmoved,
subsidies into gentle day whose pro-
gress is guiltless of insternecinc
strife, he shows forth ever more
clearly as "the great commoner."
He is living proof ola truth we
too often doubt in our haste, that
neither the lack of money nor of
pedigree are enough to keep in sub
lection those who "will" to shake
themselves free from impediments.
he stands as an encouragement to
those who strive against discourging
odds-by glorifying the common
place 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 total expected of man is that
he should do the best he can If
a great man in a small place, by
filling it to overAowing; if an un-
tried man in great place, byfilling
it through the might and the growth
that come from modesty, humility,
teachableness. He is-surely one
with many of us-pst occupied
with proclaiming his descent, but
having whereof to boast in his
ascent, hot handled bya luxurious
mother through the proxy-love of
hired arms, but nourished by a rug
ged woman under those strenuous
circumstances that developed un-
sung 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 beoad soul into fellowship
with those of all nations who do
man-scrvice as God-pleasers. He
does not stalk along in gloomy alb
straction, but is "hail-tellow" in Il
sunshiny way with all those weary
and burdened ones to whom a laugh
is more refreshing than new wine
He is not filled with thoughts Of
some future destiny,-it is only on
loookers who see the destiny of q
man,-for he is content with the
next step each time that it comes
no matter wnere it leads. He isnot
even superior to repining and
gloom, but from every hour of de.
preston he rises to fling the gage Of
Despair into the face Of Fortune
daring her to the conflict.
H*
There is not one great modern
character more thoroughly human
than he is. In fact in his day small
men reaching no higher than hi
ankles could see nothing but th,
mud on his shoes, and failed utterly
to raise their eyes to the noble head
with its face scanned more than any
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