Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1898-02-18
LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY.
Appropriate Celebration by the Zeta
Sigma Society of Alma College.

Appropriate Celebration by the Zeta
Sigma Society Of Alma College.
c. e. SCOTT SPEAKS ON "LlNcoLNs PLACE
IN AMERICAN HISTORY"
College chapel was crowded last Satur.
day evening by company of those eager
to witness the celebration of our mar
tyred presidents natal day by the Zeta
Sigmas. The VIM. Meyer Post G. A
r. and w. r. c., attended in body and
were very appreciative listeners. The
whole audience, in fact, gave the closest
attention throughout the entire evening
The three patriotic selections by the
Zeta Sigma double quartette were nicely
rendered and well received. President
Divine in few happy remarks made
known the general purposes Of the So
ciety and introduced the speaker of the
evening, Mr.. 9. E. Scott, who held the
audience spell bound for forty min
utes as he spoke OH "Lincoln's Place in
American History" Mr.. Scott's grafton,
both in subject matter and in manner of
delivery, would have done credit to any
of the larger universities and has won
for him nothing but praise from all who
heard him. We would like to print the
whole address but as space will not
permit us to do that, rather than give a
part Of it intact, we present below a
brief resume of the entire grafton.
Bancroft says: That God rules III
| the affairs Of men is as certain as any
truth Of physical science In the full.
ness of time republic rose up in the
wilderness of America. She took warn
| ing from the wrecks of history and prof.
tied by all that was good in former ages
She disenthralled religion from bondage
to temporal power. But more than that,
she cleaned political wisdom from every
possible source, and established com.
mon wealth, free in every way.
Republics had heretofore been limited
to small cantons; America extended her
republic across the continent. The vine
of liberty took deep root and filled the
land The fame of this only daughter
of freedom spread and humanity was
filled with new hope.
But alas perfection is not of earth
A leper spot appeared upon the fair
body polite. slavery. The Fathers of the
Revolutionary Period sought in vain to
eradicate it. But these men passed
away and a new generation sprang up, so
filled with the lust of wealth, ease and
power that they were fearfully intoler-
ant of any opposition to slavery. For
more than half century this 'institu-
ton gagged the press. muzzled the pull
pit perverted the scripture, stitled con-
science and made public opinion To-
order, well knowing that in an open
field and fair fight it must be defeated
Where could new ally be found? Chief
Justice fancy answered the question
and at last announced what had never
been heard from any magistrate Of
Greece or Rome, what was unknown TO
civil, feudal, common, cannon and con.
stitutional law unknown to Jay, Rut-
ledge, Ellsworth and Marshall-that
there are slave races And slavocracy
had now come to the point where it
must assume all control or fall PROSTATE
from it's dizzy height of power.
All men knew that terrible crisis
was at hand; the republic must battle
for it's life. Europe looked on with
malignant glee. Now, that hated govern
ment of the people, by the people ana
for the people, whose principles and
whose very existence have made all
thrones to totter, must perish! And
Slavocracy, will rise triumphant on the
ruins Of the republic!
So thought Europe. Nothing better
could be expected Of most of those
governments, but ii was hard to believe
that England, our mother, should stab
us in the back. Oh, shame upon you,
Christian powers of Europe! RusSi a,
that young Barbarian of the west, and
China the most hoary imperialist on the
globe, alone remained our unwavering
friends
Meanwhile events were crOwding one
another thick and fast the South was
rampant and the North had done moth
ing. Election time rolled round and a
new political party, Young Hercules
arose and said Il am master! will pro
duce the man. How wise it was in the
choice Of its champion, passing by in
tellectual giants of magnificent states
manship and lofty patriotism and select
ing that sweetly sadfaced commoner,
who said: Il have ambition; but it is
the ambition Of being the humble in
strument in the hands of Providence TO
reconcile divided people, oLce more TO
revive concord and harmony in dis
tracted land
His was not palace home yet, the
humble and obscure paths he trod, led
not to a crumbling fame but to an ever
lasting immortality, sacredly guarded
deep down in the hearts of loving and
generating countrymen His education
was limited; but in the solitude of those
backwoods he had learned the divine
truth that it is nobler to minister than
to be ministered unto. And when, as a
Mississippi fiatbOatman, he turned away
from that slave auction in New Orleans
with the agonized cry, My God, if ever
get chance to hit that thing, I'll hit
it hard, the Almighty had already set
him apart for that transcendant duty,
the task of vindicating before the divine.
right-of kings governments, the right of
the American Union to be--that Union
which is the highest political embodi
ment of Christianity, for which the
Revolution cleared the way, which the
constitution made fact, and which this
emancipation was to preserve.
During the swift years that succeeded