The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1900-02-13

trumpet E0AHlEI Els ARRIVAL NO tHrniiT
or pedigree gave him prestige. he had
. reason his way out of the woods into
the world. out OF poverty into position.
cut OF politics into Etatesmanshin. out
Of greatness into glory. and finally. he
went from life into the calendar of Eaints
which never happens except by the unanl-
nous consent Of all mankind
IEe dreaming child Of the Kentucky
woodland. the country bov of Indiana
the iat-boat pilot of the Mississippi. the
village postmaster. lawyer. legislator and
logician Of Illinois the orator and states
man % America, became our President.
In the midst % the dlssolyinE Union,
standing before the chief Justice who was
10 adminlster the oath Of Office. he had 20
say: a disruption Of the Fa,ieral Union.
heretofore only menaced, Il now formid-
ably attempted And then came .he sen
tencs which voiced the sentiment OF 10y
atty in America for ali time. and showed
the metal OF this courageous and ratri-
otic President:
90 I h6,d that. in contemplation q uni
versal law and Of the Constitution. the
union of these States Is perpetual
There have been men who ruled in
this world b. force and arbitrary man
dates, and history calls them great. But
in q republic. ruling power = granted only
by the individual judgment and approya,
0f tho millions hich can only bc -eaCnes
By reason. When Abraham Lincoln r.
finished his frst inaugural and taken
ter judgment Of America. not only o. he
justice Of the Unions cause, but Of nj
pre-eminent worihiness 20 represent has
cause. His thought mad reached the
heaTlhstone. his argument was or rhe
lips % c0UntTymen. Sis love had touched
the hearts q loyalty. his gentle spirit
permeated every IiTeAlde5 hs Eatchle IS
genius took possession Of superior H,4nGs;
his wOndToUs reasoning reached Ike pen
etrating light the intellec,s q all the
land and consequently al his beck and
bidding stood the grandest army ever or
gaulZed upon this earth from civil life
the Grand Army Of the Union.
Lincoln a Judge Of Greatness.
Being himself great, he was q judge Of
greatness. He recognized ability when he
saw IT, Therefore the greatest military
genius Of the century did not escape his
keen. observing eye. He watched the
movement Of the Western army. He saw
the triumphs at Belmont Done!sOn, and
Shiloh. He saw the Army OF the Tennes-
see, with the hope Of all the centuries,
trying 10 find a way TO cross a river,
with no place TO embark and no place 10
land; he saw the final triumph at Vicks-
burg. and with the millions Of America
he called for Gen. Grant 10 take command
Of all the Union forces. de listened to
some small general enyiou3ly say, Grant
drinks and then he calmly and ironically
said. What does be drink? 1 want 10 send
some of the same brand to all my gener-
ais Henceforth Grant was unmolested.
and within two years from the time
America really knew she had a Grant, the
banner of the stars was shining on the
continent, the Stars and Stripes were
floating over Richmond.
Abraham Lincoln saw the final tri-
A.. t.s-
mission He carried out his prociamation
of universal liberty. His wisdom bound
together the matchless army Of the Union
which made forever good the declaration
cf the first inaugural: The union of these
States is perpetual He went to Gettys-
burg and with his living heart upon the
the hearts of comrades dead, his lips pro-
nounced those words OF love and elO-
quence that live forever as the matchless
gem Of concentrated speech In all our
literature. With StOckinged feet before
the White House gate he watched the
Pickering fire on many an anxious night,
Just as he had done in old Kentucky and
in Indiana and Illinois in yOuthtime and
early manhood. and in fancy saw fantas-
tic figures, sometimes droll, amusing him
in lonely hours, and then, sometimes, he
saw ambition in its selfish form, and hat
ed H. He saw the widowed mother and her
hungry child; he saw the lover dying on
the battlefield for COuntry'S sake, and
then he saw the face Of his betrothed in
agony at home. He saw the charge of
cavalry and heard the crash of DEATH he
saw the steady lines OF Infantry starting
for the cannoned crest and felt the shot
and shell that mangled human forms.
and there in the last, long, fickering
light he saw the emblem of the Union car
ried 20 the eternal heights. With sad but
hopeful heart he laid his head upon the
pillow in the mansion where Washington
had slept AT early morn he awoke from
troubled sleep from day to day until twas
done-the mission of a mighty soul
Bone of the bone and sinew of the
sinew. heart OF the very heart OF me
American nation, incarnation of its spirit,
he reasoned out its course IN the darkest
epoch of its troubled, glorious history.
Greatest Lesson of the Century.
'"rhe most assuring fact which the
twentieth century takes from the last
great lesson of the nineteenth is this: In
the greatest revolution ever known upon
this earth-the struggle for the unity and
survival Of free gOvernmeHt-the guiding
spirit of the Unions cause and the great
est general who bore mis- shield, were born
and bred and reared In the average envi-
rOnment and among the middle classes of
the Commonwealth, where their illustri-
Gus examples and their wholesome, patri-
Otic precepts are learned, revered, and
practiced by the great majority of the sue
cessive generations who constitute Amer
lean citizenship.
Abraham Lincoln was chosen President
by the better judgment of the pOpulace
which his reason had convinced before the
actual strife began. Called again by the
unanimous voice Of loyalty, when the con-
test had practically ended, he sat securely
in the seat of triumph and of glory, when
the greatest tragedy of fact or fiction in
the annals of our tragic world took him
from the vision Of mankind before their
grateful hearts could hear his final bless
ing and his Denediction.
1T think ii was Theaphile Gautier who
conceived in his imagination a magician
who could exchange the souls of men. II
by some magic power the soul of j.
Wilkes Booth could have been placed in
the breast Of the martyr President, after
the fatal shot was fired, so that ii could
have gone 10 the judgment seat with the
face of Abraham Lincoln, ii might have
passed the pearly gates unchallenged. And
II the spirit of the murdered President
would have entered the breast Of that
most dep-ayed OF all assassinS, the muir
derous hand might momentarily have been
forgiven the greatest crime in history,
just for the sake of keeping in our sad
and grateful world, even for a little while,
the lottiest soul, the sweetest spirit il has
ever known in mortal man.
The other toasts and speakers respond
ing We're: Grace" Rev. Mallbie d. Bah
cock; The Republican Party" Attorney
General Grigss; Abraham Lincoln"
Prof. Edwin Markham; Political Com
science Rev. Samuel Schulman.
General Holiday nj Boston.
Boston Feb 12.-There was no general
celebration Of Lincoln's birthday among
the business houses of this city to-day.
ut the Stock Exchange suspended busi-
ness and one or TWO other institutions