The National tribune., 1901-05-09
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
The Greatness and the Tenderness of the
Martyr President.
Commander. Department of the Potomac.
GAR, before Lincoln Post, Washington.


cred at the unvailing of the Logan statue,
said:
God raises up men for every emer-
gency. There never was a truer axiom
uttered. He raised up Moses to lead
the children of Israel out of Egypt; n
Joshua, to lead them into the Promised
Land; and so, from the beginning of
time, He has raised up great leaders to
accomplish great purposes. Therefore,
we should never forget that God controls
everything; for it is His hand that rules
and sways the destinies of empires, re-
publics and peoples. He raised up a
Washington to lead the Colonies from un-
der the yoke of tyranny. He brought
forth Grant, a Sherman, Sheridan,
Thomas, and Logan. But forsthe great
est work ever yOuchsafed to man he
raised up Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln was man of giant
stature, standing six feet four; he was
also man Of giant intellect; not col
lege man of finished education, but he
was blessed with an abundance of good,
common sense; a man as homely as he
was Brilliant as honest as he was pa
triOtic; and so God raised up this great
man to meet great emergency. He fore
saw the dark clouds of rebellion and war
gathering thick and fast around this free
republic and that his people needed a
Moses to lead them.
Some famous writer has said, Leaving
one side the great central character, the
Nazarine, the Christ there is no man
mentioned in the Bible from the first verse
of Genesis to the last of Revelation who
can be regarded as Lincoln's superior,
either for greatness or for goodness"
One of our famous poets pays this trib-
ute to his memory:
These are all gone, and standing like a
Our children shall behold his fame
The kindly, earnest, brave, foreseeinS
man
Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not
blame
New birth of our new soil, the first
American"
Therefore it is well said that Abraham
Lincoln was the first American TO reach
the lonely hight of immortal fame.
The chief attribute of Lincoln's great
ness was, perhaps, the readiness with
which he could see and grasp the right,
coupled with his heroic nerve to go for
ward in the pathway of duty; when once
fixed in mind what that duty was, no
power on eartl could cause him to de-
viate one jot or title from his line of pol
icy; yet he was too honest to have one
atom of self-esteem, or to think that he
was infallble. He was always open to
conviction by argument upon any ques-
ton, and if the views presented were bet
ter than those of his own, he was quick
to acknowledge and equally us quick to
commend.
Mr.. Lincoln did not believe in the fire.
quent saying that might makes right"
but governed himself by the rule that
right makes might"
He was 4 very modest man, and q sim
cerely just and God-fearing man. He be-
lieved with all his heart in an oyerruling
Providence, and in that Providence he
fully trusted. 1t seems to me that as we
study his marvellous works and life he al
most communed with God at times, for
during those years of sorrow and trial he
seemed to be nearly divine in his vision.
Il know there is a God" he said, "and
that He hates injustice and slavery; l
see the storm coming, and l know that
His hand is in it; l know l am right, for
Christ teaches it, and Christ is God. l
shall therefore endeayor to do my duty,
but will do nothing in malice. With Gods
help | shall not fall" and with this spirit
guiding him his great Emancipation Proc
lamatiOn was written, and the shackles
were stricken from over four millions of
human beings and they were forever free.
He was as firm as a rock, with the cour-
age of lion to perform every duty de-
vOlving upon him. and yet it was all
sweetened with that gentle, tender yearn-
ing sympathy which guided all his move
ments through life. Gen. Neal Dow said:
Lincoln was clothed with a divine mis-
sion" That mission was, in my judg-
ment, to prosecute the war to save the
Union, and to kill human slavery, root
and branch, for Lincoln held to the prin-
ciple that those who deny freedom to
others deserve it not for themselves.
.1nBn nIra leo in, hot ha
had the faculty of saying more in the few
est number of words than almost any
other man of modern times. As an in
stance of this, at the dedication of the
cemetery at Gettysburg, the Hon. Edward
Everett was the principal orator of the
day. He swayed his audience by his elo-
quence at his will. At its conclusion he
was heartily congratulated by Mr.. Lin
coin, to which he made this reply:
'Ah, Mr.. President, how gladly would
exchange all of my hundred pages, to
have been the author of your 20 lines"
When Mr.. Everett's grand GRAFTON will
have passed into oblivion, Mr.. Lincoln's
gem will grow still more and more bril-
liant in its luster than it is today.
He was also great because he was so
richly blessed with that spirit of forgive
ness, so rarely seen except in the lives of
those who entirely bury self, and take
as their guide the gentle and loving
Savior who could cry out in His agony
on the Cross, Father, forgive them;
they know not what they do"
Just so could and did Mr.. Lincoln cry
out over the erring people of ths South
during the long war.
Bowed down as he was with the mo-
mentous questions and labors which con-
stantly besieged him, he never allowed
himself to become SO weary that he failed
in any instance to extend mercy and
sympathy to those who called upon him in
their distress.
A beautiful young girl called on Mr..
Lincoln during the war and asked for a
pass to go through the lines to her sorely-
wounded father at the front. "No, my
child, cannot do it, l cannot do it; you
are too young and there are no women
down there"
81 know it, dear Mr.. President" she
pleaded, "but my mother Is dead and my
father soon may be, and l want to go to
him; / am not afraid, for l have always
trusted in my Heavenly Father, and He
has never failed me-" "And He never
will my child" said Mr.. Lincoln, jumping
up, and he Immediately gave her the pass
as desired.
Again, young boy, Willie Braden, IA
years old, after having taken part in two |
engagements on the gunboat Ottawa, |
where he was commended by the COM |
mander for bravery in action, went to the |
President and asked for an appointment |
to the Naval Academy, and while he care |
fully looked over the boys papers, he |
kept a Senator of the United States and |
other distinguished men waiting until he |
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