The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-02-11
ABRAHAM LINCOLN

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ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Tomorrow is the birthday anniversary
of an epochal man-Abraham Lincoln AS
we recede from the comparatively brief
period Of his life when all the prepara-
ton Of all the preceding years Of his life
was brought to it's fruitage and he
wrought, under God, deliYerance for his
country from the menace of dissolution,
his figure more and more stands out IN
bold relief, grand and impressive. We
see him in relation to other figures In
dwarfs them. II Washington brought tbs
colonies through the storm and stress OF
revolution, to a vigorous young national
ity, resting upon the strong foundation OF
written constitution based upon the
bill of rights, Lincoln destroyed the anon
ally Of professedly free and constitu-
tiona1 republic sheltering, under the pro-
lection of it's laws. the institution OF
slavery through dozen of the states;
gave heart Of courage to the nations long
under the dictation of the imperious
slavocracy of the south, and met the lat
ter's threat of breaking up the union by
a sonorous call to arms which sent a
million men into the field to retain the
heritage of the men who had passed
through the fires of the war for indie
pendence, and forever stilled the voices
Of those who had proclaimed that the
Union was held together only by a flimsy
rope Of sand.
The man of the hour never appears I'M
til the clock has struck the hour. The
time had not come for the reformation,
when Wickliffe broke away from tradition
al suppression of individual opinion and
asserted his right to think and write after
his own judgment. The proper hour struck
and Luther appeared to start the move
ment, which has undeniably changed the
thought and habits Of millions and brought
about AN intellectual as well as a re-
ligious revolution. Napoleon was a man
of the hour, although, after he had led
popular sentiment along the lines OF
emancipation of thought and action and
stimulated the growing desire for popular
government in the day of his greatest per-
sonal power he endeavored to reverse the
law of progress. But what he did in the
way of prompting free action has not lost
it's influence. It appeared in 184S when
Frenchmen again sought republic but
were doomed to wait a season. Charlie
magne was man Of the hour, although
of 80 ic Of
recognized as it should be. When he came
into power he found Europe, through CEN
turtles of barbarian migrations, a re-
markable mass of discord and confusion
A man was needed capable of bringing
order out of chaos and III ffty-three cans
paigns he gave Christendom such "a de-
gree Of security and order that real prog
ress became possible. Charlemagne was
sturdy contributor to the amenities OF
modern civilization. He spent his life
in defense of civilization against barbar-
ism. His reign was indeed, the starting
point of modern civilization.
So other instances may be recalled of
men of the hour, whose whole previous
lives seem to have been tutelage in ex-
perience for the few years in which they
were called to great public duty and self
sacrifice for the good of the milton, and
have influenced the thought and action of
the world. The abolition of human slav-
cry in our country stimulated the move
ment against that foul system throughout
the world. The preservation of the Amer
100 Jrnio w CT Doth od COY
eminent, but renewed the faith of the
lovers of free institutions throughout the
world, Lincoln, indeed, prepared the way
for our country to take it's place among
the world powers with determining
voice which must be heard 1t is only
papers of the sixties to discover how Lin
coin stood firmly to principle, under the
fierce bot blast of SANDER and vitupera-
ton from his own countrymen, whose
ISLANDERS were taken up by the British
press which largely supported the slave
confederacy. But Lincoln, always a deep
thinker, as we'll as a great speaker (and
such because he was great thinker) saw
the end from the beginning, and was con-
scious Of the rightness Of the cause which
he led and he steadied the frightened
souls around him, and gave them por-
ton of his splendid faith in God and in his
fellow men,
Lawson Purdy, secretary of the New
York Tax Reform association, succeeded
we'll in his address at the Commercial