News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1903-03-11

Isaiah XIII, IL.
In this day of syndicates corporations trusts and
iOnaires it well to remind ourselves that anatiOn S
true wealth and glory does not lie much in its mate
rial interests, in its great and noble men. We are
not very old nation but, already we have our honor
roll Westminster Abbey, III which enShrined the
names of some of the nObest men of the ages. To-day
we have come to what is known and observed in our
Congregational churches as " Lincoln Memorial Day"
and it will not be inappropriate unWecOme to you,
trust II we pause to-day to pay our tribute to one OF
the two greatest characters Of history, who
was, to apply the appropriate words of the ancient
prophet, A man more precious than gold There will
not be time this morning 60 trace the events OF his
memorable life, to outline the important part he
took in Our great national drama 1t will only be
possible for me at this time to point out of the
lessons of his noble character
There was nothing classic or beautiful about the
personal appearance OF Mr. Lincoln He was tall and
lanky standing six feet fourth his stockings and lean
that someone after visit to the White Houseremarked
that he seemed Ikea skeleton in clothes When he
introduced to the artist CrukshankS he grimly said
They used to call me LOngshanks out in Illinois,
He inherited melancholy vein from his parents, which
stamped itself on his long, homey face This sad look
intensified by his unhappy domestic life, and the
tragic experience OF the When he made his first
appearance before Eastern audience at Cooper Union
the committee felt somewhat chagrined at his awkward
and ungany appearance He himself, confessed to his
law partner hatWhen he noticed the contrast between
himself anG the well dressed gentlemen the PLATFORM
he felt sorry that his clothes did not fit him better
And yet when i'll conversation his face lighted up and
you lost sight of his LONELINESS. This the
with the grateful mother, whose boy he had just par
uOuGC, WHO c&CldIIIcu, IL IS all q IdSenOOu! 1ney
told me he ugly looking why, he is the handsomest
man ever saw p
Abraham Lincoln was, intellectually, a man of the
highest order He did have the training of the
schools, but he had a mind that marked by great
native power and originality. He what would
call diamond in the rough He was leve-headed, and
his judgments and reliable He right
to the heart OF subject, and presented his thought in
clear cut language. How he could pilOry a
wrong III some burning phrase or crystalline truth in
some pregnant sentence The very best statements
have of the problems of those stirring times from
his lips He knew how to pack the truth in a nut shell
as when he referred to fudge Douglas doctrine of
Squatter Sovereignty the doctrine that if any one
man choose to enslave another, third shall be
allowed to object His speeches What master pieces
they are! How wonderfully they read! Whatever else
endures, they are destined to Immortality Nothing
finer said in this country than his Gettysburg
address. 1t was written on the the way from
Washington to the battlefield upon piece of paste
board held MS knee with persons talking all around
him And yet few hours afterwards Edward Everett
the chosen orator of the day, said how gladly would
L exchange my one hundred pages tor your twenty
ines!" The great humble soul, however, went to his
grave thinking that this address, which has been COM
pared to the Sermon the Mount, utter fail
ure. That speech OF mine, he said fell like wet
blanket on the audience ought to have prepared i.
with greater care"
How the noblest traits of character shine out in his
speeches How tenderly at his first inaugural, when
the nation hung its bloody chasm did he plead
with the South! He would exhaust every means to
prevent desperation of the sections of the country
q am 10th to close. We are not enemies but friends
We must not be enemies. Though passion may have
strained it must not break the bonds of affection
The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every
battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart ana
hearthstone all over this broad land will yet swell
the chOirs Of the Union when again touched surely
they will be- by the better angels of our nature"
But, such friendly words could not prevent the ire
pressble conflict, and after four years of bloody war
with vacant chair in almost every home, still there
bitterness or hatred in his heartfor the nations
foes. With divine spirit OF forgiveness, he re-echOes
the strain Of the first in his second inaugural il those
immortal Words With malice toward none, with
charity for ali let us do all we to achieve
lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations
But, after ALL the himself was greater than
anything he said He is, without doubt, the most
unique character in history. He had his faults
although time has put the Saints halo about his head
but take him all in ALL Of our American life will
stand closer inspection, How grateful he was 10 any
one who ever did him servce Through all his life he
never forgot the mother who had been much him
in his early life and shortly before his death he paid her
the tribute saying that all that he was or ever hoped
to be he owed to his other Poor Nancy Hanks
She not long spared to her boy for she died when
he only ten years old. But he was old enough to
recognize her sanity character and appreciate his
loss They lived far out in the wilderness of Ken
lucky in a log cabin with a mud floor and the heart
broken little fellow writes his 6rsletter the tn5rant
preacher hundred miles away, begging him come
and say aWOrd over hsmOther's grave. Three months
later, beautiful June morning, the settlers came
from far and near afOOt horse back gathered with
the little family under the shade of sycamore tree and
listened to the loving tribute paid by the good old
Methodist preacher to the mother whom Abraham
Lincoln called the guardian angel of his life