Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1904-06-02

1ull OF commlngled glory and sorrow.
/ am sometimes sorry that / was
born too late to see the armies of
the union 60 over the bridge at
Antietam, sweep the mountain tops
at Mission Ridge, hold the left with
old Pap Thomas at Chickamauga;
sorry that l could not see the
crowded, yelling rebel ranks fall
back from the crest of Little Round
Top; sorry that l could not see the
reckless, daring charge across the
valley through the deadly fire, up
the slope and over the fence that
marked the line of Hancock and
Gibbon-the high water mark Of
the c~onfederacy. Yet | am glad
that | did not see the rout at Chan
cellorsville, the desperate and hope
less charge on the heights of Fred
ericksburg and the works at Cold
Harbor; glad that | never saw the
dead and dying among the rocks,
along the runs or in the burrows of
the fields; glad that | never saw the
wounded limping to the rear or
heard them moan and cry for
water as they lay in the dust; glad
that | never saw the old father and
mother sit by the evening hearth
stone and wonder if the dews were
falling upon the dead face of their
boy.
No n may speak of these days
of darkness without speaking Of
Abraham Lincoln, the prince of the
mighty leaders, the last great sac
rifce upon the altar of patriotic
devotion. Does the world call him
great? He was born great; he
achieved greatness through ambitious
energy, though the thoughtless
called him lazy; he had greatness
thrust upon him when the nation
needed and sought a second Wash
ington. The parallel between them
is marvellous. Both had to meet
and solve new problems of govern
ment. Both had to comfort and
encourage the people as they led
them, like Moses, through a wilder
ness of difficulty to safer places of
rest. Both are marked with the
same qualities of mind and soul
inlexible justice, wonderful patience,
calmness and practical powers of
reason, modest piety and the divine
quality of forgivness to all who did
them wrong. In his youth Lincoln
had but two books to read, a copy
of the scriptures and a life of Wash
ington. From these pure fountains
he drank his earliest inspirations.
As a statesman Abraham Lincoln
stands alone with our first great
president. AS a military tactician
he suggested the advance along the
Cumberland and Tennessee, which
gave the union armies their first
fruitful victories. AS an orator
he was mighty. He used simple
speech. He dissected the human
heart with unerring skill. He drew
his illustrations from the common
life of men and from nature. He
had an honesty and a quality of wit
that were all his own. He had a
directness like that of Patrick
Henry, a magnetism like that of
Clay or Blaine, a dignity like that
of Webster, a power of logic like
that of Calhoun.
Permeating the soul of this
splendid son of the frontier was a
marvellous tenderness toward the
poor, the sorrowful and the troubled.
The tear of sympathy stood always
ready in his eye.
There came n day to the White
House, at the very hour of the
nations deadliest peril, a gray haired
woman in faded dress and old
fashioned bonnet. Her face and
hands we're wrinkled and scanned
with toll. Failing to get beyond
the ante room she returned upon
the succeeding day and upon the
next. A tender hearted congress
man waiting to met an appointment