The Newtown bee., 1907-02-22

lGSelI TO learn how to spell, to read and
write and to master the "rulea Of
three" He never had a dollar before
he was Is or 20, and at that age his
clothes we're of such kind as to attract
attention and ridicule. Thus, in short,
he grew up in the woods, tall, awk-
wark, ill-fed, badly clothed, almost un
lettered, sadly in want of books and
surroundings of culture. His early
life is a picture of abject poverty, alb
ject misery; but out Of it there came
unexpectedly one of the brightest and
the best men that this country has ev-
er produced, one who will live forever
in the affection of Americans.
The reasons for his future greatness
began to manifest themselves early in
Lincoln. 1t is we'll known that he
walked ten or fifteen miles to borrow q
book, that he often sat by the open
fire to write and to figure on chips,
that he early made speeches to the la
borers in the field that he was soon
popular in the whole county as a de-
batter, and that he often frequented
country store to hold a widening circle
of admirers speIlbound with his stories
and his discussions of politics. He had
a thirst for knowledge and lost no
chance of absorbing all that came in
his way. He attended trials and pub
lie meetings, sought out the stray
newspapers that came into the county,
and gradually became interested and
posted in politics, which were especial
ly attractive to him.
At IL he went to New Orleans on
fiat boat; at "a he was elected captain
of company of soldiers in the Black
Hawk war, and after the war, though
bloodless to Lincoln's troops, he
thought himself popular enough to
run as candidate for representative
to his state, but being defeated he be-
came clerk in country store, and lat
er, through the kindness of an ad-
mirer, deputy surveyor, and it was
this last experience that brought him
tact increased his popularity to such
an extent that the next time he ran
for office he was elected, and from that
time on his rise was gradual. He rep
resented his district at the state CAPT.
tol several times and then was sent to
Congress and at last, though he repre-
sented the most radical anti-slavery
position for the day, he was unexpect-
eddy
NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT AND UN-
EXPECTEDLY ELECTED.
We must take into account that be-
fore Lincoln became president the
country was in commissions over the
nf oil hot
or thirty years there had been attempts
at compromise, and that the South,
growing in wealth and influence, was
straining every nerve to win foreign
sympathy and to create coDditions
here that would assure her the bulk Of
power, If not an entire independence
from the North. The North was d.
vided. Men of the same party became
eStranged; they fought in the streets,
and in cases Of the radicals, like Gar
rison, they were prosecuted and killed
At last states like Missouri or Kansas
were involved In bloodshed, property
was burned and life was taken. The
Southern men in the Senate and in the
Cabinet were sending cannon, arms
and ammunition, and even ships, to
Southern ports, and these things were
being done in almost open fashion; the
states that favored slavery were talk
ing of seeding, indeed the nation
seemed on the verge of disruption
This was the state Of things when Lin
coin was elected president; these were
the conditions before he was president
confusion and disaster threatening.
But the man of the hour had ar
rived! He was destined to give slavery
a blow from which it never recovered;
he was to fulfill his promise given as q
young man as he stood on the levees at