The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1907-03-02


the eagle. what! Think YOU these
places would satisfy IN Alexander,
Caesar or Napoleon? Never! Tower
ing geni1s disdains beaten path 1t
seeks regions hitherto uncxplored. 1t
sees no distinction IN adding story to
story upon the monuments of fame
erected to the memory cf other. It
denies that II is glory enough to serve
under any chief. II scorns {, tread In
the footsteps of any predecessor. how
ever illustrious. 1t thirsts and burns
for distinction, and IL possible It will
have 1t. whether at the expense OF
emancipating slaves or cnslaving free
men. Another reason which
once was. but which to the same ex-
tent Is now no more, has done much In
maintaining our institutions thus far
mean the powerful influence which
the interesting scenes OF the Rcvolu
ton had upon the passions OF the PEG
Pile as distinguished from their Iudg
ment" This influence the lecturer
maintains was kept alive by the pres
ence of the surviving soldiers Of the
Revolution. who were In some sort
Giving histories" and concludes with
this striking peroratlon
But those histories are gone. They
can be read no more forever They
were fortress of strength. But what
Invading foemen could never do the
silent artillery of time has donc-thc
ievellng of its walls. They are gone.
They were forest of giant oaks, but
the all resistless hurricane has swept
over them and left only here and there
a lonely trunk. despoiled of its verdure.
shorn of Its foliage MISLEADING and un-
shaded, to murmur In few more gen
tie breezes and to combat with Its mu
tllated limbs few more rude storms.
then to sink and be no more. They
were the pillars of the temple of lib
erty, and now that they have crumbled
away that temple must fall unless We,
the descendants, supply their places
with other pillars hewn from the same
solid quarry of sober reason. Passion
has helped us, but can do so no more.
1t will in future be our enemy. Rea-
son--cold, calculating, unimpassloned
reason-must furnish all the materials
for our future support and defense.
Let those materials be nodded into
general intelligence, sound morality
and In particular n reverence for the
constitution and the laws. and that We
improved to the last. that we revered
his name to the last. that during his
long sleep we permitted no hostile foot
%. oif> nj n
shall be that which to learn the last
trump shall awaken our Washington
Upon these let the proud fabric OF
freedom rest as the rock Of its basis
and, as truly has been said Of the only
greater institution, The gates Of hel
shall not prevail against it,
These extracts from a lecture care
fully composed by Mr.. Lincoln at the
mature age OF twcnty-eigbt and after
considerable experience in the public
service nrc worthy of attentive peru
sal. TO those familiar with his sobel
and pure style at later age these
sophomore passages will seem incred
iblc. But they were thought able an'
eloquent by the Young Mems lyceun
of Springfield. He was solicited t.
furnish copy for publication AM
they were duly printed In the sanea
mon Journal. In the mere matter o
rhetoric they compare favorably wit
some Of his other productions of nearl
the same date. This was what h
would hnve called his growing time,
and it IL intensely interesting to wit
ness the processes Of such mento
growth as his. In time gradually, bu
still rapidly-hls style changes con
pletely. The constrained and unnatt
raj attempts at striking aud lofty me-
aphor disappear, and the qualitie
which produced the Gettysburg nc
dress, that model of unadorned el'
quencc, begin to be felt. He finds tn
people understand him better when h
comes down from his stills and talk
to them from their own level.