Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-02-14
Bangor Sons Of Veterans
Observe Lincoln Day.
Address Of the Public Meet
ing by Capt. J. A. McCone
OF WaterviIIe, the WeII.known
Newspaper Correspondent.

Wednesday evening by camps OF the
Sons of Veterans all over the country,
but it is doubtful if there was any
camp that observed the day with more
appropriate exercises or in more en-
thusiastic way than Daniel Chaplin
Camp of this city.
The exercises were held in G. A. L.
hall on Columbia street and We're at
tended by q good sized audience. The
feature of the evening was the address
by Capt. John II. McCone, the blind
newspaperman of WaterVil)c. His
words dealt largely with Lincoln, and
he paid a touching and tender tribute
to the memory of the great man.
Capt. McCOne was at one time cap
tain of the Gen. Isaac Dyer Camp, s.
of v, of SkowheSan, and there are few
men in the State who are better versed
in military affairs than he. He holds
IL medals for excellence in drill.
Capt. McCone said in part:
I approach the bier of the sacred
memory of our martyred President
Americas greatest departed nObleman
with no little misgiving and fear.
can adequately or truly paint the pic
ture of that great life. The historian
has said of him:
He was judge, arbitrator. referee
umpire: authority in all disputes,
games and matches between man flesh
and horse flesh; pacificator in MI quar-
rels, everybody's friend, the best ma
tured, the most sensible, the best in
formed, the most modest and una ssum-
irg; the kindest gentlest, toughest,
strongest, best young man in all New
Salem and the region round about"
Humble child of the backwoods,
boatman, aXeman, hired laborer, clerk,
surveyor, captain, legislator. lawyer,
debater, orator, politician. statesman,
President; savior of a republic. eman-
cipator of n race, a true Christian and
a true man. He has given America
a statesman without a statesman's
craftiness, politician without poll
ticlan's meannesseS q great man With
out a great mans vices, a Christian
without pretension. ruler without the
pride of power and place, an ambitious
man without sellishness and success
full man without vanity.
in tie beauty of the lilies Christ was
born across the sea
With q glory in His bosom that transfig-
ured Won and ne:
AS He died to make men hold. let US die
to make men free.
For God is marching on.
Biblical and political histories have
brought the story Of that One who
orened first his eyes amid the humblest
surroundings. down to the present
day and the present moment. We have
noted the march of mind through the
years when Christ was on earth and
among men. We have noted the vicis-
STUDIES, the hardships, the scornings
and .he abuses which frequently fell
in His path We have noted the
strength of character, the undouR1inS
faith i'll His Father. the devotion 70
Tie welfare of the family of man
which the King Of Kings possessed. Ii
that great man had not struck down
The camps of the enemies of God; II
he had not created n great change
which others despised; if He had not
brought to light new 1aith when
divided the world, the great tragedy
of Calvary would never have occurred.
But He died upon the cross with great
suffering. This historic incident is not
ed as the most prominent public DEM
onStratiOn of man against man. 1t was
assassination in public.
Rulers have fallen under the axe
knife and pistol since that day. In the
passing years many such asSaSSina-
tons have been forgotten by most peo-
pie. Nations change as they grow lar
ger Men change as they multiply.
l. a.. l.
crimes of the swift going centuries
yet We have never forgotten and we
never viii forget the great crime of
Calvary.
Down through 1900 years Of time
during which great men have risen in
the councils of many nations; states
myn and soldiers have fought the big
battles Of home and country; have
died III tie support of the existence OF
these, and we come to another inter-
cSting period. BY the flow of thu inland
river. where great mountains rear
their lofty creSts in the azure blue
in the shade Of the giant pines. with
but ii SCant stretch Of the canopy Of
heaven in sight, opened first the eyes
of one who will live as long in the
pages Of our national history as that
otner One will endure in Biblical liter
allure. Even more than this. AS long as
children Of other nations study the
history of nations. the name of the
mdrtrreG Chief of this great republic
will travel down the tide of time as
second in Importance to Christ in the
annals of religious and political free
dom.
Patrick Henry struck the keynote to
the grand anthem OF civil liberty; our
colonial fathers laid the cornerstone of
this great republic; George Washington
set the foundation of this much sought
Ark of Safety. but Abraham Lincoln
completed the superstructure and set the
whole world agog by the splendor of his
achievement Livingston ripped open the
dark bosom of Ethiopia and riddled it
with light. Lincoln sent the searching
sunshine of freedom through the cotton,
corn and cabins of our misguided South
and a new Christian era was opened in
America. When bristling bayonets clash
ed. when shriekiIg shells rent the ranks
of friend and foe, when mighty masters
of military strategy struggled for So