The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1908-05-23
Lincoln's SeIf-control.

Lincoln's seIf-controi.
The keynote of the Presidents
young life had been persevering in
dustry. That OF his mature years was
self-control and generous forgiveness
And surely his remark on the night
of his second election for President,
that he did not think resentment
paid" and that no man had time to
spend half his life in quarrels, was
well borne out by the fruit of his &C.
tions. 1t was this spirit alone which
made possible much that he was able
to accomplish. His rule of conduct
toward all men is summed up in
letter of reprimand that it became
his duty, while he was President, to
send to one young officer accused OF
quarreling with another. 1t deserves
to be written in letters of gold on
the walls of every school and college
throughout the land:
THE advice of a father to his son,
beware of entrance to quarrel, but,
being in, bear it that the opposed
may beware Of thee is good, but not
the best Quarrel not at all. No
man resolved to make the most OF
himself can spare time for personal
contention. Still less can he afford
to take all the consequences. includ-
ing the vitiating Of his temper and
the loss of self-control. Yield larg-
er things to which you can show no
more than equal right, and yield less
err ones though clearly your own.
Better give your path to dog than
be bitten by him In contesting for
the right. Even killing the dog would
not cure the bite"
It was this willingness Of his to
give up the ''lesser things" and even
the things to which he could claim
an equal right, which kept peace in
the cabinet, made up of men of strong
wills and conflicting natures. Their
devotion to the Union, great as it
was, would not have sufiiced in such
a strangely assorted Official family;
but his unfailing kindness and good
sense led him to overlook many
things that another man might have
regarded as deliberate insults, while
his great tact and knowledge of HUI
man nature enabled him to bring out
the best in people about him, and at
times to turn their very weaknesses
into sources of strength. 1t made 1t
possible for him to keep the regard
CT every one of them. Before he had
been in office a month it had trans
formed Secretary Seward from his
rival into his lasting friend. 1t made
a warm friend out of the blunt, posi-
tive, hot tempered Edwin M. Stanton.
who became Secretary Of War in
place Of Mr.. Cameron. He was a
man of strong will and great endur-
ance, and gave his department rec
ord for hard and effective work that
It would be dihicult to equal. Many
stories are told of the disrespect he
showed the President and the cross
purposes at which they labored. The
truth is that they understood each
other perfectly on all important mat
tiers and worked together through
three busy, trying years with ever in
creasing affection and regard. The
Presidents kindly humor forgave his
secretary many blunt speeches. "Stan.
ton says l am a fool?" he is reported
to have asked busybody who came
feet footed to tell him Of the secre.
tary's hasty comment on an order Of
little moment stanton says / am
q fool! WelP-with q whimsical
glance ut his informant-"then / sup
pose must be. Stanton is near
" always right" Knowing that Stan.
ton was nearly always right" II
made little difference to his chief
what he might say in the heat OF
momentary annoyance.-St. Nicholas