The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1909-02-12

before murder found him, and the
kindly, patient, fearless eyes
were closed forever.
America Fortunate.
las people We are indeed be-
yond measure fortunate in the
characters of the two greatest of
our public men, Washington and
Lincoln. Widely though they diff
fered in externals, the Virginia
landed gentleman and the Ken
lucky backwoodsman, they were
alike in essentials, they were
alike in the great qualities which
rendered each able to render
service to his nation and to all
mankind such as no other man of
his generation could or did rem
der.
Guided by Common Sense.
Each had lofty ideals, but each
| in striving to attain these lofty
ideals was guided by the soundest
common sense. Each possessed
Iinflexible courage in adversely,
and a soul wholly unspoiled by
prosperity.
saw IntO FuIufe.
Lincoln saw into the future
with the prophetic Imagination
usually vouchsafed only to the
poet and the seer. He had in him
Jail the lift toward greatness of
the visionary, without any of the
|visionary's fantacism or egotism,
without any of the visionary's
narrow jealousy of the practical
man and inability to strive in
practical fashion for the realiza-
ton of an ideal. He had the prac-
teal mans hard common sense
and willingness to adapt means to
ends; but there was in him none
of that morbid growth of mind
and soul which blinds so many
practical men to the higher things
of life.
Never Wavered.
"He never wavered in devotion
to his principles, in his love for
the Union, and in his adherence
of slavery. Timid and lukewarm
people were always denouncing
him because he was too extreme;
but as a matter of fact he never
went to extremes, he worked step
by step; and because of this the
extremists hated and denounced
him with a fervor which now
seems to us fantastic in its delft
cation of the unreal and the i'm
possible.
Most Wonderful Trait.
Perhaps the most wonderful
thing of all, and, from the stand
point of the America of today and
of the future, the most vitality i'm
portant, was the extraordinary
way in which Lincoln could fight
valiantly against what he deemed
wrong and yet preserve undimin-I
ished his love and respect for the
brother from whom he differed.
I'm the hour of a triumph that
would have turned any weaker
mans head, in the heat of a
struggle which spurred many a
good man to dreadful vindictive-
ness, he said truthfully that So
long as he had been in HIS office
he had never willing planted g.
thorn in any mans bosom.
Mightiest Of Mighty.
"As the years roll by. and as all
OF US, wherever we dwell, grow
to feel an equal pride in the valor
and self-devotion, alike OF the
men who wore the blue and the
men who wore the gray. so this
whole nation will grow to feel a.
peculiar sense Of pride in a man
whose blood was shed for his
union, HIS people and for the free
dom Of the race; the lover OF his
country and all mankind and the
mightiest OF mighty men who mas
tered the mighty days--Abraham
Wrieht's Tribute.
Secretary OF War Wright paid
an eloquent tribute to Lincoln's
understanding of the people of the
South ana his sincere desire for
peace and speedy reconciliation
after the Civil war.
He called attention TO the fact
that Abraham Lincoln and Jeffer-
SON Davis were born In the Same
state.