Arizona republican., 1909-02-23

| of his fathers and to tear the charter
 of his own and his children's liberty
 But Abraham Lincoln's justice was
 not of the hard, severe type. It
 rather developed him immensely in
 tenderness and gentleness of soul. It
 gave added graciousness to his whole
 nature, which had most genial expres-
 sion in all his public and private life.
 This brings me to consider that he | had: {:
 "3. The tenderest gentleness. AS he
 rode through the forest in springtime, | he was known to dismount, again and again and again, to lift fledgling birds | fallen to the ground back to their
 nests. In this connection, you doubt | less recall Lincoln's letter to General
 Hooker. The latter had proclaimed the urgent need of dictator at the White | House and head of the army. He had
 been most offensive and abusive of the
 president. Lincoln knew it. But de | spite it all, he placed him at the head
 of the army, writing him one of the
 tenderest epistles. With eyes full of
 tears, Hooker said to a friend: He
 writes me like father Some one has
 said: He had heart as big as his
 arms were long
 Like Garibaldi, the hero of united
 Italy, he could not bear the sight or sound of needless suffering. Bigger and stronger than any of his compeers, | he was the gentlest of them all, and so
 a gentleman.
 Another of these high qualities that made MT. Lincoln one of the greatest
 of gentlemen was:
 A. A sublime serenity of soul. At this point most apropos are his deal ings with Mcclellan. The general had again and again most scathingly criti-
 cised and shamefully insulted the | president One evening, Lincoln and l Seward called on important business. Were told the general was out. After they had waited nearly an hour, Nc | Clellan returned, but quietly slipped upstairs, despite he was told who were
 waiting to see him. Lincoln sent up | his card, but the messenger came back with the report that the general had | gone to bed Lincoln swallowed the | insult Another time, much the same,
 when Lincoln said: Never mind; I will hold McClellan's horse, if he'll | give us victories Speaking of the l slave power, he said: Broken by 1t, l, too, may be; bow to it I never will. Here before high heaven and the whole world, I swear eternal fidelity to | the just cause, as I deem it. of the land of my life, my liberty and my love- But even such an analysis of MT. Lincoln's qualities of character does
 not go to the fountainhead of his gen | tlemanliness. That is to be found in his communion with his Bible and his | God.
 T. From early life he was a regu- | lar reader of Gods Word. and while | president a daily reader of it. It was at his mothers knees he listened with | fascination to the Bible stories and | learned to read the Book himself. | When she lay on her deathbed she asked him to pledge her he would daily
 read Gods Book and pray. And so his | soul became saturated with Bible truths His messages and speeches are
 full of Scripture passages and their | spirit dictated his life among men and as president.
 | "On one occasion he said: The fu- | ture would be something awful, as l look at it, but for this rock on which
 I stand meaning the New Testament he held out in his hand.
 70 He was a man of prayer. Again and again he speaks of his own moth | CTS prayers and how they chung to
 him all his life He fulfilled the prom | ise he made his mother on her dying | bed. Here is most touching episode: | A Philadelphia Quakeress of large purse and heart to correspond, patri- otically offered her all for the suffer | ing boys in blue She ordered luXuries from her own home and with her own hands wisely made distribution of them On one occasion, when at the
 hospitals near the front, the boys be-
 sought her to carry messages to the president for them With tenderest
 pathos, she told Mir. Lincoln how the
 wounded said they would pray for vic
 tory and for him with their dying
 breath. Having delivered all their
 messages with folded hands and fer vent voice, she said: Abraham Lin | coin, have something more to say to | thee. I cannot till I have prayed with
 thee.
 She kneeled and Mir. Lincoln kneel | ed, and she said: The Spirit did give
 me utterance as I poured out my soul | to God for Abraham Lincoln As they
 arose tears were rolling down the presidents cheeks while he took her
 hands in his, saying: God bless you
 forever for the strength, the courage,
 and the faith you have put into my
 heart this hour
 You all know how he prayed all
 night long for victory at Gettysburg
 and Vicksburg. and how he felt God
 had answered in assurance of victory,
 as he afterwards told General Sickles,
 when he said:
 "I should be the most presumptious
 blockhead upon this foOtstOol if I for
 one day thought I could discharge the
 duties that have come upon me with out the aid and enlightenment of the
 One who is stronger and wiser than | all others
 q wish to throw in here Mir. Lin
 coln's belief in God, for it has often
 been denied.
 g. He not only believed in God, but
 in Christ as God. Said he: I know
 there is a God and that He hates in
 justice and slavery. I see the storm
 coming, and I know His hand is in it.
 If He has place and work for me to | th;oIy IIa ho haIiax-n