The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-02-09
FOR OGDEN BOYS.

We hope our boys will read the
story OF Lincoln's life during this
period OF celebration. We want them
to read q truthful story OF Lincoln as
he was, without myth or fable or ira
dition picturing him as other than no
was. Lincoln was not born genius.
he was not born superhuman. but he
was possessed of an earnest desire
to be somebody some day, and therein
Is the secret Of his lifes work.
Read this brief sketch OF Lincoln's
birth and earlier surroundings and
then you, the boys of Ogden, ask
yourselves If you cannot be great
some day;
Lincoln was neither a heaven-born
genius nor the miraculous product OF
chance. His lot was not cast among
tho favored few, but among men or
common mold, and his life was lived,
in no small measure, for the benefit
and encouragement OF his fellow
countrymen of average ability and or
dinary calibre. There is nothing OBJ
scure about his development. All his
achievements can be readily under
stood They were the direct results
of a mental and moral discipline and
training TO which any manly minded
man may subject himself-not with
the same political results. 1t is true
but with lasting benefit to himself
and corresponding advantage to the
community of which he may be a
member. The results In Lincoln's case
are for history and the historian; the
processes by which he arrived at
those results are for the individual
for the by-and-large of American citi-
zens.
Few Americans OF this day and gen
Grafton begin life with the forlorn out
look which greeted Lincoln at his
birth. 1t Is well-nigh impossible to eX-
aggerate the adverse conditions which
surrounded him. The cabin where he
first saw the light was not much more
than woodman's shack, with floor
ing of hard earth, devoid OF most OF
the comforts and many of the de-
cencles Of life. The lano about it was
practically an unreclaimed wilderness ;
the whole countryside was lonely to
the point of desolation; each day was
a dreary struggle for food. From
almost every aspect poverty was his
portion. 1t was not degrading pov.
erty because it was not dependent,
but it was the sort that weakens self
respect and affords no prospect OF es-
cape
But material poverty was not his
most discourasing inheritance His
mother undoubtedly did her best to
klndle spark of ambition In her son.
but she was an uneducated, delicate,
and even sickly house drudge. who
died while he was still child. leav-
ing him prone to the suspicion that
he had an inherited tendency to con-
sumption. His father was an illiterate,
shiftless farmer and carpenter, with.
out skill or training at either calling,
who regarded education as a waste
Of time and would not permit the boy
to attend school except at rare in.
tervals. Indeed, the only effort he
made TO instruct his son was a half
hearted attempt to teach him oar-
pentry, which was soon abandoned
when he found that he could hire him
out to othor farmers In need OF an ex-
ira hand.
Uninspiring as his home influence
was. that Of the nefghborhood was
even more so. There was practically
nothing In his surroundings in Ken
lucky. or at Gentryville, Ind, where
he lived after his mothers death, to
touch the imagination OF a growing
boy or quicken his ambition The
country was sparsely settled and the
life was not really living-it was an
animal-like existence. Surely nc
American ever had better reason to
complain Of his chance in life. II
was not fair chance. 1t was prac
tically no chance at all. But Lincoln
was searching for opportunities, no,
excuses, and he found what he was
seeking.