The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1909-02-12

practical fashion for the realization
oi an ideal He had me pracsiea
mans hard common sense and VIM
ingness 70 adapt means . endss 6u
There was ii him none Of that NOR
bid growth 81 mind aud soal whiei
blinds 50 many practical men 10 tx
higher things Of lie. 10 MOE pf.c
teal man ever Lived than ais aoine
y baekWcods ideaiis but hs hat
nothing IN common With those prse
Teal men whose eonsclence afs
warped until they tan yto distingaisl
between good and egil. fan IS iii,
derstand that strength ability
shreWdness whether ii the world 81
basiness or ef politics onIy serve 4
make their possessor rnofe noxioas
q more ey1 member d the conarn.t,
nifty Y they are not ghidsd and con,
tgolled by a high moral sense
We of this day must TRY a
Eselse many social ana Industrial
problems. requiring 10 an especial
degree the combination Of indomis-
able resolution with cooi.headed
sanity We can profit BY the way ia
which Lincoln used both these traits
as he stroye for reform. We can
learn much of value from the yefy
attacks which following that course
brought upon his head attacks alike
by the extremists Of revolution and
by the extremists Of reaction. He
never wayered in devotion TO his
and IN his adherence of slavery.
,Timid and lukewarnr people were
always denounclng him because he
wa stoo extreme. but as matter Of
fact he never went to extremes. he
worked step by step; and because
of this the extremists hated him and
denounced him with a .feryor which
now seems to US fantastic In Its
dedication Of the unreal and. the inn
possible. At the very time when
one side. was holding him up as the
apostle Of social revolution because
he was against slavery. the leading
abolitionists denounced him as the
Slave hound OF Illinois" When he
was the. second time candidate for
President, the majority of his OPP
ponents attacked him because Of
what they termed his extreme rad
icalism, while a minority threatened
to bolt his nomination because he
was not radical enough. He had
continually to check those, who
wished to go forward too fast, at
the very time that he overrode tie
opposition OF those who wished not
to go forward at all. The goal was
never dim before his vision; but he
picked his way cautiously, without
either halt or hurry, as he strobe
toward it, though such a morass OF
difficulty that no man Of less corr
age would have attempted It, while
1t would surely have overwhelmed
any man of judgment less serene.
Z yet perhaps the most wonderful
thing Of all, and, from the stand
point of the American Of today and
OF the future. the most vitality I'M.
portant, was the extraordinary way
In which Lincoln could fight valiant
ly against what he deemed wrong
and yet preserve undiminisheyi his
love and respect for the brother
from whom he differed. In the hour
of triumph that would have turned
any weaker mans head, In the heat
of struggle which spurred many
a good man to dreadful vihdictive-
ness, he said, truthfully that so long
as he had been in his office he had
never willingly planted a thorn in
any mans bosom. and besought his
supporters to study the incidents Of
the trial through which they we're
passing as philosophy from which to
learn wisdom ana not as wrongs to
be avenged; ending with the solemn
exhortation that, as the strife was
over, ali should reuhite in a com
mon effort to save their common
country.
HE lived in the days that were
great and terrible, when brother
fought against brother for what
each sincerely deemed to be the
right. IN a contest so grim the
strongest men who alone can carry
Il through are rarely able to do jus
tiee to the deep convictions of those
with whom they grappie in mortal
strife. At such times men see
through a glass darkly; to only the
ratest and loftiest spirits IS vouch-
safed that clear vision which grad
ually comes to all, even to the less
er, as the struggle fades into dis.
lance, and wounds are forgotten
/. .Iz q