The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1909-02-17
b, We cam win out and touch the roaI.

~ VIC C1n VIII OuSsauu tOuCn Tue koh.
Just one thought, now, in connection
with his political life. II was openly
said, when he declared, "a house divid-
ed against itself cannot stand believe
this government cannot endure perma-
nently half slave and half free / do
not expect the Union to be dissolved /;
1 do not expect the house to fall but
do expect it will cease to be divided" it
was openly said that he threw away ell
chance of being elected United States
Senator from Illinois, simply because he
stood for great principles, and in the
end, though temporarily defeated, saw
those principles triumph.
1t must not be supposed for one mo-
ment that Mr.. Lincoln was as uncouth,
as lacking in all refinement as some
seem to think. That is our inheritance
from the cartoonists of his time, and the
men who hated him. Indeed we must
remember that there were rivals for the
Presidency in his own Cabinet, who had
little patience with him; independent
men; that there were great newspapers
opposed to his policies, 80 that Mr.. Lin
coin at one time said in his droll way
81 seem to have very little influence
with this administration. He was a
gentleman who observed the proprieties,
free lance though he was, and no slave
to the rules of polite society. Yet Ed
ward Everett, the polished gentleman,
statesman and orator, to whom Harvard
pointed with pride, said: 81 recognize
in the President full measure of the
qualities which entitle him to the per-
sonal respect of the people. On the only
social occasion on which ever had the
honor to tie in his company, at Gettys-
burg, h. sat at the table of my friend
David Willis, by the side of several dis
tinguished persons, foreigners and Ameri-
cans, and in gentlemanly appearance,
manners and conversation, he was the
peer of any man at the table,"
Awkward he was. He had little time
for the superficial, but was always the
gentleman, because his great heart beat
true to the highest ideals. He had the
gentleness of woman, the heart of a
child, and, during the civil war, the
burrows deepened on the care-wo face.
Twas heavy burden he bore, a burden
lightened for a moment as the flashes OF
wit and humor lighted up that heavenly,
beautiful face, beautiful because of the
wondrous eyes through which the great
soul shone.
1 never think of Lincoln, Lincoln the
big hearted, warm hearted, tender heart.
ed Lincoln stopping when on press
ing errand, with the cares of State OF
his mind, to replace bird that had faller
from its nest; finding rest by looking
into the eyes of the children who loved
him SO; putting his great heart unde
the burdened heart of some lonely sol
dier boys mother, as he wrote his sym
pathy in tears of blood, but that tn,
whole history of that awful Civil Wa
passes before me. Hastily we traml
over hundreds of battlefields. Now W,
are at Gettysburg here is Cemetery Hill
there is Missionary Ridge yonder Culp'
Hill; now we stand on big RounC
Top now across the wheat field, through
the Peach Orchard we go into the Devil
Den I; then make our stand at the Blood,
Angle and together hold back the force
of Pickett, as, flushed with anticipated
victory, they make that splendid charge
now we listen to the groans of the dy
ing and look in the pale faces of tht
dead; now we listen to the agonizec
prayers of mothers in their far off noun
tain homes now we are with Sherman
in his march to the sea now with Sheri
den as he changes rout to victory ; nov
with Hayes, as he makes his famous
charge across the swamp at Wincheste
and saves the day now with Garfield
at Chattanooga as the stripes of a Majo