The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-02-19
From Fridays Daily.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.


Down thro' the echoing aisles Of the
years
Rings life song that is new to our
ears
Vaguely we catch as it's movement we
Gods rhythm of purpose in Lincoln the
man.
Utter his name with reverent breath,
Lot it makes vocal the silence of death
High it is writ in the annals of time
Glory of manhood has made it sublime!
Shneth the splendor across the grey
night.
Slow. steady star climbing up the still
height.
Symbol of courage. of patience and love
AS wise as the serpent" as mild as
the dove.
Here in his name we forgive and forget;
Mercy and truth here together have met.
Justice and peace now each other have
kissed,
joyful we gather the good we have mis-
Sed.
CHORUS.
With malice toward none Ibis brave
work is done
His charity still embraces us all;
with strength to do right "As God
mistaken we stand. tho kingdoms may
fall.
Gods noblest work An honest
man Truly has this been said of
Lincoln. A man, sent, it would seem,
as the prophets of old, TO do work
and SO save the nation from the curse
of slavery. His was a life of sim
plicity, uprightness and profound wis
dom, and to only such lives could the
safety of nation be entrusted. His
great task he worked out increasingly,
despite all kinds of petty worries, but
always uncomplainingly
Lincom's responsibility throughout
the war was one hat few men could
carry, yet he travelled on with it, al
ways able to give cheer to some one
less fortunate than himself, and there
were few who ever knew with just
how much he had to contend, or how
often he was called upon to sacrifice
his own opinions to those of others.
He had acquired the art of taking
defeat graciously and when surrender
was inevitable, he bore it unfiinchingly,
His unassuming simplicity also won
him many friends besides much adj
miration, and it was in commemora-
ton of his centennial birthday, and in
memory of his faithful service to our
country, that the exercises were held
in the opera house today.
Exercises at Opera House.
Every seat was filled long before the
appointed hour The Grand Army of
the Republic, the Womans Relief corps
and the board of education were the
invited guests and for them and also
for all Lincoln voters seats had been
reserved.
The stars and stripes floated from
the balconies and festooned the boxes,
so that patriotism was literally in the
air, as well as in the hearts of the
people assembled,
Sang Marching Through Georgia.
The good old national air, March
ing Through Georgia. in which all
joined in singing, was the opening
HuInDtl VI JHS pioSloh oHu ~ "oo
truly soul stirring to know that voices
of the youngest pupil of the public
schools to the oldest veteran of the
Grand Army of the Republic, were
blended as one, in the singing of a
national air.
The address of welcome, written and
delivered by Herman Eliot Hayward,
Mankato high school, 1910, was the
second number OH the program and
was as follows:
One hundred years ago. in a rude
log cabin, among the wilds of Kentucky.
a child was born. destined to become the
teal stage of its existence. "A man.
beloved of nation, kind, gentle. humor-
Gus, capable of the noblest of Senti-
ments and passions; and finally giving
his life, that our nation might remain
one glorious, indestructibe whole.
We think of Washington with pride,
OF Jefferson and Madison with rever-
ence, and we admire Jackson and Grant
for their strength; but the memory of
Lincoln, even now, fOrty-four years after
his tragic death. stirs the tenderest
love of the nation, thrills it with a
sense of intimate relationship to his
greatness, and awakenS a personal affec
ton in the average Americans breast
not a mere political enthusiasm but
heartfelt sentiment that has no paral
lei in human history.
Lincoln, in his twenties, was a big
lank, dreamy fellow, fond of sitting by
the stove in the country store and
cracking jokes with whomever had time
to listen.
We can imagine him stretched out in