New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1909-01-27
- HE little rocky farm thai


that we cannot. When we plant an
acorn we know an oak will grow,
and when we SOW corn or wheat we
can foretell what the crop will be-
But when man-child enters the
world we know naught of the harvest,
whether it Is to be Of shame or of
glory There are no signs to tell of
the coming of genius. The deity that
presldes at the birth of great souls
may miss all the homes of wealth and
culture to light at stable or cabin
in the wilderness. The wind bloweth
where it listeth, and none can tell
where the spirit will carry the germs
Of Gods purposes.
Lincoln was born on the very outer
rim of civilization, yet the spot is now
near the center Of population of the
United States. That shows how far
each century goes ahead to pitch its
tents; 1909 stopped with Kentucky,
and 1909 has moved on to Manila; 2OO9
may go around the world and come
back to Kentucky again. Who knows?
There is little to that Kentucky farm
except the fact that Lincoln was born
there. 1t is not much for crops or
scenery. There is rock spring on it
and a creek. The muse of history has
very little eye either for fertile soil or
landscape effects. Battles are usually
fought among most uninviting sur
roundings, and the immortals are liza
BILE to be born almost anywhere except
where we would expect them to be
born. If we were choosing a spot for
one Of the great ones to come into the
world we would seek all the modern
cOnveniences and a combination Of
seashore and mountain to furnish in
spiration. That merely proves that we
know how to raise crops and blooded
stock, but we do not know how to raise
great men. This is branch of garden
ing that God does not leave to bun
glers. Hothouse methods may be all
right for forcing plants, but they are
failure for forcing genius.
The preservation of this shrine to
the memory of Lincoln was made pos
sible by the generosity Of Robert J.
Collier Of Golfers Weekly. There
were several enterprising gentlemen
who desired possession of the farm for
advertising purposes, and had it not
been for Mr.. Collier one Of them prob
ably would have succeeded in his
shameless design. Among the bidders
was liquor firm that had already
prepared posters announcing Lincoln
Birthplace Whisky" The agents of
this firm imbibed too freely of their
own wares, which permitted Mr.. Col
lier's representative to steal march
on them and bid in the place before
they arrived on the scene, for it is
sad and humiliating fact that the farm
on which our greatest president was
born was allowed to be sold for taxes.
This, coupled with the further reflec-
ton that but for the interest and pa
triotism shown by one man this price
less shrine would have been used for
selfish and base purposes, should make
the American people feel quite proud
When it was too late there would
doubtless have been raised great cry
Of Indignation which would have in
creased in pitch as the centenary of
Mr.. Lincoln's birth approached. We
are saved from this humiliation by the
thoughtfulness Of one man-rather of
two, for Rev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones had
advocated buying the shrine before
Mr.. Collier took the matter up. Two
men out Of over 8O,000,000! It is so
God finds his agents, even though men
are blind.
The birthplace farm is not the only
Lincoln shrine saved from a degrad-
Ing use. The old log building at New
Salem in which Lincoln lived and had
his store, together with the ground on
which the historic village stood, was
purchased by Mr. William Randolph
Hearst and made present to the Old
Salem Chautauqua, the second largest
Chautauqua in America. A whisky
firm was also bidding for this to adj
vertise some of its wares It would
seem that the whisky men appreciate
The great liberator, whatever may be
said for the rest of us.
It is romantic fact that the only
building left of the New Salem in
which Mr.. Lincoln spent his young
manhood is that which he himself oc-
cupied- All the rest of the town has
disappeared like dream village, as
though with his departure it had per
formed its function and gone back to
the elements, leaving only his cabin
as a memento.