Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-02-13

Gaze on his face! Learn ere it be too late
To toll, as he did toll, into the night.
And We who from your hearts do love the
Whether in war or in the arts of peace
Ye strive to make your country truly
great,
Know we'll all loyal efforts must not
cease.
For this Republic only standeth fast
In men and in her freedom richly won.
And grid you for the work still to be
done.
The closing speaker was President
George f. Fellows of the University Of
Maine.
Address Of President Fellows.
The subject of the address by Presi-
dent George z. Fellows of the Univer-
sity of Maine, was abraham Lincoln,
the Representative American" Presi-
dent Fellows said in part:
Nations far removed in distance or
in time come before us, without our
conscious thought, as embodied in in
dividuals. These individuals, whose
characters and careers we know, rise
up before US with the mention of the
nations name. Say Carthage, and
Hannibal appears; Rome, and it is
Caesar marching to victory with his
lcgions or in the forum falling under
the dagger of his friend. Babylon,
with hanging gardens and gates of
brass, and pomp of oriental splendor,
Immediately suggests BalshazZar at
his feast on the night OF his downfall.
Think of Egypt, pyramids and sphinx
the slowly moving Nile, under a blaz-
ing tropical sun, and there is more
than an even chance that instead of
Pharachs, Jewish captives, famine or
abundance, there will appear before
you Plutarch's pen picture of Cleopatra
in lazy luxury floating in her gilded
barge Nearer to us by many
centuries, Medieval Europe is Charlie
magne; sixteenth century Germany
is Luther of Charles "; Spain sug-
gests Philip II; recent century of
France, filled with despotisms, revolu-
ton, foreign war and glory, seems con-
centrated in Napoleon.
Is there one American whom this
and all coming ages will unite upon as
best representing the character and
activities, the Unborn nature and the
ideals of this Republic? Our history
as a nation is so brief in years when
compared with other nations on the
same plane of civilization, that it
might at first thought seem unlikely
that the embodied genius of the Re-
public had yet appeared. Yet within
one century questions have been de-
cded for eternity which had racked
the souls Of men since time began, and
in their solution the life and work of
one man lifted him to an eminence
unapproached by others. That man
was Abraham Lincoln
1t is no disparagement of Washing
ton if We do not find the American
ideal in this grandson of English
gentlemen. His grand and unselfish
soul led him to serve a new born ma
ton so that all the world will forever
call him the Father of his Country.
No thoughtful mind has ever for a
moment placed any name but that OF
Washington by the side of Lincoln
Nothing should ever be thought or said
to minimize in any way the public
services or personal greatness OF
Washington. Yet great as was the
task before him, we can see now that
it scarcely balanced the later problem
of holding together nation of thirty
millions split in two by the bitterest
controversy in political history.
No higher tributes or careful esti-
mates of his life and character can be
found than some from those who
differed from him politically or fought
four years in the Confederate army.
To mention three only. one political
antagonist one in arms, and south
ern woman twenty years after the war.
Henry Watterson, journalist. orator,
Confederate soldier, says: serenity,
however not levity, was the prevail
ing mood with him. TO me he seemed
a wholly resolute man." "His express
sion was serious to the point of
gravity, not a scintillation of humor"
He became the incarnation of the
brain and soul of the Union"
Stephen A. Douglas, his most
powerful opponent, said: He is the
greatest debater l ever met either here
or anywhere else
A warm friend Of mine, daughter of
a southern general niece of jefferson
Davis. who was impoverished by the
war, who lost a great estate and slaves
worth half a million dollars. and who
was at the time teaching school in
New Orleans for a pitiful salary. told