Omaha daily bee., 1909-02-12
40 LrssoN oF LINcnLN.

Only a few years ago a photography
Of works referring to Abraham Lin
coin contained more than 1909 titles
and this number has doubtless been
doubled within the past year, owing
to the interest aroused in this the CEN
tenary Of his birth. We have had
books and special articles about Lin
coin, the u~nschooled boy of the rude
frontier, Lincoln the rsilsplitter, Lin
coin as a fatboatman. as a store
keeper. as a surveyor. as a lawyer, as
a lover, legislator, debater. construc-
tive statesman, president and a mar
tyr. We have had literature covering
practically every phase of his career
and yet the great lesson of Lincoln's
life is as live and potent and influencing
today as when he was indelibly stamp
ing the impress of his superior charac-
ter on world history. Lincoln is a liv-
ing force today, not only in his own
country, but throughout all christen-
dom, appreciated the more as nations
move toward freedom and free institu-
tions.
No man in history has been more
misunderstood and enormously esti-
mated than Lincoln. He has been
hailed a genius, when earnestness and
a capacity for taking infinite pains
would better describe him. He has
been proclaimed an orator, when in
the common acceptance of the term
he was eloquent only because his lips
uttered what his heart felt. A man
without a creed, he yet comprehended
in the profundity of his faith the
truest things of life, the broadcast arti-
cles of a living belief. He gave mag
niicent recognition to the claims of
the lowliest to the rights God meant
all men to enjoy. He was not a SOL
der and yet, charged with the conduct
Of one of the greatest wars in history,
he felt keenly every battle between
the sections, lamented the losses on
both sides and entered upon his duties
with the zeal of a prophet who sees
that peace is wrought through strife.
Lincoln was not a political boss and
yet controlled politicians, not by force
or trickery, but by persuasion, by pa
tiently and good-temperedly convincing
those differing with him that while
their view might have the elements of
plausibility and even justice, his view
was, on the whole, sounder and must
be adopted because the responsibility
was his. While he Travelled the long
road from the log cabin to the highest
Office in the gift of any people, even
Lincoln's enemies did not accuse him
of being ambitious to gain power. His
supreme purpose Ill life was to grasp
the truth and then strive to reach the
convictions of men. The prominence
and high station that this effort
brought him was an incident, not the
object OF his public service.
After all, the lesson of Lincoln is
that he exhibited traits which all ad-
mire and which all would like to pos
sess. He had honesty, industry, in
tegrity of purpose, courage OF convic-
tions. patience, gentleness, charity and
love for justice and his fellow men.
None of these are impossible at
tributes of man today and the men in
public life now and in the future who
most nearly follow his example in
dealing with the weighty. duties of
each day will render the best service
to the nation to which Lincoln gave
the most masterful contribution to
civic duty and moral earnestness that
ever enriched a people.