New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1909-02-03

BLESSED BY The udO z IL S0u.
TEARS OF A HUN fenced to death.
BILE MOTHER The most immor-
tai words that flowed from his pen
were his signature to the emancipation
proclamation and to the innumerable
pardons which set the prisoners free.
1t droppeth as the gentle rain from
Upon the place beneath. 1t is twice
blessed
1t blesseth him that gives and him that
takes.
IT'S mightiest In the mighty. 1t becomes
The throned monarch better than his
crown.
And earthly power doth then show likest
Gods
When mercy seasons Justice
So sang Lincoln's favorite poet, Shake
speare- Measured by this standard,
our meek and patient American presi-
dent was the most godlike ruler in his
tory, for he showed most mercy
War and force we have had long.
The world does not need these. What
she does need is love- The disinter-
ested, divine compassion that would
! do good to all men, that would pardon
the offender, that would take the chain
from all hands and the tears from all
| thirsts.
Love suffereth long and is kind; love
envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is
not pulled up, doth not behave itself un-
seemly. seeketh not Its own, is not pro-
' vnEo6 fhinkotb ovi1 mn IN
+! unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the
truth; beareth all things, believeth all
things. hOpeth all things, endureth all
things.
OF Paul's immortal picture of love
Abraham Lincoln was the most per.
feet incarnation seen in modern times
In his own life few men have been
more righteous than he. 1t would be
hard to place finger on a single flaw
in his conduct or his public or private
morals. At the same time few men
have been so indulgent or forgiying OF
lapses in others. Meanness or injus
tice aroused him to sudden fury, but
mere weakness and human stumblings
found him ever compassionate.
! Judge Bates Lincoln's attorney gen
eral, once said of his chief:
He lacks but one thing His def.
cheney is in the element Of will. l have
sometimes told him, for instance, that he
was unfit to be intrusted with the par
doning power Why. If man comes t
him with touching story his judgment
is almost certain to be affected by it
Should the applicant be a woman wife
a mother or a sister, in nine cases out Of
ten her tears. If nothing else are sure t
prevail.
| May it not be that Lincoln was
right and his attorney general wrong
May it not be that this quality o.
mercy" here denominated his one de
feet, may turn out his chief glory? HI
showed no lack of will in other things
No man could be more firm where 6
great principle was at stake. May this
not be a case in which
Earthly power doth then show likes
Gods
When mercy seasons justice?
] 1t seems to me if l had to throw
away all pictures Of Lincoln but one
would retain that Of his being blessed
by the tears Of a humble mother whose
son he had pardoned or of a humber
slave whose chains he had broken.
1t was objected that his leniency in
terfered with discipline. Perhaps il
did, but even that is open to question
Suppose we grant it, however? Wha
then? Discipline is great thing, bu
love is a greater. The world has beer
taught discipline for countless ages
but Abraham Lincoln's example O:
forbearance and mercy has sum-
deeper into its heart and made NOR.
for righteousness than many years O.
discipline.
If men can be ruled more by Low,
than fear, if an appeal to their better
natures is more powerful than one tt
their lower selves, then Lincoln's new
way of enforcing discipline is bette
than the Old He made all the soldier.
feel that he was their friend The,
observed better discipline because O
their love for him. There were bu
few he pardoned, and it is not re
corded that much, If any, harm cam,
from them afterward, but the soften
ing influence OF his acts went out tt
the entire army, to the entire nation
and to the ages. The poorest peopl,
loved him most. Those whose neel
for the leadership of great soul Il
sorest turn with surest instinct to him
The reason is that he loved ant
8 trusted the plain people; he opened til,
prison doors; he turned the bondmal
Tree.