The Washington herald., 1909-02-07
LINCOLN AS AN EXAMPLE
TO THE YOUNG MEN
CoEtiaued from Page one.

nave SDic dlOlt ttie Af1L lux
ury Is usually the parent Of vice, but
never OF happiness. The man who has
tasted pate de foie gras commonly has a
callOussd palate which really tastes moth
ing al all that is normal The blase man
never has any real fun. These months
and years Of bitter hard work which Lin
coins example bids you DO will make
your daily health. Only the normal man
has that true sense OF proportion N
which the sunshine Of humor abounds.
But keep eyerlastingly at il" is not
the only thing that L.incoln's life teaches
you Young men. il that were all IL
taught II would be very little II IS said
that there are burglars who are as
steadily Industrious; and all Of us kF0w
Of eminent but Gar from admirable di-
rectors of great affairs who work 20 the
limit OF strength and the point OF ex-
haustion utterly unguided BY conscience
or by anything except intellect and SCI
fishness
Splendid Drama of Honor.
Lncoln's life is a splendid arama OF
honor. II you get the Lincoln spirit into
your blood sou could far more easily
commit suicide than do a dishouorable
thing-yes, even a mean thing From
the point Of view OF the incest points Of
delicate honor Lineoln's life is finer than
that OF Washington. who In many other
respects was a greater man than Lincoln
Perhaps of our pre-eminent and typically
American public characters only Seward
is the equal OF Lincoln In his exquisite
sense OF not only large phases but also
the smallest details Of honor As q
practical asset ii Is hard 10 make you
realize how far this goes By being
crafty another man gill beat y0u in this
trade IN business. or that turn IN poll
tics: but his very successes are the
gTaTediggers OF his ultimate and perma-
nent victory For do you rot see that by
steady and undertaking adherence to
the commands Of your conscience YOU
build Up public opinion regarding your
self which il more valuable 70 you. even
in practical way. than gold in your cOf-
Ter. or the Teins OF present power in your
hands?
II was Lincoln's idea that conscience
can be cultivated. and I think he was
profoundly right IN that We ali start
with some degree Of conscience. some OF
us with a great deal less than others;
but by neglecting this. that. and the
other 10 US Insignificant whiSperings q
this moral counselor, the voice OF our
conscience becomes softer. more indis-
tinct, and finally. We cannot hear II even
tn the largest things.
In the moral and mental philosophy
which ! studied in college, written By one
OF the great presidents Of Yale Univer-
sity. an illustration is used which burned
Itself into my memory. Said this re-
msrkably clearly written book: Neglect
a-,r- -
comes debased and all but extinct: cuI-
tivate Il for a month and L becomes as
delicate as a Honisn'S blush.
This is just what Lincoln did. Not that
ne was a Miss Nancy or a fool: no, no
gambler on the stock exchange was
shrewder than he: no confidence man
understood human nature more perfect
II. He dealt with men as he found them;
he did not go about sermonizing In sea
son and out of season until he became a
nuisance and bore. Quite the reverse
What he did was 10 live up 10 his ideal
Of personal honor every minute OF every
day, so that even his enemies-and he
had hosts Of them. good. hot hating. red
blooded enemies-were compelled TO say
that Lincoln won't lie or won't cheat:
we can depend upon that
] have found in a pretty rough and
rather active life that dependability IS
the most 20 be desired. as It is the raFest
quality Of human character. except one.
and that one I shall sneak Of In the next
paragraph ! have known plenty Of men
Of fine intellect and other good qualities
ali Of which were neutTaIiZed because
they could not be depended upon.
sheer Courage Is Needed.
But the one trait OF character more TO
be desired than any other Is sheer cour-
age. You see. I come back 10 the first
sentence-industry. honor. and courage
They are the foundations and the key
stone for every enduring arch OF human
life and achievement Courage Is the
rarest Of sIl OF them, and from this point
Of view. Of course. the most valuable II
Lincoln's life teaches one thing more
than another. IL is the value Of precisely
this quality Of courage. There are a
dozen points in mis- career where he could
have wrecked it all by lack Of nerve
He had that kind OF courage which Is
now most needed in American public life
the courage which makes a man per
fectly willing 70 be defeated.
What We want Is not good winners, but
good losers. I mean men that are not
only willing. but anxious to fight for
something that is fundamentally right.
knowing that they wili suffer defeat IN
fighting FOR II. I find that in public life
few men are willing 70 be upon the los
ing side. They want il 10 go out 20 their
constituents that they have won out.
and this. no matter whether the thing IN
which they have won out Is right or
wrong. Such men may succeed In staying
in Office for a little while but without
any exception the final end Of their COW
ardice is defeat. and often humiliation as
well as defeat
do aot know Of another man in our
history Of the same caliber as Lincoln
and the same chances for political ad-
vancement before him who would have
made the two speeches that Lincoln
made one or two years before the war. in
one OF which he declared that "a house
divided against itself cannot stand and
In the other OF which ne attacked the de-
cisi0n Of the Supreme Court in the case
OF Dred Scott Considering the circum-
stsnces-the infismed condition OF the
country ard the almost inevitableness OF
war-those two speeches are the most
daring not to say radical words ever
spoken by a man of authority in the
whole history of the republic with the
single exception Of the Declaration OF In
dependence.
Larger and Truer ThiaEs.
And again. when every one OF his politi-
cal aGvissrs-trained politicians al OF
them--urged him not 10 take a certain
course In his debate with Douglas. Lin
coin brushed them al aside and took his
stand for the larger and truer things.
knowing and admitting when he did Il
that it meant the absolutely certain loss
of the SenatOrship. for which Office ne
was then conteSting with the Little
Giant But mark, now, how losing
OUT often means winning out some
time later. for just because Lincoln de-
HberateIy lost the Senetorship 10 Douglas
he won the Presidency OF course. Il was
not great honor to win the Presidency.
All OF us have come to the point where