The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-02-12
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

this centenary anniversary of his birth
magnificent tributes are being paid to
his memory. and rightly so, for he is
now looked upon as having been one Of
the truly great men that the world has
produced. Assuredly is he one of the
greatest, if not the greatest who has
! been born, and lived and died in this
land. There IS but one other man to
| share this honor with him-George
Washington To the activities and
abilities of Washington are due the
credit of establishing these United
States. and to the power and persis-
tence of Lincoln are due their preser-
walton. And it is for this reason that
the prominent and discerning men of
the south today are uniting their
voices in the praise that is being
sounded throughout the country to
Abraham Lincoln. They have realized
at last, as did Lincoln, that the great
question which was fought out in the
| civil war was not as to whether the
negroes should be freemen or slaves in
this land. 1t was whether or not the
states should be held together in an
| indivisable union. They see now that
lLincoIn's gigantic task was a work well
done, that the nation must have been
saved by him if it was to endure and
probably all of them are of a mind
with Colonel Henry watterson, who in
a fitting manner has said:
with respect to Abraham Lincoln,
I, as Southern man and a Confeder-
ate soldier, here render unto Caesar
the things that are Caesars, even as 1
would render unto God the things
that are Gods. He was inspired OF
God for nowhere else could he have
| acquired that wisdom and virtue.
Where did Shakespeare get his genius.
Mozart his music? Who wrote the
lyric of the Scotch peasant? AS God
raised up and inspired them, so did he
Lincoln. When, a thousand years
hence, the truth of history shall have
left no room to doubt, no drama will
| be followed with deeper feeling than
| that which tells the story of his life
and death. God laid his hands upon
these rough hewn logs and they
| brought forth a nations hero"
No man ever lived probably who was
more self made man than Abraham
Lincoln. Not a circumstance of life
favored the development he reached.
He unconscious1y told of this once
when he said to friend: 'tMy early
history is perfectly characterized by
single line Of Gray's Elegy.
The short and simple annals of the
poor"
Lincoln was a cl1fId-Iike man On
| this point one of his prominent bio
graphers has written that no man of
modern days has been fortunate
enough to carry into his manhood so
much of the directneSs, truthfuIness.
and simplicity of childhood as distin-
guished him. He was exactly what he
seemed.
A religious man, also, was Lincoln.
This fact may be stated without any
reservation-with only an explanation.
He believed in God, and in His person
al supervision of the affairs of men. He
believed himself to be under His con-
! troll and guidance. He believed in the
power and ultimate triumph of the
right, through his belief in God.
Coupling these characteristics of
Lincoln, which have been but briefly
sketched, with the welI-known record
! of his wonderful achievements, and it
is possible to form an estimate, faint
though it may be. of the greatness of
the man. His life and his work should
be a fruitful field for study and emula-
ton by every human being of this age.
They cannot help but profit by it and
the general celebration of the cente-
nary of his birth at this time, bringing
forcibly to the public mind as it does
everything which is connected with
Lincoln's name cannot fail to be of
| immeasurable benefit to the people of
the nation. As William H. Taft, the
president-e1ect once said:
zone cannot read of Abraham Lin
coin without loving him One cannot
think of his struggles, of his life and
its tragic end, without weeping. One
cannot study his efforts, his conscience,
his heroism, his patriotism, and the
burdens of bitter attack and caIumny
under which he suffered, and think of
the place he now occupies in the his
tory of this country. without a moral
| inspiration of the most stirring and in
tense character