Norwich bulletin., 1909-02-13
Lincoln and Washington.

measure fortunate in the characters OF
the two greatest OF our public men,
Washington and Lincoln. They were
alike in essentials-they were alike in
the great qualities which rendered each
able TO render service to his nation
and to all mankind such as no other
man of his generation could or did
| render There have been other men as
great and other men as good, but in
all the history of mankind there are
no other two great men as good as
these, no other two good men as great
Widely though the problems of today
differ from the problems set for sOlu-
ton to Washington when he founded
this nation. to Lincoln when he saved
It and freed the slave. yet the qualities
they showed in meeting these prob
lens are exactly the same as those we
should show IN doing our work today.
Lincoln saw into the future with the
prophetic Imagination usually vouch-
safed only TO the poet and the seer.
He had in him all the lift toward
greatness OF the visionary. without
any OF the visionary's fanaticism or
egotism, without any Of the vision
ary's narrow jealousy Of the practical
man and inability to strive in prac-
teal fashion for the realization Of an
ideal. No more practical man ever liv-
ed than this homely backwoOds ideal
ist, but he had nothing In common with
those practical men whose consciences
are warped until they fail TO distin-
guish between good and evil, fail to
understand that strength, ability.
shrewdness. whether IN the world Of
business or Of politics, only serve TO
make their possessOr a more noxious,
a more evil member Of the communi-
ty, If they are not guided and con-
trolled by fine and high moral sense.
Lineolns Qualities Needed Now.
We Of this day must try to solve
many social, and Industrial problems
requiring to an especial degree the
combination of indomitable resolution
with cool headed sanity. We can profit
by the way in which Lincoln used both
these traits as he strove for reform.
We can learn much Of value from the
very attacks which following that
course brought upon his head. attacks
alike by the extremists Of revolution
and by the extremists Of reaction. He
never wavered in devotion TO his prin-
clples, in his love for the Union and in
his adherence Of slavery. Timid and
Iukewarm people were always denounc-
but, as a matter Of fact, he never went
TO extremes.
Yet perhaps the most wonderful
thing Of all ana, from the standpoint
Of the America of today and of the
future, the most vitally important was
the extraordinary way in which Lin
coin could fight vahantly against
what he deemed wrong and yet pre-
serve Undiminished his Ipve and re-
spect for the brother from whom he
differed. In the hour Of a triumph
that would have turned any weaker
mans head, in the heat of a struggle
which spurred many a good man 10
dreadful vindictiveness, he said truth
fully that so long as he had been In
his office he had never willingly plant
ed a thorn in any mans bosom/an
besought his supporters to study the
incidents Of the trial through which
they were passing as philosophy from
which to learn wisdom and not as
wrongs to be avenged, ending with
the solemn exhortatiOn that, as the
strife was over. all should reunite in
a common effort to save their common
country.
"Miohtisst of Americans"
He lived In days that were great
and terrible, when brother fought
against brother for what each sincere
ly deemed to be the right, in a con-
test so grim the strong men who alone
can carry it through are rarely able TO
do justice to the deep convictions Of
those with whom they grappIe in NOR
tai strife. At such times men see
a glass darby To only the
rarest and Hottest spirits is voueh-
safed that clear vision which gradually
comes to all, even to the lesser, as the
struggle fades into distance and
wounds are forgotten and peace creeps
back to the hearts that were hurt But
TO Lincoln>was given this supreme vi
sion. He did not hate the man from
whom he differed. Weakness was as
foreign as wickedness to his strong,
gentle nature. But his courage was OF
q quality so high that it needed nc
bolstering Of dark passion. He saw
clearly. that the same high qualities,
the same courage and willingness for
self sacrifice and devotion to the right
as it was given them to see the right,
both TO the men Of the north
and TO the men Of the south. As the
years roll by and as all of us. wher-
ever we dwell grow to feel an equal
pride in the valor and self devotion,
alike Of the men who wore the blue
and the men who wore the gray. so
this whole nation will grow to feel a
peculiar sense Of pride in the mightiest
Df the mighty men who mastered the
mighty days, the lover Of his country
and Of all mankind. the man whose
blood was shed for the union Of his
people and for the freedom of a race,
Abraham Lincoln.
Preferred the Insomnia.
A story is told Of the late bishop Of