The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1909-02-12

r,oncENvILLE, KY, Feb. 12.-At
- Lincoln centennial celebration
= today President Roosevelt spoke
IS follows; ,,,.4 80
.ndredtb anniversary of the birth of
a w. If the two greatest Americans!
y. :, one Of the two greatest men of the
ou s century; of one of the
u .astest men in the worlds history.
s gss rail splitter, this boy who pass
= nh his ungainly youth in the dire pow
= .-tv Of the poorest of the frontier
-. whose rise was by weary and
, us,nful labor, lived to lead his peo-
r. through the burning flames of
r.sagle from which the nation
!. emerged purified as by fire, born
now. .aew to a loftier life. After long
. saors of iron effort, and of failure
~ came more often than victory,
- Of last rose to the leadership OF
Me republics, at the moment when
that leadership had become the stu
nando,s world task of the time. He
srov to know greatness, but never
so,o success came to him, but lev
sr happiness, save that which springs
rom doing we'll painful and vital
t,st Power was his, but not pleas
rre The burrows deepened on his
brow hut his eyes were undimmed
~ either hate or fear. His gaunt
shoulders were bowed, but his steel
tbews never faltered as he bore for a
burden the destinies of his people.
uis great and tender heart shraull
from giving pain; and the task allott-
"a him was to pour out like water the
likelihood of the young men, Id to
feel in his every fiber the sorrow of
the women. Disaster saddened but
never dismayed him. AS the red
wears of war went by they found him
ever doing his duty in the present,
over facing the future with fearless
front high of heart, and dauntless Of
soul Unbroken by hatred, mistaken
by scorn, he worked and suffered for
;be people, Triumph was his at tie
last. and barely had he tasted il he
fore murder found him, and the kindly
patient, fearless eyes were closed
forever.
As 1 people we are indeed beyoad
measure fortunate in the characters
Of the two greatest of our public
men. Washington and Lincoln. Wide
" though they differed in externals,
the virginia landed gentleman and u g
Kentucky backwoodsman they were
alike in essentials, they were alike in
the great qualities which rendered
each able to render service to his ma
ton and to all mankind such as no
other man of his generation could or
did render. Each had lofty ideals,
but each in striving to attain these
lofty ideals was guided by the sound
est common sense. Each possessed in
flexible courage in adversely, and a
soul wholly unspoiled by prosperity
Each possessed all the gentler virtues
commonly exhibited by good men who
lack rugged strength of character
Each possessed also all the strong
qualities commonly exhibited by those
towering masters of mankind who
have too often showL themselves de,
void Of so much as the understanding
Of the words by which we signify the
qualities of duty, of mercy, of devo
ton to the rigft, of lofty disinterest
edness in battling for the good OF
others. 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 o.
today differ from the problems SCI
for solution to Washington when he
founded this nation, to Lincoln wher
he saved 1t and freed the slave, yet the
qualities they showed in meeting these
problems are exactly the same as those
We should show in doing our work to
day.
Lincoln saw into the future with thu
Prophetic Imagination usually vouch
safed only to the poet and the seer
he had in him all the lift TOWARD
greatness of the visionary, withou
any of the visionar.'s faraticism O
egotism, without any Of the vision
arys jealousy CT the practical NAL
and Inability to strive in practica
fashion for the realization of an ideal
he had the practical mans hard CON
mon sense and willingness to adap
means to ends; but there was in hir
none of that morbid Growth of min
and soul which blinds SO many prat
uca men to the higher things of life
no more practical man ever live
Aan this homely backwoods idealist
out ne had nothing In common wit
nose practical men whose conscience
sre warped until they fail to di
anguish between good and evil, ia
% understand that strength, abilit,
snfewdness, whether in the world
BUSINESS or of politics, only serve
make their possessor a more no,
ious more evil member of the con
auhlty II they are nc guided an
controlled by fine and high NOR
sense.
We Of this day must try to sol