The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-06-23

Ill I raphy is an inspiration. By his pro- verbal honesty, his capabi1ity for clear reasoning, and his great love for his nation and fellow-countrymen, he raised himself step by step from the poverty of a frontier hut to an his torica1 significance greater, perhaps, than that of George Washington. He surmounted each obstacle as it arose before him, he emerged from each trial the mightier for it. If ever a man was tested, he was; how nobly he stood the test, is history.
 For several years before Lincoln s inauguration, political strife had been bitter and intense. A fiery dissention was everywhere manifest. At the bottom of every problem, at the root of every debate, lay the mighty, un- solved question of slavery. It per vaded every journal, every converse ton, every sermon throughout North and South, constructing a dividing line through the midst of the Union, and creating two cultures and almost two governments In vain had Daniel Webster thundered, thirty-five years before, in vain had the fervid elo- quence of Henry Clay been expended; i; they had served but to momentarily change the flame into a sullen
 "The fanatic John Brown was re- ceiving open encouragement even from the clergy of Boston. The North ern press urged that the policy of Firing sisters. depart in peace, be adopted. Abroad, the foreign nations (envious of the phenomenal growth of the young Western republic), were only too anxious to see it divided and impoverished
 ''But in spite of calamity and de- feat, Lincoln did not swerve from his watchword. We must maintain the Union He well knew that legisla- ton and arbitration were fruitless, and that civil conflict alone could set tie for all time the ever-menacing slavery problem.
 ''It was no easy principle to main tain. Antagonistic politicians were sparing of praise, but dealt freely in accusation. The Northern press, whose local influence was immense, arraigned Lincoln as a barbarian, a murderer, and an imbeci1e. His cabi- vidually, rarely worked in harmony. The fiery Stanton, the pompous Sew ard, the conceit~d Chase, were forever at variance. Until long afterward, boorish tyrant. The Northern radi- calls urged him on claiming that he was not doing his duty; the conServa- tives raised a perpetual protest against his measures as rash and ill-timed. In New York and Chicago, the foreign element arose in mobS, defying the drafts for troops, and Gov Seymour of New York state publicly censured Lincoln for the drafts, and promised to disobey them. The currency, too, was subject to immense fluctuations the value of gold even rising to 1855 per cent. above par. A heavy taxa tion was likewise occasioned, for which Lincoln was bitterly assailed
 ''But on the other hand, Abraham Lincoln possessed the unshaken con fdence of millions of the plain peo-
 
 trusted Honest Old Abe because he was one of themselves. And when he appealed to them to put down the re- bellion, they answered his call with a ham, three hundred thousand strong, worthy to take it's place among our national anthems.
 ''Lincoln's character was indeed worthy of such confidence. Honesty was enthusiastically stamped upon his homelyf features. For patriotic req sons he had appointed to his cabinet his own political enemies.
 His whole gentle, kindly nature rebelled from condemning a soldier to death, and hundreds obtained pardon through his hands, after having vain 1y sought it from every other source. One country boy whom he had par doned was found dead in battle some weeks afterward. Upon his heart was a photograph of the president, across which were scrawled the words, God bless Abraham Lincoln
 Gradually the end approached The South, undaunted to the last, pro. longed the hopeless struggle with mar velIous bravery and determination, but at length her exhausted armies surrendered one by one, and the; aw his people through the trials of civil strife, and having eXtinguished for ever the flame of rebellion, Lincoln was never destined to see his people
 s,,%o f1rT peace. His work was done, his task 
 "One morning Lincoln told a friend of a strange dream he had. and indescribable ship, moving swiftly toward a dark and indefinite shore. His vision was prophetic; his destiny. borne onward by relentless fate, was soon to reach that dim shore, soon to strike on those distant reefs, when, ten days later, he fell under the bullet of an assassin. And when the feeble, lingering spark of life was eXtin- Stanton, who had before de nounced and ridiculed him, mur- mured, Now he is with the ages
 "The name of Abraham Lincoln is known and reverenced throughout all the world; and as the crude, massive pillars of Karnac have outlaSted the fretted arches of Byzantium. so will his memory-the memory of an un- assuming, gigantic personality,-out- last the temporary fame of succeeding of superior birth and edu- cation.
 NO sincerer compliment, no truer tribute to his memory can be paid than a consideration of what deplo- rable spectacle the republic might present to-day without his efforts rent in twain, each fragment jealous of it's fellow, giving to the civilization of the world not the first fruits of a culture based upon Liberty and Jus tice, but tht withered products of a discovered people, no longer capable of sustaining the eternal righteousness of Self-government
 we may thank benign Providence that in such crisis of the worlds there arose for us such man, brave enough in the direst of Situ- ations to maintain what Daniel Web