Arizona republican., 1909-02-13
IMPRESSIVE CELEBRATION
Continued from page 4)

| the plainest, simplest language. en-
 bodying the strongest logis, driven home to the hearts. of the hearers by hOmely illustrations, the victors crown
 was, generally, awarded to Lincoln. On the next mile stone we read of
 the astonishment, the disappointment, the fear of results that came to a large
 proportion of the people of the nation, when it was announced that this un-
 known Lochinvar from out the "wlld and woolly west" had been nominated
 for president of the United States.
 over the ripe scholars, the eminent | lawyers. the experienced statesmen and
 diplomats of the "culchawed east" Some even considered it as a sign indicating the failure of a republican form of government. In the opposition
 press of the country, during the cam paign, he was caricatured as a clown,
 as a monkey, as a fanatic, as an ig-
 nOrant OK driver, etc. During it all he
 maintained a dignified silence. But | the people believed in him, Tn his hon.
 esty. in his ability, i'll his patriotism and he was elected president of the l United States.
 Another mile stone in his history is passed. He leaves his Illinois home | for the national capitol to assume the \ responsibilities of his office.
 Never would your speaker. though
 he should live a thousand years, for get the hand shake with that brave, | strong, honest man when en route, and | the peculiar, indescribable expression 1 on his face. Perhaps the best way to describe it is to say it was as the | drawn face of one bending under a | heavy load; one with a heart almost ] breaking in view of the trust Imposed | in him by the people; one weighed | down with full sense of the respon- | abilities that had been and were to be | placed upon him; one who thought of the issues not as affecting himself, but | the nation.
 Who that stood at the east room of | the capitol of the nation on the 4th | day of March, 1861, can forget that l scene? One of the most eventful in | the history of the nation. Hundreds
 of private detectives. with eagle eyes,
 sauntered through that great assem-
 blaze, while hundreds of armed sol- diers were stationed nearby, and ar
 tillery, well provided with shot and | shell, were effective warnings against any outbreak. Some imagined the in augural address would afford a pre- text for revolution, by reason of its bitter denunciation of those who talk ed of secession, the enemies of the government. But what a bitter disap- pointment was his inaugural address to that class So sympathetic. so for giving. so patriotic. In argument, clear and convincing showing there could be no possible excuse for dividing the Union only unwarranted, wicked re- bellion. It aroused the patriotism of the north. It was a holy. comforting message to the unionists of the south.
 Another mile stone in his history stands before us. On 1t we read of his acts as a ruler, as our beloved presi
 dent. To the people it seemed as su perfluous to ask, as did one of old
 Who knows but thou are come into the Kingdom for such a time as this To them it seemed as if he were Gods divinely appointed leader, while he said of himself: Without a name
 without a reason why I should have a name there has fallen upon me task such as did not rest even upon the Father of his country" In his new and responsible position he was domi- mated by a broad intelligence by un- selfish generosity; by unbounded sym
 pathy; by unflinching courage, by an absence of vindictiveness and revenge, even when it was deserved; a hater of secession. but no personal animosity toward southern men; one who asked to be led by the teachings of Gods word in all things; his every act was passion to make his life count for as much as possible for his country in the present and for the future.
 He was a politician fin a high and honorable sense of superior shrewd- ness; he was a natural born states
 man; he saw farther into the future than any man of his day; he'was freed from sectional spite generation ahead of his contemporaries; he had out grown his frontier surroundings; he had outgrOwn the great state of Illi- nois; he had outgrown the United States; he had brought the entire world, without the renotest thought or desire on his part, so to do, to crown him as one of the worlds greatest men. His was an inglorious beginning. but it soon merged into a glorious career.
 Abraham Lincoln dominated every man or collection of men with whom he cafne in contact, with one excep- ton, during the most strenuous period of our nations life, and he did it so quietly, so unobtrusively that they agreed with him ere they were aware of 1t or why.
 We can, at this time, read only small part of the writing on these mile stones in his life. We now come to the last one and read that the as- sassin's bullet ended this noble, earthly life April 15, 1865. On this stone the inscriptions are not placed there by the immortal dead, but engraved by the hand of time. Centuries will come and go, but this hand will keep on writing.
 Marble monuments and bronze stat ues will not perpetuate the memory of Abraham Lincoln as effectively as the annual gatherings such as this the world around, wherever Americans may be found. From the pulpit, the rostrum, the theater. the press and the