Judith Gap journal. [volume] (Judith Gap, Mont.) 1908-19??, 1909-02-12


and even there he will drive back his
savage foe and build city. Encom-
pass him with the negligent and UNI
cOuth, doom him to ultra manual toll,
limit hin. TO barest rutlinents of scant
etlucatiOil, and even then, there, he
rises to his feet, his JOve-like brow
toward the blue and stars eternal and
CNclains:
So nigh is grandeur to our dust.
So near is God to man:
When duty whispers low Thou must
The youth replies 1 CAM "
Thus Abraham Lincoln, for whose
fame the pedestals of the world wait,
rose above his surroundings, above
the limitations of libraries, to the
tallest height Of the race.
While men, destined to be his COM
peers in wOrld-government, graduated
from Yale and Oxford and Heidelberg,
he graduated from wilderness to an
other, taking with him Aesop's Fables
Pilgrims Progress, Marshall's Life
of Washington and his mothers Holy
Bible. When his "angel mother"
died he walked. in bare feet, after the
rude pine box that contained her dear
form and sobbed with all infinite
heartbreak as they covered her from
his sight.
From rail-splitting he graduated in
tOa Mississippi fiat-boatman; from
that employ he became clerk in
country store: from thence he became
captain of a company of soldiers in
the Indian wars and those epaulets
on his shoulders were prophetic of his
marvellous leadership of men. Asa
LAWYER he was cOgent, thorough and as
easily understood by the backwoods
jury as by the astute Judge on the
bench. Then short career in Con-
gress and through it acquaintance
with leading characters, North and
South. At last he stood before the
world, champion of human freedom,
in discussion against "The Little
Giant" Stephen a. Douglas. His
first appearance in the East took place
in Cooper Institute, New York.
He was introduced by William Gull
len Bryant. The great room was
crowded. The dignity of the nation
was there. His face was ut first pale,
then it was transfashioned. There
was no parade, no ornamental rhetoric
but he held the masters Of American
thought in the hollow of his hand.
How his eyes kindled as he voiced
God Almighty and conscience and
dutv'
His climax was attained in the clos
ing sentence, LET us to the end dare
to do our duty as we understand it,"
Next day they crowned his brow
with laurels. Then came his nomina-
ton to the Pr sidency, in the Wig
wan, Chicago. ter that his cleo
tion twice. +aa@.. wa, me er>"..
cipation OF slaSgs the close of the
war, plans for the rehabilitation of
the South and his assassination in
Ford's theater, Washington, ID. C.,
April II, 1865.
CHARACTERISTICS.
/. He was the Man Of Destiny.
Dec Volente! AS such he was truth
and honor incarnate. While not a
church man, yet he believed in God
and like Jesus Christ became the vi
cartons sacrifice for the people. Be-
lieving in the eternal, in himself, in
the logic of events and in the people,
no other credo seemed necessary to
him.
,. lie was Il practical man. lie
combined strength with greatness,
acuteness with brilliancy, penetration
with profOundness.
;. lie was lovablp, humorous, re-
s"urceful and, above all, he was prob
ably the best exponent of American
ism our country has produced.
!. He was pitiful and tender. His
desire to ''pluck up the thorns and
] plant rose wherever Il rose would
grow" made him seem very beauti-
full to mankind.
wa 'N NNS tiuV SlVNlucSS, ltSllIlH
as the stars. No accident he
Though perched on Alps, pygmies
are pygmies still.''
Mysterious. just then, when '.the
war drum throbbed no longer" just
then. when battle flags were furletl, -
then. on that Good Friday Eve. hold
ing a small silken American flag in
his right hand, then the assassin s
bullet pierced his vitals, he swoone,l
away into martyrs death on earth
hut assembled to the Pertinent of the
Skies"
That murder paralyZed the civilized
world. made strong men stagger,
while the little children wept in thu
streets.
Isle semper tyrannis :" shouted