The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-06-03
wATrERsoN's
TRIBUTE TO LINCOLN

been known as the most brilliant
rhetorician of the American press
He wields forceful pen, brilliant,
sententlous at times, sometimes dis
cursive, but always racy, interesting
and captivating. 1t is a peculiar mat
: ter that no one writes anything like
him. Any critic of literature or
newspaper man can discern his marks
, upon reading four sentences from mis-
pen, especially from mis- orations and
philosophical and patriotic disquisi-
tions. Col. Watterson while soldier
Of the Confederacy, has long been
great admirer of Abraham Lincoln
and at the unveilng of statue,
Monday, at Hodgenville, Kentucky,
three miles from the farm where Lin
coin was born and where a marble
hall Is being erected to enclose the
Lincoln log cabin where the great
emancipator first saw the light, he
made one OF his noted addresses.
We take the following matter con-
cerning 1t from the Enquirer's repGt'
THE central thought or MIR. Wat-
terson's speech was that Lincoln was
inspired and bore a commission from,
God to save the Union. Colonel Wat
terson wore a uniform or gray and
fought for the Lost Cause, but today
he said Confederates and Unionists,
Democrats and Republicans, Joined IN
doing honor to Lincoln's memory.
for, he said, country came first and
party second, and that, after all, |
Lincoln was right and had saved the
nation.
God rules the world, the winds
and the waves" said Mr.. Watterson.
He raises mortals to the sky and He
casts them down beneath the surface
OF the earth. In Abraham Lincoln
lie gave us a symbol of American
liberty and type of American man
hood which might be marked and
known of all men and seen from afar;
gnarled of bark, fine or grain, OF
fiber solid and of texture rare; adapt
ed to all uses and capable of ex-
quisite polish. In his career we may
learn what an American partisan
ought to be as distinguished from
what he ought not to be.We only need
to read the documentary history OF
n OF rod tnr 20 IsaAA NIaN
he was not merely in intellect the
foremost man of his time, but that
in character he ranks with the few
great men of all time. In collision
with him the rest appear but as paste
board men. He grows in length,
breadth and thickness the longer we
survey him.
True to his ideal, he never miss
ed the cue of the moment; though
facing a constant stress of weather
sorely tried from hour to hour. he
never lost his balance, or tore pas
sion to tatters. His was the genius
OF common sense, the soul of common
honesty. Knowing the people, he put
his hand to the pulse of the nation, '
judged its distemper and was ready '
with remedy.
II have said that he was a Repub-
lican partisan. In point OF fact he
was an old Conscience Whig. com
missioned by God to steer the bark
of the Union through the two ex- ,
tremes and TO rescue it from ship
wreck. He was an anti-slavery man:
but he was never an abolitionist. He
became War Commander, but he
still stood in awe of the constitution
and his oath as -iagistrate His I
one aim, his single purpose, was to I
save the Union, with or without
slavery.
He did save 1t; yielding not at all
TO party clamor, too often contrived q
by scheming zealots and whooped up
by noisy minorides, and today 1t Is
his example which moves calm, v
enlightened and patriotic occupant v
OF the Presidential office-like himself. T
a lifelong Republican and a Republi-
can parisan-to reach forth his arms =
as II to clasp in their embrace, the I
whole people, seeking to win the
good opinion, yearning for the ap-
proval OF each and every one OF them.
Whether they give 1t in detail, or b
divide upon the incidental issues of
the time, they will not withhold It
In the aggregate, and, since a yigor.
ous opposition is indispensable to
good government, his wise modera- G
lion and transparent integrity give :
is the promise OF an opposition based I
upon principle rather than faction, D
self-respecting and respectful, up o.
light, clean and kind. From such p
1artyism nothing is to be feared, be- 81
'ause 1t leaves US free, when dangers a.
'ome. to forget that we are Repup- p
leans, to forget that we are Demo- ef
rats, remembering only that we are u
Americans. 81
Where did Shakespeare get his
'enius? Where did Mozart get his b.
music? Whose hand smote the Tyre g
II the Scottish plowman, and stayed 81
he life OF the German nriecto GOA h,