Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-02-16

a plain American of the nineteenth |
century He sprang from class
which he always alluded to as tha !
plain people and was their sympa- |
thetic friend to the end. BY climbing |
to the top of the hill of fame he
brought 1t down to the level of us ALL
1t is said that after the battle of Their
mopylae every child in the schools of
Greece was required to recite from
memory the names of the three hun
dred martyrs who fell in defense of |
the pass. 1t seems to me that it would |
be GROWING triumph in patriotic ed
ucation If every school child in Amer
lea We're taught to emulate the char
acter of the great Lincoln. | would
rather that my boys should know his
Gettysburg speech and his second in
augural address than to be able to
quote every word left on record by
Demosthenes and Cicero.
Let us athink of Lincoln the man.
The man always takes precedence over
the work he does. 1t was as n man
that Lincoln attracted the attention of
liberty loving people and 1t Is as a
man that he will be remembered when
the nation he saved has fulfilled its
mission in the world. ] do not know
v
than you can account for Shakespeare.
He was no accident. Accidents do not
accomplish a work that puts to blush
the achievements of the wisest plans
and arrangements. If this were SO we
had better demolish all of our institu-
| tions that seek to fit men for the great
| duties of life and submit the future OF
| the race to chance. Cold metal never
falls into poem or song. If you scat
| ter type across the arid waste and
tempest swept desert the winds will
not whip it into the sublime drama OF
Hamlet, The drama presupposes the
man. Lincoln was no accident. He
was girded as was Cyrus and by the
same hand. Back of Abraham Lincoln
was Almighty God
Endured Untold Hardships.
The early life of Lincoln the priva-
ton he endured, the hardships he had
to overcome, and the interchangeable
energy which he carried to the accom-
plishment of his purpose are known to
all lovers of the great, the world
around. His towering height and
gaunt form, his homely face and sad
eyes, his angularity and slngularity
are familiar to all. We need not dwell
upon these. They had little If any
thing to do with the work the man ac-
complished. They may have been out
ward signs Of the greatness of the SOU
within. But since all great souls are
not so housed we place little value up
on his physical contour. We are 5lac
to know how he looked and how he
acted, but the real man was separable
from these accidents.
, II we should know Abraham Lincoln
, we must get beyond mere outward
, circumstances and study the sou
which was the creator of events ant
not a servant thereto The centuries
t bullled back of that soul and the years
: globed their rugged honesty and vir
r tuous life into it's destiny. The eterna
: principles which characterized his an
! cestors who followed Cromwell t.
!, Marstron Moor, the hardships of tn
! wilderness wlds in Virginia and Ken
I lucky where his forebears helped t
i win continent from savagery, an
: the limitations attendant upon pow
i erty in Indiana and Illinois helped t
l. cradle this mighty genius. All
;. i thew helped to develop in him thos
! qualities for which he is noted. II
y was the apex of a mountain long |
building, the apex from which God ur
furled the banner of universal free
i dom.
$ We cannot deny the influence of so
S and climate upon character Environ
q ment has much to do with the forma
r ton of great life. But environmer
!, is not all. Thousands Of men woul
, have been completely overcome b
: Lincoln's environment. They woul
Z, never have dreamed of anything aboN
q their common vocations and thu
s. which fell into the dull routine Of the
r daily life, and II they had dared
e dream it would have all ended In
I dream. But possessing character,
= resolved to turn untoward circun
~ stances into helps and blessings. 4
II the sun leaves legacy Of gold upc
% the very clouds that would obstru
st his path, so Lincoln made the diff
n culties which impeded his way col
,r tribute to his success and happiness.
- He Owed Much to Heredity
:, AS little as we reckon 1t, he owe
~ much to heredity. 1t Is true that h
IL rude fore fathers were not men
" wealth or refinement or influence, b
re they were men of sterling charact
tn and honest purpose. They possess
w strong muscles and healthy brair
of They learned in the hard school
- =, toll that which is lust as important
- the making Of character as anythil
II that can come from the polite al
Sc learned. Here Lincolns ancesto
were trained and from this school TIN
RI went out to mould the ribs of the sh
III of state. / know that it Is popular
III say that Lincolns ancestors We're
=. shiftless lot but there is no proof
Nv sustai in this statement. His parent
le grandfather was,a companion Of Da
us lei Boone and died in defense of ]
r. loved ones against the Indians. +
no father was not successful as the wol
ha counts success, but he was unfortuna
a. and not shiftless. There are many
~, stances where his councils were
!. ~ Igreat Importance to his illustrious Sc
ne His mother was queen among wom'
m Death tore her from the lad when
M was but ten years of age, but not I'm
ag she had laid for him the foundati
In upon which his intellectual and mo
An greatness rests Three times she h
=. ~ gone with him through the Word
~ God and it was here that he found
weapons with which he thunder
down the Ubiquitous institution
:. human slavery. When standing by
" grave the other day thought, here
al the mother of king who was
no great to wear q crown.
cav There were three elements pro
his inent in Lincoln's character which
1T tered into the making OF the man a
Ifa his destiny. Above all, l would pli
Mn his rugged honesty From boyhood
- manhood and martrydom he gave
2iS Sii,l civilization Of this There ia