The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-02-13
LINCOLN BANQUET
Continued from first page)

Continued from first page)
Thank God, think we have found
a man.
But his toll and labor ceased not
until the hour of triumph of country
and in that hour he was struck down
by the foul blow of an assassin. Right
here his second life began. The
north was dumb and dazed at the cal
amity that had fallen while the south
dimly realized that il had lost its best
friend But though Lincoln was dead
the glOTlhed life OF Lincoln had begun
and yet continues fresh and strong
We stand today in the midst of the
great. matchless and glorious life of
Abraham Lincoln.
What should be the uplift? What
is the meaning of the thousands of
Lincoln meetings and celebrations be-
ing held today? His hand is upon our
shoulders and he is asking US TO solve
the problems of our time and preserve
the union. The problems today are
hardly less serious than those OF his
day There is capital and labor;
there is the problem Of the govern
ment Of cities; there is the liquor
question there is the question of re
ligious life; there are the school prob
lens. there is the divorce problem,
emphasized by one million, two hum
dred thousand divorces in this coun-
try in the past twenty years.
We must have leaders-men Of
great minds and simple virtues. God
give US man. with virtue as clear
as the sun in heaven. Do you think
that am talking theories. 1t is not
so. Our union must perish if we
cannot solve the problems that con-
front il. The lesson of Lincolns life
is that he did so much not by the
power of his intellect as by the
strength of his virtues. Stantons
words at his deathbed were, Now he
belongs TO the ages. His life and
his example are ours and il is our
duty to be worthy of the heritage.
DR.. Ross, who was the last speaker.
gave a valuable talk on the need Of
constant earnest effort in local affairs
in order TO keep Benningtono the mp
ward road He spoke of some of the
things that have been accomplished
here in the past and urged that we do
not stop in the race and let somebody
else win. We have shown what can
be done in such work as building
churches the battle monument and
the Y NJ c. A. building and we
should keep right ahead.
In a little more than two weeks we
are TO vote whether or not there shall
be new county buildings, The old
ones are an outrage and a disgrace,
and every citizen who loves his town
and county should see to it that his
vote is i'm the ballot box in favor Of
advance and Improvement. 1t will
cost something but it will be worth
something and no good thing can be
had free.
Another thing is the town library
which needs support in order to have
it do its best work. Still another de
sirable thing is manual training and
domestic science in our high school
AT present high schools fit for college
while only a small part Of high school
students ever go to college. The
others should be given a chance TO
IL for the actual duties of life that
they will take up when they leave
school. Dr.. Ross also urged better
roads and a board OF trade, or "BoOs-
ters club" to help along a bigger and
better Bennington.
In introducing DR.. Ross, Mr. Morris
called attention to the two new man
ufacturiug enterprises recently start
I'd in Bennington by Earl A. Smith
and Roster & Cottrel He said that
practically all enterprises start small
but il given support and encourage
nent grow into valuable Institutions
md ne urged every proper means be
taken to encourage our young men to
stay in Bennington and be given an
opportunity to develop their talents
here rather than be compelled to take
them into a new field for the benefit
Of other communities.