Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-02-12
who spoke on behalf of Kentucky for her
Gov. Wilson's Address.

VOV. " 12ooASSS.
Gov. Wilson said, in part:
Abraham Lincoln is claimed by al
| humanity and all time as the type OF
the race best showing forth the best in
all men in all conditions of life. Our whole
country claims him as the son of the
whole Union.
"And Illinois says: He was mine. the
man of Illinois. Here on my prairies he
ripened into noble manhood and here he
made his home.'
Indiana, too. says: He was mine. In
my southern hills the little child grew
strong and tall And each is right and
true.
But Kentucky says: I am his own
mother. 1 nursed him at my breast-my
baby born of me. He is mine. Shall any
claim come before the mother?
For him there is no need of any me-
mortal place or token. He lives and will
live forever in the hearts Of all the peo-
pie of all the earth as the man of the
people, grand in simple, noble dignity,
almost strange in wisdom and prophetic
foresight. as IL it were a gift direct from
God. Simple and tender in life and feel
ing as a child ready to enter into the
kingdom of heaven. yet brave as a spirit
of truth, immovable from right purpose,
blessed with a humor such as to no man
else was ever given, which turned aside
wrath and softened the rigor of mortal
/
life and hope and faith until it came to
pass that in the fiery furnace of a mighty
war hate and strife melted into the pure
gold of union.
Here are met today. with equal zeal
to do him honor, soldiers of the war for
and against the Union. heroes Of the
Union and the Confederacy, Americans
all. no one less pledged than the other,
not only by the bond of the covenant of
our law, but alike by the dearest feelings
of no rt of n mr.
united country and its beautiful flag
Gen. James Grant Wilson. for the fed
eral army, and Gen. Luke E. Wright. for
the Confederate army. were then heard.
Gen. Wilson's Speech.
General Wilson spoke as the represent
alive Of the soldiers and sailors who
served at Lincolns call during the war
of the rebellion.
General Wilson in part said:
1T is among the greatest mysteries
of modern history that the child born in
annus mirabilis, 1909, of illiterate and
impoverished parents in this unpromis-
ing place, and without any advantages
whatsoever, should through life have al
ways been a leader and ma ster of men
For hundreds of years scholars have in
vain seached for the sources from which
Shakespeare drew the inspiration that
has placed him first among the sons of
equally baffled in similar attempts to
discover from whence came the truly
wonderful power TO control and lead all
sorts and conditions of men that was
certainly possessed by the son of poor
whites Of Kentucky, who occupied yon-
der rude log cabin.
LAS a youth Abraham Lincoln's alert
ness, skill and strength easily made
him a recognized leader among his
rough companions in their amusements
and contests, including wrestling. When
a company was raised in this country
for the Black Hawk war Lincoln, then
about twenty-three years of age, was
unanimously elected by his seniors their
captain.
AT the Illinois bar he was early rec
ogniZed, by his integrity and ready wit
as me superior of his duller associates.
AS political debater Lincoln defeated
one of the ablest speakers of the United
States Senate, and but brief period
passed as President before the most
gifted statesmen of his cabinet unhesi-
tatingly recognized him as their master
Grant praised Lincoln as being in
military matters superior to many of his
prominent generals. and your speaker
heard Sherman say that the President
was among the ablest strategists of the
war. The beau sabreur Sheridan was oe
the same opinion as to his two seniors"
Secretary Wright's Address.
Secretary Wright declared that Lincoln
believed that slavery was curse, and
great moral wrong, and in believing thus"
he added The was right"
On the question of the right of state
secession. declaring 1T would be unfair TO
say there was a complete unanirnity of
sentiment upon this subject on either side
of Mason and Dixon's line Secretary
Wright said that slavery was not alone
the sin of the south. although its ex-
piat!on fell heaviest upon her people"
In speaking of the work of Mr. Lincoln
he said that through it all he uttered no
word of i'll will malice toward the
southern people; that whe2 Lincoln saw
victory resting upon the northern arms
he showed no feeling of eXultat;on: that
II he had lived there would have been
speedy union Of hearts between the north
that 1t needed no bolsterng of dark pas
sion. He saw clearly that the same high
qualities. the same courage and willing
ness for self-sacrifice, and devotion to the
right as it was given them to see the
right belonged both to the men OF the
north and TO the men of the south.
AS the years roll by. and as all of us
wherever we dwell grow to feel an equal
pride in the valor and self-devotion alike
of the men who wore the blue and the
men who wore the gray, so this whole
nation will grow to feel peculiar sense
of pride in the man whose blood was
shed for the union of his people and for
the freedom of a race; the lover of his