Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-02-16
One Care to Preserve Flag.

One care TO FFcS6TNe rag
When Lincoln became president he
resolved to be characterized by the
same high motives which had beon
sisted in his good intentions the record
of time affirms. He came to the pres
dency at the most critical period In
the history of free government The
eyes of the world We're upon him. Mon
archial Europe hoped for failure, He
began with a steady purpose to know
the right and to do the right. He de-
clared himself in no uncertain terms.
His one care was to preserve the union
and save the flag. War was forced
upon him. he accepted II "hen MOTH
ing else was left him to do. He prose-
cuted it with all the vigor OF full
grown man who hated the institution
that unfurled it's battle flags, loaded
its cannon, sharpened it's swords,
ground it's bayonets, and augmented
estly did he deal with all parts of the
union, that the south plowed by shot
and SHE'LL scorched by fire, slippery
with red carnage, and wlndrowed
with the dead could not say ought
against his integrity.
Lincoln was a tender man. He COM
| bined the elements of the rock and the
vine. After a half century, his name
| is a synonym for tenderness. Custo-
dian of power well nigh absolute he
exercise it benignly. He walked more
than hundred miles that his mother
might have Christian burial. A fut-
tering bird fallen from It's nest claim
ed his attention and help. A soldiers
/ groan moved him to tears. His tender
ness of heart almost demorali2ed mil
itary discipline. A mother whose son
had been sentenced to be shot had but
to tell her tale of woe to Lincoln to be
sure OF his pardon Both Grant and
| s1,nr nra
cutting the wires between their head
quarters and Washington to escape
his interference. Hundreds of instancef
could be related in proof of his gen.
erous nature, but / refrain. His ten
; derness made him great.
| Lincoln was man Of infinite pa
thence. The result of the war might
!, have been very different had he been
| impatient as We're some of the men,
bers of his cabinet During those four
years Of awful war he carried with
him a weight of responsibility never
| witnessed before and yet while the
e bullets from the field scanned his brow
: and the swords gashed his hollow
4 cheeks he patiently bore all for love
@ of the union he determined to save.
e Committee after committee from every
walk in life pressed on to Washington
n and impatiently told him what ne
d ought to do. He met each committee
ii and looked upon 1t with face plowed
d by night vigils and long extended sor-
IS rows, patient always. Friend after
g friend turned from him. Congress mis-
: trusted him. Certain orators denounc-
II ed him-orators whole only claim to
: fame Is the record that they struck at
o a giant in the dark. The populace
e burned him in effigy. His cabinet was
i jealous of him and sought to under
% mine his prestige. His wife had no
ID sympathy for him. He trod the Wine
| OH not alone God
20 with him.
OF Delivered America From Slavery.
Sc And what did he do? He delivered
lie America from the odium of human
in slavery and gave us the Union, one
A. and inseparable That with the froe-
O. dom of the slave there came to the
American people the most gigantic
Ill problem that free people We're ever
l. called upon to solve does not make
\ slavery right. 1t was wrong and only
Mt wrong. 1t had no qualities to recon-
Id mend It, 1t was degrading alike to
~ owned and owner. 1t was unjust
Id cruel. and sinful. 1t can never be
We right for one man to be the property
at of another 1t can never be right to
ir put q man in a position where his in
to born sentiment Of liberty is destroy
a ed where his intelligence Is smothered
he and where his idea of right lis extin-
n guished. In this country slavery had
As such hold that 1t could only be wiped
On out by blood.
CT There are men before me who took
!. part in that great struggle. The car
n never forget those awful years. In ths
strength of youth they marched ava,
to the music of fife and drum ant
ed under the haunting banners of war t
rs help Lincoln do his mighty work
OF They fought the greatest and holes
~. war Of history. When they went forti
ell 1xr,a rot 1pf
ea men were free. All honor to the mel
rs. of the armies whether living or dead L
OF living wreaths of Thanksgiving ant
IN praise, if dead, flowers and tears. Som
hg sleep in unknown. sunken graves y
no the cypress swamps where they die
us in the hour of victory; some rest II
eey the trenches plowed by shot and shcl
up yonder where the magnolia blooms
to Soldiers graves billow our plains an
a furrow our valleys. For all tnei
70 graves, known and unknown, upo
TAI land and sea, the flowers of a nation
N gratitude. They answered the call c
us their great chieftain, and with hin
lis they have passed through the gates G
RID martrydom that "the government {
ate the people by the people, and for tn
m people might not perish from IN
OF earth.
en-. Indebted to Lincoln For Union.
ne Above all and beyond all we are In
itll debted to Abraham Lincoln for tn
ION great Union. His honesty of purpos
, "a his prophetic insight. his devotion
laa duty, his indomitnble courage and ur
%, o. wavering patience saved us from be
ens coming number of wrangling state
req When he became president there WI
), vi anv amount OF talk at the north thu
icl the southern states could not be he
lies as a part of the Union. Men high
100 authority were unfavorable to holdir
them at the price of a war. They feai
M ed the consequences. Even Seward nc
en- a plan by which he would divert Il
and coming storm by plunging us into
ace war with Europe. A month after Lii
to coins Inauguration Seward then Sc
rotary of State, submitted to Linco
no. q memorandum entitled Son
life, Thoughts for the Presidents Conside
to alton" II Lincoln had given any COZ
en- sideration to Stewards memoranda
sty. nothing this side Of heaven could ha,
mes saved this nation from destructio