Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-02-09

and then be honest: great soul pc
culiarly fitted by the just balance be-
tween marvellous insight and absolute
fairness, and withal SO devoted to the
right as the right was seen and felt,
that he would not compromise for
policy's sake. Here was greatness
that rose to all emergencies or con-
ditions. and never seemed to be ex-
hausted. Because he was so deeply
modest, as really great souls usually
are. he was sometimes harshly and
unjustly Judged. And yet as men now
| ways the guiding spirit. He was
greater than any Of the great men
about him. In saying this it is not
affirmed that he was not equaled or
even surpassed by some in particular
lines. which might be mentioned, for
such was probably the case, but for
certain qualities which We're necessary
emergency he was not equalled by
any. AS we look back after these
years, We can see how we'll he under
stood and did his trying work To be
sure he had many helps, but he had
also many hinderances. 1mpatience
grumbled at him, ambitions sometimes
prevented willing assistance. Misun-
derstanding; always trying to a
true soul, were flung in his way. But
in spite Of all, he saw clearly, could
| not be driven, or thwarted. moved
with steady hand. John Lord speaks
of his innate greatness without which
he cannot be understood-and add:
His great fame rests on his moral
character. his identification with a
great cause his marvellous ability as
a conservative defender Of radical
principles, and his no less wonderful
tact as leader of men, in that he was
| a very great man, no one now Ques-
tions."
A Great Self Trained Man.
| He was indeed a great self-trained
| man. The schools did not make him.
But he read, studied, thought. wrote,
until he came to have not only large
material for expression, but also ability
to express himself in choice English.
Hamilton Wright Mabie says that by
patient self-training in the art Of ex-
pressions, he came to write literature
| in such English as one finds in the
Bible, Pilgrims Progress and Shakes
peare. In an able article on Mr.. Moody
which appeared in a magazine at the
| time of his death, the writer speaks
Of his Imagination as enabling him to
describe scriptural characters so that
thew seemed to live before one and
that at such times-though not always
he used simpler Saxon English as
no other man Of his day, save Spur
geon and Lincoln
| Nothing more truly revealed the
greatness of soul of Mr.. Lincoln than
the ways in which he met the demands
| that came to him.
| If ever cool head and a great heart
were needed In the chief executive of
| tn nation it was during the stress of
| the Civil war-which was one OF the
most terrible wars in all history. Pres
ident Lincoln was fully equal to the
demands Of the time. There were those
! that wondered if the inexperienced
man from the west would be able to
meet the requirements which must be
met. How thoughtfully he did it the
| world has long known. He was just
the man. Gods man for the hour. He
saw clearly the meaning Of the war
as to it's capse that slavery was the
cause. and held himself in readiness to
| meet conditions. 1t was his to eman-
cipate the slave. The emancipation
proclamation which said to the negro,
go free" was enough of itself to
place the name of Lincoln among the
immortals., He seemed divinely guild
ed to that great act. Without doubt
he had longed to see the time when
slavery should come to an end. He
hated 1t and in his early young man
hood, had expressed the desire that he
might some day be enabled to deal 1t
a blow. AS a student of the trend OF
events in the nation. he had said that
the nation must come to be one thing
or the other, ali slave or ali free, that
it could not continue to exist part
slave and part free Seeing this, and
hating the institution, he did not move
at once for it's destruction, but wait
ed for the opportune moment to send
forth the proclamation. The word once
spoken, could not or would not recall
The slave was freed at fearful cost
of almost a million men. He guided
with firm hand until the wars close