Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1909-02-13

4 NeDeuu on Lne EDdFk@eS ara NHeulSeS
for some historical fairy tales
Lincoln has not entirely escaped
from these romancers even as If IN.
! but they started their Gcti0A ff5rIee
so soon that 1t has been "a able 4,
overtake and brand naost tse out
put. For example. there were til
Of the oldest inhabitants III several
southern states who felt It their
bounden duty to reflect on his paser
| nifty. All OF these stories have been
traced to their origin, proved to be
erroneous and branded Then some.
| body came To the surface who said
he had heard somebody say that had
heard somebody else say that sir. Lin
coin was not born on tile birthplace
| farm. but In an entirely different part
Of Kentucky. He made some sort OF
! affidavit on the ground Of this hear
say testimony. Now, 1t Is fortunate
all this happened while there were
reliable, truth loving people on earth
who knew just where Lincoln was
born. Thus the thing could be dem
onstrated beyond carii, nailed down
and established for the. ages. This
/ saves posterity lot OF unnecessary
speculation, Investigation and trouble
Suppose these stories had been sprung
after everybody that knew Lincoln
was dead All this inaccuracy might
have trickled its way down through
the centuries A very large portion
of ancient history belongs In the fic-
ton department Of our libraries.
We are fortunate In another respect
| Many OF those who have written lives
| OF Mr. Lincoln associated with him
daily He was great enough to seem
great to his secretaries and partners
| The telegraph operators at the wal
| department. the attendants about the
! White House, the common soldiers
who saw their commander In chief,
all had some sort Of inner prompting
| that this was not just an ordinary
| president, but that here was the sort
| of man that would interest the TWEEN
! ty-second century. So they made
mental notes and printed them The
world has grown in 1000 years so
thdl nVW a HtOPutt uhS AOiOi III Ills
own country and among those of his
own household. They may not see
all of his greatness. but If they even
measure some angles of Ii these fur
nish basis for future computations
IL Lincoln had lived back In the days
of Pericles or Augustus l have often
imagined the sort of rich story Plu-
,f III,
little earlier period. back in that en-
chanting but uncertain dawn of his
tory before the shadows had quite lift
ed, men would have created of him an
Odln or one of those delightful old
pagan demigods that strangled drag
ons with their naked hands. But we
have not so much to crow over, for
they almost did that with Washington
in our own day.
Let us beware of putting Lincoln on
a pedestal. II Is the sweet and every
| day humanity of the man that Is his
| chief charm. 1t is easy to marvel at
higher order OF beings, but hard To
| love them. Lincoln is close enough to
us to love, and we must keep him
81 uCAt arc CiiOhSh iittit III wi
ties, but we need this man for our
common humanity He is too big, too
warm and too precious to set him out
Of reach They have robbed us of
most OF our heroes by making them
unhuman and impossible, but they
shall not do ii with Lincoln. He be-
longs to our man and woman world,
a nd W., N OntnU m lyAnn him for
own. The far shining greatness of his
soul makes his gnarled hands and
wrlnkled face all the more precious to
| us Let us have all the centenaries
Of him that the passage Of the years
will permit, let us have libraries full
Of books about him, but never let him
be removed from the plain people that
he loved and that loved him. Almost
anybody can be an aristocrat. but 1t
takes one of Gods own great, tender
men to be a perfect democrat. 1t is
this quality that makes Lincoln so
alive in the hearts of the millions, and
the man that robs him of even a part
Of II will In that far do him 10 death.
Make the birthplace farm as splendid
, a park as you like. but keep the little
old one room cabin on II as remind
err Retain enough Of the hardships to
show what they were. We men who
have to carve our way in the world.
who have to cling to principles and
choose right from wrong, who have to
pass by temptation and who have 10
keep our hearts sweet through trials
need all Of the example Of Lincoln to
help us on. The man who robs us OF
even the humblest part of that inspir-
Ing story is friend neither to Lincoln
nor to us We want to feel that he
was such a man as we are. or at least
such man as we may become He
was our big brother, and we see the
way he did things and then know bet
| ter how we may do them. He was
| great not because remote, but because
so close. He was so common he be-
came the most uncommon man In our
| time. He was so human he grew al
1 Twin 10 xxsaG M