Newark post., 1910-02-16
LINCOLN

AS VIC app odNii tiiS dillliNSl Vi d
great mans birth and ponder the events
that cluster around his name and mem
ory, we find ourselves unconsciously
turning the pages OF history one by
one, calling the honor roll of the Re-
public. And many the echoes that
come to us out OF the dark and dis
tant past in answer to that calling
And as we consider these responsive
answers to the roll the first thought
that presents itself is, of all this mighty
throng who is most worthy to stand at
the head of the record But this ques-
ton, who has answered? Who can an
swer?
Each must bear the acid test Of his
own age and not that of some other
take his place in his own proper niche
and be judged from that viewpoint
only.
Biography must be to us great Sta
tuary Hall where each Immortal stands
upon his own pedestal, honored for the
achievements that he has wrought, ad-
mlred and emulated for the condition
and surroundings that he overcame and
loved for the services he has rendered.
A man who is a Success in one age
may be an utter failure III another.
Each must live in his own time, do his
own work and overcome those environ
ments, the STRUGGLE against which will
best develop those qualities that are the
need OF his day and generation.
We can put no man first because we
can put no man in another's place, and
unless we could do this, unless we
could judge one by another.
there exists no Uniform rule of judg-
ment for the whole and therefore there
can be no comparison of component
parts. As the geometrician say, things
equal to the same thing can only be
equal to each other
We might ask the question-who de-
serves the topmost place by reason of
his having a monopoly on the greatest
number OF virtues? But here again,
virtue is relative term, kind OF catch
phrase--a vague and variant code,
which depends for its existence upon
the sanction Of society and what that
honorable body sanctions in one gen.
Grafton it holds detrimental in an
other, and, too, those things that are
held good and proper among one poll
tical bodv and one nationality, is We
toed as uniting and unproper pest
across an invisible geographical line
by another political body. Thus it is.
the social compact makes virtue, vice,
or vice virtue.
So here, too, we are deprived of
drawing the clear cut line OF reasonable
and just comparison. The most we can
do in this regard, is to single out some
given quality ir one, and by that stand
ard measure, the existence or non-exis-
tence OF like quality in another.
But it is not the purpose of this little
sketch to search out the various modes
of comparison or to even suggest
whose name should appear first upon
the great tablet of fame.
A great anniversary dav is here.
The hundred and one anniversary Of
Lincoln's BIRTH Such a day should
not come and go and we not pause and
take some thought if only of few of
those great qualities that we're the en-
bodiment OF mis- nature, and which
made him so masterful in that power
which sways and governs men.
Born in obscurity, look at his rise.
Untutored, unknown, friendless. save
for those savage surroundings, which
he might claim for his own, splitting
the rails to Hedge in the new posses
sion, tilling the new cleared and virgin