Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-02-14

| nj, his eye never dimmed, his judgment
never wavered and he never faltered
| in his work He brushed aside the poll
tician and went straight to the people
and took them by the hand and talk
ed with them face to face. and ex-
planned his every plan and purpose
with such evident sincerity and wis
| dom that he gained their confidence
to an extraordinary degree and bound
| them to him with hooks of steel
If Abraham Lincoln had done Moth
ing else bat denver his wonderful
speech at Gettysburg, he would have
ranked among the immortals The
words re uttered on that occasion,
without a peer in modern language
ard which breathe a purer love OF
| country than can be found in the
| words of any other known man. will
go dcwr through the ages as a master
piece of thought and will live in the
hearts Of the American people until
| memory lends its gracious light no
moro.
When he proclaimed above the sleep
| ing heroes OF Gettysburg "a govern
ment of the people, by the people. and
| for the people," h" sounded forth an
endless jubilee that has echoed and re-
echoed through the world till the peo-
pIc Of every kindred and tongue have
| heard tic glad tidngs and human slav-
erv has been branded as crime. and
outlawed Nv all the civilized nations
OF the earth.
Step by step Abraham Lincoln walk
ed before the people, their true repre-
sentative If ever he was slow in move
mert it was because the pulse of the
people beat slowly. He quickened his
step to theirs. If ever man was tried
by fire it was Abraham Lincoln.
SANDER, ridicule, resistance did their
best, but all his life strange future
attended him and led him on
| When lis armies We're pushed back
until they built their campfires under
the very shadow of the Capitol and the
shin of state rocked in the trough of
the waves of the troubled sea, called
Civil War and social revolution, he
stood firm and strong at the helm with
calm unwaverng trust in God; and the
faith of soldiers in him was just as
unfaltering.
| During the four years of battle and
strife his endurance was unbounded
his courage undaunted. Through his
humanity and largeness of soul,
through his benevolence and justice he
lmeted out to others as he would have
them give to him, a practical eXemplif-
cation of the Golden Rule. He was the
| grand heroic figure. the center of all
hone and toward him were turned the
eyes and hearts of all who love their
country.
| Wei do I remember that fearful
morning Of April Is, 1865. when the
news of Lincoln's assassination fash
| ed across the wires of the civilized
world coming at season prosperous
to the arms of the Union, like a de-
structive thunderbolt hurled from a
clear and unpromising sky, shaking
the social system of the country with
the terrible tidings, until all loyal
hearts were filled with a dreadful sus-
pense which made men tremble with
tie nalsv of direful forcbodings; and
even the South, till then SO embittered
in the despair of threatened defeat, lift
ed up hands in horror, fearing the re-
suit Of such q useless deed of murder.
| Among our Union forces where | was
lencamped at Terre Bonnie La, on the
| me or lHe tTtI ol'CiptSe'Si iSeliii oet,''
now the Southern Pacific, the news
produced an effect it would be mpos-
sblc to describe with business at this
date or to have graphically delineated
at the time. For moment great
Feeling of oppression weighed down
personality and everything around us;
| the very canebrakes on the border of
| the nayous appeared to join in the mel
ancholv of the hour and. as it were, as
sumed a most dismal appearance, while
| the overhanginS moss upon the live
oaks and magnolias seemed to shed
| their greensh- gray hue and don
| sonbre shade and additional length of
| natural drapery, trailing to the very
earth like natures veil of mourning for
| the martyred President. For the time.
chaos of thought and condition took
precedence of military order and du
| ties. Drills and other exercises were
susoended. To us the whole earth was
at a standstil; man looked at man
with that silent questioning in which
souls talk to each other without the
| aid of speech. 1t seemed as if a terri
BILE lightning shaft had struck our
Camp in front and rear. and in falling
| had ceared us all intellectually and
physically both officers and enlisted
| men speaking in whispers when con-
versinG. Even our appetites were gone
the food remaining untouched upon
| the mess tables of the officers and in
the company kitchens. Men turned
away, with trembling lips and moisten-
| ed eyes from their rations.
| Eut when the news was fully con-
frmed ana the horrible details reached
| us in full. the colored troops of one of
| the detachmcnts became almost frantic
| and unmanageabe in their despair.
Great lamentations in company quar-
tiers ensued, during which means and
| PRAYERS of the most heart-renderlng
| pathos followed each other and with a
sincerity of utterance which no one
could hear unmoved; for those men
| somehow seemed to think that in the
death of Lincoln their freedom was IN
| jeopardy if not entirely lost SO long as
| he lived they believed their freedom
| safe: hence, with the positive news OF
| his assassination their hopes of liber-
! tv after the war became, for the mo-
| oil nd SppmiDglE