Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1910-02-12
Lincoln; a Tribute from
Henry Watterson

From Caesar to Bismarck and Glad
stone the world mas had its soldiers
and It's statesmen, who rose to emf
nence and power steD by step through
q series Of ~arithmetical progression,
AS 1t were, each promotion following
in regular order, the whole obedient
TO well established and well understood
laws of cause and effect. These We're
not what we call "men of destiny
They were men of the time. They
We're men wnose career had q begin
ming, a middle, and an end, rounding
off "A life with a history, full, it may
be, of interesting n exciting events
but comprehensive and comprehen-
sive, simple, clear. complete.
The inspired men are fewer. Whence
their emanation, where n how they
got their power, and by what rule they
lived. moved and had their being, we
cannot see. There is no exploitation to
their lives. They rose from shadow
and they went in mist. We see them,
feel them, but we know them not.
They arrived, Gods word upon their
lips, they did their office, Gods holy
light between the world and them,
leaving behind a memory half mortal
and half myth. From first to last they
We're distinctly the creations of some
special providence, battling the wit
of man to fathom, defeating the ma
c%hinations Of the world, the flesh, and
the devil, until their work was done,
and passing from the scene as mys-
%teriously as they had come upon it;
Luther, to wit; Shakespeare, Burns,
even Bonaparte, the archangel OF war,
havoc, and ruin; not to go back into
the dark ages for example of the hand
of God stretched out to raise up, to
protect, n to cast down.
Tried by this standard, and observ- |
ed in an historic spirit, where shall
we find an illustration more impress
sive than in Abraham Lincoln, whose
life, career, n death might be chant
ed by a Greek chorus, as at once the
prelude and the epilogue of the most
imperial theme of modern times?
Born as low as the son of God in
a hovel; OF what real ~parentage we
know not; reared in penury squalor, |
with no CLEAN of light, nor fair sur
roundings, a young manhood NeXed
by weird dreams n visions, bor-
dering at times on madness: without
a grace, natural or acquired, singu-
larly awkward, ungainly, even among
the uncouth about him; grotesque IN
his aspects and ways;-it was reserved
for this strange being, late in lie,
without name or fame or preparation,
be snatched from the obscurity,
raised To supreme command at Il SUI
moment, n entrusted with
the destiny OF d nation.
The great leaders OF his party We're
to stand aside; the most exper-
ana accomplished public men
of the day-men like Seward and
Chase and Sumner. statesmen famous
and trained, were sent to the rear.
while this unknown and fantastic fig
ure was brought by unseen hands TO
he front and given the rcins OF pow
sr. 1t is inmaterial whether we be-
ieve in What he said or did, whether
are for him or against him; that
Turing four years. carrying with them
IA pressure of responsibility as
the world had never witnessed before,
filed the measure Of the vast space
allotted him in the actions OF man
kind ana in the eyes Of the world, is to
that he was inspired OF God, for
OWNER else could he have acquired
enormous equipment i~ndispensa-
Bile to the situation. |.
Where did Shakespeare get his ge-
Mus? Where did Mozart get his nu-
sic? Whose hand smote the Tyre OF
he Scottish plowman and stayed the
life Of the German priest? God alone, |
md, as surely as these were raised
ip by God, inspired of God was Abra-
nam Lincoln, and, a thousand years
hence, no story, no tragedy, no eplc
poem will be filled will greater Won
Ter than that which tells OF his HE
and death. If Lincoln was not in
;pired of God. then were not Luther, !
)r Shakespeare, or Burns. If Lincoln ,
vas not inspired Of God. then there Is
40 such thing on earth as special I
providence, or the interposition OF Dl- I
line Power in the affairs OF men, !
Henry WattcrSOn. y