Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-06-02
dered by the Fifty-fourth regiment

dered by the Fifty-fourth regiment
band
D. H. Emery chairman of the day,
stated the object of the gathering anu
opened the program which was
featured by masterful address Dy
Hon. w. A. Work, that held undls-
tracted the attention of all WITHIN
hearing CT his voice. A selection by
the band opened the program after
which Rev-B. F. Patt, pastor OF the
First Baptist church delivered the In
vocation asking the blessing of 'God
on all present and upon the oDserv-
ance of the day. Following the In"
vocation Comrade w. w. Cory was
called on for an address but gracefully
withdrew from a speech of length by
giving way in a neat and compliment
cry introduction to Comrade w. A.
Work.
Mr.. Works Address
The burden of the speakers talk
was Abraham Lincoln and his treat
ment of his subject was happily ap-
preciated by the veterans about MIN.
He said:
When President Lincoln delivered
his speech in dedicating the field OF
Gettysburg as a memorial to the valor
of the American soldiers, there was
vast panorama of the scenes of his
tory before his mind. Fifty centuries
of the dramas and tragedies Of man
kind was enacted, like procession be-
fore him. When he uttered that SEN
tence -Four score and seven years ago
our fathers founded upon this contln-
ent nation. conceived in liberty and
dedicated to the proposition that all
men are created equal he realized
that nothing like it had ever existed
among the varied institutions Of men
before. Governments had always ex-
listed but they had been founded upon
the proposition that the strong had the
right to govern and control, and ex-
plot the weak. That those may take
who can, that kings had. proclaimed
they ruled by rights divine, that the
only limitations on human greed was
human weakness. To the mind OF
Abraham Lincoln the government
founded by our fathers marked new
and distinct era in the institutions OF
of men, and the declaration of indie
pendence was the proclamation of a
new and higher destiny for mankind,
and in his inimitable speech ne
'denominated it "a government of the
people. by the people and for the peo-
ple.' Inc American union was IHe
ship which bore the precious freight
Of the hopes of mankind. The winds
were then blowing upon that sea and
flashing it to fury. The lightning was
then flashing about its masts, threat
ening it with wreckage and destruc-
ton. If that attempt at free govern
ment should fail-if the experiment OF
our fathers, made at such dreadful
cost, should be Intellectual, the disaster
would be irretrievable. The triumph
of the Union army with Abraham Lin
coin was a secondary consideration
He was the statesman of humanity, the
patriot of the world. In the preserva-
ton Of the union. was involved Repub-
/ ican institutions. and with 1t the des-
tiny of the races of men. All TINS Is
implied and imported in his ded1ca
tory speech at Gettysburg. He had IN
his minds eye 5000 years Of the strug:
giles and expressions Of an enslaveo
humanity, the blight of hopes, the
suppression of rising aspirations. He
had in mind that a kindly providence
was holding in reservation continent
across the sea unstained and untarn-
ished by the civilizations of the ole
world, as a place Of refuge. He saw Il
revealed in the fullness of time. He
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