The National tribune., 1911-02-16
Just Do Me A Good Turn
The Aston House to Go.

1t is said that the Astors will have
to give up the old Aston House, which
is the oldest and most prominent of
possessions. There is scheme on
foot to build tri-borough subway
under New York, and it will go under
the Astor House. The foundations of
this old hotel are not secure enough
without a subway underpinning. and
for this reason IL will be necessary to
abandon the old structure If the sub
way goes through. This is suggestive
just at this time when practically the
whole civilized world has been thinking
Of the Birthday of Lincoln, and calls
to mind the fact that Lincoln, to use
his own words. put up" at the Aston
House at the time that he made his
great speech at Cooper Union. Lincoln
at that time was not a name TO con-
jure with. While he had made good
as q lawyer and had successfully met
Douglas upon the hastings in their
hard fought campaign, winning the
people though losing the Senatorshfp,
he was yet untried as National figure
1t is well remembered yet the impress
sion that Lincoln made at the Aston
House when he appeared there. His
long, lean. addressed body, his I'M
kernpt hair, his homely and unprepos-
sessing face-each and all of these
seemed to count against him with the
throng of people who had gathered to
hear him. An invitation had been ex-
tended to Lincoln to speak in the
Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, of
which Henry Ward Beecher was pas
tor. Lincoln had accepted the invi-
tation and had entered the East for
the first time in so doing. For some
reason or other instead of speaking in
Brooklyn, the place was changed to
Cooper Union, then probably the larg-
est hall in the United States. He was
presented to the audience by James
Cullen Bryant, the editor and poet, and
there sat upon the platform some of
the greatest scholars and critics in the
whole world. While at the Aston
House. before going to Cooper Union,
Lincoln's personal appearance and his
old-fashioned use Of many words had
brought forth adverse criticism. Many
people who heard that speech in
Cooper Union have now Joined the
innumerable throng on the other shore
But they did not pass away until they
had given utterance to the feelings
that overpowered them, before the
great Lincoln had concluded that great
est of all his speeches. Many of them
had come to scoff, only to leave the
building loving the man who was to
become the savior of the Nation A
newspaper man who sat upon that plat
form has said that he was grievousIy
disappointed when he looked upon
Lincoln when he rose to speak, as there
could be applied to him, as he bowed
to the audience, not one single attri-
butte OF the orator. The writer then
said. "as Lincoln went on with his
speech. his face lighted as with an in
ward fire, and the whole man was
TRANSPORTED" He said that very soon
he forgot himself and was on his feet
with the crowd yelling like wild In
dian, cheering this man. In the clos
ing parts of his argument you could
hardly hear his voice, and when he
reached the climax the thunder of ap-
plause was terrific. 1t was a great
speech. When 1 came out of the hall,
my face aglowing with excitement and
my frame all aquiver, a friend of mine
with his eyes aglow, asked me what III
thought of Abe Lincoln. the rail split
ter, and l said 'he seemed the greatestl
man since Saint Paul and I think sol
yet" 1t is sad to think that land
marks connected with the greatest of
the worlds men must be wiped out by
advancing civilization. But though the
Astor House may go. and the place
where 1t once stood be no more remem-
bered, the fame of Lincoln is as last !
ing as the glory of the sun.