The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-02-14
E. n. DILLON e. co,

son was as great an element of char
acter as was handed down to any
man.
Thomas was a pioneer in Ken
courage that it is possible to con-
ceive. He met his death forcing his
way through the American wilderness.
He was shot and scalped by the In
dams. Lincoln's father has been
commonly represented as a weak type
than stand upon his own feet. But
his boyhood was passed in the same
scenes which required that great fac
ulty Of strength to Withstand and the
strength to wrest ones existence from
nature herself. He married Nancy
coin. who was Of the same sturdy
stock.
Take the president Of Yale Uni
versity and drop him down in the
wilderness and he would agree that
there are two kinds OF education.
brings the brains Of men to work out
an existence. Both are elements of
power.
ut was not the Incidence Of Thomas
Lincoln that caused him to leave Ken
lucky for Indiana. He was a poor
he would have had to compete with
slaves. There is nothing strange In
the fact that he sold his farm for 20
barrels Of whiskey and $40 In money.
Whiskey was a medium Of exchange
in those days. So Lincoln possessed
of character and power.
Ancestry does not necessarily ex-
press elements of weakness or of
power. If some scientists were to be
anything in this world but good an
cestors. Those Of good ancestry
would be constantly Improving and
those Of bad ancestry would constantly
be getting worse. There would be a
yawning chasm between the two. The
exercise of free will makes a man
what he is here and what he is here
after.
eff there Is anything that is dis
tasteful to me it is to think that I am
a mere pawn in the game and my
destination is planned before me.
OF men. Men are the masters Of their
own future. Let no man say that
others wealth or property are factors
in determining a mans greatness.
Lincoln was made out of the same
clay as you are. It is to his honor
same material that other human be-
ings are made of. It was due only
to his own efforts that he reached the
position that he did.
There has been an effort made TO
place Lincoln on a higher plane than
the average man. Historians have
tried to tell us that Oliver Cromwell
was all angel except the wart on his
face and the hat on his head, and
they have tried to do the same thing
with Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was
great by the greatness Of his effort.
Everything in Lincoln's life was the
result Of his own toll. If Lincoln was
governed by the supernatural he
would not be an example for other
mans life. He was not a child of
fate as to opportunities. In the age
Of problems there were never greater
opportunities for good men than there
ase today. We can see on every hand
the need Of good men. Corruption In
civic and national life sends up the
cry for Moses. The cry is for a
righteous stand for man who will
not sell his vote or buy his brothers
eff there is anything that should
inspire us it is the vision presented to
us here tonight by our brother (Mr
Hilton.) Lincoln was the greatest
American who ever lived"
The POSTMASTER of the evening was
Senator Frederick A. Bartlett. There
were $50 present. Patriotic songs
were sung and music was furnished
by Jerome Mays orchestra.