Bisbee daily review., 1912-02-11
Lincoln Speeches
 andLetters
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AA the birth of Abraham
 Lincoln. With the recollec- ton of that vast volume of eulogy still fresh upon us. it may sound para doxical 10 hint that Lincoln is even now without honor in his own coun- try.
 Perhaps you have noticed that while paradoxes are not always true, as Mir. G. K. Chesterton would have us be- lieve an astonishingly large number have much truth in them. So it is with this one.
 Of course We are all able to re count anecdotes about the young rail splitter, the country storekeeper, the struggling lawyer. the stump speaker the presidential nominee, the Great Emancipator We can tell some of his own yarns and jokes. I wonder if Lincoln's habit oI joking Is not the very reason We have withheld his full need of worship. We are so prone to laugh at, as well as with, the man who seems to aim at entertain ment Let us not forget that Loncoln's stories and masterly funning were only escape valves for his feelings. We'll. all these superficial things. I say, we know and appreciate, to be l sure; we listen to little sermons on ! qualities" that he is said to have : possessed; VIC have heroic half mys- 7 tical notions about him; he has be- i come a myth. But do we know his ! words? Have we drunk his bottom 1 less wisdom? Are we vaccinated by !, the Lincoln literature against cant and cowardice?
 The man, statesman, martyr. Is writ ten in letters so large that 10 many it i may seem anti-climax 10 turn to the smaller print and read Lincoln, the writer of letters and maker of speech es. Yet here I venture that he is no less great No real man of letters is a mere man of letters. You and I and all sensible people have no o-patience with the man who writes or talks, not because he must, but because he can The writer who has no purpose in writing other than literary style may not be az obnoxious as some other ' psrasites, but his importance in the real world of victory and defeat is certainly represented by a minus sign. Lincoln is one of the for tunate few whose genius kept pace on all sides.
 Loyal Americans have perhaps beer too close to the massive features o their hero 10 admire sufficiently hii xymmetry. The colossal effect ha! blinded us to some of the colossal de l tails. The British have done better. understand that one and only on' l specimen of American orstory is pro nounced perfect at Oxford universit! and studied with loving care. O course this is the Gettysburg speech | q know there are good reasons wh. EngIishnen dislike the speeches O John Adams and Patrick Henry, bu their judgment is right in this case despite their prejudice) Nc nor nearly perfect utteTance ever issue from the mouth of man.
 More or less homage. certainly. ha been paid to the Gettysburg sddres; I That government of the people. b | the people, for the people. shall nc
 perish from the earth" Is becomin
 the slogan of a newly awakene
 America in her battle against brine
 palities and powers" The second il
 augural address also, ssd the Coope
 institute speech with It's famous en'
 ing.
 aI.et US have faith that makes righ | and in that faith let us to the end dai
 10 do our duty as we understand it-'
 are fairly well known by name, an
 sometimes read.
 But there are so many wise, tende I magnificent things from the pen (
 Lincoln, which, though they are wit
 in the reach of all, remain practical
 unread. We doff our hats to ther
 when they are referred to, and tai
 them as a matter of course. Matte