The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1913-09-01
YATES SPEAKS ON
LINCOLN LESSONS
Delightful and Instructive
Lecture By Former Illi-
nois Governor.
KNEW HIM AS A BOY
When Yates Father Was War
Governor of Illinois
large Audience
KNEW HIM AS A BOY

Yates, of Illinois, yesterday afternoon
at the Chautauqua grounds The faith
er of Mr. Yates, being war governor of
the same state, was thrown in close
personal contact with the martyred
president, which gave the speaker an
opportunity to draw upon a store of
"reminiscences that were almost per
sonal in character. A very large crowd
heard the lecture.
81 do not think for one moment that
] am big enough a man to talk to
you this afternoon on Abraham Lin
coln," began Mr. Yates, $50 ! will sim
ply content myself with discussion
of some of the lessons that we derive
from study of his life
Recalls Stirring Days.
Il come to talk to you of the deeds
of this great man with memories of
my childhood days in the executive
mansion of Illinois, when regiment
after regiment and brigade after brig
ade marched into the yard of the
state house, with colors flying, to be
sent Immediately to the front. Then
in a few days would come back to my
father terse telegram telling of some
great battle, with so many Illinois
regiments participating, and so many
killed and missing.
During these times my father
walked the floor night after night
Every few days there came an order
from the national government that the
state of Illinois should sent an addi-
tional quota of men to fight for the
union. And SO great was the patriot
ism of the men of Illinois that $1,000
troops were raised in thirty-eight days
at a time when the state was well
nigh drained of men. THE flag, the
flag was all that you could hear talked
about. No one had time for discus
sion of such trivial topics as the in
ltiative, the referendum and the re-
call. 1t is with thoughts such as these
in mind that 1 come to talk to you of
Lincoln.
Our Heroes All Human.
Il 1.-THE most interesting attribute of
the great men of our country is the
fact that they were intensely human.
While sometimes we are tempted to
look upon Washington as a sort of a
demigod, he was real flesh and blood
In ten years and gave a coward a
mans sized cursing at Monmouth.
am glad that it was so. 1t makes him
less remote.
THE great Lincoln was severely
handicapped with bashfulness. In his
young manhood he proposed to four
girls, two of whom rejected him. And
Ann Rutledge, to whom he gave his
full measure of devotion, died, leaving
him desolate and almost insane. And
while he eventually married Nancy
Todd and made her model husband,
his after life was greatly shaped by
the memories of Ann Rutledge. 1t
was the mental picture of her grave
that steeled his tender heart so that
he could send thousands of men down
into the valley of death.
He Knew His People.
Had Lincoln lived, there would have
been none of the wearisome problems
of reconstruction, and there would
never have BEEN a carpet-bagger in
the south. By reason of his birth he
was in Position 70 understand and sym
pathize with the downtrodden people
Lincoln was a prince of orators
Since the Sermon on the Mount, there
has been no public address to compare
with the Gettysburg speech. 1t was
so great that it needed no embellish
ment, all short words, almost pure
Anglo Saxon, and so simple that a
child could understand it.
He was a knight of disappointment
orphaned at an early age, with crav
ing for books and no means to salts
fly it. One business enterprise after
another in which he embarked result
ed in dismal failures. Until he was
elected to congress he was pressed
by debts, and once saw some of his
property sold under the sheriff's ham
mer Yet this debt that dragged him
down amounted to only S1,100.
He Was Misunderstood.
He had the misfortune to be mis-
understood, as few men are ever mis-
understood. He was defeated for of
flee because his constituency was leaC
to believe that he was the candidate
of wealth, of family pride and of the
money powers. l know that some o
the deepest disappointments of his life
resulted from his defeat for office fol
these reasons. l know that Lincoln
once wanted to go to congress worse
than he ever desired to become presi
dent. From a study of the life of thi:
man, I have come to believe that Goo
anflicted these disappointments upo1
him that He might prepare him fol
greater things.
He was champion of the Al
mighty Bob Ingersoll said otherwise
but letters that Lincoln wrote prov,
that he was deeply religious man. Tx
add to these qualities, he was neve
pessimist, but always looked for
ward trustingly to the time when RICH
should triumph"
Owing to the fact that the speake
of the day was late in arriving, tn,
program for the afternoon wa
switched about and the Kellogg Haine
Singing party gave a full concert a
o'clock instead of appearing on tn,
stage twice during the afternoon.
The first part of the musical pro
gram consisted of a short sacred con