Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1914-02-20
ABRAHAM LINCOLN

The memories of many men linger
on earth after they have died. The
something which we may designate
as the living presence of most men
is lost soon after their deaths. 1t is
not so with Abraham Lincoln. There
| is belief, founded on hope, we pre-
sumo, that the souls of men, after
they have been translated, still
hover near and have their influence
upon the hearts of men. The pres
ence of the soul of Lincoln always
seems near. When high natures are
| touched and they would express
themselves, the thought instantly re-
yerts to the pathos, the power and
| the beauty in language which made
Lincoln's words a model for men to
| initiate. When a politician would
gain favor with harangue, he cites
Lincoln as the author of his idea.
All the men of his day are reced-
ing from public thought. Lincoln
holds his place, and it seems but as
yesterday when his sad face was
wont to tighten into smiles at some
mirthful words which his lips had
| framed.
The stage was being set for the
| great tragedy of modern times. Who
was to be called for the leading roll?
A rude cradle was being rocked
in the then far west. 1t was sur
rounded by squalor. The babe sleep
ing in it had no pride of ancestry to
help him. Moreover, he had not one
personal attraction to help him.
Passers-by recoiled before the pic
ture of sQualor and OF want that
wrapped that home around like a
shroud.
But the messenger sent the Fates
to select one who was to be the chief
est agent in the transform alton that
was to be, stopped, bent above that
lowly cradle-more desolate than
was the manger at Bethlehem-and
pressed the signet of immortality
upon the baby brow. Then through
the pitiless years that followed was
given the discipline, the patience, the
unostentatious valor and wisdom to
later take up the burden of a ma
ton and bear it through the anguish
and faintness and fear of a second
birth.
In the fullness of time the mighty
trial came. 1t seemed as though the
earth was being rolled up as a
scroll and the moon had turned to
blood" as though for the nation the
great angel was about to appear,
with one foot upon the sea and one
upon the dry land, to proclaim that
for the great republic time was to be
no more. There was disaster every
where, every portent was of increas-
ing sorrows, and the waves of envy
and malice and ridicule, roared
about the devoted head of the pat
lent man, while at home and abroad
the conclusion was general that the
steering gear of the great republic
was lost and the pilot was driving
the disabled great craft upon a
breaker-beaten coast.
But the storm was weathered at
last, the over-Wise ceased their bah
BILE, detraction grew ashamed; the
closing acts of the great tragedy
were revealing a sky growing clear,
the dawn of a new hope with a day
of lasting peace coming was begin
ming to warm in the east when the
dissolving view was ushered in.
1t was The saddest scene on earth
for 1900 years-the translation of
that tired soul-but above 1t a radi-
ance fingered That radiance still
remains; its divine light shines out
on every returning anniversary of
the great mans birth; 1t is filled
with pathos and with pity; but it ex-
ats Americans to contemplate it, for
1t brings back to all the truth that a
sad life is worth living, If tt is
such life as will at its close leave
an impression of splendor that all
the abrasions of the ages can not
dim.-Goodwin Weekly.