Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-06-01

Liberties. 1t never halted to think or
Concord and lexington; of Valley
Forge and Bunker Hill: that these
men were the sons of those sires who
resisted the CALLING yoke of Great
Britain. Had the slave power harked
back, ii would have seen at once that
all down through past ages men lad
been continually sacrificing for princt-
pie, until the concrete conscience of
the world had come to recognize right,
rather than might as a matter of prin-
ciple. and hence with its limited per
ception the South rashly invited trial
of strength which began at Sumpter.
and ended at Appomatix, with COM
plete victory for the right; RELOCATING
to the dead yesterdays that relic of
savagery, human slavery. 1t is said
that a Confederate colonel after re-
turning from the Civil War with his
war worn and defeated veterans. was
twtted of the fact that four years
earlier he had boosted that he and his
men could lick the YANKEES with pop
guns. so We could" said the colonel
stoutly, but the Yankees wouldn't
fight that way"
This anecdcte illustrates in a way
the Souths estimate of the North in
1861, but which was destroyed by those
four years of rugged conflict, and If to-
day a son of the Southland should
be asked if the men of the North pos
sessed courage he would point to Get
tysburg and Shiloh, to the Wilderness
and Petersburg and say, Look at the
graves on those blood stained fields in
which lie the ashes of $4,000 of the
boys in blue, there you will find your
answer.
No men in all history ever faced
graver responsibilities than did the
federal army of 81, and no army ever
acquitted itself more nobly. To the
Englishman who proudly points at Ba-
lalllava, l will tell the story of Get
tysburg and Little Round Top; to the
German who tells of Sedan, will tell
of Petersburg, and to the Frenchman
who tells of the glory of Austerlitz,
will tell the story of the Wilderness
and characteristics. Yes! for every
deed of valor they may tell, 1 will
furnish a parallel, for history doth
not bear record of more glorious sacri-
fees and heroic achievement than
were made by the soldiers of the Civil
War. And right here let me say that
complete which does not include the
unselffsh devotion and courage of the
women of that epoch. Not only on the
battlefield and N hospital were her
soft ministrations manifest. but moth
ers gave their sons to the cause OF
freedom: wives sacrificed upon their
country's altar the partner of their
Joys and sorrows, and young maidens
Al, orb a RI
crept and fingered sent to the battle
front all that life held dear for them,
and while you comrades were at the
front fighting the battles for freedom
and equal rights, these mothers ana
wives and maidens were back there IN
the old home keeping their lonely Wig
il and waiting for the end, and oh, so
many of them waited until hope lay
dead and despair became an inmate oil
the heart, waiting, vainly waiting, ana
crying out in their anguish, "Oh Tor
the touch of a vanished hand, and the
sound of voice that IS still All
honor and praise and reverence to the
women of 81.
While the Civil War was an enor-
nous waste of blood and treasure, yet
it developed manhood as such crises
always do.
II was no army of dudes that
marched down into the southland in
81. but an army of strong. self-re-
liant men with set purpose, ready te
sacrifice life for principle if needs be.
But for the Civil War. history would
not have discovered Meade and Shef-
man, Sheridan, Hancock and Grant as
great war generals. 1t required just
such crisis as that to develop the
latent powers which these men pos
sessed but in the galaxy of great men
of that epoch, there is one name that
stands pre- eminently above all others,
a name around which for four years
clustered the hopes and fears OF eN-
cry loyal American. A name that VIII
be honored loved and revered so long
as this nation shall endure; the name
of the matchless Lincoln. What a
name to conjure with. Abraham Lin
coin, the poor student reading Coke
and Blackstone by the light OF his
pitch knot; Abraham Lincoln the hon
est practitioner of law; Abraham Lin
coin the matchless debater who over
whelmed the brilliant Douglass with
the strength Of his logic in that his
toric debate of SO: Abraham Lincoln,
the great President; Abraham Lincoln,
the martyr, and when l think of his
tragic death, there comes to my mind
those lines of that Martyred One of
1900 years ago who bore the cross on
Calvary:
"Where today the martyr stands,
Tomorrow crouches Judas with the sill
yer in his hands.
Far ahead the cross stands ready and
cracking faggots burn,
While the hooting mob of yesterday In
silent awe return
To gather up the scattered ashes into
history's golden urn"
No character in history has possess
ed truer greatness than Abraham
Lincoln. Simple and unostentatious
and with a fine sense of humor, yet
never frivolous or wanting in that
dignity that always commands re-
spect. Cool. calm and analytical in
Judgment, yet never vacillating nor
indirect in approaching conclusions.
Intensely human and large hearted
vet always weighing justice with a
perfect balance. Deeply religious yet
caring nothing for the outward forms
of religion; in short, he combined
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