Yerington times. [volume] (Yerington, Nev.) 1907-1932, 1914-02-14
LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY.

AS years pass we are getting moro
in the habit of looking backward, and
with increasing love think of the beau
ties of the life and example of the
greatest Amercan-Lincoln We arc
taking an ever-increasing interest If
the rude log cabin in which was borr
the one that will ever be an idol oil
every true citizen Of this Republic
Every event connected with his life
is growing in interest. We enjoy
reading of his childhood, plentifully
blessed with poverty; of the days
when he first went to school, and Of
his obtaining his first great treasure
"The Life of Washington then OF
his strugles-mental and physical
with the rough conditions and asso-
Citations; then of his acquisition OF
Shakespeare, and how sacredly he
cared for his books What lesson
is here for our school children in
their luxuriously furnished school
nished, but so little appreciated and
SO often abused.
No American home can be complete
without copy of the life, and a por
trait of the face-so full of quaint hui
NOR, yet at the same time showing
the traces of infinite sorrow and suf-
fering and pity. For every country
or every race is given hero who
stands out as the ideal Of that com
try or race, but Lincoln is the hero
ideal of all countries and all races.
Through the awful years of the
Great Struggle" when his shoulders
carried the sorrows of the sufferings
of the millions, when one day his heart
bled for the men in the trenches and
the next day ached for friends turned
stopping against the advice and brav-
ing the anger of his generals) to write
a reprieve for some soldier who was
by the stern laws of military discipline
condemned to execution, never for A
moment did he waver in his duty as
a servant of the people.
Then, when the war was over, we
get glimpse of his great soul, try
ing to shield Lee and Johnston and
the other brave leaders of tie South
from indignity that would cause pain
to their broken hearts, and to cement
the sundered bonds of brotherhood,
ordering the Marine band to play
Dixie Next came his plan of re
construction, and taking the fallen
men, and instead of hic jacet, said
Come, let us help you to build a
greater, grander country in the South
than you ever dreamed Of" and this
he would have done had he lived a
few years longer, for he already fore
saw the antagonisms of the races and
was planning to overcome it, and had
already enioined Stoddard to see that
the black man was given the franchise
and be taught its value.
Then came the human speech that
will one day outshine the Gettysburg
address: MARY, we have had hard
time of it since we came to Wash
ington. but the war is over, and with
Gods blessing we may hope for four
years of peace and happiness, and then
we will go back to Illinois and pass
the rest of our lives in quiet We have
laid by some money, and during this
term we will try and save up more,
but we will not have enough to sup
port us. We will go back to Illinois and
I will open up law Office at Spring
field or Chicago and practice law, and
at least do enough to help give us a
livelihood"
We talk of the old Roman return
ing to his pillow, but the Roman never
saw real war, nor had he to make
laws for people torn asunder by really
civic strife, nor to reunite human par
ticles so completely shattered. Nor
have we yet learned to appreciate the
enormity of this task Nor will we,
until the centuries have melted into
the ages. when another Homer will be
born endowed with the genius TO sing
the Story of Lincoln-The Greatest
American.