Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1915-02-13

q deep wound
Stop that man. shouted my faith
er. Booth. trained athlete that he was.
crying The South IS Avenged started
to jump from the box to the stage. but
his spur caught IN an American flag
which hung from picture of George
Washington and he fell breaking his
leg. With remarkable courage he was
able to escape across the stage and
into the darkness. but 10 days later he
was hunted down and slain The flag
was the real avenger for the crime
which had been committed
Scene of Tumult.
"A scene OF widest tumult followed
the killing, People pounded on the
door of the box but because of the
prop put there by Booth, it was several
minutes before the door could be
broken down. Look to the president
cried my father. Lincoln was then
carried TO a house across the street
and then my father tainted away
Later the president was taken to my
grandfather's and all night long my
mother watched with Mrs Lincoln
over him. Death came next morning
at 722. The silence was broken by I
Secretary Staunton who declared. /
Now he belongs to the ages
DR.. Hills theme was Abraham Lin |
coin: the Incarnation of American /
! Democracy"
"Providential men are priceless"
said DR.. Hill Their careers are the
beacons of human progress Their /
thoughts and deeds are the richest |
legacy of mankind. They are lights |
kindled upon the dome of the cen
turtles, Illuminating the mental and
moral atmosphere of the world His
tory is the story of their epochal deeds.
and civilization the heightened shadow
OF their exalted souls. Serving most,
they are the greatest. They come at
great intervals. representing vast is
sues. founding imperishable institu-
tions and welding an Unreasonable
influence. Only about once in a hun
bred years does sc ne solitary prophet
stand in our midst unannounced. pro
claim his message. fulfill his mission,
and then vanish as mysteriously as he
arrived leaving behind a memory half
mortal and half myth.
Men of Genius.
Victor Hugo says. The summit of
the human mind is the ideal TO which
God descends and man ascends.' In d
each age. three or four men OF genius {
undertake the ascent. From below.
the worlds eyes follow them. How /
small they are says the crowd. But
on they 20. by scraped cliff and yawn-
ing abyss. through storm and cloud ]
and night. until they reach the sum .
nit. where they catch great secrets
from the lips of God We must look ;
tory. = we would see them. Theirs is
a select circle of picked personalities. +
There is no primacy among them. Gen
Jus is equal TO itself. They are all /
the greatest. There is no method for 7
striking the balance between Abra- +
ham and Moses, or Homer and
or Cromwell and Wei ,
lington. or Washington and Lincoln, ?
They were providential men. +
Easy to Recognize. Il
1T is not easy to recognize a pro- i
phet. They do not wear the same 7
robe nor work in the same role. The I
sheepskin mantle of John the Baptist Il
is no more necessary TO a modern a
prophet than is the bow of Ulysses to p
a modern soldier Prophets come up t
on different missions; one as a pat a
riarch like Abraham: another as n law 4
giver like Moses; another as a war d
rior like Joshua; another as a dis I,
.urber and avenger like Elijah; an b
ether as a reformer like Luther. an $
other as a regenerator like Wesley; 4
another as a patriot like Washington. j
and another as an emancipator and i
like Lincolni Someone has a
said that a saint is a good man dead n
100 years, cannonaded then but canon Ii
zed now. II was the Galilean who jC
said. a prophet is not without honor
save in his own country This is the
history of all prophets. Stones have :,
leen their bed and bread. Lincoln was N
10 exception to the rule In his day g,
lie was slandered and maligned. criti- @,
Used and cartooned. assailed and as q,
fascinated. Thus IL has ever been. 81
Aristeides was banished because he n,
vas known as 'Aristeides the just A n
monument now stands upon the spot NJ
rom which Bruno started heavenward A
n a chariot of fire. John Bunyan II
,enned The Pilgrims Progress in a Of
dungeon. Wellington was mobbed in re
he streets of London on the annivers- re-
.ry of the Battle of Waterloo. Scipio IA
\ fracauus. who defeated Hannibal at ~
anna. was arraigned by a factiOus GO
mob and condemned to death. He re- 81
elled his accursers by reminding the ~
eople that it was an anniversary of m
he battle of Zama. and then he was sh
permitted to go into voluntary exile, ca
7here he died. III
Praised for Deed. vi
Yesterday we called Washington ey
astidious aristocrat. Lincoln A buff vi
Don. and Mckinley a designing i'm tn
erialist. Today we set those men on de
olympus with the gods and speak of tn
hem as patriots and prophets. For or
wing prophets we have epithets; for llf
cad ones epitaphs. About living
rophets We have opinions. about dead
NO. ne have indgments- bur they d.