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

/ has risen in our midst and blinded our
| eyes with the brilliancy OF his achieve
ments-a man in whom the great
qualities blended like the cOmmingling
of many streams-patience without
Incidence; meeIsness without stupid
| ty; courage without rashness; caution
without fear; justice without vindic-
tiveness; piety without pretention;
reason without inhdeiity; and faith
without superstition - elements so
mixed in him that great nature might
stand up and say, This is a man"
Aye. and such a man that Taken all IN
all. We shall not see his like again."
Lincoln Fathomless Sea.
1T is difficult to analyze the charac-
ter of Abraham Lincoln. The sound
ings of a fathomless sea cannot be
taken. We can only catalogue his
leading characteristics. In mind. prac-
teal reason; in viii, frmness; in
maraI nature. integrity; in religious
nature. loyal TO duty; in emotional
nature, love of family, fidelity to
friends and sympathy with humanity;
in faith. New Testament Christianity;
in manner. simplicity; in bearing, dig
nifty: in scholarship, mastery of Eng
lish and of statecraft; in the abiding
motive for action, patriotism; IN pOise,
absolute courage; in general makeup.
preternatUraI endurance. and in all
things a man. There was nothing
artificial about him. He had no uni
form for state occasions. II was his
desire to seem TO be what he was and
TO be what he was willing to seem 10
T. sim ra1a nj a u
STRAIGHTFORWARD. outs Oken, generous
Abraham Lincoln, honest in thought,
honest in heart, honest in life. tower
ing in the greatness OF his integrity
above the baser instincts and lower
motives of life. clothed in the simple
light of sincerity and crowned with the
jewels OF exalted manhood.
Had Common Sense.
'EIis genius was that of common .
sense: common sense in action, COM
mon sense in thought. common sense +
enriched by experience and unhind-
cred by fear. He was a common man,
expanded into the proportions OF .
giant. He came up from the common
people and was loved and honored by
them With a devotion rarely bestowed
upon mortal man. And all this WIS so
American. so instructive and iilustra-
tive of the realities and potencies
Of American democracy. Why, it
really seems as if the angel OF Amer
IAN democracy had with set purpose
fashioned the child, the boy and the Z
,outh. so that when he should be
come his country's hero. taking his ,
stand upon the lofty pedestal of histo- ,
v to receive for ages the homage of
he civilized world, the majestic figure
should stand forth as the supreme in
,arnation of Americas social insti- Z
utions. And there he stands today, s
With democracy stamped upon his S
very feature, saturating his speech, j
-ibrant IN his every act, so democratic ]
hat America can % more forget {
democracy than it can tear to pieces {
he most glorious pages of its history :
II buy in Oblivion him whom its very S
lfe forbids 1t to forget. d
What Flag Means. 7
And so, in the order of Divine
there comes strange,
autastic. grotesque man from the tan Z
led forests of the frontier, who strobe v
poa the stage with the air Of q Colos-
US. in whose presence the most con j
picuous men of the time faded into h
insigniicance. while he e
the glory Of American ?
manhood and by his devotion 20 the p
lag of representative democracy, Sc u
ured and guaranteed the perpetuity Of Z
ne meaning and mission OF that flag.
nd what a glorious flag ii is The S
az of Washington, Jefferson and il
hamilton, the flag of Lincoln and a
rant and Cleveland and Mckinley, in q
"a ample folds of which is written y
re story OF our nations greatness. n
is no gala day banner. but 2 solemn e
gnal. the symbol of national authori- n
2. 1t means all that our civilization Il
.eans. that the school house is the h
nlwark OF American liberty. the bal J;
L box the ark OF American patriot
m. and the home the cornerstone
{ American civilization. It means Z