The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1916-09-04

American must aiW avs De- Iot "tit
he is hut What he IS That, also.
ie Of the essence OF demoerfey. and
is the moral Of which Rhis place IS
most grayely expressive
We would like to think OF men like
Lincoln and Washington as typical
Americans. but no man can be typi-
cal who is so unusual as these great
men were. II was typical Of Ameri-
car life that II should produce such
men with supreme indifference as
TO the manner in which IL produced
them. and as readily here in this hut
as amidst the little circle OF cult
waited gentlemen to whom Virginia
owed so much in leadership and eX-
ample. And Lincoln and Washing
ton were typical Americans in the
use they made of their genius. But
there will be few such men at best,
and we will not look into the mystery
Of how and why they come. We
viii only keep the door open for them
always. and a hearty welcome.-af-
tier we have recognized them.
| have read many biographies of
Lincoln: have sought out with the
greatest interest the many intimate
stories that are told of him, the mar
ratives OF nearby friends, the sketch
es at close quarters in which those
who had the privilege of being as
ISOLATED with him have tried to de-
| pict for us the man himself ''in his
habit as he lived" but | have no.
where found a real intimate OF Lin
| coins. nowhere get the impress
sion in any narrative or reminis-
cence that the writer had in fact
penetrated to the heart of his mys-
terry, or that any man could pene-
trate to the heart of it. That brood
ing spirit had no real familiars. |
get the impression that it never
/ spoke out in complete self-revela-
ton. and that it could not reveal
itself completely to anyone. II was
p very lonely spirit that looked out
| from underneath those shaggy brows
and comprehended men without
| fully communing with them, as If.
in spite OF all its genial efforts at
comradeship, ii dwelt apart, saw its
| visions of duty where no man look
| ed on. There is a very holy and
very terrible isolation for the con-
science of every man who seeks to
read the destiny in affairs for 9TH
ers as well as for himself. for a ma
| tion as well as for individuals. That
privacy no man can intrude upon.
That lonely search of spirit for the
| right perhaps no man can assist.
/ This strange child of the cabin kept
company with invisible things, was
born into no intimacy but that of
its own silently assembling and de-
veloping thought.
| ] have come here today, not to
utter eulogy on Lincoln: he stands
| in need of none, but to endeavor to
interpret the meaning of this gift to
i the nation of the place of his birth
and origin. Is not this an altar up
on which we may forever keep alive
the vestal fire of democracy as up
on a shrine at which some of the
deepest and most sccred hopes of
mankind may from age to age be re-
kindled? For these hopes must
constantly be rakindled, and only
those who live can rekindle them.
The only stuff that can retain the
life-giying heat is the stuff of living
hearts. And the hopes of mankind
cannot be kept alive by words mere
ly, by constitutions and doctrines
CT right and codes of liberty. The
object of democracy is to transmute
these into the life and action of So
ciety. the self-deniaI and self-sacri-
flee of heroic men and women will
ing to make their lives an embodi-
ment of right and service and en-
frightened purpose. The commands of
democracy are as imperative as its
privileges and opportunities are wide
and generous. Its compulsion is up
on us. 1t will be great and lift a
great light for the guidance of the
nations only if we are great and
carry that light high for the guild
ance of our own feet. We are not
worthy to stand here unless we our
selves be in deed and in truth real
democrats and servants of mankind.
ready to give our very lives for the
freedom and justice and spiritual
exaltation of the great nation which
shelters and nurtures us.