Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-09-04
.LTNCOLN'S BIRTH
PLACE ACCEPTED
FOR THE NATION
President Wilson Receives
Gift Of Stately Memorial
and Park
ANALYzEs EMANC1PAToR

HoDGENSvILLE, KY, Sept. "A little
Kentucky farm of rock-ribbed soil and
"crawhsh land" became nations shrine
,oday whom President Wilson accepted on
behalf of the people of the United States
tbe memorial park into which the birth
Mace OF Abraham Lincoln has been trans
formed.
The address of President Wilson was de-
iIvered to an audience of several thousand,
THE PRESIDENTS ADDRESS.
President Wilson drew a wonderful pic
ture of the great emancipation In his short,
carefully prepared speech. He said:
ANo more significant memorial could have
been presented to the nation than this 1t
expresses SO much of what Is singular and
noteworthy in the history of the country /:
Il suggests SO many of the things that we
prize most highly in our life and in our
eystem OF government, How eloquent this
little house within this shrine is Of the vlgor
Of democracy There is nowhere In the
land any home so remote 80 humble. that
II may not contain the power of mind and
heart and conscience to which nations yield
and history submits it's processes. Nature
pays no tribute to aristocracy, subscribes
10 no creed of caste, renders fealty to no
monarch or master of any name or kind.
Genius is no snob. 1t does not run after
titles or seek by preference the high circles
OF society. 1t affects humble company as
we'll as great 1t pays no special tribute
10 universities or learned societies or con-
yentional standards of greatness. but
serenely chooses its own comrades, its own
haunts, its own cradle even, and its own
life of adventure and of training. Here Is
proof of It. This little hut was the cradle
Of one OF the great sons of men. a man OF
singular. delightful, vital genius who pres
emily emerged upon the great stage of the
nations history, gaunt, shy. ungainly, but
dominant and majestc, n natural ruler of
men. himself inevitably the central figure
af ha M n 20 IN in
but every man can see how 1t demonstrates
the vigor of democracy. where every door
is open, in every hamlet and countryside,
In city and wilderness alike, for the ruler
TO emerge when he will and claim his lead
ershlp In the free life. Such are the au-
thentic proofs of the validity and vitality
Of democracy.
MYSTERY OF DEMOCRACY.
Here, no less. hides the mystery of
democracy. Who shall guess this secret
of nature and providence and a free polity?
Whatever the vigor and vitality of the
stock from which he sprang. its mere vlgor
and soundness do not explain where this
man got his great heart that seemed to
comprehend all mankind in its catholic and
benignant sympathy. the mind that sat
throned behind those brooding, melancholy
eyes, whose vision swept many an horizon
which those about him dreamed not Of
that mind that comprehended what 1t had
never seen and understood the language
of affairs with the ready ease of one to the
manner born-or that nature which seemed
In its varied richness to be the familiar OF
men of every way of life This is the
sacred mystery of democracy. that Its rich
est fruits spring up out of soils which no
man has prepared and in circumstances
amidst which they are the least expected.
This is n place alike of mystery and of re-
assurance.
Here Lincoln had his beginning. Here
the end and consummation of that great life
seem remote and bit Incredible And yet
there was no break anywhere between be-
ginning and end. no lack of natural Sc
quence anywhere. Nothing really lncred-
ible happened. Lincoln was unaffectedly
as much at home in the White House as
he was here Do you share with me the
feepg l wonder, that he was permanently
at home nowhere? 1t seems to me that in
the case of a mani would rather say of
a spirit-like Lincoln the question tohers he
was Is of little Significance. that II is al
ways tohdt he was that really arrests our
thought and takes hold of our imagination.
UNUSUAL. NOT TYPICAL.
I'VE would like to think of men like
Lincoln and Washington as typical Ameri-
cans, but no man can be typical who Is so
unusual as these great men were. 1t was
typical of American life that it should pro-
duce such men with supreme indifference
as to the manner in which It produced them.
and as readily here in this hut as amidst
the little circle of cultivated gentlemen to
whom Virginia owed so much in leadership
and example. 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 will only keep the door open
for them always, and1a hearty welcome
after we have recognized them.
That brooding spirit had no real IA
milars. 1 get the impression that 1t never
spoke out in complete self-revelatiOn. and
that II could not reveal itself completely
to any one. 1t was a very lonely spirit
that looked out from underneath those
shaggy brows and comprehended men with
out fully communing with them, as if in
spite of all its genial efforts at comrade-
ship, 1t dwelt apart, saw its visions of duty
where no man looked on. There is very
holy and very terrible Isolation for the
conscience OF every man who seeks to read
the destiny in affairs for others as we'll as
for himself, for nation as we'll as for in
diVlduals. That privacy no man can in
trude upon. That lonely search OF the
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 deploying thoughts
NO NEED OF EULoGY
And the hopes OF mankind cannot be kept
alive by words merely. by constitutions
and doctrines OF right and codes OF liberty
The object OF democracy is TO transmute
these into the life and action OF society
the self-denlal and self-sacrihce Of heroic
men and women willing to make their
lives an embodiment OF right and service
and enlightened purpose The commands
Of the democracy are as imperative as its
privileges and opportunities are wide and
generous. Its compulslon Is upon us. 1t
will be great and lift a great light for the
guidance Of the nations only IL we are
great and carry that light high for the
guidance OF cur own feet. We are not
worthy 10 stand here unless we ourselves
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 ma
tion which shelters and nurtures u.s."
PRESIDENTS RETINUE
The special train. with the President ana
his party aboard, left Washington Sunday
ana proceeded without a stop to Hodgen-
Vile, the county seat OF Larue County, Ia
which the farm Is located. Accompanying,
the President on the special were Mrs
Wilson, Mrs. Helen Woodrow Bones
the Presidents cousin; Joseph Tumulty
4Ea. r.