Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1917-02-13
.wITH MALICE TOWARD NONE. ;

Yesterday was observed In many
places throughout the United states
as Lincoln's birthday, and encon-
iums were pronounced upon the war
President in many places IN the
south as well as in the north.
over half century has elapsed
since Abraham Lincoln was shot
down by an assassin in Washington o..
theatre at a time when the entire
land was rejoicing that the cruel war
was at last over and that issues
which had beset the country since the
davs of George Washington had been
virtually settled.
AS might have been expected
there was still bitter blood south OF
Mason and Dixon'S line. Ideals re-
garded as sacred by those who had
worn the gray had been thrust aside,
but they were still cherished and the
principles for which they commended
were never
Richmond, the former capital OF
the Southern Confederacy was rabld.
MANY cx-Confederates continued to
wear the gray, and had any native
and to the manner born the temerlty
to have uttered anything commend
able towards the man then occupying
the Presidential chair, while he would
not have been tarred and feathered,
such An individual would doubtless
have been ostracised.
But times change and people
change with them. Nearly ifty-one
years have passed away since those
unsettled times.N Lincoln has been
studied and has become better I'M
derstood, and the fact that Rich.
mond paper contained his picture
upon it's first page yesterday shows
the change which has come over our
dreams since reconstruction days.
The line under the picture contains
the words at the head of this article
with Malice Toward None"
A study of the life of Abraham
Lincoln is not only interesting but
instructive, especially to those who
were cotemporaneous with him. The
writer was a boy in the Gazette Of
flee when he was inaugurated March
4, 1861. Although passing through
a thoughtless age and with about as
much realization of war as of a
Twenty-Second of February parade,
there were passages in Lincoln's in
augural address which he like others,
never forgot.
The new President while standing
in front of the east front of the
Capitol turned his eyes toward the
south and said. an your hands,
my dissatisfied countrymen, and not
in mine. is the momentous issue of
civil war The government will not
assail,you. You can have no conflict
without being yourselves the agrees
sorS. You have no oath registered
in heaven to destroy the government;
while l shall have the solemn one to
preserve, protect and defend it."
In another part he referred to the
fact that the people Of the north and
south spoke the same language read
the same Bible and worshipped the
same God. and in the most pathetic
way appealed to reason in both sec.
tions Of the country.
In the year following his inaugu-
ration Mr.. Lincoln wrote as follows
to Horace Greeley:
"My paramount object is to save
the union, and not either to save or
destroy slavery If could save the
union without freeing any slave, II
would do it; if ! could save it by ,
freeing all the slaves, l would do it;
and if l could 90 it by freeing some
and leaving others alone, / would
also do that"
Lircoln's Gettysburg speech hasj
been Incorporated in the school text
books of the day; hence there is no
need to reproduce it here. 1t is
hyief, but pathetic. and those who
read it never forget it.
SCARCITY IN GERMANY.