The Washington herald., 1917-02-04
Mountain Folk Will Honor
Lincoln with Celebration
Will Be Hosts to Nation at Lincoln Memoria
University at Cumberland
Gap, Tenn.

The mountain. folk of Cumberland Gap,
where Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee
touch sides in the midst of the wild
and rugged Appalachians, are going to
lead the country this year in honoring
the birthday OF Lincoln.
They are going to lead; for theirs
Is the right to lead; they are his own
people. They will be hosts to the rest
of the nation on February 10, II, and Il.
when hundred of notable men and women
from every State in the Union gather
at Lincoln Memorial University, Cumber-
land Gap. to pay homage to the noun
tain boy, railsplitter. country lawyer.
President and martyr.
1t will probably be the greatest Lincoln
memorial celebration within the genera
ton. In the midst of the giant hills that
once echoed back the words of Henry
Clay. of Calhoun and Andrew jackson,
In bygone political barbecues, noted men
from East and West, North and South
governors, Senators. preachers. educators.
leaders in commerce and in science-will
gather to take new thought of the great
lesson Of his life.
Historical Memories,
1t is safe to say that those who will
make the pilgrimage, the experience will
be like turning back the pages of Amert-
can history to that chapter In ante bel
lum days during which the Great
was a typical mountain
youth. For he was typical of that rug
sed, picturesque. rough-hews country
The cabins that still dot the mountain
sides have their Lincohs and Hanskes
to this day, and while the world all about
them has been striding forward from rail-
splitting and mule-ridhg; from candles
and homespun. they have not kept the
pace. They are isolated, apart from the
world and though race whose ancestry
can be traced back in unbroken lines to
colonial times, they know less of the con-
veniences and opportunities of modern
life than the immigrants from Europe or
the negroes of the South. They still live,
as 1t were, in by-gone age. Their GUS
toms, their speech and their mannerisms
are those OF the era before Daniel Boone
explored his way Westward, and their
outlook on life little changed from the
days of Lncoln's boyhood.
LineoIn's Type Not Extinct.
So. the Lincoln type is stin there; the
mold is not broken. The mountains that
looked down on his early struggles for an
education could tell of battles against
poverty and circumstances OF birth wag-
ing to this day by Just such mountain
youths as history pictures Lincoln to
have been, to life themselves from Hitter
acy.
1t is said that the great career Of Lin
coin hinged on the fact that he had ac-
cess TO six books. Children in the public
schools are told that at the beginning of
his fight for learning. he would study
for hours by the light OF a blazing pine
knot when the days work was DONE
A sober visaged. ungainly boy, sprawled
on the cabin floor poring over borrowed
books by the light of the fireplace; that
Is the picture most of US bring to mind
when we contemplate Lncoln's early
days.
Today, in that very region, young men
no more fortunately situated than was
Lincoln. are emulatlng his example.
spurred by the same restless fires of
ambition and indomitable will their noun
taineer stock has given them In common
with the great man they follow.
These mountain boys, embryo LIN
coins, form the student body OF Lincoln
Memorial University at Cumberland Gap.
in many respects the most remarka BILE
institution of learning in the country. II
Is at this university that next months
celebration will be held and from It great
things are to come. Leaders In American
affairs will be brought face to face with
a unique endeavor. that OF enlightening
a people whose forefathers were here
fore CORVALLIS surrendered at Yorktown.
yes, before George Washington was born.
Lincoln Memorial University is American
izing Americans of Lincoln's kind.
In announcing the plans for the cele-
bration, DR.. John Wesley Hill, newly
elected chancellor of the university, ex-
plained that the occasion will be doubly
in that it will not only COM
the birthday Of the Emancipa-
tor but will mark the twentieth ami
versary of the founding of the institu-
ton.
Gen. o. o. Howard, a vermonter, found
ed the college. He caught his inspiration
from the lips of Lincoln. During the
civil war. while they were in conference
at the White House. the President indi-
Gated Cumberland Gap on a map hanging
on the wall and spoke in fervent tones of
his affection for the mountaineers who
made that region their home.
Gen Howard never forgot and when in
a later campaign he found himself COM
manding troops in that vicinity, he had
was well founded.
But what they did then is past. The
war is over and the differences of those
days are forgotten. Blue and Gray. sym
bolio of a reunited people, led through
its crisis by Abraham Lincoln, are the
colors of the university.
Gen. Howard labored ardently to build
up the university. and was engaged in
that work to the day Of his death. Won
derful progress has been made despite
almost insurmountable obstacles.
But the future Lincoln University will
be far greater and more widely known,
for a movement is on foot, supported by
some OF the foremost men of the country.
to secure for it an endowment Of 81, ,0O0. 600
and make it what Lincoln would have
wished to see it; the gateway to learning
for every mountain boy and girl, the ave-
nue. of escape from the doom of ignorance
and stagnation-
Not only from the educational viewpoint
can the university be regarded as a hope
for the future of the mountaineers of the
Dare and soldiers In picture following
trail. Bertha comes galloping in Rides
up to Dare and gives him news of Pearl.
Dare gives hasty orders and all gallop
of in direction indicated by Bertha.