The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1917-02-15
BELDEN LAUDS
GEO. WASHINGTON
Continued from Page IL

point Of view Of a trial lawyer. The
Father of his Country was essentially
a general and a business man. Both
were great statesmens, but their
methods like their personalities, were
widely different.
But these differences, important as
they are, have little weight in com
parison with the one great essential
similarity which makes these sons of
February the two patron saints of the
republic Each of them cared as much
for his fellowmen as he did for him
self, cared for them as men, irrespec-
tive of the accidents Of birth, wealth
or position. Each gave himself wholly
and without stint to the service of his
fellows, doing his task with faithful
ness and entire devotion, not for the
pay that was involved, but for the
usefulness which the task offered, and
for the joy they found in being useful.
Perhaps there is no other man of
prominence in American history, or in
the history of the human family.
whose reputation is more firmly and
clearly established than is Lincoln s.
There is certainly none more beloved
and revered, whose character is so
well understood and so universally adj
mired, and whose political, moral and
intellectual integrity is so fully ad-
mitted by his opponents as well as by
his supporters. Of such a man the last
word can never be said. Each sue
ceeding generation may profit by the
contemplation Of his strength and
triumphs. His rise from obscurity TO
fame and power was almost as sudden
and startling as that of Napoleon, for
it may truthfully be said that when
Mr.. Lincoln was nominated for the
presidency he was an unknown man.
He had occupied no important position;
he had rendered no great public serv-
ice; his reputation was that of a de-
batter and politician, and did not be-
come national until he delivered a re-
markable speech at Cooper Union,
New York. His Selection was not due
to personal popularity, nor to the
strength of the party he represented,
nor to the justice of his cause; but to
fractional strife and jealousies among
his opponents. When the American
people were approaching the greatest
crisis in their history, it was the hand
Of Providence that turned the eyes Of
the loyal people of the North to this
plain man of the prairies, and his
rugged figure rose before them as if
he was created for their leader
Napoleon became dizzy; yielded to the
temptation Of power, betrayed his peo-
pie, grasped at empire, and fell; but
the higher Lincoln rose the more mod
est became his manners, the more
serene his temper, the more conspicu-
Gus his unselfshness, the purer and
more patriotic his motives. With mas
terful tact and force he assumed
responsibilities that made men Stud
der. The captain Of company cf I'M
couth. volunteers began to organize
vast armies, undertook the direction
of military campaigns and of mo-
mentous civil war, and conducted the
diplomatic relations of nation, with
skill and craftsmanship that astonish-
ed his ministers and his generals He,
an humble country lawyer and local
politician, suddenly took his place with
the world s greatest statesmen, planned
and managed the legislation Of con-
gress, proposed financial measures that
involved the wealth of the nation, and
alone, in the midst of the confusion
of war and the clamor of greedy poll
ticians and the dissensions of his ad-
visers, solved the problems that stag
gered the wisest minds of the nation.
The popular story-teller of the cross
roads, the crack debater of the New
Salem Literary Club, became an ora
tor of immortal fame The rail
splitter of the Sangamon became the
most honored and respected man of
his generation.
Such men are not accidents. The
strength of structure depends upon
the material used and the treatment
it has received. Poor material may be
improved and good material is often
spoiled in the making; but only when
the pure metal has passed through the
fire and the forge is it fit to sustain a
severe strain. Thus Abraham Lincoln,
unconscious of his destiny, by the
struggles and privations of his early
life was qualified for the task to which
Infinite Wisdom had assigned him. -