Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1918-02-13
LINCOLN.

Yesterday was Lincoln's birthday
and nearly every newspaper in the
country has said or will say something
about the Great Emancipator.
To say something new about Lin
coin would be next to impossible, but
a few words about Lincoln as law
yer may afford an opportunity to state
some facts not generally known.
Lincoln was six feet, four inches in
height an athletic product OF the
prairies of the northern Mississippi
valley.
He spent few days in an ordinary
school, was never student IN COL
lege, did not even read law in a law
office before his admission to the bar.
He commenced his study OF the law
by resolutely determining to become
a lawyer, and that resolution carried
him half way to the object OF his de-
sire. He read without assistance un-
til he was able to pass the desired ex-
animation, and then he entered the
big school where he was educated, not
alone in the science of the law, but
in all the mainsprings Of human ac-
ton and all the motives, passions,
prejudices and inclinations which in
spire the actions of men. In that
school he acquired a knowledge which
enabled him to shape the policies OF
this country during one OF the most
critical periods of it's history. This
big school was the Sth Judicial Cir
cult of Illinois consisting OF fifteen
counties. David Davis was the judge,
and about one dozen prominent law
yers, Lincoln among the number, fol-
lowed the court from county to coun-
ty for about ten months of each year.
When he commenced to ride the cir
cult, Lincoln as a lawyer may have
ranked near the foot Of the list, but
before the end of twelve years he was
admittedly the ablest jury lawyer IN
that circuit, if not in the entire state
of Illinois.
It is said of Lincoln that during his
early manhood he won his leadership
among men by his physical powers,
as Saul and David won their Kingdoms.
There were no railroads in those days
and many stories are told about the
assistance rendered by Lincoln in
crossing swollen rivers, dangerous
contend.
In Lincoln's time case law occu-
pied only minor position. In those
days there was no such splendid riot
Of woodpulp and e1ectrotypes as we
have today. The classical textbooks
were, both law and literature when
Lincoln was lawyer, and that helped
him to rise faster than he might now
be able to do when case law seems to
take precedence.
The Illinois reports show that be-
tween 1910 and 1860 Lincoln tried
173 cases in the Supreme Court Of
the state of Illinois. 1t is quite safe
to say that no lawyer now living in
either illinois or Iowa has ever tried
half that number of cases in the Su-
preme Court of his state.
Standing before the Capitol at
Washington this country lawyer from
the prairies Of Illinois delivered his
second inaugural address, an address
which we like fully as we'll as his
Gettysburg address. A sudden sun
shine fell upon his care-worn face as
he closed his appeal:
with malice toward none; with
charity for all; with firmness in the
right, as God gives us to see the
right, let us strive on to finish the
work we are in; to bind up the ma
tons wounds; to care for him who
shall have borne the battle, and for
his widow, and his orphan-to do all
which may achieve and cherish just
and lasting peace among ourselves,
and with all nations" Four years
earlier, standing before multitude
who neither understood nor trusted
him, he had said to his dissatisfied
fellow-countrymen:" 1--WE are not
enemies, but friends. We must not be
enemies. Though passion may have
strained, it must not break our bonds
of affection. The mystic chords of
memory, stretching from every bat
tlefeld and patriot grave to every
living heart and hearthstone all over
this broad land, will yet swell the
chorus of the Union when again touch
ed, as surely they will be by the bet
ter angels of our nature"
Where did Lincoln learn to say so
simply the words that have stayed
in the memory and hearts of men all
these years? He learned these things
while a circuit rider in the Sth Judi
cial Circuit of Illinois.
FROST AND SNOW HARD
ON MICROBES.
There were S51 fewer deaths in Chi |