Cayton's weekly. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1916-1921, 1919-02-15
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
By John F. Cragwell

America is an empire of beauty and
wealth. Within it's borders there are some
OF the grandest, ablest and bravest men and
women of this century. But greater still
it is the land Of equal opportunity. That
this is so is because by the stroke of pen
Abraham Lincoln gave freedom to the wrong
ed millions of my race
When Lincoln was 16 he assisted neigh
Dor to build flat boat which conveyed
them to the city Of New Orleans. This
was the first time Lincoln ever saw paved
streets, hundreds of houses, lights, and real
civilization. In his wanderings for the first
time he saw an auction sale Of slaves. The
victim was a young mulatto girl not over
20, and when he saw a big, strong man pat
her arm, pinch her legs and make her run
like a frightened deer to ascertain whether
the property was sufficiently sound in body
and limb to pay price for, the very iron
entered the soul of the Lincoln boy, and
turning to companion he said: eff | ever
get chance, [ am going to whack slavery
on the head" Twenty-Five years later he
kept his word in the White House at
Washington by signing the emancipation
proclamation which dealt the death blow
to human slavery for all time and eternity
Lincoln man of Southern birth, did
became satisfied that in no other way could
the Union be saved. The people of today
in dealing with white or black, North or
South, should strive to show just the quail
tiles that Lincoln showed.
''The great Civil War in which Lincoln
lowered, as the loftiest figure left u.s. not
only reunited country, but country
which has the proud right to claim as it's
own the glory won alike by those who wore
the blue and by those who wore the gray,
by those who followed Grant and by those
who followed Lee" for both fought with
equal bravery and with equal sincerity of
conviction.
There was born to this country in the year
of 1909 son whom the world recognized as
one of the bravest men of his time. He
rose from that Of rail splitter in the State
of Illinois to that of Chief Executive of the
greatest nation upon the globe. The man
who suffered death at the hand of the assas-
sin was the most beloved, most honored, and
most in the hearts Of his countrymen,
that of Abraham Lincoln; the man who died
fifty years ago, who made such an impress
sion upon the world, that nearly half a
century is not sufficient to wipe out of
minds the desire to know and to learn of
the character Of this man who sacrificed
his life that those bonded people might be
free
In history there are many famous men,
but it is safe to say that the fame of no
one of them is more sacred in the minds Of
the American people than that of Lincoln.
Many of the greatest historical writers have
agreed that Lincoln was right when he de-
nounced slavery, which made him one of
the foremost men of all the world.
When Lincoln fell by the hand of the
assassin Booth, well-meaning, but ignorant
and fanatical conspirator, he was still phys
ically strong and his wonderful mind had
hardly reached it's prime. Great as Lin
coin was in the roll Of war, he was in
finitely greater as a statesman and it is
mainly the fact Of his magnificent states
manship that the worlds final estimation