The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1919-02-06

craftsmanship and in his frailties- Human in his
love for story telling and relaxation, and intense
IL filed with the humanity that will not knowing
~ do unkind unjust act
1t is not that he perfection in any of the
walks of life in which fate turned his steps, for
there were better lawyers in his time; there were
even better story teIlers than Lincoln; surely it
would not be difficult to name better military Off
GERS than Lincoln was, more learned men and
greater orators than he. But Lincoln
of the people and Americans like that kind of man,
writes Joseph Jackson III the Philadelphia Public
Ledger.
They hoard every scrap of writing that the
man wrote. His walking sticks, his dilapi-
dated old law books, his brOken-down bookcase,
| everything that once belonged to him or in which
he had set his name, is treasured.
Not long ago in New York they sold at auction
a slip of paper on which he showed that, good
politician he thought to be, he poor
hand at guessing results of a presidential cleo
ton. Yet this slip of paper brought $1,O25. and
| Lincoln had not even signed it, but it was known
to have been written by him.
| It might be mentioned here that Lincoln proved
himself to be very poor prophet, and overesti-
mated the strength of General Mcclellan, his po-
| lticaI opponent in the election of 1864 Accord
ing to Lincoln's estimate he felt of the New
England states and few others, totaling 12O
votes in the electoral college, and he set down as
the supposed Copperhead vote" the states of
New York, Pennsylvania New Jersey, Delaware,
Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky and Illinois, and
their ia votes he believed would be for Gen
eraI Mcclellan. As matter of fact, however, only
New Jersey. Delaware and Kentucky went against
him. and he carried the election by a vote of
! 212 to %.
! There were reasons for Lincoln's belief that
| the states he had set down as "Copperhead"
would go against him. The drafts of men had
been resisted in less energetic form in
many of these commonwealth, notably New York
and Illinois, and the large number of sympathiz-
ers there might easily lead to his conclusion. But
what he had not taken into the fullest account
was that the majority of men in the North were
loyal to the Union. regardless of politics or their
natural sympathies, and they stood by Lincoln to
the end
Was Real SeIf-Made Man.
If anyone were asked to name the most Illus
made in America. there would instantly occur
the of Lincoln In a country of seIf-made
men he stands in high relief. There is no one to
| take place beside him, for not only did he over
come every natural difficulty placed in his way, in
/ his determination to achieve an education and
| they were numerous, but along with it always
went that equally strong determination not to
| achieve success by any unfair means
| He admitted that his education was defective "
/ and that 8 weak word for it. Many men
| with great deal more have been failures And
Lincoln had every opportunity of becoming fail
ure but he realized his educational. weaknesses
| and strove to remove them. That he did remove
| them seems to be testified TO by many writer's
there exhibited in of the colleges at