The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1920-02-12
time ADDS TO
L|NC0LN'S fame
Passing Years Bring In
creased Acknowledgment
of His Wise States
! manship.

OI LluCOlu Illc tucIC AS lllllc "
account for his being the only
American except Washington
whose birthday has been made ma
Itional holiday. His origin was Eng
Ilish, as he descended from English
Quakers who settled in Pennsylvania.
His own branch of the family went to
Virginia, and thence to Kentucky. In
diana and Illinois. His birthplace,
though r1N" vas not unlike those
about him. - CSC roomed cabin of
the Western pioneer, situated in
wild region and with only the rudest
necessities.
There was little in his boyhood to
mark it out from his fellows save In
the thorough use he made Of his scanty
opportunities for Improvement. he
possessed only handful of books
the Bible, "Aesop's Fables" Pilgrims
Progress" ''Robinson Crusoe." the lives
tof Washington and Henry Clay-but
OF these, by continual study, he made
himself complete master. Meanwhile
the difficulties of his daily life made
him strong and vigorous, stimulating
IA wholesome growth Of body and mind.
THE Importance Of this foundation of
health can hardly be overestimated,
i'm view Of the strain he was to bear
in later life. That he retained this
early vigor Is evident from anecdotes
of his delight in feats Of strength even
after he attained the presidency. BY
means Of farm work that in those
days included every form Of bodily
exercise, BY short experience as
country storekeeper, by an almost r.
Ediculous military training, Lincoln
saw in essence something of every
form Of life and saw each form In its
'barest simplicity From these crudest
facts he drew the homely directness
!of thinking, readiness in analysis,
simplicity of view and a keennesS of
thumor that tinctured his whole mind.
His Early Studies.
There is nothing that gives US bet
ter insight into the origin Of his great
ness than the story he tells Of his
early methods Of study. Even as a
boy, he says, he was accustomed to
hear discussed public questions Of
every sort. The language and rhetoric
Of his elders was far beyond his COM
.prehension, but with the true pioneer
spirit the boy Lincoln. educated to
overcome difficulties by his daily life,
not tired by a multiplicity Of subjects.
was never willing to abandon sub
ject without understanding it. He
would, after hearing knotty debate,
20 over the whole controversy by him
self until he was satisfied that he had
extracted from it every root and gist
of the matter. This done, Lincoln
says, he strove to put into the simplest
language what he had learned. in or
der that it might be within the under
standing of any nearer.
Thus it was that he learned to an
alyze and solve political questions. and,
having solved them. to present the
matters in such form as to be under
stood by the simplest of his hear
ers. In the days when personal su-
premacy came mainly from the power
of oratory or convincing speech there
was no surer road to leadership.
Sure to Become Power.
With mind thus self-trained ind
kept from the world until manhood.
Lincoln was sure to come into prom
'1nence as soon as he could in any way
secure a public hearing. AS Woodrow
Wilson puts it, "He had had the in
stinct of the student in the midst of
affairs, and had made himself mas
ter of ideas and of language as an
instrument of mastery. He had de-
.vised for himself straight thrusts of
speech and the use of words that acted
always like the application Of light"
Such a man will ever be put forward
as champion by any party to which
he lends his services. When, there
fore, in the days of controversy be-
tween North and South over the great
issue Of whether the new territories
SHOULD be slave or free. the bred Scott