Evening star., 1920-02-24
QUOTED LINCOLN
SPEECH NOT NEW
Tribute to Washington Had
Appeared in Publication
by NicoIay and Hay.
To the Editor Of The Star:

Sunday morning I read with con-
siderable interest. also with consid-
cradle surprise, that "a student of
work, came upon an unknown ad-
dress delivered by Abraham Lincoln
in Springfield. Ill. on February %,
passed his thirty-third birthday.
My surprise was not caused by the
words attributed to Lincoln. or I had
read them many times in a small vol
ume which has been in my possession
for about twenty years. entitled Lin
coins Words on Living Questions; a
Collection of All the Recorded Utter
ances OF Abraham Lincoln Bearing
Upon the Questions of Today" by the
TruSty Publishing Company, Chicago,
Ill. but only because it was alleged
mat the words Lincoln then uttered
nave been lost for three-quarterS of
century in the pages of a country
newspaper hidden away in the files
that they were brought to light to be
given to the world for the first time
almost on the eve of another birth
day of the first President
The correct quotation from Lin
coins address upon another subject
is as follows:
This is the one hundred and tenth
anniversary of the birthday of Wash
ington; we are met to celebrate this
day. Washington is the mightiest
name of earth-long since mightiest in
the cause of civil liberty, still might
lest in moral reformation. On that
name no eulogy is expected. Ii cannot
be. To add brightness to the sun or
glory to the name of Washington is
alike impossible. Let none attempt it.
In solemn awe pronounce the name,
and in its naked deathless splendor
leave it shining on"
The above quotation is the last para
graph of an address before the Spring
neld Washngtonian Temperance So
cIety, which is printed in full in Com
plete Works of Abraham Lincoln" by
Nicolay and Hay. Vol l, pages 193-
Other forcible statements made by
Lincoln in this address are as follows:
Although the temperance cause
has been In progress for nearly twen-
ty years, it is apparent to all that IL
is Just now being crowned with
degree of success hitherto unparal-
leled. The list of its friends is daily
swelled by the additions of fifties. of
cause itself seems suddenly trans
formed from a cold abstract theory
to a living. breathing. active and
powerful chieftain. going forth CON
quering and to conquer, The cita-
dels of his great adversary are daily
temple and his altars. whera the rites
of his idolatrous worship have long
been performed and where human
sacrifices have long been wont to be
made, are daily desecrated and de-
serted. The triumph of the conquer
or's fame is sounding from hill to
hill. from sea to sea, from land to
land, and calling millions to his
standard at a blast. For this new and
splendid success we heartily re-
"Of our political revolution we are
all Justly proud. 1t has given us de-
gree of political freedom far exceed
ing that of any other nation OF the
earth. In it the world has found
solution Of the long mooted problem
himself In it was the germ which
has vegetated. and still is to grow
and expand into the universal liberty
of mankind. Turn now to the
temperance revolution. In it We shall
find stronger bondage broken. a
tyrant deposed: in it more Of want
supplied. more disease healed, more
sorrow assuaged. BY 1t no orphans
starving, no widows weeping. BY 1t
none wounded in feeling. none in
jured in interest; even the dram
maker and dramseller will have glid-
ed into other occupations SO grad
ual1y as to never have felt the change,
and will stand ready to join all others
in the universal song Of .gladness.
And what a noble ally this to the
cause of political freedom. With such
an aid its march cannot fail to be on
and on. till every son of earth shall
drink in rich fruition the sorrow
quenching draughts of perfect liberty.
Happy day when-all appetites con-
trolled, all poisons subdued. all mat
ter subjected-mind, all-conquering
mind, shall live>and move. the mon
arch of the world. Hail. fall of fury!
Reign of reason, all haili
'And when the victory shall be COM
plete-when there shall, be neither a
slave nor a drunkard on the earth
how proud the title of that land which
may truly claim to be the birthplace
and the cradle Of both those revolu-
tions that shall have ended in that
victory. How nobly distinguished
that people who shall have planted
and nurtured to maturity both the po-
litical and moral freedom Of their
species" E. w. OYSTER.