The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1921-02-12
Lincoln and America

It was America that gave Abraham Lincoln an opportunity to
rise from rail splitter 10 the presidency. .
And Lincoln used that opportunity because he was Lincoln.
Lincoln has been called the typical American and Such he was
in the sense that he illustrated in his career the type of manhood
that may he produced when individual worth is brought into full
play in n field of unrestricted opportunity.
Lincoln was born IN n log cabin his parents were poor and his
education was acquired by dint of his own energy and perseverance
in the school of hard knocks but because he was Lincoln possessing
within his own soul the qualities which make any man master Of his
environment all The difficulties which bcSet him were nothing ~
ecpt the stepping stones by which men may rise IN stepping
stones of their dead selves TO higher things
If amy American boy ever had cause TO complain that fate was
mkind Ia him and he didn't have a chance surely il was Lincoln
for his was as hard a lot as the hardest but if he ever registered
such u complaint we have no record of il. Lincoln knew that hard
ships and adversely cauld do nothing TO keep him from accomplish
ing what he set out TO do, and nothing shook his resolution to make
the most of the opportunities which free America afforded. If he
could not 90 TO the college where the sons OF rh men were edit
Gated. he could make a college of his own with a few books beside
burning pine knots.
From tn. log cabin to the White House the career Of Lincoln is
a story of stepping on and smashing difficulties as he fought his
way TO firmer and higher positions of which real manhood-suc-
cessful. conquering manhood-s made that he was able to make
every opportunity serve him.
While Abraham Lincoln stands ont as one of the 'taH. sun
crowned figures of all time and few may hope TO reach the heights
which he attained, the history of America is filled with the annals
of men born. like him, in obscurity and poverty and rising in like
manner to high places in public life, in business and in all lines of
human endcavor. These men like Lincoln won their way by max
ing use of their own powers and taking advantage of the opportuni-
ties which America gave them.
With all the changes that have come to pass since Lncoln's day,
America is still America, the same America in which Lincoln lived,
under the same constitution that gave Lincoln his opportunities;
the America in which the achievements Of the individuals are linn
tied only by his own determination and ability to make use of his
opportunities. The road TO success, TO wealth. to usefulness and
TO honors is open now just as it was in Lincoln day; the door of OPP
portmhy is closed to nobody except the man who is too lazy to open
it. In the face of the career OF Lincoln and all VINO IKE nm nave
risen from the lowest to the highest rung, the talk of fixed classes
in America is as meaningless as monkey chatter. Fortunate are we
TO live in the land in which Lincoln lived and n which democracy
in the largest sense rcigns and will continue TO reign as long as the
constitution and institutions which Lincoln loved endure. Let us
hold fast to the faith of Abraham Lincoln, the American faith.