River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1921-02-24

work of the individual counts for
much, In the orbits of lifetime the
individual action may be momentous
but in the progress of the great hui
man family from the dim years of
savagery to future years, brighter
with civilization than even the most
sanguine among us imagine, the in
dividual, as we usually see him counts
for comparatively little. In the great
stream of human life our small lives
are but tiny particles, now visible,
now dim, now sparkling, but soon lost
in the mighty, rushing tide of count
less millions pushed on and on by the
eternal forces of God.
But now and then Dame Future
yields US an individual who embraces
so much of the best that experience
has taught the race, who has so much
of the peoples highest desire in him,
who sees the path of progress SO clear
ly that he is thinker for many, a
speaker for many and savior of
many. Someone has said that for
every great crisis in any society a
savior is born-someone who senses
the need and who is prepared for the
great task of opening the way to
truth, to safety and to progress
someone who in times of great an
xiety is borne quickly to the front to
lead the hosts. Indeed, it seems that
Nature is bountiful with Genius.
Genius is so plentiful, if you please,
that is waits merely upon the open
ing of the door of opportunity to re-
veal itself In times of great need the
door swings wide and Genius steps
forth in person. That person is soon
recognized as leader, and while he
lives, his acts are of more than pass
ing concern His service done, we
think it fitting to erect a monument
of bronze or stone to him. In this
we are often short-visioned, for, while
there are some leaders who need such
monuments, there are others who need
them not, because they live on and on
in the minds and hearts of the great
people.
Such leaders, such embodiments of
genius, were the two greatest Amer
leans Of the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries, Washington and Lincoln.
Neither of these men needs monu-
ment or hall of fame. They live on.
American bore them. Americans
have inherited them. Yet, even in
America. where we boast of our learn
ing and our institutions, there are
millions of us who are better acquaint-
ed with the lives of some of our
"movie queens" than we are with the
lives of those who bequeathed to US
the United States. In River Falls,
city of more than average erudition,
we scarcely note the passing OF Wash
ington Day and Lincoln Day. We do
not read history. We have not time
to read history. As one man recent
ly expressed it to the writer; History
is too damned dry for me-" Yet only
through the pages of history can one
come to a true conception of the
foundations upon which the United
States is built. Only through de-
tailed study of the lives of Washing
tor and Lincoln can any American
appreciate the service of these men
to him and to his children. No one
in River Falls need be an ignoramus
in the field of biography. Washing
ton and Lincoln live. They will live
in spite of US, but they may live more
largely because of us. 1t is with
sincere desire that we may all come
to know these men better that this
paper is written. In it's short compass
it is impossible to pay fitting trib-
ute to both of them. One was the
great leader of free peoule in one
century, the other was the great
leader of the freer sons and daught-
ers of that people in the next CEN
tury. One was the strong arm lifted
by Englishmen once-removed to strike
out for freer government and to pilot
the new Ship of State-the other the
captain of that same ship who saved
her from being dashed to pieces on
the rock of disunion. Each differed
greatly from the other. A book might
be written on their contrasts, but in
the one great point they were alike
both were Americans. Keen although
my desire is to write of Lincoln IN
some appreciative, fitting way, l
shall here confne myself mainly to
Washington, trusting that through
these crude paragraphs at least some
few OF the readers of The Journal
may be stimulated to a new interest
in the life and time of the First Pres
ident of the United States.