The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1924-02-07

| To him there was quality Of truth
of possible realization In the famous
document which thrilled and ennoble6
him. The real boy Lincoln was the
one who, in those days we call sc
hard, carried with him faith In the
possibility Of freedom and opportunity
for all men. a faith which grew as he
tOiled
He is not the one to be pitied. Pity
the boy who, surrounded by all the
thousands Of volumes which rehearse
the making and interpret the meaning
of the Declaration Of Independence,
has never yet caught Its vision or felt
the fire Of Its inspiration.
His Craving for Books
He must walk far for the book
beg 1t from neighbors who knew him.
build acquaintance with strangers into
confidence SUFFICIENT to borrow. Pity
him for thatf He had to learn q great
thing-that the book IL worth the
price-any price. What did he grudge
that brought him Bobby Burns or
Aesop or Plutarch or the Constitution
Of the United States, or collection of
the strange and changing laws Of men
that brought him anything that dealt
with the workings of mems hearts and
minds?
Pity the book hunteri What II the
chase was long,, the path hard, the
footwear worn, the coat Of homespun
what was all that to himf It was
the quarry, not the way, Of which he
thought. A book in hand, he walked
homeward with the man he had found
Jefferson, Shakespeare, Bunyan. De
foe-and for days, whatever came.
cold, short rations, hard labor, Jeffer-
son, Shakespeare. Bunyan. Defoe was
BY his side.
No, this boy IL not to be pitied, but
rather he who has never longed for a
book, never walked mile to borrow
who when book IL by his
side can keep his hands from 1t, who
ran live among books daily. injurious,
The boy Lincoln did not read for
The book was not
soporifc for him. It did
not take him out Of Spencer county.
indiana, but rather helped him to I'M
Spencer county. 1t interpret
ID to him the thing of which he and
Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks
lincoln, and all Of these neighbors and
riends of theirs, were part.
Road to Remember.
The pioneer life had Its excitements .
nd allurements = discovery, danger. ,
ope lifted 1t out Of the common !
lace. Young Lincoln shared all this /;
nd the book told him, as those about
i'm could not, the meaning. the rea- 7
ons, behind 1t all. 1t traced the path
nat long line Of forbears had trav-
led westward their sacrifices, their
opes! Through the book he saw
,uthwestern Indiana and its people
) scene in a great and noble drama
saw its relation to the opening of
le new continent, the upbuilding Of n
ew kind Of government. the founding
: something which would admit more
Id more men to the opportunities Of
e EARTH
The book did something else for
NIT helped him to understand hui
an beings. His curiosity about them
as insatlate = their ways, their
oughts, their passions, their mean
sses, their nobilities. The boy Lin
In saw wide ranges of human mate
al-a few men of education; many
en- of patient, steady, daily labor
believing men; he saw those
riotous life, and not a few of men
petty llving-dirty habits. physical
d mental. He shirked no man. He
Is curiously impers0nal in his con
cts with men. He sought to know :
the book helped him p
sop, Bunyan, Burns, Shakespeare
Of them helped him understand
e men of Spencer county. Indiana
loved ald sought the book because y
the light and understanding 1t gave
life.
Do not pity him because he had no
adler glow to read by than that Of
zing logs-rather rejoice that he