Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-02-18
CLARA BLUM WINS
LINCOLN ESSAY
CONTEST HERE


Clara Blum of the senior class at
the Douglas high school is winner
of the Lincoln essay contest con-
Quoted for students of that class
here last week, Principal j. e. Carl
son announces.
AS the first award Miss Blum will
be given bronze medal with her
name inscribed upon r. which is
given by the Illinois Watch company
through the Brannan- -Hoyal Jewelry
company here.
The contest was open to all stu
dents of the senior elias sof the local
high school and the watch concern
also conducted it in hundreds Of other
cities of the country to foster in
terest in the career of Abraham Lin
coln
The winning essay is as follows:
About once century character
is evolved out of our nation that
throws CLEAN across the pages of
history as the falling star disturbs
the sameness of the heavens ct
night, though with more indilible
impression, sometimes amounting to
the nearest thing attainable to per-
petuity, Abraham Lincoln is one of
the most notable examples of tthis
type in the history of our country.
Lincoln was born during one of
the widest blizzards ever experienced
in the state of Kentucky, and was
spared to his country by a miracle
when a storm bound frontiersman
sought shelter in the Lincoln cabin,
arriving just in time to save. the
mother and baby from death by
starvation and cold. Lincoln's mother,
who had born the travail of mothers
hood alone during the bowling bliz-
zard, was a. great incentive in~ this
great mans after life, although She
died when Lincoln was nine years
old. Obviously the Creator spared
this "storm- -child's'' life for a pur-
pose.
There are those among the rising
generation of today who look upon
the educational requirements of the
time as bugbear-a thing which
must be unnecessarily endured At
the best, the facilities for education
during Lincoln's boyhood when view
ed in comparison with those of to-
day, fall into the back ground to the
extent of being scarcely discernible.
Mention is made in history of the
inadequacy of the best facilities in
Lincoln's time, yet not even from
those did he receive his education,
the meagerness Of which is so fa-
miliar to every American that repeti-
tion is unnecessary. The gist of all
this is that what this great mind
fought for, under very trying cir
cumstances, many of us disdain un-
der the most favorable of conditions.
This man, born in hardship, Graded
in poverty and matured in an environ
ment which would tend to detract
from the morale ana ambition of any
growing man or woman, had SO adj
vanced himself in the hearts and
minds of his countrymen at the age
of fifty that he was accorded the
greatest honor that can be conceded
dent. He was trusted with the guild
ance of our nation during it's great
est crisis, based on an issue which
this great humanitarian had brought
ITO the fore himself, that of slavery.
The great and positive services
rendered to his country and to man
kind during Lincoln's four years Of
presidency are the following: First,
the patience and firmness with which
he handled the question of slavery;
second, the vigor and efficiency with
which he carried on the war and the
way he treated the difficult problems;
third, the splendid directness of
speech with which he made it clear
that the purpose of war or freedom
of slavery was to promote the cause
of liberty and peace for our coun-
try; and fourth, the fine courage
with which he advocated what seem
ed to him the best if not the only
way of securing a lasting peace be-
tween the north and the south. To
his soul that peaceful settlement of
difference was the great cause.
The central force of his life was
loyalty to duty as God gave him to
see it. This made him at times seem
inflexible. But it kept him growing,
rising splendidly to meet each new
opportunity, which he regarded as
new responsibility. He was a
statesman, who wrought for the good