The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1929-02-12


tOfficiai City. State and County Newspaper
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
mystic fascination NANTES the comedy and TRACED!
that were Abraham Lincoln. as today the world turns
sgan. the anniversary of his BIRTH to the
personality which has become toweringy heroic that
the elements Of myth may in future generations become
blended with its purely human immortality.
The real Lincoln was the man known to those of hs
times and generation. of the soil, pioneer
the frontier the of the West the saviour Of
nation. the liberator of and, in the end, the
pitifully crumpled prey of ad-ninded assassin
It is good that this great earthly figure of the republic
should live the traditions of the people
such rather than 1t should be defed into dem godhood
for the West Of his day bred its geuses in human
olds and this contrast between the clay of the
and the spark of his genius that has made Lincoln
such fascinating character to the world.
In him 1t is almost impossible to doubt he figure Of
destiny Plainly that mysterious realm which gives forth
its for the epochal stresses Of and nations
gave the world this gangling, shuffng figure which, in
ability to play the dramatic role Of saviour of nation
rent by terrible civil conflict, showed the touch Of
genius the world cannot bestow. The outer man
was ruggedly human, the inner was animated with a
spiritual force that akin to divinity. This is why
Abraham Lincoln muddled through four bloody years
civil war; his purpose to the nation rising with its
victories and sinking with its defeats till last he
found the instruments Of national great
task successfully finished
In between lay that maserful inspiration that had
its expression in emancipation. The most dramatic
episode of the whole the striking off of the
shackles Of slavery from millions oppressed humans
for 1t the extinction of that split the nation
wide apart and placed between the factions the bloody
chasm of war. Lincoln made this the passage of red
into q promised land of permanent unity by this
peak act Of his administration All these things the
south now recognizes as we'll as the north.
Then from out of the darkness of sectional that
had maddened brain befe that tragedy that the
of the north and the misfortune Of SOUTH and
the man most needed to bind up the wounds of the
ct and to touch the mystic chords of memory stretch
ing from the battlefeds of the past back into the
harmony of united people taken away from his
estranged countrymen when needed by them than
he even had been in the surging tide of
So tragedy took over the clay that Abraham Lin
coin and has been molding it into the heroic sculpture
Of the Great Emancipation From being just an i'm
mortal American Lincoln has become the heritage of
the Anglo-6axon race He has grown beyond that
and now Is world figure before whose fame all ma
tons have to stand In What an nspira
ton to be of nation and people have produced such
gigantic spiritual figure to animate Its successive gen.
erations with that trinity Of principles SO srikingy
enuncated-of government Of the people, by the people
and for the people!
Inc STUDY OF Lincoln goes on increasingly and Srik
Ing contribution to the efforts to explain how person
Of apparently such humble descent and downtrodden
ancestors could show such traits Of genius was made
month ago by DR.. William E. Barton Lincoln author
y whose Investigations led him believe that Lincoln
really was bueblood, moreover kinslnan Of the great
leader Of the Confederacy, General Robert E. Lee
In article in January Good Housekeeping he
Celebrates this possible discovery He says Nancy Hanks
Lncon's mother a great-great granddaughter of
1912 This COL Lee, incidentally, ancestor Of
Robert Lee and II Dr. Bartons researches correct
Lincoln and Lee opponents in the greatest struggle
New World ever saw were blood relations.
All Of this Is highly interesting. Those folk who be-
1eve In spite Of modern psychology that blood will TELL
Will be vastly relieved Every spark Of greatness that
Lincoln ever exhibited will hereafter be accredited by
Them to the fact that the blood of the Lees flowed in
his veins The story Of Lincoln, which is by all odds
the most moving story America has yet produced
gets regular musical comedy happy ending.
Not that Dr. Barton isn't to be commended for his
researches Every scrap Of knowledge that we can get
shout Lincoln i valuable and If he really was descended
from the famous Iee family It Is well to know it. But
= distressing to think Of the reinforcement this will
- 70 those people who cling the ancient belief that
birth and ancestry are important.
The present 49, for oil its current pessimsn probably
viii - recognized eventually the beginning Of great
new - q hops Scientists learning about the
human r1ce ana are beginning to that men are after
~ hun tquAl: that oneS ancestry. either immediate or
tea,cte, snakes little Or no difference The son OF
hur doe6 not carly n his blood the reeds Of crime
Aay nsote than ~ son q minister 4 endowed at birth
Nea "a inbcrn rropen1ty 70 holiness r. the cradle
~ eqa The WY crest obstacles to equality that
dlfl@snees f. environment. wealth and early
-can ~ removed 10 1T ourselves to It.
moes h0pafuI discovery than this was ever made. /
II a - - q - TIL. there AZ people Who VIII
follovoA - harm that Aheaham Lincoln did |