The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1930-04-04

To that Ludwig adds this COM
ment: There he stands burdened
with things which his fashionable wife
must have forced upon him, too ele-
gantly attired, lest he should look like
a Observation-Disclosures man used to
wearing his clothes just anyhow,
decked out with a useless walking
stick, transformed into a comedy fig
ure and all the more q mark of silent
sarcasm. There he stands for the first
time he is to speak to the nation as
whole, for he is embarrassed by this
fine new stick with gold knob, and
the terribly shiny top hat. What is
he to do? Dreadful moments, but fate
has sent him his longtime enemy, who,
as if in irony, is watching his plight
at close hand. Douglas it is who
comes to his rescue; Douglas as a
valet, Douglas who stretches out his
short arm to take the hat and hold it
for half an hour, like a footman, till
all is over, and the new President can
take it back from the senator with a
friendly nod"
A tragically-comic figure this, and
pathetic igure-this backwoOdsman
thus thrust upon the stage of national
affairs before the scornful gaze of Off
cial Washington. But the sneers of
the snobbish are the least of the wOr-
ries of this Man of Destiny For al
most Immediately there comes to him
the overwhelming knowledge Of the
task before him. "He is a stranger;
he has never held executive office be-
fore, and now he has been suddenly
thrust into the highest position In the
Union; he has to cope with situation
unprecedented in the history of the
country; alone, unaided, without con-
gress, and with an unwilling cabinet,
he has to make the gravest decision
ever made by President of the
Union"
That decision is to make war upon
the states which have withdrawn from
the Union. And when he makes it,
sorrow begins to carve the first lines in
the face which is never again to be
wholly free from those signs Of suffer
ing such as few men have ever been
called upon to endure. "Then comes
the first brush with the Southerners,
and wounded are borne back on
stretchers through the streets on their
way to the Capitol. 1t is the blood of
his brothers that Lincoln for the first
time sees oozing through the hastily
improvised bandages; the blood of in
nocent youngsters, who have no in
terest In politics, and are neither for
slavery or against it; men who have
only rallied to the colors in response
to the cry: "The Union has been
broken
The story Of what Lincoln endured
during the first two years Of the war
his struggle to secure the cooperation
of wrangling, discordant cabinet, his
repeated disappointments in his gen.
erals who either wouldn't fight or who
fought only to be defeated disastrous
ly and all the other factors which
thwarted him at every turns
matched as a record of despair only
by what followed.
For when he issued the Emancipa-
ton Proclamation 'the effect was
catastrophe. Confusion was wide
spread throughout the North, there
was slump on the stock exchange;
the elections were adverse; the Demo-
Gratis declared that thousands Of
whites were being forced to give their
blood in order that their fellow coun-
trymen might be illegally deprived Of
property. When congress was
sitting in December. the Presidents
unceasing personal struggle on two
fronts, the near approach of the mo-
mentous date fixed for the enforce
ment Of the proclamation, the varying
and for the most part unfavorable for
tunes of war, the skepticism Of friends
regarding the new measure and the
scorn in which 1t was held by enemies,
made him weary and dispirited as
WELL"
An unforgettable picture of the Lin
coin of this period is given by an old
friend who had not seen him for six
years and whose description of him
is cited by Ludwig as follows: 1.-The
change was simply appalling
His whiskers had grown and had given
additional cadaverousness to his
face. - The light seemed to
have gone out of his eyes, which were