The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1930-04-04

NM - MI tudL udlC JuCt w JCoA .
VIZ ago that the bullet of
IN. John Wilkes Booth
~ ~ " struck down Abraham
Lincoln and plunged whole nation,
rejoicing that four years of war was
at last ended, into the deepest sorrow.
Ever since that day there has been
endless speculation as to what might
have been" If he had been spared.
Would the North have been more
generous victor and the South have
been spared the ruin and despair Of
the Reconstruction era? Would the
wounds Of the most terrible civil war
in history have been more quickly
healed during those next four mo-
mentous years If there had been at the
head of the nation the man who had
said with malice toward none; with
charity for all; with firmness in the
right, as God gives us to see the
right, let us strive on to finish the
work we are in" No one can answer
those questions positively, but there
can be but little doubt in anyone's
mind that the answer in each case is
eyes"
Useless though such speculation
may be, it suggests another interest
ing possibility. Suppose John Wilkes
Booth had been baked in trying to
carry out his mad scheme and the
tragedy Of that terrible night in Fords
theater had been averted. Might not
death in some other guise than the
assassin's bullet have prevented
Abraham Lincoln from realizing his
ambition ito finish the work we are
in? For such a possibility is not SO
improbable as it may seem at first
thought.
1t has become almost automatic that
the Presidency of the United States is
a "man-killing job" For ex-Presidents
the average length Of life after turn
ing over the reins to their successors
has been little over III years. But
when there is added to the heavy du-
ties of the Presidency, the crushing
burden of leading the nation In a
great war even that span OF years Is
greatly reduced. Woodrow Wilson, the
World war President left the White
House in 1921, broken, prematurely-
aged man who was in his grave three
years later. So with this recent tragic
example before US, 1t is not beyond
the realm Of belief that similar fate
might have awaited Abraham Lincoln,
who was called upon to bear the most
crushing load of responsibility and
sorrow ever placed upon the shoulders
of any American, not even excepting
those Of George Washington in the
darkest days of the American Revo-
luton.
Some interesting evidence of the
heartbreaking task which was Lin
coins and of the fact that not even
his great strength could have much
longer endured it is presented in the
reproduction Of photographs which
illustrate Emil Ludwig's Lincoln"
published recently by Little, Brown
and company. Five of these are shown
above and they, more wildly than
words, tell that story.
Although 1t is a familiar story
which the distinguished German
writer tells in his biography Of Lin
coin, it has a particular interest at
this time when the anniversary of the
Great Emancipator's death recalls to
Americans the tragedy of his whole
life. "Lincoln's career, more than that
Of any other man in history, is SO
grandly conceived by Fate that the
first act is Illuminated by the last, and
every scene is bound together by dra-
matte intensity" writes Ludwig.
In one Of the word pictures of Lin
coin which Ludwig presents, he is a
comedy figure" albeit tragic-comic
one. The scene is the Inauguration
on March 4, 1860, on a platform in
front Of the east portico of the Cap
ftol. what do the audience see?
They look up at the speaker, but his
friends are little pleased by his as
pect," writes Ludwig, who then quotes
the words of one who witnessed that
scene and wrote as follows.
His newly grown beard was short
land stubby like shoe brush: grizzled.
stiff, and hideous; disfiguring a face
hat without it expressed power and
sep feeling. He wore brand-new
)buit, with swallow-tail instead of the
customary frock coat; he had very
shiny stovepipe hat, evidently just
taken out Of the bandbox. and huge
ebony stick. with gold head a. large