The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-02-10
FROM THE
STUDY WINDOW
The Great Emancipation.
By OWEN PARKER
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ne Great Emancipator.
Abraham Lincoln was born in a log
cabin in Kentucky on February IL,
1909.
In commemoration of his Birthday
and in tribute to his greatness. let us
for a moment turn to Gettysburg. On
the first, second and third day of July,
1863, there was waged at Gettysburg,
one of the worlds great decisive battles.
General Lee, the genius of the South,
and her greatly beloved commander, led
The Southern army and had invaded the
North. General Meade, just recently
placed in command, led the Union
forces. They claShed with terrific i'm
pact at the beautiful and peaceful little
town of Gettysburg, nesting amidst the
rolling hills and ridges of Pennsylvania
On the battlefield is monument
marking spot called the "high water
mark" of the Rebellion. This spot was
reached on the third day of the battle
by the men in 'Pickett's charge" one
of the most famous and gallant charges
Of all history. They were the flower OF
the Confederate army. They marched
from Seminary Ridge across the valley
over mile in shot and shell toward the
Union lines on Cemetery Ridge. They
reached the Union line, engaged in a
hand to hand conflict at Bloody Angle
where they were repulsed and were
forced to retreat. When Pickett re-
treated, the tide of the Southern Con-
federacy receded until the final sur
render of General Lee to General Grant
at Appomattox, April 9, 1868.
On November Is, 1863, President
Lincoln j0urneyed from Washington tc
Gettysburg. Here the greatest speech
in American history was delivered when
that man of primitive power Abraham
Lincoln-spoke these immortal words
on the 10Th day of November, 1863
when the battlefield was dedicated as
a National cemetery.
-Four score and seven years ago
our fathers brought forth on this
continent, new nation, conceived
in Liberty, and dedicated to the pro-
position that all men are created
equal.
NOW we are engaged in a great
civil war, testing whether that ma
ton or any nation SO conceived and
SO dedicated, can long endure. We
are met on great battlefield of
that war. We have come to dedi-
cate a portion of that field, as a
final resting place for those who
here gave their lives that that
nation might live. It is altogether
fitting and proper that we should do
this.
"But, in a larger sense, we can
not dedicate-we can not conse-
crate-We can not halloW this
ground. The brave men, living and
dead, who struggled here have con-
secr3ted it, far above our poor
power to add or detract The world
will little note, nor long remember
what we say here, but it can never
forget what they did here. 1t is
for us the living, rather to be dedi-
Gated here to the unfinished work
which they who fought here have
thus far SO nobly advanced. Tt is
rather for rls to be here dedicated
to the great task remaining before
us-that from these honored dead
we take increased devotion to that
cause for which they gave the last
full measure of devotion-that we
here highly resolve that these dead
shall not have died in Vain-that
this nation, under God, shall have
new birth of freedom-and that
government Of the people, by the
people, for the people, shall not
perish from the earth"
On July first, second and third, 1913
an encampment Of the Southern ano
Northern soldiers, the Blue and the
Gray, who fought at Gettysburg was
held on the battlefield. The men ir
Blue and Gray shook hands over the
field where fifty years before they had
engaged in terrific conflict.
On the third day, July 8, 1913, the
Reverend DR.. Hills delivered an orat-
ton on the battle-ground The following
is an extract from that grafton:
when God wanted a father for his
bondsmen, ne went to the poor mans
log cabin in kentucky, and taking his
babe in his arms and calling to his side
the favorite angel of heaven, and OF
earth, the angel of suffering, he whis-
pered, oh, Sorrow, best loved child of
heaven and of earth, take this babe and
rear him for me and make him great.
Plant his pathway thick with thorns,
cut his little feet on the sharp rocks,
load his young shoulders with heavy
burtens, gull cut OF his arms everything
that he loves, break his heart thouS-
ant times, like the alabaSter box of
ointment, and when he is strong from
burden bearing, and sympathetic from
suffering, to do right of every slave
child, when every foot print on the hills
of difficulty is crimson with his blood,
bring him back to the throne and with
him shall be emancipated then millions
of slaves, and that is the way the Great
God made Abraham Lincoln, the
greatest man in the history of the
Republic"