Milford chronicle., 1934-02-16

didn't mind-yOu might stay and see
me through" And as the President
stood there, holding the Confeder
ate's hand in his two hands, the
tears were dropping upon his coat.
sleeve. There is the most beautiful
picture in American history: the
President of the mightiest Republic
of the world, weeping over a dying
soldier who had done all he could to
clip the brittle thread upon which
the life of the nation was then
hanging!
! have not said anything about Mr..
Lincoln as the Emancipator; my
thought mostly has been on Mr.. Lin
coin as the preserver of the nation,
for this is true, that America is the
solution of popular government of
the world. The close of the Civil
War, i'm the preservation of this I'm
ion, with the full retention of local
rights in the States, and still con-
stitutiOnal supremacy at the head of
the nation, is the greatest event in
the history of civil government, and
the credit goes to Abraham Lincoln.
There is not one man here, and
probably no one living, who can
properly estimate the value in the
world of the leadership of Abraham
Lincoln; nor will there be in a
thousand years from now. You ask,
How do you account for it?' / do
not know. but if Abraham Lincoln
was not guided by a PrOvidential
power. then there is no Providence
in the affairs of men, He believed
that there was more good in the
world than bad. He believed that in
a struggle between right and wrong,
right ultimately will win; he never
had any fear of the outcome.
When he left Illinois, his old
friend. Dennis Hanks Ia very close
relationship there) said to him,
Abe, the thing that hurts me more |
than anything else is that we have !
lived together; yOu have taken one |
course and | another; you have be- |
come President of the Nation, am |
still here just what ! was when we
started and while | am not finding
fault with that. the thing | deplore
is that ! am losing the best friend l
ever had" Lincoln said. Now, don't,
Dennis. Don't talk that way. / will
go to Washington. | will serve my
term, will return either to Spring
field or Chicago and practice law;
and when | do return, the first per-
son ! want to see is you. Now, don't
ialk about losing your best friend"
Mr. LincOln'S body was taken lack
10 Springfield; Dennis Hanks was
eighteen miles in the country; he
walked the distance in. ami went
and took his place in the great con-
course of people as they were pass
ng the bier. He was a stout figure,
4 rather unusual one to look upon,
md as he came up, there was some
hing about his stride that caught
he attention of the guard who, of
,ourse, closely guarded the body;
instead of his passing on as the
others, he stopped, and the guards
lesitated as they heard him say,
Yes. Abe, you promised me you
would come back. and you DID come
back. but | did not expect you to
come this way" Then he was led
IN: that was his boyhood friend.
1t has always been a source OF in
spiration to me in studying the life
Of such a man, to note that he could
not be discouraged by failure.
When Abraham Lincoln was a
Young man. he ran for the legisla-
ure in Illinois, and was badly
;wamped
He next entered business, failed,
md spent seventeen years of his
ife paying up the debts of a worth
ess partner.
He was in love with a beautiful
-oung woman to whom he became
ngaged-then she died.
Entering politics again, he ran for
Congress-, and was badly defeated.
Ie then tried to get an appointment
D the United States land office, but
allied. !.
He became a candidate for the
'nited Sttaes Senate, and was badly
In 1856, he became a candidate for
ne Nice-Presidency, and was once
!ore defeated.
In 1858. he was defeated by Doug
Is.
One failure after another-bad
setbacks. In the face
all this, he eventually became one
the greatest men of America,
hose memory is loved and hOnored
lrOughOut the world