Evening star., 1943-02-12
Member of the Associated Press.
Lincoln

1tVl(OIU
1t Is circumstance sometimes
forgotten that only fractional por-
ton of the great life which began in
a Kentucky cabin 1874 years ago today
was fruitful of significance. Had
Abraham Lincoln died before July "a
1858, he would be remembered merely
as a country lawyer who had served
one undistinguiShed term in Con-
gress. 1t was his debates with
Stephen A. Douglas that made him a
national figure. In order to under
stand the development of the final
phase of his career it is helpful to
recall that until he was elected to
the presidency he considered him.
self a failure At the bar he never
had earned more than $4,000 in any
twelve-month period. His clients
generally were poor. From the aver
age case he received fee comparable
with a laborer's wage. AS politician
his field was limited to the neighbor-
hood of Springfield. The seven joint
discussions in which he shared when
he was forty-nine gave him his first
authentic celebrity. His Cooper In
stitute speech of February q, 1860,
won him the leadership of the
moderate" wing of the Republican
party.
Most of the important" men Of
the epoch did not approve his candi-
dacy. Horace Greeley actively fought
his nomination, Ralph Waldo Emer-
son and Charles Francis Adams re-
gretted it, Hannibal Hamlin. his
running mate, did not bother to
communicate with him for more than
eight weeks after the Chicago con-
vention; Salmon P. Chase was the
only one of his rivals who congratu-
lated him. When he had been
elected he found it imperative to
appoint to his cabinet individuals
whom he had reason to believe hated
him. He entered Washington by
stealth to avoid two groups OF assas-
sins and was inaugurated surrounded
by troops with loaded rifles. The
news that awaited him when he ar
rived at the White House, after
having taken the oath at the Capitol,
was the tidings that Fort Sumter
could not hold out against the
"insurrectioniSts," whose attack was
expected momentarily. Hostilities
finally began at 430 on the morning
Of Friday, April II, 1861, and Lin
coins fate was sealed at that instant.
The four years remaining to him
were an era Of torture. Helen Nico-
lay, in her searching appraisal OF
his character, says: "A man of many
moods, but great singleness of aim,
he was complex, yet of a strange
simplicity. So natural in manner, so
free from arrogance and assumption
OF power, that some could not see
how grandly he lowered above them.
Unable to believe that one so placed
could have come through the fire Of
life unscathed, they read into his acts
subtletieS and meanings which were
not there; for, with the knowledge of
a world-wise man, he kept the heart
of a child. Intensely practical,
he was lowered with a poets vision
and poets capacity for pain. Keen,
analytical, absolutely just, he was
Northumberland tender-hearted al
most to the verge Of unreason. Fond
Of merrinent, he was one of the
saddest men who ever lived" His
achievement for the Nation and for
humanity at large is summarized by
the same writer in the words: He
led the country out of old ways into
new. Rising above the hatred and
bitterness of the struggle, he held
attention to the great and enduring
principles which made such a sacri-
fee of life not only tolerable but holy
BY force of his own personality he
shamed men into contempt for vim
dictiveness and meanneSs, and, doing
so. robbed war Of its bitterest sting.
Certainly. Lincoln made numerous
mistakes There were seasons wher
the cause of the Union very nearly
perished, and he suffered agonies ot
fear. The specter of disaster haunted
him. Out Of his grueling experience
he drew the Gettysburg address anc
the Second Inaugural. They are the
proof Of his spiritual growth under
the impact of the ordeal through
which he moved to his martyrdom
Perhaps no other generation since hi!
own has been so we'll qualified u
comprehend and appreciate him a.
that which now. in the prevailln,
crisis, is striving to fulfill his vision O
freedom and "a Just and lastin.
peace among ourselves and with al
nations"