Year: 1865

\ comfort and consolation 10 every parent


no matter how sharp may be the present


confiict with poverty and sorrow. IA


rent and child, bound together by com


mon blood, and love. and labor, and


suffering, do not sink down and perish


in a common despair Look up to the


light of his example, and take heart


again; - for it is the star of hope. newly


risen to cheer the hitherto hopeless


Let it be your guide, and you cannot fail


in the great race of life. Remember


that


The star that guides the wand'rer right,


Is virtue fair, and honor bright!


Let the little boy with bare, sore feet.
/ "meanly clad and poorly fed''-and God
knows our poor country has many such
now while bending under his load Of
premature toll and care, read the history
| Of Abraham Lincoln's boyhood and
then, if it be given him, raise his eye. and
soul to the great rewards that crowned
i his later years, and he will ..learn to
labor and to wait" None-not even the
poorest-is poorer than he was; for,
him, it really seemed as if nature had
taken the poets advce, and


| Cast the bantling on the rocks,
/ Sucked him with the she wooif feat,
/ And wintered him with the hawk and fox,


in order to achieve that greatest of all
human results--a strong, self reliant,
perfect soul Like a seed cast far down
into deep aud gloomy mountain chasm,
his childhood fell in the depths of
poverty and obscurity and like the life
within that seed, the soul within him
struggled ever upward in search of the
vital breath Of heaven, and the warm,
bright sunshine, that he knew, even his
lonely darkness, must at last crown his
toll


In this hope he endured the labors of
! forest and the field-there with AK, and
maui, and iron wedge, and wooden glut
hewn out by his own hand and here with
plow, and hoe, and sickle, and scythe,
'.toiling for the altogether Indispensable
| even for daily bread ;" and, it may be,
at times, dreaming in the depths of his
sorrowful heart, that he was already
conscripted for that stern warfare as long
| as his life should last But it was not SO
ordained. God had far other and higher
work for him to do; and this hard
struggle in which he won the souls food
the bread Of life-from the crumbs
that fell from the rich mans table, was
but the trial of his powers, designed
to strengthen and tougher the thew and
sinews of his nature for the gigantic





to meet him. As such he accepted it all
with gentle patience, enduring hardships
as a good soldier, not permitting the
rough buffetings of the world to mingle
a drop Of gall or bitterness with the
sweet current Of his soul, which flowed
onward even to the moment of his death,
as pure, simple and loving as erst in the
days Of his sinless childhood. Had he
turned to avenge himself upon the world
that buffeted him. he would have been
lost to himself, his country and the
world. He was superior to hatred or re-
venge, and learned without teacher the
precept given by Wolsey to Cromwell:


Love self last cherish those hearts that hate thee
Corruption wins not more than honesty;


Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace


To silence envious tongues. Re Just and fear not
Let all the ends thou aimst at, be thy country's
Thy Gods, and truths,


All these, from his youth up, has he
kept, and now that he has fallen, the
whole people cherish him "in the inner
most shrine of their hearts," His ex-
ample is perfect, embracing the entire
possible of the life of an American
citizen, in all the relations it may sustain
to private and public welfare. Perhaps
no citizen SO highly distinguished. has
ever before attained such distinction,





pursuits so diversified.


How shall we account for the wonder
ful success of his career? He did not,
perhaps, possess the highest order of
mind Talents he undoubtedly had. and
of n very high character, too; but few
will claim that he had genius He never
sought TO adjust his public measures to
an ideal standard Itmay he well ques-
toned whether he ever conceived any
such adjustment possible. Certain ii ia,
he did not attempt to effect it. On the
contrary, he endeavored to base his
policy upon the common sense of the
people-upon public opinion. Few men
of genius were his counselors; and fewer
still were entrusted by him with high
command in the army. He leaned on
men of strong practical common sense,
like himself;a nd with them went forward
in the slow development of his grand
designs Nor am here to censure the
wisdom Of his choice; for a government
resting upon the popular will, as ours
pre- eminently does, must conform to it,
or fail. 1t by no means follows that
measures most nearly approaching the
absolutely just, are. therefore, always.
or even often practically the best. If
the philosophic and enthusiastic would
bear this in mind, they would have more
charity for those who are entrusted with
the administration of public affairs. A
want OF reflection upon the necessities
of Mr.. Lincoln's position as the practical
exponent of popular opinion, was no
doubt the principal source Of the only
censures which his administration ever
received from any considerable portion
of his original friends and supporters
1t should be enough hereafter 10 satisfy
these men of ideas. if the Government
shall keep peace with public opinion.


While Mr.. Lincoln, however, did not
follow the ideal, and, it may be, had
little faith in its utility as q practical
guide in the conduct of affairs. he was
ever devoted to duty. He had faith in
duty; and cheefully took every step III
its stern career. 1t might lead him upon
ground which his eye could not see. still
he went fearlessly forward, trusting in
Him who imposed the duty, for safe and
firm footing in the darkness. He knew