James H. Shaw

“ LINCOLN'S GETTYSBURG SPEECH.
Four score and ten years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived or so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We are met to dedicate a portion of it as the final resting place of those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. ”

“ Lincoln's very strict honesty, and as he became known about New Salem, and this characteristic was seen by the people, he was nicknamed "Honest Abe," and this name for honesty went with him ever afterward, and when he would speak to the jury in a law suit, and tell them the facts, they would always believe him because he was known as "Honest Abe," and would not tell a lie. So you see that it was a very great advantage to him in after years to have been so strictly honest. It proves the old saying true, that "Honesty is the best policy." ”

“ They carried President Lincoln to the house across the street, where, as the dawn of day came, his soul departed to its everlasting rest in Heaven.
There probably has never been a death more sudden and unexpected and terrible in the history of the nations. Not only in this country did men everywhere cease their work as people do when a relative dies ”

“ One time when he was president, a man came to him, who was shy on account of being before the president. After his errand was done, Mr. Lincoln asked him to measure with him, and the man proved to be even taller, and went away seeming to think there was something wrong in his being taller than the president of the United States. While his strength made him popular with the hard working men, his good nature, wit, stories, and ability to make a good speech made him popular with everybody! ”

“ Douglas became an outspoken defender of the Union and opposed to the war of the rebellion. On the other hand, Mr. Lincoln, true to this principle suffered defeat for many years, but in the end won the greatest honor and became the greatest president of our nation. It pays to be true to principle, no matter how unpopular it may be and though seeming defeat of our ambitions stare us in the face. ”

“ One October day, a few of the friends of the Lincolns gathered around an open grave under a large cypress tree, and they buried the mother of Abraham Lincoln. They had lived but two years is that southern Indiana home. When all the others had gone away, and the shades of night were coming on, little Abraham threw himself on the new made grave and wept hours, for the greatest sadness and loss that could come to him was the death of his mother. Mother does more for us than any one else ”

“ A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot permanently endure half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all the one thing or the other. ”

“ Lincoln he joked him about this store keeping, and said that he sold liquor over the New Salem bar. When it came Mr. Lincoln's turn to reply, he was just as witty in his reply and said that if he did sell liquor over the New Salem bar as his friend had said, he could assure his audience that the best patron he had was Stephen A. Douglas. This was simply a joke between these two debaters; but it illustrates how quick Mr. Lincoln's wit was.
We all no doubt think ourselves honest; but I wonder if we are as strictly honest as Mr. Lincoln was. ”

“ Two young men who became very famous in the history of our country really started their careers at Springfield, Illinois. One was Stephen A. Douglas and the other Abraham Lincoln. It would be hard to say which of these young men was the smarter; they were both brilliant and hard workers. That is, they studied hard and that made them successful. Although they were both great men, they were not much alike in appearance or in disposition or in the quality of their minds.
Mr. Lincoln came from the South where they liked slavery and Mr. Douglas from Vermont where they hated slavery. ”

“ For it has been said, 'All that a man hath will he give for his life.' And while all contribute of their substance, the soldier puts his life at stake and often yields it up in his country's cause. The highest merit, then, is due the soldier. In this war extraordinary developments have manifested themselves, such as have not been seen in former wars, and among these manifestations, nothing has been more remarkable than these fairs for the relief of suffering soldiers and their families. The chief agents of these fairs are the women of America. ”

“ Abraham at the time could not be present on account of sickness in his own family, so he wrote as follows: "I sincerely hope that father may recover his health. Tell him to remember to call upon the great God and all-wise Maker, who will not turn away from him in any extremity. He notes the fall of the sparrow, He numbers the hairs of our heads, and will not forget the dying man who puts his trust in Him. ”

“ Lincoln wrote many passages worthy of being committed to memory. His phrase "Government of the people, for the people and by the people," is more quoted than any other on the question of government. I add a few that are well worthy of memorizing and remark, that every boy and girl in America ought to be able to recite the Gettysburg speech. ”

“ They used to have debating societies in Springfield and Abraham was fond of taking part. The practice he got in this way helped make him a fine speaker. The Washingtonian society was a strong temperance organization at that time. At one of its meetings, February 22, 1842, Mr. Lincoln spoke and said what has often been quoted since: "When the victory shall be complete, when there shall be neither a slave nor a drunkard on the earth, how proud the title of that land which may claim to be the birth-place and cradle of those resolutions that shall have ended in victory." ”

“ Though these Kentucky pioneers had hard times, they must have had a good place to live in after all, for some of the most honored men of our history, such as Andrew Jackson, Daniel Boone, David Crockett, Senator Benton, Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln came from this pioneer country.
The little boy, Thomas Lincoln, who was saved by his brother Mordecai, was born in Jefferson county, Kentucky in 1778. He grew to be a man in these wild surroundings. It was common to have a fight with the Indians and many and many a time he shot deer and bears. ”

“ Lincoln was again elected president by a very large majority over Gen. McClellan, the Democratic nominee. At his second inaugural he uttered some very fine things. Some of them are as follows:
"Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration it has already obtained. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces. But let us judge not that we be not judged. ”

“ When a boy or girl loses his mother, he loses the one who will always do the most for him. It was not strange then that this little ten year old boy should feel so sad, when he knew he never could have the kind care of his own mother again. There were no preachers there who could perform the ceremony at the burial; but Abraham wrote to an old preacher friend down in Kentucky, one of those circuit riders I told you about, and many months later, he came and preached the funeral sermon. ”

“ The prayers of both could not be answered. * * * The Almighty had his own purposes. 'Woe unto the world because of offenses, for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.' If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of these offenses, which in the providence of God must needs come * * * and he gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern there any departure from those divine attributes, which the believers in a living God always ascribe to him? ”

“ And then there will be some black men who can remember that with silent tongue, and clinched teeth and steady eye and well-poised bayonet they have helped mankind on to this great consummation; while I fear there will be some white ones unable to forget that with malignant heart and deceitful speech they strove to hinder it. ”

“ But his older brother, Mordecai, ran to the log hut and catching up the ever ready gun shot the Indian through the heart and sent him to the "happy hunting ground," and saved little Thomas Lincoln, who grew up to be a man and became the father of our beloved martyr president, Abraham Lincoln.
You have no doubt read of the adventures of Daniel Boone and the pioneers of Kentucky. A little boy thought these pioneers were so grand he said he wanted to be a "pioneer" when he went to heaven. But these pioneers had many hardships we do not have. ”

“ Slavery was universally common in the South. One question of debate was, which was the most to be complained of, the Indian or the Negro. Soon Mr. Lincoln's habit of making comments grew into speech making, and he sometimes gave sort of stump speeches to the crowd in which he would recite passages that he had committed from the speeches of some of the great orators. ”

“ Kentucky has always been a great tobacco raising state and though little Abe grew up to be quite a good-sized boy in that state he did not think, as many boys foolishly do, that it is manly to use tobacco, for Abraham Lincoln never used tobacco in any form. ”

“ I am nothing, but truth is everything. I know I am right because I know that liberty is right, for Christ teaches it and Christ is God. I have told them that a house divided against itself cannot stand, and Christ and reason say the same and they will find it so. ”

“ The summer of 1834 he again ran for the legislature and was elected. The capital at this time was located at Vandalia instead of Springfield. They only had rough tables and benches for the legislators, and they did not receive as much pay as they do now. They wore the same kind of suits, buckskin trousers and coonskin caps as the soldiers of the Black Hawk war. At the time Mr. Lincoln was a member of the legislature it was very unpopular to be an abolitionist. The legislature passed a resolution condemning the abolitionists because they stirred up the people by agitating the freedom of slaves. ”

“ Douglas one day in Washington when Mr. Lincoln was passing by. They called over Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Lovejoy said: "Abe, I have been telling Judge Douglas that his legs are too short (Mr. Douglas was a very short, heavy-set man) , and yours are too long; what do you think about it?" Mr. Lincoln replied, "Well, I never gave the matter much thought but I have always been of the opinion that a man's legs ought to be long enough to reach from his body to the ground." In March, 1837, he was licensed to practice law, and concluded to move from New Salem to Springfield. ”

“ This was the hardest place a president of the United States was ever in. There was but a small army, and as I said the navy was scattered. President Lincoln at once called for volunteer troops. The attack on Fort Sumter so aroused the North that men rapidly left their families and homes, that which one most loves, and rushed to enlist as volunteer soldiers. They had a song in which were these words:
"We are coming Father Abraham, Three hundred thousand strong." ”

“ At one place he helped settle a fight and then got upon the platform and went on with his speech. Lincoln was beaten in the election, although he was third man in the number of votes of the eight candidates. This was the only time that Abraham was ever defeated in a direct vote of the people.
After the election, he bought an interest with a man named Berry in a store. At the same time Lincoln began to study law. The law books were not very numerous. One day a man going past drove up to the store, and wanted him to buy a barrel of rubbish for which he had no room in his wagon. ”

“ After fourteen years of hard labor on the Spencer county soil, Thomas Lincoln had learned what has proved ever since true, that it was very poor farm land. In addition, the milk sickness was a sort of an epidemic disease in those parts. It came about every year. It was from this that Abe's mother died. These things, together with some word that he had received, that Illinois had rich farm land, made him decide to move to that state. ”