Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 February 1898 — ABRAHAM LINCOLN. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

On the 12th of February. 1809, In the wilderness. In Larue County, Kentucky, was bom one of the best and greatest men that ever lived—Abraham Lincoln. His father was a poor farmer, nnd In the rude life of the backawoods his entire schooling did not exceed a year, but while at school he was noted ns a good speller, but more particularly for his hatred of cruelty—his earliest composition being a protest against putting coals of lire on the backs of the captured terrapins. He wore coarse, home-made clothes nnd a coonskln cap, and his trousers, owing to his rapid growth (before his 17th birthday he was at his maximum of 6 feet 4 Inches), were almost always nearly a foot too short. His last attendance at school was In 1826, when he was 17 years old, but after leaving It he read everything readable within his reach, and copied passages nnd sentences that especially attracted him. Ills first knowledge of the law, In which he afterwards be? came eminent, was through reading the statutes of Indiana, lent to him by a constable, nnd he obtained a tolerable knowledge of grammar, also from a borrowed book studied by the light of burning shavings In a cooper’s shop, after his fnmlly had. In 1830 emigrated to Illinois. In 1834 he was elected to the Illinois Legislature—was three times re-elected—was admitted to practice law In 1830, and then removed to Springfield, the Slate capital. In 1846 he was elected to Congress, where he voted against the extension of slavery, nnd In 1854 was a recognized leader In the ncwlv-formed Republican party. In 1860 he was nominated for the Presidency, received a majority of votes over any of the other candidates and was Installed in the President’s chair March 4 1861 His election was followed by the secession of eleven Southern States and a war for the restoration of the Union. As n military measure ho proclaimed Jan. 1, 1863, the freedom of all slaves lu the seceding States; and was re-elected to the Presidency In 1864 The war brought to a close April 2. 1865, and on the 15th of the RameTnonth Abraham Lincoln’s life was ended by the hand of an assassin. Thus, when he Had mounted Fame's ladder so high From the round nt the top he could step to the sky, the great President passed to his rest. Twice elected to his high office, he was torn from It In the moment of triumph, to be placed side by side with Washington, the one the father, the other the Savior of the Union; one the founder of a republic, the other the liberator of a race. ’