Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 February 1913 — LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY FITTINGLY OBSERVED [ARTICLE]

LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY FITTINGLY OBSERVED

Ladies of the G. A. R. Entertain Old Soldiers at Anniversary of f ' Emancipator’s Birth.

jA ’ ■ ’■] • What has grown to be an annual custom with the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic, that of celebrating the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, was splendidly carried out Wednesday evening when a« hearty lap supper was served in the G. A, R. hall in the basement of the court house. All old soldiers in Rensselaer and vicinity had bfeen invited and most of them responded. In fact, considering the chid night, there were a big lot of the “old hoys” out and they took to the supper of beans, salad, ejeamed chicken, sandwiches, coTfee, ice cream and cake with almost much zest as- they did hack in the sixties. Following the supper, tfhich was splendidly served by the ladies, a splendid program was carried out. It included addresses f> Rev. W. G. Winn, Rev. C. L. arper, Rev. J. CL Parrett, and Attorney E. P. Honan, and songs and speeches by a number of others. It #as one of the most joyous of all the Lincoln Day occasions, and the speeches, especially that of Rev. Winn, who was horn and raised in Virginia, caused every person to feel the spirit of praise and honor for the martyred president. The ladies of the order wish to thank the King Floral Co. for a fine boquet of carnations which were sent to them and which were distributed among- sick members jvho ,were unable to attend the khpper. The spirit evidenced in the following ecomium was evident on every hand: “For his services rise above partisanship and sectionalism. They .belong to mankind, to the world. What this man or that thinks of him matters not. He rises above the personal element into the universal. Even while men yet live who knew him, hfs individual peculiarities, his-little fauts and mannerisms, the things for which people at close range criticised him, have fallen away like a garment and have ceased to obscure his greatness. He stands now, as he will always stand, a colossal figure on the shores of time. Fortunate indeed is the country with the memory of such a man to celebrate.”