Proctor High School - Proctorian Yearbook (Proctor, VT)

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THE SUTHERLAND 5 LINCOLN. THE MAN 0F IDEALS tAwarded First Prize in the Lincoln Essay Canteen There are very few of us who do not have ideals. Pos- sibly we do not always talk of them or even write of them, but. we each realize instinctively that our personal ideals ex- ist, either abstractly or in reality. There are people however, who having set ideals for themselves. direct concentrated ef- fort thmughout life. to living up to their principles. I-Iow few of us have not. at some time or other, wished that we might follow the exemplary lives of such worthy men? The greatest of these men of ideals is Abraham Lincaln; splitter of rails, lawyer. statesman. President and emancipa- tor. At the time when; Lincoln was splitting rails,'his ad- mirable code of ideals was being formed. By never wavering from these self-established principles. and by making full use of his amazing taients, he strode to the front and won a place in the innermost heart of every true American. There is little about Lincoln that has not been written and lectured upon. The known facts of his life furnish never- ending material for the biographer; and hardly a year passes but some history is written of the Iife of this man. Nothing was too insignificant in his eyes. Everything contained some valuable information. He once said that he never got angry at anything in his life except when, as a mere child. he was. addressed in a manner that he could not understand. Here then we have the secret of his self-educa- tion. 0f regular schooling he had but one year; his passion for clear understanding and reasoning led him to a style of speech and writing that few self-educated people ever achieve. As an aid in his seIf-education there were three invalu- able abstract teachers that cannot be overlooked. The first of these confronted him as a barrier that could not easily be ignored. namely-poverty. Poverty taught Lincoln the value of industry. skill and reputation. If a man is industnous he cannot help but gain skill which in its turn invariably leads to reputation. His second teacher-labor, friend of many, taught him, far better than all the books that were ever written, his indisputable right to the fruits of his individual boil. Although I have chosen solitude as taking third place amongst the abstract teachers. I believe it is of equal imw portance. It was in solitude that Lincoln learned to think, to measure his powers and take counsel of his own mind and heart. In solitude when only a child he would puzzle far in- to the night over words or expressions heard during the day,

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THE SUTHERL .41 ND XXXX LI TE RARY LOVERS l fondle. caress her And stroke her soft hair. She's all I have, The only one to care. Before the glowing hearth In shadows. ghostly dim, She sits so close. So dainty. swwet and prim. Her eyes. dark and dreamy, Meet mine, then drop. serene; In their shining depths A light of love is seen. Yos. it's perfectly proper, For don't you realize that My own fond love is, A charming pussy-cat. -N1uriel C. Elam, '30.

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8 THE SUTHERLAND until he believed he had caught their meaning and significance. To the day of his death he kept this chiId-like attitude of heartehe was never too old to learn. We find that as a politician of the age in which he lived. Lincoln was ideal. His unfailing ability to mix with people of all types raised his popularity immensely. When on election- eering tours, he and oppoaing candidates sometimes spent the night under the same fann-house roof. One of Lincoln's op- ponents. who was also his personal friend. tells how Lincoln got the better of him on one of these occasions. When milking time came. the other, extremely anxious to win their hostess to his side, took the pail and steel from her hands and went to work, chuckling at the march he was stealing on his op- ponent. But When he had finished. to his dismay he discover- ed Lincoln leaning over the fence in fruitful conversation with the lady. Lincoln was then and always preeminenthr and es- sentially a pmatical politician. The average citizen knows little about the law or its pro- cedure in the hands of justice. This does not prevent enjoy- ment! in reading of Lincolnts career as a lawyer. Here in the courtroom especially, We find Lincoln an exemplary study of directness and simplicity. Hie method was to get to the point with as little ado about nothing? as possible. Any long fiowery speeches, containing numerous Latin terms, irritated him. He had little patience with men who obscured or tried to obscure their own trail. It reminded him, he said. of a little Frenchman out West, after a heavy snowfall. whose legs were so short that the seat of his trousers rubbed out his foot- prints as he walked. We next consider Lincoln, the Man of Ideals, as a Presi- denFthe most beloved man ever ,chosen by the people of America to be the representative of their desires. Never has such personal feeling of a nation been demonstrated as at the election of Abraham Uncoln. On the night of that eventful day, excitement in Springfield rose to its height and Demo- crats joined with Republicans in celebrating the victory of the latter party. Crowds danced, dined and cheered. Lincoln, meanwhile. sat alone in a little telegraph office reading the returns which convinced him of the victory of the Republicans. With this cunv-ietion there fell upon him an over- whelming and crushing sense of his coming responsibilities. Let us close our eyes and try to visualize this scene and its significance. The dimly lighted telegraph office, the noise of rejoicing- breaking into the room in incessant waves; in its midst the successful candidate site all alone. with head bowed, his deeply lined face sad and set-looking into the future.