Warrensburg Latham High School - Cardinal Yearbook (Warrensburg, IL)

Page 33 text:

Twenty-nine

Page 32 text:

f CARDINAL)} ABRAHAM LINCOLN “Have you ever realized it, my friends, that Lincoln, though grafted on the West, is essentially, in personnel and character, a Southern contribution?” —Walt Whitman. The moral life of Lincoln cannot be characterized alone because of the fact that the moral character was woven into all of his life. He is quoted as saying he had never joined a church because he found difficulty in giving his assent without mental reservation to the long complicated statements of Christian doctrine which characterize their Articles of Belief and Confession of Faith. He said when a church inscribed over its altar, as its sole statement of qualification for membership, the Saviour’s condensed statement of the substance of the Gospel, “Thou shalt love thy Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself,” he would then join that church with all his heart and with all his soul. His moral characteristic is shown throughout his entire life. A great deal of his greatness he contributed to his mother who died when he was young. In all cases he always spoke with a great tenderness and deep love for her. Lincoln had a way of viewing a thing as right or wrong. He was the friend of the down and out, and needy, although he never cared to defend the guilty while he was a lawyer. No one knows how much the trip to New Orleans had to do with the ideas he formed concerning slavery. He said on this trip, “If ever I get a chance to hit it, I’ll hit it hard.” He carried out his resolution later in life after becoming President, by issuing his wonderful Proclamation of Emancipation. As President and man, during the war he was lenient with friend and foe alike. If a worn and tired soldier fell asleep while on duty, he would do his utmost to have him forgiven. If either a “Union” or “Johnnie” did him a foul play, he would forgive him. He had more than human, divine patience. Lincoln had the power of winning a foe to his cause by presenting his side of the matter. If he could but get the person to listen, he had very little trouble in causing him to see the matter as he did. This fact is proven in two incidents in Thomas Dixon’s book, “The Southerner.” His re-election came and with it his wonderful inaugural speech, which rang with clear and quivering emotions over the vast crowd gathered. “With malice toward none; with charity for all; let us strive on to finish the work we are in........” After the war, the South grew to respect the man who had loved, yet fought her, for what he believed to be her highest good. The war over, his great work accomplished in destroying slavery and restoring the Union, there were but two tasks on which he had set his heart—to heal the bitterness of the war and to remove the negroes from such close contact with the whites. But the end came too soon to see him accomplish these ends. On April 14, 1865, while attending Ford’s theater in Washington, he was shot by John Wilkes Booth. With the flash of his pistol and the words, “Sic semper tyrannis,” he leaped to the stage and made his exit. “Thus the curtains had been softly drawn apart, the Angel of Death entered, paused at the sight of the smile on his rugged, kindly face, touched the drooping shoulders, and called him to take the place he had won among the earth’s immortals, leaving to us ‘ “ the greatest memory of our world’.” —Mildred Dietrich, ’26. Twenty-eight

Page 34 text:

((CARDINAL)) JUNIORS Standing: (left to right) Harry Oakes, James Williams, Eugene Ault. Sitting: Edna Turner, Ruby Clem. JUNIOR CLASS HISTORY On September 1, 1923 seven young people entered W. C. H. S. as Freshmen. No special class activities were held during their Freshmen year, except that they were entertained by the school at a weiner roast in Dietrich’s grove. The next year with two members missing and one newcomer,—they enrolled again, this time as Sophomores. During this year they maintained the same standards as the year before. This year with one member missing, the other live enrolled as Juniors. When they held their first class meeting, they elected the following members for class officers: President...................... Eugene Ault Vice-President ................ Ruby Clem Secretary and Treasurer ...... Harry Oakes They chose Miss Short as their class advisor. Thirty