WASHINGTON AND LINCOLN[7]

BY MARTIN W. LITTLETON


The strongest thing about the character of the two greatest men in
American history is the fact that they did not surrender to the passion
of the time. Washington withstood the French radicalism of Jefferson and
the British conservatism of Hamilton. He invited each of them into his
cabinet; he refused to allow either of them to dictate his policy. His
enemies could not terrify him by assault; his friends could not deceive
him with flattery. In this respect he resembled in marked degree the
splendid character of Lincoln.

The single light that led Lincoln's feet along the hard highway of life
was justice; the single thought that throbbed his brain to sleep at
night was justice; the single prayer that put in whispered words the
might and meaning of his soul was justice; the single impulse that
lingered in a heart already wrung by a nation's grief was justice; in
every word that fell from him in touching speech there was the sad and
sober spirit of justice. He sat upon the storm when the nation shook
with passion. Treason, wrong, injustice, crime, graft, a thousand wrongs
in system and in single added to the burden of this melancholy spirit.
Silently, as the soul of the just makes war on sin; silently, as the
spirit of the mighty withstands the spite of wrong; silently, as the
heart of the truly brave resists the assault of the coward, this prince
of patience and peace endured the calumny of the country he died to
save.

Lincoln blazed the way from the cabin to the crown; working away in the