Article February 19, 1910 Issue

LINCOLN DAY SERVICE AT THE MOTHER CHURCH

Lincoln day was observed in The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, at noon Feb. 12. Judge Clifford P. Smith, the First Reader, presided. After the opening service, Judge Smith introduced the special speaker of the day, Col. L. A. Watres of Scranton, former lieutenant-governor of Pennsylvania, who said in part,—

It is said that for three hundred years after the battle of Thermopylæ every child in the public schools of Greece was required to recite from memory each day the names of the three hundred immortal martyrs who fell in the defense of that pass. It is appropriate that a free people should assemble one day in the year to speak the name and to draw inspiration from the life and character of one of the most impressive, commanding, widely-recognized, and best-beloved figures in our nation's history. It has been well said that "the best teachers of humanity are the lives of great men," and we might add, of great women.

The history and the life of Abraham Lincoln belong to the whole world. His marvelous growth and development from obscurity to the exalted position which gave him control of the government can only be accounted for and understood when looked at, not from a material, but from a spiritual point of view. His great heart beat true to the real things of life, and he stamped himself upon the hearts and consciences of men for all time. He loved righteousness, hated iniquity, and was anointed above his fellows. He was as gentle as a child, but as brave as a lion; calm and trusting in greatest trials, and modest and magnanimous in mighty conquests. He was one of God's children who never finished his education, but kept and open mind for truth whencesoever it came.

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