It is difficult to overstate how much it means to a nation to have as the
two foremost figures in its history men like Washington and Lincoln. It
is good for every man in any way concerned in public life to feel that
the highest ambition any American can possibly have will be gratified
just in proportion as he raises himself toward the standards set by these
two men.
It is a very poor thing, whether for nations or individuals, to advance
the history of great deeds done in the past as an excuse for doing poorly
in the present; but it is an excellent thing to study the history of the
great deeds of the past, and of the great men who did them, with an
earnest desire to profit thereby so as to render better service in the
present. In their essentials, the men of the present day are much like
the men of the past, and the live issues of the present can be faced to
better advantage by men who have in good faith studied how the leaders of
the nation faced the dead issues of the past. Such a study of Lincoln's
life will enable us to avoid the twin gulfs of immorality and
inefficiency--the gulfs which always lie one on each side of the careers
alike of man and of nation.
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