FEBRUARY 1 Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men. Proverbs 22:29. Gommendations from Literary and Learned Men. (To Rev. J. P. Gulliver. of Norwich, Connecticut, in 1860.) A most extraordinary circumstance occurred in New Haven the other day. They told me that the professor of rhetoric in Yale College a very learned man, isn't he? well, he ought to be, at any rate-they told me that he came to hear me, and took notes of my speech, and gave a lecture on it to his class the next day; and not satisfied with that, he followed me up to Meriden the next evening, and heard me again for the same purpose. Now, if this is so, it is to my mind very extraordinary. I have been sufficiently astonished at my success in the West. It has been most unexpected. But I had no thought of any marked success at the East, and least of all that I should draw out such commendations from literary and learned men. Lives of great men all remind us -Longfellow. FEBRUARY 2 (Ground Hog Day) A prudent man foreseeth the evil. Proverbs 22: 3. Root, Hog, or Die. (In reply to Mr. Hunter, February 3, 1865, who stated that as slaves were accustomed to work under compulsion, by being suddenly freed it would bring ruin on the South, and whites and blacks would starve together.) I can only say, in reply to your statement of the case, that it reminds me of a man out in Illinois, by the name of Case, who undertook, a few years ago, to raise a very large herd of hogs. It was a great trouble to feed them; and how to get around this was a puzzle to him. At length he hit upon the plan of planting an immense field of potatoes, and, when they were sufficiently grown, he turned the whole herd into the field and let them have full swing, thus saving not only the labor of feeding the hogs, but that also of digging the potatoes! Charmed with his sagacity, he stood one day leaning against the fence, counting his hogs, when a neighbor came along. "Well, well," said he, "Mr. Case, this is all very fine. Your hogs are doing very well just now; but you know out here in Illinois the frost comes early, and the ground freezes a foot deep. Then what are you going to do?" This was a view of the matter which Mr. Case had not taken into account. Butchering time for hogs was away on in December or January. He scratched his head and at length stammered, "Well, it may come pretty hard on their snouts, but I don't see but it will be root, hog, or die." Prudence, thou vainly in our youth art sought, -Dryden. FEBRUARY 3 Wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it. Ecclesiastes 7:12. Dur Support and Defense. (Extract from address before Young Men's Lyceum, Springfield, Illinois, January, 1838.) Reason-cold, calculating, unimpassionate reason-must furnish all the materials for our support and defense. Let those materials be molded into general intelligence, sound morality, and, in particular, a reverence for the Constitution and the laws; and then our country shall continue to improve, and our nation, revering his name, and permitting no hostile foot to pass or desecrate his resting-place, shall be the first to hear the last trump that shall awaken our Washington. Upon these let the proud fabric of freedom rest as the rock of its basis, and, as truly as has been said of the only greater institution, "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Defend us, Lord, from every ill; Thou who art Light, shine on each soul! The path which leads to heaven and thee! -John Hay. FEBRUARY 4 And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise. Ezekiel 26: 12. The Traitor Forfeits His Property. (His views on the Confiscation Act, passed by Congress and approved by the President, July 17, 1862.) It is startling to say that Congress can free a slave within a State, and yet were it said that the ownership of a slave had first been transferred to the nation, and that Congress had then liberated him, the difficulty would vanish; and this is the real case. The traitor against the general Government forfeits his slave at least as justly as he does any other property, and he forfeits both to the Government against which he offends. The Government, so far as there can be ownership, owns the forfeited slaves, and the question for Congress in regard to them is, Shall they be made free or sold to new masters? I see no objection to Congress deciding in advance that they shall be free. You have among you many a purchased slave. -Shakespeare. FEBRUARY 5 Let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment. Ezra 7:26. Pay the Cost of a Causeless War. (In defense of the Confiscation Act, passed by Congress, July 17, 1862. Continued from preceding page.) That those who make a causeless war should be compelled to pay the cost of it, is too obviously just to be called in question. To give Government protection to the property of persons who have abandoned it, and gone on a crusade to overthrow the same Government, is absurd, if considered in the mere light of justice. The severest justice may not always be the best policy. . . . I think our military commanders, when, in military phrase, they are within the enemy's country, should, in an orderly manner, seize and keep whatever of real or personal property may be necessary or convenient for their commands, and at the same time preserve in some way the evidence of what they do. And many an old man's sigh, and many a widow's, -Shakespeare. |