ardent affection which Mr. Lincoln had ever cherished for the church was greatly intensified and strengthened by the loyal Christian patriotism which during the war pervaded the church, and of the religious heroism displayed by church people at the front and in all loyal states.

INTENDED TO UNITE WITH THE CHURCH

And during the latter part of "his weary and chastened life," he repeatedly expressed his purpose, “at the first suitable opportunity, to make a profession of religion," by uniting with the church. The assassin's bullet, however, intervened and that purpose was not carried out, but, although his name was never entered upon any roll of membership of the visible church on earth, who can doubt that his name was recorded in "the Lamb's Book of Life"?

VI

LINCOLN AND HORACE GREELEY

A HITHERTO UNCOMPLETED CHAPTER OF AMERICAN HISTORY

W

HEN I was a child, my heart many times was deeply moved by heated discussions at our frontier Ohio home between my father and callers who approved and attempted to defend American slavery. I say "attempted to defend," for to me it seemed only a feeble effort upon their part, as we sat by the crackling fire, for my father-whom I adored-was a master in argument and he never was so vehement and irresistible as when denouncing slavery. And during the long winter evenings, as I listened to those backwoods debates, the emotions which swept over my youthful soul were like surging billows that dash upon a stormy ocean beach.

A few years later, while I was only a lad, for one silver dollar I sold to a neighbor some choice young fruit trees, which it had required more than three years of care and labor to produce. That silver dollar was larger in my eyes than was the "big, round moon." But far greater than the joy and pride of being the rightful owner of such wealth was my delight at being permitted to invest that dollar in a year's subscription to the New York Weekly Tribune. And during the year that followed, whenever the exacting duties of a toiling farmer boy would permit, I feasted mind and soul upon the literary pabulum which filled the columns of that great antislavery oracle, chiefly from the pen of Horace Greeley, the most gifted and influential journalist of his day.

Thus early I learned to revere the name of Horace Greeley and unconsciously to imbibe the spirit with which he de

nounced human slavery and assailed the propagandists of that institution. The Tribune was the Bible, and Horace Greeley the prophet of the abolition movement. And what was true of me was true of the multitudes throughout the nation who were constant readers of the Tribune and who were becoming more and more antagonistic to the institution of slavery. By his matchless force of intellect, and the authority of truth, he held undisputed sway over the hosts that gathered to his standard. Many were led by their hostility to slavery into a spirit and attitude of hostility to the Constitution, and the government which gave that institution protection. Only a limited number, however, of the antislavery people were borne to such extremes. Those who were more conservative, sought with diligence for some method by which their disapproval of slavery could be made effective in accordance with the provisions of the national Constitution. The movements of those antislavery forces were like the mobilizing of a great army, and the leader of leaders in those movements was Horace Greeley. His masterful editorials in the Tribune were like the bugle blasts from a great commander calling the hosts to battle.

In their efforts to obey those calls to duty the people rallied around divers standards. In the midst of political chaos the standard of slavery restriction was lifted up and, as by magic, the republican party came into being, standing upon a platform of but one distinctive plank-the prohibition of the extension of slavery into the Federal Territories.

To an alert, enthusiastic lad those early movements were of thrilling interest, and not less inspiring was the later crystallization of that young party into effective cohesion. In the vicinity where my lot was cast, not one phase of this movement escaped my attention; and in 1856 a tall tamarack flagpole stood in front of our house, holding aloft our starry banner to bear witness to my interest in the efforts for the election to the Presidency of Colonel John C. Fremont, the gallant young "Path Finder" of California. The nomination