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He knew nothing of grammar, indeed, scarce understood what it means, nor did he study it until he had grown to manhood, when he wearily and alone plodded through the book, on finding that he could never hope to be a lawyer without the knowledge of constructing sentences. Yet how that tact of his led him in after days to say the right word at the right place! That is what tact does, and its possessor becomes renowned. Who quotes that learned and eloquent oration of Edward Everett, delivered at the dedication of the Gettysburg cemetery, November 19, 1863? But these few terse, tactful sentences of Lincoln's, written hurriedly on scraps of paper while going thither on the cars, on being informed that he would be expected to say something on that occasion, have already passed into fame as one of the rarest classics in the English language.

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of the field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot conse crate, we cannot hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add to or detract from.

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"The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it never can forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us here to be dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full meas ure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead

shall not have lived in vain; that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

To what heights this poor backwoods boy had grown! On the first day of January of this same year he had as the chief magistrate of the land proclaimed liberty to the captives, and so by that action this man of tact, who in his struggle with Stephen A. Douglas for vantage ground in the coming contest for the presidency had chosen for policy's sake to give a quasisupport to the efforts of reformers against that hideous monstrosity and libel on humanity, slavery, had been driven at last by the hurrying feet of events to become himself a Reformer! Yet his tact even then led him in his message to the next Congress to base such official action as he had taken wholly upon the ground of public policy rather than upon righteousness, and then he went on to address them as a reformer might have done. Hear him as he pleads for the support of Con

gress.

"Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free, honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just,—a way which, if followed, the world will applaud and God must forever bless."

His tact won the day again, and a year later he had grown so brave a reformer as to be able to say to Congress on December 6, 1864: "While I remain in my present position, I shall not attempt to retract or modify the Emancipation Proclamation; nor shall I return to slavery any person who is free by the

terms of that proclamation or by any of the acts of Congress. If the people should by whatever mode or means make it the executive duty to re-enslave such persons, another, and not I, must be their instrument to perform it."

Brave words, bravely spoken! yet truth demands that it be said, however wise Abraham Lincoln was or might have been, if he had not had such amazing tact he would not, he could not, have succeeded as he did. For the records of his administration show that there was on more than one occasion a time of deadly peril to his country, and to himself as the leader of his party, when this tact alone had stood forth and seemingly rescued them from ruin.

What an inspiration to the poorest boys of the land his quaint, homely, successful life has become! Doubly dear to the world is he also, because at the last he was called to give his life a sacrifice on the altar of that freedom he had dared to proclaim to others. And so the thousand pages quarto of condolences preserved in the State Department at Washington that were sent from every civilized nation of the earth, when they had learned of his untimely death at the felon's hand, proves that this child of poverty, this man of many limitations but of great sensibilities, who had become the astute politician, the able president, and Treason's victim, had won humanity's heart at the last by being humanity's friend. Tact brought Lincoln to greatness; devotion to freedom brought him immortality of name.

But it is not alone in the professional life that this quality is found to be in the very highest degree necessary for success. Tact must be in constant exercise in business affairs if one would reach eminence. There is scarcely a great merchant or successful business man of to-day who is not an example of this desirable possession.

We frequently hear it said of a man, "He possesses great talent and exhibits little tact," meaning ability to adjust himself to conditions and circumstances and utilize his power and wisdom in securing practical, successful results.

In practical everyday life tact towers far above talent.

Talent without the mellow, winning influence of tact would be like a sturdy forest oak without its luxuriant garment of green to shelter the weary traveler from the pelting rays of a summer's sun. Tact overcomes every difficulty and surmounts or removes every obstacle.

Every chapter of this volume represents a star in the great constellation of success, and the little star of tact lends brilliancy to many of her larger and more dignified neighbors. She holds within her hand the key to success, wealth, and honor.

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The Compass of Life.

SAMUEL PLANTZ, PH.D.

President Lawrence University.

N that wonderful novel of Victor Hugo, "Les Miserables,” there is one chapter which the reader will never forget. It is entitled "A Tempest in a Brain." Jean Valjean has been nineteen years in the galleys for stealing a loaf of bread and subsequently trying to escape from his imprisonment. He has at length been liberated but only to fall again into crime. By coming in contact with the saintly Bishop of D— he has become not only transformed but transfigured.

Having assumed another name, he has established himself in an obscure village, intent on two things, hiding his real name and sanctifying his life by doing good. Here he has accumulated great wealth and won the profound respect of all who know him by his benevolence and humanity. But one day an old man who has stolen a bough of apples, by a case of mistaken identity, is arrested as Valjean, and is in danger of being condemned to the galleys for life. The question now comes before the true Valjean, shall he disclose his real name, and surrender himself as the escaped convict, or shall he allow the other man to go to the galleys in his place? He goes to his room, shuts himself in, and meditates on his duty.

The conflict between motives within him is fearful in its intensity. Expediency whispers to him of the toil of the galley service, of the loathsome companions he will have there, of the weight of the iron he will feel on his ankles and wrists. It points out how he will have to surrender his plans for helping the poor and sick, and above all how his ward Fantine and her child Cosette will have no one to assist them if he is gone. It

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