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THE 8EMI-WEEKLY TRIBUNE, NORTH PLATTE, NEDRA3KA. MORTAL m DESTRUCTIVE FIRE IN PITTSBURGH 70;r or restoration of national unity from Col. Henry PFatterson, last of the "old school" editors, distinguished publicist and Confederate veteran rtmY.0l",d l,lmt ,tho spirit of tha lllus iMi, dend lvll0,n w Inmont today whiii. BPcaK. frt"n tlio gravo In tones wiiicn reach each nnU every heart: My countrynienl Know ono iinuth er and you will love one nnothor.' " Lamar on tho death of Sumner. HE LINES of thought anil feeling wlilch led to the reclamation of he birth place of Abraham Lin coln and tho peaceful scenes and unity of pur pose that attend Its trans fer from the ownership of an association to tho possession of the govern ment of tho United States contrast strangely with the passions which Illumined tho -period In which his lot was cast, toward tho close breaking Into a volcano of blood nnd Hiiiiu, ins tragic cientli unhappily not the end; for wo now know that, while j bo was entertaining the most benevo lent Intentions toward the beaten party In tho strife, his taking off gavb at once the signal and the pretext for letting loose upon tho vanquished a swarm of i evil spirits working Ills even worse then thene of war Itself. I'or at least ten years before the secession of the Southern states the two sectional extremes In and out of congress talked like madmen, the rav ing ranging from the abolition orator's melodramatic "My curse be upon the Constitution of these United States" to the rodomontade of tho Southern sena tor who would not be pacified until he could "call the muster roll of his slaves beneath Bunker Hill monument." As the sectional pressure tightened In national politics before the advent of actual hostilities those conservative men who tried to avert the oncoming clash of arms were driven to tho wall. Neither extreme would listen to mod erate counsels. The Interposition of tho border states proved of doubtful restraint and was of short duration. During the war and after it was over these patriotic men fared no better than the firebrands, tho mass nnd body of the Southern people confounded with the original secessionists. Even now the distinction that once existed Is blurred, if not lost. Yet a great majority of the Southern people were devoted to the Union and at least a strong minority were opposed to slav ery. No one understood this better than Abraham Lincoln. lie was himself of Southern birth. He nnd all his tribe were Southerners. Although ho left Kentucky when a child, he was an old child; he never was very young; nor did he go very far, growing to man hood In a Kentucky colony, for what la Illinois, what Chicago, but a Ken tucky colony, swollen somewhat out of proportion? lie was In no sense whnt we used to call "a poor white." Awkward, ungainly but aspiring, the spirit of a hero within that rugged casement; a fine, far-reaching imagina tion behind those heavy brows; the courage of a Hon beneath those pntlent. kindly aspects; and, long before he, wus of legal age, a leader among men. His first love wns a Rutledgc; his wlfo was a Todd. Lincoln the Poet. We know that he was a poet, for have we not that Immortal prose-poem recited at Gettysburg? Wo know that ho wns a statesman, for has not time vindicated Ills conclusions? But the South did not for a long time lenow, except as a kind 'of hearsay, that he was a friend the one friend who had the power and tho will to save It alike from its enemies nnd Itself. Tho direst blow thnt could have fallen upon a hapless and prostrate people w,as de livered by the assassin's bullet that struck him down. Much of a misleading kind lins been written touching what did and did not happen at the Hampton Roads con ference. Nothing happened there which changed the Irreconcilable at titude of the combatants. Their agents, Indeed, argued from opposite prem ises the restoration of the Union the sine qua non of the one side, the rec ognition of tho Confederacy the ultima tum of the other. Neither, indeed, possessed the pow er to come to terms. Mr. Davis had no right to dissolve the Confederacy and disband its armies, Mr. Lincoln nono to commit his government to nny definite treaty. It Is a fact, however, that the federal president wns pre pared with a plan then and there to end tho war, which, could It linvo been adopted, would have saved two months' bloody fighting and spared the South tho humiliation of the final collapse and surrendor. Though this has been dented, It ad mits of no dispute. The historic Issue Lincoln's Family. There were four children Robert Todd, born August 1, 1843; Edwnrd Baker, born March 10, 1810, and dying In infancy; William Wallace, born De cember 21, 1850, and who died during his father's first year In tho presi dency, and Thomns, born April 4, 1853, and who died when he was nineteen years old. His Personal Appearance. As Virginia Carvel enters Mr. Lin coln's presence; "Could this fantas- ' X-" Scone during the recent conllagratlon In , he business section of Pittsburgh, Pn., which resulted in tho dc- llpi . ' . M ' XP Q) struetlon of more than $2,000,000 worth of property. teg-Lg CRUSER MILWAUKElTli rests upon two imperfect and appar ently conlllctlng narratives the olllclal and formal report of the Confederate commissioners nnd the subsequent oral and personal statement of Mr. Steph ens. Tho disagreement, however, Is easily explained, having, with Its at tendant controversy, arisen because what Mr. Stepheus said was assuiried to be an attack upon Mr. Duvls. It wns never so Intended by Mr. Stephens, the aim being solely to throw light upon the character and purposes of Mr. Lincoln. 1 It should be borne In mind lu this connection that Mr. Stephens and Mr. Lincoln were personal friends old Whig colleagues' in congress Lincoln a wnrm admirer of Stephens, whom he wanted to ask to become a member of ills cabinet when he was elected president. In the little cabin of the river steamer where tho conference was being held the two had drawn apart from tho rest. "Stephens," said Lincoln, as Mr. Stephens related the conversation to many of his friends, "you know I am a fair man nnd I know you to be one. Both of us understand the situation. Let mo write 'Union' nt the top of this page and you may write below it whatever else you please. I am sure you will write nothing which I cannot agree to." Mr. Stephens re plied that tho commissioners were lim ited to treating upon the basis of the recognition of tho Independence of the Confederacy. "Then, Stephens," Bald Lincoln, "my hands are clean of every drop of blood spilled from this time onward." In the general rather desultory and, In tho end, wholly abortive, talk be tween the three Confederate commis sioners and Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Se ward, Mr. Lincoln recurring to slavery and the Emancipation Proclamation, declnred that he would bo willing to be taxed to pay the Southern people a fair valuation for their slaves. It Is 0 matter of fact that he had already prepared a Joint resolution to be rec ommended to the two houses of con gress appropriating $400,000,000 to this purpose, and a proclamation to be issued by himself as president when this had been adopted. On his return to Washington he laid theso two papers before the cabinet. Inevitably there was opposition. "Why, gentlemen," ho suld, "how long Is the war going to last? It Is not going to end In one hundred days, Is it? It is costing us $4,000,000 a day. There you have tho $400,000,000, not counUng the Intervening loss of lives and prop erty. But, you are all against me, and I will say no more about It." Both papers still stand In his own handwriting. The South's True Friend. Tho death of Lincoln removed from the head of uffalrs the best, If not the only, friend the Southern people hnd at court. There came In his stead an old lino southern Democrat a verit able "poor white" breathing destruc tion to tho ruling classes at, the South, yet n constitutionalist of tho school of Jefferson and as hostile to the negro equality theories of the radical Repub licans as tho most ultra Copperhead of the North. Secession hud futled ; must It carry with It tho failure also of Institutional freedom? Liberating tho black man, must it enslavo tho white? The plan to Impeach Andrew Johnson was little other than a schemo to Mex Icnnlze the government. It came peril ously near succeeding. The Grand Army of tho Republic tlcally tall, stooping figure before her ho that of the president of tho United States? She stopped, as from the shock he gave her. The lean, yellow face, with the maskllke lines all up nnd down, the unkempt hnlr, the beard why, ho was a hundred times more ridiculous than ills caricatures. Ho might have stood for many of tho poor white-trash farmers she hnd seen In Kentucky snve for tho long black coat. "But the littlo rebel Is soon made to forget all that In tho sadness of that held one of Its annual encampments upon Southern soil, to be welcomed at least as universally and hospitably as ever It had been welcomed on North ern soil. And tho Confederate veterans are to advance In what force remains to them upon Washington, with no other thought than thnt It Is their capi tal, tho mecca of tho true American, "the holy of holies of tho freeheart's hope and home. A Confederate sol dier, appointed by a Republican presi dent, Is chief Justice of the United States. Two Confederate generals who honornhly wore the blue have died on. the retired list and payroll of the Army of the United Stntes. Verily tho wnr of states and sections Is over. The drenm of Abraham Lincoln hns been fulfilled. The mystic chords of memory, stretching to every living heart and hearthstone, have swelled at last the chorus of the Union, tqnehed not only by tho nngels of our better nature, but bound by tho blood ties of kindred origins, principles and affections. It did, Indeed, seem n long time coming. As far back as 1809, speaking primarily for tho soldiers of the Con federacy, I had proposed that the three war, amendments to tho Constitution bo accepted nnd ratified as 'the treaty of peace between the North nnd the South. There followed a pretty wran gle. Many nnd especially those who had not been actually In the wnr were unable to see or unwilling to admit that the head of tho South was In tho lion's mouth, nnd that, unless nnd until It could bo extracted, nothing wns very much worth while. Sectionalism flourished upaco on either side of pnrty lines. The Confed erate brigadiers mado a kind of common cause with the valiants of tho bloody shirt, both out, as It were, for gate money. Thus tho politicians played comedy while the people suffered trag edy. Although the Greely campaign in the long run perhaps shortened the distance across tho Sectional chasm, It did not show nny immediate fruitage, and it remnlncd for an apparently un important personal event to make the first serious Impression upon tho solid wall of misunderstanding and prejudice which divided tho two wnrrlng parts of the half-restored Union. This was the death of Charles Sumner and the eulogy of Lucius Lamar. It was nn epoch-making speech. Tin North recognized Its fidelity and Its truth, and warmed to It. Thencefor ward tho South could see Its way ahead. Instead of sprinkling salt on raw places, it began to be the fashion to pour oil ; Instead of twisting the lion's tall to pnt his mnue. Later came Grady with his wondrous appeal re sistless for who could stand out against the cogent reasoning and sim ple pathos of that big-brained, great hearted, that Immortal boy, pleading In the name of n new generation for a united country? Louisville Courler Journnl. voice tho Incffublo sadness tho sad ness nnd woe of n great nation. And the sorrow In those eyes, the sorrow of n heavy cross borne meekly how heavy none will ever know. Tho pain of u crown of thorns worn for a world thnt did not understand." Tho Crisis? HIo Trouble. "For yenrs I understand Flxlt has been pursuing on upright courso of life." "Perhaps ho has, but he has never overtaken It." FS3 First boat filled with sullen 8 from tho stranded U. S. S. Milwaukee pulling Into shore. This photograph shows the plight of the Milwaukee which stranded In a fog off Eureka Harbor, Cal., whllo trying to rescue tho Amer ican submarine 11-3 which hnd gone ashore. , LAUNCHING THE GREATEST DREADNAUGHT The great ildouilnuughl Mississippi, the largest In the I'nltod States' navy, being launched, at Newport News while 20,000 persona cheered and scores of craft of every description welcomed her with shrill blasts from their whistles. Miss Camllle McBcnth of Meridian. Miss., crashed a gayly decorated boltle or cnampagne against me vessel s now, ON HIS WAY TO BE I,i, tr,r luui Franz Joseph of AuHtiiii-Huiignry, (Iroxsed lu gorgeous coro nation robes and crown, on his way to f'-oronutlon hall, Budapest, accom panied by 11 brilliant escort In picturesque uttlro. CROWNED EMPEROR "i 3? .,-iT?5 MAKING INAUGURAL SHOES Special shoes arc made for Presi dent Wilson by a Brockton concern, to? bo worn when he Is Inaugurated in March. Tho felloes consist of 40 pieces of the finest calf leather to bo hnd and selected by experts. Each shoo ia embossed In gold with the president h name In tho binding. Made His Demise Sure. Tho enterprising company In th Soudun had decided to lay a railway Into tho wilds lind, of course, ninny blacks were employed in its construes tlou. One day (ho telegraph cleric at tho nearest civilized spot received a tolo gram from tho colored foreman of tho railway constructors ; "White boss dead. Shall I bury, him?" ' "Yes," wired back the clerk. "Bu first make suro that he is qulto dead. Will send another whlto boss tomor row." A few hours later another telegram came from tho foreman: "Burled, boss. Mado suro ho wna dead, lilt him on the head with it !arg shovel." Thrift. Mr. Spuffcnsteln und his littlo sou were walking down tho main street the other day when a largo poster, struck the eye of lkey. "Fadder," ho cried, "glvo 1110 a pen-, ny lo go ami soo tho sea-serpent." "Vastoful boy!" exclaimed his pari ent. "How you want to pny n penny to see a sea-serpent! Hero's a mag nifying glass; go find a worral" Loudon Answers. li