merable, and they would not be comforted. Never was there a grander,
yet more solemn funeral accorded to any, ancient or modern. He was a
statesman without a statesman's craftiness, politician without a
politician's meanness, a great man without a great man's vices, a
philanthropist without a philanthropist's dreams, a christian without
pretensions, a ruler without the pride of place or power, an ambitious
man without selfishness, and a successful man without vanity. Humble man
of the backwoods, boatman, axman, hired laborer, clerk, surveyor,
captain, legislator, lawyer, debater, orator, politician, statesman.
President, savior of the republic, emancipator of a race, true
christian, true man.

Gaze on such a character; does it not thrill your very soul and cause
your very heart to bleed that such a man should be shot by a dastardly
assassin? Yet on the 14th of April, 1865, J. Wilkes Booth entered the
private box of the President, and creeping stealthily from behind, as
become the dark deed which he contemplated, deliberately shot Abraham
Lincoln through the head, and the country lost the pilot in the hours
when she needed him so much.

EDWARD EVERETT.

Among the more eminent of eminent men stands Edward Everett in the
annals of American history. We do not give his history to show how he
struggled through privations, overcoming all obstacles, until victory at
last crowned his efforts, as so many of our great men have been obliged
to do, but we do delineate his achievements to illustrate what hard work
will do, provided a man has ability to develop. Yes, to show what hard
work will do. But some will say, 'Well, that does sound well, but I
guess if Edward Everett had been an ordinary man no amount of hard work
would have made him the Edward Everett of history'; another may say,
'That's so, it is foolish to argue as you do, and hold up such men as
examples, intimating that their success is the result of hard work'; and
still another may say, 'Say what you will, you cannot gain-say the
factor of opportunities, of 'luck,' if you choose to so designate it.'

We do not gain-say anything; we simply point to history; read for
yourself. Take eminent men, read their lives, and see if seven-tenths,
at least, of our great men did not acquire success through their own
effort. Read carefully and see if they did not largely MAKE their own
opportunities. True, all cannot be Everetts or Clays, but by
extraordinary effort and c