From “Lincoln 365,” by Arnold Kunst
March 26
At one point during the war Lincoln
was forced by his cabinet to confront the realization that many people who were
thought to be Unionists were actually spies providing key information to the
Confederacy. After presenting the evidence, Secretary of War Stanton asked for
direction. Lincoln, who had been silent and visibly disturbed, expressed his
feelings with a story about the dilemma of an old farmer who had a very large
shade tree towering over his house. 'It was a majestic-looking tree and
apparently perfect in every part – tall, straight and of immense size - the
grand old sentinel of his forest home. One morning while at work in his garden
he saw a squirrel run up the tree into a hole and thought the tree might be
hollow. He proceeded to examine it carefully and - much to his surprise - he
found that the stately tree that he had valued for its beauty and grandeur to
be the pride and protection of his little farm was hollow from top to bottom.
Only a rim of sound wood remained barely sufficient to support its weight. What
was he to do? If he cut it down it would do immense damage with its great
length and spreading branches. If he let it remain his family was in constant
danger; in a storm it might fall or the wind might blow it down and his house
and children be crushed by it. What should he do? As he turned away he said
sadly, “I wish I had never seen that squirrel.”’
- Abraham Lincoln
'The great thing in this world is
not so much where we are but in what direction we are moving.'
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
No comments:
Post a Comment