From “Lincoln 365,” by Arnold Kunst
December 31
Lincoln's death was an unparalleled
international phenomenon. Of course heads of state, like his great and good
friend Queen Victoria, sent condolences. But what was astonishing was that,
according to one historian, condolences also came from the Working Class
Improvement Association of Lisbon, the Students in the Faculty of Theology in
Strasbourg, the Teachers of the Ragged School in Bristol, the Vestry of the
Parish of Chelsea, the Cotton Brokers' Association of Liverpool, the Men's
Gymnastic Union of Berne, Switzerland [all 44 members]. As if moved inexorably
by some powerful if unseen gravitational pull, people thousands of miles away
all made it their business to express their profound sorrow at the passing of
this most enigmatic of men. For somehow Lincoln had managed to capture their
imaginations, this man carved from the granite of the great American heartland,
who had clambered through the dense entangling undergrowth of misunderstanding
and greed, of violence and stupidity, to burst forth onto God's very own broad,
sunlit uplands.
'Live as if you were
to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.'
- Mahatma Gandhi
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