16 THE SCHOOL BELL ECHOES. strides toward better education. The great question being how to get interest and attendance in the country schools. The Southern Educational conference has taken hold of the South as nothing else has since the Civil war and bids fair to make the country school education in the South superior to that in the North.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Ingvar Odegard.-Abraham Lincoln was one of the greatest statesmen of the United States. Ire achieved so much fame that there are now very few civilized people who have not heard of Abraham Lincoln. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1836 and soon earned the reputation of being an able lawyer. He never took a case unless he was sure he was in the right, but when he did take hold of a case he generally won. It has been said that Lincoln was too much of a politician to be a good lawyer, and this is true. He ran against Stephen A. Douglas for the office of senator from Illinois. The joint debate between these two rivals has become famous. The question was about popular sov ereignty. Lincoln forced some statements from Douglas that les sened his chance for the presidency in the next campaign, but Doug las was elected senator. In 1860 Lincoln and Douglas were rivals for the presidency and this time Lincoln was the victor. During the Civil war not much was heard of Lincoln except as the emancipator of slaves and the commander-in-chief of the armies. After the surrender of Lee at Appomatox court house, the public was very enthusiastic over the outcome of the war, but on the morning of the 15th of April they heard of the assassination of the president.
ROBERT E. LEE. Clara Solberg.-Robert E. Lee, the great southern general of the Civil war, is known to all. Why he took the side that he did in that war is obscure to most people. When the Civil war broke out he was offered the command of the armies of the Union in which he believed passionately, but he answered the messenger from President Lincoln with the exclama tion: ''Mr.Bl.air, I look upon secession as anarchy. If I owned the four million slaves in the south, I would sacrifice them all to the Union; but how can I draw my sword upon the Virginia, my native state 1" To him, duty meant duty to his state; honor meant going with his state to victory or defeat.