Albert Schweitzer

(1875-19656)

Saint Doctor

There are few who look upon life in its more serious aspects, who have not heard of the life and work of Dr. Albert Schweitzer of Lambarene, in French Equatorial Africa; and of those who have heard of him there can be few who have not felt a twinge of inspiration when they have considered his example.

The story of this great man-musician, philosopher and doctor who rejected a brilliant musical career at its height, to put into practice his philosophy of life, reminds one of the story of St. Francis of Assisi, who turned his back on wealth and pleasure for a life of poverty devoted to helping others. For Albert Schweitzer was no less a saint, though he was not canonized, and in these days, when the complexity of modern life makes saintliness difficult to achieve, this man showed, probably more vividly than any other, that “No way of life makes more sense than the way taught by Jesus”.

Everybody in the little Alsatian village of Gunsbach liked the family who lived in the parsonage, from Pastor Schweitzer down to the youngest child. They were a happy family, understanding and sympathetic, to whom a plea for help never went unanswered, even if it meant that they themselves must be deprived. Into his family there had been born on 14 January, 1875, a boy who was given-the name of Albert. As he grew up, Albert attended, with his brothers and sisters, the village school from among whose pupils, the children of the villagers, they made their friends.

Long before he had taken his doctorate Schweitzer had appreciated that there were many questions about Jesus he needed to have answered, questions which his teachers did not or could not answer, so he set about trying to find the answers himself. These answers he began to set down in a book which he called The Quest of the Historical Jesus. It was a study of the different modern attempts to write a life of Jesus. When it appeared in 1911—it took several years to write-many of his colleagues thought it was a dangerous book, because it might shake people’s family in the Gospels. Schweitzer could not agree with them. “Faith which refuses to face the facts, is no faith at all,” he told them. Nevertheless, the book did give rise to much controversy.

By this time, he had become famous in another field. Widor had asked him to write an essay on J. S. Bach, the great composer for the organ, intending it for the use of church organists in Paris. The essay, in some strange way, developed into a masterly two-volume study of the great musician, a masterpiece which has never been surpassed.

Schweitzer had also become as expert an organist as the great Widor himself, an outstanding exponent of Bach’s music, and in this field, too, he had won an international reputation.

As a theologian Schweitzer had son the respect and admiration of the Strasbourg University authorities. So, when the Principal of St. Thomas’s Theological College resigned, they offered the post to Schweitzer, though he was only twenty-eight.

Untouched by the fame which he had achieved at so early an age in his two main fields of endeavor, he lived a life of happiness which few rarely achieve. No one would have been surprised if he had decided to spend the rest of his life in Strasbourg, travelling in vacations to give recitals on the organ in all the capitals of Europe, looking after his students, helping them with their problems and sharing in their jokes.

When he had been at St. Thomas’s only a year, by chance he came upon a report of the Paris Missionary Society and his eye was caught by an article headed
The Needs of the Congo Mission”. When he had read it through, he remembered the parable of Lazaru and Dives. “We here in Europe,” he told himself, “are rich, because we know how fight disease. We are Dives, but those poor native in Africa are Lazarus, full of sores. We are sinning against them.”

Of a sudden he knew what he must do. He must go to Africa to help the natives, and because they needed doctors, he would become a doctor. So he resigned from St. Thomas’s and became a student at the Strasbourg medical school. He qualified six years later. As soon as he could call himself “doctor” he pressed himself to the Missionary Society and offered his services. The Society, however, though needing medical missionaries desperately, hesitated to take him. His book, The Quest of the Historical Jesus, had just been published, and they had doubts about sending out a man whose religious ideas were causing such comment. He persisted in his attempts to persuade them, and at last they gave way.

For the next year he studied in Paris a course in tropical medicine, and spent his spare time collecting money to build, equip and run his own hospital which he proposed setting up at Lambarene, on the Ogowe River, in French Equatorial Africa. He gave concerts to raise funds, approached friends, and received assistance which surprised and encouraged him.

In 1912 he married Helen Bresslau, a friend of long standing, and on Good Friday, 1913, he set out for Africa, accompanied by his wife.

The mission station at Lambarene was built on three small hills above the river, on a narrow strip of cleared land. Twenty yards from the houses the forest rose up in a thick, almost impenetrable barrier, so it seemed. The only building available for use as a hospital until the sectional building which was being sent from Paris, arrived, was a disused chicken house. Nothing daunted, he had it cleaned out and there he set out his medicines and his instruments.

Here every day, before he was up, thirty or forty natives would arrive and with infinite patience squat in silence waiting for him to come. The news of his arrival-that’s to say, the arrival of a doctor-had spread like a forest fire, and sick people came many scores of miles in hopes of receiving the magic of his medicine. To them all his great compassion poured out.

His wife looked after his simple bodily needs and helped him in the dispensary. When darkness fell, and his patients had departed, he would sit down at the piano which had been presented to him by the Paris Bach Society as a parting gift, and into the thick forest and over the river would peal out the majestic sounds of a Bach fugue.

Quickly his fame spread. The natives were most impressed by his anesthetics. “First he kills the sick people, then he cures them, and then he wakes them up.”He was the greatest of all medicine-men, “In nine months, he wrote to his friends, he had treated over two thousand men, women and children, and he had seen almost every tropical disease there was.

Because they were German citizens by birth, despite the fact that he was working for French missionary society, when the First World War broke out, the French authorities in the area placed Schweitzers under house arrest, even refusing to allow them to work in their nearby hospital. They did not complain, but obeyed quietly, and on the second morning Schweitzer sat down and began to write. For the last fourteen years a plan to writ a book about the philosophy of civilization had been forming in his mind. When he would write it he did not know. Certainly since coming to Lambarene he had no time. Now he had time. After a day or two, however, the guard over the house was relaxed. He was allowed to work again in the hospital. For three years the Schweitzers carried on as before, then the stupidity of bureaucracy bore down on them again. They were taken to internment in France. They remained prisoners-or-war until the Armistice.

By this time the first two volumes of his great work ‘The Philosophy of Civilization’ were complete and were about to be published. For the time being, returning to Lambarene did not seem possible to him; but after two years in Europe he knew he must go back. Before he could do so, however, money was needed, and for the next four years he toured Europe giving recitals and lecturing to raise the necessary funds.

In 1925 he had raised enough for his immediate needs, and the Schweitzers set out for Africa. On Sundays he preached to them in simple language the simplicity of his own faith and his philosophy of life.

Lambarene grew, permanent buildings replaced the old shacks and hutments, the work increased. The little settlement in which this great and simple man practiced, a very few other Christians practiced, the way of life which Jesus taught, and the man himself, became famous throughout the world. In 1952 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his services to humanity, and no other recipient has been so entirely and utterly worthy of it.

His wife once asked him how long he intended to carry on with his work. “As long as I can draw breath,” he answered.

“Come home!” Pleaded his friends in Europe. “We need you here.” he returned them a simple answer. “They need me here.” And Albert Schweitzer remained at his task until his death on 4 September, 1965. He was buried at Lambarene.

Albert Einstein

The foremost Scientist of 20^th century and mathematical physicist whose pioneering theory of relativity superseded Newton’s theory of gravitation. He is hailed as the father of Nuclear Bomb and was honored with Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921, for discovering the law of photoelectric effect. Einstein’s theories brought about a startling revolution in the world of science, though they were based on common everyday instances. His amazing ability to think deep and go into the heart of matter made Einstein, a genius in the fields of physics and mathematics. His idea of surface tension, the elastic-skin effect of a liquid surface that holds a drop together was born while taking a stroll on the wet sands of a beach. Modern science is greatly indebted to this gentle German Jew with pleasant manners and a brilliant, incisive mind.

Born on 14^th March 1879 in the town of Ulm in Wurttemberg in Germany, Einstein was no child prodigy. In fact, he did not learn to speak until the age of three and his parents feared that he might be a dullard. At school he was considered average until he taught himself calculus and the teachers began to fear facing his staggering questions.

When Einstein was barely one year old his parents moved to a large south German town of Munich. There in partnership with his brother, Einstein’s father opened a small electrochemical factory. Here Einstein spent his early childhood. Under the tutelage and influence of his uncle, Einstein developed a keen interest in maths and physics. Together they explored the mysteries of the algebraic and mathematical numbers. Young Einstein inherited the love for music from his mother. He was an accomplished amateur musician and played the violin. He preferred the music of Mozart to Beethoven for he felt that while Beethoven “created” music, Mozart “found” music.

Einstein’s family migrated to Milan in Italy, when he was 15 years old. He was left behind to complete his studies at the Luitbold Gymnasium. But regimentation of the school’s curriculum did not appeal to his bohemian soul and with the sunny shores of Italy beckoning him he left for Milan. He joined his parents only to find that his father had gone bankrupt. He then migrated to Switzerland. He failed his entrance examination at the reputed Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich, the first time. The next year he was admitted. Here, he met a young Hungarian Girl, Mileva Maritsch. They shared a passion for physics and often spent hours working on the problems posed by physics. On leaving the polytechnic they got married. But unfortunately Einstein discovered that beyond the world of physics they had little in common. It was the birth of tow sons that kept them together for many years.

On leaving the polytechnic, Einstein acquired Swiss citizenship. By this time, he was very much in love with the pristine Swiss mountains. He found a job in the patent office at Berne. His job entailed him to investigate every invention. He then had to pick out basic ideas from these and put them accurately on paper. It left him plenty of time to pursue his studies. The first recognition came his ways when Einstein published his papers on the production and transformation of light on the electrodynamics of moving bodies in 1905. His talent was recognized and he was at once given the post of junior professor at the University of Zurich. At the University, Einstein the simple man had to live up to social standard of department that his intellectual mind found hard to cope with. The family had a hard time, “keeping appearances”. This was difficult with the limited salary that he earned. Years later recounting his days at Zurich, Einstein jokingly remarked, “In my Relativity I set up a clock at every point in space-but in reality, I found it difficult to provide even one in my room. “One of the most remarkable traits of Einstein was his down to earth attitude. Though having seen financial hardship, he continued to be content with the bare minimum. Greed or a desire for materialism was foreign to him.

On being invited to the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton many years later when he was a renowned personality, he was offered carte blanche as salary. Einstein asked for an impossible sum; it was far too small. The director of the institute had to plead with him to accept at least a decent salary. Such was the simplicity that this great man exuded.

In 1911, he went to Prague on a better paid post as a Professor. Being part of the Jewish ethos, for the first time Einstein was exposed to anti-Semitism. He subsequently went back to Zurich and taught at the polytechnic for two years.

By this time Einstein was a scientist of international repute. He gained membership of the Royal Prussian Academy of Science and the directorship of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute at Berlin. Here he met his happy go lucky distant cousin Elsa Einstein and fell in love with her. He married her. They enjoyed a fulfilling relation until her death in 1936. Einstein grieved, but it was his pre-occupation with his work that made him cope with the sudden vacuum in his life. At the time of his wife’s death a Polish physicist Leopald Infeld and Banesh Hoffman were working with Einstein. Hoffman, visiting Einstein at the time recalls a haggard, grief lined man. Subtly, by way of consolation, Hoffman veered the conversation to an absorbing discussion about physics. He intended to distract Einstein however momentarily from his present grief. Einstein soon was absorbed in the discussion and time flew that day. Hoffman’s kindness did not escape Einstein. As Hoffman was about to leave, Einstein in a voice filled with emotion said. “It was fun.” This was Einstein’s way of saying thank you.

Einstein though a radical bohemian in the sense of not adhering to any faith, was the “… most religious man I have known,” said Hoffman. Einstein believed that ideas came from God and that the law of the Universe laid down by God was subtle but not malicious. The puzzling contradictions that the Universe presented were natural. They were there to goad man to “tink” (think). A heavy accept prevented the formation of the sound “th”. When facing a quaint problem Einstein would pace up and down, twirling a lock of long graying hair around his forefingers and smoked a pipe. Minutes would pass in silent communion with the inner working of his mind before he came up with an answer.

After 1919, Einstein became an internationally renowned figure. He was conferred with honors and awards wherever he went. He received the Noble prize in 1921 but the selection committee had to avoid mentioning relativity which was highly controversial at the time and pretended to give him the prize for his work on the quantum theory. With the Nazi reign of terror his theories were declared false, for they came from a Jew. Apart from confiscating his property it has been rumored that a price was put on his head.

Zionism and pacifism claimed a good deal of Einstein’s attention. During World War I, he was one of the few academics to publicly decry Germany’s involvement in the war. After the war his continued public support of the pacifist and Zionist goals made him the target of vicious attacks by anti-Semitic and right wing elements in Germany.

When Hitler came to power, Einstein decided to leave Germany. He migrated to the US. There, he joined the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, New Jersey. Here, he continued to support Zionism but renounced his pacifist stand in the face of the awesome threat to humankind posed by the Nazi reign of terror. In 1939 Einstein collaborated with several other physicists in writing a letter to President Franklin D Roosevelt. The letter alerted the US Govt. to Germany’s potential and likelihood in making an atomic bomb. This in turn ironically plunged the Roosevelt administration into making their own atomic bomb. Einstein unaware of this was utterly dismayed to hear of the agony and destruction that his E=mc² had wrought.

After the war, Einstein was active in the cause of international disarmament and world govt. He continued to support Zionism but declined the offer made by the leaders of the state of Israel to become President of that country. In the US during the late 1940’s and early 50’s he poke out on the need for the nation’s intellectuals to make any sacrifice necessary to preserve political freedom. Einstein died in Princeton in USA on April 18, 1955. His writings include Relativity: The special and General Theory (1916); About Zionism (1931); Builder of the Universe (1932); Why war? (1933) with Sigmund Freud; The world As I see (1934); with the polish physicist Leopald Infeld; and Out of My Later Years (1950).

Akbar “The great”

Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar was the greatest of Mughal Emperors and one of the ablest kings of the world has ever seen. It was under his reign that the Mughal Empire reached its climax. He united the whole of north India and built up an empire which extended from Afghanistan to Bengal and from Kashmir to Godavari in the south.

Akbar, along with his tutor and guardian Bairam Khan, was at Kalanaur in Punjab when he got the news of the death of his father, Humayun. There itself, on February 14, 1556 he was coronated at a simple ceremony by Bairam Khan, who himself became his regent. But the new king had neither a kingdom nor a capital as in the turmoil of Humayun’s death, Hemu, the Hindu general of Muhammad Adil Shah, had captured Delhi and Agra and ascended the throne as Vikramaditya. Akbar, with the help of Bairam Khan, defeated Hemu in the Second Battle of Panipat in 1556 and, thus, became the king of Delhi and Agra. He was a brave general and capable administrator. Though uneducated, he was highly cultured and refined. He initiated a policy of toleration and goodwill towards all his subjects. He befriended the Rajputs and married the daughter of Raja Bharmal of Amber. He abolished the Jazya (a tax that had been imposed on Hindus by the earlier rulers). He introduced a new Divine Faith (Din-i-ilahi), which combined the good points of all the religions. His long reign of five decades forms the bright chapter of the Indian history during which the country made rapid progress in all walks of life, establishment of a regular revenue system, organization of civil and military administration, encouragement of art and literature and construction of magnificent buildings and monuments. Akbar also brought about social reforms and made efforts of the abolition of Sati and child marriage. During his rule, the public services were open to all on merit without discrimination on the basis of caste, sect or color. Akbar died in 1605 and was buried at Sikandara near Agra.

Acharya Vinoba Bhave

Acharya Vinoba Bhave was born on September 11, 1895 in Gagoda village of Kulaba district of Maharashtra. He had his early education in Baroda and later came to Varanasi. He is known to be the true disciple of Mahatma Gandhi. He came all the way to Sabarmati to see Gandhiji and join his Ashram in 1916. He remained a true Gandhian throughout his life.

Philosophically, he was always a disturbed soul and was in continuous search of ‘Brahma’. He was also equally disturbed to see “Mother India in chains”. Ultimately, he decided to stay in the society to find his ‘Brahma’ and sought the blessings of Mahatma in search of a “Peaceful Revolution”. In 1921, he left Sabarmati and came to Wardha. When Gandhiji started his Dandi March, he initiated No-cooperation Movement from his Wardha Ashram. He was imprisoned several times.

When Gandhiji decided on individual Satyagraha, he selected Vinoba Bhave. When Gandhiji visited him at Paunar with the offer, he accepted Ganhiji’s proposal with all humility.

An alert freedom fighter, he gave a passionate speech, when he started his Satyagraha at Paunar, for which he was arrested. In the 1942, Quit India Movement, he was arrested on the first day when the movement was declared. He was the leader of Bhoodan and Sarvodaya movement, and travelled the length and breadth of the country. Many miles he travelled on foot. He became known to the rural poor as “land-distributing God”. He spent his life even after Independence for services to the poor. Nehru had a great respect for him.

He died at his Parndham Ashram at Paunar in 1982. He was posthumously awarded Bharat Ratna in 1983.

“Love is more powerful than hatred. Harmony is more natural. Spirit can move mountains.”

These inspiring words were uttered by none other than the disciple of Gandhiji, Acharya Vinoba Bhave. What is it that has made him so great? His ascetic power or spiritual insight? Or both? Anyway some divine power lay concealed behind that bearded, lean personality, Acharya Vinoba Bhave. He was the synonym for greatness, patriotism and simplicity. In his heart and soul were carved the Gandhian principles, the abiding power by which he could light in our minds an eternal flame. To put it in other words, by his words and deeds Vinobaji immortalized the lofty ideals of Gandhiji.

Born in a Brahmin family, young Vinayaka (as was his real name) learnt Gita, Upanishads, etc., from his mother. He was determined to become a Brahmachari. Though he joined the Baroda College after matriculation, Vinayaka preferred serving his countrymen groaning under the tyrannical British rule. The partition of Bengal and the subsequent disturbances opened the eyes of Vinayak, who was driven to a bit of extremist views. But the revolutionary, nevertheless nonviolent, Gandhiji. In Gandhiji’s ashram Vinoba undertook all types of jobs including cleaning, teaching, etc. He had no craze for name or fame. He was very intuitive by nature; he broke all records and introduced new methods of spinning and weaving. All these won for him a special place in Gandhiji, who once commented, “Vinoba is here not to receive blessings from the ashram, but to bless the ashram itself”.

Vinobaji has written many precious books like Gitai, Mangal Bharat, Swarajyashastra, etc. He studied all the Indian languages, French, German and Arabic and wrote a book on the principle of Quran. Because of the virtues of simplicity and morality, his book Maharashtra-Dharma was hailed by all.

Vinobaji has participated in the Vaikom Satyagraha of 1924 and Gandhiji’s famous Salt Satyagraha or Dandi March of 1930. The shy, silent Vinoba was known to the world when Gandhiji chose him as his first individual satyagrahi in 1940, adding a golden feather to his cap. Vinobaji’s selfless service impressed everyone. The Hindu-Muslim riots and the consequent bloodshed following India’s Partition pained him very much. Gandhiji’s martyrdom was yet another severe blow to him in as much as he lost his best guide and mentor.

Vinobaji was a true disciple of Gandhiji. He considered primary education a vital necessity and advocated Panchayati Raj and financial decentralization to make the country strong.

We knowVinobaji more for his Padyatra, which he had started on 26^th June, 1951. While on the Yatra, Vinobaji met many landless people and assured them that they would be provided land. To attain the goal, he started the famous Bhoodan Yagna. He approached the rich farmers and said: “Brother, if you have five sons, you would divide your property equally among them. Think of me as the sixth son. Give me a share of your land for the sake of God.” Surprisingly, donors came in hundreds and thousands giving solace to the landless and poor. This effort of Vinobaji gained universal approbation.

Vinobaji believed that the essence of all religions is one and the same. His activities were the glaring examples of religious tolerance. While the Muslims called him “A great fakir of India”, Hindus honored him as “An important disciple of Gandhiji”.

Vinobaji introduced social reforms like the upliftment of women through the Brahmvidya Mandir, entry of Harijans to temples, etc.

Last but not the least, his strong mind and blessings of the Almighty made him bold enough to dissuade the dacoits of Chambal forests from pursuing their self-destructive and anti-social activities. Where the police and the Draconian measures of the State couldn’t succeed, Vinobaji’s calm and cool approach won the day.

Adold Hitler

He was born in Braunan-Am-Inn, Austria on April 20, 1889. His father was Alois Hitler. Hitler loved his mother passionately. She wanted Hitler to become an artist. He experienced privation in his early years. In 1914 he enlisted in the army as a private, became a corporal and served on the Western Front, and was wounded, gassed, and temporarily blinded. In 1919, while still with his regiment but acting as a sort of spy with the duty of reporting on workers’ meetings, he came into contact with a socialist group called the German Worker’s Party. By his remarkable powers of oratory he soon rose to become the leader of the group.

Germans wanted more territory after the First World War. Hitler by his violent speeches convinced most Germans of his divine mission to unify them as a people and lead them to world domination. The Nazis attempted a rising in Munich against the Bavarian government in 1923 but were quelled. Hitler was arrested and was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. He was released after serving only eight months. While in prison he wrote his autobiography called Mein Kampf (My Struggle).

In 1930 the Nazis again rose to prominence with 107 seats in the Parliament compared to 12 seats in 1928. A political crisis led to the formation of a coalition government with Hitler as chancellor. After arresting all Communist members of the Parliament he obtained a vote conferring upon him dictatorial powers. In a short time all parties except the Nazis were forbidden, trade unions suppressed and free speech denied. On the death of the aged president Hitler became president as well as chancellor, the Fuehrer (leader) of the Reich.

In 1934, Ernest Rohm and other rivals were killed at the instance of Hitler. By breaking the power of the Brownshirts he relied on the German army for his power. In March 1935 he reintroduced military conscription in defiance of the Versailles Treaty and in 1936 he marched into the Rhineland, previously demilitarize. In 1938 he seized most of Czechoslovakia. These achievements of Hitler terrified Europe and bedazzled Germany. Hitler was raised to the position of a demi-god in the eyes of the German people.

His personal character also made him famous. He was a vegetarian and neither drank nor smoked. The Nazis declared the three chief enemies to be the Jews, the Communists and the Russian. A part of friendship was signed between Russia and Germany in August 1939 which surprised observers. This pact left Hitler free to attack Poland. He attacked Poland on 1 September 1939 thus beginning the Second World War. In 1941, he broke his pact with Russia and ordered the invasion of the Soviet Union. This was a fatal move. In 1941, he took over the high command of the army. And a few months later dismissed his best strategist, Halder. The generals plotted to kill him on July 20, 1944 when a bomb was carried to his conference room. He had a lucky escape but took a terrible revenge on suspected conspirators and their friends. Fifty officers and hundreds of others were executed. He was a master of diplomatic trickery and retained his almost hypnotic power over his followers right to the end of his life.

He married Eva Braun, the day before his death. She also committed suicide on the day Hitler died. He killed himself by shooting a pistol in his mouth.

No statesman has ever been so closely in touch with the irrational forces of human nature as was Adolf Hitler. He understood mass emotion and knew how to utilize it to an extraordinary degree. He identified himself with the savage passions he aroused and yet could control them. He was a consummate actor, able to change from rage to quiet at a moment’s notice, and as Alan Bullock has written, the swiftness of transition from one mood to another was startling; one moment his eyes would be filled with tears, with pleading, the next blazing with fury, or glazed with the faraway look of the visionary. He was convincing when he said, “I go the way that Providence dictates with the assurance of a sleepwalker”.

The Nazi regime could have been established only in Germany, whose men loved authority more than liberty. Even so, it is astonishing that the insistence of one man could induce a nation to carry out a policy which involved not only the enslavement of many thousands and their use merely as expendable material, but which also involved the degradation, torture and mass-murder of six million Jews.

Hitler’s career left behind no legend-only a sense of horror. It was great, but revolting. For other political leaders whose crimes were of the scale of their qualities, men can find some redeeming features? But Hitler was wholly evil, like Attila, a scourge. Judgments are fallible in the light of posterity. This judgment is not likely to prove so.

Abraham Lincoln

He was born on 12 February 1809 in a log cabin on a barren farm in the backwoods of Kentucky, USA. His father Thomas Lincoln was a carpenter. His mother Nancy died when Abraham was nine. His father married again Sarah, the widow of one Mr. Johnston, whom he had courted vainly before his first marriage. In 1861 Abraham’s father settled on the Indiana shore near which village Gentryville soon sprang up. His father was of a peacable and inoffensive temper but on great provocation could turn to a bully with surprising and dire consequences. Abraham could not visit is father on his deathbed and had written to him that an interview, it were possible, might have given more pain than pleasure to both of them. Abraham confessed that he owed everything that he was to his mother.

As an older child he had taken charge of a ferry boat and took a voyage in a cargo boat with two mates down by river to New Orleans. His stepmother encouraged him in his early studies. He had a stepbrother, John Johnston. Abraham thought early that he was odd. He was nearly six foot four when he was nineteen. He had an ungainly figure but had great muscular strength. He shot a turkey when he was eight and never shot afterwards at all. With intermittent schooling between his eighth and fifteenth birthdays he taught himself to read, write and do sums. At New Orleans he saw Negroes being auctioned, chained, maltreated and whipped.

His life was austere and he had a shy reverence for womanhood. In 1831, at the age of twenty-two he settled at Salem and became a clerk. He purchased a store on credit but the business failed. He became a surveyor of the country and then a postmaster. In 1834 he became a candidate for the Illinois Legislature and was elected at the age of 25. He contemplated great future reforms-abolition of slavery and a strict temperance policy.

He fell in love with Miss. Ann Rutledge of exquisite beauty in 1833. After her engagement to Lincoln, she fell seriously ill and died in 1835 when Lincoln was twenty-six. On 4 November 1842, when Lincoln was nearly thirty-three, he remarried; Mrs. Lincoln had a high temper. She faced the difficulties of their poverty with spirit and resolution.

Lincoln was a member of the House of Representatives for two years in 1847. He remained a member of the Illinois Legislature from 1834 to 1842. At this time Lincoln was argumentative. He did not drink, smoke or chew. In 1843, Baker was preferred to him in his constituency. He went into partnership in 1844 with the young lawyer Mr. Wilhaim Herndon. He now devoted all his energy to his law practice. Lincoln left political life in 1849 to return again in 1854 at a sudden call.

From 1854 onwards Lincoln was continuously occupied at public meetings, in correspondence, in secret consultation with those who looked to him for advice, with the sole aim of strengthening the Republican movement in his own state of Illinois. He worked unselfishly. In 1858 he fought elections against the Democrat Doughlas for Illinois. At that time the Republican Party had taken the stand that slavery was fundamentally wrong. Lincoln desired that slavery should not spread further in the Territories under the Union. Lincoln foresaw gradual abolition of slavery and was prepared to wait for it. He lost the election to Douglas. When in 1859 it was suggested to him to become the nominee for Presidentship he had said, “I do not think myself fit for the Presidency,” Lincoln was good-natured and could hardly say “no” to anybody. Just after Lincoln was elected as President in November 1860 the Southern States rebelled to secede from the Union. The Southern states were in favor of continuing with slavery. They formed a Confederacy and wanted it to be recognized by Washington and demanded the peaceful surrender of forts and the like within its border. For liberating Fort Sumter additional forces were demanded but Lincoln sent instead additional provisions. A civil war broke out between the Northern and the Southern states. The North at first expected an easy victory but disappointment came soon and this state continued for long.

Lincoln as President issued a proclamation calling upon the Militia of the several states to furnish 75,000 men for the service of the United States. In the autumn of 1861, North and South had split into something like two countries. The President was expected to patronize those who had worked for the party with various offices under the Government and Lincoln spent a great deal of time consulting local Senators and Representatives of his own party on this.

Due to the civil war, loss and suffering was caused to England from interruption of trade and from suspension of cotton supplies by the blockade. Lincoln was for the restoration of the union absolutely and without compromise.

In 1862 Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that on 1^st January 1863, slaves were to be forever free. In December 1862, Lincoln submitted to Congress a comprehensive policy for dealing with slavery justly and finally. In 1864 the representatives of Maryland passed an amendment to the state Constitution abolishing slavery without compensation.

Missouri followed Maryland’s example in January 1865. The Republican Convention of 1864 chose again Lincoln as its candidate for Presidency. In January 1865 the Resolution to abolish slavery once for all throughout America through a constitutional amendment was passed by two-thirds majority. On 18 December 1865 the requisite majority of states had passed this constitutional amendment. The Conscription Law was enacted to raise soldiers for the Army. At the beginning of 1864 the end of the Civil War seemed near. He was sworn in as President in 1865 for a second term.

On 14 April 1865, the day of Good Friday, Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln drove together and went to the theatre. The play was Our American Cousin. Sometime after 10 o’clock, a shot was heard and Abraham Lincoln fell forward upon the front of the box unconscious and dying. The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, escaped. At 7:22 on the morning of 15 April 1865 he died at the age of fifty-six.