The virtues and traditions of both happily still live for the
inspiration of their sons and the saving of the old fashion. But both
Puritan and Cavalier were lost in the storm of their first
revolution, and the American citizen, supplanting both, and stronger
than either, took possession of the Republic bought by their common
blood and fashioned in wisdom, and charged himself with teaching men
free government and establishing the voice of the people as the voice
of God. Great types like valuable plants are slow to flower and fruit.
But from the union of these colonists, from the straightening of their
purposes and the crossing of their blood, slow perfecting through a
century, came he who stands as the first typical American, the first
who comprehended within himself all the strength and gentleness, all
the majesty and grace of this Republic--Abraham Lincoln. He was the
sum of Puritan and Cavalier, for in his ardent nature were fused the
virtues of both, and in the depths of his great soul the faults of
both were lost. He was greater than Puritan, greater than Cavalier, in
that he was American, and that in his homely form were first gathered
the vast and thrilling forces of this ideal government--charging it
with such tremendous meaning and so elevating it above human suffering
that martyrdom, though infamously aimed came as a fitting crown to a
life consecrated from its cradle to human liberty. Let us, each
cherishing his traditions and honoring his fathers, build with
reverent hands to the type of this simple but sublime life, in which
all types are honored, and in the common glory we shall win as
Americans, there will be plenty and to spare for your forefathers and
for mine.