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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1917)
The Commoner MARCH, 1917 President Wilson's Inauguration - -.A i - " : i' '.. c Love of His Kind All He PRESIDENT'S OATH TEXT 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A Washington dispatch, dated March 4, says: When President WilBon kissed the Bible after tak ing the oath of office today his lips touched on this passage: "The Lord is our refuge: a very present help in time of trouble." This verse is from the Forty sixth Psalm, which the President' was reading when the time came for him to tako the bath. The ninth verse of this psalm reads: "He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; He breaketh ' the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder. . He burneth the chariot in the fire." " , . ' ' " " 4u 4 Had to Leave .' ' ri -r A Washington dispatch, dated March 5, says: Woodrow Wilson, with the major part of the world at war and America poised on its verge, consecrated his sec ond inauguration as president of the United States today with a last message of hope for peace. Standing in the shadows of the nation's capitol with his face turned toward the eastern war-seared skies, the President renewed his oath o'f allegiance to the con stitution, praying to God that he might be given wisdom and prudence to do his duty in the true spirit of the 'American people., , While trumpets hlared and martial ac coutrements rattled prophetically about him, the President pictured the deep wrongs the United States patiently had borne in the conflict of other people with out wishing to wrong or injure in return. Asserting that the tragedies of another continent had removed provincialism and made Americans citizens of the world, and that the principles of this republic should be applied to a liberation of mankind, he resolutely voiced a determination that America, standing "firm in armed neu trality" must, demonstrate her claims to a "certain mininium of right and freedom of action" in world affairs. Making no attempt to review the legis lative Tecord of the last four years, the President said that this was no time for retrospect. The time was one to speak of thoughts and purposes for the immediate future. To be indifferent to the influence of the war upon America, or independent of it, he said, was impossible, and he was firm sin the "conviction that the part this country wishes to play in the vital turmoil was the part of those "who mean to vindi cate and fortify peace." -- These were the dominant tHouglits of the President as he addressed the cheer- . ing multitude in the broad plaza of the capitol grounds. In the assemblage be fore him American citizens of all nations had sung "America" with a mighty voice "while waiting for his appearance on the inau gural stand. And in the procession which fol lowed him to the White house and passed in review "a composite and cosmopolitan people" gave graphic evidence of loyalty and patriotism. "We are American citizens" flared from ban- ners borne by once alien hands. "We are ready to fight and die for America" was the stirring message blazing fron a 'standard waving over the heads of new American citizens from Po land. Men of many foreign ancestries held to the breeze as they marched past the chief ex ecutive banners on which the words "Patriotic America" and "America first" aroused the throngs along Washington's hroad thorough fares to continued outbursts of patriotic fervor. From the time the President left the White house until his return his course was triumphal. .? Justice Walter Lloyd Smith; pre siding over the third department of the appellate division of tho su premo court, read, at a recent moot ing of the New York University law school alumni association, tho fol lowing very interesting and re markable document, the last will and testament of Charles Lounsbury, . who died in the Cook county asylum at Dunningj 111.: "I, Charles Lounsbury, being of sound mind and disposing memory, do hereby make and publish this, my ' last will and testament, in order as justly as may be to distribute my in terest in the world among succeed ing men. "That part of my interest which is known in-law and recognized in the sheep-bound volumes as my . property, being inconslderablo aiid of no account, I make no disposal of firthis my will. "My right to live, being but a life estate, is not at niy disposal, "' but these tilings excepted all else in the world I now procoed to devise and " "bequeath "Item: I give to good fathers and1 mothers, In' trust for their" children, all good little words of praise, and,, 'encouragement, and all quain.t pet' names and ' endearments, and I charge said 'parents to use theni justly and generously, as the needs of their children may require. "Item:. I leave to children In clusively, but only for the term of their childhood, all and every, the flowers of the fields, and the blps soms of the woods, with the right to play among them freely accord ing to the customs of. children, ' warning them at the same time ' against thistles and thorns. And I devise to children the banks of the brooks, and the goldfcri sands be- - neath the waters thereof, and the odors of the willows that dip there in, and the white clouds that float high over the giant trees. And I leave the children the long, long days to be merry in, in a thousand ways, and the night and the' moon and the train of the Milky Way to wonder at, but subject nevertheless ' to the rights hereinafter given-to lovers. "Item: I deviso to boys Jointly all tho useful Idle fields 'and commons ' whero ball may bo played; all pleasant waters whose ono may swim; all snowclad hills where one may coast, and all streams and ponds whoro one may fish, or whero, when grim winter comes, one may skate; to have and to hold the same for tho period or their boyhood. And all meadows with the clorcr blossoms nnd butterflies thereof, tho woods and tholr appurtenances, tho squirrels and birds nnd echoes and strange noises, and all distant places which may be visited, together with the adventure? there found. And I givo to said boys ench his own place at the fireside at night, with all pic tures that may be seen In I he burn ing wood, to enjoy without let or hindrance and without any Incum brance of care. "Item: To lovers, I dev'so their imaginary world, with whatever they may need; as the stars of tho sky; the red roses by the wall; the bloom of the hawthorn; tho sweet strains of -music, and aught else by which they may desire to -figure to cach- other tho lastlngness and. beauty o'f their love. "Item: To young men jointly; r devise and bequeath all boisterous, inspiring sports of rivalry, and I give to them the disdain of weakness and undaunted confidence in their own strength, though they are rude; I give thern tho power to make last ing friendships, and of possessing companions, and to them exclusively I give all merry songs and brave choruses, to sing with lusty voices. "Item: And to those who are no longer children, or youths, or lovers, I leave memory and bequeath to them tho volumes of the poems of Burns and Shakespeare and of other poets, if there be others, to tho end that they may live over the old days again, freely and fully, without tithe or diminution. "Item: To our loved ones with snowy crwns I bequeath the hap piness of old age, the love and grat itude of ' their children until they fall asleep." Sharing with him the plaudits was Mrs. Wilson, who accompanied him to the capitol, stood by his side on the inaugural stand as Chief Justice White administered the oath of office, and joined with him in acknowledging the tributes and ac claim in the processional journey to the White house. It was the first time invhistory that the wife of a president had participated so prom inently in inaugural ceremonies; and gracing them also was Mrs. Marshall, wife of the vice president, who sat with her husband In the in augural stand and rode beside him in the pa fade. No less impressive than the Inauguration of the President was the inauguration -of the vice president and the swearing in of new senators In the senate chamber, in which tho President participated. When members of the senate and house had been seated, the diplomats of foreign nations, followed by the chief justice and as sociate justices of the supreme court in their somber robes, officers of the army and navy, and members of the cabinet. Then the sergeant-at-arms of tho senate heralded the approach of -tho "President of the United States." Instantly the 'crowd Inffio galleries and on . the senate floor rose to their feet and applaud ed as the President walked down, the aisle to the seat in front of tho vice-president's dais. Affer the administering of the oath to the vice-president, President Wilson, with Mrs. Wilson at his side, was escorted by tho com- ' mlttee on arrangements to the inaugural stand. His appearance at the head of the red-carpeted (Continued on Page Thirteen) v 0 -1 a -" ' (I
