"In the tremendous issue now before us we are called to decide upon the
life of the country during the next four years. We are chosen to direct
the course of a stream from its very source, and to turn it into a channel
where it will run smoothly to the end. For the four years of an
administration are like a river. The water rises suddenly from the spring
and flows swiftly, ever increasing in volume as it is swollen by
tributaries and absorbs into itself other rivers by the way. It may run
smoothly in a fair stream, moistening barren lands and softening the
parched desert into fertility; moving great engines of industry with a
ceaseless, even strength; bearing the burden of a mighty and prosperous
commerce on its broad bosom; spreading plenty and refreshment through the
wide pastures by its banks, fed on its way by waters so clear that at the
last it merges untainted and unsullied into the ocean, whence its limpid
drops may again be taken up and poured in soft, life-giving rain upon the
earth.
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