The memory of lincoln, the mention of his name, came like a refreshing breeze from off the prairie, blowing
aside all the scholarly implications in which i had become so reluctantly involved, and as the philosopher
spoke of the great american "who was content merely to dig the channels through which the moral life of his
countrymen might flow." i was gradually able to make a natural connection between this intellectual
penetration at oxford and the moral perception which is always necessary for the discovery of new methods
by which to minister to human needs.
in this excerpt, the prairie is used as a symbol for
slavery
democracy
the civil war
abraham lincoln