ABRAHAM LINCOLN CENTENNIAL 1809 FEBRUARY 12 1909 FOR BOYS AND GIRLS LILIAN C. BERGOLD LINCOLN ROOM UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY THE NATIONAL LINCOLN M o N u M i . x T The National Lincoln Monument at Springfield stands on an" -eminence in Oak Ridge Cemetery, overlooking a forest of evergreens. Upon the four pedestals around its central obelisk stand the four bronze groups, represent- ing the four arms of the service infantry, cavalry, artillery, and navy. Passing around the whole obelisk and pedestal is a band or chain of shields, each representing a state, the name of which is carved upon it. At the south side of the obelisk is a square pedestal, 7 feet high, supporting the statue of Lincoln, the pedestal being ornamented with the coat-of-arms of the United States. This coat-of-arms, in the position it occupies on the monument, is intended to typify the constitution of the United States. Mr. Lincoln's statue on the pedestal above it marks the whole an illustration of his position at the outbreak of the rebellion. He took his stand on the constitution as his authority for using the four arms of the war power of the government, the infantry, cavalry, artillery, and navy, to hold together the states which are represented still lower on the monument by a cordon of tablets linking them together in a perpetual bond of union. By courtesy of E. S. Johnson, Springfield, Illinois. A I! KM LAM LINCOLN ABRAHAM LINCOLN CENTENNIAL A COLLECTION OF AUTHENTIC STORIES, WITH POEMS, SONGS, AND PROGRAMS, FOR THE BOYS, GIRLS, AND TEACHERS OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. By LILIAN C BERGOLD PH.B. UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO COPYRIGHT, 1908 BY EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY HDotber PURPOSE One of the greatest features of the Lincoln Centennial should be to bring to the children of this country those elements of his character, influence, and greatness which they can appreciate. The author has endeavored to bring together in usable form such material as would further this purpose. Many selections from which parts have been taken are easily available and may be well used in full. Several of the stories and illustrations have not been hitherto published. CONTENTS PAGE I Stories Told about Lincoln 5 II Stories Told by Lincoln 25 III Maxims and Sayings of Lincoln 30 IV Materials for Readings from Lincoln's Speeches and Letters 32 V Poems: By Lincoln -... 38 Favorites of Lincoln 39 On Lin oln 41 VI Tributes to Lincoln by Our Great Men Suitable for Readings 44 VII Toast to the Flag 47 Two Pledge Salutes to the Flag 48 VIII Songs: Favorites of Lincoln 49 Lincoln Campaign Songs 49 Popular National War Songs 52 IX Programs 56 ILLUSTRATIONS St. Gaudens' Lincoln Statue in Chicago Cover Design The National Lincoln Monument at Springfield Frontispiece Portrait of Abraham Lincoln Facing Title Page A Rail Old Western Gentleman 17 The Lincoln House in 1860 24 Detail Groups of National Lincoln Monument Facing Page 46 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wishes to express her appreciation to Mr. Frederick G. Bonser of the Department of Education for the helpful suggestions and encouragement he has offered; to Major E. S. Johnson, Cus- todian of the National Lincoln Monument, for kindly loaning the plates of the Monument statuary; and to Mr. J. McCan Davis, for the use of the Lincoln house and cartoon plates. She also wishes to thank Mr. O. H. Oldroyd, The Century Com- pany, The Outlook, McClure, Phillips & Company, the Macmillan Company, and the S. Brainard's Sons Company, for their courtesy in permitting the use of copyrighted material. LILIAN C. BERGOLD State Normal School, Macomb, Illinois. ABRAHAM LINCOLN I. STORIES TOLD ABOUT LINCOLN 1-4* LINCOLN'S PAPER SCRAP-BOOKS Lincoln kept two scrap-books, one for funny sayings or fine passages from poems or history, the other for arithme- tic sums. On a page of this scrap-book, under a table of weights, he wrote: Abraham Lincoln his hand and pen he will be great but God knows when. 3-5 A "COPY" WRITTEN BY LINCOLN As Lincoln was considered the best penman in his neighborhood, he was asked while on a visit to write some "copies." One of them was: Good boys who to their books apply Will all be great men by and by. * Figures before titles of stories indicate grades for which they are appropriate. 5 4-8 How LINCOLN PAID FOR WEEMS' LIFE OF WASHINGTON Lincoln read whatever books he could manage to bor- row. One of these was Weems' "Life of Washington," which he laid away carefully every night on a "shelf" or clapboard resting on wooden pins. One stormy night, however, the book was thoroughly soaked. Lincoln was allowed to keep the book after he had pulled fodder three days. 1-8 LINCOLN SAVES A MAN FROM FREEZING One night as Lincoln and some other men were return- ing from a "raising," he noticed a stray horse, saddled and bridled, in the woods, and near by it a man benumbed with cold. "Let's leave him," said the men. "No, he'll freeze to death," said Lincoln. With the help of the others he lifted the man on the horse and when they reached a house, Lincoln cared for him the rest of the night. 4-8 RESCUE OF A PIG Lincoln was one day riding past a ditch in which he saw a pig trying in vain to free itself from the mud. He wanted to help the pig, but as he had on a new suit of clothes, he decided to ride by. The thought of the poor pig troubled him so much, however, that he turned back after he had ridden two miles and dragged the pig out. 4-8 LINCOLN'S FIRST DOLLAR Abraham Lincoln earned his first dollar when about eighteen years of age, by taking two men and their trunks by flat-boat out to a steamer in the Mississippi River, for which they gave him a silver half dollar each. Mr. Lin- coln afterward said: "I could scarcely believe my eyes as I picked up the money. It was a most important incident in my eyes. I could scarcely believe that I, a poor, boy, had earned a dollar in less than a day that by honest work I had earned a dollar. I was a more hopeful and confident being from that time." By permission of O. H. Oldroyd. 1-8 "ABE'S LOG" AT SANGAMON TOWN . Sangamon Town, where Lincoln built the flat-boat, was then one of the flourishing settlements on the river of that name. It took some four weeks to build the raft, and in that period Lincoln succeeded in captivating the entire village by his story-telling. It was the custom in Sangamon for the " men-folks " to gather, when resting, in a lane near the mill. They had rolled out a long peeled log, on which they lounged. Lincoln had not been long in Sangamon before he joined this circle. So irresistibly droll were his "yarns" that "whenever he'd end up in his unexpected way the boys on the log would whoop and roll off." The result of the rolling off was to polish the log like a mirror. The men, recognizing Lincoln's part in this polishing, christened their seat "Abe's Log." By permission 0} McClure, Phillips 6 Co. 8 5-8 LINCOLN SAVES THREE MEN IN A SANGAMON RIVER TREE Before Lincoln left Sangamon he was the hero of a thrilling adventure. The men were making a dug-out, to be used as a small boat with the flat. After the dug-out was ready to launch they prepared to "let her go," when two men jumped in as the boat struck water, each one anx- iotis to be the first to get a ride. As they shot out from the shore they found they were unable to make any headway against the strong current. At last they began to pull for the wreck of an old flat-boat. Just as they reached it, one made a grab and clung to the old timber, but capsized the canoe, and threw the other into the stream. Lincoln yelled to him to swim for an old tree. Being a good swimmer, he succeeded in catching a branch, and pulled himself up out of the water. Finally the second man climbed up beside the first. Now there were two men in the tree and the boat was gone. By this time many people had come to the bank. Lincoln procured a rope, and tied it to a log. After all hands had helped roll the log into the water, a daring young fellow took his seat on the log, and it was pushed out into the current, with the expectation that it would be carried down stream against the tree where the two men were. The log went straight to the tree; but its rider, im- patient to help his friends, made a frantic grab at a branch, raised himself off the log, which was swept from under him, and soon joined the other two victims upon their forlorn perch. Lincoln had the log pulled up the stream, and, securing another piece of rope, called to the men in the tree to catch it if they could, when he should reach the tree. When he dashed into the tree, he threw the rope over the stump of a broken limb, and held the log there until the three now nearly frozen men had seated themselves astride. He then gave orders to the people on the shore to hold fast to the end of the rope which was tied to the log, and leav- ing his rope in the tree he turned the log adrift. The force of the current, acting against the taut rope, swung the log around against the bank, and all "on board" were saved. By permission of McClure, Phillips fir* Co. 3-8 How LINCOLN SAVED A FLAT-BOAT While floating down the Sangamon River, the flat- boat stuck on a milldam near New Salem. The villagers watched from the shore while one tall fellow worked out a plan of relief. He unloaded the cargo into a neighboring boat, thus tilting the craft. Then by boring a hole in the end extending over the dam, the water was let out. After plugging the hole he shoved off and reloaded. 5-6 THE GREAT WRESTLING MATCH At New Salem, Lincoln soon became popular for his great strength. A friend boasted of him to the rude but good-hearted "Clary Grove Boys, "who immediately pitted their champion, Armstrong, against him. When neither gained the advantage, Armstrong resorted to foul play. Indignant at this, Lincoln caught him by the throat and 10 holding him at arm's length, shook him like a boy. Armstrong, convinced of Lincoln's manhood, declared he should be "one of the boys." 5-6 CAPTAIN LINCOLN FORGETS THE PROPER WORD OF COMMAND Lincoln, while captain of a company in the Black Hawk War, was one day crossing a field with a front of twenty men, when he came to a narrow gate. Lincoln could not remember the proper word of command for ordering his men to form single file, so he shouted: "Halt! This com- pany is dismissed for two minutes. It will reassemble on the other side of the fence. Break ranks!" The maneuver was successful. 3-8 LINCOLN'S HABIT OF CARRYING LETTERS IN His HAT As business in Lincoln's store at New Salem was slack, he also became postmaster and kept the letters in the crown of his hat while delivering them. Years later he failed to answer a letter promptly because he had put it in his old hat and lost sight of it the next day, when he bought a new one. 5-6 How LINCOLN KEPT His POST-OFFICE COLLECTIONS After Lincoln had left New Salem and gone to Spring- field, the traveling post-office agent called to collect the money of the United States still in his possession. A friend offered to loan Lincoln the money to settle up his post-office II account, but he replied, "Thank you very much, but I have all the money in my trunk which belongs to the government." The identical silver, quarters and twelve-and-a-half cent pieces, were safely put away in an old sock in his trunk. 1-8 LINCOLN, His Two WAILING BOYS, AND THREE WALNUTS A neighbor of Mr. Lincoln in Springfield tells the fol- lowing story. He was called to the door one day by hearing a great noise of children crying, and there was Mr. Lincoln striding by with two of his boys, both of whom were wail- ing aloud. "Why, Mr. Lincoln, what's the matter with the boys?" he asked. " Just what's the matter with the whole world," Lin- coln replied; "I've got three walnuts and each wants two." By permission of McClure, Phillips & Co. 1-4 How TAD WAS NAMED Mr. Lincoln while living in Springfield had purchased a new horse which he named "Tom." Soon after, while out for a drive, he found that every time he spoke to the horse his son "Thomas" would reply, so he said: "This will never do, but I cannot change the horse's name, so I shall change the boy's." Accordingly Thomas Lincoln became "Tad." Told the author by Mrs. Edwards, a niece of Mrs. Lincoln".' 12 i-4 LINCOLN AND THE YOUNG BIRDS Lincoln, Speed, and others were riding toward Spring- field, and had stopped to water their horses. Hardin at the rear came up alone. "Where is Lincoln?" they asked. "Oh," he said, "he caught two young birds which had been blown out of their nest, and is hunting the nest to put them back." 2-6 LINCOLN CARRIES A LITTLE GIRL'S TRUNK TO THE STATION Lincoln was always doing some kind deed for children. A little girl was going to take her first trip alone on the rail- road. When train time came near, the hackman had not gotten her trunk. Fearing she would miss her train she stood by the gate crying as if her heart would break. Just then Mr. Lincoln came by. He asked what the trouble was, then about the size of the trunk, and pushed through the gate to where it stood. " Come quick," he said, and shoulder- ing the trunk, hurried out of the yard and down the street. They reached the station in time. 1-8 How TAD INTERRUPTED A GAME OF CHESS One day Mr. Lincoln was playing chess with Judge Treat, when Tad came to bring his father home to supper. As Mr. Lincoln made no show of starting, Tad tried to shake the board, but was kept away by his father's long arm. Soon Mr. Lincoln was watching the game so carefully, 13 that he failed to notice Tad. Before long, the table sud- denly bucked, and chess-board and pieces went to the floor. The Judge was vexed, but Mr. Lincoln only said as he took his hat, "Considering the position of your pieces at the time of the upheaval, you need not complain, Judge." 5-8 JUDGE LOGAN'S SHIRT Lincoln once took an amusing advantage of Judge Logan's lack of sense of humor. "Gentlemen," he began, "you must be careful and not permit yourselves to be overborne by the eloquence of the counsel for defense. But shrewd and careful though Judge Logan be, still he is sometimes wrong. Since the trial began I have discovered that, with all his caution, he hasn't knowledge enough to put his shirt on right." Logan turned crimson with embarrassment and the jurors burst into a roar of laughter as they discovered that the discomfited advocate was wearing the garment in ques- tion with the plaited bosom behind, and for the rest of that trial Logan was not effective against his former partner. -From "Lincoln the Lawyer" By permission of The Century Company. 5-8 LINCOLN REFUSES TO DEFEND A GUILTY CLIENT On one occasion, when it developed that his client had indulged in fraudulent practices, Lincoln walked out of the court-room and refused to continue the case. The judge sent a messenger directing him to return. "Tell the judge that my hands are dirty and I've gone away to wash them," was" his disgusted reply. - By permission of The Century Company. 5-8 LINCOLN DISCOURAGES SHARP PRACTICES "Yes," Mr. Herndon reports Lincoln as advising a client, "we can doubtless gain your case for you; we can set a whole neighborhood at loggerheads; we can distress a widowed mother and her six fatherless children, and thereby get for you six hundred dollars to which you seem to have a legal claim, but which rightfully belongs, it ap- pears to me, as much to the woman and her children as it does to you. You must remember, however, that some things legally right are not morally right. We shall not take your case, but we will give you a little advice for which we will charge you nothing. You seem to be a sprightly, energetic man. We would advise you to try your hand at making six hundred dollars in some other way." - By permission oj The Century Company. 5-8 LINCOLN'S HONESTY Even in a community where plain straightforward dealing was assumed as a matter of course, Lincoln won an enviable reputation for integrity and honor. Honesty was not merely the best policy; the people were expected to be upright and just with one another. But when a clerk in a country store walked miles to deliver a few ounces of tea innocently withheld from a customer by an error in the scales, and when he made a long, hard trip in order to re- turn a few cents accidentally overpaid him, he was talked about, and the fact is that "Honest Abe" was a tribute, not a nick-name. By permission of The Century Company. LINCOLN'S HONESTY IN REGARD TO FEES A gentleman at Quincy, Illinois, had leased a house owned by a lady of Springfield. He employed Lincoln to execute the lease for him. Lincoln sent the lease to him at Quincy, but made no mention of his pay. Thereupon the gentleman sent Lincoln twenty-five dollars, thinking that to be about the right amount. In a few days to his sur- prise he received a letter from Lincoln, acknowledging the receipt of his check and returning a ten-dollar bill, with the words: "You must think I am a high-priced man. Fifteen dollars is enough for the job." LINCOLN'S SUIT AGAINST THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD The Illinois Central Railroad declined to pay Lincoln's bill of two thousand dollars for services rendered in the action brought against McLean County, and he promptly withdrew his account and sued his ungrateful client for six thousand. On the trial of the action all the leaders of the i6 Illinois Bar testified that Lincoln's amended bill was reason- able, and the jury promptly brought in a verdict of five thousand dollars and costs. By permission of The Century Company. 5-8 LINCOLN HAS A "DOGEROTYPE" TAKEN AT MACOMB, ILLINOIS, IN 1858 In 1858 Lincoln had been announced to make a speech on the "Square" at Macomb, Illinois. When he finally appeared Mr. William Bross of Chicago asked : "What made you late, Mr. Lincoln?" "Oh," he answered, "I've been having my dogerotype taken in the wagon on the next street." - Told by Mr. C. V. Chandler, owner of a photograph taken from this "dogerotype," to the author. 7-8 How OGLESBY, JOHN HANKS AND Two FENCE RAILS KILLED SEWARD'S BOOM As the time for the State Convention of 1860, at Decatur, was drawing near, "Dick" Oglesby, afterwards Governor of Illinois, foresaw that Lincoln's possibility as a presidential candidate would be endangered if the delegation from Illinois were divided. He therefore planned to do something that would "kill the Seward Boom," and make the State dele- gation solid for Lincoln. He was one day talking with John Hanks, a Democrat, and cousin of Lincoln, about "Abe," when John began to tell about some rails he and Lincoln had split near Decatur, to put up a fence. Oglesby 17 immediately asked if Hanks supposed he could find any of the rails. Hanks replied that when he had last been there, ten years before, there were plenty of them left. So Ogles by and Hanks drove to the old clearing the next day, and as soon as Hanks whittled the old rails with his knife, he knew " A RAIL OLD WESTERN GENTLEMAN." A caricature of the campaign of 1860. From the Oldroyd collection, Washing- ton, D. C. By permission. From " How Abraham Lincoln Became President" by J. McCan Davis. they were the very same black walnut and honey locust rails. The men then took two of the rails, tied them under the buggy and hid the rails in Oglesby's barn until the day of the convention. He in the meantime planned that i8 Hanks should bring them into the convention with these words on a banner fastened across the top of the rails: ABRAHAM LINCOLN The Rail Candidate for President in 1860. Two rails from a lot of three thousand made in 1830 by John Hanks and Abe Lincoln, whose father was the first pioneer of Macon County. When the convention was well under way, Oglesby announced that an old Democrat wanted to make a con- tribution to the convention. Then Hanks came in with the rails and spoke familiarly to Lincoln as he passed him. There was a cry of "Speech! Speech!" and when Lincoln finally showed himself, the crowd was so dense that they passed him hand over hand over the solid mass of people to the platform. It was a strange sight to see this long man being handed over the people's heads. The next day Hanks got a wagon load of rails and sold them for a dollar a piece. From that time on the supply seemed endless. The two fence rails killed the Seward Boom. 7-8 HOMES OF LINCOLN AND Louis THE FOURTEENTH A Frenchman who saw the replica of the Springfield home of Lincoln at the Lewis and Clark Exposition said: "I have seen the bed chamber of Louis the Fourteenth, and I cannot but think of the great contrast between the simplicity of your grand man and the grandeur of our sim- ple man." Alfred Bayliss. 6-8 LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE OF LINCOLN'S SOCKS Lincoln was noted for his kind heart and good humot. Shortly before leaving for Washington, Lincoln was enter- taining an important delegation from Massachusetts, when an old lady, her tanned face peering out from her sun- bonnet, arrived. Her errand was to present Lincoln with a pair of very long socks. Holding them up by the toes he exclaimed, "Well, gentlemen, I think she has my lati- tude and longitude about right." 3-6 A LITTLE GIRL INDUCES LINCOLN TO WEAR A BEARD On his way to Washington as President, Lincoln stopped at Westfield, Massachusetts, to speak for a few minutes. In his talk he referred humorously to a letter- received from a little Westfield girl, advising him to wear a beard to im- prove his looks. Stroking his chin he said, "I intend to follow her advice," and from then on he wore a beard. He added that if she were present he would like to meet her. 6-8 DOUGLAS HOLDS LINCOLN'S HAT When Lincoln was about to deliver his first inaugural address on the east portico of the Capitol, he vainly looked for a spot where he might place his high silk hat. Stephen A. Douglas, his political antagonist, was seated just behind him. He stepped forward quickly, and took the hat which Mr. Lincoln held helplessly in his hand. "If I can't be President," he whispered smilingly to a cousin of Mrs. Lin- coln, "I at least can hold his hat." 20 7-8 A Northern gentleman requested a pass to Richmond. "A pass to Richmond!" exclaimed the President, "Why, my dear sir, if I should give you one it would do you no good. You may think it very strange, but there are a lot of fellows who are prejudiced against every man who totes a pass from me. I have given McClellan and more than two hundred thousand others passes to Richmond, and not one of them has yet gotten there!" By permission of O. H. Oldroyd. 5-8 BETSY ANN THE WASHERWOMAN One day an ex-governor gained the President's ear. Presently he began: "Mr. President, I want to speak to you about the case of Betsy Ann Dougherty. She was my washerwoman for a long time, but now her husband has joined the rebel army. I wish you would give her a pro- tection paper." Mr. Lincoln saw how ridiculous the re- quest was, but concealed his amusement and asked: "Was Betsy Ann a good washerwoman?" "Yes, sir. Very good indeed. Couldn't you write something to the officers?" Mr. Lincoln, after asking more questions of a like nature, wrote the following on a calling card: "Let Betsy Ann Dougherty alone, as long as she behaves herself. A. LINCOLN." "No," he replied, "officers have no time now to read letters. Tell her to put a string in this card and hang it 21 around her neck. When they see this they will let her alone." Such ludicrous scenes gave him relief from his overwhelming cares. 3-8 SOME LITTLE GIRLS AT THE WHITE HOUSE One afternoon three poorly clad little girls had followed the crowd into the White House to a reception. Lincoln noticing them passing, called out, "Little girls, are you going to pass me without shaking hands?" Then bending down he greeted them warmly. 5-8 LINCOLN AND THE RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR At a levee at the White House, the Russian Ambassa- dor stood talking to the President, when the President asked him this question: "Would you have taken me for an American if you had met me anywhere else than in this country?" "No," said the distinguished Muscovite, who, like Old Abe, was a bit of a wag, "I should have taken you for a Pole." "So I am," exclaimed the President, straightening himself up to his full height, "and a Liberty Pole at that." - By permission of O. H. Oldroyd. 3-6 How TAD SIGNALLED TO His FATHER Lincoln was listening to an account of one of Grant's battles, when a gentle knocking resounded on the door to which Lincoln paid no heed. Then the door knob was 22 rattled and a childish voice called, "Unfasten the door." Lincoln drew the bolt, and Little Tad, then ten years old, bounced in, and jumped upon his father's lap. The little fellow was in the habit, if he awoke in the night, of creeping into his father's bed; but on this occasion, not rinding him, had come over to the office, which was on the same floor. Lincoln, with Tad on his knee, began to teach him to make a certain signal by tapping on the desk with Tad's fist doubled up in his own big, bony hand. Telegraphy had been introduced but a short time before. There were seven quick raps, followed by two slower ones, thus - , and over and over again these dots and dashes were sounded on the desk un- til Tad made the signal correctly without his father's help. Tad had been taught to make this signal on the office door, whenever he wanted to come in, and had forgotten to make it, so his father paid no attention to the disturb- ance till he heard the voice. By permission of The Century Company. 7-8 ATTENDING TO THE DETAILS OF THE ARMY "Now, my man, go away, go away" General Fry overheard Lincoln say one day to a soldier who was plead- ing for the President's interference in his behalf. "I can- not meddle in your case. I could as easily bail out the Potomac with a teaspoon as attend to all the details of the army." 23 4-8 LINCOLN ON His ANCESTRY Concerning his ancestry Lincoln said, "I don't know who my grandfather was, and am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be." BLONDIN CROSSING THE NIAGARA RIVER Lincoln and the country expected McClellan to cross the Potomac on the 22d of February. When he failed to do this complaints kept coming in to the President. Finally he said to some gentlemen in answer to their complaints, " Gentlemen, suppose you had put all the property you were worth into the hands of Blondin, the wire walker, to carry across the Niagara. Would you shake the cable or keep shouting directions at him? No, you would hold your breath as well as your tongue until he was safely over. It is thus with the government. Keep silent, and we'll get you safely across." * 1 p~ '6 5 O 1 - PH -5 S3 8 w 1 u * J w * & 8 3 I O I I n STORIES TOLD BY LINCOLN 5-8 PURPOSE OF LINCOLN'S STORIES While at Washington, Lincoln was once asked to tell a story. He replied by saying: "I believe I have the popu- lar reputation of being a story-teller; but it is not the story itself, but its purpose or effect, that interests me. I often avoid a long, useless discussion by others or laborious ex- planation on my own part by a short story that illustrates my point of view. So, too, the sharpness of a refusal or the edge of a rebuke may be blunted by an appropriate story." By permission of The Century Company. THE IRISH BULL ABOUT THE NEW BOOTS How could we make an entirely new improvement such as a road or canal by means of the tonnage duties de- rived from it? The idea that we could, involves the same absurdity as the Irish bull about the new boots. "I shall never git 'em on," says Pat, "till I wear 'em a day or two, and stretch 'em a little." 25 26 7-8 THE RAT STORY While en route from Dixon to Freeport, Illinois, Mr. Lincoln took off his hat and produced a crumpled and not too immaculate scrap of paper from the multitude therein. "Now, Joe," said he to Mr. Medill, of the Press and Tribune, "here are the four questions I intend to ask Judge Douglas. I am ready for you. Fire away." After reading them over, Mr. Medill said, "We don't care about the others, but if you ask the second you will never see the United States Senate." The question read, "Can the people of the United States Territory, in any lawful way, against the wish of any citizen of the United States, exclude slavery from its limits prior to the forma- tion of a State Constitution?" "Douglas will answer 'Yes,' and that's all the Democrats want to put him in the Senate," said Mr. Medill. "Why should we work for you?" "Joe," said Lincoln, "a rat in the larder is easier to catch than a rat that has the run of the cellar. You know where to set your trap in a larder. I'll tell you why I am in this campaign to catch Douglas now and keep him out of the White House in 1860." By permission. From " The Crisis," by Winston Churchill. 7-8 BOAST OF AN IRISH SOLDIER A witty Irish soldier was always boasting of his brav- ery when no danger was near, but always retreated at the first charge of an engagement. When asked by his cap- 27 tain why he did so he replied: "I have as brave a heart as Julius Caesar ever had; but, somehow or other, when- ever danger approaches, my cowardly legs will run away with it." So with some men. They take public money for the best imaginable purposes; but before they can possibly produce it again, their rascally "vulnerable heels" will run away with them. f 5-8 THE STEAMBOAT WITH SIX-INCH BOILER AND NINE- INCH WHISTLE We have all met with people who in ordinary affairs seem rational enough, but as soon as they arise to address an assembly all sense seems to desert them. Mr. Lincoln was once opposed in a law suit by a lawyer who belonged in this class. It reminded him of a story. He once saw a steam-boat which had an engine with a six-inch boiler and a nine-inch whistle. The steamboat moved along all right until it blew its whistle, then the locomotion ceased altogether. - By permission of O. H. Oldroyd. ' 5-8 ^Esop's FABLE ABOUT FOUR WHITE MEN SCRUBBING A NEGRO One day, discussing with Dr. Sunderland the effect which the war would have upon the negro, Lincoln suddenly laughed and said, "This makes me think of a story in '^sop's Fables.' Four white men were scrubbing a negro jn a potash kettle of cold water, hoping to make him white, 28 but just as they thought they were succeeding he took cold and died. Now I'm afraid that by the time we get through this war the Negro will catch cold and die." 3-8 How SOME PEOPLE SUCCEED IN CORKING UP OTHERS A Union general had allowed himself and his army to be drawn into a dangerous position. When speaking of this, Lincoln said: "General- -reminds me of a man out West who was engaged in what they call heading a barrel. He worked diligently for a time driving down the hoops; but when the job seemed completed, the head would fall in, and he would have to do the work all over again. Sud- denly a bright idea struck him. He put his boy into the barrel to hold up the head while he pounded down the hoops. This worked like a charm. The job was completed be- fore he once thought how he was to get the little fellow out again. Now," said Mr. Lincoln, "some people can suc- ceed better in getting themselves and others corked up than in getting uncorked." 7-8 THE COON STORY At the close of the War, Lincoln was beset by men who wished to advise him how to proceed toward the conquered Confederacy. One gentleman boldly asked aloud, what everyone else was asking privately, "Mr. President, what will you do with Jeff Davis when he is caught?" 29 Mr. Lincoln straightened up, and all knew he was about to tell a story. "Gentlemen," he began, "that re- minds me of a little boy I once found crying on a street corner of a little Illinios town. I asked him the cause of his trouble. He said that he had been struggling with the coon which was tugging at the end of a string. Between sobs he continued, 'That coon, sir, has given me all kinds of trouble, and now has nearly gnawed the string in two. I just wish he would, so I could say at home that he had got away." : Everyone laughed. All understood what the President would like to do with Jeff Davis when Jeff Davis was caught. Ill MAXIMS AND SAYINGS OF LINCOLN 1-4 "All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother." 3-8 "It is better only sometimes to be right than at all times to be wrong." 1-8 "A living dog is better than a dead lion." 1-8 "Broken eggs cannot be mended." 5-6 "1 do not wish to die until the world is better for my having lived." (Said to his closest friend, Joshua Speed.) 3-6 ' "When I am dead, I wish my friends to remember that I always plucked a thistle and planted a rose when in my power." 7-8 "My early history is perfectly characterized by a single line of Gray's 'Elegy': "'The short and simple annals of the poor."' (Reply to a gentleman who asked for a sketch of his life, 1861.) 3 3 1 6-8 "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and under a just God cannot long retain it." 4-8 "If we do right, God will be with us, and if God is with us we cannot fail." 5-8 "He who does something at the head of one regiment, will eclipse him who does nothing at the head of a hun- dred." 5-8 "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it." Cooper Institute Speech. 5-8 Maxim when assigning offices: " Justice to all." "I have not suffered by the South, I have suffered with the South. Their pain has been my pain; their loss has been my loss. What they have gained, I have gained." IV MATERIAL SUITABLE FOR READINGS TAKEN FROM LINCOLN'S SPEECHES AND LETTERS 7-8 LINCOLN'S SKETCH OF His OWN LIFE Written for the Campaign of 1860. Excellent as a reading. Closes with the following personal description: If any personal description of me is thought desirable, it may be said I am, in height, six feet four inches, nearly; lean in flesh, weighing on an average one hundred eighty pounds; dark complexion, with coarse black hair, and gray eyes. No other marks or brands recollected. Yours truly, A. LINCOLN. Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln. Nicolay and Hay, I, 596. 5-8 LINCOLN'S INTERPRETATION OF "ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL" "I say no man is good enough to govern another man, without that other's consent. I say this is the leading principle the sheet anchor of American republicanism. Our Declaration of Independence says: 'We hold these 32 truths to be self-evident ; that all men are created equal : that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalien- able rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pur- suit of happiness.' "I think the authors of that notable instrument intended to include all men, but they did not intend to declare all men equal in all respects. They did not mean to say all were equal in color, size, intellect, moral developments, or social capacity. They defined with tolerable distinct- ness, in what respects they did consider all men created equal equal with 'certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."' 7-8 ADDRESS ON COLONIZATION TO A DEPUTATION OF COLORED MEN Lincoln's opinions regarding the future of the negroes and the advantages of colonization in Central America are forcibly expressed. Extracts Complete Works of Abra- ham Lincoln. Nicolay and Hay, II, 222. 7-8 LETTER TO MRS. BIXBY OF BOSTON, MASS. NOVEMBER 21, 1864 Dear Madam: I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant- General of Massachusetts, that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should at- 34 tempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelm- ing. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the con- solation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. Yours very sincerely and respectfully, ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 7-8 LETTER TO GENERAL JOSEPH HOOKER The spirit is shown by the closing words: "Beware of rashness, but with energy and sleepless vigilance go forward and give us victories." Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln. Nicolay and Hay, II, 306. 7-8 FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS (Extracts, especially from the latter part, including his closing words, to be selected.) "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic cords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." 35 5-8 THE PRESIDENTIAL OATH TAKEN BY LINCOLN A cheer greeted Lincoln at the close of this address. Chief- Justice Taney arose, the clerk opened his Bible, and Mr. Lincoln, laying his hand upon it, with deliberation pronounced the oath: "I, Abraham Lincoln, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." So long as liberty remains: so long as Christianity and civilization are the legacy of the race, will history re- cord how faithfully that sacred vow was fulfilled. Dr. Wm. Jayne. How SHALL WE FORTIFY AGAINST DISREGARDING THE LAWS? Suitable for a reading. An extract is: "Let reverence for the laws be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap; let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in primers, spelling books, and in almanacs ; let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and en- forced in Courts of Justices; in short, let it become the political religion of the nation." -Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln Nicolay and Hay, I, 12. 36 7-8 GETTYSBURG ADDRESS NOVEMBER, 19, 1863 This address was originally composed by Lincoln on a piece of brown wrapping paper, partly while aboard the train and partly at Gettysburg. Lincoln feared it would be a failure. "Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. "Now we are engaged in a great Civil War, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle- field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. "But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate we cannot consecrate we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have con- secrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly 37 resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." The eloquent Hon. Edward Everett was orator of the day. At the conclusion of his address he was heartily con- gratulated by Mr. Lincoln, to whom he replied: "Ah, Mr. President, gladly would I exchange my entire hundred pages to have been the author of your twenty lines." See "Lincoln at Gettysburg." - Clark E. Can. ( McClurg. ) "The Perfect Tribute." M. R. Andrews. (Scribner's, Vol. XL.) 7-8 SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS The entire selection may be used, especially the closing words : "With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations." V POEMS A POEM BY LINCOLN His FAVORITES POEMS ON LINCOLN Lincoln wrote the following poem in 1844, when he visited the neighborhood in Indiana where he was raised and his mother was buried: My childhood's home I see again, And sadden with the view; And still, as memory crowds my brain, There's pleasure in it too. Nearly twenty years have passed away Since here I bid farewell To woods and fields and scenes of play, And playmates loved so well. Where many were, but few remain Of old familiar things; But seeing them to mind again The lost and absent brings. The friends I left that parting day, How changed, as time has sped! Young childhood grown strong manhood gray, And half of all are dead. 38 39 I hear the loved survivors tell How naught from death could save, Till every sound appears a knell, And every spot a grave I range the fields with pensive tread, And pace the hollow rooms, And feel (companion of the dead) I'm living in the tombs. FAVORITE POEMS OF LINCOLN " A Man's a Man for a' That." Burns. "Last Leaf." Holmes. OH! WHY SHOULD THE SPIRIT OF MORTAL BE PROUD ? Lincoln recited this at every opportunity for some thirty years. Oh! why should the spirit of mortal be proud? Like a swift flitting meteor, a fast flying cloud, The flash of the lightning, a break of the wave, He passes from life to his rest in the grave. The leaves of the oak and the willow shall fade, Be scattered around and together be laid; And the young and the old and the low and the high Shall molder to dust and together shall lie. The infant a mother attended and loved, The mother that infant's affection who proved, The husband that mother and infant who blest, Each, all are away to their dwellings of rest. 40 The maid on whose cheek, on whose brow, in whose eye, Shone beauty and pleasure, her triumphs are by; And the mem'ry of those who loved her and praised Are alike from the minds of the living erased. The hand of the king that the scepter hath borne, The brow of the priest that the miter hath worn, The eye of the sage and the heart of the brave Are hidden and lost in the depths of the grave. The peasant whose lot was to sow and to reap, The herdsman who climbed with his goats up the steep, The beggar who wandered in search of his bread, Have faded away like the grass that we tread. The saint who enjoyed the communion of heaven, The sinner who dared to remain unforgiven, The wise and the foolish, the guilty and just, Have quietly mingled their bones in the dust. So the multitude goes like the flower or the weed That withers away to let others succeed, So the multitude comes, even those we behold, To repeat every tale that has often been told. For we are the same that our fathers have been; We see the same sights our fathers have seen; We drink the same streams, and view the same sun, And run the same course our fathers have run. The thoughts we are thinking our fathers would think, From the death we are shrinking our fathers would shrink; To the life we are clinging they also would cling, But it speeds from us all like a bird on the wing. 41 They loved, but the story we cannot unfold They scorned, but the heart of the haughty is cold; They grieved, but no wail from their slumber will come; They joyed, but the tongue of their gladness is dumb. They died, ay, they died. We things that are now, That walk on the turf that lies over their brow, And make in their dwellings a transient abode, Meet the things that they met on their pilgrimage road. Yea, hope and despondency, pleasure and pain, Are mingled together in sunshine and rain; And the smile and the tear, the song and the dirge, Still follow each other like surge upon surge. 'Tis the wink of an eye, 'tis the draught of a breath, From the blossom of health to the paleness of death, From the gilded salon to the bier and the shroud Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud ? William Knox POEMS ON LINCOLN " Ode for the Burial of Abraham Lincoln." - Bryant. "O Captain! My Captain !" Walt Whitman. Lowell, in his Commemoration Ode has characterized Lincoln with lines which may well be said to "touch the high- water mark of American poetry": The kindly-earnest, brave, foreseeing man, Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame. New birth of our new soil, the first American. Recantation made by the London Punch a paper that had used Lincoln as a subject of caricature and ridicule : Yes, he had lived to shame me from my sneer, To lame my pencil, and confute my pen To make me own this hind of princes peer, This railsplitter a true-born king of men. LINCOLN: A RETROSPECT Now that the winds of Peace have blown away The battle smoke which long obscured the day, Now that all wrath is as a tale of old And human flesh is minted into gold No longer, and the straggling thunders cease And all the land is wrapt in busy peace There towers in our sight this man of worth Above the selfish kings that ruled the earth. He did not yearn for hopeless things, nor sigh For purple kingdoms verging on the sky, Nor long for irised landscapes shimmering fair In a blown bubble of inconstant air, But with great vision of the years to be He shaped a mighty nation's destiny And gave all man can give his life he gave To weld the broken state and free the slave. Gave resolution to the ruler's pen; The books he conned beside the open fire Made strong the brain which battles could not tire; The law courts with forensic shift and strife The ax the gaunt youth swung in dale and glen Prepared him for that tragedy, his life. He never held his ways from men apart, Yet kept a sanctuary in his heart Whence flowed a stream of love and hope, to bless, 43 Pure as a clear spring in a wilderness. He trusted God bearing the weight of war As olden captains trusted in a star. And yet he was not all the stolid oak: Full well could he the foeman's smile provoke With homely proverb or a timely joke. Harry H. Kemp Calm and serene unto the end he past And bravely met his martyrdom at last . . . They crossed his thin, worn hands upon his breast. God gave the country peace and Lincoln rest! The Independent, February 29, 1908. LINCOLN Fate struck the hour! A crisis hour of time. The tocsin of a people clanging forth Thro' the wild South and thro' the startled North Called for a leader, master of his kind, Fearless and firm, and with clear foreseeing mind; Who should not flinch from calumny or scorn; Wielding a giant power Humbly, with faith sublime. God knew the man His sovereign grace had sealed; God touched the man and Lincoln stood revealed! /. L. H. By permission of The Outlook. VI TRIBUTES TO LINCOLN BY OUR GREAT MEN 5-8 HENRY WARD BEECHER'S EULOGY Four years ago, O Illinois, we took from your midst an untried man from among the people. Behold! we return to you a mighty conqueror. Not ours any more, but the nation's. Not ours, but the world's. Give him place, O ye prairies. Extract. 5-8 Lincoln was the grandest figure of the fiercest Civil War. He is the gentlest memory of our world. Robert G. Ingersoll. 6-8 THE CAREER AND CHARACTER OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN We cannot follow this contest. You know its gigantic proportions ; that it lasted four years instead of three months ; that in its progress instead of 75,000 men, more than 2,000,- ooo were enrolled on the side of the Government alone; that the aggregate cost and loss to the nation approximated to $5,000,000,000, and that no less than 300,000 brave and precious lives were sacrificed on each side. History has recorded how Lincoln bore himself during those four frightful years; that he was the real President, the re- 45 sponsible and actual head of the Government through it all; that he listened to all advice, heard all parties, and then, realizing his responsibility to God and the Nation, decided every great executive question for himself. Joseph H. Choate. ( Extract. ) 6-8 Almost from the moment the bullet of the assassin pierced his brain, detraction ceased and appreciation be- gan. His fame has kept even pace with the fortunes of his united country. His great character is our noblest heritage. The more we study it the firmer must be our faith in the living power of human integrity. Alfred Bayliss. 7-8 Certain it is that we have never had a man in public life whose sense of duty was stronger, whose bearing toward those with whom he came in contact, whether his friends or political opponents, was characterized by a greater sense of fairness than Abraham Lincoln. We have never had a man in public life who took upon himself uncomplainingly the woes of the nation and suffered in soul from the weight of them as he did. We have never had a man in our history who had such a mixture of far-sightedness, of understand- ing of the people, of common sense, of high sense of duty, of power of inexorable logic and of confidence in the good- ness of God, in working out a righteous result as this great product of the soil of Kentucky and Illinois. William Howard Tajt. 46 7-8 WASHINGTON AND LINCOLN Washington, though in some ways an even greater man than Lincoln, did not have Lincoln's wonderful gift of expression that gift which makes certain speeches of the rail-splitter from Illinois read like the inspired utterances of the great Hebrew seers and prophets. But he had all of Lincoln's sound common sense, far-sightedness, and de- votion to a lofty ideal. Like Lincoln he sought after the noblest objects, and like Lincoln he sought after them by thoroughly practical methods. These two greatest Ameri- cans can fairly be called the best among the great men of the world, and the greatest among the good men of the world. Each showed in actual practice his capacity to secure under our system, the priceless union of individual liberty with governmental strength. Each was free from the vices of the demagogue. Theodore Roosevelt. A R I I L L E R Y GROUP The Artillery group represents a piece of artillery in battle. The enemy has succeeded in directing a shot so well as to dismount the gun. The officer in command mounts his disabled piece and with drawn saber fronts the enemy. The youthful soldier, with uplifted hands, is horrified at the havoc around him. The wounded and prostrate soldier wears a look of intense agony. CAVALRY GROUP The Cavalry group, consisting of two human figures and a horse, repre- sents a battle scene. The horse, from whose back the rider has just been thrown, is frantically rearing. The wounded and dying taimpeter, supported by a comrade, is bravely facing death. INFANTRY GROUP The Infantry group represents an officer, a private soldier, and a drummer, with arms- and accoutrements, marching in "expectation of battle. The officer in command raises the flag with one hand, and pointing to the enemy with the other, orders a charge. The private with the musket, as the repre- sentative of the whole line, is in the act of executing the charge. The drum- mer boy has become excited, lost his cap, thrown away his haversack and drawn a revolver to take part in the conflict. NAVAL GROUP The Naval group represents a scene on the deck of a gunboat. The mortar is poised ready for action; the gunner has rolled up a shell ready for firing; the boy, or powder monkey, climbs to the highest point and is peering into the distance; the officer in command is about to examine the situation through the telescope. Each of these groups cost 813,700. VII TOAST TO THE FLAG Your Flag, and my Flag, And how it flies to-day In your land and my land And half a world away. Rose red and blood red Its stripes forever gleam, Soul white and snow white, The good forefather's dream. Sky blue and true blue, With stars to gleam aright, A gloried guidon in the day, A shelter through the night. Your Flag, and my Flag! And O, how much it holds Your land and my land Secure within its folds ; Your heart and my heart Beat quicker at the sight, Sun kissed and wind tossed, The red and blue and white. The one Flag, the great Flag, The Flag for me and you Glorified all else beside, The Red and White and Blue. W. B. Nesbit. 47 48 PLEDGE SALUTE TO THE FLAG Issued by the Grand Army of the Republic At a signal every person rises in his place. While the flag is being brought forward the salute is given as follows: "7 pledge allegiance to my flag and to the Republic jor which it stands: One Nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice I or all." At the words "to my flag," extend the right hand, palm upward, toward the flag until the end of the pledge of affirmation. Then drop the hand to the side. To the younger children the following may be taught: "I give my head and my heart to God and my country. One country, one language, one flag." VIII SONGS FAVORITES OF LINCOLN CAMPAIGN SONGS POPULAR NATIONAL WAR SONGS The song which Lincoln liked above all others was "Twenty Years Ago," beginning thus: "I've wandered to the village, Tom: I've sat beneath the tree Upon the schoolhouse playground, that sheltered you and me, But none were left to greet me, Tom, and few were left to know Who played with us upon the green, some twenty years ago." Other favorites were "Ben Bolt," "The Sword of Bunker Hill," and "The Lament of the Irish Emigrant." CAMPAIGN SONGS. 1858-1860 A LINCOLN CAMPAIGN SONG, 1858 We hear a cry increasing still, Like light it springs from hill to hill From Pennsylvania's State it leaps, And o'er the Buckeye valley sweeps. Get out of the way, Stephen Douglas! Get out of the way, Stephen Dougas! Get out of the way, Stephen Douglas! Lincoln is the man we want to serve us! 49 5 The Hoosier State first caught the cry, The Hawkeye State then raised it high, The Sucker State now waits the day, When Lincoln leads to victory! Get out of the way, etc. Cheer up, for victory's on its way, No power its onward march can stay, As well to stop the thunder's roar As hope for Douglas to serve us more. Get out of the way, etc. Then, Freemen, rally, one and all, Respond to our brave leader's call; Free Speech, Free Press, Free Soil, want we, And Lincoln to lead for liberty! Get out of the way, etc. Illinois State Journal, October 27, 1858. DOUGLAS' COMPLAINT He punished me in fight you see, And said I had the wrong of it; For I am small and he is tall And that's the short and long of it. He split a rail, through my coat tail He quickly thrust the prong of it; I'm five feet one, that lofty son Is six feet four and strong of it. From the Wide-awake Vocalist, a Republican campaign song book of 1860. 5 1 "WIDE- A WAKE CLUB" SONG TUNE "A Wet and a Flowing Sea." Oh, hear you not the wild huzzas That come from every State? For honest Uncle Abraham, The people's candidate? He is our choice, our nominee A self-made man and true; We'll show the Democrats this fall What honest Abe can do. Then give us Abe, and Hamlin, too, To guide our gallant ship, With Seward, Sumncr, Chase, and Clay, And then a merry trip. I hear that Doug is half inclined To give us all leg-bail, Preferring exercise on foot To riding on a rail. For Abe has one already mauled Upon the White House plan; If once Doug gets astride of that, He is a used up man. Then give us Abe, and Hamlin, too, To guide our gallant ship, With Seward, Sumner, Chase, and Clay, And then a merry trip. LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF am 52 POPULAR NATIONAL WAR SONGS When General Grant asked for 300,000 soldiers in 1864, Lincoln, in spite of many protests, called for 500,000, hence this loyal response: WE ARE COMING, FATHER ABRAHAM We are coming, Father Abraham, six hundred thousand more, From Mississippi's winding stream and from New England's shore; We leave our plows and workshops, our wives and children dear, With hearts too full for utterance, with but a silent tear; O we dare not look behind us, but steadfastly before We are coming, Father Abr'am, with six hundred thousand more! We are coming, we are coming, Our Union to restore; We are coming, Father Abr'am, with six hundred thousand more. If you look acoss the hill-tops that meet the Northern sky, Long moving lines of rising dust your vision may descry; And now the wind an instant tears the cloudy veil aside, And floats aloft our spangled flag in glory and in pride; And bayonets in the sunlight gleam and bands brave music play We are coming, Father Abr'am, with six hundred thousand more. We are coming, we are coming, etc. A Volunteer. . 5-8 x THE VACANT CHAIR THANKSGIVING, 1861 We shall meet but we shall miss him; There will be one vacant chair; We shall linger to caress him, While we breathe our evening prayer. 53 When, a year ago, we gathered, Joy was in his mild blue eye; But a golden cord is severed, And our hopes in ruins lie. At our fireside, sad and lonely, Often will the bosom swell At remembrance of the story, How our noble Willie fell; How he strove to bear our banner Through the thickest of the fight, And upheld our country's honor In the strength of manhood's might. 5-8 FOES AND FRIENDS Two soldiers, lying as they fell, upon the reddened clay, In daytime foes, at night in peace, breath'd there their lives away; Brave hearts had stirr'd each manly breast, fate, only, made them foes; And lying, dying, side by side, a softened feeling rose. Chorus They'll go no more to the lov'd homes here, but together both will wait For the sunny-hair'd and bright-eyed ones, beyond the golden gate. "Among New Hampshire's snowy hills, there pray for me to-night A woman and a little girl, with hair like golden light"; And at the thought, broke forth at last the cry of anguish wild, That would not longer be repressed, "O God, my wife, my child!" Then spoke the other dying man: "Across the Georgia plain, There watch and wait for me loved ones I'll never see again! A little girl, with dark bright eyes, each day is at the door, The father's step, the father's kiss will never greet her more." 54 The dying lips the pardon breathe, the dying hands entwine; The last ray dies, and over all the stars of heaven shine, And now, the girl with golden hair, and she with dark eyes bright, On Hampshire's hills and Georgia's plain, were fatherless that night. WAKE NICODEMUS Nicodemus, the slave, was of African birth, And was bought for a bagful of gold; He was reckon'd as part of the salt of the earth, But he died years ago, very old. 'Twas his last sad request, so we laid him away In the trunk of an old hollow tree, "Wake me up! " was his charge, at the first break of day, Wake me up for the great Jubilee!" Chorus The "Good time coming" is almost here! It was long, long, long on the way! Now run and tell Elijah to hurry up Pomp, And meet us at the gumtree down in the swamp, To wake Nicodemus to-day. WHEN JOHNNY COMES MARCHING HOME When Johnny comes marching home again, Hurrah ! Hurrah ! We'll give him a hearty welcome then, Hurrah ! Hurrah ! The men* will cheer, the boys will shout, The ladies, they will all turn out, The old church bell will peal with joy, Hurrah ! Hurrah ! 55 To welcome home our darling boy Hurrah! Hurrah! The village lads and lassies say With roses they will strew the way. Refrain And we'll all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home. (The words of the foregoing songs are used by permission of the S. Brainard's Sons Company, of Chicago, publishers of the words and music.) IX PROGRAMS SUGGESTED PROGRAMS FROM MATERIAL IN THE POREGOING PAGES These programs are merely suggestive. They may be modified and adjusted to suit conditions. COUNTRY SCHOOL PROGRAMS Country school programs may easily be made from these by select- ing portions from each appropriate to the children of any school. GRADES I AND II Time About Fifty Minutes SONG "America." (First stanza.) TALK BY THE TEACHER Lincoln's Life. (About five minutes.)* SONG "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground." STORIES (to be memorized in advance and told by individual children) 1 A "Copy" Written by Lincoln. 2 Recollections of the Kentucky Farm. 3 "Abe's Log" at Sangamon Town. 4 Lincoln Saves a Man from Freezing. * See " Boy's Life of Lincoln," by Helen Nicolay. Found also in St. Nicholas, Vol. 33. Supplement the talk by blackboard drawings or pictures of Lincoln, the log cabin in which he was born, his home at Springfield, the National Lin- coln Monument, and the Capitol at Washington, 5 6 57 5 Lincoln and the Young Birds. 6 Rescue of a Pig. 7 Lincoln's Habit of Carrying Letters in His Hat. (May be dramatized.) 8 How Lincoln Kept His Post-office Collections. POEM From Lincoln's Paper Scrap Book. MARCH Flag Drill. SONG "Salute to the Flag." (By Jessie L. Gaynor.) STORIES (to be told by the children) 9 Lincoln Carries a Little Girl's Trunk to the Station. 10 Lincoln, His Two Boys, and Three Walnuts. (May be dramatized.) 11 How Tad Interrupted a Game of Chess. 12 A Little Girl Induces Lincoln to Wear a Beard. SAYINGS (write on the blackboard. To be read by the teacher or recited by children) "All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother." "Broken eggs cannot be mended." "A live dog is better than a dead lion." SONG "Dixie Land." SALUTE TO THE FLAG. (To be memorized.) GRADES III AND IV Time A bout One Hour SONG "The Star Spangled Banner." TALK BY TEACHER Early Life of Lincoln. (Five minutes.)* CHARADES Based on Lincoln's Boyhood. (To be acted by boys in turn.) 1 Carrying water. 2 Picking berries. *See " Boy's Life of Lincoln," by Helen Nicolay. Found also in St. Nicholas, Vol. 33. Supplement the talk by blackboard drawings or pictures. 58 3 Splitting rails. 4 Poling a flat-boat. 5 Dropping pumpkin seeds in the cornfield every ether hill in every other row. 6 Writing on a shovel with a charred stick. 7 Copying, from borrowed books, with his turkey-buzzard pen and brier-root ink. TALK BY TEACHER Lincoln's Later Life. (Five minutes.) POEM "Douglas' Complaint" Campaign Song of 1860. (Class memorize and recite.) SONG "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." STORIES (to be told by the children) 1 How Lincoln Paid for Weems' Life of Washington. 2 Lincoln's First Dollar. 3 How Lincoln Saved a Flat-boat. SAYINGS AND MAXIMS (written on blackboard. Read by teacher or children) "It is better only sometimes to be right than at all times to be wrong." "When I am dead I wish my friends to remember that I always plucked a thistle and planted a rose when in my power." SONG "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp!" MARCH (leader to beat time on drum. Fife also, if possible.) TOAST TO THE FLAG (By W. B. Nesbit.) STORIES (to be told by the children) 4 Wrestling Match with Armstrong. 5 Irish Bull about the New Boots. 6 How Tad was Named. 7 Some Little Girls, at the White House. 8 How Tad Signalled to His Father. SONG "Battle Hymn of the Republic." SALUTE TO THE FLAG. SONG "America." (First and last stanzas.) 59 GRADES V AND VI Time About an Hour and Fifteen Minutes SONG "We are Coming, Father Abraham." READING BY THE TEACHER Lincoln's Own Sketch of His Life, as found in "Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln," by Nicolay and Hay. POEM Verses Lincoln Wrote on His Return to Indiana. SONG "Just Before the Battle, Mother." STORIES (to be memorized and told by individual children) 1 Lincoln Saves Three Men in a Sangamon River Tree. 2 How Lincoln Saved a Flat-boat. 3 The Great Wrestling Match. 4 Captain Lincoln Forgets Proper Word of Command. POEM "A Man's a Man for a' That." SONG "The Girl I Left Behind Me." STORIES (to be told by individual children, 5 Lincoln Refuses to Defend a Guilty Client. 6 Lincoln Discourages Sharp Practices. 7 Latitude and Longitude of Lincoln's Socks. 8 Douglas Holds Lincoln's Hat. POEMS SUITABLE FOR READINGS "A Lincoln Campaign Song." "Wide- Awake Club" Song. SONG "The Vacant Chair." TALK BY THE TEACHER Lincoln as President. (About five minutes.) STORIES 9 Betsy Ann, the Washerwoman. 10 Lincoln on His Ancestry. 11 The Steamer with Six-inch Boiler and Nine-Inch Whistle. 12 ^Esop's Fable about "Four White Men Scrubbing a Negro." READING BY PUPIL The Presidential Oath. SAYINGS i "I have not suffered by the South," etc. 6o 2 "Those who deny Freedom to others," etc. 3 "Let us have faith that right makes might," etc. POEM "O Captain, My Captain." (Walt Whitman.) RECITATION BY THREE STUDENTS "Tributes to Lincoln," by Bayliss, Taft, and Roosevelt. PLEDGE SALUTE TO FLAG. SONG "America." GRADES VII AND VIII Time About One Hour and a Half SONG "Song of a Thousand Years." TALK BY PRINCIPAL OR GRADE TEACHER How Lincoln Became President. (Five minutes.) POEM "Oh! Why Should the Spirit of Mortal be Proud?" SONG "Nelly Gray." STORIES About Lincoln (to be memorized and told by pupils) 1 Lincoln's Honesty in Regard to Fees. 2 Lincoln's Suit Against the Illinois Central Railroad. 3 Homes of Lincoln and Louis the Fourteenth. 4 How Oglesby, John Hanks, and Two Fence Rails Killed Seward's Boom. 5 A Pass to Richmond. 6 Lincoln and the Russian Ambassador. READING Lincoln's Interpretation of "All Men are Created Equal." READING Lincoln's Letter to Mrs. Bixby. MAXIM "He who does something at the head of one regiment, will eclipse him who does nothing at the head of a hundred." TALK BY PRINCIPAL OR GRADE TEACHER What made Lincoln Great. READING Lincoln's Letter to General Hooker. SONG "Wake Nicodemus." READING With Explanatory Remarks. The Gettysburg Address. STORIES By Lincoln (to be memorized and told by the pupils) 7 Purpose of Lincoln's Stories. 6r 8 The Rat Story. 9 The Boast of the Irish Soldier. 10 The Irish Bull about the New Boots. 11 How Some People Succeed in Corking Up Others. 12 Blondin Crossing Niagara River. 13 Attending to the Details of the Army. 14 The Coon Story, or What Lincoln Would Like to do with Jeff Davis. READING Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. SONG "Foes and Friends." TRIBUTES TO LINCOLN By Alfred Bayliss, William Howard Taft, Theodore Roosevelt. POEM "A Retrospect." (Harry H. Kemp.) TALK Description of the National Lincoln Monument. TALK What Shall the Centennial Lincoln Memorial be? (Review of Reviews, September, 1908.) POEM "Lincoln." (J. L. H.) If possible, at close of poem, unveil a new bust or picture of Lincoln. PLEDGE SALUTE TO THE FLAG. SONG "America." - Lincoln I. N. M. (An exercise for seven children) (Pupils march in, singing the following words to air, "Amcric We march with hearts so true, Our tributes to renew To a hero dear; His life we emulate, We crown him good and great; Each year we celebrate His life so dear. First child (holding up letter} L stands for Lincoln. Second child I hear he was always generous, loving, and honest. Third child No one was more loyal and tender than he. Fourth child Come listen to the stories we shall tell of his honest, un- selfish devotion to his country. Filth child Our Lincoln is a good example of the lofty patriot and statesman. Sixth child Like him, may we have the faith that "right makes might. Seventh child . Never will the Nation forget how he preserved the Union. All O Lincoln! Great, and wise, and good, Our homage to thee is due; And may we ever strive to become So just, so loyal, and so true.