Qass. 
 Book. 
 
6''^ 
 
 Memorial. 
 
 ./' 
 
 ^mxU and ^mm of tltc ^Initcrt ^\\\U% of ^nuvifa : X : . 
 
 /^cv rt'^r.5- // has been the custom of people and nations to hold in 
 dear remembrance the )iame of Him whose life zoas devoted to I lis 
 kind and his country. 
 
 To him 7cho proclaimed the Declaration of Independence a living 
 reality, eternal " reinend^rancey 
 
 On the Tivclfth Day of February, iSoq, the soul of Abraham 
 Lincoln zcas launched into time. 
 
 We, the undersigned, do petition your Jionorable Assembly, The 
 Senate and House of Representatives, that you do nominate and 
 appoint the Twelfth Day of February a ''Legal Holiday," that a 
 universal people may rejoice together in this great gift of God to 
 man. 
 
 Alabama, . 
 Arkansas, 
 California, 
 Connccliciif, . 
 Delaware, . 
 Florida, . 
 Georgia, 
 Illinois, . 
 Indiana, . 
 Iowa, 
 
 Kansas, . 
 Kentucky, 
 loiiisiana, 
 Maine, . 
 Maryland, Is.\ 
 Massachusetts, . 
 Michigan, . . 
 Minnesota, 
 Mississippi, 
 MissouH, 
 Nebraska, . . 
 Nevada, . . . 
 Ntii' Hampshire, 
 NciV Jersey, . . 
 Nt\o York, 
 
 . . Joseph Warren. 
 
 . . John S. Noyes. 
 
 . . . Teter Paul. 
 
 . . . Joseph Dart. 
 
 . . . . A. Altman. 
 
 . . Hiram Barton. 
 
 Lewis L. Hodges. 
 
 . . . . P. Emslie. 
 
 . . . Jacob Beyer. 
 
 . . Theo. Butler. 
 
 . . James C. Barnes. 
 
 . . . N. K. Hall. 
 
 . . Henry M. Kent. 
 
 . . \Vm. H. Green. 
 
 ac m. schermerhorn. 
 
 , Freu. L. Dankorth. 
 
 . . Walter Carey. 
 
 , . J. M. Humphrey. 
 
 . . Geo. Meacham. 
 
 Orlando Allen. 
 
 . . . . F. S. Pease. 
 
 . Pascal P. Pratt. 
 
 . . k. g. s paulding. 
 
 . Oliver G. Steele. 
 
 , . Lyman K. Bass. 
 
 North Carolina, . . O. P. Ramsdell. 
 
 'Ohio, Henry W. Burt. 
 
 Oregon, H. Utley. 
 
 Pennsylvaiiia, . . . . AL P. BusH. 
 
 Alaska O. H. Marshall. 
 
 Dakota, W. C. Francis. 
 
 ONE COUNTRY, Julius E. Francis. 
 Indian Territory, . Elijah Hawley'. 
 Rhode Island, . . . .B.C. Rumsey. 
 South Carolina, . . . Fred'k Held. 
 Tennessee, .... Robert Denton. 
 
 Texas W. H. Peabody. 
 
 Vermont, . . . . L. J. Fletcher. 
 Virginia, . . . Charles W. Evans. 
 I^Fest Virginia, . V. R. HoTCHKIss. 
 Wisconsin, ... J. RiEFFENSTAHL. 
 Arizona, . . . Wii.sON S. BissEi.L. 
 Colorado, . . ALEXANDER Brish. 
 District o/ Columbia, Geo. R. Babcock. 
 Idaho, .... John Wilkinson, 
 
 Montana, T. P. Dudley. 
 
 Ne-w Mexico, . . . . S. F. Mixer. 
 
 Utah, G. R. Wilson. 
 
 Washington, .... C. G. Flint. 
 Wyoming, .... A. T. Chester. 
 
 ilS7Hl . 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
SSAY. 
 
 Sixty-five years ago to-day began one of the tales which history de- 
 hghts to tell. A life dawned which was to mark an era in the world's 
 progress. Its origin was obscure and poor. None could think, the 
 day it came^ that it was to be so great. Its lot was hard. Its growth 
 was sturdy. In the strong school of toil it grew in honesty, sobriety 
 and patience, in independence and modesty, in kindness and humility. 
 It clung to these. It was reverent and aspiring. Whatever might 
 happen, it would not be base. Through no selfish ambition, but by 
 suffrage of fellow-men, the love and honor of a few of whom it had 
 secured, it was summoned to our country's supreme place. There it 
 was appointed to stand, the centre and guide of the nation, while the 
 nation's life and the world's progress hung on the issue of a terrible 
 conflict. How nobly it stood, amid what a rain of sorrows, treacheries, 
 hatreds, labors, — the world's cold eyes fixed upon it and conquered into 
 tender admiration by its mflexible worthiness ! How grand it showed 
 to be the qualities whicli make a true manhood ! Their worth is its 
 illuminated lesson. A nation's best possession is its noble children. 
 They are better than wealth ; they are wealth's security. They are 
 better than laws ; against them there is no law. They are better than 
 constitutions ; to keep them in order no constitution is needed. In 
 danger they are its safety. They are law, order, wealth, safety, progress, 
 all in one. And when it dies they are its immortal life, their memory 
 its undying glory. 
 
 Of these, surely, is our Abraham Lincoln. Noble as a boy, noble 
 as a man, he was noble as head and ruler of the nation — perhaps no- 
 blest in the unselfish loyalty to Right, which refused even to seize the 
 immortal honor of proclaiming Freedom until he clearly saw it to be 
 his duty. \\'orthy was he to issue the glorious Proclamation of Eman- 
 cipation. It was the triumph of his unselfishness and his humility. 
 
 " Oil, 'rruth I oil, Freedom ! liow are ye still l)orii 
 
 In liie rude stable, in the manger nursed ; 
 
 What humble hands unbar those gates of morn 
 
 'J'iirough which the splendors of the New Day burst ! " 
 
 "With honor, honor, honor to him, 
 Eternal honor to his name." — F. F. 
 
 lll'i'i'Al.o, N. v., Fil'riinry 12///, 1874. 
 
MbRAHAM i2lNCOLN, 
 
 iSog. February 12. iS'/4. 
 
 Ah ! well it is, we say, 
 For men to weave the laurel, and to crown 
 Their heroes I Well to lift the marble high, 
 y\.nd bid it tell for ages the great deeds 
 That saved the land I And well to hallow days, 
 And make them rich with blessed memories, 
 That cluster round each passing hour, and lay 
 A beauty and a fragrance on the time ! 
 
 Well, not for him who sleeps his dreamless sleep. 
 Whose white hands lie upon a quiet breast, — • 
 But for the men who live and work to-day, 
 For those who march with slow and weary feet, 
 For those who lead the people to the fray 
 And bid them die for Freedom and for God. 
 
 This man, whose name is on our li]5s, whose deeds 
 
 Are written in our hearts, — how was he wrought? 
 
 What was his nature? Was he high or low? 
 
 Did honorable wealth watch his young life, 
 
 Or was he nurtured in a lowly way. 
 
 And hardened for the conflict from his birth. 
 
 And so made ready for his victory ? 
 
 Short, simple words should tell the simple tale. 
 
 A poor white boy within a cabin home. 
 
 Held down by the same curse that held the slave ; 
 
 A lad athirst for wisdom, yet shut in. 
 
 And pressed, and hindered by his poverty ; 
 
 A man with all the roots of greatness hid 
 
 Ey overlying rocks of circumstance. 
 
 What shall call out the hero, and uplift 
 This man of men to his own peerless height ? 
 The long years gave their tribute as they passed. 
 And hailed him master. All the kindly grace, 
 The childlike ways, the homely honesty. 
 The tender love, the loyalty to truth. 
 That flow and mingle in the gentlest blood. 
 Were met together in his blameless life. 
 
 His story is not old ; no need to write 
 A lengthened page to blazon all his fame. 
 With sturdy growth he threw off every weight. 
 And sprang, full-armored, to the battle front. 
 And led the hosts of Freedom. In his hand 
 He bore the banner of our liberty. 
 And made its blood-dyed folds so glorious. 
 That, for their beauty, we forgot the hand 
 That held it up amid the fiery storm. 
 Until we saw him dead beside his trust. 
 
 Ah, friends, to-day we sit within this place, 
 
 And think of home, and country, and fair hopes. 
 
 And all the gifts of Freedom that are ours, 
 
 Because such men have lived. Let us be glad 
 
 That for a little space their hearts have felt, 
 
 Their hands have wrought for all the brotherhood. 
 
 Let us break forth in fitting words of praise, 
 
 And sing our psalms of triumph, though the flower 
 
 Of victory, shining o'er the rescued land. 
 
 Is rooted in the martyr's holy grave. — Mary A. Ripley. 
 
-■N 
 
 
 Mew Song, 
 
 O Christmas bells I O birthday bells ! 
 Of one true life your story tells, 
 Whose perfect chords give time and key, 
 For every age's symphony. 
 
 Long your sweet chimes have waked the year 
 With added strains ; we're slow to hear 
 Unwonted measures ; what new rhyme 
 Breathes deep to lift the waves of time? 
 
 When " Peace on earth, good will to men," — 
 Your first sweet tune, — is chimed again. 
 Rings peal on peal, a sterner song, 
 Whose echoes tell of righted wrong. 
 
 Let grateful millions hear the strain. 
 And shout aloud the glad refrain ! 
 Once shackled slaves, now men set free. 
 Wake this new song of liberty ! 
 
 What soldier, martyr, saint or king. 
 Made life or death an offering 
 More worth than he whose birth, to-day. 
 And deeds, a nation's thanks repay? 
 
 The thrill that pierced the great world's heart, 
 Tiiat stopped its pulses, bade them start 
 With indignation, vengeance rife 
 As ebbed the patriot Lincoln's life — 
 
 That thrill it was that taught the bells 
 Their grand new song ; its burthen tells 
 High thoughts to man, and questions when 
 His deeds shall wake new strains again. 
 
 While ]iants one soul for freedom's life. 
 While sinks one heart in slavery's strife, 
 While power, or passion's might, makes right, 
 Truth's goal is hidtlen from our sight. 
 
 lUit long as Christmas bells may chime 
 Will Lincoln's song be rung in time; 
 Its brave, true notes, with Christmas cheer, 
 And " Peace on earth" sing down the year. 
 
 - —Mrs. Mary D. SibUy. 
 
 ''I