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 'Che Lincoln Fellowship. 
 
 Proceedings of the First Annual 
 Meeting and Dinner, Mew York, 
 Febo 12, 1908,
 
 LINCOLN ROOM 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 the Class of 1901 
 
 founded by 
 
 HARLAN HOYT HORNER 
 
 and 
 
 HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER
 
 THE LINCOLN 
 FELLOWSHIP 
 
 NEW YORK 
 FEBRUARY 12, 1908
 
 ^^ OiX-t^^-^
 
 Proceedings at the First Annual 
 Meeting and Dinner of the 
 Lincoln Fellowship, held at 
 Delmonico's, New York City, 
 Wednesday, February 12th, 1908. 
 
 New York 
 The Lincoln Fellowship
 
 Copyright, 1908, by 
 THE LINCOLN FELLOWSHIP
 
 "11 
 
 V. I 
 
 Contents 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Speech of Major William H. Lambert 5 
 
 Letter from Mr. Frederick Trevor Hill 9 
 
 Letter from Hon. Frederick W. Seward 9 
 
 Letter from Mr. Jesse W. Weik 10 
 
 Letter from Colonel Alexander K. McClure . . 11 
 Speech of Major-General Tcherep Spiridovitch 13 
 
 Speech of Hon. Samnel E. Thayer 16 
 
 Speech of Mr. Horace White 19 
 
 Speech of Mr. Charles W. McLellan 24 
 
 Speech of Mr. Joseph B. Oakleaf 27 
 
 Speech of General James Grant Wilson 29 
 
 Speech of General Stewart L. Woodford .... 40 
 
 Poem by Mr. Frederick Hill Meserve 47 
 
 Letter from Judge Isaac N. Phillips 47 
 
 Letter from Judge Daniel Fish 51 
 
 Letter from Dr. Henry S. Burrage 53; 
 
 Letter from Mr. Truman H. Bartlett 55* 
 
 Letter from Eev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones 56; 
 
 Letter from Hon. Eobert T. Lincoln 57 
 
 Letter from Hon. Grover Cleveland 57 
 
 Business Meeting 58 
 
 Officers and Members 60
 
 Annual Meeting, 1908 
 
 THE MEETING was held at Delmonico 's. 
 Fifth Avenue and Forty-fourth Street, 
 New York City, at 6.30 P. M. The fol- 
 lowing members were present: Major 
 William H. Lambert, President; General James 
 Grant Wilson, Charles W. McLellan, Judd Stew- 
 art, Joseph B. Oakleaf, Vice-Presidents ; Francis 
 D. Tandy, Secretary; Judd Stewart, Treasurer; 
 Horace White, Hugh McLellan, Malcolm N. 
 McLellan, Frederick H. Meserve, Daniel H. New- 
 hall, Harry Douglas Eobins, and Telamon Cuyler. 
 The following guests were also present: Count 
 A. T. Spiridovitch, Hon. Samuel R. Thayer, Gen. 
 Stewart L. Woodford, George T. Lambert, John 
 C. McCall, C. K. Lipman and 0. B. Perry. 
 
 After dinner The President called the meeting 
 to order. 
 
 Speech of the President. 
 
 Now, Gentlemen, as the time has arrived when 
 it is customary to indulge in some remarks, as 
 your presiding officer I begin that part of the 
 evening's entertainment and, as this is the first 
 meeting of The Lincoln Fellowship that I have 
 attended, I thank you for the great honor you 
 have done me in electing me your President. I 
 assure you I highly appreciate the honor coming 
 from men who are associated in the worthy
 
 6 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 cause of cherishing the memory and preserving 
 and enhancing the Hterature that records the 
 services of Abraham Lincoln. Looking over the 
 Hst of the members of The Lincoln Fellowship, 
 I reahze the fact that we have enrolled a large 
 proportion of those now living who have done 
 most by speeches and letters, by contributions to 
 magazines and by pamphlets and books to pay 
 tribute to Abraham Lincoln's work and worth. 
 Many of our members have made notable con- 
 tributions to his history. I suppose that many 
 of us had been under the impression that all that 
 could be said about Lincoln had been said, and 
 that all the information concerning him had been 
 published long ago. With the research that had 
 been going on for so many years, it seemed as 
 though there could be nothing left unpublished, 
 and yet now and then some new work appears 
 which makes a distinct contribution to the knowl- 
 edge of our hero. Or if the contribution is not 
 always of new facts, it is in such restatement of 
 old facts as to make a valuable addition to 
 Lincoln literature. 
 
 A notable contribution both to the history and 
 appraisement of Lincoln is that contained in the 
 recently published Reminiscences of Carl Schurz. 
 Schurz's account of his first interviews with 
 Lincoln is extremely interesting, and affords as 
 well an admirable description of the spirit that 
 animated the Eepublican Party in its youth, and 
 inspired the Volunteers of 1861. Schurz's narra-
 
 Major Lambert 
 
 tive characterization of Lincoln, supplementing 
 his remarkable essay in review of the Nicolay S 
 Hay History constitutes, in my judgment, a 
 tribute to Lincoln that has not been surpassed. 
 
 The book, Lincoln the Master of Men, while 
 recording no new facts, so restates old ones as to 
 justify the claim that Lincoln was indeed master 
 of men and dominated all about him. 
 
 The articles by David Homer Bates in the 
 Century Magazine, Lincoln in the Telegraph 
 Office, have added to our knowledge by recording 
 many interesting incidents not generally known. 
 
 In the article in Harper's Monthly, purporting 
 to be by one of the doorkeepers at the White 
 House, it is stated that if the guard who had been 
 assigned to duty with the President on the night 
 of April 14, 1865, had been faithful to his trust, 
 Lincoln would probably have escaped assassina- 
 tion. When I saw this statement I thought it 
 was the first printed reference to this fact, but 
 later looking over the book Behind the Scenes I 
 found, that on the day following the assassination 
 Mrs. Lincoln accused the guard of his respon- 
 sibility for the great calamity, but his name is 
 not mentioned, so I think that Crook's article is 
 the first to give the name of the derelict. 
 
 One of our members here present, with an un- 
 selfishness which we all appreciate, has put into 
 print in most beautiful facsimile a hitherto un- 
 published letter of Lincoln's, both pleasant and 
 interesting. I commend the generous action of
 
 8 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 Mr. Judd Stewart in sharing with us the letter 
 to General Fogg. (Applause.) 
 
 Another contribution by one of our members is 
 in the shape of an analysis of the Gettysburg 
 Address. Besides the booklet of Mr. Oakleaf, 
 four other books or papers have recently been 
 inspired by this Address, that of Chaplain Bur- 
 rage being the most considerable, that of Mr. 
 Carr being particularly notable because he was 
 present at the dedication of the Gettysburg Ceme- 
 tery as a Commissioner from Illinois. Despite 
 all that has been said on the subject, credence is 
 still given to the statement that Lincoln wrote his 
 Address whilst on the train, en route to the battle- 
 field. Mrs. Andrews' beautiful little story. The 
 Perfect Tribute, unfortunately helps to per- 
 petuate the error and also adds another of her 
 own. A paper by your speaker, written but not 
 yet published, strives to combat some of the 
 errors regarding the Address and its delivery. 
 
 Undoubtedly the centenary of Lincoln's birth 
 will add many books to his literature. But beyond 
 all other books in value, is the publication of 
 Lincoln's Works in enlarged and better form; for 
 completeness the edition lately issued by the com- 
 pany of which our Secretary is head is especially 
 notable and a matter of congratulation for our- 
 selves. 
 
 The number of those who knew Lincoln person- 
 ally is rapidly diminishing, and it is by the collec-
 
 Major Lambert 
 
 tion and compilation of his writings that the 
 historian of the future will be most helped. 
 
 We have letters from members unable to be 
 present this evening, some of which I will now 
 read. 
 
 Lettee from Frederick Trevor Hill. 
 
 56 Wall St., Jan. 22, 1908. 
 
 My dear General: — I have your kind note of the 
 21st and greatly regret that a previous engage- 
 ment of long standing, to speak at the Lincoln 
 Club at Brooklyn on February 12 will prevent my 
 addressing the Lincoln Fellowship on that even- 
 ing. I am truly sorry for this, as I would very 
 much like to meet you and renew my acquaintance 
 with your good President and others whose inter- 
 est in Lincoln is of a character best calculated to 
 honor his memory. 
 
 With renewed regrets, I am. 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 Frederick Trevor Hill. 
 
 General Jas. Grant Wilson. 
 
 Letter from Frederick W. Seward. 
 
 Montrose, N. Y., Feb. 10, 1908. 
 My dear General: — Much as it would gratify me 
 to accept your kind invitation for Wednesday 
 evening, I find I must deny myself that pleasure. 
 By the advice of Mrs. Seward's physician, I have 
 cancelled all engagements for this week that 
 would require my absence from home. 
 
 But though I shall be unable to join you at the 
 table, may I offer you a toast for the occasion? 
 
 "Lincoln. — In life, the Union's chief defender,
 
 10 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 — in death, a link in the chain that holds it to- 
 gether. ' ' 
 
 Your Eussian friend is quite right about the 
 fleets in 1863. There were two — one sent to New 
 York and Washington, the other to San Francisco. 
 Both were meant, and were accepted at every 
 European court as meaning, an entente cordials 
 between Eussia and the United States. 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 Feedekick W. Sewaed. 
 
 Geneeal Jas. Geant Wilson. 
 
 Lettee feom Jesse W. Weik. 
 
 Geeencastle^ Ind,^ Feb. 8, 1908. 
 
 My dear Sir: — Yours of the 30 ult., inviting 
 me to speak at the dinner at Delmonico's on the 
 12th, before the Lincoln" Fellowship, has been 
 received. For a while after the receipt of your 
 letter I indulged the hope that I might be able 
 to attend, but a prolonged attack of laryngitis, 
 aggravated by a recent spell of severe weather, 
 has emboldened my physician to-day to forbid 
 the journey. Pray convey to the members of the 
 Fellowship gathered at the dinner my sincere 
 thanks for this signal expression of their appre- 
 ciation and esteem. I trust the day is not far 
 distant when I shall be able to meet with you 
 and thus join in perpetuating the memory of him 
 who is justly the '^New birth of our new soil — 
 the first American." 
 
 Very sincerely, 
 
 Jesse W. Weik. 
 
 Geneeal Jas. Geant Wilson.
 
 Major Lambert ii 
 
 Letter from Col. Alexander K. McClure. 
 Philadelphia^ Jan. 31, 1908. 
 My dear Friends : — I would be very glad to say 
 sometliing about Lincoln at the anniversary din- 
 ner of the Lincoln Fellowship^ but when you 
 get four score years, you will avoid all dinners 
 that can be avoided with any sort of propriety, 
 and I sincerely regret that I cannot be with you 
 at the dinner on the twelfth of February. Be- 
 lieve me, Yours truly, 
 
 A. K. McClure. 
 General Jas. Grant Wilson. 
 
 Col. McClure had exceptional facilities for 
 knowing Mr. Lincoln, chairman of the State Com- 
 mittee in 1860, when it was generally asserted 
 that as Pennsylvania goes, so goes the Union, Col. 
 McClure did very much to make sure that Penn- 
 sylvania should go right. Because of his knowl- 
 edge of the politics of Pennsylvania he was fre- 
 quently called to explain to the President the 
 political situation. Besides his knowledge of Mr. 
 Lincoln the Colonel has the ability to tell what he 
 knows, and has done so in addresses, books and 
 papers. 
 
 I have a message from our friend and valued 
 associate. Judge Daniel Pish of Minnesota, who 
 has done much to establish the lines of Lincoln 
 literature, and whose bibliographical work is of 
 the highest importance. 
 
 At the suggestion of General Wilson, I have 
 brought with me one of my special treasures to 
 show to those who have not already seen it, the
 
 12 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 Abraham Lincoln, His Book, known through the 
 excellent facsimile published by McClure, Phillips 
 & Co. This book was made by Lincoln for Mr. 
 Brown, a candidate in 1858 for the legislature, 
 who desired to be informed concerning Lincoln's 
 views on the subject of Negro equality. Mr. 
 Brown having been confronted with the accusation 
 that Lincoln favored Negro equality, asked for 
 an expression of his opinion on the subject. Mr. 
 Lincoln replied that he could not make his views 
 any plainer than he had done in the printed 
 extracts from his speeches as inserted in this 
 book, to which he calls attention in an appended 
 letter. 
 
 I have also with me a letter to John E. Eosette, 
 which I read to-day to the National Council of 
 Mothers in Philadelphia and which is as follows : 
 
 Pkivate. 
 
 Springfield, Feb. 20, 1857. 
 John E. Eosette, Esq. 
 
 Dear Sir: — Your note about the little para- 
 graph in the Republican, was received yesterday ; 
 since when, till now, I have been too unwell to 
 answer it — I had not supposed you wrote, or 
 approved it — The whole originated in mistake — 
 You know, by the conversation with me, that I 
 thought the establishment of the paper, unfor- 
 tunate but I always expected to throw no obstacle 
 in its way, and to patronize it to the extent of 
 taking and paying for one copy — When the 
 paper was first brought to my house, my wife said 
 to me : ' ' Now are you going to take another worth- 
 less little paper?" I said to her evasively, I had
 
 Count Spiridovitch 13 
 
 not directed the paper to be left — From this, in 
 my absence, she sent the message to the carrier — 
 This is the whole story. Yours truly, 
 
 A. Lincoln. 
 
 It is interesting to those of us who as collectors 
 understand the feeling to know that even Lincoln 
 had to speak evasively when he took things into 
 his house. (Laughter.) 
 
 We are fortunate in having with us a gentle- 
 man who represents the great Eussian Empire. 
 Russia's manifestation of friendship during the 
 War of the Rebellion did much to avert the dan- 
 gers of foreign intervention which then threat- 
 ened our government, and that practical demon- 
 stration of friendship will ever be held in grate- 
 ful memory. I have great pleasure in introduc- 
 ing Major-General Tcherep Spiridovitch of the 
 Russian Army and President of the Slavic 
 Society in Moscow. (Applause.) 
 
 Speech of Count Spiridovitch. 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen: The story of 
 Lincoln's career would not be complete if I did 
 not mention a memorable incident of the Ameri- 
 can Civil War, which connects your country and 
 mine. 
 
 Half a century ago at a moment, when absolut- 
 ism in Russia was at its height and the sufferings 
 of Slavs in Turkey reached their culmination, 
 there was formed in Moscow, in the heart of Rus-
 
 14 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 sia, a powerful political society with the object of 
 reintroducing the Duma, abolished by Peter the 
 Great, and to liberate all slaves, especially those 
 Christians under the terrible Turkish sword. 
 
 The world is indebted to this Society, that the 
 Emperor Alexander II, called the Liberator, by 
 one stroke of his pen abolished the slavery of 
 twenty-two millions of peasants in Eussia and 
 thoroughly reformed all branches of administra- 
 tion. 
 
 To the same society the United States are per- 
 haps indebted for their very existence, because 
 when the Civil War broke out, Lincoln's work was 
 menaced by the attack of England in conjunction 
 with France. These two strong countries, pre- 
 suming that the failure of the Northern States — 
 meant to the United States ruin — seized the op- 
 portunity to attempt by force, the return of the 
 Northern States to their former status of a 
 British Colony and to give back to France Louisi- 
 ana and possibly some other of the Southern 
 States. Even all Texas was offered to France in 
 1864 for recognition of the Confederacy. 
 
 The danger was indeed great and even the 
 genius of Lincoln and the heroic patriotism of the 
 Union could not have withstood such a combina- 
 tion. 
 
 But Lincoln, as Liberator, had already the 
 admiration of the Society and the Society had the 
 ear of the generous Emperor Alexander II, who 
 immediately ordered his Atlantic fleet to sail into 
 New York harbor and his Pacific squadron to
 
 Count Spiridovitch 15 
 
 enter San Francisco, informing England and 
 France that their interference against Lincoln 
 would mean a declaration of war against Russia. 
 
 England and France heeded the timely warn- 
 ing. None can doubt that their attack would 
 have given the final victory to the Confederates, 
 who fought, we must say, more than brilliantly. 
 
 The Society, which had rendered this service to 
 Lincoln — and which worked and works now to 
 liberate all Christian slaves — is the Slavic Society 
 of Moscow, and I am its President. From the 
 Civil War until to-day, the Society liberated 
 Roumania, Servia, Bulgaria, Roumelia and 
 Macedonia. But after six months of freedom, 
 Macedonia was cruelly and inhumanely handed 
 back to Turkey by the Berlin Congress and since 
 then rivers of blood have deluged this richest but 
 most unfortunate province in Europe. 
 
 Here among the friends of freedom, righteous- 
 ness and justice, I confess, that the Society plans 
 to save Macedonia's Christian population from 
 extermination and our prospects are brightening 
 and grow more favorable every day. Let me hope, 
 that when the Society takes its next decisive step 
 to clinch its iron ring, if this country will not send 
 her fleet to Constantinople — she will at least bring 
 all her moral support in memory of Lincoln, 
 whose memory, I assure you, still lives in our 
 country to-day. Indeed, if I accepted the third 
 term as President of the Slavic Society, it was 
 remembering always the example of Lincoln's 
 courageous championship of the cause of human
 
 16 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 freedom! Amidst all the difficulties and dangers 
 which surround me in my work, the end of Lin- 
 coln is no shadow to frighten me. The service 
 of the Society to Lincoln has been paid; for the 
 spirit of this giant animates me and my follow- 
 ers to pursue, for ever, our cause! 
 
 In conclusion, Mr. President, may I be per- 
 mitted to express the assurance, that the same 
 very friendly relations, that have always existed 
 between Eussia and the United States — may con- 
 tinue in the future as in the past, and to ask all 
 present to rise and drink to the memory of our 
 two Immortal Liberators, Alexander the Second 
 of the Old World, and Abraham Lincoln of the 
 New. (After great applause, all rose and drank 
 to the memory of the two illustrious Emancipa- 
 tors.) 
 
 The Peesident: We are glad to have had the 
 pleasure of hearing from a prominent citizen of 
 Eussia, that great nation which did so much for 
 America during its hour of need. We have with 
 us this evening another gentleman whom we shall 
 be delighted to hear. I refer to the Hon. Samuel 
 E. Thayer, late United States Minister to the 
 Netherlands, whom I have now the honor to 
 present. 
 
 Speech of Mr. Thayer. 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen: 1 have not 
 arisen for the purpose of making a speech, be- 
 cause it is only since I took my seat at the table
 
 Mr. Thayer 17 
 
 that in deference to the wishes of your President 
 and General Wilson, I have decided to relate an 
 incident in my own experience, confirmatory of 
 the interesting statement of facts already pre- 
 sented by onr friend from Russia, concerning the 
 relations of Russia and the United States during 
 the period of the Civil War. It happened in 
 1891-92 that I visited Russia in response to an 
 invitation of Charles Emory Smith, Minister to 
 Russia at that time, who was a member of the 
 college and a graduate of the same college as 
 myself, although we were one year apart. While 
 on that visit I was presented to several Russian 
 officials of high note, among them the Russian 
 Minister of Foreign Affairs. One day, while at 
 the Foreign Office, Mr. Smith called my attention 
 to the correspondence which took place between 
 the French Emperor, Napoleon III, and Alexan- 
 der II, concerning the question of joint interven- 
 tion of some of the Powers in our internal affairs. 
 That correspondence consisted of two letters 
 only; one of them by Louis Napoleon to Alexan- 
 der II and the response was from that sovereign 
 to the Emperor of the French Empire. The cor- 
 respondence was in French and I made no copy 
 of it at the time, and cannot remember anything 
 but its substance. The French Emperor wrote 
 that the time had arrived when in the judgment 
 of England and France, it was the duty of the 
 powers to put an end to the Civil War then 
 raging in the United States. They desired the 
 co-operation of Russia in the movement, but if
 
 18 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 Eussia felt unwilling to co-operate with them, 
 then they desired a pledge that Russia would 
 remain neutral in the matter. The answer was 
 in few words to this effect, as I recall the sub- 
 stance of the letter: Eussia had observed with 
 very great interest and had studied the condi- 
 tions in the United States, and had arrived at the 
 conclusion that the war there prevailing was 
 instituted by people in the United States who 
 desired to secure the independence of a portion 
 of that country ; that it was an unjustifiable rebel- 
 lion against the national authority and that the 
 Government of the United States had the full 
 sympathy of Eussia in its efforts to put down the 
 rebellion. Not only would Eussia refuse to join 
 in the movement to establish the independence of 
 the Southern States, but she would not remain 
 neutral; and in case the movement was started 
 would take such a position in the controversy as 
 reason and justice might seem to require. You 
 are all aware of the subsequent action of Eussia. 
 General Wilson asked me, in view of the 
 absence of Mr. Seward, if I could recall a few 
 of the words of his father uttered by him on his 
 return to Auburn after his recovery from the 
 assault made upon him in Washington. This was 
 an address he delivered to his friends and neigh- 
 bors, as near as I can recall it. His words were 
 a summing up of Mr. Lincoln's character. Mr. 
 Seward said we have lost the great and good 
 Lincoln; that he had reached that stage of moral 
 greatness when his name only, was worth more to
 
 Mr. White I9 
 
 his country than the services of any other man; 
 that he was one of the two American giants who 
 led the entire human race in its spiritual progress 
 toward higher liberty and civilization. (Ap- 
 plause.) 
 
 The Peesident: Some of our members knew 
 Mr. Lincoln intimately, and I call upon one of 
 them, Mr. Horace White, to tell us about him. 
 Mr. White was Chairman of the State Committee 
 of Illinois, which did so much to secure Mr. Lin- 
 coln's election. (Applause.) 
 
 Speech of Me. White. 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen: — Abraham Lin- 
 coln has been in his grave more than forty-two 
 years. When he was stricken down by an assas- 
 sin's hand it was said by many of his contem- 
 poraries and perhaps believed by most of them 
 that he had passed away at the culminating point 
 of his fame. 
 
 The world's history contains nothing more 
 dramatic than the scene in Ford's theatre. The 
 civil war, the emancipation of a race, the salva- 
 tion of our beloved Union, combined to throw the 
 strongest light upon ''the deep damnation of his 
 taking off. ' ' In spite of these blazing accessories, 
 we should have expected, before the end of forty- 
 two years, that a considerable amount of dust 
 would have settled upon his tomb. This is a 
 busy world. Each generation has its own prob- 
 lems to grajDple with, its own joys and sorrows,
 
 20 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 its own cares and griefs, to absorb its thoughts 
 and compel its tears. Time moves on, and while 
 the history of the past increases in volume, each 
 particular thing in it dwindles in size, and so also 
 do most men. But some men bulk larger as the 
 years recede. 
 
 The most striking fact of our time, of a psycho- 
 logical kind, is the growth of Lincoln's fame since 
 the earth closed over his remains. The word Lin- 
 colniana has been added to our dictionary. This 
 means that a kind of literature under that name, 
 extensive enough to be separately classified, cata- 
 logued, advertised, marketed and collected into 
 distinct libraries has grown up. There is a Lin- 
 colnian cult among us as well as a Shakesperean 
 cult, and it is gaining votaries from year to year. 
 The first list of Lincoln literature was published 
 by William V. Spencer, in Boston, in 1865. It 
 included 231 titles of books and pamphlets pub- 
 lished after Lincoln's death, all of which were in 
 the compiler's possession. This was followed in 
 1866 by John Eussell Bartlett's Literature of the 
 Rebellion including in a separate list 300 titles of 
 ''Eulogies, Sermons, Orations, and Poems," all 
 published after Lincoln's death. 
 
 In 1870 Andrew Boyd, a directory publisher of 
 Albany, N. Y., published his Memorial Lincoln 
 Bibliography, an octavo volume of 175 pages, in 
 which he gave the title and description of the 
 books, pamphlets, and relics then in his own col- 
 lection. The introduction of this bibliography
 
 Mr. White 21 
 
 was written by Charles Henry Hart, still living 
 at Philadelphia. This collection was sold to 
 Major William H. Lambert of Philadelphia, 
 whose collection of Lincolniana is now one of the 
 most important in the country and especially in 
 autograph letters. Major Lambert was a soldier 
 in the civil war and is the author of a most 
 interesting address on the life and character of 
 Lincoln, delivered before his fellow soldiers of 
 the G. A. E. His collection embraces about 1,200 
 bound volumes, including separately bound 
 pamphlets, about 100 autograph letters and docu- 
 ments of Lincoln, 50 broadsides and many mis- 
 cellaneous pieces. 
 
 A Lincoln biblography was compiled by Mr. 
 Daniel Fish of Minneapolis and published in the 
 year 1900. It was revised, enlarged and repub- 
 lished in 1906, containing 1106 separate titles. 
 It does not include periodical literature, or politi- 
 cal writings of the period in which Lincoln lived 
 unless they owe their origin to him as an indi- 
 vidual. Judge Fish has in his own collection of 
 Lincolniana 295 bound volumes, 559 pamphlets, 
 and 100 portraits. 
 
 Mr. Judd Stewart, of Plainfield, N. J., has a. 
 very notable collection of Lincolniana, embracing- 
 380 bound volumes, about 1,200 bound pamphlets, 
 several unpublished letters, between 700 and 800 
 engravings, lithographs and paintings, and many 
 songs and pieces of sheet music. All of these 
 items have been passed upon by Judge Fish as
 
 22 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 purely Lincolniana. Mr. Stewart has more than 
 100 titles which are not included in Fish's bibli- 
 ography. 
 
 A very remarkable collection is that of John E. 
 Burton of Milwaukee, Wis., consisting of 2,360 
 bound volumes and pamphlets, the collection of 
 which, Mr. Burton says, "has been the restful 
 and happy labor of twenty-eight years." Mr. 
 Burton is a tireless devotee of the Lincoln cult. 
 His enthusiasm has often brought him into finan- 
 cial trouble and once bankrupted him completely, 
 so that he was compelled to see his beloved library 
 sent under the auctioneer's hammer. But he had 
 a stout heart and a definite object in life, which 
 was to collect and read Lincolniana. So he began 
 anew with the result as given above and is still 
 collecting, with his youthful ardor unabated. 
 Among other things he has the original Proclama- 
 tion of Emancipation signed by Lincoln and 
 Seward and attested by John G. Nicolay and 
 John Hay. 
 
 Mr. Charles W. McLellan of Champlain, N. Y., 
 has 1,921 bound volumes, 1,348 pamphlets, 8 man- 
 uscripts, 138 autographs of Lincoln, 1,100 en- 
 gravings and 579 songs and miscellaneous pieces, 
 in all more than 5,000 items. 
 
 I have seen a list of 487 collectors of Lincolni- 
 ana, for the most part unknown to each other who 
 are now living, that is, persons who have such 
 collections and who are constantly adding to 
 them. I have corresponded with them. Mr.
 
 Mr. White 23 
 
 Edward M. Bowman of Alton, 111., has 247 titles 
 of bound and unbound books and pamphlets; 
 Mr. John S. Little of Eushville, 111., has 257, and 
 so on. 
 
 The existence of a demand for Lincolniana cre- 
 ates a supply. There are dealers in it, some of 
 whom buy and sell that literature exclusively, 
 while others make it a large part of their trade. 
 In the former class is Mr. Daniel H. Newhall of 
 New York. I have a recent catalogue issued by 
 the latter containing 496 titles, with the price of 
 each annexed. Mr. Newhall informs me that he 
 has 2,874 titles in his card list of books and 
 pamphlets, i. e., that he knows of the existence 
 of that number, not counting periodical literature 
 or broadsides. His list is still incomplete, and 
 he believes that it will reach 3,000 when finished. 
 Mr. D. S. Passavant of Xelianpole, near Pitts- 
 burg, Pa., deals in Lincolniana in foreign lan- 
 guages. Lives of Lincoln have been published in 
 the French, German, Dutch, Swedish, Italian, 
 Eussian, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, 
 Welsh and Hawaiian tongues. There is a dealer 
 in Lincolniana relics, at No. 46 West 28th street. 
 New York City. Mr. Oldroyd's great collection 
 of such relics, now placed in the house where 
 Lincoln died in Washington City, is too well 
 known to need special description. 
 
 So we see that Mr. Lincoln's death did not take 
 place at the culmination of his fame, but that it 
 has been rising and widening ever since and
 
 24 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 shows no signs of abatement. Of no other Amer- 
 ican of our times can this be said. Can it be 
 said of any other man of the same period in any 
 part of the world? I cannot find in any country 
 a special department of literature collecting 
 around the name of any statesman of the nine- 
 teenth century like that which celebrates the name 
 of our martyr President. This mass of literature 
 is produced and collected and cherished because 
 the hearts of men and women go out to Lincoln. 
 It is not mere admiration for his mental and 
 moral qualities, but an unconscious response to 
 the magnetic influence of his humanity, his un- 
 selfish and world-embracing charity. And thus 
 though dead he yet speaketh to men, women, and 
 children who never saw him, and so, I think, he 
 will continue to speak to generations yet unborn, 
 ''world without end, amen." (Applause.) 
 
 The Peesident: — Among our membership is 
 one of the diligent collectors named by Mr. White, 
 Mr. Chaeles W. McLellan, whose enthusiasm is 
 notable because he was not on Lincoln's side, but 
 he believes with us that Lincoln was the greatest 
 man of the century. 
 
 Speech of Me. McLellan. 
 
 Gentlemen: — Our esteemed President, in men- 
 tioning the many notable contributions recently 
 made to the literature of Abraham Lincoln calls 
 to my mind the excellent study of Lincoln made 
 by Judge Isaac N. Phillips of Illinois, in which
 
 Mr. McLellan 25 
 
 he expressed the fear that those who knew Mr. 
 Lincoln personally tell their experiences often in 
 a spirit of glorifying themselves, rather than with 
 a desire to add to the greatness and singular 
 sweetness of his fame. I thus hesitate to say how 
 well I knew Mr. Lincoln. It was my fortune to 
 live in Springfield from 1856 to 1860; years in 
 which the mind of the great President was being 
 prepared for the solemn work he was later called 
 to accomplish, and for which he was chosen and 
 annointed as surely, as divinely, as was David 
 when Samuel went down to Bethlehem and de- 
 manded of Jesse, ''Are here all thy children?" 
 Although seeing Mr. Lincoln daily on the street, 
 with his simple manners and homely dress ; meet- 
 ing him socially and in his home, I failed to realize 
 the man; for, as the Greatest of Heaven and 
 Earth has said, "A prophet is not without honor 
 save in his own country," and for a time, after 
 his greatness was known and acknowledged, I 
 wondered whether all this adoration would not 
 be qualified, if people could have met and known 
 him in the familiar manner in which I had. But 
 finally the grandeur of his character has dawned 
 upon me and in him more and more do I recog- 
 nize the truth that the great things are the simple, 
 the unostentatious ones; that the divine mani- 
 festations in nature are not the storm and the 
 whirlwind, but are rather the "still small voice," 
 the tender expressions of love and beauty, as 
 shown in the violet and the quiet growth of tree
 
 26 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 and flower; that greatness in man is not arro- 
 gance, much speaking in lofty tones, and the 
 wearing of purple and ermine; but is rather in 
 the simple, honest purpose, in the desire to do 
 right. And so do we now rise to an appreciation 
 of the singular greatness of Abraham Lincoln, 
 ^Hhe gentlest memory of our world." 
 
 I remember passing Mr. Lincoln on Sixth street 
 one morning in the Spring of 1860, a few weeks 
 before his nomination. I had ridden out with a 
 young lady, to breakfast at General Cook's (then 
 Captain of the Springfield Zouave Grays, of 
 which I was a member) near the Fair Grounds; 
 and, on our return, after leaving my companion 
 at her home near the Lincoln residence, was, 
 according to the custom of the time, leading her 
 horse back to the stable while riding my own, I 
 can see Mr. Lincoln now striding to his office, with 
 one of the boys desperately trying to keep up with 
 his father, clinging to the fringe of the gray Bay 
 State shawl worn at that time in place of an over- 
 coat. Just as I got opposite them the led-horse 
 threw up his head, pulled back, and my own 
 saddle turning, otf I came landing on my feet 
 between the horses, held up by the reins in either 
 hand. Mr. Lincoln took in the situation at once 
 and smilingly cried out, "McLellan, you will 
 always find it the most difficult thing you ever 
 attempted, to ride two horses at once!" 
 
 We build better, or worse, than we know. Little 
 realizing the importance of the events preparing
 
 Mr. Oakleaf 27 
 
 around me, I determined to accept a better busi- 
 ness opportunity which was offered me at Mobile, 
 in September of 1860, and called upon Mr. Lin- 
 coln to say good-bye. He was then the nominee 
 for the Presidency, and received his friends in a 
 room of the State House. His reply to my an- 
 nouncement that I was going to Mobile was, ''I 
 am sorry to hear it, for I would much rather have 
 two Southern men come North, than have one 
 Northern man go South." 
 
 I learned the significance of these two remarks 
 during the four succeeding years in the Army of 
 Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. 
 
 I am glad to have met you all to-night, and 
 sincerely hope that we may have many such occa- 
 sions together. (Applause.) 
 
 The President: — We have another mem_ber, 
 whom I will take the liberty of calling on for a 
 speech — Mr. J. B. Oakleaf of Moline, 111. 
 
 Speech of Mr. Oakleaf. 
 
 Mr. Toastmaster and Friends: — I have the 
 honor to be a resident of the State of Illinois, 
 which gave to the Union the best President it 
 has ever seen, or ever will see. I live in that 
 part of Illinois that never had Lincoln within its 
 bounds but once. He came there with a military 
 company during the Black Hawk War. I live in 
 Rock Island County, which has seventy miles of 
 Mississippi Eiver front. Lincoln became a vol- 
 unteer in the Black Hawk War on the strength
 
 28 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 of petitions from Eock Island County, which 
 caused the Governor to call out volunteers to 
 subdue Black Hawk. And to Rock Island County 
 falls the honor of Lincoln's military career. 
 Lincoln came to the mouth of Rock River, after 
 marching from Yellowbanks, a distance of 52 
 miles in one day. He arrived at the camp of Gen. 
 Atkinson at the mouth of Rock River on the 7th 
 of May. He remained until the 10th. He did not 
 see or meet Black Hawk during the war. When 
 Lincoln crossed from Rock Island County to 
 Henry County, it was the last time that Rock Isl- 
 and County was ever honored with his presence. 
 Thus Rock Island County is connected with the 
 life of Lincoln. Later I shall give to the press a 
 little volume which I have long had in my mind 
 which will bring out the connection of Lincoln 
 with Rock Island County. At Rock Island is 
 located the bridge which was the subject of a 
 dispute which Lincoln tried at Chicago before 
 Justice McLean and won the day. At Rock 
 Island is Fort Armstrong, where Dred Scott 
 lived who was the subject of the celebrated 
 decision. So Rock Island claims some of the 
 glory of Lincoln's career. We had in Rock Island 
 County a large number of abolitionists. The main 
 settlers of Rock Island County were from Ver- 
 mont and New York, who came there by way of 
 the Lakes. It always stood by the principles of 
 Lincoln. Even in the great landslide of 1892 that 
 made Grover Cleveland President, it gave a much
 
 General Wilson 29 
 
 larger majority than ever before for the party 
 of Abraham Lincoln. Moline was a station on 
 the underground railroad, and as a boy of four, 
 I have sat at breakfast with slaves who had been 
 run through and fed at my father's table. I 
 was born in Rock Island County and lived there 
 all my life. I remember when word was flashed 
 over the wires that Lincoln was dead. My father 
 laid down on his bed, and wept. He could not 
 be comforted for the best friend of the Union had 
 been removed, and could not be .replaced. (Ap- 
 plause.) 
 
 The President: — We have still another mem- 
 ber who met Mr. Lincoln frequently. I refer to 
 our friend who has done so much to make this 
 meeting a success, and take great pleasure in pre- 
 senting Geneeal James Grant Wilson. (Ap- 
 plause.) 
 
 Speech of General Wilson. 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen: — General Wood- 
 ford kindly consented to accept my urgent invita- 
 tion to take the place of Mr. Seward, who has 
 been prevented from coming here to-night on 
 account of the severe illness of Mrs. Seward. 
 He is presiding at a Lincoln dinner, but he said 
 he would leave the chair at ten o'clock, and you 
 can count on his being here within five minutes 
 of that time. If you will bear with me, I will 
 endeavor to entertain you until the General's 
 arrival.
 
 30 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 Many present at tliis dinner-table may remem- 
 ber that in June, 1865, James Eussell Lowell 
 delivered liis immortal Commemoration Ode, cel- 
 ebrating the young hero graduates of Harvard, 
 who gave their lives in defence of the Kepublic 
 during the Civil War. In that Ode, some three 
 score lines was devoted to Lincoln. The gifted 
 poet described him as 
 
 ''New birth of our New Soil — the first Ameri- 
 can." 
 
 Again Lowell says: 
 
 "Here was a type of the true older race, 
 ''And one of Plutarch's men talked with us face 
 to face." 
 
 In 1858, I first talked face to face with that 
 extraordinary man, the most remarkable in many 
 respects that the world has ever seen. Many men 
 can be compared with Washington and with 
 Grant ; but no other illustrious man in the pages 
 of history can be compared with Abraham Lin- 
 coln. I saw him in Springfield, 111., when on a 
 visit to one of my father's friends, a judge of 
 the United States Circuit Court, who asked me 
 if I would like to call on Mr. Lincoln, and I said 
 I would be delighted. It was during the time of 
 the famous Douglas-Lincoln debates. We found 
 him in a shabby little uncarpeted office over a 
 grocer's shop, and I do not know that I was ever 
 more surprised in my life than when I saw the 
 giant of six feet four inches. It seemed to me 
 that he had the longest arms and limbs of any
 
 General Wilson 31 
 
 man I had ever looked upon. His face was rugged 
 and swarthy, with dark rebellious hair, and sad 
 greyish brown eyes, which, however, gleamed 
 with fun at the relation of a good story told by 
 himself or others. His clothes were obviously not 
 the subject of much thought; being ill fitting and 
 illy made. Much of the conversation that took 
 place during that hour's interview still lingers in 
 my memory. In response to a question about his 
 ancestors, he mentioned one, Tom Lincoln, who 
 had come to this country in 1638 and settled not 
 far from Boston, near Hingham, or he said, it 
 might have been Hang-him, which was it. Judge? 
 Lincoln was going down the Mississippi on a 
 steamer during the days of the almost worthless 
 wild-cat currency. The pilot told the captain that 
 the wood was running low. When the boat was 
 run on shore, the captain said to the owner of a 
 wood pile, *'Is that your wood?" Upon being 
 assured that it was, and that it was for sale, he 
 asked the owner if he would take wild-cat cur- 
 rency? ''Certainly." ''How will you take it?" 
 The answer came promptly, "Cord for cord." 
 The Judge mentioned that I had told him some 
 remarkable stories which I had recently heard 
 related at Arlington, Va., by Mr. Curtis, the 
 adopted son of Washington who was perhaps in 
 his prime the strongest man living and in early 
 life he was a famous wrestler. It seems that 
 Washington had never been thrown, although he 
 had tried conclusions with several professional
 
 32 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 wrestlers. Lincoln said, ''My young friend, that 
 is just about my record. I could outlift any man 
 in Southern Illinois, but there was one man, 
 strong as a Eussian bear, who was rather too 
 much for me in wrestling, I could not put this 
 big fellow on his back, but I took good care tliat 
 he did not get me on the ground. Do you know 
 that if George was loafing around here now, I 
 should not mind having a tussle with him. I 
 think one of the plain men of Illinois would hold 
 his end against the aristocrat of old Virginia." 
 
 Lincoln was fond of being known as one of the 
 plain people. I frequently heard him use the 
 expression. On one occasion you may remember 
 He said that "The Lord must love the plain peo- 
 ple, as he has made so many of them." 
 
 Another story that lingers in my memory is as 
 follows: Lincoln said he had, during the pre- 
 vious week, attended a meeting at the lunatic 
 asylum near Springfield, of which he was a trus- 
 tee. As he walked through the long hall, it was 
 so chilly that he wore his hat. A little lunatic 
 sprang out of a side passage and confronting him 
 said: ''I am amazed, sir, at your presuming to 
 wear your hat in the presence of Christopher 
 Columbus." Lincoln removed his hat, and said: 
 '*I beg pardon, Christopher Columbus," passing 
 on to the meeting. Returning through the hall an 
 hour later, he was rather startled by the same 
 little lunatic again darting out of the passage and 
 saying, "How dare you, sir, presume to wear
 
 General Wilson 33 
 
 your hat in the presence of General Washing- 
 ton?" "I beg your pardon, General," Lincoln 
 said, ''but not long ago, you told me you were 
 Cliristopher Columbus." "That is quite correct, 
 sir," replied the little lunatic, '^but that ivas by 
 another mother." 
 
 Three days later, I was invited to dine with 
 Stephen A. Douglas in Chicago, another guest 
 being Governor Aiken of South Carolina. There 
 was much conversation about Mr. Lincoln. Judge 
 Douglas told the story of Lincoln-Shields duel. It 
 differed from the accepted account, with which 
 Many of you are familiar. I will give you the 
 story as the Judge related it. Certain articles 
 had appeared in the Springfield paper, reflecting 
 on Mr. Shields, at that time a schoolmaster in 
 Springfield. According to Douglas, Lincoln, 
 Shields and himself were rivals for the hand of 
 the lovely Mary Todd. After the campaign had 
 been continued for several months, it was an- 
 nounced that Abe Lincoln was the accepted suitor, 
 but Shields persisted in paying attentions to the 
 young lady, much to the annoyance of Mr. Lin- 
 coln. Finally a paragraph appeared in the 
 Springfield paper stating that among the things 
 a certain old lady advised her grand-daughter to 
 avoid was allowing her hand being held by Irish 
 schoolmasters for an unnecessary length of time. 
 The allusion was instantly recognized. Shields 
 threatened the editor of the paper with dire pen- 
 alties, unless he told him the name of the writer
 
 34 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 of the article. The editor said he did not write 
 it, but he believed the author of the article would 
 have no objection to his name being given, 
 although he would not divulge it without his con- 
 sent. ''If you will come back in fifteen minutes, 
 I will give you your answer." The editor dashed 
 over to Lincoln's office and told him what had 
 occurred, saying, ''Abe, what shall I do?" Lin- 
 coln said, ' ' Tell him I wrote it. ' ' Promptly came 
 the challenge to a duel, which was accepted. Lin- 
 coln chose cavalry swords for weapons, and they 
 went to Bloody Island to fight the duel. The day 
 was rather chilly, and Lincoln thought he would 
 warm up a little, and so while the seconds were 
 arranging the preliminaries, Lincoln began mow- 
 ing down the huckleberry bushes. When Shields 
 saw the giant figure of Lincoln swinging his long 
 sword like a scythe, he leaned against a huge elm, 
 and fainted. 
 
 In St. Louis, I was entertained at dinner dur- 
 ing the Civil War. Our host told us that he had 
 been sent up by the law firm, of which he was the 
 junior partner, to transact some business in 
 Springfield, but so great was the excitement on 
 the day of the Lincoln-Shields duel, that he was 
 obliged to remain over another day. 
 
 Several years passed. I received tidings that 
 my brother had been mortally wounded at Fred- 
 ericksburg, and I obtained leave of absence from 
 General Grant to go to Washington to see him. 
 Later I called at the White House. Mr. Lincoln
 
 General Wilson 35 
 
 inquired what had brought me to Washington. 
 When I told him, he said, "Come back at four 
 o'clock, and we will walk out and see the young 
 Captain." When I called, I found a Congress- 
 man there from Buffalo. He was talking with 
 great earnestness to Mr. Lincoln, and he looked 
 in my direction as though he desired me to leave 
 the room, but Lincoln caught his eye and said my 
 presence there was all right as I had an appoint- 
 ment. The Congressman at length completed his 
 energetic appeal for some office for a constituent, 
 when the President looking at him critically said, 
 "John, how close do you shave." We all burst 
 out with laughter. When the member of Con- 
 gress departed, I said, "Mr. President, is that 
 the way you manage politicians?" Mr. Lincoln 
 replied: "Well, Colonel, you must not think that 
 you have all the strategy in the Army." When 
 he met my brother at the Georgetown hospital for 
 officers, he saw, or thought he saw, a strong like- 
 ness to his son Willie, who died a few months 
 before. The President went to the hospital al- 
 most daily during the twelve days that my 
 brother survived. I mention this personal inter- 
 est to illustrate the President's kindness of heart 
 and I may say of him, as Bassanio said of his 
 friend Antonio the Merchant of Venice, that he 
 was 
 
 "The kindest man, the best-conditioned, 
 "And unwearied spirit, in doing courtesies." 
 
 A few days later, the President and his great
 
 36 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 Secretary of State, accompanied by a young 
 officer attended a review on the Virginia side of 
 the Potomac. An ambulance was provided drawn 
 by four mules. When the ambulance reached the 
 Virginia side of the river, the ruts were so deep, 
 the driver had great difficulty in keeping the 
 wheels out of them. Finally the driver, losing 
 his temper, began to swear, and the worse the 
 road became, the stronger his profanity. At 
 length the President said to the driver, ''Are you 
 an Episcopalian?" but the driver was not, saying 
 he generally went to the Methodist church. The 
 President replied, "Oh, excuse me. I thought 
 you must be an Episcopalian for you swear just 
 like Seward, and he is a church warden." (Great 
 Laughter.) 
 
 I was in Washington again a year later and had 
 the good fortune to hear that marvelous Second 
 Inaugural Address, which Emerson said would 
 outlive anything that had been printed in the 
 English language. I sat directly in front of Mr. 
 Lincoln, and heard every word distinctly. Pos- 
 sibly it may interest you if I endeavor to give 
 you some paragraphs of the address as nearly as 
 I can in Mr. Lincoln's manner. 
 
 ''Fondly do we hope — fervently do we pray 
 — that this mighty scourge of War may speedily 
 pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue 
 until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two 
 hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall 
 be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn by 
 the lash shall be paid with another drawn by the
 
 General Wilson 37 
 
 sword as was said three thousand years ago, so 
 still must it be said, 'The ways of the Lord are 
 true and righteous altogether.' 
 
 ''With malice toward none; with charity for 
 all; with firmness in the fight, as God gives us 
 to see the right, let us strive on to finish the 
 work that we are in; to bind up the nation's 
 wounds; to care for him who hath 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." (Applause.) 
 
 A few weeks later, I was at Ford's Theatre 
 with the President, Mrs. Lincoln and the same 
 young lady who was with them when the assas- 
 sin's bullet ended Mr. Lincoln's career. The 
 President sat in the rear of the box leaning 
 against the partition, taking little interest in the 
 proceedings. When the curtain fell, turning to 
 him I said, "You are not taking any interest in 
 the play." "Oh, no," he replied, "I come here 
 to rest. I am hounded to death by office seekers. 
 Here I can get a few hours' relief from them." 
 He closed his eyes and I turned to the ladies. 
 Suddenly I felt his heavy hand on my shoulder, 
 and in place of the worn and wearied man who 
 looked so haggard as if soul and body might part 
 then and there, I saw the President sitting up- 
 right, his eyes full of fun, and with the well- 
 remembered sweet smile he said, "Colonel, did I 
 ever tell you the story of Grant at the circus?'^ 
 "No, Mr. President, I am sorry to say you never 
 did." "Well, when Grant was about ten years
 
 38 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 old, a circus came to Point Pleasant, Ohio, where 
 the family resided, and the small boy asked his 
 father for a quarter to see the circus. The old 
 screw would not give it to him, so Ulysses crawled 
 in under the canvas, as I used to do, for I never 
 saw a quarter when I was a little chap. The ring- 
 master announced that any one who would ride a 
 mule that was brought in, once around the ring 
 without being thrown would be presented with a 
 silver dollar. A number tried for the dollar, but 
 all were thrown over the mule's head. Finally 
 the ring-master ordered the mule taken out of the 
 ring, when in walked Master Grant, saying, 'I 
 will try that mule. ' The boy mounted, holding on 
 longer than any of the others till at length the 
 mule succeeded in throwing the boy into his 
 father's tan bark, for," said Lincoln, "the old 
 man was a tanner. Springing to his feet and 
 throwing off his cap and coat, Ulysses shouted 
 with a determined air, 'I would like to try that 
 mule again.' This time he resorted to strategy. 
 He faced the rear, took hold of the beast's tail 
 instead of his head, which rather demoralized the 
 mule, the boy went around the ring and won the 
 dollar. Just so," added the President, ''Grant 
 will hold on to Bob Lee." Fourteen days later 
 General Lee surrendered at Appomattox. 
 
 Before we parted that night the President said 
 he had had a photograph taken by Brady of New 
 York, of which he would give me a copy. "When 
 I presented myself the next day at the White
 
 General Wilson 39 
 
 House lie handed me the cabinet photograph. 
 Saying I would like to have it signed, he wrote 
 his name in full on a slip of paper, remarking as 
 he handed it to me, **I cannot write very well on 
 the photograph, so you can paste this signature 
 on it." It is among the latest and best pictures 
 taken of Lincoln. {Here the General, amid great 
 applause, held up the framed photograph.) 
 
 A fortnight later at the family home on the 
 Hudson, I was wakened by the ringing of all the 
 church bells, and when I inquired why the bells 
 were tolling, my servant said, ^'Your friend, the 
 President, is dead." 
 
 General Grant told me that the 15th of April, 
 1865, was the saddest day of his life, and I think 
 I may repeat the same words. I was overcome 
 with the thought that Lincoln had been assas- 
 sinated just as his work was completed, and when 
 he was looking forward to peaceful days. He had 
 promised himself after the Presidency, a visit to 
 the Old World. England particularly he longed 
 to see. His funeral, as you all remember, was 
 celebrated in this, and many other cities, and the 
 committee having in charge the arrangements for 
 his interment at Springfield wisely ordained that 
 the chief feature of the funeral program should 
 be the reading of the Second Inaugural Address, 
 as the friends of Raphael chose the matchless pic- 
 ture of The Transfiguration to be the chief fea- 
 ture at his funeral. The friends of Liberty and 
 Justice, for which Lincoln lived and died, from
 
 40 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 the four quarters of the globe joined hands over 
 his open grave, and the good angel of Leigh 
 Hunt's beautiful allegory might have written in 
 the Golden Booh of Remembrance of the Maytyr 
 President, as he did of Abou Ben Adam, "He 
 loved his fellow-men." 
 
 What would have been the fate of our country 
 without Washington and Lincoln? It may well 
 be doubted if our Independence could have been 
 obtained without Washington; and it is equally 
 doubtful whether the integrity of the Eepublic 
 could have been maintained without Lincoln and 
 Grant. Their countrymen will continue to cherish 
 their memory far on in summers that we shall not 
 see, and upon the adamant of their fame, the 
 stream of Time will beat without injury. Their 
 names are enrolled in the Capitol, and will endure 
 during the endless and everlasting ages. (Ap- 
 plause.) 
 
 The President: — Gen. Stewart L. Woodford 
 has arrived, and I am sure that such a dis- 
 tinguished citizen of New York needs no intro- 
 duction by a citizen of Philadelphia. 
 
 Speech of General Woodford. 
 
 Gentlemen: — I want to make an explanation of 
 the situation in which I find myself. General Wil- 
 son invited me to dine with you, but at that time 
 I was deeply engaged with my professional work 
 as a lawyer, and I had to decline. Afterwards to 
 fill a gap, I was sent for to take the place of the
 
 General Woodford 41 
 
 President at a dinner given to-night by the Grad- 
 uates Club. Then came a kind and thoughtful 
 invitation from my dear friend, General Wilson. 
 I told him how I was fixed. I appreciate your 
 remaining so long, and I am going to reward your 
 patience by a very brief speech. 
 
 Orations have been pronounced upon Lincoln 
 ever since the sad closing of his life. I cannot 
 deliver an oration. Possibly one or two reminis- 
 cences of the few spots or places in which I was 
 permitted to touch his life and services may be 
 of interest to you, so without further preface, and 
 without any attempt at a speech in its formal use, 
 let me begin. 
 
 There cannot be many at this table who saw 
 Mr. Lincoln in the flesh. General Wilson did. 
 My client, Mr. McLellan, did. I have been Mr. 
 McLellan's counsel for a great many years, and 
 he has still money enough to attend a Lincoln 
 Fellowship dinner. (Laughter.) 
 
 I was first permitted to see Mr. Lincoln in 
 1860, when he made his great speech which pub- 
 licly endorsed his claim to the Presidential office, 
 on the topic, ''Freedom National; Slavery Sec- 
 tional." The great hall, still standing in this 
 city — Cooper Union — was crowded to over-flow- 
 ing. William CuUen Bryant was the presiding 
 officer of the evening. Lincoln began that mar- 
 velous speech in a voice that was a high tenor, 
 that was somewhat strident in its tone. He was 
 awkward in manner, very terse in statement, and
 
 42 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 somewhat thick in delivery. The thing which im- 
 pressed itself upon my boyish mind at the time 
 was that in his first paragraph he got hold of his 
 suspenders and brought them out between his 
 vest and his coat with his thumb, and held them 
 in this fashion (illustrating). He proceeded with 
 his speech, tightening his grip on the suspenders ; 
 all unconscious of the act, until he had reached 
 the end of that section of his speech, when the 
 ''gallus" were stretched to the utmost limit, and 
 the house broke forth in uproarious applause. 
 He continued his speech in the same fashion ; but 
 when he had concluded, there was not a man or 
 woman in that great audience whom he had not 
 absolutely convinced by the clear logic of his 
 statements. When we left the hall that night, we 
 all wondered at this strong and remarkable pro- 
 duct of the West. 
 
 Pardon what may seem somewhat egotistical. 
 I am going to tell you a few personal incidents 
 touching upon Lincoln. We selected delegates to 
 the convention which was to nominate the candi- 
 date of the Eepublican Party to the Presidency. 
 Of course I was for Mr. Seward. Every one in 
 New York had been taught to regard Seward as 
 an idol, the appointed leader of free thought in 
 the country. 
 
 It fell to my lot to be elected delegate-alternate 
 from Connecticut. In those days, delegates did 
 not have to live in the districts they represented ; 
 now they do. You may possibly remember that
 
 General Woodford 43 
 
 Horace Greeley was a delegate from Oregon to 
 that convention, and so in a number of instances 
 throughout the country; my experience was only 
 that of a great many. A caucus was held and it 
 was decided to cast the vote of Connecticut, in so 
 far as possible, to prevent the nomination of Mr. 
 Seward, because they did not believe he could 
 carry Connecticut ; but I was confronted with the 
 duty of acting in that convention and voting 
 against Mr. Seward. I could not do it. That was 
 a good many years ago. I could not do anything 
 against my conscience, and for fifty years I have 
 stuck to my principles. I have voted for a great 
 many defeated candidates, but I have never cast 
 a vote against my conscience or my judgment. 
 Finally, Lincoln was the choice of the convention. 
 I had the enthusiasm of a youngster — I prayed; 
 my heart got the better of my head and my will. 
 But the man from Illinois was nominated and 
 elected; and it was the service of Mr. Seward to 
 assist him. Gentlemen, I have lived long enough 
 to know that the judgment of the many is often 
 safer than the judgment of the few; to know that 
 a definite purpose guided that convention, and I 
 have lived long enough to be reverently grateful 
 that Lincoln and not Seward was President of the 
 Eepublic during the sad years of the Civil War. 
 (Applause.) 
 
 I was gratified beyond expression as a boy 
 when, picking up a newspaper one morning in the 
 autumn of 1860, I found that the unexpected
 
 44 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 honor had been done me to take the vote to Wash- 
 ington and put it into the hands of the Vice-Presi- 
 dent. I gave it to Mr. John C. Breckinridge, and 
 I want to pay this tribute to his conscience as he 
 saw it. Mr. Breckinridge was Vice-President of 
 the United States. He received the ballots that 
 came from the different States. He presided 
 over the joint convention and declared the result 
 that made Lincoln President. He remained in 
 office until his term as Vice-President had closed ; 
 then left Washington and cast his influence and 
 fortune with the Southern Confederacy, becoming 
 a general in their service; but he had kept his 
 personal honor; he had discharged the duties of 
 his office as Vice-President of the United States; 
 he had declared his great antagonist elected to the 
 Presidency. I want to pay this tribute to the 
 fidelity and true citizenship of John C. Breckin- 
 ridge, as he understood the situation. 
 
 I stood in front of the steps of the Capitol at 
 Washington and heard Mr. Lincoln deliver his 
 first inaugural address. You are probably all 
 familiar with the old story that Senator Douglas 
 of Illinois, who had been Mr. Lincoln's competi- 
 tor, held Mr. Lincoln's hat during his address, 
 Mr. Lincoln hardly knowing what to do with it. 
 
 During that first year, it was my good fortune 
 to be Assistant United States Attorney at New 
 York City, and I had charge of cases connected 
 with the Civil War. I saw Mr. Lincoln often
 
 General Woodford 45 
 
 during the encumbency of that office; but after 
 that period, I never saw Mr. Lincoln again. 
 
 I happened to be in Savannah when it had 
 fallen into the hands of the Union Army and it 
 was there that I heard the news of his death. The 
 whole country was plunged in deep sorrow and 
 everyone felt that a personal blow had fallen 
 upon him when Lincoln passed away. 
 
 And looking back over all the intervening 
 years, I reverently believe that some Almighty 
 power guided us more wisely than we knew, and 
 it is to the Father Above that we owe Lincoln's 
 nomination and election to the Presidency of the 
 Eepublic. No name will live longer in the 
 thoughts of loyal Americans than that of Lin- 
 coln. They will entwine it with that of Washing- 
 ton as the saviours of the country. 
 
 His education was of the simplest and most 
 rudimentary character, and obtained under the 
 most difficult circumstances. His only books were 
 a copy of the first half of Euclid's problems, a 
 dog-eared copy of Aesop's Fables and a copy of 
 the common or King James version of the Bible, 
 a partial copy of four of Shakespeare's plays, 
 and an old volume of the Statute Laws of some 
 forgotten year in Indiana. That was the sum and 
 substance of his schooling. It was all he ever 
 had, until he began to read law. From a con- 
 dition of the most abject and terrible poverty he 
 struggled onward and upward until through the 
 Providence of God, he became President of the
 
 46 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 United States and stands forever as one of the 
 greatest orators, as one of the wisest statesmen^ 
 and as one of the best men in any nation, and in 
 any time. 
 
 When he died, the nation wept beside his tomb. 
 So long as the RepnbHc shall live, his name with 
 that of the great Washington will be a heritage to 
 all the people. 
 
 Next year you will celebrate the centenary of 
 his birth. Contrast the conditions. The country 
 when he was President was in the midst of Civil 
 War; on every hand there was misery and 
 wretchedness. In the midst of it all, when he had 
 completed his life work and looked forward to 
 spending the balance of his earthly career in re- 
 tirement and comparative ease, he was stricken 
 down by the bullet of the assassin. He has gone 
 up to be with Washington — a Saint of the Ameri- 
 can Republic. To-day the country has recovered 
 from the losses of the War and the evil of Eecon- 
 struction, until it is at the very summit of influ- 
 ence, power and wealth. May God give us the 
 strength and desire to use our position in the 
 world as Washington and Lincoln would have had 
 us use it! Let us have a broadmindedness, the 
 humanity and self-control, and the love for all 
 men which distinguished Washington and Lin- 
 coln. If poverty be your portion in life, use what 
 talent you have to the best interest of your 
 country. Whether rich or poor, let us do our best 
 to obliterate the struggle between the classes, and
 
 Mr. Meserve 47 
 
 let us stand to-day and always for the just and 
 for the right. Let us stand for the Republic of 
 V/ashington and Lincoln — the last hope of the 
 world. Let us insist on equal rights and equal 
 chances for all men. Let this be our motto. 
 
 I thank you for your kind attention and bid you 
 all Grood Night. (Applause.) 
 
 The following original poem was then read by 
 the author, Mr. Feederick Hill Meserve. 
 
 LINCOLN. 
 
 When War and Discord wed, and doubts arise 
 In Union breasts, and Riot, grim, elate, 
 Exults to see the havoc of the State, 
 
 Then he surveys the field with steady eyes. 
 
 When victory is won, elusive dream 
 With blood of heroes bought, and slips away, 
 The hope of baffled armies brought to bay, 
 
 His simple faith in Right is still supreme. 
 
 Another Father, bearing in his heart 
 The burdens of a people, and its foes 
 Forgiving freely, ready to forget 
 
 The lurid drama in the better part 
 
 Of peace with honor. Then, alas, he goes. 
 And friends and foes alike are weeping yet. 
 
 The following letters from absent members 
 were then read. 
 
 Letter from Judge Phillips. 
 
 Bloomington, III., Feb. 8, 1908. 
 My dear Sir: — I have delayed my answer to 
 your invitation to the Lincoln Fellowship ban-
 
 48 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 quet at Delmonico's on the 12th inst. longer than 
 I ought, in the hope that my official duties might 
 take on some phase or shape that would admit 
 of my attendance. With deep regret I now find 
 myself obliged to say that I cannot be present. 
 
 Lincoln see-ms to be the most interesting per- 
 sonality that has appeared in this world in sev- 
 eral centuries. There may have been many men 
 intellectually as great as he, but no one has struck 
 the popular chord that he did. His name has 
 gone wherever men are found who employ a 
 written form of speech. A lady who has spent 
 much of her life in Eussia told me that the most 
 ignorant Russian peasant that could be found 
 knew of Lincoln and would bow his head and 
 utter a blessing in his memory whenever he heard 
 his name pronounced. In America appreciation 
 of, and gratitude for, his great patriotic and un- 
 selfish service augments as years go by. Twenty 
 years ago one might have believed the apex of 
 Lincoln's fame had been reached, but it grows 
 on, and may grow for another century. 
 
 No man was ever more hated and contemned 
 than Lincoln while his work was in progress, yet 
 now all men are his partisans. Those— now 
 grown old— who cursed him once are but too glad 
 to say they knew him and shook his hand while 
 he lived. We all know such men, and it would be 
 unkind, not to say cruel, to even remind them of 
 a misjudgment which events have almost made 
 a reproach.
 
 Judge Phillips 49 
 
 The very fact of this prodigious fame which 
 has come to Lincoln should make us scan very 
 closely and critically any original testimony 
 which now comes forward as to the facts of Lin- 
 coln's life and work. Weakness and vanity are 
 exceedingly anxious to connect themselves in 
 some way with such a career as that of Lincoln. 
 They see the historical band-wagon and naturally 
 wish to get aboard, and this desire is producing 
 many myths about Lincoln which history must 
 ultimately brush aside. If Lincoln had kicked a 
 bumpkin out of his office the bumpkin would now 
 almost be bragging of the fact. If I mistake not, 
 it should be one object of the Lincoln Fellow- 
 ship to collect together a body of Lincolniana 
 which shall be reliable and can be tested by the 
 touchstone of historic truth. The men who met 
 Lincoln face to face, and who at the time were 
 of an age to have some judgment of the man, are 
 now growing very scarce. They will soon all be 
 gone; but while this class of men are few, the 
 chatterers and myth-makers are many. 
 
 All new facts of an anecdotal character, which 
 now come forward and which cannot be tested by 
 documentary or other legitimate historical evi- 
 dence should have applied to them the strictest 
 historical criticism. Out of the mass of matter 
 that is being collected so rapidly, and which bids 
 fair to assume perfectly prodigious proportions 
 in the near future, the final historian of Lincoln 
 will, with very great labor, extract the true his-
 
 50 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 tory of this most wonderful of men. Men in his 
 own day and time saw him from different angles 
 — one saw him from one point of view, and an- 
 other from another. It will take them all to make 
 up the real Lincoln of history, and the final his- 
 torian must be discriminating enough to reject 
 utterly a great deal that has already been printed 
 and said about Lincoln. 
 
 In this connection let me say that Mr. Horace 
 White, formerly of this State, now of New York 
 City, read before the Illinois State Historical 
 Society last week a paper upon '' Lincoln in 
 1854," which was in many respects the clearest 
 and most instructive paper that I have ever heard 
 or read concerning that particular period. It has 
 also an intimate bearing on other periods of Lin- 
 coln's life and work — all of which renders it a 
 paper of first historical importance. When so 
 many unreliable people are coming forward with 
 testimony concerning Lincoln, and are telling 
 their apocryphal anecdotes about him, it is re- 
 freshing to meet a man who met him face to face, 
 whose memory has in no degree failed, and who 
 knows what he knows, and is too conscientious to 
 tell what he does not know. You will do well, in 
 my judgment, to have Mr. White heard at some 
 meeting of the club in the near future. 
 
 I hope your meeting may prove, as it hardly 
 can fail to prove, most agreeable and profitable,
 
 Judge Fish 51 
 
 and with my hearty compliments and congratula- 
 tions to the club, I remain, 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 Isaac N. Phillips. 
 Fkancis D. Tandy, Secretary. 
 
 Letter from Judge Fish. 
 
 Minneapolis, Minn.^ Feb. 10, 1908. 
 My dear Sir: — I find it impracticable to go to 
 New York for the Fellowship Dinner at Del- 
 monico's. There are many reasons for desiring 
 to be there. I should meet again most of the 
 genial band of Lincolnites whom I have seen face 
 to face, and clasp hands with many others whose 
 acquaintance thus far rests in correspondence 
 only. I should hope to see in the flesh my friend 
 McLellan, whose telephone voice I know, and 
 whose house I once visited in his absence, only to 
 find his treasures of Lincolniana so carefully 
 guarded that I was unable to make off with any 
 of them. True, Stewart will be there, a man to 
 be feared ; for he wants some of my choicest items, 
 and will wheedle me out of them if I give him 
 half a chance. But Maj. Lambert, the Prince of 
 our collecting tribe, will be in the chair, whose 
 gracious presence might restrain, for the moment, 
 all unseemly greed. And I should see you, my 
 dear Tandy, who know better than all others how 
 happy I would be to break bread with that noble 
 company.
 
 52 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 Moreover I have always wanted to dine at Del- 
 monico's. You know — for you have lived in the 
 West — how every Western man yearns for that 
 distinction. Even Abraham Lincoln never dined 
 at Delmonico's; he used to ''put up" at the Astor 
 House. A dinner at Delmonico's would round out 
 my career — finish it, perhaps, but finish it glori- 
 ously. The modern splendors of the Waldorf- 
 Astoria hold no such attraction for me — I would 
 rather stop with Simeon Ford, up by the ' ' Grand 
 Central Depew." I have never had the courage 
 to go to Delmonico's unattended, nor to ask any 
 one to go with me, but in company with the Lin- 
 coln Fellowship I could venture fearlessly. And 
 now, Alas! owing to la grippe and the anti-pass 
 law, very likely my only chance has passed. 
 
 Kindly give my warmest regards to all who 
 attend, together with this suggestion. Would it 
 not be well to name a committee whose duty it 
 shall be to call attention to the errors of those 
 who write loosely about our hero. In Bartlett's 
 article, for example, on ''The Physiogomy of 
 Lincoln, ' ' so sumptuously reprinted by Houghton, 
 Mifilin & Co., a certain photograph is said to have 
 been taken ' ' on the 2nd of November, the Sunday 
 before the delivery of the Gettysburg address." 
 Not a very harmful misstatement, to be sure, but 
 obviously wrong. On page 35 of the reprint, how- 
 ever, is this : "a weird and mysterious being, who 
 came into the world against convention." If any
 
 Dr. Barrage 53 
 
 doubt remains touching Lincoln's legitimacy, can 
 we not do something to end it? 
 
 Most sincerely yours, 
 
 Daniel Fish. 
 Fkancis D. Tandy, Secretary. ^ 
 
 Letter feom Dr. Burrage. 
 
 ToGus, Me., Feb. 6, 1908. 
 
 My dear Sir: — It would give me very great 
 pleasure to attend the annual meeting and dinner 
 of the Lincoln Fellowship, February 12, and 
 especially to listen to the address by Gen. James 
 Grant Wilson; but Togus is far away, and I can 
 be with you only in spirit. A year hence, at the 
 centennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth, I hope I 
 may be with you in person and share with you in 
 immortal memories. 
 
 The first time I saw Mr. Lincoln was in my 
 junior year at Brown University. The famous 
 Cooper Institute address was delivered February 
 27, 1860. The next night Mr. Lincoln was in 
 Providence, R. I., on his way to Exeter, N. H.^ 
 to visit his son Robert, who was in the academy" 
 at that place preparing to enter Harvard. It 
 had been arranged that Mr. Lincoln should make 
 a few speeches in New England during this trip, 
 and so come in closer touch with the Republican 
 party in New England. The first of these 
 speeches Mr. Lincoln made in Providence Rail- 
 road Hall. The largest hall in the city was 
 secured for tKe occasion, and it was crowded.
 
 54 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 A State election in Ehode Island was about to 
 take place, and in opening his speech Mr. Lincoln 
 held in his hand a copy of a Providence Demo- 
 cratic paper containing an editorial aimed at him, 
 and reading him a lecture for coming into Rhode 
 Island to interfere in a State election. Mr. Lin- 
 coln read extracts from this editorial, and by his 
 witty comments upon it soon had his audience 
 interested in anything he might say. He then 
 entered upon his address, which was for the most 
 part a repetition of his Cooper Institute address. 
 
 Some years ago President Angell of the Uni- 
 versity of Michigan was in Portland visiting 
 Judge Putnam (of the United States District 
 Court) with whom he had been associated on the 
 Fisheries Commission, and as President Angell 
 was a professor at Brown in my student days I 
 was invited to meet him. At the time of Mr. Lin- 
 coln's visit as referred to above, President Angell 
 was editor of the Providence Journal, as well as a 
 professor in Brown University. During the even- 
 ing I spent with him at Judge Putnam's,- reference 
 was made to Mr. Lincoln's visit and speech at 
 Providence, and during the conversation Presi- 
 dent Angell told the following story: He said 
 Rhode Island was in favor of the nomination of 
 Mr. Seward for the Presidency. After Mr. Lin- 
 coln's nomination, wishing through the Provi- 
 dence Journal to create as pleasing an impression 
 of Mr. Lincoln as was possible, he wrote to John 
 Hay, who having graduated at Brown in the class
 
 Dr. Burrage 55 
 
 of 1858 was then studying law in Mr. Lincoln's 
 office at Springfield, 111., and asked him to write 
 for the Providence Journal four papers on Lin- 
 coln. John Hay wrote the articles, but when they 
 reached the office of the Journal Prof. Angell 
 found that they made prominent just those things 
 in Mr. Lincoln's life that he wished to overlook — 
 his lowly origin, his lack of good early advan- 
 tages, his experiences as a circuit-riding lawyer, 
 his homely stories, etc. The result was that in his 
 desire to present only those aspects of Mr. Lin- 
 coln's life that would exalt him in the eyes of the 
 readers of the Journal he was obliged to use the 
 blue pencil very freely. ''What would I not now 
 give to have those four papers just as John Hay 
 wrote them!" said President Angell. 
 
 Wishing you and the associates in the Fellow- 
 ship a most enjoyable evening, 
 
 I remain yours very truly, 
 
 Henry S. Bukrage. 
 
 Francis D. Tandy, Secretary. 
 
 Letter from Mr. Bartlett. 
 
 Jamaica Plain, Mass., Jan. 28, 1908. 
 Dear Mr. Tandy: — Your kind letter enclosing 
 Lincoln blotter is gladly read. I heartily join in 
 every scrap of interest that can be conceived of 
 as likely to make the Fellowship a truly warm 
 body, yet it won't discourage me one whit if there 
 are not more than six healthy souls around its
 
 56 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 noTirisliiiig board. Your hope is good and it 
 ought to be fully gratified, but I think the Fel- 
 lowship will grow gradually, and be made up of 
 those who are seriously interested in all that con- 
 cerns Lincoln, almost one might say, a select 
 crowd — students, thinkers, lovers, etc., etc. So 
 don't be disheartened if you do not have a large 
 number. I imagine that the usual birthday dinner 
 will affect the Fellowship more or less. I may 
 be all out, but I think the Fellowship is going to 
 do a great deal of good in ways not included in 
 the various means now active. It will take some 
 time to find out just who are the genuine students 
 of Lincoln's life, and get them into a company. 
 
 The bust of Lincoln by Borgham is far beyond 
 any other I have seen — more of the sense of 
 sculpture. Good luck! 
 
 Very truly, 
 
 T. H. Bartlett. 
 
 Francis D. Tandy, Secretary. 
 
 Letter from Mr. Jones. 
 
 Chicago, Feb. 7, 1908. 
 
 Dear Sir: — Distance forbids my being present 
 at the dinner of the Lincoln Fellowship, much 
 as I rejoice in the occasion. There is no other 
 name in America to-day so effective and so 
 worthy of being used when we would conjure the 
 noble, the open, and the tender in human nature.
 
 Mr. Lincoln 57 
 
 Emerson said he "loved every man who loved 
 Plato. ' ' By the same token I love every man that 
 loves Lincoln. My greetings to the brotherhood. 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 Jenkin Lloyd Jones. 
 Fkancis D. Tandy, Secretary. 
 
 Letter from Mr. Lincoln. 
 
 Chicago, III., Feb. 28, 1908. 
 Dear Sir: — I have your letter of February 28 
 advising me that the Executive Committee of The 
 Lincoln Fellowship have elected me an honorary 
 member. I assure you I very greatly appreciate 
 the numerous evidences of the regard in which 
 my father's memory is held, such as the organiza- 
 tion of your association, and I appreciate very 
 highly the action of your Committee. 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 Egbert T. Lincoln. 
 Francis D. Tandy, Secretary. 
 
 Letter from Mr. Cleveland. 
 
 Princeton, N. J., March 3, 1908. 
 My dear Sir: — I desire to express my deep 
 appreciation of the action of the Executive Com- 
 mittee of The Lincoln Fellowship, in bestowing 
 upon me an honorary membership in the organ- 
 ization. I am in full sympathy with every effort 
 intended to perpetuate the virtues and achieve- 
 ments of the great American who, in the highest
 
 58 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 place within the gift of the people, never neglected 
 their interests or flagged in his devotion to a 
 united country. Yours very truly, 
 
 Geover Cleveland. 
 Francis D. Tandy, Secretary. 
 
 The Secretary read the minutes of the previous 
 meeting, which were approved as read. 
 
 The Treasurer read the following report of the 
 finances of The Fellowship : 
 Received from dues $84.00 
 
 Expenditures. 
 Eoom for meeting— June 27th, 1907.$ 5.00 
 
 Postage to date 10.00 
 
 Miscellaneous printing and station- 
 ery 28.67 
 
 Miscellaneous expenditures 2.00 46.47 
 
 Balance on hand $37.53 
 
 The bills were approved and ordered paid. 
 The report was accepted and placed on file. 
 The following officers were then elected : 
 President, Major William H. Lambert, of 
 Philadelphia; Vice-Presidents, General James 
 Grant Wilson, of New York ; Judge Daniel Fish, 
 of Minneapolis ; Charles W. McLellan, of Cham- 
 plain, N. Y. ; Joseph B. Oakleaf, of Moline, 111. ; 
 Alonzo Eothschild, of East Foxboro, Mass.; 
 Colonel Alexander K. McClure, of Philadel- 
 phia; and Miss Ida M. Tarbell, of New York;
 
 Business Meeting 59 
 
 Secretary, Francis D. Tandy, of New York; 
 Treasurer, Judd Stewart, of New York. 
 
 A proposition was made by Mr. Tandy for The 
 Fellowship to offer a series of prizes for the best 
 essays on '* Abraham Lincoln as a Writer," to be 
 open to any resident of the United States under 
 twenty-one years of age. On motion of Mr. Oak- 
 leaf, seconded by Mr. Stewart, the President was 
 instructed to appoint a committee of five members 
 to consider this matter, with full power to act. 
 The President appointed the following: 
 
 Joseph B. Oakleaf, Chairman; Francis D. 
 Tandy, Chas. W. McLellan, Daniel H. Newhall, 
 Harry Douglas Robins. 
 
 On motion of General Wilson, seconded by Mr. 
 Oakleaf, the President was instructed to appoint 
 a committee of five members with full power to 
 act, to make arrangements for our next Annual 
 Dinner and Meeting. The President appointed 
 the following: 
 
 General James Grant Wilson, Chairman; Fred- 
 erick H. Meserve, Frederick Trevor Hill, Telamon 
 Cuyler, Francis D. Tandy. 
 
 The meeting then adjourned.
 
 60 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 OFFICERS AND MEMBERS 1908. 
 
 President, 
 Major William H. Lambert. 
 
 Vice-Presidents, 
 Gen. James Grant Wilson, 
 Judge Daniel Fish, 
 Charles W. McLellan, 
 Joseph B. Oakleaf, 
 Alonzo Rothschild, 
 Col. Alexander K. McClure, 
 Miss Ida Tarbell. 
 
 Secretary, 
 Francis D. Tandy. 
 
 Treasurer, 
 Judd Stewart. 
 
 Members, 
 Hon. Danforth Ainsworth, 
 H. E. Barker, 
 Truman H. Bartlett, 
 David Homer Bates, 
 Hon. Oswald A. Bauer, 
 E. M. Bowman, 
 A. M. Bullock, 
 Rev. Henry S. Burrage, 
 Maj. Charles Burrows, 
 Rev. S. Parkes Cadman, 
 Arthur Astor Carey,
 
 Members 61 
 
 Charles Caverno, 
 Hon. Grover Cleveland, 
 Mrs. Maurice W. Cooley, 
 Judge Leroy B. Crane, 
 Telamon Cuyler, 
 Fred DeFau, 
 E. J. DesMoineaux, 
 George Dunlop, 
 Cleveland A. Dunn, 
 Mrs. G. L. S. Dyche, 
 Albert S. Edwards, 
 George B. Fairhead, 
 Orrin S. Goan, 
 Rev. A. C. Grier, 
 Gen. James H. Harris, 
 William P. Hickok, 
 Frederick Trevor Hill, 
 Gen. Oliver Otis Howard, 
 Stuart W. Jackson, 
 Darwin R. James, Jr. 
 Edward S. Johnson, 
 Rev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones, 
 Perry D. Knapp, 
 George A. Lancaster, 
 Prof. Duncan Campbell Lee, 
 Rev. George T. Lemmon, 
 Hon. Robert T. Lincoln, 
 John S. Little, 
 C. H. Lyman, 
 Hugh McLellan, 
 Malcolm Nye McLellan,
 
 62 Lincoln Fellowship 
 
 Col. James F. McNeill, 
 Isaac Markens, 
 Watts L. Mason, 
 J. B. Merwin, 
 Frederick Hill Meserve, 
 John T. Morse, Jr., 
 Daniel H. Newhall, 
 0. H. Oldroyd, 
 Alfred Orendorif, 
 Hon. Isaac N. Phillips, 
 Eev. W. S. Eichardson, 
 George Thomas Eitchie, 
 G. W. H. Eitchie, 
 Andrew Eussel, 
 W. E. Sandford, 
 Francis H. Sawyer, 
 A. Lincoln Seligman, 
 Miss Maisie Shainwald, 
 Mrs. Ealph L. Shainwald, 
 Ealph L. Shainwald, 
 Joseph W. Smitley, 
 William L. Stooksbury, 
 David D. Thompson, 
 Newell D. Tibbals, 
 Charles A. Tinker, 
 Gilbert A. Tracy, 
 Norman Veitch, 
 Jesse William Weik, 
 Edgar T. Welles, 
 Horace White, 
 Frederick G. Wilson.
 
 
 ^
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 973.7L63FL63P C001 
 
 PROCEEDINGS AT THE ANNUAL WEETING. 
 1 1908 
 
 3 0112 031815670