THE 
 
 One Hundredth Anniversary 
 
 OF THE BIRTH OF 
 
 1809 
 
 1909 
 
 For the Schools of llUnois. 
 
 SPRIN(JKIELD, ILL. 
 Illinois Statk Jou'knal Co., State Pri.vters 
 
 l^U8
 
 V 
 
 v^ 

 
 THE 
 
 One Hundredth Anniversary 
 
 OF THE BIRTH OF 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 ISSUED BY 
 
 FRANCIS G. BLAIR 
 
 Superintendent of Public Instruction 
 
 For The Schools of IlHnois.
 
 i 
 
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 4 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 A blend of mirth and sadness, smiles and tears; 
 A quaint knight errant of the pioneer; 
 A homely hero, born of star and sod; 
 A Peasant Prince; a masterpiece of God. 
 
 From Chicago Tribune. 
 Feb. 12-1907. 
 
 -Walter Malone. 

 
 A PROCLAMATION. 
 
 State of Illinois, Executive Department. 
 
 Springfirld, December 5, 3908. 
 
 Fel)ruary 13, 1909, v.ill be the 100th anniversary of the birth of Abra- 
 ham Lincoln. Following the custom which obtains of making the cen- 
 tennial celebration of great events more than usually impressive, I deem 
 it fitting that the citizens of Illinois should Join in a State-wide and 
 memorable objervance of that anniversary. 
 
 During all of Lincoln's mature life, he was a citizen of Illinois, and 
 its most important incidents, previous to his life in Washington, occurred 
 here. Here he formed the most intim.ate social relations and the most 
 lasting friendships of his life. Here he began the remarkable and bril- 
 liant political career which disclosed to the nation and to the world the 
 splendid ability and noble character of the great Illinoisan. 
 
 Lincoln's name and the great work which he accomplished for our 
 nation and for the cause of liberty and freedom everywhere, are known 
 to the world, and the earnestness and unanimity with which we join in 
 this tribute to his memory will be by the world esteemed a measure of 
 our devotion to those principles. We should make this occassion an 
 incentive to patriotism in our schools and among our citizens and should 
 prize it as an opportunity to show to mankind the admiration which the 
 libtrty-loving people of his State feel for one of their own number who, 
 wlien intrusted with more than kindly power, wielded that power for the 
 uplifting of the down-trodden and the oppressed, and who made our 
 country in fact as well as in name a free and united nation. 
 
 Therefore, I urge the observance of the day with appropriate exer- 
 cises by the schools of the State and by all municipal, civic, social, and 
 religious organizations. 
 
 Given under my hand and the great seal of State, at Springfield this 
 fifth day of December, A. D., nineteen hundred and eight. 
 
 Charles S. Deneen, Governor. 
 Wy the Governor: 
 
 James A. Kose, Secretary of State.
 
 State of Illinois^ Department of Public Instruction. 
 
 Springfield, December 7, 1908. 
 To the Teachers of Illinois: 
 
 Heroes of old came down from the skies. Full of mystery they filled 
 the people with awe and dread. Abraham Lincoln was raised up from 
 amongst his people and was like nnto them. He caught up and em- 
 bodied their soundest thought, their firm faith and conviction, their 
 plain life and rugged strength. He was the whole of which they were 
 the parts. His voice uttered their thought. His act expressed their 
 faith and conviction. Thus was he great in his plainness and plain 
 in his greatness. Like a Greek temple the simple grandeur of his life 
 stands forth free from needless ornament or confusing detail. The 
 child heart warms strangely at the simple story and the mature mind 
 finds it deep in meaning. Therein lies the great worth of his life to us. 
 We do not have to alter and reduce the facts to render them simple 
 enough for the child and we do not have to enlarge them to hold the 
 mind of the scholar. 
 
 What is such a life worth to our boys and girls? Who can estimate 
 its value as an educational force? Greater than all natural resources, 
 of more value than all the products of mine and mill and factory, more 
 abiding than all the achievements of art and science is the life of such 
 a man to the nation. How it ties the people together ! How it clears 
 their thought and shapes their feeling ! What a unifying, nationalizing 
 force it is ! The children from Maine to California become of one heart 
 and one mind in the study and love of Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 And think of the millions from foreign lands coming to us with widely 
 differing antecedents, with widely differing and often conflicting ideas 
 of society and the State. Here is the storm center of education. How 
 can we engender common ideals of conduct and life? How beget and 
 fix a feeling of kinship, a love of country, a national spirit? 
 
 The learning of a common language is the first step, but beyond that 
 nothing goes further tovvards creating a spiritual unity and a common 
 love of country than the story of the lives of great men. Of all our great 
 men Lincoln seems to make the most direct and effective appeal to these 
 children. It is easy to believe that their first genuine feeling of love for 
 this country may come from their love of this great American. He be- 
 comes the door through which they enter our national life. The pur- 
 pose of this programme is to let a little of the spirit of his life and work 
 touch the hearts and minds of the school children of this State and 
 country on the one hundredth anniversarv of his birth. 
 
 F. G. Blair. 
 
 Superintendent.
 
 Acknowledgments. 
 
 I wish to acknowledge the help of the following persons in the prepara- 
 tion of this pamphlet : 
 
 Hon. Clark E. Carr, Galesburg, Illinois. 
 
 Pres. Thomas McClelland, Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois. 
 
 Hon. J. McCan Davis. Clerk of the Supreme Court, Springfield, Illinois. 
 
 Prof. Henry Johnson, Columbia University, New York, N. Y. 
 
 Mrs. Jessie Palmer Weber, Librarian, State Historical Library, Spring- 
 field, Illinois. 
 
 Maj. E. S. Johnson, Custodian Lincoln Monument, Springfield, 111. 
 
 Mr. Horace White, New York City. 
 
 Mr. Robert J. Collier, New York, who gave permission to use President 
 Roosevelt's letter. 
 
 Mr. U. J. Hoffman, of this office, who prepared the connected story of the 
 early life of Lincoln. 
 
 The frontispiece is a picture of Lincoln taken in 1860. The picture 
 
 on the front cover was taken in 1864.
 
 () 
 
 How TO Use This Material. 
 
 It is suggested that the teacher read a part of the biographical matter 
 to the children for an opening exercise each morning preceding the an- 
 niversary. A part of the time might be used to let the children tell in 
 their own words what incidents they remember. 
 
 The words of Lincoln should also be read to the children. From 
 these each child should select a saying, a sentence, or a paragraph which 
 he likes and commit it to memory. 
 
 The same should be done with the tributes to Lincoln and the state- 
 ments of men about him. 
 
 At least half of the day of February 12th should be given up to public 
 exercises, consisting of patriotic music, recitations of sayings and verses 
 by the children and speeches by citizens. The exercises should end at 
 3:30 and as a closing exercise all the children might turn their faces to- 
 ward Springfield and in concert repeat these words: 
 
 A blend of mirth and sadness, smiles and tears; 
 
 A quaint knight errant of the pioneers; 
 
 A homely hero, born of star and sod; 
 
 A Peasant Prince; a masterpiece of God. 
 
 :^ :jc :{: 
 
 With malice toward none; 
 
 With charity for all: 
 
 With firmness in the right, 
 
 As God gives us to see the right. 
 
 Let us strive on 
 
 To finish the work we are in; 
 
 To bind up the nation's wounds; 
 
 To care for him who shall have borne the battle. 
 
 And for his widov>^ and orphan — 
 
 To do all which may achieve and cherish, 
 
 A just and lasting peace among ourselves, 
 
 And with all nations. 
 
 This pamphlet should be placed in the school library of every school 
 room that the children may continue to study the life of this interesting 
 man.
 
 I. 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 His Parents. 
 
 (Jn the 12tli day of February, 1809 Abraham Lincoln was born. On 
 the l"2th day of February, 1909 the people all over our country will stop 
 thtir work and give their thoughts to what Abraham Lincoln was and 
 what he did. President Theodore Eoosevelt will journey from Wash- 
 ington to the little farm in Kentucky where Lincoln was born just one 
 hundred years ago and voice the love which, we all cherish for the child 
 and the man. Mr. James Bryce, the ambassador of England to this 
 country, will go to Springfield where Abraham Lincoln is buried and 
 will express what the world thinks of him and his work. Twenty mil- 
 lions of school children in America will, lay aside their studies and will 
 heir the story of his great life, listen to his words of wisdom, and have 
 their hearts touched with high resolves and noble purposes. 
 
 ]\Iost of us have heard stories about Daniel Boouc. He was the first 
 white man to live in Kentucky. He was a courageous hunter, and when 
 he had to be, he was a great Indian fighter. He was born in Virginia, 
 but removed to North Carolina. From there he crossed the mountains 
 into Kentucky. Kentucky was called by the Indians ^'the dark and 
 bloody ground." They did not live there but used it only as a hunting 
 ground. When unfriendly tribes met there they fought many a bloody 
 battle. Daniel Boone spent a year in the woods of Kentucky and had 
 a glorious time hunting deer, buffalo, and beaver. He explored the 
 country and found the best soil, the largest timber, the clearest water, 
 and the finest salt springs. This seemed to him the best country in the 
 world. No matter how poor a man was he could get all the land he 
 wanted. To have a house he needed only to cut down the trees and 
 build it in a few days. If he wanted moat he needed only to go a little 
 way into the woods and shoot a deer, a bear, or a wild turkey. If he 
 wanted bread he needed only to plant a small field of corn or wheat, the 
 women and children would grind it by hand and they had enough. 
 Clot])ing for boys and men was easily made out of the skins of animals. 
 The pelts of fur bearing animals were easily carried on pack horses to the 
 east where they were traded for clothing for the women and for guns 
 ami ammunition. Sugar was obtained from maple trees, honey from 
 wild bees, and salt from the spring. No wonder that Daniel Boone 
 thought this was a free man's paradise.
 
 8 
 
 Among the friends of Daniel Boone who heard his account of the 
 wonderland of Kentucky was Abraham Lincoln in Virginia. He was 
 called a rich man and because he was well educated he was called a 
 "gentleman." Mr. Lincoln sold his land in Virginia, moved his family 
 to Kentucky and bought nearly a thousand acres of land. He had three 
 sons, Mordecai, Josiah and Thomas. The first was a young man, the 
 second was twelve or fifteen, and Thomas was six. The father and the 
 boys were working in a field near the woods when a shot was fired from 
 the bushes and the father fell dead to the ground. Mordecai ran to the 
 house, Josiah ran to call the neighbors, and little Thomas, not knowing 
 what to do, stayed by the dead body of his father. Having reached the 
 house Mordecai seized the loaded gun. Looking through the cracks be- 
 cween the logs of the house he saw an Indian just ready to carry ofl' little 
 Thomas. Taking aim at a white medal on the Indian's breast he fired 
 and the Indian fell beside the body of the dead father. Thomas ran 
 safely to the house. Mordecai stood his ground and whenever an Indian 
 showed himself he fired. They soon had enough and ran away. 
 
 The Lincoln family was broken up. Mordecai got all the property 
 according to the law of the land at that time. Thomas was left to shift 
 for himself. There were no schools in Kentucky and Thomas had no 
 chance to learn to read and never did learn. He became a wandering 
 laboring boy, worked wherever he got a chance and lived with the per.ple 
 for whom he worked. He learnea the carpenter's trade, did the rough 
 carpenter work which was all that was necessary in the houses of that 
 time, and also made the furniture of the houses. He was a good man, 
 and honest, did not swear, fight, or drink. But he was a poor manager 
 and had little ambition to do anything more than live in the way he had 
 always lived. 
 
 Life in Kentucky. 
 
 In 1806 he. was married to* Nancy Hanks, a good looking, gentle and 
 well educated girl. They began life in a very poor house in Elizabeth- 
 town, Kentucky. The country Avas no longer what it was in the days 
 of Daniel Boone. It was well settled, the rich people owned the land 
 and had slaves to do the work which was needed to be done. Thomas 
 Lincoln found very little to do and the family was very poor. They re- 
 moved to a little farm of very poor land on Nolin Creek, three miles 
 from Hodgensville. They were able to pay very little on the land. Their 
 dwelling was a log cabin without a floor other than the bare earth. Here 
 on the 12th day of February, 1809, a baby boy was born and they named 
 him x\braham after his gTandfather who was killed by Indians when 
 Thomas, the father, was a little boy. In this cabin they lived until the 
 child was four years old. They were poorer than ever before. They 
 raised nothing on the farm and there was no work in the neighborhood 
 for the father to do. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln had to give up his land because he could not pay for it. 
 He contracted for another farm on Knob Creek, six miles from Hodgens- 
 ville. Here he had better land. He planted six acres and found work
 
 BIKTHPLACK (.)¥ ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 After being carried about the country for exhibition purposes, this cabin was secured and is 
 now owned by the Lincoln Farm Association. When the farm becomes a National Faik this 
 cabin will be prized by the American people above all other intetesting objects there, because 
 here began the life which Stanton said '"Now belongs to the Ages.''
 
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 to do for the neighbors. Abraham and his sister, Sarah, two years older 
 than he, went to school a little, but they had to walk four miles. The 
 boy learned to read and spell. They carried their dinner to school. It 
 was only a piece of corn bread. At home they had milk with the corn 
 bread. He really lived out of doors, only slept in the cabin. Much of 
 the time he was alone. We may think this was a hard life, yet it was 
 good for Abe. He had time to think. It helped him to look closely at 
 everything out of doors and to think about it. He grew up strong and 
 hardy. 
 
 Life in Indiana. 
 
 Thomas Lincoln was always ready to remove to a better country. He 
 heard of Indiana, the new state across the Ohio. From what he heard 
 of it, it must be just like Kentucky in the time of his boyhood. He built 
 a boat, loaded it with his tools and other things and floated down Knob 
 creek into the Eolling fork, into Salt river, and into the Ohio. The 
 family remained in Kentucky until he returned. Sixteen miles from 
 the river he found a piece of land that suited him. It was indeed a good 
 country; the finest timber of every kind. The ground was strewn with 
 nuts upon which hogs could feed and get fat. The forest floor was 
 covered with blue grass, the best feed for horses and cattle. The woods 
 were full of game — deer, bear and wild turkey. He returned to Kentucky 
 for his family without building a house although he had his carpenter 
 tools with him. 
 
 They loaded the few things which they had on borrowed horses and 
 started for their new home. It was great fun for the children camping 
 out at night and sleeping under the stars. There was much to see and 
 to learn that was new to them. But it must have been hard on the 
 mother who was not well or very strong. Arriving at the place selected 
 by the father they found themselves in the thick woods. No house to 
 go into, and no neighbors nearer than several miles. 
 
 They soon erected what was known as a "half-faced camp." Two 
 posts forked at the top abo:t eight feet high were placed firmly in the 
 ground and about ten feet apart. From one to the other of tliese a 
 ridge pole was placed. Poles about eighteen feet long were placed on 
 this side by side, one end resting upon the ground. These were covered 
 with broad pieces of bark and answered for a roof. Poles were now 
 placed side by side to close up the two ends, and the front, facing the 
 south, was left open. This formed a mere shed, but when a great log 
 fire was kept burning in front it was quite warm. In rainv weather 
 bear skins Were hung up in front to keep out the storm. The beds were 
 lieaps of leaves in the back part of the camp. The covering was the 
 skins of animals and whatever could be used. Thomas Lincoln meant 
 this for a shelter for a short time only, until he could b'lild a cabin. The 
 summer wore awav and winter came and the cabin was not built.
 
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 LIFE IN INDIANA. 
 
 Ida M. Tarbell. 
 
 On arriving at the new farm an ax was put into the boy's hands, and 
 he was set to work to aid in clearing a field for corn, and to help build 
 the "half-faced camp" Avhich for a year was the home of the Lincolns. 
 There were few more primitive homes in the wilderness of Indiana in 1816 
 than this of yoimg Lincoln, and there were fev^' families, even in that day, 
 who were forced to practice more make-shifts to get a living. The cabin 
 which took the place of the "half-faced camp" had but one room with a loft 
 above. For a long time there was no window, door, or floor: not even the 
 traditional deer-skin hung before the exit: there was no oiled paper over 
 the opening for light; there was no puncheon covering on the ground. 
 
 The furniture was of their own manufacture. The table and chairs were 
 of the rudest sort — rough slabs of wood in which holes were bored and legs 
 fitted in. Their bedstead, or rather bed frame, was made of poles held up 
 by two outer posts, and the ends made firm by inserting the poles in auger 
 holes that had been bored in a log which was a part of the wall of the cabin; 
 skins were its chief covering. Little Abraham's bed was even more prim- 
 itive. He slept on a heap of dry leaves in the corner of the loft, to which 
 he mounted by means of pegs driven into the wall. 
 
 Their food, if coarse, was usually abundant; the chief difficulty in sup- 
 plying the larder was to secure any variety. Of game there was plenty — 
 deer, bear, pheasants, wild turkeys, ducks, birds of all kinds. There were 
 fish in the streams, and wild fruits of many kinds in the woods in the sum- 
 mer, and these were dried for winter use; but the difficulty of raising and 
 milling corn and wheat was very great. Indeed, in many places in the west 
 the first flour cake was an historical event. Corn-dodger was the every-day 
 bread of the Lincoln household, the wheat cake being a dainty reserved for 
 Sunday mornings. 
 
 Potatoes were the only vegetable raised in any quantity, and there were 
 times in the Lincoln family when they were the only food on the table; a 
 fact proved to posterity by the oft-quoted remark of Abraham to his father 
 after the latter had asked a blessing over a dish of roasted potatoes — "that 
 they were mighty poor blessings." Not only were they all the Lincolns had 
 for dinner sometimes; one of their neighbors tells of calling there when raw 
 potatoes, pared and washed, were passed around instead of apples or other 
 fruit. They even served as a kind of pioneer chauffrette — being baked and 
 given to the children to carry in their hands as they started to -school 
 or on distant errands in the winter time. 
 
 The food v.as prepared in the rudest way, for the supply of both groceries 
 and cooking utensils was limited. The former were frequently wanting 
 entirely, and as for the latter, the most important item was the Dutch oven. 
 An indispensable article in the prim.itive kitchen outfit v>'as the "gritter."' 
 It was made by flattening out an old piece of tin, punching it full of holes, 
 and nailing it on a board. Old tin was used for many other contrivances 
 besides the "gritter," and every scrap was carefully saved. Most of the 
 dishes were of pewter; the spoons, iron; the knives and forks, horn-handled. 
 — From Life of Abraham Lincoln, published by the McClnre Co.. Neic York. 
 
 Death of Abraham's Mother. 
 
 We ni'ay think Abraham had a hard time thus far in his short life. 
 But he did not think so. All healthy boys like to live out of doors. He 
 enjoyed his meals of coarse food. His mother was kind to him and now 
 that Dennis Hanks, his cousin, had come from Kentucky and lived in 
 the half-faced camp, he had a lut of fun when he did not have to work. 
 
 But hard times came knocking at the door. A great sorrow was just 
 ahead. A terrible sickness broke out. They called it the "milk sick" 
 for it seemed to come from the caws. The cattle died suddenly in oTeat
 
 Monument placed at the Grave of Nancy 
 Bend, Indiana in the year 1879. 
 
 Hankri Linculn bv P. K. Studebakcr ot Soutli 
 
 This Monument was erected in 1902 by Col. J. S. Culver of Springfield. 111., 
 taken from the Monument of Abraham Lincoln when it was undergoing repairs. 
 
 from Stone
 
 13 
 
 GRAVE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S MOTHER IN 1860. 
 
 Reproduced by permission from "How Abraham Lincoln Became President" 
 by J. McCan Davis.
 
 14 
 
 rumbers. Dennis Hanks' parents botli died. Dennis, thus left alone,_ 
 was taken into the Lincoln home. Abraham's mother was taken sick. 
 I'liere was not a doctor within fifty miles. Abraham and Sarah did all 
 they could for her. One night as the dark was beginning to creep into 
 the cabin, she called Abraha'm to her, p it her arm about him, and said 
 that she was going away and would never come back. She wanted him 
 to be good to Sarah and to his father and be a good boy always. Then 
 she closed her eyes and went to sleep never again to awaken in this 
 world. 
 
 Now Abraham's heart was sad, indeed. The mother who understood 
 him was gone. He knew that his father did not understand him and 
 often was very unkind, thought he was lazy because he liked to sit and 
 hear people talk. What would they do ? 
 
 The next morning the father and Abraham and Dennis went into 
 the forest and cut down a tree and, by hand, sawed out boards. These 
 Thomas Lincoln made into a coffin. Into this the sorrowing children 
 and father put the body of Nancy Hanks Lincoln and laid it away in 
 a little cleared spot in the forest. No one was there to say a prayer or 
 speak a kind word to the sorrowing children. They went back to the 
 cabin in the solitary woods. Though the sun shone in the daytime and 
 the birds sang in the bushes, darkness came and the owls hooted and 
 cried at night. Sarah was eleven, and Abraham was nine. It was 
 said of Jesus "he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." 
 Abraham Lincoln was surely a child of sorrows and acquainted with 
 grief. Though he always loved fun and could be as happy as anybody, 
 the time never came when the cloud of sadness was lifted from his- life. 
 When he was a man many people said that his. was the saddest face which 
 they had ever seen. 
 
 The mother gone, they took up life as best they could. Sarah tried 
 to take the mother's place. Abe and his father and Dennis helped her 
 all they could. Vvinter came on, but the cabin was made no more com- 
 fortable. What a lonely and bitter life it must have been. All the 
 suffering and work could not make Abraham forget his mother. He 
 grieved most because she was laid away without a hymn being sung or 
 a prayer offered up. He managed some way to send word to a traveling 
 minister, whom he had known in Kentucky. Some say he wrote a letter. 
 It is more likely that he sent word by some one who went back to their 
 former home. He asked the minister if he would come to Indiana and 
 preach a funeral sermon over the grave of his mother. The good man 
 came as soon as he could. The neighbors came from a great distance. 
 The preacher spoke of the good character of the mother, who had gone, 
 and said the kind words which Abraham wished so much to hear. He 
 now felt that proper respect had been shown to his mother and he was 
 more content. 
 
 The New Mother and Better Times. 
 
 In the late fall of 1819 one year after the death of Abe's mother the 
 father said he was going to Kent icky. The crop of corn, wheat, and 
 potatoes had been raised, meat was provided from the pigs that ran
 
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 in the woods, and the cows gave them milk. The three children were 
 left alone in the cabin without windows, door, or floor. 
 
 But a great surprise awaited them. Aboui Christmas time, three 
 loaded wagons came creaking through the woods. The three, ragged, 
 dirty, shivering children stood out by the cabin door to see what this 
 could mean. The man by the driver Avas surely their father. There was 
 a driver, a woman and three children besides. The wagons were loaded 
 with furniture. They stopped at their door. The woman was tall, 
 clean, well dressed, and had a kind face and voice. She said, "I am your 
 father's wife and will try to be a good mother to you." If Abe ever 
 heard fairy stories, he must have said to himself this is just lilvC a fairy 
 tale. His own mother had loved him verjV much, but she was weak and 
 sick and discouraged most ol the time. Abe often felt sorry for her. 
 The hard, cheerless living since they had laid her away under the trees 
 had not cheered him. Now that he had no one to teach him to read 
 he saw no hope ahead. But here came a lovely, kind and strong woman, 
 who said, "I will be your mother." How joy and hope must have en- 
 tered into his heart. We know he promised himself that he would be 
 good to her. For when this woman was old and Abe had been President 
 of the United States, when he had given his life for the good of others, 
 she said, "Abe was the best boy I ever saw or expect to see. He never 
 gave me a cross word or look in his life." 
 
 Mrs. Lincoln had three children of her own and they came to live 
 with them. The furniture was put into the house. Abe and his sister 
 were cleaned up and dressed in clean, comfortable clothing. A good 
 supper was prepared. A great change had come into the life of the 
 lonely children. Windows, a door, and a floor were soon put in the 
 house, the cracks between the logs were plastered shut, the old, dirty 
 corn husk mattress in the corner was taken out and a nice feather bed 
 on a bedstead took its place. Beds were made up in the garret of the 
 cabin for the boys. The good woman grew better every day. She made 
 the father fix up things. She was kind to Abe and he loved her very 
 much. She loved him too, for she saw that he was a good boy and anx- 
 ious to learn. He was always talking to his new mother, asking her 
 all sorts of questions, and telling her how much he wished to know 
 everything. She allowed no one to disturb him when he was reading 
 and she made the father let him go to school. 
 
 Abraham and his step brothers and sisters got along nicely together. 
 There were eight in all living in the little log cabin. The mother so 
 managed it that all had a good time. Abe worked for the neighbors a 
 great deal. The money which he earned was given to his father. He 
 borrowed all the books that he could hear of, was never without a book. 
 When others rested from work he was reading. He read at night when 
 the rest were asleep. By the time he was twenty-one, he knew more 
 of what is in books than any one in the neighborhood. He remembered 
 all he read and all the stories he heard and could tell them in a way 
 that pleased and instructed every one.
 
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 18 
 
 Life ix Illinois. 
 
 In 1830. Thoma? Lincoln decdded to remove to Illinois. We will let 
 Dennis Hanks tell abont the niovins: as lie told it to Eleanor Atkinson : 
 sitting in his chair at Charleston, Illinois, at the age of ninety-two : 
 
 Well! Lemme see. Yes: I reckon it was John Hanks 'at got restless fust 
 an' lit out fur Illinois, an' wrote fur us all to come, an' he'd git land fur us. 
 Tom was always ready to move. He never had his land in Indiany all paid 
 fur, nohow. So he sold off his corn an' hogs an' piled everything into ox- 
 wagons an' we all went — Lirskhorns and Hankses an' Johnstons, all hangin' 
 together. I reckon we was like one o' them tribes o' Israel that you kain't 
 break up, nohow. An' Tom was always lookin' fur the land o' Canaan. 
 Thar was five families of us, then, an' Abe. It tuk us two weeks to git thar, 
 raftin' over the Wabash, cuttin' our way through the woods, fordin' rivers, 
 pryin' wagons an' steers out o' sloughs with fence rails, an' makin' camp. 
 Abe cracked a joke every time he cracked a whip, an' he found a way out 
 o' every tight place while the rest of us was standin' round scratchin' our 
 fool heads. I re-^kon Abe and Aunt Sairy run that movin', an' good thing 
 thev did. or it'd 'a' ben run into a swamp an' sucked under. 
 
 "It was a purty kentry up on the Sangamon, an' we all tuk up with the idy 
 that they covild run steamboats up to our cornfields an' load: but we had 
 fever'n ager turrible, so in a year or two, we moved back here to Coles 
 county, and we've ben here ever sence. Abe helped put up a cabin for Tom 
 on the Sangamon, clear fifteen acres fur corn, an' split walnut rails to fence 
 it in. Abe was some'ers 'round twenty-one. — Frovi "Boyhood of Abraham 
 Lincoln" McClure Co., New York. 
 
 As soon as Abraham had settled his parents in their new home, he 
 began working for the neighbors, splitting rails and doing snch other 
 work as came to hand. He helped float a flat boat down the Sangamon, 
 Illinois and Mississippi to iSTew Orleans. He then became a clerk in a 
 store which his employer Offntt started at Xew Salem on the Sangamon 
 near the present town of Petersburg. Offutt knew Lincoln's great 
 strength and was constantly bragging about how easily Abe could whip 
 any fellow in the town. We shall see how this sot Abe into trouble. 
 
 LIFE AT NEW SALEM. 
 INicholay and Hay.] 
 
 Public opinion at New Salem was formed by a crowd of ruffianly young 
 fellows v.-ho were called the "Clary's Grove Boys." Once or twice a v>'eek 
 thev (Tpscended rpon the village and passed the day in drinking, fighting, 
 and brutal horse-play. If a stranger appeared in the place, he was likely to 
 suffer a rude initiation into the social life of New Salem at the hands oi 
 these jovial savages. Sometimes he was nailed un in a hogshead and rolled 
 down hill; sometimes he was insulted into a fight and then mauled black 
 and blue: for, despite their pretensions to chivalry they had no scruples 
 about fair play or any such superstitions of civilization. At first they did 
 not seem inclined to m-olest young Lincoln. His appearance did not invite 
 insolence: his renutation for strength and activity was a greater protection 
 to him than his inoffensive good-nature. But the loud admiration of 
 Offutt gave them umbrage. It led to dispute, contradictions, and finally to 
 a form^al banter to a wrestling-match. Lincoln was greatly averse to all this 
 "wooling and pulling," as he called it. But Offutt's indiscretion had made 
 it necessary for him to show his mettle. Jack Armstrong, the leading bully 
 of the gang, was selected to throw him, and expected an easy victo^J^ 
 But he soon found himself in different hands from any he had heretofore 
 engaged with. Seeing he could not manage the tall stranger, his friends
 
 swarmed in and, kicking and trippinp:. nearly succeeded in getting Lincoln 
 down. At this, as has been said of another hero, "the spirit of Odin entered 
 into him." and putting forth his whole strength, he held the pride of Clary's 
 Grove in his arms like a child, and alnio.=;t choked the exuberant life out of 
 him. For a moment a .general fight seemed inevitable; but Lincoln, standing 
 undismayed with his back to the wall, looked so formidable in his defiance that 
 an honest admiration took the place of momentary fury, and his initiation was 
 over. As to Armstrong, he was Lincoln's friend and sworn brother as soon 
 as he recovered the use of his larynx, and the bond thus strangely created 
 lasted through life, Lincoln had no further occasion to fight his ov/n battles 
 while Armstrong was there to act as his champion. The two friends, 
 although so widely different, were helpful to each other afterwards in many 
 ways, and Lincoln made ample amends for the liberty his hands had taken 
 with ,Tack's throat, by saving, in a memorable trial, his son's neck from the 
 halter. 
 
 This incident, trivial and vulgar as it may seem, was of great importance 
 in Lincoln's life. His behavior in this ignoble scuflle did the work of years 
 for him, in giving him the position he required in the community where his 
 lot v,-as cast. He became from that moment, in a certain sense, a personage, 
 with a name and standing of his own. The verdict of Clary's Grove was 
 unanimous that he was "the cleverest fellow that had ever broke into the 
 settlement." He did not have to be constantly scuffling to guard self-respect, 
 and at the same time he gained the good will of the better sort by his evi- 
 dent peaceableness and integrity. 
 
 He made on the whole a satisfactory clerk for Mr. Offutt, though his 
 downright honesty must have seemed occasionally as eccentric in that po- 
 sition as afterwards it did to his associates at the bar. Dr. Holland has pre- 
 served one or two incidents of this kind, which have thei,r value. Once, 
 after he had sold a woman a little bill of goods and received the money, he 
 found on looking over the account again that she had given him six and a 
 quarter cents too much. The money burned in his hands until he locked the 
 shop and started on a walk of several miles in the night to make restitu- 
 tion before he slept. On another occasion, after vreighing and delivering a 
 pound of tea, he found a small weight on the scales. He immediately 
 weighed out the quantity of tea of which he had innocently defrauded his 
 customer and went in search of her, his sensitive conscience not permitting 
 any delay. To show that the young merchant was not too good for this world, 
 the same writer gives an incident of his shop-keeping experience of a dif- 
 ferent character. A rural bully having made himself especially offensive 
 one day, w^hen women v/ere present, by loud profanity, Lincoln requested him 
 to be silent. This was of course a cause of war, and the young clerk was 
 forced to follow the incensed ruffian into the street, where the combat was 
 of short duration. Lincoln threw him at once to the ground, and gathering 
 a ha^idful of the dog fennel v»'ith which the roadside was plentifully bor- 
 dered, he rublied the ruffian's face and eyes with it until he howled for mercy. 
 He did not howl in vain, for the placable giant, when his discipline was 
 finished, brought water to bathe the culprit's smarting face and doubtless 
 improved the occasion with quaint admonition. 
 
 A few passages at arms of this sort gave Abraham a redoubtable reputa- 
 tion in the neighborhood. But the principal use he made of his strength and 
 his prestige was in the capacity of peacemaker, an office which soon de- 
 volved upon him by general consent. Whenever old feuds blossomed into 
 fights by Offutt's door, or the chivalry of Clary's Grove attempted in its en- 
 ergetic way to take the conceit out of some stranger, or a canine duel spread 
 contagion of battle among the masters of the beasts, Lincoln usually appeared 
 upon the s^ene. and with a judicious mixture of force and reason and invin- 
 cible good-nature restored peace. — From "Abraham Lincoln, a History." pub- 
 lished by the Century Co., Xew York.
 
 20 
 
 Lincoln Eeads Law. 
 
 For a short time Abraham Lincoln o-svTied a store in New Salem but 
 he did not prosper. Dennis Hanks saj^s he was too honest. People 
 always got the better of him in a trade. He liked to talk to people 
 rather than to sell them goods. He had begun to study law and read 
 books when he ought to have been attending to business. He failed and 
 was greatly in debt. It took a long time to pay his debts but they were 
 all paid. 
 
 He entered the Black Hawk war as captain of the company raised in 
 his county. He learned surveying and worked at it for several years. 
 He became a candidate for the Legislature and was defeated. The 
 next time he was elected. The speech which follows made during his 
 first campaign for the Legislature shows how honorable was Jiis ambi- 
 tion and hoAV honestly and plainly he could talk to the people. 
 
 Lincoln's Ambition. 
 
 [From an address to the people of Sangamon county, issued March 9, 1832.] 
 ''Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true 
 or not, I can say, for one, that I have no other so great as that of being 
 truly esteemed of my fellow-men, by rendering myself worthy of their 
 esteem. How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition is yet to be 
 developed. I am young, and unknown to many of you. I was born, and 
 have ever remained, in the most humble walks of life. I have no wealthy 
 or popular relations or friends to recommend me. My case is thrown ex- 
 clusively upon the independent voters of the country ; and, if elected, they 
 will have conferred a favor upon me for which I shall be unremitting in 
 my labors to compensate. But if the good people in their wisdom shall 
 see fit to keep me in the background, I have been too familiar with dis- 
 appointments to be very much chagrined." 
 
 Begins the Practice of Law. 
 
 When he came home from the Legislature he went at the study of law 
 in earnest. A great lawyer in Springfield, Mr. J. T. Stuart, loaned 
 him books, Lincoln often walking from New Salem to Springfield, a 
 distance of twenty miles, to borrow them. When he was ready to begin 
 to practice law he went to Springfield and formed a partnership with his 
 friend, J. T. Stuart. He wanted to rent a room, but to do so he had 
 to buy some furniture. Mr. Joshua Speed, the store keeper, told him 
 it would cost about seventeen dollars. Lincoln said, "It probably is 
 cheap enough, but cheap as it is, I have not the money to pay. But if 
 you will credit me until Christmas and my experiment here as a lawyer 
 is a success I will pay you then. If I fail in that I will probably never 
 pay you." Mr. Speed says : "His tone was very sad and when I looked 
 into his face, I thought then as I think now, I never saw a face so 
 gloomy and sad." Mr. Speed said to him that he had a large room and 
 a wide bed and if he would share it he would be welcome. Lincoln 
 asked where his room was, and when told that it was up above the store.
 
 31 
 
 he picked up his saddle bags and liis little bundle of clothing, and 
 withoit saying another word went up stairs, set down his little bun- 
 •dles, came down, his face all smiles, and said, "Well, Speed, I'm moved." 
 Here, boys and girls, ends the stor}- of Abraham Lincoln's 3'outh and 
 young manhood. He was now twenty-eight years of age, but had just 
 begun his life work. The story of his life is indeed what he himself said 
 it was: "The short and simple annals of the poor!'^ 
 
 We may do no better than to close this part of the story of his life 
 with the words of Elbridge S. Brooks: 
 
 "You see now, do you not, v/hat pluck and perseverance will do? You 
 know how Abraham Lincoln started in the world; how he came from the 
 poorest and most unpromising beginnings; how poverty and ignorance and 
 unfavorable surroundings and awkwardness and lack of good looks could not 
 keep him down, because he was determined to raise himself and become 
 somebody. 
 
 In all the history of America there has been no man who started lower and 
 climbed higher than Abraham Lincoln, the backwoods boy. He never 
 'slipped back.' He always kept going ahead. He broadened his mind 
 enlarged his outlook, and led his companions rather than let them lead him. 
 He was jolly company, good-natured, kind-hearted, fond of jokes and stories 
 and a good time generally, but he was the champion of the weak, the 
 friend of the friendless, as true a knight and as full of chivalry as any of 
 the heroes in armor of whom you read in 'Ivanhoe' or 'The Talisman.' 
 
 He never cheated, never lied, never took an unfair advantage of anyone; 
 but he was ambitious, strong-willed, a bold fighter and a tough adversary 
 — a fellow who would 'never say die;' and who, therefore, succeeded. 
 
 Take well to heart, boys and girls of America, the story of the plucky 
 boy who, upon what, seventy years ago, was the outskirts of civilization, 
 was all unconsciously training himself to be the American."- — From "'The 
 True Story of Abraham Lincoln," Lathrop Publishing Co., Boston. 
 
 More of his life and labors may not be given here. You will get a 
 
 good idea of his noble character by a study of his own words gathered 
 
 from his letters and speeches and from what great men say of him. 
 
 When you have the opportunity you will read a complete life of this 
 
 .irreat and good man.
 
 22 
 
 II. 
 WORDS OF LINCOLN. 
 
 One of the best ways to get acquainted with Abraham Lincoln is to read 
 his own words. There are two reasons for this. In the first place, while he 
 was called upon in the course of his life to deal with some of the most 
 difficult questions that have ever been discussed in America, what he said 
 and wrote was so simple, so direct, and so clear that almost anybody could 
 understand him. In the second place, his letters, speeches, and State 
 papers bear everywhere the stamp of that quality which, when he was 
 twenty-four years old, had won for him the homely frontier title of "Hon- 
 est Abe." It is, therefore, the real Lincoln that is revealed in them. 
 
 When the people began to talk about Lincoln as a possible candidate for 
 the office of President of the United States, there was a natural desire to learn 
 who he was, who his ancestors were, and what he had done in his early j^ears. 
 To one of his friends, J. W. Fell, who asked him for this kind of information, 
 he wrote the story of his life. This is the fullest statement that he ever made. 
 — Henry Johnson, Columbia University, New York. 
 
 Lincoln's Own Story. 
 
 I was born February 12, 1809, in Hardin county, Kentucky. My 
 parents were both born jn Virginia, of undistinguished families — sec- 
 ond families, perhaps I should say. ]\Iy mother, who died in my tenth 
 year, was of a family of the name of Hanks, some of whom now reside 
 in Adams, and others in Macon co-inty, Illinois. My paternal grand- 
 father, Abraham Lincoln, emigrated from Eockingham county, Virginia, 
 to Kentucky about 1781 or 1782, where a year or two later he was killed 
 by the Indians, not in a battle, but by stealth, when he was laboring to 
 open a farm in the forest. His ancestors, who were Quakers, went to 
 Virginia from Berks county, Pennsylvania. An effort to identify them 
 with the New England family of the same name ended in nothing 
 more definite than a similarity of Christian names in both families, 
 such as Enocb, Levi, Mordecai, Solomon, Abraham, and the like. 
 
 My father, at the death of his father, was but six years of age, and 
 he grew up literally without education. He removecl from Kentucky 
 to what is now Spencer county, Indiana., in ray eighth year. We reached 
 our new home about the time the State came into the Union. It was 
 a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. 
 There I grew up. There were some schools, so called, but no qualifica- 
 tion was ever required of a teacher beyond "readin', writin', and ciph-
 
 •23 
 
 crin' " to the rule of three. If a ^^trajigh'i' supposed to understand 
 J^atiu ha])pened to sojourn in tlie neigliborhood, he was looked upon as 
 a wizard. There was ab&olutely nothing to excite ambition for educa- 
 tion. Of course, when I came of age 1 did not know much. Still, some- 
 how, I could read, write, and cipher to the rule of three, but that was all. 
 1 have not been to school since. The little advance I now have uj)on 
 this store of education 1 have picked 'p from time to time under the 
 pressure of necessity. 
 
 I was raised to farm work, which T continued till I was twenty-two. 
 At twenty-one I came to Illinois, Macon county. Then I got to 'New 
 Salem, at that time in Sangamon, now in Menard cpunty, where I re- 
 mained a year as a sort of clerk in a store. 
 
 Tlun eanie the Black Hawk war; and I was elected a captain of 
 volunteei"s, a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had 
 since. I went the campaign, was elated, ran for the Legislature the 
 same year (1832), and was beaten — the only time I ever have been 
 beaten by the people. The next and three succeeding biennial elections 
 I was elected to the Legislature. I was not a candidate afterward. Dur- 
 ing this legislative period I had studied law, and removed to Springfield 
 to practice it. In 1846 I was once elected to the lower House of Con- 
 gress. Was not a candidate for re-election. From 1849 to 1854, both 
 inclusive, practiced law more assiduo.isly than ever before. Always a 
 Whig in politics; and generally on the Whig electoral tickets, making 
 active canvasses. I was losing interest in politics when the repeal of 
 the Missouri Compromise aroused me again. What I have done since 
 then is pretty well known. 
 
 If any personal description of me is thought desirable it may be 
 said I am, in height, six feet four inches, nearly; lean in flesh, weigh- 
 ing on an average one hundred and eighty pounds; dark complexion, 
 with coarse black hair and gray eyes. Xo other marks or brands recol- 
 lected. Springfield, December 20, 1859. 
 
 Farewell Speech. 
 
 [On February 11, 18'jl. Mr. Lincoln started for Washinston to be inaugur- 
 ated President, on March 4th. .Just before the train started he spoke to his 
 neighbors the following genuine, heartfelt words. It would seem that on 
 this occasion the people would have shouted in exultation over the 
 victory and honor, but most of them were in tears. When he again returned 
 to Springfield he had finished the greatest work done by an American since 
 Washington, but he was being conveyed to his tomb. Then not only his 
 neighbors, but the whole country was in tears.] 
 
 "!My Friends: Xo one not in my position can realize the .>adness I 
 feel at this parting. To this people I owe all that I am. Here I have 
 lived more than a quarter of a century. Here my children were born, 
 and here one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you 
 again. I go to assume a task far more difficult than that whicii has de- 
 volvcd upon any other man since the days of Washington. He never 
 would have s icceeded except for the aid of Divine Providence, upon 
 which he at all times relied. I feel that I can not succeed without the
 
 24 
 
 same Divine blessing which sustained him; and on the same Ahnighty 
 Being I phice my reliance for support. And I hope you, my friends, 
 will all pray that I may receive that Divine assistance without which I 
 can not succeed, but with which success is certain. Again I bid you an 
 affectionate farewell." 
 
 From a Letter to William H. Herndon, Washington,. July 10, 1848. 
 
 [Mr. Herndon was a young man living at Springfield. He wrote to Lincoln, 
 who was then a member of Congress at Washington, complaining that 
 the older men held all the places in the public service, and that a young man 
 had no chance to rise. The older men were ungenerous and held young men 
 back because they were young men. Mr. Lincoln gave him the following 
 advice, which is just as good for young men today as it was then.] 
 
 The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself every way he 
 can, never suspecting that anybody wishes to hinder him. Allow me to 
 assure you that suspicion and jealousy never did help a man in any 
 situation. There may sometimes be ungenerous attempts to keep a 
 young man down ; and they will succeed, too, if he allows his mind to be 
 diverted from its true channel to brood over the attempted injur}'. Cast 
 about, and see if this feeling has not injured every person you have 
 ever known to fall into it. 
 
 "A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand.'' 
 
 [On Lincoln's Nomination to the United State's Senate.] 
 [Before making the following statement in a speech Mr. Lincoln showed 
 it to some of his friends. They told him it was a great mistake. It would 
 surely defeat him for the Senate. He replied that he considered it the 
 truth and he would rather say it and be defeated than not to say it and be 
 elected. His judgment was correct, as was that of his friends. It defeated 
 him, yet later it became his tower of strength and was a strong influence 
 in his election to the Presidency.] 
 
 If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we 
 could better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into 
 the fifth year, since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and 
 confident promise of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the 
 operation of that policy, tliat agitation has not only not ceased but has 
 constantly augmented. In my opinion it will not cease until a crisis 
 shall have been reached and passed. "A house divided against itself 
 cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure permanently, 
 half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved, — 
 I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be 
 divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the op- 
 ponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it 
 where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of 
 ultimate extinction ; or its advocates will push it forward till it shall be- 
 come alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as 
 South. — Springfield, Illinois, June 17, 1858.
 
 2b 
 
 On Mob Kule. 
 
 [From an address before the Younp; Men's Lyceum of Springfield, 111., Jan- 
 uary 27, 1837.] 
 
 livrc, Uicu, is one point at which danger may he expected. The ques- 
 tion recurs, how shall we fortify against it? The answer is simple. 
 Let every American, every iover of liberty, every well-wisher to his 
 posterity, swear by the blood of the Eevolution never to violate in the 
 least particular the laws of the country, and never to tolerate their 
 violation by others. As the patriots of seVenty-six did to the support 
 of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitu- 
 tion and the Laws let every American pledge his life, his property, and 
 liis sacred honour; let every man remember that to violate the law is to 
 trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the charter of his own and 
 his children's liberty. Let reverence for the laws be breathed by every 
 American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap. Let 
 it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges. Let it be writ- 
 ten in primers, spelling-books, and in almanacs. Let it be preached 
 from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts 
 of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the na- 
 tion. 
 
 Stand by Duty. 
 
 If slavery is right, all words, acts, laws, and constitutions against it 
 are themselves wrong, and should be silenced and swept away. If it 
 is right, we cannot justly object to its nationality, its universality; if 
 it is wrong, they cannot justly insist upon its extension, its enlargement. 
 All they ask, we could readily grant, if we tho-ight slavery right. * * 
 ]f our sense of duty forbids this, then let us stand by our duty fearlessly 
 and effectively. * * * Let us have faith that right makes might; 
 and, in that faith, let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand 
 it— February, 1860. 
 
 The Majority Rules. 
 
 The only dispute on both sides is, "What are their rights?'' If the 
 majority should not rule, who should be the judge? Where is such 
 judge to be found? We should all be bound by the majority of the 
 American people; if not, then the minority must control. Would that 
 be right? Would it be just or generous? Assuredly not. I reiterate 
 that the majority should rule. If I adopt a wrong policy, the oppor- 
 tunity for condemnation will occir in four years' time. Then I can be 
 turned out, and a better man. with better views, put in my place. — 
 Februarv, 18G1.
 
 26 
 
 Support of the People. 
 
 [Probably no man ever elected to the presidency was thought by so many 
 people to be unfit for the place as was Lincoln. He was so unknown and when 
 he became known his lack of schooling, his plainness, his awkwardness, 
 and lack of culture confirmed them in this unfavorable belief. Note the so- 
 ber, modest strength of his statement:] 
 
 "I do not say, that, in the recent election, the people did the wisest 
 thing that could have been done; indeed, I do not think they did: but 
 T do say, that in accepting the great trust committed to me, I must rely 
 upon you, upon the people o'i the whole country, for their support ; and, 
 with their sustaining aid, even I, humble as I am, cannot fail to carry 
 the ship of State safely through the storm." — February, 1861. 
 
 First Inaugur.il Address. 
 
 (March 4, 1861.) 
 
 [By the time Lincoln was to be inaugurated President the Southern states 
 had seceded and had set up a government of their own, as they claimed they 
 had a right to do. The people of the Northern states claimed that a state 
 had no right to withdrav>' from the Union. Mr. Buchanan, President before 
 Lincoln, had said that the government had no right to make war on the 
 seceding states. What would Lincoln say?] 
 
 In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countn^men, and not in mine, 
 is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail 
 you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. 
 You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government, while 
 T shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend it." 
 
 I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not 
 be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our 
 bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from 
 every battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone 
 all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when 
 again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. 
 
 Justice of teie People. 
 
 Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice 
 of the people? Is there any better or equal hope in the world? In our 
 present differences, is either party without faith of being in the right? 
 If the Almighty Euler of nations, with His eternal truth and justice, 
 be on your side of the ISTorth, or on yours of the South, that truth and 
 justice* will surely prevail by the judgment of this great tribunal of the 
 American people. — March, 1861. 
 
 Toiling Up. 
 
 Xo men living are more worthy to be f rusted than those who toil up 
 from poverty; none less inclined to take or touch aught which they have 
 not honestly earned. — December, 1861.
 
 27 
 Letter to Hor-\ce Greeley. 
 
 [Hoiare Greeley, editor of tlie New York TriJ)U)n\ and spokesman for a 
 strong: party in the Nortli, which was impatient at Lincoln's delay in freeing 
 the slaves, was very severe in his criticisms of the President. This is Lin- 
 coln's leply.] 
 
 I woukl save tlie Union. 1 would .>;ave it the shortest way under the 
 Constitution. Tlic sooner the national authority can be restored, the 
 nearer the Union will be "the Union as it was." If there be those who 
 would not save the Union 'inless they could at the same time save slavery, 
 1 do not agree with them. If there 1)e those who would not Siive the 
 I'nion unless they could at the same time destroy slaver}', I do not agree 
 with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, 
 and is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union 
 without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by 
 freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing 
 some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. What 1 do about 
 slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save 
 the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it 
 would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe 
 what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more wdienever I shall 
 believe doing more w^ill help the caise. I shall try to correct errors 
 when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as they 
 shall appear to be true views. — August 22, 1862. 
 
 Dependence Upon God. 
 
 [Reply to an address by Mrs. Gurney, September, 1862.] 
 We are indeed going through a great trial — a fiery trial. In the very 
 responsible position hi which I happen to be placed, being a humble in- 
 strument in the hands of our Heavenly Father, as I am, and as wc all 
 are, to work out His great purposes, I liave desired that all my works 
 and acts may be according to His will, and that it might be so, I have 
 sought His aid ; but if, after endeavoring to do the l)est in the light w^hich 
 He affords me, I find my efforts fail, I must believe that, for some pur- 
 pose unknown to me. He wills it otherwise. 
 
 If I had had my way, this war would never have been commenced. 
 If I had been allowed my way, this war would have been ended before 
 this ; but we find it still continues, and we must believe that He permits 
 it for some wise purpose of His own, mysterious and unknown to us; 
 and though with our limited understanding we may not be able to com- 
 prehend it, yet we cannot but believe that He who made the world still 
 governs it. 
 
 Letter to General Grant. 
 Uuly 13, 1863.] 
 My Dear General — I do not remember that you and I ever met per- 
 sonally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the almost 
 inestimable service you have done the countr}-. I wish to say a word 
 further. Wlien you first reached the vicinity of Yicksburg, I thought 
 }ou should do what you finally did — march the troops across the neck,
 
 28 
 
 run the batteries wiLli the transports, and thus go below; and I never 
 had any faith, except a general hope that you knew better than I, that 
 the Yazoo Pass expedition and the like could succeed. AVhen you got 
 below and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf, and vicinity, I thought you 
 ■sho.ild go down the river and join General Banks, and when you turned 
 northward, east of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now wish 
 to make the personal acknowledgment that you were right and I was 
 
 wrong. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 A. Lincoln. 
 
 The Women, 
 
 I am not accustomed to the use' of language of eulogy; I have never 
 studied the art of paying compliments to women ; but I must say, that, 
 if all tliat has been said by orators and poets since the creation of the 
 world in praise of women were applied to the women of America, it 
 would not do them justice for their 'conduct during this war. I will 
 ■close by saying, God bless the women of America! — March, 1864. 
 
 Letteh of Condolence to Mes. Bixby of Boston, Massachusetts. 
 
 [N.ovember 21, 1864.] 
 
 [Lincoln's enemies accused him repeatedly of being indifferent to the 
 great suflering and sorrow caused by the war. This letter shows how little 
 they knev. him.] 
 
 Dear Madam — I have been shown in the files of the War Department 
 •a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts that you are the 
 motlier of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I 
 feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should at- 
 tempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But 
 I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be 
 found in the thanks of the Eepublic they died to save. I pray that our 
 Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and 
 leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the 
 ■solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon 
 the altar of freedom. 
 
 Yours very sincerely and respectfully, 
 
 Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 Second Inaugural Address. 
 
 [Mr. Lincoln v>'as elected President a second time. The opposition to him 
 was not strong, but what there was, was exceedingly bitter. He was accused 
 of the worst crimes and called the worst names. But these things did not 
 disturb him. He knew the war must soon close. He thought only of what 
 was best, closing his address in these memorable words: "With malice 
 tovi'ard none; with charity for all."] 
 
 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 imtil 
 :all the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of
 
 29 
 
 iiiiroquited toil shall be sunk, niul until every drop of blood drawn with 
 tlie hish shall be paid by another drawn with tlie sword, as was sjiid three 
 thousand years afjo, so still it must be said, "The judgments of the 
 Lord are true and righteous altogether."' 
 
 With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the 
 right, as God gives 'is to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work 
 we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall 
 have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan — to do all 
 which may achieve and cherish a just and lastiner peace among ourselves, 
 and with all nations. 
 
 Ttfe Gettysburg Address. 
 
 [Before studying this speech it would be well to have the older children 
 road in thfir history the account of the invasion of the Northern States 
 and the battle of Gettysburg. 
 
 On The 19th of November, 1S63, a great throng had assembled on the 
 battlefield to dedicate a part of it for a national cemetery. Edward Everett, 
 a great orator, made the principal address, holding the audience spellbound 
 for Iv/o hours. At the close the President was invited "to make a few 
 appropriate remarks." 
 
 Mr. Clark E. Carr, of Galesburg, Illinois, who was present, has this to 
 say in 
 
 "Fifty Years After, A IJeverie." 
 
 On a bright November afternoon of long ago, when the autumn leaves 
 were tinged with thousand hues of beauty, upon an eminence in the 
 midst of a great plain bounded by lofty mountains, I saw a vast con- 
 course of men and women. I saAv among them illustrious warriors, 
 gifted poets, and profound statesmen. I saw ambassadors of mighty 
 empires, governors of great commonwealths, ministers of cabinets, men 
 of high position and power. I saw ^ibove their heads, upon every hand, 
 a starry banner, dropping under the weight of sombre drapory. I saw 
 men and women standing among new-made graves, overwhelmed with 
 grief which they vainly endeavored to conceal. I knew that I was in 
 the midst of a people bowing under great affliction, of a land stricken 
 with sorrow. I knew that the tide of destruction and death had not 
 censed to ebb and flow, liut that at that moment the fate of my country 
 was trembling in the balance, her only hope in the fortitude and valor 
 of her sons, who were baring their breasts to storms of shot and sliell 
 only a few miles away. , 
 
 I saw standing in the midst of that mighty assembly a man of majes- 
 tic yet benignant mien, of features worn and haggard, but beaming 
 with purity, with patriotism, and Avith hope. Every eye was directed to- 
 wards him, and, as men looked into his calm, sad, earnest face, they 
 recognized the great President, the foremost man of the world, not only 
 in position and power ])ut in all th(> noblest attributes of humanity. 
 When he essayed to speak, such solemn silence reigned as when, within 
 consecrated walls, men and women feel themselves in the presence of 
 Deity. Each sentence, slowly and earnestly pronounced, as its full
 
 30 
 
 import was apprehended^ sank into every patriotic lieart, gave a strange 
 lustre to every face, and nerved every arm. In those utterances, the ab- 
 stract, tlie condensation, the summing up of American patriotism, were 
 contained the hopes, tlie as}iirations, the stern resolves, the consecra- 
 tion upon the altar of humanity, of a great people. 
 
 From the hour of that solemn dedication the final triumph of tlie 
 loyal hosts was assured. As the Christian day by day voices the sacred 
 prayer given him by his Savior, so the American Patriot will continue 
 to cherish those sublime sentiments and inspired words. While the 
 Eepublic lives he will continue to repeat them, and while, realizing all 
 their solemn simificance, he continues to repeat them, the Republic ivill 
 live. — From Lincoln at Gettyslmrg, iy Clarh E. Carr, McClure Publish- 
 ing Co., Chicago. 
 
 The Address. 
 
 Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this 
 continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the 
 proposition that all men are created equal. 
 
 Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation 
 or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are 
 met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a 
 portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave 
 their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and 
 proper that we should do this. 
 
 But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate — we cannot consecrate — 
 we cannot hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, wlio 
 struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or 
 detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say 
 here, but it can never forget what they did here. , It is for us the living, 
 rather, to be dedicated . here to^tl:^ unfinished work which they who 
 fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be 
 here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these 
 honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they 
 gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that 
 these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation under God, shall 
 have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by 
 the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
 
 THE LINCOLN MONUMENT.
 
 31 
 
 III. 
 
 TRIBUTES TO THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM 
 
 LINCOLN. 
 
 By William Cullen Bryant. 
 
 O, slow to smite and swift to spare, 
 
 Gentle and merciful and just! 
 Who in the fear of God, didst bear 
 
 The sword of power— a nation's trust. 
 
 In sorrow by the bier we stand, 
 Amid the awe that hushes all. 
 And speak the anguish of a land 
 That shook with horror at thy fall. 
 
 Thy task is done — the bond are free; 
 
 We bear thee to an honored grave. 
 Whose noblest monument shall be 
 
 The broken fetters of the slave. 
 
 Pure was thy life; its bloody close 
 
 Hath placed thee with the sons of light, 
 
 Among the noble host of those 
 
 Who perished in the cause of right. 
 
 By Oliver Wendell Holmes. 
 
 O Thou of soul and sense and breath, 
 
 The ever-present Giver, 
 Unto Thy mighty angel, death. 
 
 All flesh thou dost deliver; 
 What most we cherish, we resign. 
 For life and death alike are Thine, 
 
 Who reignest Lord forever! 
 
 Our hearts lie buried in the dust 
 With him, so true and tender, 
 
 The patriot's stay, the people's trust, 
 The shield of the offender; 
 
 Yet every murmuring voice is still. 
 
 As, bowing to Thy sovereign will. 
 Our best loved we surrender.
 
 32 
 
 Dear Lord, with pitying eye behold 
 
 This martyr generation, 
 Which Thou, through trials manifold, 
 
 Art shov^'ing Thy salvation! 
 O let the blood by murder spilt 
 Wash out Thy stricken children's guilt. 
 
 And sanctify our nation! 
 
 Be Thou Thy orphaned Israel's friend, 
 
 Forsake Thy people never, 
 In One our broken Many blend. 
 
 That none again may sever! 
 Hear us, O Father, while we raise 
 With trembling lips our songs of praise, 
 
 And bless Thy name forever! 
 
 From Englishmen. 
 
 [The government of England sympathized with the Southern cause. The Lon- 
 don Punch was particularly severe in its criticisms and cartoons on Mr. Lincoln. 
 It pictured him as most uncouth and ludicrous. But that at his death the great- 
 ness and goodness of the man were fully appreciated is shown in the three poems 
 which follow.] 
 
 [From the London Punch.'\ 
 
 You lay a wreath on murdered Lincoln's bier! 
 
 You, who with mocking pencil wont to trace. 
 Broad for the self-complacent British sneer, 
 
 His length of shambling limb, his furrowed face," 
 
 His gaunt, gnarled hands, his unkempt bristling hair, 
 His garb uncouth, his bearing ill at ease. 
 
 His lack of all we prize as debonair. 
 
 Of power or will to shine, of art to please! 
 
 You, whose smart pen backed up the pencil's laugh, 
 Judging each step, as though the way were plain 
 
 Reckless, so it could point its paragraph 
 Of chief's perplexity, or people's pain! 
 
 Beside this corpse, that bears for winding-sheet 
 The stars and stripes he lived to rear anew. 
 
 Between the mourners at his head and feet. 
 Say, scurril-jester, is there room for ifou? 
 
 Yes, he had lived to shame me from my sneer — 
 To lame my pencil, and to confute my pen — 
 
 To make me own this hind of princes peer. 
 This rail-splitter, a true-born king of men. 
 
 My shallow judgment I had learnt to rue. 
 Noting how to occasion's height he rose; 
 
 How his quaint wit made home-truth seem more true; 
 How, iron-like, his temper grew by blows; 
 
 How humble, yet hov%- hopeful, he could be: 
 How in good fortune and in ill the same; 
 
 Nor bitter in success, nor boastful he. 
 Thirsty for gold, nor feverish for fame.
 
 >

 
 33 
 
 He went about his work — such work as few 
 Ever had laid on head, and heart, and hand — 
 
 As one who knows where there's a task to do; 
 
 Man's honest will must Heaven's good grace command; 
 
 Who trusts the strength will with the burden grow, 
 That God makes instruments to v>ork his will, 
 
 If but that will we ran arrive to know. 
 
 Nor tamper with the weights of good and ill. 
 
 So he went forth to battle, on the side 
 That he felt clear was liberty's and Right's, 
 
 As in his peasant boyhood he had plied 
 
 His warfare with rude nature's thwarting mights; — 
 
 The uncleared forest, the unbroken soil. 
 The iron bark that turns the lumberer's axe. 
 
 The rapid, that o'erbears the boatman's toil. 
 The prairie, hiding the mazed wanderer's tracks. 
 
 The ambushed Indian, and the prowling bear, — 
 
 Such were the needs that helped his youth to train; 
 Rough culture — but such trees large fruit may bear, 
 • If but their stocks be of right girth and grain. 
 
 So he grew up, a destined work to do, 
 And lived to do it: four long-suffering years' 
 
 Ill-fate, ill-feeling, ill-report, lived through, 
 
 And then he heard the hisses change to cheers. 
 
 The taunts to tribute, the abuse to praise, 
 
 And took both with the same unwavering mood; 
 
 Till, as he came on light, from darkling days, 
 And seemed to touch the goal from where he stood, 
 
 A felon hand, between the goal and him. 
 
 Reached from behind his back, a trigger prest — 
 
 And those perplexed and patient eyes were dim, 
 Those gaunt long-laboring limbs were laid to rest! 
 
 The words of mercy were upon his lips, 
 Forgiveness in his heart and on his pen, 
 
 When this vile murderer brought swift eclipse 
 
 To thoughts of peace on earth, good v>'ill to men. 
 
 The old world and the new, from sea to sea. 
 
 Utter one voice of sympathy and shame! 
 Sore heart, so stopped when it at last beat high; 
 
 Sad life, cut short just as its triumph came. 
 
 [From MacMillan's Magazine, England.] 
 
 Lincoln! when men would name a man 
 Just, unperturbed, magnanimous. 
 
 Tried in the lov/est seat of all. 
 Tried in the chief seat of the house — 
 
 Lincoln! When men would name a man 
 Who wrought the great work of his age, 
 
 Who fought and fought the noblest fight. 
 And marshalled it from stage to stage,
 
 34 
 
 Victorious, out of dusk and dark, 
 And into dawn and on till day 
 
 Most humble when the paeans rang, 
 Least rigid when the enemy lay 
 
 Prostrated for his feet to tread — 
 
 This name of Lincoln will they name, 
 
 A name revered, a name of scorn. 
 Of scorn to sundry, not to fame. 
 
 Lincoln, the man who freed the slave; 
 
 Lincoln whom never self enticed; 
 Slain Lincoln, worthy found to die 
 
 A soldier of his captain Christ. 
 
 By John Nichol. 
 
 An end at last! The echoes of the war — 
 
 The weary war beyond the Western waves — ■ 
 
 Die in the distance. Freedom's rising star 
 Beacons above a hundred thousand -graves; 
 
 The graves of heroes who have won the fight. 
 Who in the storming of the stubborn town 
 
 Have rung the marriage peal of might and right. 
 And scaled the cliffs and cast the dragon down. 
 
 Paeans of armies thrill across the sea, 
 
 Till Europe answers — "Let the struggle cease. 
 
 The bloody page is turned; the next may be 
 For ways of pleasantness and paths of peace!" 
 
 A golden morn — a daw^n of better things — 
 The olive branch — clasping of hands again — 
 
 A noble lesson read to conquered kings — 
 A sky that tempests had not scoured in vain. 
 
 This from America we hoped and him 
 
 Who ruled her "in the spirit of his creed." 
 Does the hope last when all our eyes are dim, 
 ■ As history records her darkest deed? 
 
 The pilot of his people through the strife, 
 
 With his strong purpose turning scorn to praise, 
 E'en at the close of battle reft of life. 
 And fair inheritance of quiet days. 
 
 Defeat and triumph found him calm and just. 
 
 He showed how clemency should temper power. 
 And dying left to future times in trust 
 
 The memory of his brief victorious hour. 
 
 O'ermastered by the irony of fate. 
 The last and greatest martyr of his cause; 
 Slain like Achilles at the Scaean gate, 
 
 He saw the end and fixed "the purer laws." 
 
 May these endure and, as his work, attest 
 The glory of his honest heart and hand — 
 
 The simplest, and the bravest, and the best — 
 The Moses and the Cromwell of his land.
 
 35 
 
 Too late the pioneers of modern spite, 
 
 Awe-stricken by the universal gloom, 
 See his name lustrous in Death's sable night. 
 
 And offer tardy tribute at his tomb. 
 
 But we who have been with him all the while, 
 Who knew his worth, and loved him long ago. 
 
 Rejoice that in the circuit of our isle 
 There is no room at last for Lincoln's foe. 
 
 — London Spectator. 
 
 Captain ! My Captain ! 
 
 Walt Whitman. 
 
 O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, 
 The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won, 
 The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, 
 While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring; 
 But O heart! heart! heart! 
 O the bleeding drops of red, 
 
 Where on the deck my captain lies. 
 Fallen cold and dead. 
 
 O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; 
 Rise up — for you the flag is flung — for you the bugle trills, 
 x^'or you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths— for you the shores* 
 
 a-crowding. 
 For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning; 
 Here Captain! dear father! 
 This arm beneath your head! 
 
 It is some dream that on the deck, 
 You've fallen cold and dead. 
 
 My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale ^nd still, 
 My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will, 
 The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done. 
 From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won; 
 Exult O shores, and ring bells! 
 But I with mournful tread, 
 
 Walk the deck my captain lies. 
 Fallen cold and dead. 
 — Fi-om "Leaves of Grass," Sviall, Menard & Co., Boston. 
 
 By Dennis B. Dorsey. 
 
 Slowly we come to learn thy worth. 
 Oh, genial man! oh, modest sage! 
 
 Slowly we come to see we've lost 
 The grandest spirit of the age. 
 
 So near we felt the loving heart, 
 
 Gentle and warm tow'rd all mankind, 
 
 We ne'er looked up to see ourselves 
 O'ershadowed by the mighty mind.
 
 36 
 
 Now scarce we know which we most miss, 
 The leader's mind or brother's heart; 
 And scarce we know which most we prize, 
 The brother's love or leader's art. 
 
 The world with us will prize them both; 
 
 To us alone they were not given; 
 Like light and air, to all mankind. 
 
 They were a common gift of Heaven. 
 
 Not we alone thy death deplored, 
 Not Tx'e alone thy absence weep; 
 
 The world through all the ages hence 
 
 Thy name shall love, thy fame shall keep. 
 
 Funeral of Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 Walt Whitman. 
 
 Over the breast of the spring, the land, amid cities, 
 
 Amid lanes and through old woods, where lately the violets 
 peeped from the ground, spotting the grey debris, 
 
 Amid the grass in the fields each side of the lanes, pass- 
 ing the endless grass. 
 
 Passing the yellow-spear'd wheat, every grain from its 
 shroud in the dark-brown fields uprisen. 
 
 Passing the apple-tree blows of v^'hite and pink in the 
 orchards. 
 
 Carrying a corpse to where it shall rest in the grave. 
 
 Night and day journeys a coffin. 
 
 Coffin that passes through lanes and streets, 
 
 Through day and night with the great cloud darkening the land, 
 
 With the pomp of the inloop'd fiags with the cities draped 
 
 in black. 
 With the show of the States themselves as of crape-veil'd 
 
 women stanSing, 
 With processions long and winding and the flambeaus of the 
 
 night. 
 With the countless torches lit, with the silent sea of 
 
 faces and the unbared heads. 
 With the waiting depot, the arriving coffin, and the sombre faces. 
 With dirges through the night, with the thousand voices 
 
 rising strong and solemn. 
 With all the mournful voices of the dirges pour'd around 
 
 the coffin, 
 The dim lit churches and the shuddering organs— where 
 
 amid these you journey. 
 With the tolling, tolling bells' perpetual clang, 
 Here, coffin that slovcly passes, . ' 
 
 I give you my sprig of lilac. 
 
 — From ''When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Blossom."
 
 PUBLIC VAULT AT OAK RIDGE. 
 
 The remains of President Lincoln and his son Willie who died In Washington, 
 were placed in this vault May 4, 1865.
 
 38 
 Lincoln and Burns. 
 
 [Both born of lowly parents, both reared amongst the common folk, both close 
 to the great heart of humanity, both quick to see the real worth of a man despite 
 his rank or decorations, it is little wonder that Burns should come so close to a 
 picture of Lincoln in some of his works, and that Lincoln should discover himself 
 in some of those writings, particularly in the poem which follows:] 
 
 HONEST POVERTY. 
 
 Is there, for honest poverty. 
 
 That hangs his head, and a' that? 
 The coward-slave, we pass him by, 
 
 We dare be poor for a' that! 
 For a' that, and a' that, 
 
 Our toil's obcure, and a' that, 
 The rank is but the guinea-stamp. 
 The man's the gowd for a' that. 
 
 What though on hamely fare we dine, 
 
 Wear hodden grey, and a' that; 
 Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine, 
 
 A man's a' man for a' that! 
 For a' that, and a' that! 
 
 The honest man, though e'er sae poor,- 
 Is king o' men for a' that. 
 
 Ye see yon birkie, ca'd a lord, 
 
 Wha struts, and stares, and a' that; 
 
 Though hundreds worship at his word. 
 
 He's but a coof for a' that. 
 For a' that, and a' that: 
 
 His riband, star, and a' that, 
 The man of independent mind, 
 
 He looks and laughs at a' that. 
 
 A king can mak' a belted knight, 
 
 A marquess, duke, and a' that; 
 But an honest man's aboon his might, — 
 
 Guid faith, he maunna fa' that! 
 For a' that, and a' that, 
 
 Their dignities, and a' that. 
 The pith o' sense and pride o' worth 
 
 Are higher ranks than a' that. 
 
 Then let us pray that come it may, 
 
 As come it will for a' that. 
 That sense and worth, o'er a' the earth. 
 
 May bear the gree, and a' that; 
 For a' that, and a' that. 
 
 It's coming yet, for a' that. 
 That man to man, the w'arld o'er. 
 
 Shall brothers be for a' that. 
 
 a ,all; gowd,so\d\ sae, so: birkie, a conceited fellow; ca'd, called; coof, a dunce; aboon, 
 above; gnid, good; maunna fa' , must not try; bear the gree, win tlie victory.
 
 7. 
 
 > 
 < 
 > 
 
 r
 
 TWF WM ITE MOUSE 
 
 WA 6 M INOTON 
 
 Deceabflr 11, 1906. 
 
 l!y dear V'.r. Collaerj 
 
 I gladly accept your invitation on bohal/- of the 
 Lincoln Farm Association to make an aJdress on the 
 turcD, and at the log cabin its«lf in which Lincoln »as 
 bom, on February 12, 1909,' the one-hundredth arni- 
 veraary of Lincoln's birth, and therefore one of the 
 Bost aignif ic&nt eventa in Aaierican history. As 
 Mark T*ain has well oaid, this little farm is "the 
 111. tie farm that raised a ILani" and I count myself 
 fortunate that it has happened to me to be able as 
 Preaidant to accept the invitation to make "the address 
 at Buch a placg on ouch an occaaion. 
 Sincerely youro. 
 
 Ur. Robert J Collier, 
 
 Chairman Lxacutivo Coomltteo, 
 
 The Lincoln Farm Aseociation, 
 74 3road-ay, f.'e* York.
 
 40 
 
 By Wm. H. Taft, President-elect. 
 
 [William Howard Taft speaking on "Lincoln" October 7, on the Knox 
 College campus, Galesburg, 111., at the exact spot where Lincoln and Douglas 
 engaged in debate fifty years ago, said:] 
 
 "Certain it is that we have never had a man in public life whose sense 
 of duty was stronger, whose bearing toward those with whom he came in 
 contact, whether his friends or political opponents, was characterized 
 by a greater sense of fairness than Abraham Lincoln. We have never 
 had a man in public life who took upon himself uncomplainingly the 
 woes of the nation and suffered in his soul from the weight of them as 
 he did. We have never had a man in our history who had such a 
 mixture of far-sightedness, of understanding of the people, of common 
 sense, of high sense of duty, of power of inexorable logic and of con- 
 fidence in the goodness of God, in working out a righteous result as this 
 great product of the soil of Kentucky and Illinois." 
 
 By J. McCan Davis. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln was not a deity. It is among the glories of the 
 human race that he was a man. He stands on a pinnacle alone, the 
 greatest man in our history — the most wondrous man of all the ages. 
 The world will forever marvel at his origin and his career. Whence 
 came this wondrous man ? Back of Lincoln — generations before he was 
 born — events happened which helped to shape and mold his destiny. 
 No man escapes this inheritance from the past. We can not know 
 what seeds were sown a thousand years ago. We can not see far beyond 
 the loff cabin in the wilderness of Kentucky. He came- to us with no 
 heritage save the heart and the brain which came from the fathomless 
 deeps of the unknown. 
 
 He was endowed with that divine gift of imagination which enabled 
 him to behold the future. The emancipation proclamation loomed in 
 his mind when, as an unknown, friendless youth, he stood on the levee 
 in New Orleans and saw a slave auction thirty years before the Civil 
 War. As he sat in the White House he saw beyond battles, beyond the 
 end of the war, beyond the restoration of peace, a reunited country — 
 the grandest nation on the globe, under a single and triumphant flag, 
 moving down the centuries to its glorious destiny. — From How Abra- 
 ham Lincoln Became President.
 
 -11 
 
 Bv W.M. 11. Hei;.\1)ux, 
 [Law partner of Mr Lincoln] 
 
 This man, tliis long, bony, \viry, sad man, floated into our lountry 
 in 1831, in a frail canoe, down the north fork of the Sangamon river 
 friendless, jioniiilcss, jjowerless and alone — hogging for work in this 
 city — ragged, struggling for the common necessaries of life. This man, 
 this peculiar man, left us in 1801. the President of the United States, 
 backed by friends and power, by fame, and all liiiman force; and it is 
 well to inquire how. 
 
 To sum up, let us say, here is a sensitive, dillident, unobtrusive, nat- 
 ural-made gentleman. His mind was strong and deep, sincere and 
 honest, patient and enduring; having no vices, and having only negative 
 defects, with many jiositivc virtues. Plis is a strong, honest, sagacious, 
 manly, noble life. lie stands in the foremost rank of men in all ages — 
 their equal — one of the best tvpes of this Christian civilization — Spring- 
 field. 1882. . 
 
 Opinion of ax Ex-Slave, Frederick Douglas. 
 
 [From an address at the Inauguration of the Freedmen's Memorial Monument 
 
 to Abraham Lincoln.] 
 
 We are here to express our grateful sense of the vast, high, and pre- 
 eminent services rendered to ourselves, to our race, to our country, and 
 to the whole world by Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 The race to which we belong was not the special object of his con- 
 sideration. Knowing this, I concede to you, my wliite fellow citizens, 
 that you and yours w-ere the object of his deepest affection and his most 
 earnest solicitude. You are the children of Abraham Lincoln. We are 
 at best only his step-children, children by adoption, children by force 
 of circumstances and necessity. To you it especially belongs to sound 
 his praises, to preserve and to perpetuate his memory, to commend his 
 example, for to you he was a great and glorious friend and benefactor. 
 Abraham Lincoln saved for you a country, he delivered us from i 
 bondage. 
 
 The name of Abraham Lincoln was near and dear to our hearts, in th-j 
 darkest and most perilous hours of the republic. Wc were no more 
 ashamed of him when shrouded in clouds of darkness, of doubt, 3rd 
 defeat than when crowned with victory, honor and glory. Our faith in 
 him was taxed and strained to the uttermost, but it never failed. De- 
 spite the mist and haze that were about him, we were able to take a 
 comprehensive view of Abraham Lincoln, and to make reasonable allow- 
 ance for the circumstances of his position. We came to the conclu- 
 sion that the hour and the man of our redemption had met in the per- 
 son of Abraham Lincoln. It mattered little to us what language he 
 might employ upon special occasions; it mattered little to us, when v.e 
 fully knew him, whether he ^vas swift or slow in his movements; it 
 was enough for us that Abraham Lincoln was at the head of the creat
 
 42 
 
 movement; and was in living and earnest sympathy with that movement 
 which, in the nature of things, must go on till slavery should be utterly 
 and forever abolished in the United States. 
 
 What had Abraham Lincoln to do with us? The answer is ready, 
 full, and complete. Though he loved Caesar less than Home, though 
 the Union was more to him than our freedom or future, under his wise 
 and beneficent rule we saw ourselves gradually lifted from the depths 
 of slavery to the heights of liberty and manhood. 
 
 He was a mystery to no man who saw and heard him. Though high 
 in position, the humblest could approach him and feel at home in his 
 presence. Though deep, he was transparent; though strong, he was 
 gentle ; though decided and pronounced in his convictions, he was toler- 
 ant toward those who differed from him, and patient under reproaches. 
 The image of the man went out with his words and those who read them 
 knew him. 
 
 By Horace White the Noted Editor. 
 
 [Upon the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, Lincoln saw its far-reach 
 lug consequences and so aroused was he against it that he came forth from 
 his political retirement to take the great issue before the people. He fol- 
 lowed Senator Douglas from place to place in Illinois, answering his argu- 
 ments in favor of this bill. Horace White, who followed Lincoln through 
 the campaign of 18.54 and also through the debates of 1858, reporting the 
 speeches for papers, heard and thus describes the first speech made by Mr. 
 Lincoln on the Kansas-Nebraska Bill in reply to Douglas in Springfield, Ill- 
 inois, October 4, 1854.] 
 
 I heard the whole of that speech. It was a warmish day in early 
 October, and Mr. Lincoln was in his shirt sleeves when he stepped on the 
 platform. I observed that, although awkward, he was not in the least 
 embarrassed. He began in a slow and hesitating manner, but without 
 any mistakes of language, dates, or facts. It was evident that he had 
 mastered his subject, that he knew what he was going "to say, and that 
 he knew he was right. He had a thin, high-pitched falsetto voice of 
 much carrying power, that could be heard a long distance in spite of the 
 bustle and tumult of a crowd. He had the accent and pronunciation 
 peculiar to his native State, Kentucky. Gradually he warmed up with 
 his subject, his angularity disappeared, and he passed into that attitude 
 of unconscious majesty that is so conspicuous in Saint-Gauden's statue 
 at the entrance of Lincoln Park in Chicago. I have often wondered how 
 this artist, who never saw the subject of his work, could have divined his 
 presence and his dignity as a public speaker so perfectly. 
 
 HIS impassioned utterances. 
 
 Progressing with his theme, his words began to come faster and his 
 face to light up with the rays of genius and his body to move in unison 
 with his thoughts. His gestures were made with his body and head 
 rather than with his arms. They were the natural expression of the 
 man, and so perfectly adapted to what he was saying that anything dif- 
 
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 ferent from it would have hwn quite iucouecivalile. Sometimes his man- 
 ner was very impassioned, and he seemed transfij^ured with his subject. 
 Perspiration wouhl stream from liis face, and each particular hair would 
 stand on end. Then the inspiration that possessed him took possession 
 of his hearers also. His speaking went to tlie heart because it came from 
 the heart. I have heard celebrated orators who could start thunders of 
 applause without changing any man's opinion. Mr. Lincoln's eloquence 
 was of the higher type, wliieh ]»rodueed conviction in others liecause of 
 the convietion of the speaker himself. His listeners felt that he believed 
 every word he said, and that, like ]\Iartin Luther, he would go to the 
 stake rather than abate one jot or tittle of it. In such transfigured 
 moments as these he was the type of the ancient Helirew prophet as I 
 learned that character at Sunday-school in my cliildhood. 
 
 That there were, now and then, electrical discharges of high tension 
 in Lincoln's eloquence is a fact little remembered, so few persons remain 
 who ever came within its range. The most remarkable outburst took 
 place at the Bloomington Convention of ]\[ay 29, 185G, at which the 
 anti-Xebraska forces of Hlinois were firet collected and welded together 
 as one party. Mr. John L. Scripps, editor of the Chicago Democratic 
 Press, who was present — a man of gravity little likely to be carried off 
 his feet by spoken words — said : 
 
 "Never was an audience more completely electrified by human eloquence. 
 Again and again during its delivery they sprang to their feet and upon the 
 benches and testified by long-continued shouts and the waving of hats how 
 deeply the speaker had wrought upon their minds and hearts. It fused 
 the mass of hitherto incongruous elements into perfect homogeneity; and 
 from that day to the present they have worked together in harmonious and 
 fraternal union." 
 
 4 
 
 The speech of 1854 made so profound an impression on me that I 
 feel under its spell to this day. It is known in history as ^Ir. Lincoln's 
 Peoria speech. Although first delivered in Springfield on October 4, it 
 was repeated twelve days later at Peoria. Mr. Lincoln did not use a 
 scrap of paper on either occasion, but he wrote it out afterwards at the 
 request of friends and published it in successive numbers of the weekly 
 Sangamon Journal at Springfield. In like manner Avere the orations of 
 Cicero preserved. In this way has been preserved for us the most mas- 
 terly forensic utterance of the whole slavery controversy, as I think. 
 
 A Southern View. 
 
 [!From an address by Hon. Newton C. Blanchard, Governor of Louisiana, at 
 
 Springfield 111., Feb. 12, 1907.1 
 
 Let us here tonight take fresh hold on the fact that the war closed 
 more than forty years ago. 
 
 As we look back over the decades of renewed national life which 
 have elapsed since that critical time, we come to realize in the fullest, 
 and point the world to the fact, that our system of government, tried 
 in the crucible of civil war and reconstruction, did, indeed, emerge there- 
 from stronger than ever, not merely in the legal lionds guaranteeing a
 
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 45. 
 
 A Lincoln bihliograpliy, conn)ilod by lion. Daniel Fish, ol" Minne- 
 apolis, Avas published in 190(5 in a superb volume of 247 pages. It eon- 
 tains 1,080 separate titles. Judge Fisk has 854 bound volumes and 
 pam})hlets in his own oolleetions. 
 
 ^Ir. D. »S. Passavant, of Zolienople, I'a., has a collection of Lineolu- 
 iana in foreign langua<i:;es. Lives of Lincoln have been published in 
 the French, German, Dutch, Swedish, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Span- 
 ish, Portuguese, Greek, Welsh and Hawaiian tongues. 
 
 The largest collection of Lincoluian relics as distinguished from printed 
 matter, is that of 'Mr. 0. H. Oldroyd, which is now housed in the build- 
 ing were Lincoln died, olG Tenth street, Washington City. • The largest 
 collection of Lincoln's handwriting in existence is that of Jesse W. Weik, 
 of Greencastle, Indiana. Mr. Weik was the co-laborer of Wm. H. Hern- 
 don in writing the life of Abraham Lincoln. Herndon had been Lin- 
 coln's law partner at Springfield for many years; and shortly before his 
 death he gave the entire contents of the law office to Mr. Weik. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 So we see that Mr. Lincoln's death did not take place at the culmina- 
 tion of his fame, but that it has been rising and widening ever since 
 and shows no signs of abatement. Of no other American 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 depart- 
 ment of literature collecting around the name of any statesman of the 
 nineteenth century like that which celebrates the name of our martyr 
 President. This mass of literature is produced and collected and clier- 
 ished because the hearts of men and women go out to Lincoln. It is not 
 mere admiration for his mental and moral qualities, but a silent re- 
 sponse to the magnetic influence of his humanity, his unselfish 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.