ABRAHAM LINCOLN
AND HIS

LAST RESTING PLACE.

A LEAFLET PUBLISHED FOR DISTRIBUTION
...AT THE...
NATIONAL

LINCOLN

MONUMENT

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.

The Life of Abraham Lincoln has been written by many men
in many tongues.
The resources of rhetoric and eloquence have been exhausted in
their portrayal of this character that however viewed holds a lesson
for all mankind.
In this brief space and for the purpose which this leaflet is designed
to serve, the simple homely details of the martyred President's early
life could not be better told than in his own words. No polished recital
could be so prized by the great multitude who hold his memory dear
as this transcript of a letter written in 1859 to his friend the Hon.
Jesse W. Fell of Bloomington, Illinois :

973.7L63
D2J62a
5

6

7

8

Abraham Lincoln little thought as he penned the words, "What I
have done since then is pretty well known/' that a world would one
day listen enthralled to the tale of what he had done and should do in
the decade from 1855 to 1865.
In 1854 the repeal of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 opened a
new political era, and an agitation of the slavery question was begun
which was destined to grow until the shackles were struck forever from
the hands of the slave.
By this repeal slavery claimed protection everywhere; it sought to
nationalize itself. At this time the question of "popular sovereignty"
arose, the right of the people of a territory to choose their own institutions, and upon this question Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Douglas fought the
"battle of the giants," and Mr. Lincoln's signal ability as an orator
was forever established. He became at once the leader of his party in
the West and the foremost champion of the liberties of the oppressed.
In a private letter, written at this time, Mr. Lincoln defines his
position on the great question of the day as follows:
" I acknowledge your rights and my obligations under the constitution in regard to your slaves. I confess I hate to see the poor creatures hunted down and caught and carried back to their stripes and
unrequited toil, but I keep quiet. You ought to appreciate how much
the great body of the people of the North crucify their feelings in order
to maintain their loyalty to the Constitution and the Union. I do
oppose the extension of slavery because- my judgment and feelings so
prompt me, and I am under no obligations to the contrary. As a nation we began by declaring 'all men are created equal.' We now practically read it, 'all men are created equal except negroes.' When it
comes to making wholesale exceptions I should prefer emigrating to
some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty, where
despotism can be taken pure without the base alloy of hypocrisy.
Your friend,
A.

LINCOLN."

May 29, 1856, the Republican party of Illinois was organized, and
he was now the leader of a party whose avowed purpose it was to resist the extension of slavery. At the national convention his name
was presented as a candidate for vice-president. He did not receive
the required number of votes, but the action was complimentary and
served as Mr. Lincoln's formal introduction to the nation.
The senatorial campaign of 1858 in Illinois was memorable for the
questions involved and for the debates between Douglas and Lincoln
upon the great issues that were even then distracting the nation.
When these two met in intellectual combat the nation paused to listen.
' 'The eyes of all the eastern states were turned to the west where young
republicanism and old democracy were establishing the dividing lines
and preparing for the great struggle soon to begin.
To say that Mr. Lincoln was the victor in the contest morally and
intellectually is simply to record the judgment of the world.

COPYRIGHT 1901 BY GUY R MATHIS

TEMPORARY

TOMB.

9
His speeches were clear, logical, powerful and exhaustive. On
these his reputation as an orator and debator rest. They defined the
difference between the power of slavery and the policy of freedom
which ended, after expenditures of uncounted treasure and unmeasured
blood, in the final overthrow of the institution of slavery.
Mr. Lincoln was defeated in this campaign and Mr. Douglas was
returned to the Senate, but Mr. Lincoln was now thoroughly committed
to politics. In 1859 and 1860 he journeyed in the Eastern states,
making speeches that thrilled and electrified the audiences which he
had expected to find cold and critical.
The mutterings of secession already filled the land. The spirit of
unrest and rebellion was gaining ground, but wherevei the voice of
Lincoln was heard it was pleading for union, for peace, for the Constitution, deprecating the evils of slavery as it existed and protesting
against its extension into free states and territories.
His was the voice of one crying in the wilderness, warning the
men of the North and the South that a house divided against itself
cannot stand. On the 16th of June, i860, Mr. Lincoln received the
nomination of the republican convention held at Chicago for President
of the United States. How this plain, comparatively unknown Illinois
lawyer was chosen in this critical hour before a man like Seward, with
his wide experience and acquaintance, his large influence and surpassing ability, his name and fame of thirty years standing, must be regarded as the guiding of that Providence that had brooded over the
life of the republic since it declared itself to be the home of the free,
the refuge of the oppressed. On the 6th of November Mr. Lincoln
was elected, by a handsome plurality, President of the United States.
At eight o'clock Monday morning, February 11, 1861, Mr. Lincoln left Springfield for the National Capital to enter upon his duties
as President. With these simple words he took leave of his friends
and neighbors:
"My friends: No one not in my position can appreciate the sadness 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. A duty devolves upon me which is perhaps greater
than that which has devolved upon any other man since the days of
Washington. He never would have succeeded except by the aid of
Divine Providence, upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I
cannot succeed without the same Divine aid which sustained him, and
on the same Almighty Being I place my reliance for support, and I
hope you, my friends, will all pray that I may receive that Divine assistance without which I cannot succeed but with which success is
certain. Again I bid you an affectionate farewell."
These proved to be his last words to Springfield auditors.
The result of this election pleased and united the North while it
angered the South. To the more thoughtful men of both parties a crisis
seemed imminent. The southern states immediately seceded; the
Southern Confederacy was formed with Jefferson Davis as President;

10

forts and arsenals were seized and the war of the rebellion fairly inaugurated. It was this disrupted Union, this all but shattered government, which waited for the man who upon the 4th day of March, 1861,
took the oath of office and became the President of the United States.
The closing words of his memorable inaugural address must have
convinced his listeners of the wisdom, the strength, the gentleness of
this new incumbent of the chair of State:
"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, 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 I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it. I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but
friends. The mystic cords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over
this broad land will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again
touched, as they surely will be, by the better angels of our nature."
With infinite patience and unequaled forbearance and sagacity,
Mr. Lincoln strove to avert war, but when, on April 12, 1861, the rebel
batteries were opened upon Fort Sumpter, forbearance was no longer
possible, and, on the 15th day of April, the pen that had only* been
used to counsel moderation, to urge loyalty, penned a proclamation
calling for seventy-five thousand men and the Civil War was begun.
The popular government had been called an experiment. Two points
of the experiment had already been settled: The government had been
established and it had been administered. One point remained to be
established: Its successful maintenance against a formidable internal
attempt to overthrow it. Congress ably supported Mr. Lincoln. It
placed at his disposal five million dollars and gave him liberty to call
out half a million men] During all the years of that long, sad war
there were loyal hearts among his admirers that held up the hands of
their President, but the crowning personality, the strong, pervading,
directing, controlling spirit was that of Abraham Lincoln, whether
watching the progress of events from his almost beleagured capital or
while visiting and mingling with his army at the front.
Never for a moment did he lay aside his personal responsibility.
Never did he swerve from his resolve, expressed in the words of his
memorable speech at the dedication of the soldiers' graves at Gettysburg:
" W e have come to dedicate a portion of this field as a final resting
place for those who here gave their lives that the nation might live.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we
cannot hallow this ground. The brave men living and dead who
struggled here have consecrated it far beyond our power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here,
but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living,
rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who
fought here have 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

INFANTRY

GROUP.

CAVALRY

GROU.P.

ARTILLERY

GROUP.

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II

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 and for the people shall not perish from the earth."
The story of the war and the life of Lincoln are inseparable. The
recital of all those years of marching, camping, fighting, of wounds,
privations, victory, defeat and death cannot be made without the story
of Lincoln interwoven into its warp and woof. The days fraught with
the grave issues of the war went by, victory alternating with defeat
until, in the judgment of the commander-in-chief, the time had come
to emancipate the colored race.
Early in August of 1863, President Lincoln called a meeting of
his Cabinet and submitted for their consideration the original draft of
his Emancipation Proclamation. On the 1st day of January, 1864, Mr.
Lincoln issued the final Proclamation of Emancipation, bringing freedom to four million of slaves and removing forever from the land he
loved the blot of slavery.
It seemed fitting that to this man who had blazed the way through
the wilderness for this cause, who had brooded and smarted under the
sense of the sin of slavery from his early untaught youth, who in
clarion tones had declared, at the outset of his career, that he "would
speak for freedom against slavery until everywhere in all this broad
land the sun shall shine, the rain shall fall and the wind shall blow
upon no man who goes forth to unrequited toil."
It was meet that
from his lips should fall the words that made four million men free,
and it is in consonance with the character of the great Emancipator
that in this supreme moment of his life he reverently invoked upon
that act "the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor
of Almighty God."
T h e , latter part of the year 1863 was marked by the success of
Union armies. The Republican National Convention assembled in
Baltimore, June 8, 1864, unanimously nominated Mr. Lincoln as their
candidate for President. His words accepting this nomination were
characteristic:
"Having served four years in the depths of a great and yet unended national peril, I can view this call to a second term in no wise
more flattering to myself than as an expression of the public judgment
that I may better finish a difficult work than could any one less severely
schooled to the task. In this view, and with assured reliance on that
Almighty Ruler who has so graciously sustained us thus far, and with
increased gratitude to the generous people for their continued confidence, I accept the renewed trust with its yet onerous and perplexing
duties and responsibilities."
During the height of the canvass President Lincoln issued a call
for five hundred thousand men, also making provisions for a draft if
necessary. His friends feared that this measure might cost him his
election, but he waived that aside as he always did personal consideration that might conflict with duty.
November came, and with it Mr. Lincoln's re-election. His second election proved the death blow to the rebellion. From that time
the Southern armies never gained a substantial victory. When the

12

Thirty-Eighth Congress assembled December 6, 1864, President Lincoln recommended an amendment to the Constitution making human
slavery forever impossible in the United States.
The joint resolutions for the extinction of slavery passed Congress
and received the signature of the President January 31, 1865. The
legislature of Illinois, being then in session, took up the question at
once and in less than twenty-four hours after its passage by Congress
Mr. Lincoln had the satisfaction of receiving a telegram from his old home
announcing the fact that the constitutional amendment had been ratified by both houses of the legislature of his own state February 1, 1865.
The action of the legislatures of other states soon followed, and thus
was completed and confirmed the work of the proclamation of emancipation.
Upon the 4th of March, 1865, Mr. Lincoln was for the second
time inaugurated President of the United States. His inaugural address upon that occasion has become a classic. Its closing words have
been quoted wherever the foot of an American has strayed beneath the
sun. "Fondly do we hope, reverently do we pray that this mighty
scourge of war may speedily pass away, yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and
fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of
blood drawn by the lash shall be paid by another drawn by the sword,
as was said three thousand years ago, 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 us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in, to
bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the
battle, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace
among ourselves and with all nations."
The closing scenes of the war were being enacted in quick succession. Richmond had fallen, and on the 4th day of April, just one
month after his second inauguration, President Lincoln, leading his
little son by the hand, entered the vanquished city on foot. Never
has the world seen a more modest conqueror, a more characteristic
triumphal procession. No army with banners and drums, only a few
of those who had been slaves escorting the victorious chief with benedictions and tears into the capital of the fallen foe.
A few more days brought the surrender of Lee's army and peace
was assured. Everywhere festive guns were booming, bells pealing,
churches ringing with thanksgivings.
The 14th of April was the anniversary of the fall of Sumpter.
President Lincoln had ordered that day to be signalized by restoring
the old flag to its place on the shattered ramparts of Fort Sumpter.
He ordered the same faithful hands that pulled it down to raise it—
every battery that fired upon it should salute it. Said the Rev. Henry
Ward Beecher upon that occasion: "From this pulpit of broken stone
we send to the President of the United States our solemn congratulations that God has sustained his life and health under the unparalleled
hardships and suffering of four bloody years and permitted him to behold this auspicious consummation of that national unity for which he
has labored with such disinterested wisdom."

13
But, before the kindly words h a d flashed over t h e telegraph wires
to the ears of the patient man in whose honor they were spoken, t h e
bullet of t h e assassin h a d done its w o r k . T h e sad words, " I feel a
presentiment t h a t I shall not outlast the rebellion; when it is over m y
work will be d o n e , " were verified, and all civilized m a n k i n d stood
mourning around the bier of t h e dead President. T h e n began t h a t
unparalleled funeral procession, a mournful pageant, passing country
and village and city, winding along the territories of vast states along
a track of fifteen hundred miles, carrying the revered dead back to h i s
own people, to t h e scenes of his early life, back to t h e prairies of Illinois. Said Beecher in his eloquent and touching funeral oration:
" F o u r years ago, oh, Illinois, we took from your midst an untried
man from among the people. Behold! we r e t u r n to you a m i g h t y conqueror, not ours any more, b u t the n a t i o n ' s . N o t ours b u t the w o r l d ' s .
Give h i m place, oh ye prairies. I n the midst of this great continent
his dust shall rest, a sacred treasure to the myriads who shall come
as pilgrims to t h a t shrine to kindle anew their zeal and patriotism.
H u m b l e child of the backwoods, boatman, hired laborer, clerk, surveyor, captain, legislator, lawyer, debater, politician, orator, statesman, president, saviour of t h e republic, true Christian, t r u e man. W e
receive t h y life and its immeasurably great results as t h e choicest gifts
t h a t h a v e ever been bestowed upon us; grateful to thee for t h y t r u t h
to thyself, to us and to God; and grateful to t h a t ministry of Providence which endowed thee so richly and bestowed thee upon the nation
and m a n k i n d . "
T H E MONUMENT.

T h e body of A b r a h a m Lincoln was deposited in the receiving
vault at Oak Ridge cemetery May 4, 1865.
Upon t h e n t h of May, 1865, the National Lincoln Monument
Association was formed, its object being to construct a m o n u m e n t t o
the memory of A b r a h a m Lincoln in the city of Springfield, 111.
T h e names of the gentlemen comprising the Iyincoln M o n u m e n t
Association in 1865 were as follows:
Gov. RICHARD OGIESBY,
ORIGIN H. MINER,
JOHN T. STUART,
JESSE K. DUBOIS,
JAMES C. CONKLING,
JOHN WILLIAMS,
JACOB BUNN,
DAVID L.

SHARON TYNDAI,E,
THOMAS J. DENNIS,
NEWTON BATEMAN,
S. Hi TREAT,
O. M. HATCH,
S. H. MEI/VIN,
JAMES H. BEVERIDGE,
PHILIPS.

T h e temporary vault was built and t h e body of President Lincoln
removed from t h e receiving vault of t h e cemetery on December 21,
1865. T h e body was placed in the crypt of the m o n u m e n t September
19, 1871, and was placed in t h e sarcophagus in t h e center of t h e catacomb October 9, 1874.
Owing to t h e instability of the earth under its foundations and i t s
unequal settling t h e s t r u c t u r e had begun to show signs of disintegration, neccessitating t a k i n g it down and rebuilding it from t h e foundation. T h e w o r k was b e g u n b y Col. J. S. Culver in Nov., 1899, and
finished J u n e 1, 1901. A cemented vault was made beneath t h e floor

14

of the catacomb directly underneath the sarcophagus and in this vault
the body of President Lincoln was placed Sept. 26, 1901, where it will
probably remain undisturbed forever.
The monument is built of brick and Quincy granite, the latter
material only appearing in view. It consists of a square base 72 % feet
on each side and 15 feet, 10 inches high. At the north side of the
base is a semi-circular projection, the interior of which has a radius of
12 feet. It is the vestibule of the catacomb, and gives access to view
the crypts in which are placed the bodies of Mr. Lincoln's wife and
sons and his grandson, Abraham Lincoln, son of Hon. Robert T. Lincoln. On the south side of the base is another semi-circular projection
of the same size, but this is continued into the base so as to produce a
room of elliptical shape, which is called Memorial Hall. Thus the
base measures, including these two projections, 119^2 feet from north
to south and 7 2 ^ feet from east to west. In the angles formed by the
addition of these two projections are handsome flights of stone steps,
two on each end. These steps are protected by granite balustrades,
which extend completely around the top of the base, which forms a
terrace. From the plane of this terrace rises the obelisk, or die, which
is 28 feet, 4 inches high from the ground, and tapered to 11 feet square
at the top. At the angles of this die are four pedestals of 11 feet diameter, rising 1 2 ^ feet above the plane of the terrace. This obelisk,
including the area occupied by the pedestals, is 41 feet square, while
from the obelisk rises the shaft, tapering to 8 feet square at the summit. Upon the four pedestals stand the four bronze groups, representing the four arms of the service—infantry, cavalry, artillery and navy.
Passing around the whole obelisk and pedestal is a band or chain of
shields, each representing a state, the name of which is carved upon it.
At the south side of the obelisk is a square pedestal, 7 feet high, supporting the statue of Lincoln, the pedestal being ornamented with the
coat of arms of the United States. This coat of arms, in the position
it occupies on the monument, is intended to typify the constitution of
the United States. Mr. Lincoln's statue on the pedestal above it marks
the whole an illustration of his position at the outbreak of the rebellion.
He took his stand on the constitution as his authority for using the
four arms of the war power of the government, the infantry, cavalry,
artillery and navy, to hold together the states which are represented
still lower on the monument by a cordon of tablets linking them together in a perpetual bond of union.
The money used in the original construction of this handsome
monument came from the people by voluntary contributions. The first
entry made by the treasurer of the association was May 8, 1865, and
was from Isaac Reed, of New York, $100. Then came contributions
from Sunday schools, lodges, army associations, individuals and states.
The Seventy-Third Regiment, United States colored troops, at New
Orleans, contributed $1,437, a greater amount than was given by any
other individual or organization except the State of Illinois. Many
pages of the record are filled with the contributions from the Sunday
schools of the land, and of the 5,145 entries, 1,697 a r e from Sunday
schools. The largest part of the money was contributed in 1865, but
it continued to come to the treasurer from all parts of the country until

15

1871. About $8,ooo was contributed by the colored soldiers of the
United States army. Only three states made appropriations for 'this
fund—Illinois, $50,000; Missouri, $1,000 and Nevada $500.
The monument was dedicated October 15, 1874, the occasion being signalized by a tremendous outpouring of the people, the oration
commemorative of the life and public services of the great emancipatorbeing delivered by Governor Richard J. Oglesby. President Grant
also spoke briefly on that occasion, and a poem was read by James
Judson Iyord.
The monument was built after the accepted designs of L,arkin G.
Mead, of Florence, Italy, and stands upon an eminence in Oak Ridge
cemetery, occupying about nine acres of ground. Ground was broken
on the site September 10, 1869, in the presence of 3,000 persons. The
capstone was placed in position on May 22, 1871.
In July, 1871, citizens of Chicago, through Hon. J. Young Scammon, contributed $13,700 to pay for the Infantry group of statuary.
In the city of New York, under the leadership of Gov. E. D. Morgan,
137 gentlemen subscribed and paid $100 each, amounting to $13,700;
for the Naval group.
. Of the four groups of statuary, the Naval Group was the first
completed. This group represents a scene on the deck of a gunboat.
The mortar is poised ready for action; the gunner has rolled up a shell
ready for firing; the boy, or powder monkey, climbs to the highest
point and is peering into the distance; the officer in command is about
to examine the situation through his telescope.
The Infantry group was the next to reach Springfield. Both these
groups were placed in position on the monument in September, 1877.
The Infantry group represents an officer, a private soldier arid a drummer, with arms and accoutrements, marching in expectation of battle.
The officer in command raises the flag with one hand and, pointing to
the enemy with the other, orders a charge. The private with the
musket, as the representative of the whole line, is in the act of executing the charge. The drummer boy has become excited, lost his cap,
thrown away his haversack and drawn a revolver to take part in the
conflict.
The Artillery group represents a piece of artillery in battle. The
enemy has succeeded in directing a shot so well as to dismount the gun.
The officer in command mounts his disabled piece and with drawn
saber fronts the enemy. The youthful soldier, with uplifted hands,
is horrified at the havoc around him. The wounded and prostrate
soldier wears a look of intense agony.
The Cavalry group, consisting of two human figures and a horse,
represents a battle scene. The horse, from whose back the rider has
just been thrown, is frantically rearing. The wounded and dying
trumpeter, supported by a comrade, is bravely facing death. Each of
these groups cost $13,700.
The statue of Mr. Lincoln stands on a pedestal projecting from
the south side of the obelisk. This is the central figure in the group,
or series of groups. As we gaze upon this heroic figure the mute lips

i6

seem again to speak in the memorable words that are now immortal.
We hear again the ringing sentences spoken in 1859 of the slave power:
* 'Broken by it, I too, may be; bow to it, I never will.
*
*
If ever I feel the soul within me elevate and expand to those dimensions not wholly unworthy of its almighty architect, it is when I contemplate the cause of my country deserted by all the world beside, and
I, standing up boldly and alone, hurling defiance at her victorious
oppressors. Here, without contemplating consequences, before high
Heaven and in the face of the world, I swear eternal fidelity to the
just cause, as I deem it, of the land of my life, my liberty and my
love."
From the day of its dedication, October 15, 1874, until July 9,
1895, the Lincoln Monument remained in the control of the National
Monument Association.
In 1874, after its dedication, John Carroll Power was made custodian, and continued in that position until his death in January, 1894.
A sketch of the Lincoln Monument could not, in fairness, be written
without paying a tribute to his faithfulness, zeal and love. He revered
the nation's hero and gave to his last resting place the tenderest and
most assiduous care. Much that is of inter est* in the history of this
first decade of the existence of the monument has been written by his
untiring pen that would otherwise have been lost.
After the attempt was made to steal the body of President Lincoln,
Mr. Power summoned to his aid, in 1880, eight gentlemen, residents of
Springfield, who organized as the "Lincoln Guard of Honor." They
were J. Carroll Power, deceased; Jasper N. Reece, deceased; Gustavus
S. Dana; James F. McNeill; Joseph P. Lindley; Edward S. Johnson;
Horace Chapin; Noble B. Wiggins, deceased, and Clinton L. Conkling.
Their object was to guard the precious dust of Abraham Lincoln from
vandal hands and to conduct, upon the anniversaries of his birth and
death, suitable memorial exercises.
During these years an admittance fee of twenty-five cents was required of all visitors to the monument, and this small fee constituted a
fund by which the custodian was paid and the necessary expenses of
the care of the grounds defrayed.
In the winter of 1894, * n response to a demand voiced almost universally by the press and the people of Illinois, the general assembly
made provision for the transfer of the National Lincoln Monument
and grounds to the permanent care and custody of the state. The new
law puts the monument into the charge of a board of control, consisting of the Governor of the State, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Treasurer.
July 9, 1895, Hon. Richard J. Oglesby, the President, the only surviving member of the original Lincoln Monument Association, turned
over to the state, as represented by its chief executive, Governor Altgeld, the deeds and papers relating to the monument and grounds.
The governor received the trust on behalf of the state, pledging its
faithfulness to the duty of guarding and caring for the last resting
place of the illustrious dead. The commission appointed as custodian
Edward S. Johnson, major of the veteran 7th Illinois Infantry and a
member of the Lincoln Guard of Honor. The admittance fee is a

17

thing of the past and * 'To this Mecca of the people let all the people
come, bringing garlands of flowers, carrying away lessons of life.
There is no shrine more worthy of a devotee, no academy of the porch
or grove where is taught so simply and so grandly the principles of
greatness. Strew flowers, but bear away the imprint of his life, the
flower of manliness and the wreath of honor, " f
In the two score years since the death of Abraham Lincoln the
scars of war have healed, the peace and unity for which he prayed
have been realized, and it seems fitting to bring this brief recital of his
life and the story of the strife from which it is inseparable up to date
with this glance at the present:
" I have seen the new South! But I saw it not by the Potomac,
nor by the Cumberland. I saw it by the shores of that peaceful lake
whose waters are broad enough to carry the fleets of the world and
deep enough to bury in its bosom all the hatred and all the sorrows of
the past. I saw the new South, with her helmet on, bowing to the
august Present.
"She had not forgotten the Past, but was bravely giving herself
to a welcoming Future. There is a great city in the North, known
all over as the type of restless, eager, business activity. Behold, on
one day every shop and store and factory was closed! The hum of
trade was hushed! The pulse of traffic had ceased to beat! And all
this was because Chicago, gathering her own dead to her heart, found
room for the brothers who wore the gray. Longstreet and Lee and
Hampton sat at her hearths while the bugle and the drum proclaimed
the everlasting peace.
' 'When the monument which marks the tomb of the Confederate
dead at Oakwoods was dedicated, North and South marched together
in streets thronged not with enemies but friends.
"Remembering their own heroic dead, the North reverently uncovered while the South gave tears and flowers to her's.
* 'The new South stood in line with the new North, and above
them both towered a form brave, puissant, serene and free. I T WAS
THB NEW

NATION."*

*From George R. Peck's oration before the University of Virginia, June, 1895.
f Rev. Roswell O. Post's oration at the tomb of Lincoln, April, 1883.
The compiler wishes to acknowledge indebtedness to J. G. Holland's Life of Lincoln.