Abraham Lincoln by James Russel Lowell

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

by James Russel Lowell.

Nature, they say, doth dote.

And can not make a man

Save on some worn-out plan,

Repeating us by rote.

For him her Old-World moulds aside she threw.

And, choosing sweet clay from the breast

Of the unexhausted West,

With stuff untainted shaped a hero new.

Wise, steadfast in the strength of God, and true.

Great captains, with their guns and drums,

Disturb our judgment for the hour.

But at last silence comes;

These all are gone, and, standing like a tower,

Our children shall behold his fame;

The kindly, earnest, grave, foreseeing man.

Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame

New birth of our new soil - the first American.

Questions and Answers About Lincoln

After Washington, who is called the greatest American?

Answer: Abraham Lincoln, who was elected President of the United States in the year 1860, and who was re-elected to the same high position in the year 1864, and was assassinated the year 1865.

What were some of the difficulties that Abraham Lincoln overcame as child and youth in his preparation for a useful and honorable career?

Answer: Abraham Lincoln's parents were poor. They lived in the backwoods among rude and ignorant neighbors in an unfinished, almost unfurnished log cabin. His father could not read or write. They took no papers and had no books except the Bible.

What qualities and aids did Abraham Lincoln possess and secure to meet and overcome his disadvantages?

Answer: Abraham Lincoln had a good memory, a great desire to learn, great patience, and perseverance. His mother taught him to read and write. He would travel miles to borrow any book he heard of and would read by the fire-light from the open hearth.

What occupations did he pursue as boy and man on his way from the cabin to the White House?

Answer: Abraham Lincoln was a wood chopper, rail splitter, ferry boatman, flat boatman, storekeeper as clerk and owner, postmaster, surveyor, lawyer, legislator, and congressman.

What was remarkable about the person and appearance of Abraham Lincoln?

Answer: Abraham Lincoln was six feet and four inches tall, very spare, angular and awkward in gesture.

He dressed in plain black clothes somewhat neglected and loose. He wore a black silk hat. His face was very spare, and his eyes deeply sunk, wore an expression of great sadness.

Name a few of the most notable public addresses of Abraham Lincoln.

Answer: The debates of Abraham Lincoln with Stephen A. Douglas made him known to the whole country as the coming man. His address before a great audience at Cooper Union confirmed his reputation as an orator. His two inaugural addresses won him friends and fame. His Gettysburg address ranks with the efforts of the greatest speakers of all time, and though brief, makes a fitting companion piece for Washington's Farewell Address.

What elements of political sagacity did Abraham Lincoln posses and exert, that caused his administration of his great office to be successful?

Answer: Abraham Lincoln had a knowledge of man and when he believed in a man he gave him a fair trial and time to develop and carry out his plans - but he had the courage and firmness to displace the McClellans and Meades, and to sustain the Grants, Shermans, and Sheridans to the end, despite of what politicians and critics hinted or said.

What great instrument did he issue to hasten the end of the war?

Answer: The Emancipation Proclamation, which was followed by such action of Congress as put an end to slavery in the United States.

Why do we Americans admire Abraham Lincoln?

Answer: Americans, with the rest of the civilized world, admire "Honest Old Abe" for his clear foresight, his honest purpose to maintain the union of these states, and his successful suppression of the greatest rebellion under the sun.

Why do we Americans love the memory of Abraham Lincoln?

Answer: Americans love the memory of Abraham Lincoln, the affectionate son of an affectionate mother. He loved the common people, was plain and simple in his life, was kind to the soldier boys, thoughtful for their families, and mourned over the dead.

Lincoln's Birthday

Lincoln's Birthday

by Ida Vose Woodbury.

Again thy birthday dawns, man beloved.
Dawns on the land thy blood was shed to save,
Aud hearts of millions, by one impulse moved,
Bow and fresh laurels lay upon thy grave.

The years but add new luster to thy glory.
And watchmen on the heights of vision see
Reflected in thy life the old, old story.
The story of the Man of Galilee.

We see in thee the image of Him kneeling
Before the close-shut tomb, and at the word
"Come forth," from out the blackness long concealing
There rose a man; clearly again was heard

The Master's voice, and then, his cerements broken.
Friends of the dead a living brother see;
Thou, at the tomb where millions lay, hath spoken:
Loose him and let him go I - the slave was free.

And in the man so long in thralldom hidden
We see the likeness of the Father's face,
Clod changed to soul; by thy atonement bidden,
We hasten to the uplift of a race.

Spirit of Lincoln! summon all thy loyal;
Nerve them to follow where thy feet have trod.
To prove by voice as clear and deed as royal,
Man's brotherhood in our one Father - God.

Sayings About Lincoln

Sayings About Lincoln 

(For Eight Children)

1rst child - He surpassed all orators in eloquence, all diplomatists in wisdom, all statesmen in foresight, and the most ambitious in fame. - John J. Ingalla.

2nd child - Having determined upon the profession of law, he fenced in his mind with the same energy and resolution with which he had split three thousand rails to fence In the field around his father's home.  - Joseph P. Thompson.

3rd child - A poor, plain, simple, honest, laborious American life, with learning drained chiefly from nature, made him healthy, strong, self-reliant, calm, true, honest, brave, diligent, and developed all the true manlier qualities. - Chas. M. Ellis.  

4rth child - He had the heart of a child and the intellect of a philosopher. A patriot without guile, a politician without cunning or selfishness, a statesman of practical sense rather than fine-spun theory. - Andrew Shuman.

5th child - President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was the highwater mark of American oratory. - Thomas Wentworth Higginson.

6th child - Not a sovereign in Europe, however trained from the cradle for state pomps, and however prompted by statesmen and courtiers, could have uttered himself more regally than did Lincoln at Gettysburg. -  Goldwin Smith.

7th child - One of the noteworthy features of Lincoln's wonderful life was the manifestly deepening of his sense of God's presence and providence during those later years when he bore the imperiled nation on his heart. - John H. Barrows.

8th child - I am sure, as millions have said, that, take him for all in all, we never shall look upon his like again. - John W. Forney.

Ode For Washington's Birthday

Ode For Washington's Birthday

Welcome to the day returning.
Dearer still as ages flow;
While the torch of faith is burning,
Long as Freedom's altars glow.
See the hero that it gave us
Slumbering on a mother's breast.
For the arm he stretched to save us,
Be its morn forever blest!

Hear the tale of youthful glory
While of Britain's rescued band;
Friend and foe repeat the story.
Spread his fame o'er sea and land.
Where the red cross, proudly streaming.
Flaps above the frigate's deck,
Where the golden lilies gleaming
Star the watchtower of Quebec.

Look! the shadow on the dial
Marks the hour of deadlier strife;
Days of terror, years of trial,
Scourge a nation into life.
Lo, the youth became the leader!
All her baffled tyrants yield!
Through his arm the Lord has freed her.
Crown him on the tented field.

Vain is empire's mad temptation --
Not for him an earthly crown;
He whose sword hath freed a nation
Strikes the offered scepter down.
See the throneless conqueror seated.
Ruler by a people's choice;
See the patriot's task completed;
Hear the father's dying voice. 

By the name that you inherit,

By the sufferings you recall,
Cherish the fraternal spirit,
Love your country first of all.
Listen not to idle questions,
If its bands may be untied;
Doubt the patriot whose suggestions
Whisper that its props may slide.

Father! we whose ears have tingled
With the words of doubt and shame;
We, whose sires their blood have mingled
In the battle's th tinder-flame ;
Gathering, while this holy morning
Lights the land from sea to sea;
Hear thy counsel, heed thy warning,
Trust us, while we honor thee.