Thrifty Scissors

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

LINCOLN'S GETTYSBURG ADDRESS

Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon 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 established - can long endure.

We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We are met to dedicate a portion of it as the final resting- place of those who have given their lives that the nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add to or to detract. The world will very 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 that they have thus far so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us; that from those honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Young students recite the Gettysburg Address.

Lincoln

Lincoln

With life unsullied from his youth,

He meekly took the ruler's rod,

And, wielding it in love and truth.

He lived, the noblest work of God.

He knew no fierce, unbalanced zeal.

That spurns all human differings.

Nor craven fear that shuns the steel

That carves the way to better things.

And in the night of blood and grief,

When horror rested on the ark,

His was the calm, undimmed belief

That felt God's presence in the dark;

Full well he knew each wandering star.

That once had decked the azure dome

Would tremble through the clouds of War,

And, like a prodigal, come home.

He perished ere the angel Peace

Had rolled war's curtains from the sky.

But he shall live when wars shall cease -

The good and great can never die;

For though his heart lies cold and still

We feel its beatings warm and grand.

And still his spirit pulses thrill

Through all the councils of the land.

Oh, for the hosts that sleep to-day.

Lulled by the sound of Southern waves;

The sun that lit them in the fray

Now warms the flowers upon their graves-

Sweet flowers that speak like words of love

Between the forms of friend and foe,

Perchance their spirits meet above,

Who crossed their battle-blades below.

Farewell, Address To His Officers

1st pupil --

This took place March 15, 1783. In the midst of his reading - for he addressed his officers by aid of a manuscript - Washington made a short pause, took out his spectacles, and begged the indulgence of the audience while he adjusted them, at the same time observing:

"Gentlemen, I have grown gray in your service, and now find that I am growing blind."

An eye-witness speaks of the act as being "so natural, so unaffected, as to render it superior to the most studied oratory! It found its way to every heart, and you could see sensibility moisten every eye!"

2nd pupil --

The speech, by James Otis, against the "Stamp Act," fully illustrates the feeling prevalent against it: "England may as well dam up the waters of the Nile with bulrushes as to fetter the step of freedom, proud, and firm in this youthful land. Arbitrary principles, like those against which we now contend, have cost one king of England his life - another his crown - and they may yet cost a third his most flourishing colonies.

"We are two millions, one-fifth fighting men. We call no man, Master!

"Some have sneeringly asked: 'Are the Americans too poor to pay a few pounds on stamped paper?' No! America, thanks to God and herself, is rich. But the right to take ten pounds implies the right to take a thousand.

"Others, in sentimental style, talk of the immense debt of gratitude which we owe to England. And what is the amount of this debt. We plunged into the wave, with the great charter of freedom in our teeth, because the fagot and the torch were behind us. We owe nothing to the kind succor of the Mother Country - Tyranny drove us from her, to the pelting storms which invigorated our helpless infancy."

The Act was passed by the British Parliament, March 22, 1765 - but was the occasion of so much excitement, overt resistance, and such violent protests, that it was repealed the following year, and a little later a "Bill of Indemnity" was passed for the benefit of those who had incurred its penalties.

3rd pupil --

As indicative of the spirit of the times in which Washington lived, the following extract from Webster's ''Supposed Speech of John Adams on the Declaration of Independence" may be an illustration:

"Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my heart to this vote. It is true, indeed, that in the beginning we aimed not at independence. But there's a Divinity that shapes our ends. The injustice of England has driven us to arms; and, blinded to her own interest, for our good, she has obstinately persisted, till Independence is now within our grasp. We have but to reach forth to it and it is ours. Why, then, should we defer the Declaration? If we postpone independence, do we mean to carry on or give up the war? Do we mean to submit, and consent that we ourselves shall be ground to powder, and our country and its rights trodden down in the dust? I know we do not mean to submit. We never shall submit. The war must go on. We must fight it through. And if the war must go on, why put off longer the Declaration of Independence? That measure will strengthen us. It will give us character abroad. Sir the Declaration will inspire the people with increased courage. Read this Declaration at the head of the army; every sword will be drawn from its scabbard, and the solemn vow uttered to maintain it or to perish on the bed of honor. Publish it from the pulpit; religion will approve it and the love of religious liberty will cling round it, resolved to stand or fall with it. Send it to the public halls; proclaim it there ; let them hear it who first heard the roar of America's cannon; let them see it who saw their brothers and their sons fall on the field of Bunker Hill, and in the streets of Lexington and Concord, and the very walls will cry out in its support.

''Sir, before God, I believe the hour is come. My judgment approves this measure and my whole heart is in it. All that I have and all that I am, and all that I hope in this life, I am now here ready to stake upon it - and I leave off as I begun - that, live or die, survive or perish, I am for the Declaration. It is my living sentiment, and, by the blessing of God it shall be my dying sentiment - independence now; and independence forever."

Tribute To Washington

TRIBUTE TO WASHINGTON.

(Recitation for a Older School Pupil.)

by Eliza Cook

Land of the West! though passing brief the record of thy age,

Thou hast a name that darkens all the world's wide page!

Let all the blasts of fame ring out - thine shall be loudest far;

Let others boast their satellites - thou hast the planet star.

Thou hast a name whose characters of light shall ne'er depart;

'Tis stamped upon the dullest brain, and warms the coldest

heart;

A war cry it for any land where freedom's to be won.

Land of the West! - it stands alone - it is thy Washington.

He fought, but not with love of strife; he struck, but to defend;

And ere he turned a people's foe, he sought to be a friend.

He strove to keep his country's right by Reason's gentle word,

And sighed when fell Injustice threw the challenge - sword to

sword.

He stood the firm, the calm, the wise, the patriot and sage;

He showed no deep avenging hate, no burst of despot rage;

He stood for Liberty and Truth, and dauntlessly led on

Till shouts of victory gave forth the name of Washington.

No car of triumph bore him through a city filled with grief.

No groaning captives at the wheels proclaimed him victor -

chief;

He broke the gyves of slavery with strong and high disdain.

But cast no scepter from the links when he had crushed the

chain.

He saved his land, but did not lay his soldier trappings down

To change them for the regal vest, and don a kingly crown;

Fame was too earnest in her joy, too proud of such a son

To let a robe and title mask a noble WASHINGTON.

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.

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

St. Patrick's Day Index

Above are four shamrock crafts from this blog.

St. Patrick Day is celebrated in honor of the patron saint of Ireland. It is believed that he was born near the site of what is now Dumbarton, Scotland. At the age of sixteen he was taken captive to Ireland, but after six years he escaped. Feeling himself called to abolish paganism from the land of his captivity, he studied for the ministry, was consecrated bishop of Ireland, and began his missionary work there in 432. A. D. It is said that he founded 300 churches in the island and baptized more than 12,000 converts. Patrick left an autobiography which he called a Confession, but it was more psychology than historic, and the known facts of his life are few. Legend says he drove the snakes out of Ireland, and that he worked miracles. "Saint Patrick's day," the seventeenth of March, is celebrated by the Irish people throughout the world.

Artifacts for The Celebration of Saint Patrick's Day:

Vivian shares her leprechaun trap, a common art assignment

in some American schools during the month of March.
Check out Natalie's classroom leprechaun traps.

Easter Holiday Index

Twins hunting eggs at the White House.

Easter, the festival commemorating the resurrection of Christ, observed in many branches of the Christian Church. By the first Christians it was regarded as continuing the feast of the Passover, at which the paschal lamb, a symbol of Christ, was sacrificed. Hence its name in Greek and in the Romance languages is taken from the Hebrew Pesach, meaning Passover.

The English name comes from the Anglo-Saxon Eostre, a pagan goddess of light or spring, whose festival was celebrated in April. There was a long dispute in the Christian Church as to the proper time for holding Easter, the Christians of the East celebrating it on the same day as that on which the Jewish Passover fell, that is the fourteenth of Nisan, while the majority of the Church celebrated it on the Sunday next after this day. The controversy was decided by the Council of Nice in 325, which fixed Easter on the first Sunday after the full moon which happens upon or next after March 21. If the full moon happens on a Sunday, Easter is the Sunday after.

The Celebration of Easter: Much of this content may be used for creating newsletters for parents and teachers. Some of it is good for child recitations. I will be adding puzzles and paper crafts to these posts that are Easter/Spring themed as well. Enjoy!

The First Easter from St. Luke
Easter Even - poem by Christina G. Rossetti
Easter Songs in Verse and For Coloring
Easter Day in Rome - poem by Oscar Wilde
Easter message with chics...
The Story of Easter Eggs - poem by Christoph Von Schmid
"Easter Greetings" for all God's creatures...
"Easter Lilies" and Window Boxes Too... - poem by Susan Coolidge
"Mary" and a Primrose paper cut- poem by Margaret E. Sangster
Why I Love Jesus
Easter Singers in the Vorarlburg from - "Chamber's Book of Days"
Easter Joys, Spring Redresses Nature
Mary's Easter - poem by Marie Mason
To An Easter Lily
Medieval Easter Plays - by Henry Barret Hinckley
The Little Boy
The Day of Victory - poem by Rachel Capen Schauffler
The Stories I Like
The Stone of the Sepulcher - poem by Susan Coolidge
Easter Bells
At Easter Time - poem by Laura E. Richards
Easter Message
Easter Dawn - poem by Frances Ridley Havergal
The First Easter
Easter Organ Music - poem by Harvey B. Gaul
My Easter Bunny
Song of Easter - poem by Celia Thaxter
Poem "I Wonder" and Butterfly Paper Craft
Nature's Easter Music - poem by Lucy Larcom
Easter Secret
How Moravians Observe Easter - poem by Charles H, Rominger
Easter's Brightness
Poem "Awakening" and A Tulip Border Craft - poem by Rose Terry Cook
"Tis Easter Day".
On Easter Morn - poem by Edith M. Thomas
"Jesus Knew" and Palm Leaf Paper Cut Border
Russian Easters - Abridged from The Saturday Review
Easter Day
An Easter Carol - poem by Christina G. Rossetti
Easter Message
Easter Even - poem by Margaret French Patton
Easter Lily
The Barren Easter - poem by Clinton Scollard
A Madrigal - poem by Clinton Scollard
The Bells of Kremlin - by Augustus J. G. C. Hare
Of The Lord's Day and Easter - by William Cave
Poem "Compensation" and Daffodil Border Craft
Singing and tweeting all "Easter Week" - poem by Charles Kingsley
The Apparition of Christ to His Mother - poem by Mrs. Jameson
Easter - poem by Genevieve M. J. Irons
Easter Day - poem by Josephine Rice Creelman
A Glimpse of Easter in the Azores - by Henry Sandham
Egg Rolling at The White House
Easter Morning - by Edmund Spenser
Easter Wings - poem by George Herbert
An Easter Greeting To Every Child Who Loves Alice" - by Lewis Carroll
Easter Lilies - poem by Mary Lowe Dickinson
After Easter - poem by Mary Lowe Dickinson
A letter from Grandpa about Easter eggs and ducks
Easter Sacraments - poem by Henry Park Schauffler
The Resurrection, Or Easter Day - poem by George Herbert
Easter - poem by George Herbert
The Easter Joy - poem by Margaret E. Sangster
Seek Those Things Which Are Above - poem by William Newell
Woman's Easter - poem by Lucy Larcom
Day Dawn - A Quiet Talk On Easter by S. D. Gordon
The Crescent And The Cross - poem by Thomas Baily Aldrich
The Easter Message - by Charles E. Hesselgrave
An Easter Song - poem by Susan Coolidge
Egg Hunt Silhouettes and Vintage Coloring

May Day Index

Queen Guinevere's Maying, by John Collier
Read more about May Day at Wikipedia

The first of May, or May Day, has been associated with out-of-door festivities from the days of ancient Rome. The Romans were accustomed to hold yearly processions in honor of Flora, a mythological goddess of flowers, between April 28 and May 3, and it is supposed that the beautiful village festivals of medieval England had their origin in this custom. The English maypole set up on the village green the night before May Day, was bedecked in the morning with flowers, which were brought from the woods by happy young people. Especially joyous was the beauty who was chosen queen of the May, and who honored her subjects by dancing with them around the maypole. Tennyson's May Queen gives a charming picture of this form of merry making. Dancing about the maypole is sometimes introduced very effectively into modern entertainments and school programs.

Floral Artifacts For The Celebration of Spring or May 1rst:

Spring Butterflies & Toads from The Easter Egg Crafts Blog:

May Day Coloring Sheets:

May Day Crafts from Around The Web:

A Maypole Dance performed at

The School in Rose Valley by students

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Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Tuesday, September 19, 2017