independence, his finality of cautious decision, stood revealed.

Then the solemn "So help me God" of March 4, and when, after the long suspense during the first part of that deliverance, the shout of the concourse broke out in floods, rebuking the faces of disloyal hate that glowered about, this Union knew that it had found not only an official, but a man! From the lumber-camps of the Androscoggin and the Escanaba; from the quarries of Vermont and New Hampshire; from the fishing-smacks of Massachusetts and the spindles of Rhode Island; from the colleges of Connecticut and New York and Ohio; from the mines of Pennsylvania and Michigan; from the counting-rooms of the cities of Sam Adams, and Alexander Hamilton, and Ben Franklin, and cities a hundred more; from the Adirondacks and the Alleghanies, and the far Sierras; from village and prairie and lakeside and highway— there rose the answer of the free, "All up!"

While the plough rusted and the anvil was dumb, one high soul never doubted nor hesitated. Leading always, even when he seemed only to follow, he was the piston behind which the pulse of a people pushed irresistibly. Firm, conservative, moderate, sure, this great emancipator understood that there is both a time to wait and a time to strike. Too swift for some, too slow for others, his vast common-sense, his judgment that became an intuition, perceived both the right word and the right moment.

At a New Orleans slave-auction, in the forties, he had said of slavery, "If ever I get a chance to hit it, I will hit it hard." When the hour struck, he crushed it forever, and now there is none so low but does him reverence. Can you not see him pressing the streets of fallen Richmond, and can you not hear that aged negro, "May de good Lord bress you, Massa Linkum?" Silently the great man raises his hat, bows, and passes by. There fell the benediction of a disenthralled race, and there responded the salutation of a martyr.

What words he spake this unconditional man! His proclamations were battles, conclusions, anthems. His illustrated speech, so homely yet so constructive, was like that of Æsop, and his

plain wisdom was most of all like that of Socrates. Lincoln had that true oratory, which "does not consist in speech, but exists in the man, in the occasion and in the subject." Candor, conviction, clearness—these were his.

Having handled every rung of the ladder, Lincoln was in all things practical. Intense, yet tranquil; temperate, yet unaustere; bold, but never rash; informal, but self-respecting; as modest as resolute. He felt for others, and plain men trusted him by instinct. In him the South that was lost its ablest friend, and the South that is has come to know it. Of desponding temperament, he was the stubborn conqueror of his own fears. Time-servers winced, manipulators shrank, friends protested, but with all the fearlessness of Luther at Worms he said: "By this statement I will stand or fall." That declaration was at once a war and a peace-peace with honor. There this Atlas bowed his back to lift a world. Detraction and jeers but steadied him. His was that forbearance which "is the highest proof of courage." When the press ranted, raved, caricatured, he told the story of the man who prayed in a frightful thunder-storm, “O Lord, a little more light and a little less noise!" His courage was rooted in his sublime faith. It was exceptional, absolute, grand. It moved mountains. Diplomat, strategist, master of speech, monarch of occasions, humane, believing,—often did he weep, but never did he flinch or falter.

Oh, piteous end! "Fallen, cold and dead" the captain lies. That face, with all its rugged honesty, its homely beauty, its lines of leadership in suffering, its august peace, is gone! The long columns that tread, with the smoke of the great sacrifice behind them, shall not salute the chief! But in those other squadrons invisible that crowd the air-"the great cloud of witnesses". there is he, passed over to the ranks of the immortal great. At its very meridian, snatched from our skies, that soul shines on and will shine-"till the stars are cold."

The completions of such a life are not withheld-they are transfused. We are to-day what Lincoln helped us to become. May that

God he so trusted and served grant that this may be the nation Lincoln strove and died to make it! His work is not yet done. That tale, fit for the foundations of a mighty drama, worthy of a deathless epic, will never be exhausted while the last American remains who is a man.

TYPICAL AMERICAN.

JUDGE C. W. RAYMOND.

[Extracts from speech delivered at Lincoln-Day dinner, 1899.]

This may be delivered as a declamation by one person, or may be used as an exercise by the school, every paragraph being recited by a different pupil.]

T

O the great West the ideal man in politics is the great war
President.

Lincoln is the typical American.

He worshiped at the shrine of liberty.

His book was conscience.

His creed was justice.

His text was truth.
His speech was honor.

His prayer was for the public good.

His music was the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," and from his benediction the sweet incense of charity perfumes the century and the world.

God was his ministering angel and he a willing subject.

In all the years of civilization his name will be a beacon to lovers of liberty and government by the people.

He believed in law, and license to do wrong was chief among his hates.

He believed in liberty and gave a life in proof of his belief. He believed in justice and strict constructionists were ever making accusation because he leaned too much to mercy's side.

He believed in a tariff for protection, and gave the homely text which shines through every protection speech.

He believed in a coin which spoke no lie and that the character

of a people is reflected in its currency.

If precedent stood in the way of right, he pushed it from his thought and signed a bill of rights giving liberty to black as well as white.

His heart was kind to his fellow-men.

Forgiveness was the motto of his daily life.

Charity was the prayer which led the business duties of the day -and love as wide as earth gave tone to all his deeds. He played no game hurtful to moral life.

He signed no law not sanctioned by honest thought.

He made no speech which after years did not applaud and praise.

He did no act which brought the blush of shame to face of friend or foe.

He did what none have yet accomplished-fought a civil war of frightful magnitude and forced the vanquished by sheer love and charity to gather at his bier and tomb and there shed tears over the silent heart they had helped to break.

Like the great Moses of Israel, from the top of fame's lofty mount he was permitted by the Almighty to view the promised land and era of peace, but not permitted to enjoy the fruits of his great labor and wisdom.

He left us to finish the journey alone, amid cheers for the return of peace, amid universal sorrow for the departure of his great spirit.

His life is the marvel of this marvelous century.

Born in a cabin as lowly as the Saviour of man, he saved a nation.

Reared in obscurity, the light of his noble deeds shines in every corner of our world.

Surrounded by bitter poverty, he passed on life's highway every favored man of the century.

Passing his youth among the ignorant and lowly, he achieved a distinction, the just pride of the Anglo-Saxon race.

Coming to manhood with few of the graces of education, he led easily the most gifted of his countrymen.

As a river boatman, he touched elbows with the meekest of the Republic.

As a merchant, he earned the title of "Honest Abe."

As a lawyer, he ranked with the leaders of a bar noted for its dignity and learning.

As a politician, he leaves to posterity a rich legacy of consistency and fair dealing.

As a legislator in Illinois, he laid the foundation of an endless fame.

As a member of Congress, honor and character gave prophecy of future loyalty and integrity.

As a private citizen, he was the political leader of his State.

His first inaugural address is now a part of the world's choice literature and stands side by side with the Declaration of Independence.

His speech at Gettysburg will live as long as the oration of Demosthenes on the crown.

His second inaugural should find place in the text-books of our schools and colleges and be read with Washington's Farewell Address to the American people.

His humanity will ever keep his name in the list of the world's heroes.

Ten thousand years may come and go, but the fame and face of Abraham Lincoln will stand out in history then as clearly defined and noble as it does to-day,

Stand as securely fixed in manly politics as Shakespeare stands in literature,—

Stand as heroic in the midst of times full of conflict as Alexander or Cæsar stands in war,

Stand as steadfast and true in lessons of patriotism as shine the names of Kossuth and Washington,