WASHINGTON PUPILS.

PUPIL 1. Virginia sends you greeting. I come in her name, in honor of her illustrious son, George Washington, and she bids me tell you that he was born in her State, February 22, 1732. ALL. 'Twas 'Twas years and years ago!

PUPIL 1. Yes, one hundred and [to be filled in] ago, almost two centuries.

ALL. That is a long time to remember.

PUPIL 1. Yet Washington's name is still remembered and honored all over the land his valor and wisdom helped save, and for generations yet to come school children will "give to him a million-tongued fame."

[Steps back and another child comes forward.]

PUPIL 2. Virginia bids me tell you that, as a boy, Washington was manly, brave, obedient, and kind, and that he never told a lie.

SONG. "He Never Told a Lie." [Tune: "What Can the Matter Be?"]

Dear, dear, who can believe it?

Dear, dear, who can conceive it?

Dear, dear, we scarce can believe that

Never did he tell a lie.

Oh, surely temptation must have assailed him,

But courage and honor we know never failed him,
So let us all follow his wondrous example,

And never, no, never, tell lies.

[All raise right hands, and say solemnly, “We promise."] PUPIL 3. A brave and manly boy, he began work early in life, and, in 1748, when only sixteen years old, was a surveyor of lands, often going long distances into the wilderness.

PUPIL 4. During the French and Indian War in 1755, he was appointed aid-de-camp to General Braddock.

PUPIL 5. In 1775 came the Revolutionary War, and he was appointed commander-in-chief of the American army.

PUPIL 6. In 1783, the war being over, he resigned his command and became a private citizen.

PUPIL 7. In 1787 he was chosen president of the convention which framed the constitution.

PUPIL 8. In 1789 he was chosen first President of the United States.

PUPIL 9. He was re-elected President of the United States in

1793.

PUPIL 10. At the close of the second Presidential term he retired from office.

PUPIL 11. He died at Mount Vernon, Virginia, December 14, 1799, honored and mourned by the whole nation, and leaving as legacy to the world a life which is “a pattern for all public men, teaching what greatness is, and what is the pathway to undying fame."

ALL. "First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen," he was second to none in the humble and endearing scenes of private life.

LINCOLN PUPILS.

ALL. Washington was a good man, and so, too, was the man whom we delight to honor, whose title, "Honest Abe," has passed into the language of our time as a synonym for all that is just and honest in man.

PUPIL 1. Kentucky is proud to claim him as one of her honored sons, and she bids me say that he was born in Hardin County, in that State, February 12, 1809.

PUPIL 2. Indiana, too, claims him. He was her son by adoption, for when but seven years old his father moved to the southwestern part of the State.

PUPIL 3.

Illinois also has a claim upon him. It was there that The helped build a log-cabin for a new home, and split rails to fence in the fields.

PUPIL 4.

Afterwards he split rails for a suit of clothes, 100 rails for every yard of cloth.

PUPIL 5. From this work he earned the name, "The Railsplitter !"

PUPIL 6. In 1828 he became a flatboatman, and twice went down the Mississippi River to New Orleans.

PUPIL 7. In 1832 he served as captain of a company in the Black Hawk war.

PUPIL 8. After the war he kept a country store, and was noted for his honesty.

PUPIL 9. Then he studied surveying, and for a while earned his living at surveying.

PUPIL 10. In 1834 he was elected to the Legislature of Illinois. PUPIL 11. In 1846 he became member of Congress.

PUPIL 12. In 1860 he was elected President of the United States. PUPIL 13. The Civil War followed, and was not ended when, in 1864, he was elected President for a second term. PUPIL 14. April 14, 1865, he was shot by an assassin, and died early on the morning of the 15th.

SONG: "Battle Hymn of the Republic." By the School. ALL [both groups]. To both men we, the children of the nation, owe a debt of gratitude which we can only repay by a lifetime of work for God, humanity, and country. Both have left behind them words of wisdom which, if heeded, will make us wiser and better men and women, boys and girls. WASHINGTON GROUP. "Without virtue and without integrity, the finest talents and the most brilliant accomplishments can never gain the respect or conciliate the esteem of the most valuable part of mankind.”

LINCOLN GROUP.

Lincoln said, "I have one vote, and I shall

always cast that against wrong as long as I live."

WASHINGTON GROUP. It was Washington who said, "If, to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterwards defend our work?"

LINCOLN GROUP.

makes might."

Lincoln said, "In every event of life, it is right

Oh, wise and great!

Their like, perchance, we ne'er shall see again,

But let us write their golden words upon the hearts of men.

ALL SING. "Brave, True, and Kind." [Tune: "America."] Turn now unto the past,

LINCOLN'S BOOKS AND WORK.

EXERCISE FOR THREE PUPILS.

"

[Three pupils enter each in turn, go to stage front and recite each his stanza. FIRST PUPIL carries armful of books such as "Robinson Crusoe, "Pilgrim's Progress," "Life of Washington," "Bible," "History of the United States." SECOND PUPIL carries small shovel, ax and hoe. THIRD PUPIL carries sword and flag.]

FIRST PUPIL.

SECOND PUPIL.

THIRD PUPIL.

ALL.

The books were few that Lincoln had,
He read the Bible, histories, too,
“The Life of Washington" charmed the lad,
And "Pilgrim's Progress" he read through.

Our Lincoln worked from morn till night,
He swung the ax and tilled the land,
Each duty met with will and might,
Each deed was brave and true and grand.

In war, in peace, throughout each day
He planned for every state,
And safely, through a dangerous way,
Brought Union, Freedom great.

With joy and truth we celebrate

His birthday every year.

Long live our Lincoln true and great,
For him give hearty cheer.

I have known Abraham Lincoln for nearly twenty-five years. There were many points of sympathy between us when we first got acquainted. We were both comparatively boys, and both struggling with poverty in a strange land. He is one of those peculiar men who perform with admirable skill everything they undertake. I met him in the legislature, and had sympathy with him because of the up-hill struggle we both had in life. He could beat any of the boys wrestling, or running a foot-race, in pitching quoits or tossing a copper. I sympathized with him because he was struggling with difficulties, and so was I.-Stephen A. Douglas, August 21, 1858.