Part 47

I have studied it and have been filled with wonder and admiration. His life was an American product; no other soil could have produced it. The greatness of it has not yet been fully discovered or measured. As the inner history of the times in which he lived is written we find how his great mind turned and moved, in time of peril and delicacy, the affairs of our country in their home and foreign relations with that marvellous tact, with that never-failing common-sense which characterized this man of the people. And that impressive lesson we have here this morning. I see in the military uniform of our country, standing as guards about this tomb, the sons of a race that had been condemned to slavery and was emancipated by his immortal proclamation. And what an appropriate thing it is that these whose civil rights were curtailed even in this State are now the trusted, affectionate guards of the tomb in which he sleeps!

We will all again and again read the story of Lincoln's life, and will find our hearts and minds enlarged, our loves and our charities broadened, and our devotion to the Constitution, the flag, and the free Government which he preserved to us, intensified. And now, my friends, most cordially do I thank you for these kind words of welcome. I shall go from this tomb impressed with new thoughts as to the responsibilities of those who bear the responsibilities, though in less troublous times, of that great man to whose memory my soul bows this morning. [Applause.]

_At the State House._

When the President closed he was presented by Governor Fifer, on behalf of the citizens of Petersburg, Ill., with a gold-headed cane made from the Lincoln store building at New Salem. Speeches were made by Postmaster-General Wanamaker and Secretary Rusk, during which the President and Governor Fifer proceeded to the State House, where a large crowd collected and the President made the following address:

_My Fellow-citizens_--I feel that we make a very poor return to you here for your cordial welcome, and for these extensive preparations which you have made to do us honor, but this journey has been so long, the time consumed already so great, the demand for my presence in Washington is such that I cannot protract the stay here with you this morning. I beg all to believe that most heartily and sincerely I thank you for this cordial welcome from Illinois, for the interesting moments that we have spent about the tomb of that man who would have made the fame of Illinois imperishable and Springfield the Mecca for patriotic feet if no other man in the history of the State had ever come to eminence--Abraham Lincoln. [Cheers.] In his life you have a treasury of instruction for your children, a spring of inspiration for your people that will be lasting. [Cheers.]

DECATUR, ILLINOIS, MAY 14.

Decatur tendered the President an enthusiastic greeting. Ten thousand citizens and school children participated in the welcoming demonstrations. The Committee of Reception consisted of Mayor Chambers, Hon. S. S. Jack, Hon. W. C. Johns, Dr. John T. Hubbard, Dr. William A. Barnes, W. H. Bramble, Maj. F. L. Hays, M. F. Kanan, Mrs. W. B. Chambers, Mrs. J. M. Clokey, Mrs. W. F. Calhoun, and Miss Belle Burrows. Hon. J. H. Rowell, of Bloomington, was also a member of the committee.

In response to Mayor Chambers' welcoming address President Harrison said:

_Mr. Mayor and Fellow-citizens_--We have been now something more than four weeks traversing this broad and beautiful domain which, without regard to State lines, we call our country. We have passed with such rapidity that our intercourse with the people has necessarily been brief and attended by many inconveniences to them. Everything that kind hearts could do to make the trip pleasant to us has been done, and yet I have always felt that our hasty call at these prosperous cities where so much pains have been taken in decoration to do honor to us gives us opportunity to make very inadequate returns to them. We have been shooting like a meteor as to rapidity, but without its luminosity. [Laughter.] It is very pleasant after seeing California, Arizona, Idaho, and Colorado, States in which the annual rainfall is inadequate to the annual crops, and where the dependence of the husbandman is wholly upon irrigation, to come again in these Central States, familiar to me from my boyhood, to see crops that the Lord waters in every season. The land of the blue grass is the land of my love. Nowhere can there be seen fairer landscapes, nowhere richer farms, than here in your own great State of Illinois, a State whose history has been full of illustrious achievements, rich in possibilities, where lived our illustrious sons; a State whose population is intelligent, contented, orderly, and liberty-loving; a State whose development has not yet begun to approach its possible limits; a State having advantages by the location, swept as it is by two of the great waterways of the continent, advantages of access and markets by lake and rail and river unexcelled by any State in the Union; a State that has not forgotten that the permanence of our free institutions depends upon the intelligence of the people, and has carefully, at the very beginning, laid a foundation for a common-school system in which every man's child may have a free education. [Cheers.] These are not simply schools of intelligence, but, as I have said before, they are schools of statesmanship. They tend as much as any other public institution to make our people a Nation of loving people. Here on these benches and on this playground the people of rich and poor mingle together, and the pampered son gets his airs rubbed off with the vigor of his playmates. ["That's so!" and cheers.] Our Government does not undertake to regulate many of the affairs of civil life. The bright blue sky of hope is above every boy's head, affording great opportunities for advancement, and then our people are left to themselves. Certain great duties are devolved upon the Government--to provide revenue and finance and in every branch of public interest to legislate in the general interests of all the people. I thank you most heartily for this great demonstration. We leave you with our thanks, our best wishes for your State, your city, and especially for these dear little ones from your schools who come to greet us. [Applause.]

TUSCOLA, ILLINOIS, MAY 14.

At Tuscola another large assemblage greeted the travellers most enthusiastically. The Committee of Reception consisted of Mayor Patrick C. Sloan, A. W. Wallace, J. J. Knox, Frank Pearce, Dr. S. V. Ramsey, O. H. Sloan, Hans Heurichs, A. C. Sluss, J. W. King, P. M. Moore, D. A. Conover, and Col. W. Taggart.

In response to a hasty but cordial welcome from Mayor Sloan the President said:

_My Fellow-citizens_--It is very kind of you to assemble here in such large numbers to extend to us a greeting as we hurry through your beautiful State. We can tarry with you but for a moment, for we are in true sense pilgrims. It is pleasant to look in your faces and to read there the same kindly thoughts and the same friendliness that seems to have covered this whole land as we have journeyed through it. I do not like to say anything anywhere that makes a line of division; for I know that these assemblages are without regard to politics, and that men of all parties have extended to us a cordial greeting. The flag, the institutions, and the general good of our people are themes which we appreciate, are themes which we honor, though we may approach them on different lines. I am glad to notice as I journey through your State the evidences of a coming harvest that I hope will be bountiful. Wishing for you every good, I bid you good-by. [Cheers.]

CHRISMAN, ILLINOIS, MAY 14.

At Chrisman the President met with another hearty welcome. More than 6,000 people were present, many coming from Paris, Danville, and other neighboring points. The Reception Committee consisted of J. F. Van Voorhees, C. E. Kenton, C. A. Smith, and Revs. Wiley and Wilkin. Kenesaw Post, G. A. R., of Paris, Ill., J. M. Moody Commander, and a number of veterans from Ridge Farm were present.

Mr. Van Voorhees introduced the President, who spoke as follows:

_My Friends_--I have but one message for all these vast assemblies of my fellow-citizens who have been greeting us for something more than a month at every point where we have stopped. That message is to thank you for all these greetings and for the friendliness which shines in your faces. I am glad this is a Government by the people, because they are the most capable governors that can be found. No man can traverse this country, as I have done, from the Potomac to the Golden Gate and from the Golden Gate to the cities that open on Puget Sound, to the great North Sea, and can look into the faces of these people that come from every pursuit, without feeling that this Government, raised upon the bulwark of patriotism, is, by God's goodness, a perpetual institution. The patriotism of our people, their unselfish love for the flag, the great good-nature with which they lay aside all sharp party divisions and come together under one banner, is very gratifying to us all. Our trip has been attended by many incidents that have been full of pleasure and sometimes full of pathos.

We have never lost sight of the flag in all this journey. Sometimes out on the Great American Desert, as it used to be called, where nothing but the sage brush gave evidence of the power of nature to clothe the earth, from a little dug-out, where some man had set out to make a home for himself, would float the starry banner. [Cheers.]

This is a great country, girded around by the Grand Army of the Republic. I have never been out of the fellowship of that great organization. I have never stopped on all this trip but some comrade did not stretch up his hand to greet me. I have evidence that some of you are here to-day in this great State, such a magnificent contribution to the Grand Army that they were. I am glad to see these children. They have added grace and beauty to every meeting which we have had in this long journey. Cherish it in your community--this most beneficial institution--the common school of your State.

And now, thanking your kindly welcome, and sorry that we can tarry for only these few minutes, I bid you good-by, and God bless you. [Prolonged cheering.]

MONTEZUMA, INDIANA, MAY 14.

It was about 3 P.M. Thursday when the train crossed the Indiana line and arrived at Montezuma, where the President was met by a very large and enthusiastic delegation from Indianapolis, headed by Gov. Alvin P. Hovey, Mayor Thomas L. Sullivan, Gen. Lew Wallace, ex-Gov. Isaac P. Gray, Judge William A. Woods, ex-Senator McDonald, and Senator David Turpie. The escort from Indianapolis included representatives from 52 labor organizations, from each G. A. R. post in the city, and delegates from the Hendricks, Gray, Cleveland, Columbia, Marion, Metropolitan, and Tippecanoe clubs. The Montezuma committee consisted of Rev. Thomas Griffith, Joseph Burns, T. A. Welshan, J. E. Johnston, N. S. Wheeler, and H. B. Griffith.

No meeting could have been more cordial. Hon. James T. Johnston, of Rockville, in a few eloquent sentences welcomed the President and Mrs. Harrison on their home-coming.

The greeting overcame the President for a few moments, and he was unable to respond to the demand for a speech at any length. He said:

_My Friends_--We have had a long journey, and one that has been attended by a great many pleasant incidents. We have had cheers of welcome reaching from our first stop, at Roanoke, Va., stretching across the mountains of Tennessee and Northern Georgia and Alabama, down through Arkansas and Texas, and along the Pacific coast. Everywhere we have had the most cordial and kindly greeting; but as I cross to-day the border line of Indiana and meet again these old friends I find in your welcome a sweetness that exceeds it all.

At this point tears came to the President's eyes, and his utterance became so choked he could say no more.

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, MAY 14.

Promptly on schedule time, at 4:45, the presidential train arrived at Indianapolis. Its approach was heralded by an artillery salute. The stay in the city was limited to forty-five minutes. The Escort and Reception Committee--in addition to the distinguished officials mentioned at Montezuma--consisted in part of the following prominent citizens: Hon. R. B. F. Peirce, Hon. C. W. Fairbanks, Rev. M. L. Haines, Daniel Stewart, Col. Eli Lilly, George L. Knox, George G. Tanner, President of the Board of Trade; W. D. Wiles, John W. Murphy, George E. Townley, Silas T. Bowen, W. B. Holton, John M. Shaw, Albert Gall, I. S. Gordon, John P. Frenzel, D. A. Richardson, W. F. C. Golt, Arthur Gillet, John H. Holliday, Dr. Henry Jameson, Robert Kipp, Thomas C. Moore, V. K. Hendricks, Charles E. Hall, Nathan Morris, E. E. Perry, Smiley N. Chambers, G. B. Thompson, Franklin Landers, and R. K. Syfers.

The preparations for the President's reception were upon an extensive scale; the business houses were covered with bunting, and pictures of the distinguished traveller were seen everywhere. Fully 50,000 people participated in the welcome home. A speakers' stand was erected in Jackson Place. The parade was a most successful feature of the demonstration; thousands of veterans, sons of veterans, and other citizens were in line. Gen. Fred Knefler was Marshal of the day, aided by the following staff: Major Holstein, George W. Spahr, J. Hauch, John V. Parker, J. B. Heywood, W. O. Patterson, Samuel Laing, J. A. Wildman, H. C. Adams, A. W. Hendricks, John W. Keeling, Charles Martindale, W. H. Tucker, J. M. Paver, H. C. Cale, Josh Zimmerman, T. S. Rollins, E. S. Kise, O. P. Ensley, Frank Sherfey, and Berry Robinson.

Cheer after cheer went up from the vast concourse as the President made his way to the stand, accompanied by Secretary Rusk, Postmaster-General Wanamaker, and the Escort Committee. It was a genuine Hoosier welcome. Governor Hovey made a brief but feeling address, welcoming the President's return with "pride and pleasure." Mayor Sullivan followed the Governor in a warm greeting on behalf of the citizens of Indianapolis.

President Harrison was visibly affected at the manifestations of love and esteem, and during the speech-making clearly betrayed the emotion he felt at the cordiality of his welcome. He spoke as follows:

_Governor Hovey, Mayor Sullivan and Friends_--I do not think I can speak much to-day. The strain of this long journey, the frequent calls that have been made upon me to speak to my fellow citizens from Washington to the Golden Gate, from the Golden Gate to the Straits of Fuca, and from the most northwestern portion of our territory here to my own home, has left me somewhat exhausted in body and in mind, and has made my heart so open to these impressions, as I greet my old home friends, that I cannot, I fear, command myself sufficiently to speak to you at any length. Our path has been attended by the plaudits of multitudes; our way has been strewn with flowers; we have journeyed through the orchards of California, laden with its golden fruit; we have climbed to the summit of great mountains and have seen those rich mines from which the precious metals are extracted; we have dropped again suddenly into fruitful valleys, and our pathway has been made glad by the cheerful and friendly acclaim of our American fellow-citizens without regard to any party division [applause]; but I beg to assure you that all the sweetness of the flowers that have been showered upon us, that all the beauty of these almost tropical landscapes upon which we have looked, that all the richness of these precious mines sink into forgetfulness as I receive to day this welcome from my old friends. [Great applause.] My manhood has known no other home but this. It was the scene of my early struggles; it has been the scene, and you have been the instruments and supporters in every success I have achieved in life. I come to lay before you to-day my thankful offering for your friendly helpfulness that was extended to me as a boy and that has been mine in all the years of our intercourse that have intervened until this hour. [Applause.] I left you a little more than two years ago to take up the work of the most responsible office in the world. I went to these untried duties sustained by your helpful friendliness. I come to you again after these two years of public office to confess many errors, but to say to you that I have had but one thought in my mind. It was to use whatever influence had been confided to me for the general good of all our people. [Applause.] Our stay to-day is so brief that I must deny myself the pleasure I would have in taking these old friends by the hand. God bless you all. I have not forgotten, I can never forget, Indianapolis. [Prolonged applause.] I look forward to it, if my life shall be spared, as the city in which I shall rest when the hard work of life is done. I rejoice in its increase, in its development as a commercial centre. I love its homes, its people; and now if you will pardon me the effort of further speech and believe me when I say this is a most interesting and tender moment to me, allow me to say to you for a time, God bless you every one and good-by. [Great cheering.]

RICHMOND, INDIANA, MAY 14.

At Richmond, Ind., a very large and enthusiastic assemblage cheered the President. The Reception Committee consisted of Mayor Perry J. Freeman, Hon. Henry U. Johnson, C. C. Binkley, John Harrington, Everett A. Richey, Andrew F. Scott, J. H. Macke, John H. Nicholson, Col. John F. Miller, Capt. J. Lee Yaryan, Dr. J. R. Weist, E. D. Palmer, H. C. Starr, Frank J. Brown, J. B. Howes, and Isaac Jenkins.

Congressman Johnson introduced the President, who said:

_My Fellow-citizens_--We are now about completing a very long journey. For something more than four weeks we have been speeding across the country, from the Potomac to the Golden Gate, and northward along Puget Sound. The trip, while it has been full of pleasurable incidents, while it has been attended with every demonstration of friendliness and respect, has, as you can well understand, been full of labor. I began this day--and it is only a sample of many--at 5 o'clock this morning, by speaking to my fellow-citizens at Hannibal, Mo., and from that place to this I have been almost continuously on my feet or shaking hands over this platform with friends who had gathered there. We have seen regions that were new to me, people that were strangers, and yet, throughout the whole of this journey we have been pervaded, surrounded, inspired by the magnificent spirit of American patriotism. [Cheers.] I come now to pass through my own State. I have so often within the last two years been at Indianapolis and passed through Richmond that I did not expect you would take any special notice of our passage to-night. I am all the more gratified that you should have surprised us by this magnificent demonstration. As I had occasion to say at Indianapolis, the respect, the confidence, the affectionate interest of my Indiana friends is more valuable to me than anything else in life. I went from you two years ago to new duties, borne down with a sense of the great responsibility that was upon me, and I am glad to believe from what I see to-night that I have at least saved the respect and friendship of my Indiana fellow-citizens. [Cries of "That's so!" and cheers.] And now, as I return again to labors and duties that are awaiting me, I leave with you my most affectionate greeting and sincere desire for the prosperity of Indiana and all its citizens. I hope that my life will be spared to be once more a dweller in this great State. [Cheers.]

DAYTON, OHIO, MAY 14.

A great assembly, numbering over 10,000 people, greeted the President on arrival at Dayton, Ohio, at 9 o'clock. The veterans of "The Old Guard Post", Parker Rusby Commander, were present in a body; also many veterans from Dister Post, Hiram Strong Post, Birch, and Martin De Lancy posts, together with a large representation of the Sons of Veterans. Among the prominent citizens and ladies who received the presidential party were Mrs. W. D. Bickham, Miss Rebecca Strickel, Charles and Daniel Bickham, Hon. Ira Crawford, Hon. Washington Silzel, Wm. P. Callahan, Fred G. Withoft, Dr. J. M. Weaver, E. B. Lyon, Dr. J. S. Beck, C. M. Hassler, A. L. Bauman, Dr. Joseph E. Lowes, B. T. Guion, Henry Kissinger, Hon. Dennis Dwyer, E. F. Pryor, Charles P. Garman, D. K. Hassler, Charles Auderton, N. D. Bates, John A. Miller, John A. Bell, C. Y. Osborn, Joseph S. Crane, Ed. Best, Daniel E. Meade, Samuel Craighead, Warren Munger, H. C. Harries, G. C. Kennedy, William Craighead, A. A. Simonds, S. Brenner, D. F. Giddinger, Simon Gebhart, George La Rue, D. E. McSherry, Charles James John Patterson, Dr. J. A. Walters, and Rev. Dr. A. A. Willett.

The President's appearance was the signal for a prolonged outburst of patriotic feeling, in recognition and response to which he spoke as follows:

_My Fellow-citizens_--We have journeyed now about nine thousand miles, and I have never been, in all this distance, out of sight of an Ohio man. [Laughter and cheers.] Everywhere we have journeyed, whether in the New South, awakening under the new influences of freedom to an industrial life that was not possible under slavery; whether on the deserts of Arizona or among the orange groves of California, or in one of those wonderful States that have been builded within the last few years on Puget Sound, some one, noting the fact that I was Ohio-born, would claim kin-ship, and so far as I could judge, in my limited observation of them, I think they carried the Ohio faculty with them to their new homes of getting their fair share of things. [Laughter and cheers.] I do most cordially thank you, citizens of Dayton, for this pleasant and friendly demonstration. I cannot talk long. This whole journey has been a succession of speeches. I have come to think it must be tiresome to you to have one of my speeches every morning with your breakfast coffee. [Cries of "No! no!" and applause.] But it has been a most cheerful thing to me to observe everywhere, even in those distant and sparsely settled regions of the West, that the American flag was never out of sight. I do not think I have ever lost sight of the Stars and Stripes since we left Washington. [Cheers.] Several times we have been deeply touched as we moved along over the sandy plains to see at some isolated and very humble cabin a man or child step to the door and unfurl the Starry Banner. [Cheers.] Everywhere I have met comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic, everywhere the atmosphere seemed to be pervaded by a magnificent spirit of Americanism. [Cheers.] We are one people--one in our purposes, aims and lives; one in our fealty to the flag, the Constitution, and the indissoluble Union of the States. [Cheers.]