Chapter 1

The Poets' Lincoln

TRIBUTES IN VERSE TO THE MARTYRED PRESIDENT

_Selected by_

OSBORN H. OLDROYD

AUTHOR OF "THE ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN" AND EDITOR OF THE "WORDS OF LINCOLN"

_With many portraits of Lincoln, illustrations of events in his life, etc._

PUBLISHED BY THE EDITOR AT "THE HOUSE WHERE LINCOLN DIED"

WASHINGTON, D. C.

1915

Copyright 1915, by OSBORN H. OLDROYD

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The Editor is most grateful to the various authors who have willingly given their consent to the use of their respective poems in the compilation of this volume. It has been a somewhat difficult problem, not only to select the more appropriate productions, but also to find the names of their authors, for in his Lincoln collection there are many hundreds of poems which have appeared from time to time in magazines, newspapers and other productions, some of which are accompanied by more than one name as author of the same poem. In a number of instances it has been difficult to ascertain the name of the actual owner of the copyright, the poems having been printed in so many forms without the copyright mark attached.

The Editor in particular extends his grateful acknowledgment to the Houghton Mifflin Company for permission to reprint the "Emancipation Group" by John G. Whittier; the "Life Mask" by Richard Watson Gilder; "The Hand of Lincoln" by Clarence Stedman; "Commemoration Ode" by James Russell Lowell, and the "Gettysburg Address" by Bayard Taylor; to Charles Scribner's Sons for two "Lincoln" poems by Richard Henry Stoddard; and to the J. B. Lippincott Company for the poem "Lincoln" by George Henry Boker.

The Editor is also grateful to Dr. Marion Mills Miller for his contribution of the introduction and a poem specially written for the collection, and also for assistance in the editorial work.

FOREWORD

No great man has ever been spoken of with such tender expressions of high regard as has been Abraham Lincoln. Especially is this true of the tributes of esteem made by the poets to his memory. It is therefore desirable that these should be preserved for future generations, and at this time, the fiftieth anniversary of his untimely death, it is peculiarly proper that they should be presented to the public.

Although they are chiefly the productions of American authors, quite a number are from the pens of appreciative citizens of other countries. From the thousand of meritorious poems which have been written about Lincoln, the compiler, after serious consideration, has selected those within as appearing to be gems; although there were others which he would have been glad to include if space permitted.

The poems and illustrations are arranged largely in the chronological order of their application to the events in the life of Lincoln. The intense sympathy and warm appreciation portrayed therein for our Martyred President, as well as their artistic merit assure the poems a sacred place in the heart of every patriotic American.

The large number of selected portraits and illustrations of events connected with his life, service, death and burial, with brief sketches of authors of the following poems, also forms a compilation of rich material for all readers of Lincoln literature.

The object in publishing this compilation is to assist in preserving the collection of memorials now contained in the house in which Lincoln died, 516 Tenth Street, Washington, D. C.

The volume will be sent postpaid by the Editor at the above address, upon receipt of its price, $1.00.

OSBORN H. OLDROYD.

Washington, D. C., September twelve, Nineteen hundred and fifteen.

CONTENTS

PAGE INTRODUCTION--The Poetic Spirit of Lincoln, by Marion Mills Miller .................................................... v MY CHILDHOOD'S HOME I SEE AGAIN, by Abraham Lincoln .......... vi BUT HERE'S AN OBJECT MORE OF DREAD, by Abraham Lincoln ..... viii OH, WHY SHOULD THE SPIRIT OF MORTAL BE PROUD? By William Knox ..................................................... ix SPEECH AT GETTYSBURG (in verse form), by Abraham Lincoln ... xiii SOLILOQUY OF KING CLAUDIUS, by William Shakespeare ......... xvii LINCOLN, by Julia Ward Howe .................................... 14 THE GREAT OAK, by Bennett Chapple .............................. 15 LINCOLN, by Noah Davis ......................................... 17 THE BIRTH OF LINCOLN, by George W. Crofts ...................... 19 MENDELSSOHN, DARWIN, LINCOLN, by Clarence E. Carr .............. 20 THE NATAL DAY OF LINCOLN, by James Phinney Baxter .............. 22 NANCY HANKS, by Harriet Monroe ................................. 25 LINCOLN THE LABORER, by Richard Henry Stoddard ................. 29 A PEACEFUL LIFE, by James Whitcomb Riley ....................... 31 LEADER OF HIS PEOPLE, by William Wilberforce Newton ............ 32 LINCOLN, by Wilbur Hazelton Smith .............................. 35 LINCOLN IN HIS OFFICE CHAIR, by James Riley .................... 37 THE VOICE OF LINCOLN, by Elizabeth Porter Gould ................ 41 THE THOUGHTS OF LINCOLN, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps ............ 43 ON THE LIFE-MASK OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, by Richard Watson Gilder ................................................... 45 THE HAND OF LINCOLN, by Edmund Clarence Stedman ................ 47 HONEST ABE OF THE WEST, by Edmund Clarence Stedman ............. 51 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, 1860, by William Henry Burleigh ......... 53 LINCOLN, 1809--FEBRUARY 12, 1909, by Madison Cawein ............ 56 THE MATCHLESS LINCOLN, by Isaac Bassett Choate ................. 59 LINCOLN, by Charlotte Becker ................................... 61 LINCOLN AT SPRINGFIELD, 1861, by Anna Bache .................... 65 LINCOLN CALLED TO THE PRESIDENCY, by Henry Wilson Clendenin ................................................ 70 LINCOLN THE MAN OF THE PEOPLE, by Edwin Markham ................ 74 LINCOLN, by John Vance Cheney .................................. 76 LINCOLN'S CHURCH IN WASHINGTON, by Lyman Whitney Allen ......... 80 SONNET IN 1862, by John James Piatt ............................ 83 LINCOLN, SOLDIER OF CHRIST, in Macmillan's Magazine ............ 85 A CHARACTERIZATION OF LINCOLN, by Hamilton Schuyler ............ 87 THE EMANCIPATION GROUP, by John Greenleaf Whittier ............. 91 THE LIBERATOR, by Theron Brown ................................. 94 TO PRESIDENT LINCOLN, by Edmund Ollier ......................... 96 ON FREEDOM'S SUMMIT, by Charles G. Foltz ....................... 98 ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE DEDICATION OF THE CEMETERY AT GETTYSBURG, by Abraham Lincoln .......................... 100 GETTYSBURG ODE, by Bayard Taylor .............................. 102 LINCOLN'S SECOND INAUGURAL, by Benjamin Franklin Taylor ....... 104 OH, PATIENT EYES! by Herman Hagedorn .......................... 107 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, by Margaret Elizabeth Sangster ............... 109 THE MAN LINCOLN, by Wilbur Dick Nesbit ........................ 113 THE MASTER, by Edwin Arlington Robinson ....................... 116 LINCOLN, by Harriet Monroe .................................... 119 THE EYES OF LINCOLN, by Walt Mason ............................ 121 HE LEADS US STILL, by Arthur Guiterman ........................ 123 LINCOLN, by S. Weir Mitchell .................................. 125 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, by George Alfred Townsend .................... 126 LINCOLN, by Paul Lawrence Dunbar .............................. 128 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, by Alice Cary ................................ 130 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, by Rose Terry Cooke .......................... 132 LINCOLN, by Frederick Lucian Hosmer ........................... 134 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, by Charles Monroe Dickinson .................. 136 SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS! by Robert Leighton ....................... 139 ABRAHAM LINCOLN FOULLY ASSASSINATED, by Tom Taylor ............ 140 THE DEATHBED .................................................. 144 LINCOLN AND STANTON, by Marion Mills Miller ................... 146 THE HOUSE WHERE LINCOLN DIED, by Robert Mackay ................ 151 IN TOKEN OF RESPECT, Translation of Latin Verses .............. 152 ENGLAND'S SORROW, from _London Fun_ ........................... 153 THE FUNERAL HYMN OF LINCOLN, by Phineas Densmore Gurley ....... 155 REST, REST FOR HIM, by Harriet McEwen Kimball ................. 157 THE FUNERAL CAR OF LINCOLN, by Richard Henry Stoddard ......... 159 THE DEATH OF LINCOLN, by William Cullen Bryant ................ 161 ODE, by Henry T. Tuckerman .................................... 163 TOLLING, by Lucy Larcom ....................................... 164 REQUIEM OF LINCOLN, by Richard Storrs Willis .................. 167 REQUIEM, by James Nicoll Johnston ............................. 168 SERVICES IN MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, by Oliver Wendell Holmes .................................................. 170 SPRINGFIELD'S WELCOME TO LINCOLN, by William Allen ............ 173 LINCOLN, by Lucy Hamilton Hooper .............................. 175 LET THE PRESIDENT SLEEP, by James M. Stewart .................. 179 THE CENOTAPH OF LINCOLN, by James Mackay ...................... 181 DEDICATION POEM, by James Judson Lord ......................... 183 THE GRAVE OF LINCOLN, by Edna Dean Proctor .................... 186 COMMEMORATION ODE, by James Russell Lowell .................... 189 AN HORATIAN ODE, by Richard Henry Stoddard .................... 193 O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN! by Walt Whitman ........................ 197 ON THE ASSASSINATION OF LINCOLN, by Henry De Garrs ............ 200 POETICAL TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, by Emily J. Bugbee ...................................... 201 LINCOLN, 1865, by John Nichol ................................. 204 LINCOLN, by Christopher Pearse Cranch ......................... 206 LINCOLN, by George Henry Boker ................................ 208 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, by Phoebe Cary ............................... 210 LINCOLN, by Charles Graham Halpin ("Miles O'Reilly") .......... 215 THE MARTYR PRESIDENT .......................................... 219 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, by Eugene J. Hall ............................ 220 THE TOMB OF LINCOLN, by Samuel Francis Smith .................. 222 LINCOLN, by John Townsend Trowbridge .......................... 227 HOMAGE DUE TO LINCOLN, by Kinahan Cornwallis .................. 229 THE SCOTLAND STATUE, by David K. Watson ....................... 231 THE UNFINISHED WORK, by Joseph Fulford Folsom ................. 234 ONE OF OUR PRESIDENTS, by Wendell Philips Stafford ............ 236 ON A BRONZE MEDAL OF LINCOLN, by Frank Dempster Sherman ....... 239 THE GLORY THAT SLUMBERED IN THE GRANITE ROCK, by Ella Wheeler Wilcox .................................. 241 THE LINCOLN BOULDER, by Louis Bradford Couch .................. 243 WHEN LINCOLN DIED, by James Arthur Edgerton ................... 247 HAD LINCOLN LIVED, by Amos Russell Wells ...................... 250 LET HIS MONUMENT RISE, by Samuel Green Wheeler Benjamin ....... 253

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE PRESIDENT LINCOLN, Photograph by Brady, 1864 ....... _Frontispiece_ LINCOLN, from a Bust by Johannes Gelert ........................ iv THE LOG CABIN, Birthplace of Lincoln ........................... 13 LINCOLN BY THE CABIN FIRE ...................................... 16 MENDELSSOHN, DARWIN, LINCOLN ................................... 20 MONUMENT TO THE MOTHER OF LINCOLN .............................. 25 THE RAIL SPLITTER .............................................. 28 THE BOY LINCOLN, by Eastman Johnson ............................ 30 LINCOLN THE LAWYER, from an Ambrotype, 1856 .................... 34 LINCOLN'S OFFICE CHAIR ......................................... 36 LINCOLN AS A CANDIDATE FOR UNITED STATES SENATOR, from an Ambrotype by Gilmer, 1858 ................................ 40 LINCOLN AT THE TIME OF DEBATE WITH DOUGLAS, from an Ambrotype, 1858 ..................................................... 42 THE LINCOLN LIFE-MASK, by Leonard W. Volk ...................... 44 THE HAND OF LINCOLN, a Cast by Leonard W. Volk ................. 46 HON. ABRAHAM LINCOLN, REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY, 1860, painted by Hicks ................................... 49 THE "WIGWAM," Convention Hall in Chicago, 1860 ................. 50 LINCOLN AS CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT, from an Ambrotype, 1860 .... 52 "HONEST ABE," Campaign Cartoon of 1860 ......................... 55 LINCOLN AS CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT, Photograph by Hesler, Chicago, 1860 ............................................ 58 LINCOLN AS CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT, Photograph at Springfield, Ill., 1860 .................................. 60 CABIN OF LINCOLN'S PARENTS, on Goose-Nest Prairie, Ill. ........ 62 LINCOLN HOMESTEAD, Springfield, Ill., 1861 ..................... 64 PRESIDENT LINCOLN AND HIS SECRETARIES, JOHN G. NICOLAY AND JOHN HAY, Photograph at Springfield, Ill., 1861 .......... 67 INDEPENDENCE HALL, PHILADELPHIA ................................ 69 LINCOLN IN 1858, Photograph by S. M. Fassett, Chicago .......... 71 THE CAPITOL, at Second Inauguration of Lincoln ................. 73 THE WHITE HOUSE ................................................ 76 WHERE LINCOLN WORSHIPPED, New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, Washington, D. C. ........................................ 79 LINCOLN IN 1858, Photograph Owned by Stuart Brown, Springfield, Ill. ........................................ 82 PRESIDENT LINCOLN, Photograph Autographed for Miss Speed ....... 84 LINCOLN IN FEBRUARY, 1860, Photograph by Brady ................. 86 PRESIDENT LINCOLN, Photograph by Gardner ....................... 88 EMANCIPATION GROUP, in Park Square, Boston ..................... 90 PRESIDENT LINCOLN, Photograph by Brady, 1863 ................... 93 PRESIDENT LINCOLN, Photograph by Gardner, 1863 ................. 95 PRESIDENT LINCOLN, Photograph by Brady ......................... 97 LINCOLN AT GETTYSBURG ......................................... 100 PRESIDENT LINCOLN AND HIS SON THOMAS ("TAD") .................. 103 PRESIDENT LINCOLN, Photograph by Brady ........................ 106 PRESIDENT LINCOLN, Photograph by Brady ........................ 108 PRESIDENT LINCOLN, Photograph by Gardner, 1864 ................ 112 PRESIDENT LINCOLN AT ANTIETAM ................................. 115 PRESIDENT LINCOLN, Photograph by Gardner, 1864 ................ 118 PRESIDENT-ELECT LINCOLN, Photograph at Springfield, Ill., 1861 .................................................... 120 PRESIDENT LINCOLN, Photograph by Brady, 1862 .................. 122 PRESIDENT LINCOLN, Photograph by Brady, 1864 .................. 124 STATUE OF LINCOLN in Hodgenville, Ky.; Adolph A. Weinman, sculptor ................................................ 126 PRESIDENT LINCOLN, Photograph by Brady, 1864 .................. 128 PRESIDENT LINCOLN, Photograph by Gardner, 1865 ................ 130 PRESIDENT LINCOLN, Photograph by Gardner, 1865 ................ 132 PRESIDENT LINCOLN, Photograph by Brady, 1865 .................. 134 FORD'S THEATRE, WASHINGTON, D. C. ............................. 138 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, FOULLY ASSASSINATED, Cartoon in London _Punch_ ............................... 140 DEATHBED OF LINCOLN ........................................... 144 ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND EDWIN M. STANTON .......................... 146 DEATH OF LINCOLN .............................................. 149 HOUSE IN WHICH LINCOLN DIED ................................... 150 JOSEPHINE OLDROYD TIEFENTHALER ................................ 150 THE FUNERAL OF LINCOLN, in East Room of White House ........... 154 THE FUNERAL CAR ............................................... 158 CITY HALL, NEW YORK, N. Y. .................................... 162 ROTUNDA, CITY HALL ............................................ 166 ST. JAMES HALL, BUFFALO, N. Y. ................................ 168 PRESIDENT LINCOLN, Photograph by Brady, 1863 .................. 170 LINCOLN HOMESTEAD, May 4, 1865 ................................ 172 STATE CAPITOL, ILLINOIS, 1865 ................................. 175 PUBLIC VAULT, OAK RIDGE CEMETERY, SPRINGFIELD, ILL. ........... 178 FACADE OF PUBLIC VAULT ........................................ 180 LINCOLN MONUMENT, in Springfield, Ill., Larken G. Mead, Architect ............................................... 182 STATUE OF LINCOLN, Lincoln Park, Washington, D. C., Thomas Ball, sculptor ................................... 188 STATUE OF LINCOLN, by Leonard W. Volk ......................... 192 "THE GOOD GRAY POET" (Walt Whitman) ........................... 196 STATUE OF LINCOLN, in Washington, D. C.; Lott Flannery, sculptor ................................................ 199 STATUE OF LINCOLN, in Muskegon, Mich.; Charles Niehaus, sculptor ................................................ 203 LINCOLN AND CABINET ("First Reading of Emancipation Proclamation"), Painted by Frank B. Carpenter ........... 206 STATUE OF LINCOLN, in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Randolph Rogers, sculptor ........................................ 208 PRESIDENT LINCOLN, Photograph by Brady, 1864 .................. 210 STATUE OF LINCOLN, in Lincoln Park, Chicago; Augustus Saint Gaudens, sculptor ....................................... 214 TABLET AT PHILADELPHIA ........................................ 218 STATUE OF LINCOLN, in Rotunda of Capitol; Vinnie Ream, sculptor ................................................ 222 STATUE OF LINCOLN, in Lincoln, Neb.; Daniel Chester French, sculptor ................................................ 226 STATUE OF LINCOLN, in Burlington, Wis.; George E. Ganiere, sculptor ................................................ 228 STATUE OF LINCOLN, in Edinburgh, Scotland; George E. Bissell, sculptor ................................................ 231 STATUE OF LINCOLN, in Newark, N. J.; Gutzon Borglum, sculptor ................................................ 234 CHILDREN ON THE BORGLUM STATUE ................................ 236 HEAD OF LINCOLN, Bronze Medallion in Commemoration of Lincoln Centenary, Struck for the Grand Army of the Republic .... 238 MARBLE HEAD OF LINCOLN, in Statuary Hall, Capitol; Gutzon Borglum, sculptor ....................................... 240 THE LINCOLN BOULDER, at Nyack, N. Y. .......................... 243 BAS-RELIEF HEAD OF LINCOLN, James W. Tuft, sculptor ........... 246 A STUDY OF LINCOLN, Painting by Blendon Campbell .............. 249 THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL, at Washington, D. C., Henry Bacon, architect ............................................... 252

INTRODUCTION

THE POETIC SPIRIT OF LINCOLN

By MARION MILLS MILLER

(See biographical sketch on page 146)

Some years ago, while editing Henry C. Whitney's "Life of Lincoln" I showed a photograph of the bust of Lincoln by Johannes Gelert, the most intellectual to my mind of all the studies of his face, to a little Italian shoeblack, and asked him if he knew who it was. The boy, evidently prompted by a recent lesson at school, said questioningly, "Whittier?--Longfellow?" I replied, "No, it is Lincoln, the great President." He answered, "Well, he looks like a poet, anyway."

This verified a conclusion to which I had already come: Lincoln, had he lived in a region of greater culture, such as New England, might not have adopted the engrossing pursuits of law and politics, but, as did Whittier, have remained longer on the farm and gradually taken up the calling of letters, composing verse of much the same order as our Yankee bards', and poetry of even higher merit than some produced.

It is not generally known that Lincoln, shortly before he went to Congress, wrote verse of a kind to compare favorably with the early attempts of American poets such as those named. Thus the two poems of his which have been preserved, for his early lampoons on his neighbors have happily been lost, are equal in poetic spirit and metrical art to Whittier's "The Prisoner for Debt," to which they are strikingly similar in melancholic mood.

In 1846, at the age of 37, Lincoln conducted a literary correspondence with a friend, William Johnson by name, of like poetic tastes. In April of this year he wrote the following letter to Johnson:

Tremont, April 18, 1846.

FRIEND JOHNSTON: Your letter, written some six weeks since, was received in due course, and also the paper with the parody. It is true, as suggested it might be, that I have never seen Poe's "Raven"; and I very well know that a parody is almost entirely dependent for its interest upon the reader's acquaintance with the original. Still there is enough in the polecat, self-considered, to afford one several hearty laughs. I think four or five of the last stanzas are decidedly funny, particularly where Jeremiah "scrubbed and washed, and prayed and fasted."

I have not your letter now before me; but, from memory, I think you ask me who is the author of the piece I sent you, and that you do so ask as to indicate a slight suspicion that I myself am the author. Beyond all question, I am not the author. I would give all I am worth, and go in debt, to be able to write so fine a piece as I think that is. Neither do I know who is the author. I met it in a straggling form in a newspaper last summer, and I remember to have seen it once before, about fifteen years ago, and this is all I know about it.

The piece of poetry of my own which I alluded to, I was led to write under the following circumstances. In the fall of 1844, thinking I might aid some to carry the State of Indiana for Mr. Clay, I went into the neighborhood in that State in which I was raised, where my mother and only sister were buried, and from which I had been absent about fifteen years.

That part of the country is, within itself, as unpoetical as any spot of the earth; but still, seeing it and its objects and inhabitants aroused feelings in me which were certainly poetry; though whether my expression of those feelings is poetry is quite another question. When I got to writing, the change of subject divided the thing into four little divisions or cantos, the first only of which I send you now, and may send the others hereafter.

Yours truly, A. LINCOLN.

My childhood's home I see again, And sadden with the view; And still, as memory crowds my brain, There's pleasure in it too.

O Memory! thou midway world 'Twixt earth and paradise, Where things decayed and loved ones lost In dreamy shadows rise,

And, freed from all that's earthly vile, Seem hallowed, pure and bright, Like scenes in some enchanted isle All bathed in liquid light.

As dusky mountains please the eye When twilight chases day; As bugle-notes that, passing by, In distance die away;