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LINCOLN 
 
 The Gift of Illinois 
 to Mankind 
 
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LINCOLN 
 
 THE GIFT OF ILLINOIS 
 TO MANKIND 
 
 AN ADDRESS BY 
 
 ALEXANDER SULLIVAN 
 
 DELIVERED AT A BANQUET GIVEN 
 BY THE ILLINOIS ATHLETIC 
 CLUB, ON LINCOLN'S BIRTH- 
 DAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1908 
 

 Copyright 
 
 BY 
 
 Alexander Sullivan 
 1908 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 On the twelfth day of February, 
 1908 (Lincoln's birthday), at a banquet 
 given in honor of the day, by the Illinois 
 Athletic Club, Alexander Sullivan, of 
 Chicago, delivered an address on Abra- 
 ham Lincoln. The masterly grouping 
 of the main features in the great presi- 
 dent's life led to a request that the 
 address be given as wide publicity as 
 possible. 
 
 Rev. John Cavanaugh, president of 
 Notre Dame University, one of the 
 most gifted speakers in the United 
 States, Prof. J. C. Monaghan, now of 
 Notre Dame University, formerly of 
 the University of Wisconsin, and later 
 of the George Washington University, 
 of Washington, D. C, wrote urging 
 Mr. Sullivan to give the address to the 
 public. 
 
 In compliance with these requests 
 and the opinion of Professor Nathaniel 
 
Butler, Dean of the College of Edu- 
 cation of the University of Chicago, 
 the address appears in its present form. 
 The letters that led to the decision to 
 reprint are herewith appended. 
 
 William Hale Thompson, 
 President The Illinois Athletic Club. 
 
 Illinois Athletic Club 
 August 15, 1908 
 
LINCOLN 
 
 The Gift of Illinois to Mankind 
 
 THE subject I am to respond to is 
 one of the easiest and one of the 
 most difficult. 
 
 It is easy because of the great abun- 
 dance and the great diversity of themes 
 which flow from the mere mention of 
 Lincoln's name. His life will be 
 searched in vain for a day or an event 
 barren of human interest. But the 
 sentiment is a difficult one, because the 
 many-sided qualifications of the man, 
 the great depth and breadth of his 
 knowledge and achievements, and the 
 exceptional manner in which his life 
 is intertwined with all the events of 
 his own time and with the eternal prin- 
 ciples of justice and freedom, would 
 m.ake it impossible in a long address 
 to do more than give a mere flashlight 
 vision of his marvelous career. 
 
 Born in a log cabin in the back- 
 woods of Kentucky, he came into the 
 world and lived his early boy life in 
 
 7 
 
a poverty almost as great as that 
 which surrounded the babe of Bethle- 
 hem. With indifferent mental training 
 and without means, this backwoods 
 boy started to seek a livelihood ; what 
 he was to do or whither he was to go 
 he knew not. Looking longingly about 
 him, although tarrying in Indiana his 
 gaze lingered on Illinois ; that great 
 power of his to foresee the future led 
 him to settle within her limits. 
 
 Ungainly, without experience, with- 
 out credentials, armed only with reso- 
 lution, physical strength, a clear mind, 
 a pure conscience and a loyal soul, he 
 began to struggle for mere bread and 
 shelter. 
 
 r Lincoln, the Leader 1 
 
 Unendorsed stranger as he was, he 
 associated with no group in which he 
 was not soon a favorite and the leader. 
 In the debate of the country store, or 
 the country schoolhouse, in the rude 
 but decent and warm hearted social 
 gatherings of the pioneers among 
 whom his lot was cast, he was the 
 brightest in repartee, the leader in 
 logic, the star in humor. On the flat- 
 
 8 
 
boat, without any previous experience, 
 he was the one to overcome difficulties, 
 to release his craft when caught in the 
 river-dam, and to guide its course 
 through the dangerous eddies. On one 
 of these trips, after delivering his cargo 
 at New Orleans, he walked about the 
 streets of that interesting city and got 
 his first abhorrent view of slavery. He 
 saw a beautiful octoroon girl offered 
 for sale from the slave block, and heard 
 the coarseness, the ribaldry and the 
 blasphemy of the auctioneer and of the 
 bestial wretches who surrounded the 
 human auction block. Could they have 
 heard this raw, uncouth, unattractive, 
 penniless youth, as he witnessed the 
 scene, they would have laughed in 
 drunken derision when he said: "If I 
 ever get a chance, I will hit that hard," 
 and they would have asked how such 
 a creature could ever hit hard or soft 
 the great power of slavery. 
 
 But there is a spell surrounding his 
 life and invading its every movement, 
 which indicates a providential inten- 
 tion that it should be used as a divine 
 instrument for great and far-reaching 
 purposes ; and one is forced to wonder 
 if in the mind of Lincoln, even in those 
 early days, there was not a conscious- 
 
ness that the Almighty had in store a 
 great task and a great destiny for him. 
 
 One cannot follow the life of Lincoln 
 without the feeling that he was fore- 
 ordained and created by Providence for 
 a special purpose. His life from hum- 
 ble hut in Kentucky to the executive 
 mansion of the greatest republic on 
 earth illustrates American opportunity. 
 His self-denial of his own cherished 
 convictions exhibited an almost super- 
 human power of restraint. The guid- 
 ance of conscience is manifest in every 
 chapter of his history. 
 
 This helpless lad, who said he would 
 hit that hard if he ever could, became 
 under Providence the power which by 
 the scratch of a pen struck slavery not 
 only hard, but even unto death. 
 
 Returning to Illinois, he became a 
 grocery clerkj a volunteer in the In- 
 dian war, a rail splitter, a student in 
 that great university lighted by the 
 sun, moon and stars and covered by 
 the dome of heaven, for he never had 
 the opportunity of studying in a man- 
 created college or university. He be- 
 came a graduate of God's universal 
 school. 
 
 He soon became a lawyer and legis- 
 lator, state and national. Wherever 
 
 lo 
 
he went, he was the leader, his the 
 master mind. At the bar he became the 
 peer of Browning, Scott, Trumbull, 
 David Davis and Leonard Swett. 
 
 r The Coming Conflict 1 
 
 The country was intensely stirred 
 from ocean to ocean with the coming 
 conflict, on one side of which must 
 stand friends of the Union and Lib- 
 erty, and on the other side the friends 
 of slavery and secession. 
 
 When the extension of slavery into 
 the territories became the chief topic 
 of political discussion, all eyes focused 
 and all minds agreed upon Lincoln as 
 the man to speak for his side of the 
 controversy against that prince of de- 
 baters, Stephen A. Douglas. 
 
 The series of debates between those 
 giants attracted the attention of the 
 entire country and helped to mould its 
 future history. 
 
 I have said that wherever his lot was 
 cast he was the leader. In those very 
 debates he submitted to the greatest 
 minds on his side of the controversy 
 certain questions which he intended to 
 propound to Mr. Douglas. His friends 
 
 1 1 
 
protested that to one of them he must 
 evoke an answer which would secure 
 victory to Douglas in Illinois. Lincoln 
 replied: "But I am playing for bigger 
 game. The answer which will win Illi- 
 nois for him must cost him the presi- 
 dency." And it did. Despite their pro- 
 tests he submitted what he had pre- 
 pared. Douglas became the senator, 
 Lincoln remained the private citizen ; 
 but in the next advance Lincoln became 
 the candidate of his united party, 
 Douglas became the nominee of a frac- 
 tion of his party. Lincoln was elected 
 president. 
 
 /' He triumphed without 1 
 Making Enemies J 
 
 In all his conflicts with his fellow 
 men, whether in the court or on the 
 stump, he was recognized as the man 
 of all men who could not resort to 
 subterfuge or deception — who did not 
 refrain from striking hard when dis- 
 cussing what he conceived to be unjust, 
 dishonest, inhuman or treasonable, but 
 there was something in his sweet and 
 kindly nature which enabled him to 
 secure the respect and affection of ad- 
 versary as well as of comrade. 
 
 12 
 
And wherever the "Wondrous Story" 
 of our Illinois is told, it must al- 
 ways be recited with pride that when 
 Lincoln was first sworn in as president, 
 while the air was full of rumors of as- 
 sault, aye, and of assassination, there 
 stood beside him a brother from Illi- 
 nois who by Lincoln's matchless elo- 
 quence and wonderful genius had been 
 deprived of the prize for the gain of 
 which his whole life had been bent. 
 That brother, by his presence, notified 
 those who had indulged in threats that 
 no stone could be thrown, no shot fired 
 at Abraham Lincoln which might not 
 maim or pierce his own body. His 
 presence proclaimed his guardianship 
 over the person of his brother. In his 
 own defeat he found solace and joy in 
 the knowledge that the victor was his 
 neighbor and brother, and humbly, 
 loyally and fraternally he held the hat 
 of that victorious brother, while the 
 venerable chief justice was administer- 
 ing to him the oath of office. The 
 friend overcame himself as adversary. 
 The patriot conquered himself as the 
 partisan, and the history of Illinois, 
 humanity and American patriotism was 
 enriched by the spectacle of the pro- 
 tecting, loving presence at Lincoln's 
 
 13 
 
side of his former adversary, Stephen 
 A. Douglas. 
 
 /' His was the Master Mind 1 
 in Washington J 
 
 In the executive mansion, Lincoln 
 immediately showed his greatness by 
 surrounding himself with the greatest 
 men in his party. Only an intellectual 
 giant could be at home in such com- 
 pany. Who but a giant could com- 
 mand Seward, Chase, Stanton and 
 their cabinet colleagues, and in their 
 company as in all others, be the guide, 
 the leader, the master? 
 
 When Seward, supposed to be the 
 most polished man of his party, its best 
 equipped statesman, its keenest de- 
 bater, its most scholarly advocate, pre- 
 pared dispatches to foreign govern- 
 ments with whom our relations were 
 threatening, Lincoln erased a word 
 here, substituted a word there, and so 
 modified the work of the secretary of 
 state as to remove expressions which 
 might give offence, but he preserved an 
 unqualified declaration of all our rights. 
 
 The young student, who wishes to 
 become an adept in expression as a 
 master in style, will search in vain for 
 
keener or more beautiful and effective 
 evidences of the use, significance and 
 shading of correct language than 
 those found in Lincoln's revision of 
 state papers prepared by the brilliant 
 Seward. 
 
 The greatest of war ministers, so like 
 Vesuvius in action, Edwin M. Stan- 
 ton, was wont to thunder orders and 
 roar defiance at Lincoln as he would at 
 the humblest clerk in the department. 
 The master knew so well the depth and 
 earnestness of Stanton's patriotism 
 that he could not rebuke him, and 
 would not deprive the nation of his 
 services. 
 
 With that patience, almost Joblike, 
 which carried him through such trials 
 as few men in the world's history have 
 had to bear, he would quietly with- 
 draw, but before he slept, a line to 
 Stanton would proclaim who was mas- 
 ter, and the poor boy who fell asleep 
 on picket duty, but whose patriotism 
 was not questioned, was pardoned ; the 
 note not requesting but directing the 
 pardon was signed "A. Lincoln." 
 
 15 
 
r He Mastered Details 1 
 
 It became Lincoln's duty to grapple 
 with the most difficult situation which 
 has ever been presented to an Ameri- 
 can president. He had to deal with the 
 whole subject of the maintenance of 
 the Union. It was his to see that for- 
 eign conflicts were avoided, it was his 
 to provide the means to equip and pay 
 the army and navy, to supply the mu- 
 nitions of war and to maintain civil 
 government in all its ramifications. 
 Upon him devolved the duty of com- 
 mander in chief of the army and navy. 
 How well, how skillfully, how thor- 
 oughly he performed that duty you 
 will be told better than any mere civil- 
 ian could tell you by the distinguished 
 and accomplished officer who is to 
 address you to-night on "Lincoln, the 
 Commander in Chief."* 
 
 The marvel of this period of intense 
 excitement and strain is that Lincoln 
 mastered and participated so much in 
 the detail of administration. He was 
 not content to do the great things 
 which devolved upon him; he also did 
 
 * Brig. Gen. W. H. Carter, U. S. A. 
 
 i6 
 
the smaller ones, and knew every 
 branch of the government and its 
 workings. Those who consulted him 
 about the currency found him a master 
 of the subject. Those who approached 
 him concerning the restoration of our 
 manufactures met one fully equipped 
 with knowledge on that subject. 
 
 He signed the Homestead Law, his 
 predecessor had vetoed it. By this act, 
 the invitation so eagerly accepted w^as 
 extended to the citizens of the over- 
 crowded Eastern States and to that 
 vast army of immigrants seeking homes 
 and freedom in the new continent who 
 took possession of our western prai- 
 ries and converted them into granaries 
 of the world and the homes of peace, 
 prosperity, patriotism and religion. 
 
 With what wisdom he acted the world 
 is familiar; for it was from the ranks 
 of the brave immigrants of those days 
 that there came a large portion of the 
 boys in blue who saved the Union. 
 
 It is impossible to report the work 
 of any department of the government 
 without tracing the guiding hand of 
 Abraham Lincoln during his term of 
 office as president. He was great 
 enough to grasp the largest subjects. 
 He was patient enough to perform and 
 
 17 
 
be familiar with the most ordinary 
 and commonplace details. 
 
 He could by a joke or a story, and 
 without anger, dismiss a bore. A New 
 England delegation invited him to go 
 to the treasury building and unfurl a 
 flag which was to be presented to a 
 regiment. Lincoln was kept standing 
 on the treasury steps forty minutes lis- 
 tening to a tedious harangue. At its 
 conclusion he stepped forward and 
 said: ''I will pull this flag up, if there 
 is no defect in the machinery, but the 
 people must keep it there." In a sen- 
 tence the whole duty of the American 
 people was stated. The tired president 
 bowed, returned to his oflicial servitude 
 and boredom was rebuked. At another 
 time while Secretaries Seward and 
 Chase were awaiting the president 
 on a subject of national importance 
 two rival delegations full of anger 
 and speech, called to discuss the claims 
 of their respective candidates for a 
 petty offlce. Lincoln tried in vain to 
 escape, then shrewdly sent down to the 
 cook for a big pair of scales. He tossed 
 the recommendations on either side of 
 the scales, picked out the heavier one 
 and said to his secretary: "Tell the 
 postmaster general to appoint this fel- 
 
 i8 
 
low." The insignificance of this petty 
 contest, the unreasonableness of afflict- 
 ing him with it, could not be shown 
 more effectively. Yet he said no bitter 
 word and made no enemy. 
 
 /' Guided by the Constitution He 1 
 Disregarded His Preferences J 
 
 Without malignity to the slave- 
 holder, whose surroundings in many in- 
 stances accounted for his views, Lin- 
 coln hated slavery as God hates sin, 
 but in obedience to his oath of office 
 and to the constitution of his country 
 he refused to make war upon slavery 
 and declared that it was his purpose 
 to save the Union without violating the 
 then constitutional rights of the slave- 
 holders. 
 
 The extremists railed and accused 
 him of perfidy, they cited his own de- 
 nunciations of slavery, they reminded 
 him of his biblical quotation that a 
 house divided against itself could not 
 stand. But he saw and did his duty. 
 
 With his love of peace and his love 
 of liberty, he would have brought about 
 the peaceful ending of slavery if the 
 South could have known him then as 
 it knew him later. He struck slavery, 
 
 19 
 
not as soon as he would have Hked to 
 do so, but when slavery itself com- 
 pelled the blow to be struck. 
 
 Thus, in his greater wisdom, he ac- 
 complished what was desired, so that 
 the reasonable world could not com- 
 plain of his time or method of action. 
 When that time came, he had to brave 
 another storm of criticism. As he re- 
 sisted the extremist at one period so he 
 resisted the conservative at the other 
 and did his duty as he saw it without 
 regard to either. 
 
 Lincoln had that self-confidence with- 
 out which no man can be great. He had 
 the moral strength to do what he con- 
 ceived to be right, regardless of the op- 
 position of friend or foe. 
 
 r He Believed in God 1 
 
 He made no demonstrative profes- 
 sion of religion. He belonged strictly 
 to no creed, but he was a God-fearing 
 and a God-loving man and breathed 
 this spirit in all the stages of his life. 
 
 In his farewell address to his Spring- 
 field neighbors when starting for 
 Washington, he said: 
 
 "I now leave, not knowing when or 
 
 20 
 
whether ever I may return, with a task 
 before me greater than that which rest- 
 ed upon Washington. Without the as- 
 sistance of that Divine Being who ever 
 attended him, I cannot succeed. With 
 that assistance^ I cannot fail. 
 
 "Trusting in Him who can go with 
 me and remain with you, and be every- 
 where for good, let us confidently hope 
 that all will yet be well. To His care 
 commending you, as I hope in your 
 prayers you will commend me, I bid you 
 an affectionate farewell." 
 
 He concluded his famous Gettysburg 
 address with this sentence : 
 
 *Tt is rather for us to be here dedi- 
 cated to the great task remaining be- 
 fore us, that from these 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 this na- 
 tion, under God, shall have a new birth 
 of freedom, and that government of the 
 people, by the people, for the people 
 shall not perish from the earth." 
 
 In that wonderful mastery of detail 
 to which I have already referred, we 
 find him on one of his visits to the war 
 department discovering the debt of the 
 
 21 
 
nation to a brave Massachusetts 
 mother. Even as the Creator doth 
 watch the sparrow's fall, so this tired, 
 weary soul watched over the minutest 
 details of the great struggle. Knowing 
 what the great loss must have meant to 
 the mother's heart he dragged himself 
 from the war department back to the 
 executive mansion and indicted a letter, 
 which will ever be a model of exquisite 
 tenderness and sweet sympathy, and 
 which repeats his faith in the Divine 
 Being, 
 
 "Dear Madam: 
 
 '*I have been shown in the files of 
 the war department a statement of the 
 adjutant general of Massachusetts that 
 you are the mother of five sons who 
 have died gloriously on the field of bat- 
 tle. I feel how weak and fruitless 
 must be any word of mine which 
 should attempt to beguile you from the 
 grief of a loss so overwhelming. But 
 I cannot refrain from tendering you 
 the consolation that may be found in 
 the thanks of the republic they died to 
 save. 
 
 ''I pray that our Heavenly Father 
 may assuage the anguish of your be- 
 reavement and leave you only the cher- 
 
 27 
 
ished memory of the loved and lost, 
 and the solemn pride that must be 
 yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice 
 upon the altar of freedom." 
 
 r His Class 1 
 
 In what class shall we place our 
 Lincoln? In what eternal company 
 may we expect to find him ? 
 
 Without being or intending to be 
 irreverent, it seems easy to limit those 
 who are entitled to his companionship. 
 
 The ten commandments thundered 
 from Mount Sinai by Moses are the 
 basis of all real religion, whatever its 
 form or whatever the designation of 
 its creed. 
 
 The emancipation proclamation of 
 Lincoln forms the basis of all true gov- 
 ernment ; it fixes the stigma upon slav- 
 ery which the ten commandments fixed 
 upon sin. The author of each was 
 stricken down before he reached the 
 promised land. If we were to find them 
 in companionship in eternity, receiving 
 the affectionate caresses of Him who died 
 on Calvary, the vision would not sur- 
 prise us, and it were difficult to decide 
 whom else we could add to the group. 
 
 23 
 
If we could conceive of a state with 
 a soul like a human being, and if Illi- 
 nois were called before the bar of Je- 
 hovah for final examination and asked 
 what it had to say before judgment, we 
 can imagine our State making this 
 response : 
 
 /'Illinois at the Bar ofl 
 Judgment J 
 
 "I have reclaimed an imperial domain 
 from the barrenness and barbarism of 
 the Indian. My rich acres have fed the 
 world and furnished homes and freedom 
 to the impoverished and oppressed of all 
 nations. 
 
 *'To peace I have furnished laborer, 
 mechanic, merchant, financier, inventor, 
 explorer, artist, teacher, jurist, doctor 
 and divine. 
 
 *'One of mine, the personification of 
 modesty and purity, is one of the highest 
 judicial dignitaries in the civilized world 
 and adorns his exalted position — Chief 
 Justice Fuller. 
 
 "My people have dotted the land with 
 factories, financial and commercial pal- 
 aces, schools, colleges, universities, hos- 
 pitals, homes of charity and reformation, 
 
 24 
 
and temples dedicated to the worship 
 of the Hving God. 
 
 "Science, Hterature, music, all the fine 
 arts, are nurtured and flourish within 
 my boundaries, displacing and succeed- 
 ing the filthy wigwam, the hideous tom- 
 tom, the beastly war dances where lust 
 and plunder were the subjects and tor- 
 ture and massacre the arbiters of contro- 
 versy. 
 
 "My commercial and financial fame is 
 the synonym of integrity and enter- 
 prise. 
 
 "My metropolis — Queen City of the 
 lakes and the prairies — is the world's 
 theme and the world's admiration. 
 
 "In war, tens of thousands of my 
 sons voluntarily poured out their rich 
 blood that liberty might live. To their 
 leadership I gave one, justly character- 
 ized by the immortal Sherman as the 
 world's greatest volunteer general, my 
 native son — Logan. 
 
 "I commissioned the persistent, in- 
 vincible, silent Captain whose glory as a 
 warrior was eclipsed only by his modesty, 
 chivalry and generosity as a victor — 
 Grant. 
 
 "But, in submitting to final judgment, 
 I waive all these achievements and gifts 
 
 25 
 
to humanity; and for the forgiveness of 
 all my sins of omission or commission, 
 and for the eternal benediction promised 
 to the good and faithful servant, I am 
 content to rely on the lustre of my 
 adopted and best beloved son, for whom 
 all the peoples and all the ages must re- 
 main my debtors forever and forever. 
 
 "I saw his grace through his awk- 
 wardness. I saw his purity through his 
 poverty. I saw his genius through his 
 humility. 
 
 'Through the sad, mystic, wonderful 
 windows of his soul I beheld beauty in 
 the face the world called homely. 
 
 '*I trusted him. I took him to my 
 heart in life ; as in death, I gave resting 
 place to his martyred ashes. I lifted him 
 from step to step. My selection of him 
 as my favorite son gave him first to the 
 Nation, then to mankind. 
 
 **My faith in him, under God's guid- 
 ance, gave unto his face, seared by strug- 
 gles with adversity, softened by sorrow, 
 illumined by charity, an influence which 
 carried light to the hovel and hope to the 
 heart of every enslaved creature of 
 God throughout the Universe — Abraham 
 Lincoln." 
 
 26 
 
Letter of Rev. John Cavanaugh, 
 President of Notre Dame University: 
 
 5Eniber0itp of Nctre Bamt 
 
 Notre Dame, Indiana, July 6, 1908. 
 
 Mr. Alexander Sullivan, 
 
 605 Atwood Bldg., Chicago, 111. 
 
 My dear Mr. Sullivan: I venture to 
 suggest to you the desirability of circu- 
 lating your admirable address on Lin- 
 coln among the schoolboys of our coun- 
 try. I have seldom been so impressed 
 by the fitness of a discourse for educa- 
 tional purposes. In the first place, I be- 
 lieve your analysis has reached the es- 
 sence of the man, and, therefore, our 
 students will arrive at a correct esti- 
 mate of one of the greatest of our 
 country's sons. Secondly, a powerful 
 influence, both for patriotism and for 
 character, will be brought to bear on 
 the lives of youth through your por- 
 trait of Lincoln. Besides, the dis- 
 course is a model from a literary point 
 of view and I should like as many per- 
 sons as possible to have the benefit 
 of reading it as a matter of literary 
 training. Finally, the concluding por- 
 tion of it is admirably adapted for reci- 
 tation in the schools. 
 
 I wish to congratulate you on having 
 
 27 
 
produced one of the best addresses 
 that have come to my knowledge. 
 Unless I am mistaken, it is destined 
 to live. 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 John Cavanaugh, C. S. C, 
 
 President. 
 
 From Professor Nathaniel Butler, 
 Dean of the College of Education of 
 the University of Chicago. 
 
 FOUNDED BY JOHN D. ROCKBFELLHR 
 
 The Colleg:e of Education 
 Office of the Dean 
 
 July 27, 1908. 
 
 Mr. Alexander Sullivan, 
 
 605 Atwood Bldg., Chicago. 
 My dear Mr. Sullivan: I have read 
 every word of your Lincoln address 
 with intense interest. There is not a 
 sentence that does not hold the atten- 
 tion closely, and no part of the address 
 that does not "move on.'' You have 
 introduced some very fine touches re- 
 garding Stephen A. Douglas, and your 
 analysis of Lincoln's character is at 
 once a mental photograph, and at the 
 same time a picture with your own 
 individual touches. You have been 
 
 28 
 
wonderfully successful in avoiding the 
 traditional biographical style, and 
 again, you have done a thing most 
 difficult, namely, you have combined 
 the colloquial style of address with the 
 dignity of oration, and all of this find 
 suitable finish in the closing paragraph. 
 I thank you very much for permit- 
 ting me to read the address. 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 Nathaniel Butler. 
 
 Prof. J. C. Monaghan's letter: 
 
 Kotre name 5aniber^itp 
 
 July 4i 1908. 
 
 Mr. Alexander Sullivan, 
 
 Chicago, Ills. 
 Dear Mr. Sullivan: I have found 
 great pleasure in reading your master- 
 ly address on Lincoln, delivered before 
 the Illinois Athletic Club, February 12, 
 1908. I am writing to ask you to ar- 
 range said address in pamphlet form 
 for as wide publication as possible. 
 The oration should be in every home 
 in the country. It epitomizes Lincoln's 
 life, it picks out and puts before our 
 boys the best parts of the greatest, if 
 not the sublimest, life in all our his- 
 tory, not excepting Washington. 
 
 29 
 
It would be wicked to pass such a 
 piece of work over to the annalists for 
 the files ; it should be sent out as an 
 inspiration to our boys. I have read it 
 a dozen times, each time with profit, and 
 I am to teach my boy of fourteen to 
 declaim a large part of it. 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 J. C. MONAGHAN. 
 
 3° 
 
PRESS NOTICES 
 
 The treatment of the great banquet, 
 at which Mr. Sullivan's address was 
 delivered, by the Chicago daily press, 
 may be judged by the following ex- 
 tracts : The Inter Ocean said : 
 
 "The New Illinois Athletic Club cel- 
 ebrated its first Lincoln's birthday an- 
 niversary- with a military banquet last 
 night. Among the guests were officers 
 from the regular army and the Illinois 
 National Guard. The glitter of their 
 uniforms amid the somber evening 
 dress of the civilians made the ballroom 
 a scene of unusual splendor. 
 
 *Tn the banquet hall more than lOO 
 tables were spread, and at each plate 
 waved a tiny silk American flag. A 
 large flag with Lincoln's picture as a 
 centerpiece formed the background for 
 the speaker's table, at which uniformed 
 officers and other guests of honor sat. 
 General W. H. Carter, Commander of 
 the Department of the Lakes, represented 
 the regular army, responding to the 
 toast, 'Lincoln, the Commander-in- 
 Chief.' General Edward C. Young of 
 the Illinois National Guard, represented 
 
 31 
 
the citizen soldiery and responded to 
 'The National Guard of the Republic' 
 Dr. James B. McFatrich spoke on 'Lin- 
 coln, the Humble Man,' and Attorney 
 Alexander Sullivan delivered the address 
 of the evening, 'Lincoln, the Gift of 
 Illinois to Mankind.' 
 
 /'Robert Lincoln Sends 1 
 Regrets J 
 
 "Toastmaster William Hale Thomp- 
 son read a letter of regret from Robert 
 T. Lincoln, son of the martyred presi- 
 dent, in which he expressed his regret at 
 being unable to attend because of a feel- 
 ing that it was better that he remain ab- 
 sent from affairs where the name of his 
 illustrious father was being honored." 
 
 The Tribune, following its report of 
 Mr. Sullivan's speech, said : 
 
 "As the speaker resumed his seat 
 every one of the little silken flags that 
 adorned the tables was seized and waved 
 in the air, while the soldiers forgot their 
 stiff parade uniforms and gold lace to 
 throw their arms about in the air and 
 cheer as loudly as their lungs would per- 
 mit." 
 
 .12 
 
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