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A PORTRAIT OF LINCOLN RESTING A AINST THE FLAG. 
 The only decoration of the Churcli ; t this meeting. 
 
1809 
 
 February 12th 
 
 1909 
 
 Services in Commemoration of the 
 
 One Hundredth Anniversary 
 
 of the Birth of 
 
 Abraham gtncoln 
 
 Arranged by Union and 
 Confederate Veterans 
 
 Under the Auspices of O. M. Mitchel Post 
 No. 1, Grand Army of the Republic 
 
 Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church 
 
 South 
 
 Atlanta, Georgia 
 
 Sunday Evening, February 14th, 1909 
 
 J0^ 
 
 Pnblieked by "Blue" and "Gray" Veterans, 1909 
 
 BYRD PRINTING CO., ATLANTA. 
 
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 4S'-l 
 
 c. 
 
 (Mffc 
 
 AUa to 1919 
 
PROGRAM 
 
 D. I. CARSON, Chaplain 
 
 OF 0. M. MITCHEL POST No. 1 , G. A. R. 
 PRESIDING 
 
 Organ Prelude 
 
 Music 
 
 Choir of Trinity Church 
 
 Reading the Scripture 
 Rev. A. F. Sherrill, D.D., Dean of Atlanta Theological Seminary 
 
 Prayer 
 
 General Clement A. Evans, 
 
 Commander in Chief United Confederate Veterans 
 
 Reading Mr. Lincoln's Favorite Poem 
 
 "O, Why Should the Spirit of Mortal be Proud" 
 
 Col. T. H. Jones, Camp A., Wheeler's Cavalry 
 
 Reading "The Gettysburg Address" 
 Brig. Gen. J. W. Scully, U. S. Army retired 
 
 Address 
 
 Rev. James W. lyCe, D. D. 
 
 Hymn— "My Country 'tis of Thee" 
 
 Congregation 
 
 Benediction 
 
FOREWORD. 
 
 HIS PAMPHLET contains a verbatim 
 report of the proceedings at one of the 
 most unique and patriotic meetings 
 ever held in Atlanta. 
 
 An order was received by 0. M. 
 Mitchel Post No. 1 from the National 
 Headquarters of the Grand Army of the Republic 
 through the Headquarters of the Department of 
 Georgia and South Carolina, directing, with refer- 
 ence to the one hundredth anniversary of the birth 
 of Abraham Lincoln, February 12tli, 1909, ''That 
 "every Post shall recognize the day in some fitting 
 "manner, either in special meeting or in attendance 
 "as a body where a public celebration is held." 
 
 This order having been read at the meeting of 
 the Post on January 22, 1909, a Committee was 
 appointed, consisting of the Commander, M. F. 
 Bernhardt, the Chaplain, D, I. Carson, and Past 
 Department Commander, C. F. Fairbanks, to 
 arrange for a Commemorative Service thus indi- 
 cated. 
 
 Rev. James W. Lee, D. D., Pastor of Trinity 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was invited to 
 deliver the address. He cordially consented to do so, 
 and agreed that the meeting should be held in his 
 church. 
 
An invitation was sent by the Committee to the 
 five Camps of Confederate Veterans in the City of 
 Atlanta, viz : 
 
 Atlanta Camp No. 159, 
 
 Camp A, Wheeler's Cavalry, 
 
 Camp W. H. T. Walker, No. 925, 
 
 Camp Stonewall Jackson, No. 1581, 
 
 Camp Tige Anderson, No. 1455. 
 The camps responded most cordially. Invitations 
 were also sent to the Confederate Soldiers' Home, 
 and to officers of the United States Army at the 
 Headquarters of the Department of the Gulf. 
 
 The following editorials appeared in the Georgian 
 of February 13th, and in the Constitution of 
 February 14th. 
 
 ALL UNDER ONE FLAG NOW. 
 
 Significant of something more than an interchange of formal 
 courtesies is the acceptance by the local camps of Confederate 
 Veterans of the invitation extended by the 0. M. Mitchel Post of 
 the Grand Army of the Republic to attend the memorial exercises 
 in honor of Mr. Lincoln, to be held at Trinity Methodist Church 
 on Sunday evening next. 
 
 The Georgian is uncompromisingly devoted to the traditions 
 of the South. 
 
 On all the radiant pages which recall the story of the greatest 
 war of modern times there is nothing of which the South has 
 reason to blush. 
 
 And no deeper or truer lessons in patriotism can be taught to 
 the youth of the land in either section than are taught by the 
 
 8 
 
examples of fortitude and by the illustrations of fidelity to prin- 
 ciple which illuminate the Confederate annals. 
 
 But there is something fairly inspiring in this burial of sec- 
 tional bitterness — in this death-knell to feudal animosities — in 
 this splendid plea for national fraternity and good will. 
 
 Upon the memorial exercises in honor of Mr. Lincoln no less 
 a representative of the heroic remnant of Lee's army than General 
 Clement A. Evans, the commander-in-chief of the United Confed- 
 erate Veterans, will offer the divine invocation. 
 
 It was this gallant soldier who, in the last charge of battle at 
 Appomattox, commanded Gordon's immortal division and won an 
 incidental victoiy on the same field which witnessed the furling 
 of the conquered banner. 
 
 Colonel T. H. Jones, who was an oflScer in Wheeler's cavalry, 
 will read Mr. Lincoln's favorite poem. 
 
 The address of the occasion will be delivered by Dr. James W. 
 Lee, the distinguished pastor of the church; and Dr. Lee, both in 
 his sympathies and in his antecedents, is typically Southern. He 
 was too young to shoulder a musket ; but his devotion to the cause 
 which rose without shame and which fell without dishonor is 
 known and read of all men. 
 
 Yet the theme of Dr. Lee's eloquent eulogium on Sunday even- 
 ing will be Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 Feebler and fainter are growing the bitter memories. Like the 
 echoes of the bugle-horn, the answer which they return is Dying! 
 Dying! Dying! And let them die, for the roses of battle borrow 
 no fragrance from the thorns! — Georgian. 
 
 ATLANTA'S SIGNIFICANT TRIBUTE TO LINCOLN. 
 
 In the many hundreds of celebrations the country over inci- 
 dent to the centennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, there are 
 none which can compare in uniqueness or significance to that 
 which, at Trinity church, in Atlanta, tonight will bring together 
 
in common cause to honor the memory of the great American, the 
 veterans both of the blue and the gray. 
 
 Unquestionably in many of these gatherings there have assem- 
 bled men and women of the South with those of the North and 
 East and West ; but here in a Southern city which the fortunes of 
 war reduced to ashes will the survivors upon both sides of that 
 conflict, who knew of its bitterness and miseries, come together 
 to honor the memory of him who was commander-in-chief of the 
 invading army. 
 
 Side by side the membei"s of the Atlanta camps, United Con- 
 federate Veterans, will join with those of the Grand Army of 
 the Republic, 0. M. Mitchel Post No. 1, in tribute to Lincoln, the 
 man, the American. General Clement A. Evans, commander-in- 
 chief of the United Confederate Veterans, will offer the opening 
 prayer, followed by the reading of Lincoln's "Gettysburg Ad- 
 dress," by General J. W. Scully, United States army, retired. 
 Other veterans of North and South will alternate upon the pro- 
 gram, and Rev. J. W. Lee will deliver the memorial address. 
 
 There could be no higher, more glorious evidence of a triumph- 
 antly restored nationalism. 
 
 Perhaps in no other nation of the world, within less than half 
 a centui-y after the extreme bitterness of civil conflict had been 
 implanted in eveiy breast, would such a gathering as this, in 
 tribute to the leader of the conquering annies, be possible. 
 
 Animosities and prejudices must have disappeared when the 
 defeated voluntarily unite in praise of him who, more than any 
 other, had to do with the victory achieved. 
 
 Even the esteem and admiration in which men of the South, 
 back to those who fought its battles, have always held the war 
 President could not have sufficed to make such celebration pos- 
 sible, had it not been for the x'ictorj^' of fraternal spirit over the 
 deep-rooted enmities of civil strife. 
 
 In this the South's victory is greatest, for it had not only to 
 erase the enmities of war, but to crush and blot out the rankling 
 bitterness of defeat. 
 
 How well and nobly it has done this could not be better evi- 
 denced than in the mutual tribute which Confederate survivors, 
 together with those who stood in opposing ranks, will pay tonight 
 to the most generous of enemies and the most abiding of friends. 
 
 10 
 
Abraham Lincoln belongs to the whole United States. 
 
 His work was not sectional, but national, and that is the view 
 which now, less than half a century following his tragic death, 
 is almost full grown. 
 
 The celebration at Trinity church is timely in its conception 
 and in its expression of the spirit of today — a spirit in which 
 hand and heart unite in significance of the supremacy of the 
 brotherhood of man. — Constitution. 
 
 The following reports were printed in the papers 
 of February 15 th. 
 
 Trinity church was packed to capacity last night by the vet- 
 ans of the blue and the gray, their friends and relatives, who 
 gathered to join in this unusual union service commemorating the 
 birthday of Abraham Lincoln, which was generally celebrated 
 throughout the United States on Friday,, February 12. 
 
 The exercises were decidedly the most interesting ever con- 
 ceived in this city, and were unique in the annals of Atlanta. 
 
 So great was the interest in the service that eveiy seat in the 
 church was taken and several hundred people turned away for 
 lack of space. The Confederate and Union veterans marched 
 into the church together and took seats in front of the pulpit. 
 
 Dr. James W. Lee, a gifted speaker, and pastor of Trinity 
 Methodist church, was selected as the orator for the occasion, and 
 the panegyric pronounced upon the martyred President is one of 
 the finest speeches Dr. Lee has ever made. 
 
 A true son of the South, he was not one whit untrue to his 
 birth and beliefs, yet did full justice to the man in whose honor 
 the meeting was held. 
 
 General Evans Takes Part. 
 
 Another most interesting figure at this wonderful gathering 
 was that of General Clement A. Evans, commanding the United 
 Confederate. Veterans, who, as well as anyone else, had a cause 
 to know Lincoln, for it was during the latter's life that he first 
 won his spurs as a daring and dashing officer of the Confederacy. 
 
 11 
 
I 
 
 BLUE AND GRAY PAY LINCOLN TRIBUTE. 
 
 Unique Services Were Held Sunday Evening at Trinity 
 Church. — Dr. Lee's Splendid Address. 
 
 One of the most unique services that has been chronicled since 
 the days of the Civil War was that which called together, at 
 Trinity Church in Atlanta, Sunday evening, the local veterans of 
 the Blue with those of the Gray, in observance of the centenary 
 of Abraham Lincoln's birth. 
 
 12 
 
 fi 
 
 He led the opening prayer, and it was as simple as it was 
 sweet, and gave the entire services an atmosphere which was felt 
 by all. 
 
 The program, which was carried out as printed, was arranged 
 by a joint committee from the Confederate Veterans' Camps of 
 the city and 0. M. Mitehel Post No. 1, of the Grand Army of the 
 Republic, and held under the auspices of the last named or- 
 ganization. 
 
 Sharing in point of honor the position taken in the services 
 by General Evans was Brigadier General Scully, United States 
 army, retired, who read Lincoln' "Gettysburg Address." 
 
 Speaking of the controversy which has arisen concerning the 
 preparation of this address. General Scully said he was on the 
 train which carried Lincoln from Baltimore to Gettysburg, and 
 that he saw Lincoln writing an article which he believed to be the 
 famous Gettysburg speech. 
 
 The choir of this church, composed of some of Atlanta's 
 sweetest singers, had prepared a delightful program, which was 
 rendered during the services. The entire audience joined in, 
 with spirit, the singing of the concluding hymn, "My Country 'Tis 
 of Thee," which marked the complete reunion of those present. 
 
 At the conclusion of Dr. Lee's address Dr. M. J. Cofer rose ^T^ 
 
 and moved that the congi-egation extend to the orator a rising 
 vote of thanks. This was done. — Constitution. 
 
Every seat iu the church was taken. Those resen-ed for the 
 veterans, immediately in front of the altar, were hardly sufficient 
 for them when they entered in a body. All the other seats were 
 filled, with families and relatives and friends of the veterans 
 themselves. The large auditorium of the church was taxed to 
 its capacity to hold the concourse of people. 
 
 General Clement A. Evans, commander-in-chief of the United 
 Confederate Veterans, was a conspicuous figure of the ceremonial. 
 It was he who pronounced the opening prayer — a simple and 
 brief invocation of the Almighty's blessing. It was he, too, who 
 as a young man more than forty yeai^s ago, had good reason to 
 know that Lincoln lived, when as a brigadier general he fought 
 valorously with Gordon, Georgia's chieftain, in the valley of 
 Virginia. 
 
 Another conspicuous figure was Brigadier General J. W. 
 Scully, U. S. A., retired, who read Lincoln's "Gettysburg Ad- 
 dress." 
 
 Dr. Lee's Address. 
 
 Dr. James W. Lee, pastor of Trinity, delivered the panegyric 
 on Lincoln that featured the occasion, and which is probably one 
 of the most powerful speeches he has ever given utterance to. 
 As a true son of the South Dr. Lee rendered homage and did 
 full justice to the memory of the man in whose honor the occasion 
 was, without necessity for traversing the traditions of his own 
 people. 
 
 Trinity's choir, composed of some of the most excellent voices 
 in the city, offered an excellent program. The audience joined 
 "with them in the singing of "My Country 'Tis of Thee," which 
 was the concluding number on the program. 
 
 A rising vote of thanks was tendered Dr. Lee, upon conclusion 
 of his address on Lincoln, on the motion of Dr. M. J. Cofer. — 
 Journal. 
 
 13 
 
IN TRIBUTE TO LINCOLN FORMER FOEMEN JOIN. 
 
 Veterans of Blue and Gray Overflow Trinity Church In 
 Celebration of War President's Centennial 
 
 Anniversary. 
 
 Several hundred persons were turned away from Trinity 
 church Sunday evening, prevented by lack of space from attend- 
 ing the most unique service of its kind ever held in Atlanta, when 
 the veterans who wore the blue and the veterans who wore the 
 gi'ay united in fraternal commemoration of the birth anniversary 
 of the man who has been called "The greatest human of all time." 
 
 Leading participants in this remarkable gathei^ing had been 
 prominently arrayed on both sides of the great Civil struggle of 
 more than two score years ago, while from the rank and file 
 of their followers came hundreds of men who had honestly dif- 
 fered and manfully fought in that mighty wai*. Under one 
 flag now, they came together to render fitting honor to the mem- 
 oi"y of the man who guided the destinies of the Union through 
 its most tiding period, the martyred war President, Abraham 
 Lincoln. 
 
 And the leadei's who contributed to the weight and solemnity 
 of the occasion were Avorthy of the distinction carried by their 
 selection. D. I. Carson, Chaplain of 0. M. Mitchel Post No. 1, 
 Grand Anny of the Republic, pi-esided over the ceremonies with 
 all the dignity of the occasion. Drs. Sherrill and Lee conducted 
 the Scriptural portion of the exercises in a most impressive man- 
 ner, while the magnificent addi'ess of the latter was the feature 
 of the meeting. Then there was General Clement A. Evans, com- 
 mander-in-chief United Confederate Veterans, whose military 
 record is part of the history of Southern heroism, and following 
 his prayer came the reading of Mr. Lincoln's favorite poem by 
 Colonel Thompson Hardin Jones, poet, musician and soldier of 
 the highest type, the veteran cavalryman who has the unique dis- 
 tinction of having sei-ved under the four gi'eat cavalry leaders of 
 the Confederacy, Stuart, Morgan, Forrest and Wheeler. The 
 
 14 
 
"Gettysburg Address," said to be the masterpiece of the language,, 
 was read by Brigadier Greneral A. J. Scully, United States army, 
 retired, who was on the train that canied Lincoln from Baltimore 
 to Gettysburg on the occasion of his delivering the address, and 
 who saw the President writing what is believed to have been the 
 first draft of the famous discourse. 
 
 A suitable musical program was delightfully rendered by a 
 choir selected for the event, and the entire audience united in 
 singing "My Country 'Tis of Thee" as a closing testimony of the 
 unity of spirit so wonderfully evidenced by the meeting. 
 
 Dr. Lee's Address. 
 
 The address by Rev. Dr. J. W. Lee, pastor of the church, was 
 an unusually beautiful tribute to the character of Lincoln, and 
 was heard with interest by the men to whom the years have 
 brought a better conception of the personality of the great 
 President. — Georgian. 
 
 The Georgian also printed Dr. Lee's address in 
 full. 
 
THE PROCEEDINGS. 
 
 The service began promptly at 7 :30, with an organ 
 Prelude- Variations on ''The Suwanee River" 
 (Flagler), by Mr. Charles A. Sheldon, Jr., organist 
 and musical director of Trinity Church, followed by 
 the anthem ''Praise the Lord" (Randegger), by the 
 choir of the church. Miss Rubie Brook, Soprano; 
 Mrs. Arthur Creviston, Alto; Mr. R. D. Armour, 
 Tenor; Mr. Joseph Hubbard, Bass. 
 
 The Chaieman : Ladies and gentlemen, friends, 
 fellow citizens: We are met on a solemn and dis- 
 tinguished and inspiring occasion. Under an order 
 from the general headquarters of the Grand Army 
 of the Republic, a committee of 0. M. Mitchel Post 
 of this city has prepared a program, and we have 
 received the hearty and enthusiastic cooperation of 
 our friends in the camps of Confederate Veterans. 
 They have seemed not only glad to participate in 
 this occasion, but glad of an occasion to bring us all 
 together. 
 
 The occurrence of the one hundredth anniversary 
 of the birth of Abraham Lincoln has profoundly 
 impressed the entire nation, but among the thou- 
 sands of commemorative meetings, doubtless there is 
 not another just like this in which the men who in 
 Mr. Lincoln's life-time were arrayed against each 
 
 17 
 
other, are united harmoniously and enthusiastically 
 to do honor to his memory. 
 
 This meeting is a testimony to the loyalty and good 
 faith of the men of Atlanta. It shows that we ' ' look 
 up and not down, forward and not back, and lend a 
 hand" to the promotion of progress and peace and 
 good will in all the nation, and that we '^keep step 
 to the music of the Union;" and it piles a little 
 higher the earth on top of the buried hatchet. 
 
 We will all rise, and sing three verses of hymn No. 
 383, ' ' Onward, Christian Soldiers, ' ' first, second and 
 third verses. 
 
 Onwai'd, Christian soldiers, 
 
 Marching as to war, 
 With the Cross of Jesus 
 
 Going on before. 
 Christ, the royal Master, 
 
 Leads against the foe; 
 Forward into battle, 
 
 See, his banners go. 
 
 Like a mighty army, 
 
 Moves the Church of Grod; 
 Brothers, we are treading 
 
 Where the saints have trod; 
 We are not divided. 
 
 All one body we, 
 One in hope and doctrine. 
 
 One in charity. 
 
 Crowns and thrones may perish, 
 
 Kingdoms rise and wane, 
 But the Church of Jesus 
 
 Constant will remain; 
 
 18 
 
Gates of hell can never 
 
 'Gainst that Church prevail; 
 We have Christ's own promise, 
 
 And that can not fail. 
 
 The Chaieman: The Rev. Dr. Sherrill, Dean of 
 Atlanta Theological Seminary, will read a portion of 
 Scripture. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Sheekill : I will read the 46th Psalm. 
 
 1. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in 
 trouble. 
 
 2. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, 
 and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 
 
 3. Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though 
 the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. 
 
 4. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the 
 city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. 
 
 5. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God 
 shall help her, and that right early. 
 
 6. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered 
 his voice, the earth melted. 
 
 7. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our 
 refuge. 
 
 8. Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he 
 hath made in the earth. 
 
 9. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he 
 breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he bumeth the 
 chariot in the fire. 
 
 19 
 
10. Be still, and know that I am God : I will be exalted among 
 the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. 
 
 11. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our 
 refuge. 
 
 The Chaieman : Everybody in Atlanta, unless he 
 is too recent a comer, knows and loves General 
 Evans, the distinguished Commander-in-Chief of the 
 United Confederate Veterans. He will lead us in 
 prayer. 
 
 Gen. Evans: 0! Thou who art the God of all 
 Nations and Father of all mankind, grant to us the 
 spirit of full fellowship with one another in this hour 
 of sacred worship. May Thy Name be hallowed in 
 the united prayer and praise of all these Thy people. 
 Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who 
 have trespassed against us, and deliver us from all 
 evil thought, feeling, and acts forever. 
 
 Thy Throne, God, is forever and ever. Kings 
 and princes fail, and empires pass away, but Thy 
 Kingdom can never be moved. May Thy Kingdom 
 come, and Thy will be done, on earth as it is in 
 heaven. Thy will, God, is our law and Thy love is 
 our hope. 
 
 We are grateful to Thee for the gift to us of this 
 our great country, that we may make it glorious, as 
 the abiding place of true liberty, brotherly union, 
 and pure religion. God grant that in this day of its 
 power our Country shall lead all nations into the 
 security of righteousness, and the enjoyment of 
 happiness. Help us to honor and emulate all that is 
 
 20 
 
great and good in our history; — and in the hves of 
 our forefathers, and of all our illustrious country- 
 men who have contributed to our country's great- 
 ness, and let this year be made memorable as the 
 epoch of perfect patriotic concord among all the 
 people of the United States. For Thine is the King- 
 dom and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. 
 
 The Chaikman : We will sing two verses of hynm 
 No. 556, ''Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in 
 Christian love," After the singing, the usual even- 
 ing offering of this church will be received, without 
 further announcement. The church officers will 
 please be ready. 
 
 Blest be the tie that binds 
 Our hearts in Christian love: 
 
 The fellowship of kindred minds 
 Is like to that above. 
 
 Before our Father's throne 
 
 We pour our ardent prayers; 
 Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one, 
 
 Our comforts and our cares. 
 
 During the taking of the offering, the choir ren- 
 dered the anthem, "Now the Day is Over." (Shelly). 
 
 The Chaieman: Everyone knows that the poem 
 beginning ' ' Oh, Why Should the Spirit of Mortal be 
 Proud," was a favorite of Mr. Lincoln's, and it is 
 
 21 
 
deemed fitting that it should constitute a number in 
 the program on such an occasion as this. It will be 
 read by a gentleman who was a gallant officer on 
 the Staff of General John B. Gordon and General 
 Stephen D. Lee, who is now our highly regarded 
 fellow-citizen, Colonel Thompson Hardin Jones, of 
 Camp A, Wheeler's Cavalry; and also of Atlanta 
 Camp 159, Confederate Veterans. 
 
 Col. T. H. Jones: It may be appropriate to the 
 occasion before reading the favorite poem of Mr. 
 Lincoln, that I should recite an incident which trans- 
 pired in my own experience in the last days of the 
 sixties. 
 
 On March 24th, 1865, I was captured while on a 
 scout inside the Federal lines and carried to Clarks- 
 ville, Tenn., where I was held as a prisoner until in 
 June following the closing of the war in May. 
 
 I have no complaint to make of my imprisonment, 
 as I was treated kindly and humanely by my captors, 
 and had many more privileges allowed me than 
 might have been expected under the circumstances. 
 The Sergeant of the prison guard was from Illinois, 
 and a neighbor and friend of Mr. Lincoln. He was 
 particularly kind to me, and we often discussed very 
 freely from our respective points of view the merits 
 of the great struggle and of our leaders. One morn- 
 ing he burst into my room with horror and grief 
 written on his face and cried out: ''The President 
 is dead; Mr. Lincoln was assassinated at a theater 
 in Washington last night ! ' ' 
 
 22 
 
'* Impossible!" I exclaimed, "What coward could 
 have committed such a dastardly and horrible 
 deed?" 
 
 After a moment of thought he suddenly said : "Do 
 you believe the Confederate Government or the 
 South had anything to do with this 1 ' ' 
 
 Promptly and indignantly I repudiated the sug- 
 gestion, and told him with some warmth that he knew 
 such an act was not in keeping with the high sense 
 of honor, character and courage of the South. He 
 agreed with me after a moment, and we decided that 
 the crime must have been committed by some crank 
 or crazy fanatic. But I will never forget how, as he 
 was leaving me, he paused at the door and lifting his 
 hand impressively as he turned, said: "The South 
 has lost the best friend she had in the North, and 
 one who could and would have done more to help 
 her in time of need than any one else in the world." 
 And in my heart I could not but feel that he was 
 right. 
 
 Looking back over the past tonight through the 
 long vista of years with all the trials and triumphs 
 of a reunited country, I can but feel that had Mr. 
 Lincoln lived the South would have been spared 
 much of the horror and distress of the dark days of 
 the reconstruction period. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln was preeminently a good and a great 
 man, loving his fellow man, and loving his country 
 above all, as was indicated in the story told of his 
 notable conference with Alexander H. Stephens of 
 
 23 
 
the Confederacy when after long discussion as to 
 some satisfactory basis for adjustment of differences 
 and final termination of the war without further 
 bloodshed, Mr. Lincoln said, pointing to the paper 
 that lay on a table : ' ' Let me write UNION at the 
 head of that paper, and you may write anything 
 you please beneath it. ' ' Whether this is a true story 
 or not, it serves to illustrate his all-absorbing devo- 
 tion to the Union. 
 
 Through all Mr. Lincoln's kind and tender nature 
 ran a strain of melancholy and deep religious senti- 
 ment, as indicated by his choice of his favorite poem, 
 which I will now present to you. 
 
 Oh ! why should the spirit of mortal be proud? 
 Like a swift flitting meteor, a fast flying cloud, 
 The flash of the lightning, a break of the wave, 
 He passes from life to his rest in the grave. 
 
 The leaves of the oak and the willow shall fade, 
 Be scattered around and together be laid; 
 And the young and the old and the low and the high 
 Shall moulder to dust and together shall lie. 
 
 The infant a mother attended and loved, 
 The mother that infant's aifection who proved, 
 The husband that mother and infant who blest. 
 Each, all are away to their dwellings of rest. 
 
 The maid on whose cheek, on whose brow, in whose eye, 
 Shone beauty and pleasure, her triumphs are by; 
 And the mem'ry of those who loved her and praised 
 Are alike from the minds of the living erased. 
 
 24 
 
The hand of the king that the scepter hath borne, 
 The brow of the priest that the miter hath worn, 
 The eye of the sage and the heart of the brave 
 Are hidden and lost in the depths of the grave. 
 
 The peasant whose lot was to sow and to reap, 
 The herdsman who climbed with his goats up the steep, 
 The beggar who wandered in search of his bread, 
 Have faded away like the grass that we tread. 
 
 The saint who enjoyed the communion of heaven, 
 The sinner who dared to remain unforgiven. 
 The wise and the foolish, the guilty and just. 
 Have quietly mingled their bones in the dust. 
 
 So the multitude goes like the flower or the weed 
 That withers away to let others succeed, 
 So the multitude comes, even those we behold, 
 To repeat every tale that has often been told. 
 
 For we are the same that our fathers have been; 
 We see the same sights our fathers have seen; 
 We drink the same streams, and view the same sun, 
 And run the same course our fathers have run. 
 
 The thoughts we are thinking our fathers would think, 
 From the death we are shrinking our fathers would shrink ; 
 To the life we are clinging they also would cling, 
 But it speeds from us all like a bird on the wing. 
 
 They loved, but the story we can not unfold; 
 They scorned, but the heart of the haughty is cold; 
 They grieved, but no wail froin their slumber will come; 
 They joyed, but the tongue of their gladness is dumb. 
 
 They died, ay, they died. We things that are now. 
 That walk on the turf that lies over their brow. 
 And make in their dwellings a transient abode, 
 Meet the things that they met on their pilgrimage road. 
 
 25 
 
Yea, hope and despondency, pleasure and pain, 
 Are mingled together in sunshine and rain; 
 And the smile and the tear, the song and the dirge, 
 Still follow each other like surge upon surge. 
 
 'Tis the wink of an eye, 'tis the draught of a breath. 
 From the blossom of health to the paleness of death. 
 From the gilded salon to the bier and the shroud — 
 Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud? 
 
 The Chairman : A particular interest in my mind 
 attaches to a man who knew Mr. Lincoln, or who 
 even saw him. I used to look with something like 
 reverence on a venerable neighbor in my former 
 place of residence, who was present at Cooper 
 Union, in New York, in February, 1860, forty-nine 
 years ago, and heard the famous ** Cooper Union 
 Speech," which did so much toward making Mr. 
 Lincoln president. I voted for Mr. Lincoln at his 
 second election, but I never saw him in life. 
 
 You may therefore fancy the thrill of interest I 
 feel, when I tell you that there sits on this platform, 
 a gentleman who, as a young army officer, was in 
 the car with Mr. Lincoln going from Washington 
 to Gettysburg, in November, 1863, and saw him write, 
 and then sat near him, and heard him deliver that 
 immortal world-classic which we know as the 
 ''Gettysburg Address." He will now read that 
 address: Brigadier-General J. W. Scully, United 
 States Army, retired. 
 
 26 
 
Geneeax, Scully: 
 Fellow Veterans, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
 
 As Comrade Carson has told you, I did ride in 
 the same car with President Lincoln, though not 
 from Washington, as he says, but from Baltimore^ 
 to Gettysburg. Comrade Carson also remarked that 
 I was a ''young officer at the time. I certainly was 
 a young man, but I held the rank of Lieutenant- 
 Colonel, and was designated by the Military Gover- 
 nor of Tennessee, on whose staff I then was, to 
 represent him on that occasion. I met the Presi- 
 dent's train at Baltimore, and there General Eobert 
 C. Schenck, who then commanded the Military 
 Department in wliich Gettysburg was situated, at- 
 tached me to his staff. I was introduced to the 
 President, and rode in his car to Gettysburg. 
 
 Now, it has been said and written, over and over 
 again, that Mr. Lincoln did not write that address 
 while on the way ; and in fact prominent personages 
 have denied that he wrote it at all; but while a 
 hundred, or more, may not have seen him write it, 
 their testimony is altogether negative; but I know 
 that at least half a dozen did see him write it, and 
 of whom I was one. I saw him take a pad from the 
 hand of some one; sit down in his ''state room;" 
 and write something that he held in his hand ivhile 
 delivering that speech. 
 
 During the ceremonies at Gettysburg, I sat right 
 in front of him, not over thirty feet from the plat- 
 
 27 
 
form, and well do I remember his appearance as lie 
 approached the front : that tall, ungainly jSgure ; that 
 sad expression of countenance that Colonel Jones 
 just told you about; those long arms; those large 
 hands, folded and clasping a scrap of paper that he 
 never looked at during the delivery of that remark- 
 able oration. It made an impression on me that has 
 lasted to this hour. 
 
 Often since then I have applied to that occasion 
 those beautiful lines of Lady Wilde : 
 
 "On his brow a mighty doom, 
 Be it grandeur, be it gloom, 
 
 The shadow of a Crown it was wearing!" 
 
 It may be noted here, and probably remembered 
 by historical readers, that all the great Emanci- 
 pators in history met tragical deaths : Moses was 
 *^ taken to where no man knoweth, even unto this 
 day"; Spaetacus, who freed the slaves of Rome, was 
 afterwards slain on the field of battle; Jesus, who 
 emancipated the minds, the thoughts, the Souls of 
 humanity, died oh Calvary's Cross; Alexander of 
 Russia, who struck the shackles off hundreds of 
 thousands of serfs, was slain by a bomb, thrown by 
 the hand of one of the very people whom he had 
 emancipated; and Abraham Lincoln was killed by 
 a crazy actor, a professional ''Tragedian," who had 
 not a scintilla of reason, or cause, for that atrocious 
 act, his last tragedy. 
 
 Speaking of Crowns, I may be permitted to quote 
 from your "Poet Priest" of the South — the author 
 
 28 
 
of ''The Conquered Banner"—: "Crowns of Roses 
 Fade, Crowns of Thorns Endure; Calvaries and 
 Crucifixes take Deepest Hold upon the Chronicles of 
 Nations!" So, the bullet that sped from the pistol 
 of John Wilkes Booth, placed a Crown upon the 
 brow of Abraham Lincoln that will never be 
 removed while Liberty lives, or while Literature 
 lasts, The Crown or Immortality ! 
 
 I shall now read the "Gettysburg Address." 
 
 Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on 
 this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to 
 the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are en- 
 gaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any 
 nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are 
 met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate 
 a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here 
 gave their Hves that that nation might Hve. It is altogether 
 fitting and proper that we should do this; but, in a larger sense, 
 we can not dedicate— we can not consecrate— we can not hallow— 
 this gTound. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, 
 have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. 
 The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, 
 but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the 
 living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which 
 they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is 
 rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining 
 before us— that from these honored dead we take increased devo- 
 tion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of 
 devotion— that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not 
 have died in vain— that this nation, 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. 
 
 29 
 
The Chaikman : We come now to the Oration on 
 Abraham Lincohi. From one point of view, it seems 
 absurd for me to rise in this place to introduce Dr. 
 Lee to an Atlanta audience. His father was a gallant 
 Georgia soldier through the war, in Gen. Colquitt's 
 command, but I believe there is no man in Atlanta 
 so well qualified by the character of his mind, and 
 by special studies, to speak upon this topic, as the 
 distinguished and beloved citizen who is the pastor 
 of Trinity Methodist Church. I count it an honor 
 and a privilege to present to you, the Reverend 
 James W. Lee, Doctor of Divinity. 
 
 Dr. Lee: 
 
 "All things work together for good to them who 
 love God, to them who are called according to His 
 purpose." — Romans xiii, 28. 
 
 In his essay on German literature, Thomas Car- 
 lyle declares that ''There is a divine idea pervading 
 the visible universe ; which visible universe is indeed 
 but its symbol and sensible manifestation, having in 
 itself no meaning or even true existence independent 
 of it. To the mass of men this divine idea lies 
 hidden ; yet to discern it and seize it and live wholly 
 in it is the condition of all genuine virtue, loiowledge, 
 freedom and the end, therefore, of all spiritual effort 
 in every age." 
 
 This is the interpretation given by a master in 
 literature of the words of the text. The machinery 
 of the universe works for good to all those who 
 
 30 
 
(f^i9^^^ y/<i-u^ 
 
discern and seize and wholly live in the divine idea 
 at its heart. Here we have a principle by which to 
 account for the continuous activity and influence of 
 every great man in history. The universal order 
 publishes larger and larger editions of the men who 
 discern and seize and wholly live in the divine idea 
 history is gradually unfolding. Because of this, 
 newly-bound copies of Abraham and Moses and 
 Isaiah and St. Paul are issued by the wheel work 
 of the centuries for the readers of every passing age. 
 Those who are the called according to His purpose 
 are such as yield to the pressure of the eternal 
 intention of the Almighty and expend their spiritual 
 efforts in the direction it urges. 
 
 1. The contemporaries of a distinguished man 
 can not know the place he is to take in history. They 
 are too close to him to see all there is of liim if he 
 be really great, and too near to quite measure his 
 diminutiveness if his prominence be due to the acci- 
 dents of external estate or official position. A time 
 exposure of nearly eight centuries was required for 
 Sabatier to get the picture he took of St. Francis and 
 published in his ^'Life of St. Francis of Assisi." 
 
 The clods that fall upon their graves close the 
 careers of the rank and file of men. It is only now 
 and then that one of our race appears on the planet 
 with wealth of being stored in his soul too great to 
 be locked inside a tomb, who lives again, not only in 
 eternity, but throughout all time: 
 
 31 
 
"In minds made better by their presence, live 
 In pulses stirred to generosity, 
 In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn 
 Of miserable aims that end with self, 
 In thoughts sublime that pierce the night-like stars. 
 And with their mild persistence urge man's search 
 To vaster issues." 
 
 Such a man was Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 2. His mortal remains were consigned to their 
 last resting place forty-four years ago, but the fur- 
 ther away we get from the day of his funeral and 
 from the few feet of ground enriched by his sleeping 
 dust, the more clearly is it understood that there was 
 little of Lincoln John Wilkes Booth was able to kill, 
 and a very small part of him his loved ones were 
 able to bury. 
 
 Lincoln belonged to that class of men who learn 
 in consecrated service the secret of the resurrection, 
 and who discover and practice the method of finding 
 themselves for this world and the next, by losing 
 themselves before they cease to breathe. Lincoln 
 did not wait for the judgment trump of the last day 
 to call him from the dead. "While alive in the flesh, 
 he conformed to eternal principles and by them was 
 transformed into an incorruptible citizen of all the 
 ages. 
 
 3. Not by any process of analysis can one deter- 
 mine the parti'Cular gift, or power, or accomplish- 
 ment, it was in Lincoln that won for him the favor 
 of the years. It is well known that time can neither 
 be flattered nor bribed. Not without good reason 
 
 32 
 
are favors shown this mortal or that by the tearless 
 order of the flying suns. When the centuries are 
 found conspiring to augment the worth and fame 
 of a man, it may be known absolutely, that he was 
 of value, beyond the capacity of the time in which 
 he lived to express. It is the habit of the universe, 
 always and everywhere, to mete out to every one 
 exact justice. When, therefore, we see the invest- 
 ment a person makes of himself in his own age, 
 constantly drawing large installments of interest in 
 succeeding times, we may know that he failed to get 
 all that was due him while he lived. The contem- 
 poraries of Bruno did not appreciate him sufficiently 
 to grant him standing room during his natural life. 
 They burnt him on the Campo dei Fieri in the city of 
 Rome. But in 400 years, the life capital he left had 
 so increased in value that his countrymen found the 
 amount large enough to build him a monument, which 
 now stands in the neighborhood of the spot from 
 which he started to heaven in a chariot of flame four 
 centuries ago. 
 
 4. Abraham Lincoln has grown more during the 
 years that have elapsed since he was assassinated 
 than any other man of all history ever did in a half 
 century after his death. It took 400 years in the 
 case of Bruno to convert his pyre into his monu- 
 ment, but it has taken only fifty years in the case of 
 Lincoln to convert the bullet of his assassin into 
 many shafts of marble, and into as many monuments 
 
 33 
 
of affection as there are hearts beating in the breasts 
 of civilized human beings. 
 
 5. How are we to account for this subtle, in- 
 tangible, growing personal reality, rising round us 
 like an atmosphere, we represent to ourselves by the 
 name of Lincoln! It was not his statesmanship. 
 Hamilton was a more brilliant master of the struc- 
 ture and functions of government. It was not his 
 oratory. He never reached the level of magnetic 
 speech perpetually maintained by Webster. It was 
 not simply his gift of boundless common sense. In 
 this respect, Benjamin Franklin was his equal. It 
 was not his devotion to the cause of abolition simply. 
 Wendell Phillips and William Lloyd Garrison did 
 more to create and direct the moral conviction that 
 gave to the slaves their freedom. It was not merely 
 because he was the chief executive of the republic 
 during the stormiest period of the national history, 
 and managed to conduct it through the most terrific 
 civil war ever waged. There were others who might 
 have guided the ship of state through the storms that 
 imperiled its existence. We must look deeper than 
 his words, deeper than his deeds, deeper than the 
 official position he held, to find the source of Lincoln. 
 
 6. In the words of the text, "All things work 
 together for good to them that love God," and in 
 the interpretation of these words by Carlyle, we find 
 the principle by the aid of which we can account for 
 Lincoln, and for every other man whose name the 
 passing ages can not blot from the memory of our 
 
 34 
 
race. Whoever in any age discerns and seizes and 
 wholly lives in the divine idea history is unfolding 
 insures the publication of himself in larger and 
 larger volumes with every clearer and completer 
 expression of that idea. 
 
 7. Plato discerned and seized and wholly lived 
 in the divine idea it is the function of philosophy 
 to interpret, hence speculative thinkers for twenty- 
 five centuries have kept his work fresh in the memory 
 of thoughtful men. Copernicus wholly lived in the 
 divine idea expressed in the constellations, and 
 henceforth the morning stars can never sing to- 
 gether without magnifying the glory of his genius. 
 Darwin, born the same year, the same month and 
 the same day with Lincoln, identified himself wholly 
 with the divine idea expressed in the method of 
 creation, hence all nature, through its flowers and 
 through its birds, will never cease to fill the sky with 
 perfume and melody in honor of his achievements. 
 The divine idea Lincoln wholly lived in was not the 
 intellectual aspects of it, with which speculative 
 thought is concerned; nor the biological aspects of 
 it with which naturalists are concerned; nor the 
 mechanical aspects of it with which astronomers are 
 concerned; but it was the distinctly human aspect 
 of it, with which lovers and martyrs and heroes 
 are concerned. The universities will guard the 
 fortunes of Plato, the observatories will keep fresh 
 the memory of Copernicus; the naturalists will 
 take care of the interests of Darwin, but humanity, 
 
 35 
 
aching, struggling, suffering, despairing, triumph- 
 ing, will recount to itself over and over again, 
 until the last page of human history is written, the 
 courage, the patience, the pity and the sacrifice of 
 Lincoln. The poor belated negroes, slaves to petty 
 kings in Africa, slaves to humane masters in Amer- 
 ica, but nevertheless slaves, until Lincoln, by a stroke 
 of the pen, knocked the shackles from off their limbs, 
 will never cease, in time or eternity, to lift their 
 dark faces in gratitude to him as their savior from 
 bondage, 
 
 8. Soldiers in blue, and soldiers in gray, more of 
 whom now march amid the hills of day than drag 
 their weary feet over the scenes of conflict, are able 
 to see, by the light of a larger, sweeter time, terri- 
 tory sufficient in the heart of Lincoln for all brave 
 men to stand and love, and the armies of Grant and 
 the armies of Lee, now, thank God, united on earth 
 and united in heaven, will both regard the martyred 
 president as their commander-in-chief to all eternity. 
 The sections have learned in fifty years that it is 
 better to convert their energies into the flying 
 shuttles of commerce to weave the people together 
 than it is to turn them into minie balls to shoot the 
 people apart. No man's future is safer for the time 
 to come than that of Abraham Lincoln. He wholly 
 lived in the divine idea at the bottom of the American 
 union. He identified himself with the central current 
 of oiir national life. We can not move toward the 
 fulfillment of our destiny as a people without per- 
 
 36 
 
petually witnessing the spirit of Lincoln, accompany- 
 ing us, like a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of 
 fire by night. The greater we become as a power 
 among the nations, -the wider becomes the scope of 
 our commerce, the stronger becomes our influence 
 for unity, world-wide and universal, the greater and 
 wider and stronger will become Lincoln, who sought 
 in his life to harmonize a divided people, and dying 
 left a legacy of sympathy and tenderness and sacri- 
 fice which, by its "mild persistence," has reunited 
 forever in the bonds of undying love the members 
 of the national household. 
 
 9. It would not be true to say that Lincoln was 
 superior in this or that respect to all other men 
 who lived in our country between the years of 1809 
 and 1865. But it is true that he, more than any other, 
 charged with the responsibility of national affairs, 
 did discern and seize and wholly live in the divine 
 idea it seems to be the purpose of Providence to 
 realize through these United States. It was his 
 complete conformity to the central purpose of this 
 nation, as he had light to see it, that gives him liis 
 unique and growing place in history. 
 
 10. The men for whose good the machinery of the 
 universe works and whose lives it republishes with 
 every revolution of its wheels, are not always the 
 strongest men in intellectual endowment or adminis- 
 trative ability. Nero had, perhaps, as much or 
 more native ability than Saint Paul, but Nero threw 
 himself across the purpose of Grod, and was ground 
 
 37 
 
to powder by it, while Saint Paul directed his life 
 parallel with it, and hence lives in larger and larger 
 measures with the gradual unfolding of the divine 
 purpose. Napoleon was a much greater force than 
 Wellington, but Napoleon was left discomfited and 
 broken by the roadway of events, while Wellington 
 was chosen to move on down the years at the head 
 of his invincible columns. Herbert Spencer had 
 intellectual ability equal to that of Hegel, but the 
 English thinker built his system across the track 
 of advancing thought, and had the sorrow of seeing 
 it smashed by the engine of things, before he died, 
 while the German thinker, lifting up his system 
 parallel with the universal order, and hitched to the 
 purpose at its center, will enjoy the happiness of 
 perpetually teaching the human mind. 
 
 11. It often happens that the noblest men dis- 
 cern and seize and wholly live in an idea they take 
 to be divine, but which, when subjected to the test 
 of time, turns out to lead away from the track of 
 history. The real test, therefore, of the greatness 
 of one who has played a prominent part on the stage 
 of human affairs, is this : how completely did he dis- 
 cern and build upon an idea moving toward realiza- 
 tion in the eternities. A great and consecrated man 
 may choose a promising idea, and upon it as a foun- 
 dation, build of gold, or silver, or precious stones, 
 or wood, or hay, or stubble, but inevitably the day of 
 Judgment comes, and then his work is made manifest, 
 for the day shall declare it. Every man's work is 
 
 38 
 
tried, and it is known in every case, finally, of what 
 sort it is. If a man's work abide which he hath built 
 upon an eternal foundation, he shall receive a reward, 
 both for his work and for the wisdom that guided 
 him in choosing the right idea upon which to build. 
 But if a good man's work shall be burnt because 
 built on a wrong idea, he shall suffer the loss of all 
 his effort in the performance of that work, but he 
 himself shall be saved yet so as by fire. Lincoln's 
 work has stood the tests of fifty years of judgment 
 days. It has been revealed through fire of what 
 sort it was and is. He is now being rewarded both 
 for his work and for the insight that led him to 
 build on an eternal foundation. Those of us who 
 left the union fifty years ago were just as good and 
 great and consecrated as were those who remained 
 in it. Our works, too, were of gold, and silver, and 
 precious stones, but the idea we selected as a foun- 
 dation upon which to build was not moving in the 
 track of events. Our Southern Confederacy has 
 been burnt, but the patriotism, devotion, consecra- 
 tion, which took form in its fading and passing for- 
 tunes, are forever safe. So great are we as a peo- 
 ple that it has taken only fifty sad, heart-rending 
 years, to bring us to a national level of good wlU, 
 upon which it is in the hearts of all to give to the 
 Confederates the same praise for their loyalty to 
 what they believe to be right, and to cover their 
 graves with flowers as deeply beautiful, as to those 
 
 39 
 
who fought on the side of victory and in the direc- 
 tion of the idea the God of history is unfolding. 
 
 The people of this country, North and South, have 
 come to a point of view, high enough above the level 
 of fifty years ago to appreciate the good and great 
 men on both sides of the question that separated 
 them once into contending armies. Think of a 
 service like this tonight, held in a city that was 
 burned to the ground forty-five years ago by order 
 of the commander-in-chief of the Federal army, 
 whose memory we meet here to honor. Nothing 
 like it before ever took place in all history. It is 
 a strange and a great thing under the sun. To what 
 unexpected heights is this movement toward frater- 
 nity and affection to move? How much higher are 
 the waters of good will to rise I If they continue to 
 climb they will finally reach the shores upon which 
 New York and Boston are situated, so that a 
 memorial service in honor of Jefferson Davis will 
 be held in those quarters, where they once hated Mr. 
 Davis as thoroughly as we did Mr. Lincoln. Let the 
 waves of fraternity swell, until they shall cover 
 every patch of territory and island that separated us. 
 
 Theodore Roosevelt, half Georgian and half 
 Dutchman, now the best loved president who has 
 occupied liis exalted position since Washington, 
 when a young man, referred to Jefferson Davis as 
 the arch traitor, but recently upon his return from 
 a hunting trip in Louisiana, congratulated the peo- 
 ple of Mississippi for contributing to the country 
 
 40 
 
the illustrious name of Jefferson Davis, and praised 
 them for the honors they had conferred upon that 
 great man. 
 
 Charles Francis Adams, only a short time ago, 
 made the frank statement that he was for a long 
 time too prejudiced to read the life of Mr. Davis, 
 but, finally, being led to do so, he declared that he 
 found his character without a blemish. 
 
 The difference between Abraham Lincoln and Jef- 
 ferson Davis was not that they were not both good 
 and great men, but the difference is that Mr. Lin- 
 coln took passage on a ship that will sail the seas 
 of time forever, while Mr. Davis made the mistake 
 of getting aboard a vessel that was wrecked, because 
 out of the course mapped by Providence, as the 
 destined way for the people of this country to 
 voyage. 
 
 When the Confederates left the sinking Confed- 
 eracy and walked up the gangway back into the 
 magnificent ship upon which all our people began 
 the voyage to the future, the great captain was cold 
 in death, but had he been alive he would have shared 
 his last dollar and his last drop of heart's blood 
 with the brave men who had been sailing in perilous 
 seas, but who at length were coming back to the 
 vessel we will all sail in to the shores of eternity. 
 
 In his ''Eeminiscences of the Civil War" General 
 John B. Gordon relates a touchingly beautiful inci- 
 dent, illustrative of the feelings, deep down in their 
 hearts, common to the soldiers of both the Union 
 
 41 
 
and Confederate Armies. Once, on opposite sides 
 of the Eapidan Eiver, Northern and Southern 
 troops were encamped. As no orders were coming 
 from those in command of the contending forces 
 for an exchange of lead, the plain soldiers of the 
 two armies began to hurl from one side to the other 
 notes of their favorite songs. The engagement in 
 sentiment was opened by breaking the stillness of 
 the April twilight from the Northern side of the 
 river with the strains of '^Hail Columbia, Happy 
 Land." In response to this volley of emotion, fired 
 from brave hearts in blue, the air was set to vibrat- 
 ing from the Southern bank of the river by the 
 thrilling words of "Dixie" thrown from the throats 
 in gray. 
 
 Then a lone volunteer, with chords in liis soul 
 which songs from neither bank of the Rapidan had 
 seemingly touched, lifted up his voice in the immor- 
 tal words of "Home, Sweet Home," when the men 
 of both armies, as if moved from heaven, forgot all 
 points of the national compass, and without refer- 
 ence to who was right or who was wrong, to flags of 
 truce, or terms of surrender, re-established the 
 Union on the spot, by getting together in the section- 
 less music of John Howard Payne's spirit. Little 
 did those brave men think, fifty years ago, when 
 their voices were reverberating through the Vir- 
 ginia hills to the tune of "Home, Sweet Home," 
 that they were not only filling the sky with melody, 
 
 42 
 
but also with prophecy, which those of us who meet 
 here tonight have lived to see fulfilled. 
 
 ''Hail Columbia" is now domesticated in the 
 South, and ''Dixie" is tumultuously at home in the 
 North, and both songs have been purified from all 
 sectional flavor through the wondrous alembic of 
 good will. 
 
 "We are all back in the home of our fathers," in 
 the language of Mr. Benjamin H. Hill, "and we are 
 here to stay forever." 
 
 The choir rose spontaneously and sang, "Home^ 
 Sweet Home." 
 
 'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, 
 
 Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home ! 
 
 A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there, 
 
 Which, seek through the world, is ne'er met with elsewhere. 
 
 Home ! home ! sweet, sweet home ! 
 There's no place like home; there's no place like home. 
 
 An exile from home splendor dazzles in vain. 
 
 Oh ! give me my lowly, thatch'd cottage again ; 
 
 The birds singing gaily, that come at my call ; 
 
 Give me them, with the peace of mind, dearer than aU. 
 
 How sweet 'tis to sit 'neath a fond father's smile. 
 And the cares of a mother to soothe and beguile. 
 Let others delight 'mid new pleasures to roam. 
 But give me, oh ! give me the pleasures of home. 
 
 To thee I'll return, over-burdened with care. 
 The heart's dearest solace will smile on me there; 
 No more from that cottage again will I roam. 
 Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home. 
 
 43 
 
Dr. M. J. Cofer, of Camp 159, and chaplain of 
 the Georgia State Division, Confederate Veterans, 
 rose in his place about the center of the house and 
 said, ' ' Mr. Chairman, on behalf of the Gray, I move 
 that a vote of thanks be tendered by this audience 
 to Rev. Dr. Lee for the wise, patriotic and religious 
 address to which we have just listened. ' ' Mr. C. R. 
 Haskins, of the Grand Army Post, rose to second 
 the motion on behalf of the Blue. 
 
 The motion was unanimously carried by a rising 
 vote. 
 
 The Chairman: No. 702, ''My Country, 'tis of 
 Thee." I think we can sing this hymn as we never 
 sang it before. Afterward the benediction will be 
 pronounced by General Evans. 
 
 My country 'tis of thee, 
 Sweet land of liberty, 
 
 Of thee I sing; 
 Land where my fathers died! 
 Land of the Pilgrim's pride ! 
 From every mountain side 
 
 Let freedom ring! 
 
 My native country thee — 
 Land of the noble, free — 
 
 Thy name I love; 
 I love thy rocks and rills, 
 Thy woods and templed hills; 
 My heart with rapture thrills 
 
 Like that above, 
 
 44 
 
Let music swell the breeze, 
 And ring from all the trees 
 
 Sweet freedom's song : 
 Let mortal tongues awake; 
 Let all that breathe partake; 
 Let rocks their silence break,- 
 
 The sound prolong. 
 
 Our fathers' God ! to thee, 
 Author of liberty. 
 
 To thee we sing: 
 Long may our land be bright 
 With freedom's holy light ; 
 Protect us by thy might, 
 
 Great God, our King ! 
 
 Benediction. 
 
 General Evans: Lord, dismiss us with Thy 
 blessing so that we may go away with our minds 
 and hearts filled with love for one another — love for 
 our country, and love for our God. Amen. 
 
 Organ postlude — Variations on ''America'* 
 (Eink), Mr. Charles A. Sheldon, Jr. 
 
 45 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY. 
 
 The Lincoln memorial meeting reported in tMs 
 pamphlet has attracted wide attention and many 
 letters have been received by Eev. Dr. Lee in regard 
 to it. The Springfield Republican reprints the sub- 
 stance of the report in the Georgian and almost the 
 whole of Dr. Lee's address. 
 
 A very remarkable and interesting expression is 
 in a letter from the son of President Lincoln, which 
 is as follows : 
 
 (Copy.) 
 
 Chicago, III., February 20, 1909. 
 60 Lake Shore Drive. 
 
 The Rev. James W. Lee, D. D., 
 Atlanta, Ga. 
 
 My dear Sir: 
 
 I thank you vei"y heartily for your kindness in sending me the 
 report of the memorial service in Trinity church upon the anni- 
 versary of my father's birth. None of the occurrences of last 
 week have affected me so much as this meeting, as an indication 
 of the realization of 'the hopes which I think guided every act 
 of his while President. It is dramatic that this proof should 
 come from a city destroyed by one of the armies under his supreme 
 command, and be presented by Confederate soldiers, listening 
 with approval to an address of such eloquence and patriotic feel- 
 ing as yours. As his son, I am very grateful for the meeting, 
 and more than grateful for your distinguished part in it. 
 
 As General Scully spoke of the Gettysburg address and of the 
 circumstances under which he thought it was written, I think you 
 will be interested in knowing the facts about it, as related by my 
 father's secretary, Mr. Nicolay, and I am therefore sending to 
 you a re-print of an article written by Mr. Nicolay in 1894. 
 From it you will see that my father probably wrote a short ad- 
 
 46 
 
dress before the beginning of the journey and only changed it 
 slightly just before its delivery. I think it improbable that he 
 could have secured a minute to himself in his car filled with 
 people even to reflect as to his words for the next day. Renew- 
 ing to you the assurances of my grateful feelings, I am, 
 
 Very sinceely yours, 
 
 (Signed) Robert T. LrNrcoiiN. 
 
 The following is from Eev. Dr. Rhodes, Pastor of 
 St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. 
 Louis, and member of the International Sunday- 
 School Lesson Committee. 
 
 (Copy.) 
 
 St. Louis, Mo., February 22nd, 1909. 
 4444 Washington Boulevard. 
 
 My dear Dr. Lee : 
 
 I thank you most heartily for the Lincoln address. I have 
 read it with deepest interest. I have seen nothing on the great 
 and good Lincoln that makes any approach to your own mas- 
 terly effort. For original thought, wise discrimination, far-reach- 
 ing insight into God's great world-purpose, and wonderful inter- 
 pretation of the philosophy of God's working in the world, it 
 stands alone. This is not visionary, but my calm judgment. It 
 is entirely too valuable a production to be lost. It should be put 
 into pei-manent form. Its value is increased because it is from a 
 Southern man. I saw Lincoln after he was dead. Of course, I 
 voted for him first and last and haii an almost passionate admira- 
 tion for him. How marvelously God works. I long for your 
 return, dear brother, you were naughty for leaving me when the 
 evening is falling about me. Love and God's blessing to you and 
 yours. Most sincerely, 
 
 (Signed) M. Rhodes. 
 
 The following is from a member of LaFayette 
 Post G. A. R. in New York City to Col. W. M. Scott 
 of 0. M. MitchelPost: 
 
 47 
 
New York, February 20, 190i>. 
 Col. W. M. Scott, < 
 
 Atlanta, Ga. 
 My dear Colonel: 
 
 I am in receipt of your package containing Atlanta paper of 
 Febniary ISth. I think the address by Dr. Lee is one of the 
 finest things I ever read, and thank you vei-y much for sending 
 me the paper. New York was full of the Lincoln celebration on 
 the 12th, but there was nothing I heard that was as gi-and as 
 Dr. Lee's talk. The same spirit prevails in the North that seems 
 to be advancing in the South. I think the "Blue" and the "Gray'^ 
 will march together on Memorial Day in New York the same as 
 in other places. Remember me as ever. 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 Albert B. Vorhis. 
 
 Prom Ex-Governor Van Sant of Minnesota : 
 
 St. Petersburg, Fla., February 24, 1909. 
 Dear Comrade: 
 
 * * * Yes, we are a united people now, and I am much 
 pleased to see the people of the South so patriotic. * * * 
 
 Cordially, S. R. Van Sant. 
 
 From General Louis Wagner, President Third 
 National Bank, Philadelphia : 
 
 Philadelphla, February 18, 1909. 
 W. M. Scott, Esq., 
 
 Atlanta, Ga. 
 Dear Sir and Comrade : 
 
 Many thanks for the copy of The Atlanta Georgian and News 
 of the 15th instant, with marked article entitled: "In Tribute 
 to Lincoln, Former Foemen Join," which you have kindly sent me. 
 You had a profitable gathering in connection with the celebration 
 of the Lincoln Centennial. 
 
 Yours truly, Louis Wagner. 
 
 Many similar letters have been received. 
 
 48 
 
 LB S'i2