LINCOLN ROOM 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 the Class of 1901 
 
 founded by 
 
 HARLAN HOYT HORNER 
 
 and 
 
 HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://archive.org/details/outofheartofkentOOrobi 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
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 S8»' 
 
 OUT OFTHE 
 HEART OF 
 
 KENTUCKY 
 
 A RHYMED STORY OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 -by- 
 DANIEL MAURICE ROBINS 
 
 r author or 
 THE UFPER 5MPJRE 
 
 /^oc-c*si*e7 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
 L0TTIEBTURI1ER 
 
 
 . L.B.T. 
 
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COPYRIGHT 1938 
 BY THE CHRISTOPHER PUBLISHING HOUSE 
 
 PRINTED IN THI I NITED STATES OF AMERICA 
 
VURS5e 
 
 
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God lifted Abraham Lincoln, 
 From childhood in poverty furled; 
 Out of the heart of Kentucky 
 Into the heart of the world. 
 
Presented To 
 
 This is the story of a boy 
 
 Who conquered circumstance and fate; 
 
 Ignoring every vile decoy 
 
 He found a place among the great. 
 
 That all the attributes of fame 
 Which passing years may yet accrue, 
 Shall crown you with an honest name, 
 This is my fondest wish for you. 
 
 SIGNED 
 
 DATE 
 
DO NOT WORRY — 
 
 Eat three square meals a day , — ' 
 say your prayers , — ' be courteous 
 to your creditors , — ' keep your 
 digestion good r-^ exercise , — ' go 
 slow and go easy , — ' Maybe there 
 are some other things that your 
 special case requires to make you 
 happy, but, my friend, these I 
 reckon will give you a good lift , — • 
 
 A. Lincoln 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 The Great Ruler of the Universe places 
 greatness at times in strange surroundings, but 
 no one would ever have thought to look for it in 
 the wilderness of "the Heart of Kentucky" nearly 
 six score and eight years ago. 
 
 If the sun broke through the clouds on the 
 twelfth day of February 1809 it lighted and 
 brightened a little log cabin on a meandering 
 creek in Hardin County (now Larue), Kentucky 
 in which Abraham Lincoln was ushered into this 
 world. 
 
 I doubt if the birth of anyone now living and 
 born in the United States was attended with 
 tragedy and sorrow greater than his. Poverty 
 and obscurity were his companions in the long 
 struggle upward to fame. Out of the valley of 
 oblivion he rose, however, like a great majestic 
 mountain, tipped with white, to the achievement 
 of human success and service to his fellow men. 
 
 Only once in five hundred years does his kind 
 pass along the highroad of history. 
 
 No great man has ever been spoken of with 
 such tender expression and high esteem as 
 Abraham Lincoln. As we recede further from 
 the time in which he lived, he grows larger in- 
 stead of smaller. It, also, becomes more difficult 
 for anyone to say or write anything new concern- 
 ing him. More than fifteen hundred people have 
 written books or notable articles touching his life, 
 
vi FOREWORD 
 
 yet every new book, poem or item which bears 
 upon his name is eagerly sought and read. 
 
 It was my rare privilege to claim the friend- 
 ship of Robert Todd Lincoln, son of Abraham 
 Lincoln and also, of Emilie Todd Helm, the last 
 surviving sister of Mary Todd, wife of Lincoln. 
 If they were among the living I am confident that 
 their sympathy and appreciation of this book 
 would be added to the acclaim of thousands of 
 other lovers of Lincoln into whose hands it will 
 come, because of its factual information and 
 artistic merit. 
 
 "Out of the Heart of Kentucky" is something 
 new on Lincoln. In brief poetic phrase the 
 crowded events of the life of this uncommon 
 Commoner are herein set forth. Its brevity and 
 directness will appeal to those who thirst for Lin- 
 coln lore and it will immeasurably please u The 
 Youth of the World" to whom it is dedicated. 
 
 The appeal of this book is universal rather 
 than sectional. Neither the Sons of the South nor 
 the Sons of the North will find here any glorifi- 
 cation of Civil War but rather a pleasing and 
 brotherly forgetfulness of "Mason-Dixon Lines" 
 and a sponsorship of those All-American precepts 
 and principles that were manifest in the Lincoln 
 life. This book should find an honored niche in 
 every American library and a sacred place in every 
 patriotic American heart. 
 
 George A. Dondero 
 Member of Congress, 
 17th District of Mich., 
 Royal Oak, Michigan. 
 October 25, 1937. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 EPISODES IN THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 (In Rhyme) 
 
 Page 
 
 i. Hospitality 15 
 
 2. Obscurity 20 
 
 3. Isolation 26 
 
 4. Mothers 37 
 
 5. Adventure 42 
 
 6. Experience 47 
 
 7. Recognition 50 
 
 8. Conflict 55 
 
 9. Emancipation 58 
 
 10. Ministry 62 
 
 11. Gettysburg 66 
 
 12. Peace 70 
 
 13. Desolation 73 
 
 14. Encouragement 75 
 
 15. Tragedy 80 
 
 16. Triumph 85 
 
 Do Not Worry — Abraham Lincoln 4 
 
 Foreword — George A. Dondero 5 
 
 One of the Immortal Few — Lexington 
 
 Herald n 
 
 Preparation for Leadership — Dr. Edgar 
 
 DeWitt Jones 13 
 
 Lowly Born — Eleanor Gridley 18 
 
 vii 
 
viii CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 Victor Hugo's Lincoln — Michigan Catholic 
 
 Press 31 
 
 One Way Too Sacred — Lincoln's Letter.... 32 
 
 The Mother of Lincoln — Lexington Herald 34 
 
 Opportunity — Sarah K. Bolton 41 
 
 One of God's Prophets — Bishop Charles 
 
 Fowler 46 
 
 Thy Kingdom Come — Abraham Lincoln 54 
 The Battlefield of Gettysburg — Eleanor 
 
 Gridley 64 
 
 At Gettysburg — Dr. Joseph Fort Newton 65 
 With Malice Toward None — Abraham 
 
 Lincoln 72 
 
 A Great Man — Dr. I. S. Morris 78 
 
 No Accidents in Providence — Charles 
 
 Sumner 79 
 
 An Index of Names — The Author 84 
 
 The Lincoln Memorial — Helen Nicholay 88 
 
 Story to a Child — Abraham Lincoln 89 
 
 Address at Gettysburg — Abraham Lincoln 91 
 
 Every Lover of Liberty — Abraham Lincoln 92 
 
 Lincoln's Favorite Poem — William B. Knox 93 
 
 Chronology of Lincoln — The Author 94 
 
 Acknowledgements — The Author 95 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 By Lottie B. Turner 
 
 Page 
 
 Title Page 
 Dedication Page 
 
 The Postman 15 
 
 The Lincoln Birthplace 19 
 
 Checkers 22 
 
 The Kentucky-Illinois Trail 24 
 
 The Wilderness 25 
 
 The Second Cabin 28 
 
 Publishing House — The Vincennes Sun 29 
 
 Lincoln at his Mother's Grave 33 
 
 The Grave of the Mother of Lincoln 36 
 
 The Second Mother 39 
 
 Lincoln's Books 41 
 
 The River 45 
 
 The Lincoln of Sadness 52 
 
 Lincoln Memorial Bridge 54 
 
 The Evolution of the Slave 58 
 
 Emancipation 61 
 
 Gettysburg's Ten Thousand Graves 69 
 
 The Dream of the South 74 
 
 Ford's Theater 79 
 
 Lincoln's Tomb at Springfield 83 
 
 The Lincoln Memorial 88 
 
OUT OF THE HEART 
 OF KENTUCKY 
 
 ONE OF THE IMMORTAL FEW 
 
 Abraham Lincoln, son of a wandering laborer 
 by the name of Thomas Lincoln, whose father, 
 Abraham Lincoln, had been an early immigrant 
 to Kentucky from Rockingham County, Virginia, 
 was born in a hunter's shack, so humble that its 
 floor was of clay and the bed upon which the 
 mother of the future emancipator was forced to 
 lie, consisted of rough poles, cut from the forest 
 and nailed to stakes driven in the ground. 
 
 Never was there born into the world, one 
 whose surroundings betokened so little of the 
 presence of one that was not born to die. Never 
 had a mother looked into the innocent eyes of 
 her new-born babe and seen less upon which she 
 might base the hope that he, whom she had given 
 life, would one day rise above his surroundings, 
 than did the weary and care-worn Nancy Hanks 
 as she looked upon the infant Lincoln to whom 
 she had given the impress of her own sad coun- 
 tenance. 
 
 Few are they who have been called upon to 
 suffer all the humiliations, all the contradictions 
 of birth, life and character, all the disturbing prin- 
 ciples of self-love and early inborn whisperings 
 
 11 
 
12 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 of hope for and faith in future achievements, as 
 did this child of penury. Certainly never was 
 born one who had so little of egotism to suppress, 
 so little of personal attractiveness to assist in the 
 development of the individual. 
 
 But as we see the purpose and strength of that 
 life gradually unfolded, may we say that sad- 
 visaged, soul-riven, poverty-manacled dreamer of 
 dreams did not himself catch a vision of that day 
 when he would strike the shackles from an en- 
 slaved race? 
 
 Lincoln came into public life at a time when 
 human passions had reached an uncontrollable 
 state. There was no period of time between the 
 announcement of himself as a candidate for the 
 Legislature of Illinois and the day of his death, 
 that Lincoln was not preparing for the inevitable 
 conflict between the states, actually engaged in it 
 or making plans for the peace that would follow. 
 
 Intense as were his convictions during all those 
 years, he was nevertheless an unwavering friend 
 of the South. Of southern origin himself, Lin- 
 coln respected all the traditions and sentiments 
 of southern people, holding against them not the 
 slightest feeling of animosity, hatred or revenge. 
 
 The Lexington Herald, 
 February 12, 1914 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 13 
 
 PREPARATION FOR LEADERSHIP 
 
 The fifty-six years of Lincoln's life are divided 
 into four well defined periods; seven years of 
 childhood in Kentucky; fourteen years of youth 
 and young manhood in Indiana; thirty-one years 
 of maturity and public leadership in Illinois and 
 four years in Washington as President of the 
 United States. 
 
 Lincoln's preparation for leadership began 
 early in life. The very air he breathed as a youth 
 was freighted with political issues that were des- 
 tined to stir the nation. 
 
 John Wanamaker says that Lincoln must have 
 learned the ethical side of government from the 
 Holy Scriptures. He knew the Bible, and no man 
 in public life has quoted it so frequently or so 
 effectively. It is possible that the rise and fall 
 of the Jewish nation and the emergence of the 
 sturdy prophets of righteousness as outlined in 
 the Old Testament, gave him the basic principles 
 of nation building. We may also believe that the 
 Book of Proverbs interested young Lincoln and 
 that his thought must have been captivated by the 
 epigram; "Righteousness exalteth a nation but sin 
 is a reproach to any people". 
 
 Lincoln ventured into politics at an early age. 
 He was twenty-two years old when he was de- 
 feated for the Illinois Legislature in 1832. Two 
 years later he was elected and served four terms 
 in Springfield. In 1844 he campaigned for Henry 
 Clay and in 1846 he defeated Peter Cartwright 
 for Congress. He also campaigned for Scott in 
 
14 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 1852, was defeated for the United States Senate 
 in 1855 and campaigned for the election of John 
 C. Fremont in 1856. 
 
 His second defeat for the United States Senate 
 in 1858 and his debates with Douglas in the same 
 year, made him an international figure and gave 
 him the Presidency of the United States in i860 
 and again in 1864. 
 
 From the Commencement address 
 of Dr. Edgar DeWltt Jones at Lin- 
 coln Memorial University, Harro- 
 gate, Tennessee, on June 5th, 1932 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 15 
 
 HOSPITALITY 
 
 The winter lingered, drear and slow, 
 That year of Eighteen Hundred Nine; 
 And February piled deep snow 
 Along the Mason-Dixon Line. 
 The wilderness was dense and bleak, 
 And Indians, in savage glee, 
 Monopolized each hill and creek, 
 By cruel relentless mastery. 
 
 A winding trail was roughly blazed 
 Across Kentucky's wooded breast, 
 Which led to cabins, crudely raised, 
 With doors ajar for every guest. 
 Along this trail of oak and beech, 
 The pioneers transported goods; 
 It was the only way to reach 
 The scattered settlers of the woods. 
 
 The Postman 
 
16 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 The Postman, on his monthly round, 
 One day pursued this lonely trail; 
 His saddlebags with rawhide bound, 
 Were filled with packages of mail. 
 He reached a clearing where the wood 
 Enclosed an isolated space, 
 In which a small log cabin stood, 
 With cedars veiled across its face. 
 
 A woodsman met him at the gate 
 And asked the traveller to alight; 
 "Come in", he said, "it's getting late, 
 Put up your horse an' spend th' night". 
 "Thank you", the weary Postman sighed, 
 "My jaded horse would like a rest, 
 At daybreak I again must ride 
 The down creek trail, t'ward th' West". 
 
 Together, when the darkness came, 
 They fed their horses, did the chores, 
 And baited traps to catch wild game 
 That preyed upon their scanty stores. 
 The dog was sheltered for the night, 
 Where saddlebags hung in the shed; 
 The cabin glowed with candle light, 
 With simple fare the board was spread. 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 17 
 
 In genial mood, with joke and jest, 
 His host, the Postman entertained; 
 As world events of East and West 
 He read and patiently explained. 
 "A railroad line is goin' through 
 The northern part o' Delaware; 
 They're always buildin' somethin' new 
 When city banks have cash t' spare". 
 
 "Before I come this way again, 
 We'll have another President; 
 Jim Madison will take th' rein 
 Amid a lot o' discontent. 
 Th' war talk of th' eastern press 
 Keeps statesmen thinkin' day an' night 
 While papers of th' North express 
 Abhorrance of a civil fight". 
 
 "Napoleon is marching down 
 Through southern France to Italy, 
 To add to his imperial crown 
 New lands between the Alps and Sea. 
 And Robert Fulton, who, y' know, 
 Rigged up a boat t' run by steam, 
 Declares that very soon he'll show 
 How man can conquer any stream". 
 
 Thus, in that cabin, banked with snow, 
 O'er which the sighing cedars bent; 
 Those men, that night of long ago, 
 Communed in neighborly content. 
 So, passed the pleasant supper hour, 
 As they discussed divergent views 
 Of governmental law and power, 
 Reflected in the latest news. 
 
18 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 LOWLY BORN 
 
 Born as lowly as the Son of God in a hovel, 
 reared in penury, vexed by dreams and visions, 
 grotesque in aspect and manner, it was reserved 
 for this strange being without name, fame or 
 preparation to be snatched from obscurity; raised 
 to supreme command at a supreme moment and 
 entrusted with the destiny of a people. 
 
 When time has blotted out the pyramids and 
 obliterated all other monuments of the world, a 
 solitary shaft bearing the name of Lincoln will 
 still be standing on the Appian Way of history. 
 
 Eleanor Gridley 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 19 
 
 The Lincoln Birthplace 
 
20 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 OBSCURITY 
 
 As night advanced, the Postman played 
 A game of checkers with his host; 
 While firelight, on the wall, arrayed 
 In silhouette, his shadowy ghost. 
 "How's all th' neighbors over back, 
 An' that new family up th' creek? 
 Last time that I was by their shack", 
 The guest recalled; "some one was sick". 
 
 "O, they're all right"; the host replied, 
 "But some o' them are shy an' queer; 
 Ain't heard that any of them died, 
 They very seldom come by here. 
 Buck Henderson was shootin' squirrels 
 Along th' creek a month ago; 
 He said that one of Elkin's girls 
 Was nursin' oV Nathaniel Stowe". 
 
 "Tom Lincoln came along one night, 
 From Rollin' Creek, 'bout two miles back; 
 Said Nancy's comin' through all right, 
 With that new baby at their shack. 
 They named th' young 'un, Abraham, 
 There wa'nt a doctor nowhere near, 
 But everything is 'bout th' same, 
 There's nothin' ever happens here". 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 21 
 
 The backlog sank in duller glow, 
 The nightwind whistled 'round the sill; 
 The candle flickered, burning low, 
 The room was growing dark and chill. 
 As ghosts upon the wall expired, 
 The host repeated, "On this trail, 
 There's nothin' happens, we get tired 
 A-waitin' for th' monthly mail". 
 
 Then for a time, without a word, 
 They smoked, until with drowsy head, 
 The host, the fireplace embers stirred, 
 And muttered, "Almos' time for bed". 
 They watched the fading backlog die, 
 Then banked the ashes for the night, 
 As timber wolves began their cry, 
 Where owls wheeled lazily in flight. 
 
 Had those men realized, the birth 
 Which glorified that backwood place, 
 Had brought a commoner to earth, 
 To save a chain encumbered race; 
 They would have hurried down that wild 
 Beast haunted trail of oak and pine, 
 To reach the cradle of that child 
 And worship at his humble shrine? 
 
22 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 4? ^ 
 
 "As night advanced, the Postman played 
 A came of checkers with his host" 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 23 
 
 If, o'er that cabin God had raised 
 Another bright Judean star, 
 Like that on which the Magi gazed, 
 When they were lured from realms afar; 
 Its meaning might have been unknown, 
 Unnoticed might have been its reign, 
 So obscure was the future throne, 
 That child was destined to attain. 
 
 Those woodsmen of that early day, 
 Amid Kentucky's ice and snow; 
 Did not suspect that near them lay 
 A child the centuries would know. 
 Could they have seen the tragic days 
 That ended Lincoln's great career, 
 Would they have signed in weary phrase, 
 "There's nothin' ever happens here?" 
 
 That year produced a Mendelssohn, 
 
 Gave Darwin, Holmes and Gladstone birth; 
 
 It saw the life of Hamlin dawn, 
 
 Gave Tennyson a home on earth. 
 
 But Lincoln outshines all his peers, 
 
 God called him to exalted place, 
 
 And, pedestaled above all years, 
 
 Crowned him the Savior of a race. 
 
21 
 
 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 No/ana 
 
 M«s* l£M <o jfy 
 
 Route of the Lincoln family from Kentucky to Illinois 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 25 
 
 ,y 
 
 J 
 
 J 
 
 "The wilderness he loved to roam 
 Its deepest secrets sought to gain' 
 
26 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 ISOLATION 
 
 Near Rolling Creek, a shallow stream, 
 Tom Lincoln's one room cabin stood; 
 No forest neighbor e'er could dream 
 That fame was hidden in that wood. 
 The settlers rarely turned that way, 
 'Twas such an obscure, winding road, 
 That only by the light of day, 
 Could they have found that lone abode. 
 
 The Postman, later, riding by 
 The Lincoln cabin, found a lad 
 In homespun garb of walnut dye, 
 With features pale and shy and sad. 
 Though in his eyes a deep light shone, 
 And in his soul ambition stirred; 
 None could foresee the distant throne, 
 Which later years on him conferred. 
 
 The growing lad with birds communed, 
 By name he knew each shrub and tree; 
 With nature's orchestras attuned, 
 He loved the wildwood minstrelsy. 
 He caught, along the forest streams, 
 The cardinal's glad caroling, 
 Interpreting life's mystic dreams, 
 By watching every fluttering wing. 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 27 
 
 His realm was 'round that cabin home, 
 Uncharted forests, his domain; 
 The wilderness he loved to roam, 
 Its deepest secrets sought to gain. 
 The outside world did not intrude, 
 With haunts of men he had no ties; 
 But, wandering in solitude, 
 He caught the music of the skies. 
 
 Tom Lincoln, with unsettled mind, 
 And deep disgust for weary toil; 
 In Indiana hoped to find 
 A more congenial, friendly soil. 
 Therefor, with all his household goods, 
 He, o'er the broad Ohio pressed, 
 Behind him leaving native woods, 
 To find a new home farther West. 
 
 Then, with his son, he felled and hewed 
 The trees and built another shack; 
 A second cabin, rough and crude, 
 Beside the Vincennes wagon track. 
 They hunted deer, trapped smaller game; 
 Amid the storms of snow and sleet 
 An endless grind, their lives became, 
 Through winter cold and summer heat. 
 
28 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 The Second Cabin 
 
 "A second cabin, rough and crude, 
 Beyond the Vincennes wagon track" 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 29 
 
 '<mm\& 
 
 
 p ***** - 
 
 Publishing House of The Vincennes Sun 
 Where Lincoln saw his first printing press 
 
30 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 Cruel poverty thus furrowed deep, 
 This son of backwoods pioneers; 
 As hardship, with relentless sweep, 
 Marked all his adolescent years. 
 Such were the duties Lincoln found, 
 Imposed by circumstance and fate; 
 Such was the dismal, dreary round, 
 That fitted him to guide the State. 
 
 As, splitting rails, the days he spent, 
 Much higher things roused his desire; 
 And evening found the lad intent, 
 In study by the backlog fire. 
 With mute appeal that cabin stands; 
 Discolored by a century's rains 
 Its timbers hewn by brawny hands 
 That were to shatter slavery's chains. 
 
 The mud chinked logs, the cleated door; 
 The fireplace, high and wide and deep; 
 The rough bare walls and oaken floor, 
 Their sacred memories ever keep. 
 The lad who loved that lonely place, 
 All earthly need has now outgrown; 
 Yet his immortal fame and grace, 
 Found inspiration in that home. 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 31 
 
 VICTOR HUGO'S LINCOLN 
 
 In the Place Des Voges, in Paris, is an old 
 hotel in which Victor Hugo lived for fifteen years. 
 It has been preserved as a Hugo Memorial and 
 is known as the Maison de Victor Hugo (Musee). 
 The rooms and furnishings are preserved as 
 Hugo left them. The bed in which he died is in 
 the position it was when the great writer passed 
 away. 
 
 The decoration in which Americans take the 
 most interest is a picture of Abraham Lincoln 
 which is placed in a prominent position upon the 
 wall. It is well known that Victor Hugo had 
 great interest in Lincoln and in American events. 
 His arraignment of Virginia for the execution of 
 John Brown is one of the most caustic paragraphs 
 his pen has written. He had great veneration of 
 President Lincoln. The picture is not so well 
 known as many others and shows an expression of 
 countenance that many well-known pictures fail 
 to give. It is not at all strange that the great 
 French democrat and apostle of the people should 
 find deep interest in the one who in his personality 
 and measures voiced the new day for humanity in 
 the great republic across the sea. 
 
 Michigan Catholic Press 
 
32 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 ONE WAY TOO SACRED 
 
 There is one way too sacred for a man's under- 
 standing; a woman's way to motherhood. Jesus 
 had a great mother though very poor. Her baby 
 was born in a stable. Her life was close to poor 
 people. Without such a mother the world might 
 not have heard of the greater Son. 
 
 I think of another mother whose face was 
 lighted with a holy love for her children. She 
 too, had a son born in a hut. He learned the suf- 
 ferings of the poor. If God shall allow that son 
 to have a little part in making the world better, 
 his mother's name will not be forgotten for what- 
 ever he may do he could not have done without 
 that mother. 
 
 From 
 
 Lincoln's letter to 
 
 Ann Rutledge 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 33 
 
 /WU.&-T 
 
 Young Lincoln at his Mother's Grave 
 
34 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 THE MOTHER OF LINCOLN 
 
 Nancy Hanks was born in Amelia County, 
 Virginia, on the 5th. of February, 1784. At the 
 age of five, with her parents and a bevy of col- 
 lateral kindred, she moved to Kentucky. Left an 
 orphan when she was scarcely ten years of age, 
 she was taken to live with an uncle, Richard Berry, 
 and his wife, at Beechland, in Washington County. 
 Here, she became engaged to her first cousin, 
 Thomas Lincoln, whom, at the age of twenty- 
 two, she married on June 12th. 1806. The 
 young couple lived for a time in Elizabethtown, 
 then moved about fourteen miles into an unsettled 
 section of Hardin, now Larue County, where their 
 second child, Abraham, was born on February 12, 
 1809. 
 
 Life in Kentucky proved to be an endless round 
 of toil and hardship, so, to better their fortunes, 
 they moved to a wild section of what is now, 
 Spencer County, Indiana. Hidden away in a pri- 
 meval forest, remote from the centers of world 
 life, the mother of Lincoln, worn out by toil and 
 penury, died on the 5th. day of October, 18 18 and 
 was laid to rest in a forest grave, which has now 
 become an enchanted shrine near the little city of 
 Lincoln, Indiana. 
 
 An uneventful and pathetic lifetime was 
 crowded into the thirty five years of Nancy Hanks 
 pilgrimage, and, but for the deathless immortality 
 of her son she would have passed into the for- 
 getfulness of oblivion. She was not a stupid and 
 soulless drudge. With an amiable and winning 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 35 
 
 disposition, she was active and intelligently ca- 
 pable, except when stirred by some profound emo- 
 tion, some superlative joy or heart rending sorrow, 
 her general mood being even tempered, tranquil 
 and serene. 
 
 The Lexington Herald, 
 June 16, 1914 
 
36 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 
 The Grave of the Mother of Lincoln 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 37 
 
 MOTHERS 
 
 Worn out by hardship, worry, toil, 
 Her life one long despairing sigh; 
 Subdued by ills she could not foil, 
 Young Lincoln saw his mother die. 
 In box of oak his father made, 
 They, to the earth, her body gave, 
 Where sycamores cast friendly shade, 
 And aspen whispered o'er her grave. 
 
 Beside that lonely woodland bier, 
 No minister held sacred rites; 
 No sympathetic friends were near, 
 Through dreary, dismal days and nights. 
 No songs but carols wild birds sing, 
 No palms but those the forests wave, 
 And bells that only winds can ring, 
 Relieved the silence of that grave. 
 
 The sad boy missed his dearest friend; 
 His grief was all his soul could bear, 
 Because his mother reached life's end 
 Without religious rites or prayer. 
 Therefor, when winter passed away, 
 And days of early spring were spent, 
 A Minister arrived one day, 
 And held a funeral sacrament. 
 
38 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 When weary months of sober thought, 
 Were added to the young boy's life; 
 His father, from Kentucky brought 
 A former neighbor, as his wife. 
 This second mother found her place 
 In young Abe's sad and lonely heart; 
 She recognized that inborn grace 
 Which gives the soul an upward start. 
 
 By teaching him to read and write, 
 She set his hungry mind on fire ; 
 Her books gave him intense delight, 
 Inspired ambition and desire. 
 She read to him the Sacred Word, 
 Explaining things he could not see; 
 Thus for the first time, Lincoln heard 
 Details of law and prophecy. 
 
 Within that backwoods cabin room, 
 Where virtue lived without pretense; 
 This mother plied her textile loom 
 And taught the lad plain common sense. 
 With precepts from the sacred page, 
 That in his soul would ever burn, 
 She helped the future statesman, sage, 
 The basic laws of life to learn. 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 39 
 
 ^ 
 
 The Second Mother 
 "Within that backwoods cabin room 
 Where virtue lived without pretense 
 This mother plied her textile loom 
 And taught the lad plain common sense' 
 
40 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 We wonder if, those lonesome days, 
 With Lincoln growing at her side; 
 She penetrated time's dull haze 
 And saw his fame extending wide. 
 Could she suspect that in her hands 
 She held a nation's crucial hour; 
 Or realize that boy's commands 
 Would shatter slavery's insane power? 
 
 A turkey feather quill, his pen, 
 And juice of woodland herbs for ink; 
 Yet Lincoln won the hearts of men, 
 Made generations pause and think; 
 As, from the depths of heart and head 
 Came epigrams of faith and trust, 
 To live till languages are dead, 
 And lips that utter them are dust. 
 
 And Lincoln never could forget, 
 His mother, true and loyal and brave; 
 For oft, when cares of State beset, 
 His mind would wander to her grave. 
 He said of her, in after years, 
 "All that I am or hope to be, 
 Through poverty and pain and tears. 
 My sainted mother made of me". 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 41 
 
 OPPORTUNITY 
 
 In March of 1828, the long looked for oppor- 
 tunity to see the world came to Abraham Lincoln. 
 He was asked by a man who knew his honesty to 
 take a flatboat down the Mississippi River to 
 New Orleans. He was paid two dollars a week 
 and his rations and as a flatboat could not return 
 up the river, it must be sold at the end of the 
 journey and he would be obliged to walk back to 
 Indiana. 
 
 On this trip Lincoln saw what he would never 
 forget; black men and women in chains sold like 
 sheep at the slave market in New Orleans. Here 
 began his horror of human slavery which cul- 
 minated years afterward in the Emancipation 
 Proclamation. 
 
 Sarah K. Bolton 
 
 Lincoln's Books 
 The Bible 
 Life of Washington Pilgrim's Progress 
 
 Statutes of Indiana Aesop's Fables 
 
 Grammar Text History of the 
 
 United States 
 
42 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 ADVENTURE 
 
 A rare adventure started, when 
 Upon a flatboat he had made, 
 Young Lincoln visited with men 
 Along the river marts of trade. 
 To Mississippi towns he went, 
 In coonskin cap and wolfhide jeans, 
 And at his destination spent 
 Some time exploring New Orleans. 
 
 The old Slave Market was a shock 
 To Lincoln's freedom loving mind, 
 And he declared, "This auction block 
 Must, to oblivion, be consigned. 
 The Government cannot survive 
 With citizens half slave, half free; 
 God helping me, this thing I'll drive 
 Back to its den of infamy". 
 
 When homeward he again returned, 
 Deep indignation filled his soul; 
 His heart with new ambition burned; 
 With freedom of the slave, his goal, 
 He borrowed books with which to feed 
 The cravings of his restless brain; 
 And thus prepared to wisely lead, 
 Where men would follow in his train. 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 43 
 
 But fortune, with a scornful sigh, 
 Passed by his humble cabin door; 
 His legacy, as years slipped by, 
 Was but, "The annals of the poor". 
 In poverty that soured his blood, 
 His father followed new decoys 
 From Indiana's deepest mud, 
 To deeper loam of Illinois. 
 
 New Salem on the Sangamon, 
 A hamlet of the "Prairie State", 
 Found Lincoln awkward, tall and wan, 
 Yet shyly modest and sedate. 
 While working in the general store, 
 He studied habits, manners, speech 
 Of all who passed his public door, 
 Discovering the best in each. 
 
 He won respect of all who must, 
 Unlawful practices abhor; 
 And eager friends upon him thrust 
 New duties in the Blackhawk War. 
 He studied history and law, 
 Read Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, 
 And politicians helped him draw 
 A Federal Postmaster's pay, 
 
44 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 His laughing eyes and tumbled hair, 
 His ready wit and easy grace, 
 And sturdy self-reliant air, 
 Stamped friendly power upon his face. 
 Yet, Lincoln trod uneven ways, 
 A man of homely poise and mould, 
 Abhorring flattery and praise, 
 And never lured by sordid gold. 
 
 With motives blameless as a babe, 
 And rugged soul by vice unstained; 
 Revered by friends as "Honest Abe", 
 In penury he thus was trained. 
 No trace of guilt, no blush of shame, 
 E'er crossed his ruddy genial face, 
 His simple goodness, honest name, 
 Assured him an exalted place. 
 
 Immersed in deep humility, 
 Heroically he played life's game, 
 Discouraged not by poverty, 
 Nor turned aside by transcient fame. 
 Along each weary, plodding mile, 
 Some disappointment lay in wait, 
 Thus, God prepared by toil and trial, 
 The future ruler of the State. 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 45 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 JT 
 
 
 The River 
 
 
 
46 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 ONE OF GOD'S PROPHETS 
 
 Let me show you one of God's prophets. Yon- 
 der he comes, six feet and four inches high; walk- 
 ing into Springfield from the Sangamon bottoms, 
 walking into Chicago, walking into Washington, 
 walking into the White House. 
 
 He came to the Government by a minority vote. 
 He put his hand upon Wall Street and steadied 
 its faith. He stamped upon the earth and two 
 millions of armed men came to his defense. He 
 spoke to the sea and the greatest navy of the 
 world crowned its waves. He breathed into the 
 air and money and munitions rained upon the 
 people. 
 
 A philanthropist, he gave liberty to one race 
 and freedom to another. A moralist, he stooped 
 from the summit of human power to become a 
 Christian, "With malice toward none, with charity 
 for all", God's prophet, Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 Bishop Charles Henry Fowler 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 47 
 
 EXPERIENCE 
 
 Again death sent relentless gloom 
 To shadow Lincoln's early life; 
 When prematurely, in the tomb, 
 Was laid away, his promised wife. 
 He loved Ann Rutledge, to her gave 
 His full devotion joys and tears; 
 "My heart is buried in her grave", 
 He often sighed, in later years. 
 
 But in the providence of God, 
 He did not tread life's way alone; 
 But found new joy with Mary Todd, 
 His bitter losses to atone. 
 She gave him sons to bear his name, 
 With her he reached exalted place; 
 He lifted her to deathless fame, 
 Unshared by others of her race. 
 
 As a surveyor, Lincoln tramped 
 About the river farms and flats; 
 And thus, his eager mind was stamped 
 With creeds of Whigs and Democrats. 
 And when the voting pioneers 
 New Legislators needed, then 
 He won a place among his peers, 
 Where sat the State's most able men. 
 
48 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 Young Lincoln, agile, strong and lean, 
 Close student of affairs of State; 
 With speech convincing, clear and keen, 
 Soon mastered logic and debate. 
 In records high his name was writ, 
 His words were heralded afar, 
 As he unloosed his homely wit, 
 Against the giants of the Bar. 
 
 The Capitol became the stage 
 From which his oratory swept; 
 While men of every creed and age 
 Revered the self-taught youth, adept 
 In quoting Shakespeare, Euclid, Paul, 
 And wondered what uncommon blood, 
 What mystic providential call, 
 Had lifted him from native mud. 
 
 To Congress next, young Lincoln went, 
 Where leading statesmen of his day 
 Discussed the growing discontent 
 That rose from slavery's brutal sway. 
 Lovejoy and Greeley, brave John Brown 
 Had sponsored abolition laws, 
 And Beecher won a statesman's crown, 
 For advocating freedom's cause. 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 49 
 
 The slave was destined to convulse 
 
 The legislative halls of state; 
 
 As Lincoln touched the fevered pulse, 
 
 Of those who held the bondman's fate. 
 
 And with conviction, stern and tense, 
 
 He saw the coming of an hour 
 
 When naught but sane and common sense, 
 
 Could shatter slavery's angry power. 
 
 He hurried back to western states, 
 When work in Washington was done; 
 And joined with Douglas in debates, 
 Around which many legends run. 
 When Lincoln met his first defeat, 
 Which, Douglas to the Senate sent; 
 His friends, with confidence complete, 
 Declared, "We'll make Abe, President". 
 
 In mystic shadow, Lincoln dreamed 
 Of states forgetting class and caste; 
 A realm from slavery redeemed, 
 When caravans of pain had passed. 
 And cradled in a path of light, 
 Descending from an upper throne, 
 The God of nations gave him might, 
 To tread deserted ways alone. 
 
50 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 RECOGNITION 
 
 While westerners loved Lincoln's name, 
 New England held indifferent poise; 
 Believing that no lasting fame 
 Could rise from plains of Illinois. 
 But when the men of eastern marts, 
 In Cooper Union heard him plead; 
 The "Commoner" soon won their hearts, 
 And their endorsement of his creed. 
 
 He championed the shackled slave, 
 Against impassioned southern states; 
 But time and thought he also gave, 
 To bridge the chasm of their hates. 
 The East was tense when Lincoln spoke 
 With leading statesman in debate; 
 And was convinced the black man's yoke, 
 Would yet decide the nation's fate. 
 
 A hostile spirit charged the air, 
 And Civil War appeared in sight; 
 While states were ready to declare 
 Secession as a sovereign right. 
 But Lincoln urged, "Do not secede, 
 Our house, divided must not be, 
 Together let us stand and plead 
 The cause of human liberty". 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 51 
 
 When leaders in Chicago met, 
 That crucial "Presidential year", 
 Their preference for Lincoln set 
 The South aflame. With jibe and cheer 
 The "Sage of Springfield" was acclaimed 
 Amid conflicting fears and hates, 
 As resolutions that were framed, 
 Soon alienated southern states. 
 
 But when the nation's vote was cast, 
 The freeman's ballot given voice; 
 In unity the North stood fast, 
 And Lincoln was the people's choice. 
 The woodsman of the Sangamon, 
 Was summoned to the helm of State; 
 While friends of slavery buckled on, 
 Their hostile swords of war and hate. 
 
 Deep gloom enshrouded passing days, 
 With statesmen nervous and distressed; 
 The seething South was all ablaze, 
 The North, a ferment of unrest. 
 The youth, adept at splitting rails; 
 The man, on seas of hardship tossed, 
 Was now compelled to blaze new trails, 
 Or see the cause of freedom lost. 
 
52 
 
 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 The Lincoln of Sadness 
 
 "The nation's fate was in his hand, 
 Anxieties disturbed his breast; 
 As Lincoln rose to chief command 
 Of factions severed and distressed" 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 53 
 
 The nation's fate was in his hand, 
 Anxieties disturbed his breast; 
 As Lincoln rose to chief command 
 Of factions severed and distressed. 
 His mind was under constant strain 
 And sadness seamed his troubled face; 
 About his heart, the black man's chain, 
 Upon his soul, a shackled race. 
 
 But Lincoln put all fears aside, 
 
 And, seeking God's sustaining power; 
 
 He boldly faced the rising tide 
 
 Of that disturbed and tragic hour. 
 
 "No future wind", he said, "shall blow 
 
 Where bondage spreads its vulture wing; 
 
 For slavery cannot live and grow, 
 
 In realms where liberty is king". 
 
 No selfish power would Lincoln claim, 
 But, weighing every hostile view, 
 He said, "I shall assume all blame, 
 And what appears God's will, I'll do". 
 Though such hard tasks are rarely laid, 
 Upon mere human hearts and hands; 
 His better judgments he obeyed, 
 Believing them Divine commands. 
 
54 
 
 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 THY KINGDOM COME 
 
 If the world ever gets to be the kind of a place 
 you ask God for when you pray, 'Thy Kingdom 
 come', it will come by brains and hearts instead 
 of by claws and fangs. 
 
 You can't shoot sense nor religion into a man 
 any more than you can beat daylight into a cellar 
 with a club. Take a candle in and the darkness 
 disappears; so, give people knowledge and their 
 ignorance and intolerance will vanish. For the 
 good of mankind, books are better than guns. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln 
 
 j 
 
 r 
 
 !ft»W TEA 
 
 Lincoln Memorial Bridge 
 Vincennes, Indiana 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 55 
 
 CONFLICT 
 
 In every village, town and port, 
 Men sensed a situation grave; 
 Convinced, the shot on Sumpter's Fort 
 Had burned the bonds of every slave. 
 Their deep anxieties were stirred, 
 When brothers into war were hurled, 
 For every home and mart had heard, 
 The echoes that aroused the world. 
 
 The mothers of the Northland wept 
 Beside their lonely household fires; 
 Across the South the war flames swept, 
 To light ten thousand funeral pyres. 
 From far Vermont to Michigan, 
 The tongue of every Union friend, 
 Repeated Lincoln's call for men, 
 The cause of freedom to defend. 
 
 "We're coming, Father Abraham"; 
 The North replied in calm acclaim; 
 "A hundred thousand strong, to dam 
 The tides that threaten freedom's name". 
 From shores of Maine to Illinois; 
 Wisconsin hills to Delaware, 
 Men laid aside their peace-time joys, 
 In answer to their leader's prayer. 
 
56 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 On Lookout Mountain, heroes fell; 
 
 Vicksburg and Memphis turned aside 
 
 A millions rounds of shot and shell, 
 
 In Libby Prison hundreds died. 
 
 The Rapahannock blazed with fire; 
 
 To Petersburg war's madness spread; 
 
 Antietam was a funeral pyre, 
 
 And Richmond mourned a thousand dead. 
 
 The men in blue met men in gray, 
 At Shiloh, Nashville and Bull Run; 
 In fierce engagements, night and day, 
 They fought with bayonet and gun. 
 Their armies burned a highway wide, 
 Between Atlanta and the Sea, 
 They breasted every bloody tide, 
 With Jackson, Sherman, Grant and Lee. 
 
 Home songs the northern Yankees sang, 
 And "Dixie" rose from southern lines, 
 While cannon balls their dirges rang 
 O'er fields of cotton, corn and vines. 
 As Lincoln in the White House prayed 
 That he, the right might clearly see; 
 With help of God, he forged a blade, 
 To cut slave bonds and set men free. 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 57 
 
 "This ghastly tide of war must pass, 
 Dispel the fears that gave it birth; 
 Conflicting laws of caste and class, 
 Shall find no heritage on earth". 
 Thus sighed the weary, anxious man, 
 Who, praying in his private room, 
 Asked God to help devise a plan, 
 To save the nation from its doom. 
 
 "Thou hast, O God, created all, 
 In liberty their rights conceived; 
 Hence, from this devastating pall 
 The souls of men must be relieved". 
 Thus Lincoln, praying God to free 
 All commonwealths from ancient hates, 
 Joined in the nation's litany, 
 To save the alienated states. 
 
 Rome had her Caesars, but their years 
 Were redolent with blood, their pride 
 Was flung o'er continents of tears, 
 For which an Alexander sighed. 
 Napoleon made France his slave, 
 And trampled weaker empires down; 
 But Lincoln, soul and body gave, 
 To replace stars in freedom's crown. 
 
58 
 
 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 
 
 > 
 
 
 EMANCIPATION 
 
 No heathen Chief of Congo lore, 
 
 No pagan Lord of jungle realm 
 
 No tyrant of Liberian shore, 
 
 No profiteer at slaveship helm; 
 
 No christian charity nor gold 
 
 Can purge our soil of slavery's stain, 
 
 For never can be fully told 
 
 The black man's soul engulfing pain. 
 
 Exploited by demanding toil, 
 His Afric forebears never knew; 
 The slave was chained to alien soil, 
 As in his soul rebellion grew. 
 To labor driven at each dawn, 
 As beasts are driven to the field; 
 Each drop of blood by slave whip drawn, 
 Its toll of human hate revealed. 
 
 The Evolution of 
 the Slave 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 59 
 
 Beneath a burning southern sun, 
 He toiled 'mid cotton hemp and corn; 
 And when the web of night was spun, 
 He dreaded each returning morn. 
 With senses dulled by brutish greed, 
 His faith in white men quickly fled; 
 And hopelessly he could but plead 
 Release from ranks of living dead. 
 
 Like driven beast, this plastic clod 
 Accepted slavery's meager crumb; 
 While, under threat of lash and rod, 
 Before his master, he was dumb. 
 Detached from coasts his fathers knew, 
 The hills eternal lured his eyes; 
 And from his stifled soul God drew, 
 His quaint plantation melodies. 
 
 Thus slavery, inhuman, crude, 
 Gave white men heartless mastery 
 Of hordes, enshackled and subdued, 
 On soil which God had ordained free. 
 Master and slave found no accord, 
 As hatred in their blood streams ran; 
 While silent hope, disdained, abhorred, 
 "Man's inhumanity to man", 
 
60 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 When Lincoln's war-time Cabinet met, 
 To hear his "Proclamation" read; 
 They knew the pain his mind beset, 
 And sensed his cautious fear and dread. 
 He listened to their hostile views 
 Against suggested plans, until 
 They said; "America will lose 
 The Planter's wealth in land and mill". 
 
 But God had surcharged Lincoln's soul 
 With charity for human woe; 
 Therefor, on slavery he would roll 
 One quick exterminating blow. 
 Against the base and ghastly thing 
 He had resolved to hurl his power 
 Until all centuries would ring 
 With declarations of that hour. 
 
 "Beside New Orleans auction block", 
 He said; "my soul made firm resolve, 
 The bonds of slavery to unlock, 
 Its ghastly horrors to dissolve. 
 Believing all men should be free, 
 As here, before my God I bow; 
 I shall, His spirit guiding me, 
 Proclaim emancipation now". 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 61 
 
 Emancipation 
 
62 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 MINISTRY 
 
 A tall man walked beside white beds, 
 Where victims of the war's cruel hate, 
 With wounded legs and bandaged heads, 
 For death's relief could only wait. 
 And, bending o'er a soldier frail, 
 He heard the youth's entreating plea, 
 "A letter, Sir, please write and mail 
 My mother down in Tennessee". 
 
 The tall man sat beside the bed 
 And paper from his pocket drew; 
 "Tell mother please", the soldier said, 
 "That to my country I've been true". 
 With patient scrawl the tall man wrote 
 The whisperings that feebly came 
 From fevered lips; the finished note, 
 Bore both the boy's and writer's name. 
 
 "I'll send this letter by first mail 
 That leaves the Capital at dawn", 
 The tall man said; his features pale 
 His eyes amist and lips close drawn. 
 "And now, my boy, before I go, 
 What other favor may I do?" 
 The soldier turned and whispered low, 
 "Could you sit here and see me through?" 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 63 
 
 The tall man bore the heaviest task, 
 God ever placed in human hand; 
 And this request, so humbly asked, 
 Would shatter schedules he had planned. 
 But, by that bed the tall man stayed, 
 To please a dying soldier boy; 
 Hour after hour they talked and prayed, 
 And found a mutual peace and joy. 
 
 When glimmering dawn appeared at last, 
 
 Above Potomac's cypress trees; 
 
 The soldier's patient spirit passed 
 
 Beyond all war born miseries. 
 
 The tall man mourned the soldier's fate, 
 
 But satisfaction flamed anew, 
 
 As he resumed the tasks of State, 
 
 For Lincoln saw that soldier "through". 
 
64 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 THE BATTLEFIELD OF GETTYSBURG 
 
 The Battlefield of Gettysburg will live forever. 
 The blood that moistened its fields enriches its 
 flowers — the mists that hang over it pulsate with 
 agonies yet untold — the skies that bend over it are 
 bluer than other skies — the clouds that water it 
 with pitying showers and the sun that sheds his 
 tenderest benedictions upon it are contributions to 
 a sympathy that is eternal. 
 
 Eleanor Gridley 
 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 65 
 
 AT GETTYSBURG 
 
 It was an autumn day when Lincoln stood on 
 the battlefield of Gettysburg to dedicate the ceme- 
 tery. Flying clouds dappled the landscape with 
 light and shadow, amid an apocalypse of rich, 
 mellow coloring. 
 
 On a temporary platform he stood, his gaunt, 
 giant figure worn thin by service and sorrow, 
 his face the color of pale bronze, as he took from 
 his pocket a piece of paper, adjusted his glasses 
 and read a few words. 
 
 When he had finished, he put the paper into his 
 pocket, took off his glasses and sat down — the 
 people wondering why he had so little to say on 
 such a solemn day. What Everett, who preceded 
 him, had said was oratory, what Lincoln had read 
 was poetry, born of a luminous vision. 
 
 Again, the man and the hour had met and his 
 words had in them every element of immortality, 
 tenderness and destiny. 
 
 Tall, angular, eloquent; a child of the South, 
 a leader of the North, who grew up in the back 
 yard of the nation; the son of a pioneer; untrained 
 in schools; a village fabulist, postmaster and 
 country lawyer; hater of slavery and lover of 
 men; a humorist with a heart full of tears; a 
 logician with a soul of pity and pathos; in religion 
 a poet, in office a high priest, unbendingly firm, in- 
 credibly merciful, infinitely patient; a martyr in 
 the hour of victory; the tallest soul of his time — 
 Lincoln, the Saviour of his country. 
 
 Dr. Joseph Fort Newton 
 
66 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 GETTYSBURG 
 
 While mothers, fathers, sisters, sons, 
 With penitential psalm and prayer, 
 Were asking God to silence guns 
 And banish war's insane despair; 
 Three years, opposing armies manned 
 Frontiers where lurid death was rife; 
 Then Lincoln and his generals planned, 
 At Gettysburg, to end the strife. 
 
 From village road and pontoon bridge, 
 
 To Benners Hill; from stunted pines 
 
 On slopes of Seminary Ridge 
 
 To Round Top's trench protected lines; 
 
 With Pickett, Longstreet, Hancock, Meade; 
 
 Strong puritan and cavalier 
 
 Were sacrificed to Mar's cruel greed, 
 
 As Gettysburg became their bier. 
 
 But flags of North and South now fly, 
 In reunited faith and trust, 
 Where fate commissioned men to die, 
 And rest in consecrated dust. 
 And here, in an immortal speech, 
 The President expressed his woe, 
 In sentiments, the centuries reach, 
 A classic time shall ne'er outgrow. 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 67 
 
 The President was six feet four, 
 With bearded cheeks and tumbled hair; 
 His gray eyes harboring a store 
 Of smiles that softened lines of care. 
 With high top-hat and wrinkled clothes, 
 At Gettysburg that autumn day, 
 His every gesture word and pose 
 Revealed his deep sincerity. 
 
 "Mankind", he said, "will soon forget 
 The transcient words we utter here; 
 But they whose blood this soil has wet, 
 The world forever shall revere. 
 They did not fight in vain", he cried, 
 "All men shall recognize their worth; 
 The Government for which they died, 
 Must never perish from the earth". 
 
 "Our words but feebly dedicate 
 This field, made holy by the blood 
 They gave to unify the State 
 And heal a broken brotherhood. 
 For such devotion to their task, 
 Their daring deeds all merit claim, 
 As we, rebirth of freedom ask, 
 In memory of each honored name". 
 
68 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 "Across our war-torn southern soil 
 Are hamlets scarred by feudal breath, 
 While northern cities seethe and boil 
 Like zones of pestilential death. 
 A million soldiers marched to war, 
 And thousands into dust went down, 
 Who only hoped that freedom's star 
 Might glorify the Union crown". 
 
 "From battlefield and patriot grave, 
 The mystic chord of memory runs; 
 Uniting hearts of all the brave, 
 Whose kinsmen carried hostile guns. 
 So Gettysburg shall ever live, 
 Its glory consecrating earth, 
 As years their benedictions give 
 To dust where freedom found rebirth". 
 
 "Are you a christian?" he was asked, 
 And Lincoln said, "In former years 
 When I was learning life's hard task, 
 I was assailed by doubts and fears. 
 If I knew not a God Who saves 
 From war's inhuman misery, 
 Then Gettysburg's ten thousand graves 
 Would make a christian man of me". 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 69 
 
 dk 1fe^ x 
 
 Gettysburg's Ten Thousand Graves 
 
 "If I knew not a God who saves 
 From war's inhuman misery 
 Then Gettysburg's ten thousand graves 
 Would make a christian man of me" 
 
 //A 
 
70 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 PEACE 
 
 When Appomattox came at last, 
 And Grant gave Lee a brother's hand; 
 They both rejoiced that war was past; 
 The carnage ended that had spanned 
 Four years of fratricidal strife; 
 And soldiers, eager for release, 
 Could soon return to normal life, 
 Enjoy again their fireside peace. 
 
 Revenge was not in Lincoln's mind, 
 No tyrant terms would he impose; 
 As pacts of peace were quickly signed, 
 That brought the conflict to a close. 
 Regretting that the South was scarred, 
 To him the victory only served 
 To guarantee the Flag unmarred, 
 With states in unity preserved. 
 
 He would not take the sword of Lee, 
 Desired no toll of wealth nor land; 
 But said; "We want the slaves set free, 
 A house divided cannot stand". 
 Yet when the soldiers left the field, 
 And were prepared to homeward start, 
 No power but that which God might wield, 
 Could calm the hatreds of the heart. 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 71 
 
 Mankind rejoiced that peace once more 
 Would purify war's crimson stream; 
 The tides of commerce to restore 
 And marts of industry redeem. 
 Forgetting malice, men could rear 
 An empire under freedom's star, 
 Where faith in God would banish fear 
 From hearts made desolate by war. 
 
 And Lincoln prayed that weary souls 
 Might be revived at Heaven's spring; 
 And banished far as distant poles, 
 All memories that burn and sting. 
 He asked that men lift grateful prayers 
 To God, whose infinite design 
 Could not include conflict that bears, 
 Death tinctured odors of the line. 
 
 And later, when the freeman's vote 
 Made him again the nation's choice; 
 His message struck immortal note, 
 And gave his soul undying voice. 
 "With malice toward none", he said, 
 u With charity embracing all, 
 Our Flag shall now its glory spread 
 Wherever human need may call". 
 
72 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 "Forgetting all your war-born fears, 
 Let bells of freedom once more ring; 
 May all, through reconstruction years, 
 New liberty and union sing". 
 Thus Lincoln banished slavery's toil, 
 Made free an ancient shackled clan, 
 And founded on our western soil, 
 A blood bought 'Brotherhood of Man'. 
 
 With malice toward none, with charity for all, 
 with firmness in the right as God gives us to see 
 the right, let us strive to finish the work we are 
 in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for 
 him who shall have borne the battle and for his 
 widow and orphans and to do all which may 
 achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace with 
 all nations. 
 
 From Lincoln's 
 second inaugural 
 address 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 73 
 
 DESOLATION 
 
 When Sherman's raiding armies swept 
 Through Georgia's cities to the sea; 
 Behind them burned Atlanta wept 
 In nervous dread and misery. 
 Swine and cattle, horses, sheep, 
 Were stolen from the stall and field; 
 Stored cotton left, a blazing heap 
 And gardens plundered of their yield. 
 
 Cruel devastating flame consumed 
 
 The homes, by early settlers built; 
 
 As raiding northerners assumed 
 
 That victory excused their guilt. 
 
 Cold blackened embers now remained, 
 
 And moaning winds tolled solemn knell 
 
 O'er ruined mansions where had reigned 
 
 Aristocratic southern belle. 
 
 Each happy home, plantation, farm, 
 Was cursed by war's relentless greed; 
 And soldiers, ready to disarm, 
 Were faced by poverty and need. 
 Old residents, insulted, wronged, 
 The northern viewpoint could not see, 
 As villages and towns were thronged 
 With black men, suddenly set free. 
 
 Blue coated Yankee soldiers held 
 Each garrison and city square; 
 While non-combatants were compelled 
 With all, their meager stores to share. 
 With blockade runners, profiteers, 
 Controlling every food supply; 
 The horrors of war blasted years, 
 From southern hearts could never die. 
 
The Dream of the South 
 
 "When peanuts, cotton, yams and corn, 
 The Carolines again shall yield, 
 And sheep and cattle shall adorn 
 Each Alabama hill and field; 
 When Tennessean valleys teem, 
 With industry's reviving tide, 
 The South shall realize her dream 
 Of empire, reaching far and wide" 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 75 
 
 ENCOURAGEMENT 
 
 When Lincoln heard the bitter wails 
 
 Of those who saw Atlanta fall; 
 
 And listened to distressing tales 
 
 Of men who gave their "lost cause", all; 
 
 His mighty soul was closely drawn 
 
 Toward all southerners in need; 
 
 While he deplored the blood and brawn, 
 
 Consumed by war's inhuman greed. 
 
 He sympathized with those whose loss 
 Was far beyond his power to share; 
 To help them bear their heavy cross, 
 Became his constant thought and prayer. 
 He tried to ease the weary strain, 
 The war had piled on stricken marts; 
 But only God could banish pain, 
 And heal rebellious southern hearts. 
 
 "In peace the South shall rise again, 
 As roses rise from Georgia loams", 
 He said, "and we shall heal the pain 
 That now pervades her broken homes. 
 Her soil, enriched by patriots blood 
 And consecrated by their tears, 
 Shall yet yield fruitage under God, 
 Whose patience outlasts warring years". 
 
76 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 "When peanuts, cotton, yams and corn, 
 The Carolines again shall yield, 
 And sheep and cattle shall adorn 
 Each Alabama hill and field; 
 When Tennessean valleys teem, 
 With industry's reviving tide, 
 The South shall realize her dream 
 Of empire, reaching far and wide." 
 
 "Men of the South", again he said, 
 "We'll help revive your ravaged land, 
 The blood of war has allbeen shed, 
 And now together we shall stand. 
 May those who saved the nation's life, 
 From poverty and want be freed, 
 We'll care for heroes of the strife, 
 And their dependents shall not need". 
 
 "Men of the North, forget your hates, 
 Revive your hopes, retune your lives; 
 No longer have we alien states, 
 The cause of liberty survives. 
 Reach out your arms, with love enfold 
 The Southerners in warm embrace, 
 Let former friendships be extolled, 
 And Mason-Dixon lines erase". 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 77 
 
 "When honeysuckles interlace, 
 
 To cover every hideous scar; 
 
 And songs of mocking birds displace, 
 
 All echoes of disturbing war; 
 
 When gay magnolia comes to bloom, 
 
 And friendly lilacs scent the air; 
 
 Forgetting all her days of gloom, 
 
 The South shall conquer every care". 
 
 "Arise, O South, this is the hour, 
 To make thy sacrifice complete; 
 I pray that God may give Thee power, 
 To lift new empires to His feet. 
 Rebuild, O South, purged is the shame 
 Of Civil War; look up, arise, 
 Rewrite in fire Thy glamorous name, 
 Across the nation's smiling skies". 
 
78 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 A GREAT MAN 
 
 No really great man ever nurses a grouch. 
 Douglas insulted Lincoln — and Lincoln gave him 
 a place of honor at his inaugural. Wendell 
 Phillips called Lincoln, "The slave hound of 
 Illinois" — and Lincoln publicly thanked Phillips 
 for his work in behalf of abolition. Edwin Stan- 
 ton humiliated and deeply grieved Lincoln and 
 Lincoln forgave him and made him Secretary of 
 War. Chase pelted Lincoln with oratorical bom- 
 bardments and attempted to defeat him for the 
 nomination to the Presidency in 1864 — and Lin- 
 coln made Chase the Chief Justice of the United 
 States. Chase afterward declared to a friend; 
 "I cannot understand Lincoln". 
 
 Dr. I. S. Morris in 
 Michigan Christian Advocate 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 79 
 
 Ford's Theater 
 
 There are no accidents in the Providence of God. Such lives as 
 that of Abraham Lincoln are not accidents nor mere incidents in 
 American history. They are rather, the great books from whose pages 
 we catch inspiration and in which we read God's purpose for the 
 progress of the human race. 
 
 Charles Sumner 
 
80 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 TRAGEDY 
 
 The President's great work was done, 
 The nation brought to glad rebirth; 
 The martyr's crown was nobly won, 
 The mortal grown too tall for earth. 
 The Commoner from lowly life, 
 Whom God had given honored place, 
 Was sacrificed in seas of strife, 
 From which he'd saved a shackled race. 
 
 With sharp report and impact cruel, 
 A death-shot came from pistol mouth; 
 Impelled by an impassioned fool, 
 Assuming to avenge the South. 
 When infamy that trigger pressed, 
 A great soul paused with weary sigh; 
 As, suddenly, was dispossessed 
 As much of virtue as could die. 
 
 When Lincoln sank beneath that gun, 
 Earth's sympathetic millions wept; 
 His weary journey had been run, 
 And he, with honored martyrs slept. 
 As shadows of that dark day fell, 
 His port was reached, his voyage o'er; 
 And he who steered our flagship well, 
 Was harbored on another shore. 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 81 
 
 Beside the silent, murdered dead, 
 With sorrow written on his brow; 
 "This humane ruler", Stanton said, 
 "Belongs to all the ages now". 
 His shadow on all realms shall fall, 
 Where seeds of bondage have been sown; 
 Across the years his voice shall call, 
 To tear injustice from its throne. 
 
 This man of destiny was born, 
 Life's wilderness to overreach; 
 The peaks of history to adorn, 
 Democracy, all nations teach. 
 He rose from earth as waters rise, 
 To fill a crystal mountain spring; 
 Then turned his face toward the skies, 
 And gave mankind his offering. 
 
 Like some lone oak on river bank, 
 Or prairie flower of modest grace; 
 He rose to fame from plebian rank, 
 Beloved by every creed and race. 
 His legacies were want and work, 
 Deep poverty, his early wage, 
 Yet backwoods mystic, trapper, clerk, 
 Became a statesman, prophet, sage. 
 
82 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 In silent majesty he wrought, 
 Achieving God's desires and ends; 
 Of earthly wealth possessing naught. 
 But kindly, sympathetic friends. 
 The cherished virtues of his youth, 
 Were sacred as he older grew; 
 Forgetting self, exalting truth, 
 He wrote our history anew. 
 
 Because he loved the wronged and weak, 
 Death prematurely took its toll; 
 But shadows of that twilight, bleak, 
 Have left undimmed, his mighty soul, 
 The bells of Heaven rang his hour, 
 That curfew which all flesh awaits; 
 And Lincoln passed to deathless power, 
 Beyond the sunset's mystic gates. 
 
 Back to the heart of Illinois, 
 They bore the silent martyred form, 
 To rest 'mid scenes of earlier joys, 
 Secure from life's eventful storm. 
 Back to the home folks he loved best, 
 Back to the prairies he had known; 
 Back to her mourning, soothing breast, 
 The Sangamon received her own. 
 
" 
 
 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 83 
 
 ' 
 
 
 The Tomb of Lincoln 
 Springfield, Illinois 
 
84 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 AN INDEX OF NAMES 
 
 Any index of the greatest names of history 
 would include the writers, Shakespeare, Dante, 
 Milton and Homer; the warriors, Caesar, Napo- 
 leon, Charlemagne and Alexander; the philoso- 
 phers, Aristotle, Plato and Socrates and the re- 
 ligious leaders, Moses, Mohammed, Buddha and 
 Confucius. 
 
 A catalog of the leaders in creative thought 
 and action would include Galileo, Newton, Bee- 
 thoven and Michelangelo. Among the leading 
 statesmen of history, Gladstone and Bismarck, 
 Washington, Lafayette and Garibaldi would find 
 an unquestioned place but the name that domi- 
 nates all, noble in goodness, tragic in death, im- 
 mortal in achievement and deathless in the 
 memory of mankind is Abraham Lincoln — yet 
 only the New World really knows him. 
 
 The Author 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 85 
 
 TRIUMPH 
 
 So bravely Lincoln stood apart, 
 
 So wisely conquered every care; 
 
 His spirit-presence soothes the heart, 
 
 Like benedictions after prayer. 
 
 In history he has no peers, 
 
 Before all centuries he stands; 
 
 In every crisis reappears, 
 
 His consecrated heart and hands. 
 
 God lifted him from forests deep, 
 Illumined his soul with holy light; 
 Then gave his unmatched genius sweep 
 'Gainst slavery's relentless might. 
 Though Lincoln had the hardest task, 
 That e'er was placed on mortal man, 
 He did it well because he asked 
 God's will concerning every plan. 
 
 In solitude he stands alone, 
 Transcending every human line; 
 A monarch without earthly throne, 
 Though cast in mould of royal design. 
 Thus he, a humble child of toil, 
 Who never knew wealth's golden gleam, 
 Rose from the dust of New World soil, 
 To turn the tide of history's stream. 
 
86 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 With vision keen, he looked afar, 
 Across the world's forgotten graves, 
 And saw another Bethlehem Star, 
 Illume a world that knew no slaves. 
 Since God supplied his heart and head, 
 With power from His unfailing spring; 
 This Commoner was upward led, 
 To die at last, an uncrowned king. 
 
 Ungainly product of the soil, 
 
 His fame, eternity shall span; 
 
 A graduate of lowly toil, 
 
 He speaks to every age of man. 
 
 In codes of government, self taught, 
 
 His praises ever shall be sung, 
 
 Till all humanity has caught, 
 
 The wisdom of his heart and tongue. 
 
 His deeds are writ on fadeless page, 
 By history's illumined pen; 
 The greatest prophet of his age, 
 Because he gave himself to men. 
 No sweep of time shall dim his fame, 
 His creeds all races shall repeat; 
 Mankind shall never lose his name, 
 Beneath the centuries' trampling feet. 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 87 
 
 Who dreamed eternal fame could climb, 
 From old Kentucky's forest heart? 
 A fame beyond the reach of time, 
 To stand unchallenged and apart. 
 To reach a goal so justly won, 
 Required no crown of monarch's brow, 
 For Lincoln's task, so nobly done, 
 Ranks him with all immortals now. 
 
 Beyond all men in stature grown, 
 A memory almost divine; 
 The greatest statesman ever known, 
 Outside the bounds of Palestine. 
 Beside the tireless, regal Paul, 
 The name of Lincoln now appears, 
 Inscribed above, transcending all, 
 The princes of a thousand years. 
 
 And now we pray, "God give to man 
 The deathless splendor of Thy grace; 
 That every people, tribe and clan, 
 To hate may nevermore give place. 
 Great God of Lincoln, wilt Thou bring 
 The end of war and civil strife, 
 As from Thy crystal fountains spring, 
 The peace of everlasting life". 
 
88 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 A child born in poverty on the edge of a wil- 
 derness; a ruler whose word became continental 
 law; a martyr whose name is revered in the re- 
 motest corners of the earth — practical minded, 
 he had the soul of a mystic; religious, he accepted 
 no creed; without the advantage of schools, he 
 wrote the most beautiful English prose of his 
 time. 
 
 A poor man who never owned a slave, he gave 
 freedom to millions. A man of infinite sadness, 
 his genius for finding laughter in little things en- 
 abled him to bear a crushing weight of sorrow — 
 the way he trod was one of patient continuance 
 in unremitting toil. 
 
 Helen Nicholay in 
 The Lincoln Memorial 
 
 The Lincoln Memorial 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 89 
 
 LINCOLN'S STORY TO A CHILD— 
 
 The little boy you ask me to tell you about 
 lived in a dense forest where wolves howled down 
 the ravines and bears growled in the underbrush. 
 The house this little boy lived in was not much 
 better than the dens of the wild animals. It was 
 built of logs and had no floor nor windows. In 
 the loft above the one room of this cabin was a 
 nest of leaves and into this bed the boy climbed 
 at night, on pegs driven into the wall. 
 
 This boy was very poor but he had a good 
 mother. She toiled until her shoulders were 
 stooped, her eyes dim and her face pale and sad 
 but she was never too tired to love her children. 
 She had brought three books into the wilderness; 
 the Bible, which she read every day, Pilgrim's 
 Progress and Aesop's fables. Before the boy 
 learned to read she told him stories from these 
 books by the yellow light of a pine knot burning 
 on the hearth. One day she was taken sick. It 
 was thirty five miles to a doctor and she had no 
 one to care for her but the children. She called 
 her boy to her bedside and said, "I want you to 
 be honest and faithful, a good and tender man". 
 
 When the mother died, the father made a 
 rough coffin and the boy helped dig a grave in 
 the woods. There was no preacher and no music 
 but the singing birds in the trees. The boy wanted 
 to have a real funeral so he wrote a letter to a 
 minister in Kentucky and he, a year later, travelled 
 eighty miles through the woods to conduct a 
 funeral service for that boy's mother. 
 
90 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 That boy is now a man. Not long ago he 
 visited his mother's grave and promised his 
 mother's God that he would always be honest 
 and faithful. And whatever that boy may even- 
 tually become, he will owe his every success to 
 that angel mother whose body lies under the wild 
 tangle of the forest with God's stars watching 
 over her resting place. 
 
 From — "The Soul of Ann Rutledge" 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 91 
 
 LINCOLN'S ADDRESS AT GETTYSBURG 
 
 Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers 
 brought forth on this continent a new nation, 
 conceived in liberty and dedicated to the propo- 
 sition that all men are created equal. Now we 
 are engaged 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 lives that that nation might live. It is al- 
 together fitting and proper that we should do 
 this. But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, 
 we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this 
 ground. The brave men, living and dead, who 
 struggled here have consecrated it far beyond 
 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 ad- 
 vanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated 
 to the great task remaining before us — that from 
 these honored dead we take increased devotion 
 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. 
 
 November 19, 1863 
 
92 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 EVERY LOVER OF LIBERTY 
 
 Let every American lover of liberty swear by 
 the blood of the Revolution, never to violate the 
 laws of the country nor tolerate their violation 
 by others. 
 
 As our fathers supported the Constitution and 
 the Declaration of Independence, let every Amer- 
 ican pledge his life, his property and his sacred 
 honor to the preservation and observance of law. 
 
 Let every man remember that to violate the 
 law is to trample on the blood of his father and 
 disregard the charter of his own liberty. 
 
 Let reverence for law be taught in the schools 
 and colleges. Let it be written into all text books; 
 let it be preached from all pulpits, proclaimed in 
 all legislative halls and enforced in all courts so 
 that respect for law shall become the political 
 religion of the nation. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 93 
 
 O WHY SHOULD THE SPIRIT OF 
 MORTAL BE PROUD? 
 
 By 
 
 William B. Knox 
 
 Stanzas from Lincoln's favorite and 
 often quoted poem 
 
 O why should the spirit of mortal be proud? 
 Like a swift fleeting meteor, a fast flying cloud; 
 A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave, 
 Man passeth from life to his rest in the grave. 
 
 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. 
 
 Yea, hope and despondency, pleasure and pain, 
 Are mingled together in sunshine and rain; 
 And the smile and the tear and 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 saloon to the bier and the shroud; 
 O why should the spirit of mortal be proud? 
 
94 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 CHRONOLOGY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 Sixteenth President of 
 The United States — 
 
 Born — Larue County, Kentucky — 
 
 February 12th. 
 Moved to Spencer County, Indiana. 
 James Monroe elected President. 
 Nancy Hanks Lincoln died, October 5th. 
 John Quincy Adams elected President. 
 Went to New Orleans by flatboat. 
 Andrew Jackson elected President. 
 Moved to Macon County, Illinois. 
 Captain in the Black Hawk War. 
 Postmaster of New Salem, Illinois. 
 Elected to Illinois Legislature. 
 Re-elected to Illinois Legislature. 
 Moved to Springfield, Illinois. 
 Admitted to the Bar. 
 Martin Van Buren elected President. 
 William Henry Harrison elected President. 1841 
 John Tyler became President. 
 Married to Mary Todd. 
 Campaigned for Henry Clay. 
 James K. Polk elected President. 
 Elected to Congress. 
 Candidate for the United States Senate. 
 Zachary Taylor elected President. 
 Millard Fillmore became President. 
 Franklin Pierce elected President. 
 James Buchanan elected President. 
 Debates with Stephen A. Douglas. 1857 
 Elected President of the United States. 
 Inaugurated President of the United States. 1861 
 Fort Sumpter attacked, April 14th. 1861 
 
 Emancipation Proclamation issued, 
 
 January 1st. 1863 54 
 
 Gettysburg Address,November 19th. 1863 
 
 Re-elected President of the United States. 1864 55 
 End of the Civil War. April 2nd. 1865 56 
 
 Died April 15th. 1865 56 
 
 Monument in Springfield dedicated. 1875 
 
 Memorial in Washington, D.C. dedicated. 1922 
 
 
 Lincoln's 
 
 
 Age 
 
 1809 
 
 
 1816 
 
 7 
 
 1817 
 
 8 
 
 1818 
 
 9 
 
 1825 
 
 16 
 
 1828 
 
 19 
 
 1829 
 
 20 
 
 1830 
 
 21 
 
 1832 
 
 23 
 
 1833 
 
 24 
 
 1834 
 
 25 
 
 1836 
 
 27 
 
 1837 
 
 28 
 
 1837 
 
 
 1837 
 
 
 1841 
 
 32 
 
 1841 
 
 
 1842 
 
 33 
 
 1844 
 
 35 
 
 1845 
 
 36 
 
 1846 
 
 37 
 
 1849 
 
 40 
 
 1849 
 
 
 1850 
 
 41 
 
 1853 
 
 44 
 
 1857 
 
 48 
 
 1858 
 
 49 
 
 1860 
 
 51 
 
 1861 
 
 52 
 
OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 95 
 
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
 
 We are indebted to the following writers and 
 publishers for permission to use excerpts from 
 other books — 
 
 Thomas Y. Crowell Company, publishers 
 of Poor Boys Who Became Famous 
 By Sarah K. Bolton. 
 
 J. P. Lippincott Company, publishers 
 of The Soul of Ann Rutledge 
 By Mrs. Bernie Babcock. 
 
 Mr. Carl H. Fowler, owner of copyright 
 
 on Patriotic Orations 
 
 By Bishop Charles Henry Fowler. 
 
 W. S. Reeve Publishing Company, publishers 
 or The Story of Abraham Lincoln 
 By Eleanor Gridley. 
 
 Dr. I. S. Morris, special writer for 
 Michigan Christian Advocate. 
 
 United Features Syndicate, publishers 
 For Dr. Joseph Fort Newton. 
 
96 OUT OF THE HEART OF KENTUCKY 
 
 We specially acknowledge the service of Miss 
 Lottie B. Turner, Supervisory Instructor of Art 
 in New York City Public Schools, for her original 
 drawings illustrating various episodes in the 
 career of Abraham Lincoln, which are here 
 published for the first time. 
 
 We also acknowledge the kindly interest of 
 Miss Fannie B. Burnham, Teacher of English in 
 the public schools of Michigan, who carefully 
 checked the poetic rhythm and punctuation of the 
 original manuscript. 
 
 Our thanks for their valuable contributions are 
 also extended to Hon. George A. Dondero, Con- 
 gressman from Michigan; Rev. Edgar Dewitt 
 Jones, President of the Council of Churches of 
 Christ in America; Miss Helen Nicholay, Author 
 of "The Lincoln Memorial"; and The Lexington 
 Herald. 
 
 The Author