The Poets' Lincoln Part 31

The earth has had her conquerors and kings And many of the common great. Through all She only had one Lincoln. There is none Like him in all the annals of the past.

He was a growth of our new soil, a child Of our new time, a symbol of the race That freedom breeds; was of the lowest rank, And yet he scaled the highest height.

Mankind one of its few immortals lost When Lincoln died.

When Lincoln died it seemed a providence, For he appeared as one sent for a work Whom, when that work was done, G.o.d summoned home.

He led a splendid fight for liberty, And when the shackles fell the land was saved; He laid his armor by and sought his rest.

A glory sent from heaven covered him When Lincoln died.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A STUDY OF LINCOLN

From painting by Blendon Campbell]

Amos Russell Wells was born at Glens Falls, New York, December 23, 1862. His mother removed to Yellow Springs, Ohio, when he was four years old, and he received his education at the public school there, afterward studying at Antioch College of that town, a college made ill.u.s.trious by its first President, Horace Mann, who died there.

Graduated in 1883, all by himself, later receiving as Master of Arts, also LL.D. He taught for a year in a country district school, then entered the faculty of his Alma Mater, where he was a tutor for nine years. Was professor of Greek, Geology and Astronomy. He joined the Christian Endeavor Society in 1888, and by it was led to become a member of the Presbyterian Church at Yellow Springs. When but a boy he began to write, and edited numerous journals. Later edited an amateur paper, also a town paper. His first paid contribution was a poem accepted in 1881 by _The Christian Union_, now _The Outlook_. Wrote articles often for _The Golden Rule_, now _The Christian Endeavor World_, and for the _Sunday School Times_.

In December, 1891, he went to Boston and became managing editor of _The Golden Rule_, a position which he still holds. Since then the paper has changed its name and three other papers added--_The Junior Christian Endeavor World_, _Junior Work_ and _Union Work_, all edited by Mr. Wells. He is also Editorial Secretary of the United Society of Christian Endeavor and in editorial charge of all its publications.

Mr. Wells' first book, then ent.i.tled _Golden Rule Meditations_, but now _The Upward Look_, was published in 1893. Since then every year has seen from one to ten additions to his list of productions until they now number fifty-eight volumes in all. He is a director of the Union Rescue Mission and of the Chinese Mission of Boston. Is a member of the American Sunday-School Lesson Committee, an important part of his work being his a.s.sociation with Dr. F. N. Peloubet in writing the well-known _Select Notes_ on the International Sunday-School Lessons.

HAD LINCOLN LIVED

Had Lincoln lived, How would his hand, so gentle yet so strong, Have closed the gaping wounds of ancient wrong; How would his merry jests, the way he smiled, Our sundered hearts to union have beguiled; How would the South from his just rule have learned That enemies to neighbors may be turned, And how the North, with his sagacious art, Have learned the power of a trusting heart; What follies had been spared us, and what stain, What seeds of bitterness that still remain, Had Lincoln lived!

With Lincoln dead, Ten million men in subst.i.tute for one Must do the n.o.ble deeds he would have done: Must lift the freedman with discerning care, Nor house him in a castle of the air; Must join the North and South in every good, Fused in co-operating brotherhood; Must banish enmity with his good cheer, And slay with suns.h.i.+ne every rising fear; Like him to dare, and trust, and sacrifice, Ten million lesser Lincolns must arise, With Lincoln dead.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL

Henry Bacon, Architect]

The Lincoln Memorial will be the costliest monument to the memory of one man ever reared by a republic. The Capitol, at one end of the great parkway stretching from Capitol Hill to the Potomac, is a monument to the Government; the Lincoln Memorial, at the other end of that parkway, is a monument to the savior of that Government; and the Was.h.i.+ngton Monument, standing between, is a monument to its founder.

The memorial will stand on a broad terrace 45 feet above grade. The colonnade will be 188 feet long and 118 feet wide, and will contain 36 columns, 44 feet high and 7 feet 5 inches in diameter at the base.

Within the interior of the structure will be three halls. In the central hall, which will be 60 feet wide, 70 long, and 60 high, there will be a n.o.ble statue of Lincoln, while in the two side halls will be bronze tablets containing the Great Emanc.i.p.ator's second inaugural address and his Gettysburg speech. The George A. Fuller Company of Was.h.i.+ngton are the builders of the Memorial, which will be completed in 1917.

Samuel Green Wheeler Benjamin, born at Argos, Greece, February 13, 1837. Was United States Minister to Persia (1883-1885). a.s.sistant Librarian in the New York State Library. In 1861-1864 sent two companies of cavalry to the war. Served in war hospitals, studied art.

Art editor of American Department _Magazine of Art_, also of the _New York Mail_. Marine painter and ill.u.s.trator. Among his numerous works in prose and verse are _Art in America_, _Contemporary Art in Europe_ (1877); _Constantinople_ (1860); _Persia and the Persians_ (1866); _The Choice of Paris_ (1870), a romance; _Sea Spray_ (1887), a book for yachtsmen, etc.

LET HIS MONUMENT ARISE

Let his monument arise, Pointing upward to the skies, Founded by a nation's heart, Grandly shaped in every part By the master-minds of art, And consecrated by a nation's tears, To teach throughout the after-time, To every tribe, in every clime, That toil for others is sublime.