"I think the reasonable men of the world have long since agreed that intemperance is one of the greatest, if not the very greatest of all evils among mankind. That is not a matter of dispute, I believe. That the disease exists, and that it is a very great one, is agreed upon by all. The mode of cure is one about which there may be differences of opinions. You have suggested that in an army--our army, drunkenness is a great evil, and one which while it exists to a very great extent, we cannot expect to overcome so entirely as to leave such success in our arms as we might have without it. This, undoubtedly, is true, and while it is, perhaps rather a bad source to derive comfort from, nevertheless, in a hard struggle, I do not know but what it is some consolation to be aware that there is some intemperance on the other side, too; and that they have no right to beat us in physical combat on that ground." MR. LINCOLN'S POEM. Mr. Lincoln, in 1844 upon a visit to the old neighborhood in which he was raised was moved to write the following little poem. It is the only one he is known to have written. "My childhood's home I see again, And sadden with the view; And still, as memory crowds my brain, There's pleasure in it too. "O Memory! thou midway world 'Twixt earth and paradise, Where things decayed and loved ones lost In dreamy shadows rise. "And, freed from all that's earthly vile, Seem hallowed, pure and bright, Like scenes in some enchanted isle All bathed in liquid light." To Be Memorized. Mr. Lincoln wrote many passages worthy of being committed to memory. His phrase "Government of the people, for the people and by the people," is more quoted than any other on the question of government. I add a few that are well worthy of memorizing and remark, that every boy and girl in America ought to be able to recite the Gettysburg speech. * * * * * "Let us have faith that right makes might and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it." * * * * * "With malice toward none and charity to all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us finish the work we are in." * * * * * "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot permanently endure half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all the one thing or the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it further until it becomes alike lawful in all the states, old as well as new, North as well as South." * * * * *