Abraham Lincoln loved the South. He was Southern born. At his last cabinet meeting, on the date of his death, he advised that forbearance, clemency, and charity should be the controlling principles in dealing with difficult problems awaiting practical solution. What a rich inheritance we have in the example and deeds, the pen and voice of Abraham Lincoln. What an inspiration his noble life should be to struggling young men who trace the footsteps in his eventful history, and learn the motives that prompted him in all his actions. Not long since I received a communication from a stranger, a poor orphan boy in far-away Turkey. He lives in Konia, the ancient Iconium, mentioned in the New Testament. He says: "I have read in some books about Lincoln. I love and admire him as one of the greatest men that ever have been lived on earth." His appeal for an opportunity to know more about Lincoln was pathetic. Many years ago a young man said: "I was only a child when Abraham Lincoln died, but I cannot think of his death without feeling the same pain I would feel if it had been my father. I never saw him, and yet it seems that I knew him and loved him personally. I am sure I am a better man because Lincoln lived. His straightforward, simple, truthful life puts all meaner lives to shame." O. H. Oldroyd, editor of the "Lincoln Memorial Album," says: "His fame is world-wide and stands in history more lasting than a monument of brass. His words will continue to sound through the ages as long as the flowers shall bloom or the waters flow." Another writer says: "We hear Lincoln's words in every schoolhouse and college, in every cabin, and at every public meeting. We read them in every newspaper, school-book, and magazine, and they are all in favor of right, liberty, and truth, and of honesty and reverence for God. His words, some of them as familiar as the Bible, are on the tongues of the people, shaping the national character." Bishop Newman said: "There is no name more deserving of imperishable fame than Abraham Lincoln. He is embalmed in song, recorded in history, eulogized in panegyric, cast in bronze, sculptured in marble, painted on canvas, enshrined in the hearts of his countrymen, and lives in the memories of mankind." [Illustration: GEORGE W. TURNHAM, _Of Evansville, Indiana, son of the Indiana constable who loaned Lincoln the Revised Statutes of Indiana. Mr. Turnham has a letter written to his father by Lincoln in 1860, and printed in this volume._] [Illustration: MOSES MARTIN. _Mr. Martin signed a temperance pledge presented by Abraham Lincoln in 1847. Mr. Martin resides at Edinburg, Illinois, and is eighty years of age._] [Illustration: MAJOR J. B. MERWIN,