"Here, on this farm, one hundred years ago to-day, was born the strongest, strangest, gentlest character the republic has ever known. His work was destined to have a more far-reaching influence than any that went before him. Until recently this spot which should be hallowed by every American, was unnoticed and abandoned. Inspired by the idea that due regard for the apostle of human liberty who sprang from this soil demanded the preservation of his birthplace, a few patriotic men organized the Lincoln Farm Association, to purchase this property and to erect upon it a memorial to that simple, but sublime life that here came into the world. This association is purely patriotic in its purposes, and the movement has met with a ready response from every section of the nation. In revering the name of Lincoln, there is now no North or South, or East or West. There is but one heart in all, and that the heart of patriotic America. So the memorial to be erected here, by South as well as North, will not only be in memory of Lincoln, but it will be a testimony that the fires of hatred kindled by the fierce civil conflict of nearly half a century ago, are dead, and from the ashes has arisen the red rose of patriotism to a common country and loyalty to a common flag." President Roosevelt, in behalf of the nation, said, in part: "He lived in days that were great and terrible, when brother fought against brother for what each sincerely deemed to be the right. In a contest so grim the strong men who alone can carry it through are rarely able to do justice to the deep convictions of those with whom they grapple in mortal strife. At such times men see through a glass darkly; to only the rarest and loftiest spirits is vouchsafed that clear vision which gradually comes to all, even to the lesser, as the struggle fades into distance, and wounds are forgotten, and peace creeps back to the hearts that were hurt. But to Lincoln was given this supreme vision. He did not hate the man from whom he differed. Weakness was as foreign as wickedness to his strong, gentle nature; but his courage was of a quality so high that it needed no bolstering of dark passion. He saw clearly that the same high qualities, the same courage and willingness for self-sacrifice, and devotion to the right as it was given them to see the right, belonged both to the men of the North and to the men of the South. As the years roll by, and as all of us, wherever we dwell, grow to feel an equal pride in the valor and self-devotion alike of the men who wore the blue and the men who wore the gray, so this whole nation will grow to feel a peculiar sense of pride in the man whose blood was shed for the union of his people, and for the freedom of a race. The lover of