_With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on 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 his orphan--to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all Nations._ ABRAHAM LINCOLN _March 4, 1865_ _Oh, slow to smite and swift to spare, Gentle and merciful and just! Who, in the fear of God, didst bear The sword of power, a Nation’s trust!_ _In sorrow by thy bier we stand, Amid the awe that hushes all, And speak the anguish of a land That shook with horror at thy fall._ _Thy task is done; the bond are free: We bear thee to an honoured grave, Whose proudest monument shall be The broken fetters of the slave._ _Pure was thy life; its bloody close Hath placed thee with the sons of light, Among the noble host of those Who perished in the cause of Right._ WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT ABRAHAM LINCOLN was born, February 12, 1809 Was elected President, 1860 Issued the Emancipation Proclamation, New Year’s Day, 1863 Was re-elected, 1864 He was assassinated, 1865 THE CABIN IN THE CLEARING It was only a small cabin in a forest-clearing in the wilderness of Indiana. It stood on a knoll overlooking a piece of ground where corn and vegetables grew. In the woods around the cabin were bear, deer, and other wild creatures. The furniture was rude, brought from the East, or made of logs and hickory-sticks, while the bed was a sack of leaves. In the big fireplace, the logs cut from the forest, burned with a cheerful blaze. And there lived little Abe Lincoln, nine years old, with his father and sister and his mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln. Abe was born in Kentucky. When he was seven, his family moved to the cabin in Indiana. He helped clear the way through the wilderness to the new home. So with swinging the axe and blazing trails, he was made unusually large and strong for his age, alert and courageous--a real backwoods boy. He could shoot, fish, cut down trees, and work on the farm in the clearing. In his veins ran the red blood of Kentucky pioneers. His grandfather, in the days of Daniel Boone, had been killed by an Indian, while Abe’s father--a child then--had been rescued from this same Indian by his brother, Mordecai Lincoln, a daring lad, who shot the savage with his dead father’s rifle, so saving his little brother. HOW HE LEARNED TO BE JUST _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._ ABRAHAM LINCOLN, _from his speech at Cooper Institute_