FIRST SPEAKER ON THE LINCOLN SIDE: Kentucky is proud to claim Abraham Lincoln as one of her honored sons, and she bids me say that he was born in that state in Hardin County, Feb. 12, 1809. Indiana, too, claims him, he was her son by adoption, for, when but seven years old, his father moved to the southwestern part of that state. Illinois also has a claim upon him. It was there that he helped build a log cabin for a new home, and split rails to fence in a cornfield. Afterwards he split rails for a suit of clothes, one hundred rails for every yard of cloth, and so won the name, "The Rail-splitter." SECOND SPEAKER: In 1828 he became a flat-boatman and twice went down the river to New Orleans. In 1832 he served as captain of a company in the Black Hawk War. After the war he kept a country store, and won a reputation for honesty. Then, for a while, he was a surveyor, next, a lawyer, and in 1834 he was elected to the Legislature of Illinois. THIRD SPEAKER: In 1846 he was made a member of Congress, in 1860 he was elected president of the United States. FOURTH SPEAKER: The Civil War followed, and in 1864 he was elected president for the second term. On April 14 he was shot by an assassin and died on the morning of the 15th. SONG BY SCHOOL: AIR, _John Brown's Body_ In spite of changing seasons of the years that come and go, Still his name to-day is cherished in the hearts of friend and foe, And the land for which he suffered e'er shall honor him we know, While truth goes marching on. CHORUS BOTH GROUPS TOGETHER: To both these men, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, we, the children of the nation, owe a debt of gratitude which we can only repay by a lifetime of work, for God, humanity, and our country. Both have left behind them words of wisdom, which, if heeded, will make us wiser and better boys and girls, and so wiser and better men and women. TWO BOYS FROM THE WASHINGTON GROUP: Washington said, "Without virtue and without integrity, the finest talents and the most brilliant accomplishments can never gain the respect or conciliate the esteem of the most valuable part of mankind." TWO BOYS FROM THE LINCOLN GROUP: Lincoln said, "I have one vote, and I shall always cast that against wrong as long as I live." TWO BOYS FROM WASHINGTON GROUP: "If to please the people we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterwards defend our work?" TWO BOYS FROM LINCOLN GROUP: Lincoln said, "In every event of life, it is right makes might." ALL: O, wise and great! Their like, perchance, we ne'er shall see again, But let us write their golden words upon the hearts of men. SONG: TUNE _"America"_ Turn now unto the past, There, long as life shall last, Their names you'll find. Faithful and true and brave, Sent here our land to save. Men whom our father gave, Brave, true, and kind. (_Exeunt_) VIII LINCOLN'S PLACE IN HISTORY THE THREE GREATEST AMERICANS BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT