Moses Kimball, a citizen of Boston, presented to the city a duplicate of the Freedman's Memorial Statue erected in Lincoln Square, Washington, after a design by Thomas Ball. The group, which stands in Park Square, represents the figure of a slave, from whose limbs the broken fetters have fallen, kneeling in gratitude at the feet of Lincoln. The verses which follow were written for the unveiling of the statue, December 9, 1879. Amidst thy sacred effigies If old renown give place, O city, Freedom-loved! to his Whose hand unchained a race Take the worn frame, that rested not Save in a martyr's grave; The care-lined face, that none forgot, Bent to the kneeling slave. Let man be free! The mighty word He spake was not his own; An impulse from the Highest stirred These chiselled lips alone. The cloudy sign, the fiery guide, Along his pathway ran, And Nature, through his voice, denied The ownership of man. We rest in peace where these sad eyes Saw peril, strife, and pain; His was the nation's sacrifice, And ours the priceless gain. O symbol of God's will on earth As it is done above! Bear witness to the cost and worth Of justice and of love. Stand in thy place and testify To coming ages long, That truth is stronger than a lie, And righteousness than wrong. [7] _By special permission of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Company._ ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S CHRISTMAS GIFT[8] BY NORA PERRY 'Twas in eighteen hundred and sixty-four, That terrible year when the shock and roar Of the nation's battles shook the land, And the fire leapt up into fury fanned, The passionate, patriotic fire, With its throbbing pulse and its wild desire To conquer and win, or conquer and die, In the thick of the fight when hearts beat high With the hero's thrill to do and to dare, 'Twixt the bullet's rush and the muttered prayer. In the North, and the East and the great Northwest, Men waited and watched with eager zest For news of the desperate, terrible strife,-- For a nation's death or a nation's life; While over the wires there flying sped News of the wounded, the dying and dead. "Defeat and defeat! Ah! what was the fault Of the grand old army's sturdy assault At Richmond's gates?" in a querulous key Men questioned at last impatiently, As the hours crept by, and day by day They watched the Potomac Army at bay. Defeat and defeat! It was here, just here, In the very height of the fret and fear, Click, click! across the electric wire Came suddenly flashing words of fire, And a great shout broke from city and town At the news of Sherman's marching down,-- Marching down on his way to the sea Through the Georgia swamps to victory. Faster and faster the great news came, Flashing along like tongues of flame,--