Not as the great who grow more great Until from us they are apart-- He walks with us in man's estate; We know his was a brother heart. The marching years may render dim The humanness of other men; Today we are akin to him As they who knew him best were then. Wars have been won by mail-clad hands, Realms have been ruled by sword-hedged kings, But he above these others stands As one who loved the common things; The common faith of man was his, The common faith of man he had-- For this today his grave face is A face half joyous and half sad. A man of earth! Of earthy stuff, As honest as the fruitful soil, Gnarled as the friendly trees, and rough As hillsides that had known his toil; Of earthy stuff--let it be told, For earth-born men rise and reveal A courage fair as beaten gold And the enduring strength of steel. So now he dominates our thought. This humble great man holds us thus Because of all he dreamed and wrought; Because he is akin to us. He held his patient trust in truth While God was working out His plan, And they that were his foes, forsooth, Came to pay tribute to the Man. Not as the great who grow more great Until they have a mystic fame-- No stroke of fortune nor of fate Gave Lincoln his undying name. A common man, earth-bred, earth-born, One of the breed who work and wait-- His was a soul above all scorn. His was a heart above all hate. [Illustration: PRESIDENT LINCOLN AT ANTIETAM Photograph taken on the battlefield, September, 1862, with General McClellan and Allen Pinkerton] Edwin Arlington Robinson, born at Head Tide, Maine, December 22, 1869. Educated at Gardiner, Maine, and Harvard University, 1891-3. Member National Institute Arts and Letters. Author: _The Torrent_ and _The Night Before_, 1896; _The Children of the Night_, 1897, 1905; _Captain Craig_ (poems), _The Town Down the River_, 1910. THE MASTER (LINCOLN)