Such was the hero of our race; Skilled in the school of common things, He felt the sweat on Labor's face, He knew the pinch of want, the sting The bondman felt, and all the wrong The weak had suffered from the strong. God passed the waiting centuries by, And kept him for our time of need-- To lead us with his courage high-- To make our country free indeed; Then, that he be by none surpassed, God crowned him martyr at the last. Let speech and pen and song proclaim Our grateful praise this natal morn; Time hath preserved no nobler name, And generations yet unborn Shall swell the pride of those who can Claim Lincoln as their countryman. [Illustration: FORD'S THEATRE] The building is a plain brick structure, three stories high, seventy-one feet front and one hundred feet deep. It was originally constructed and occupied as a Baptist Church, but at the beginning of the war was converted into a theatre, though never used for that purpose after the assassination of Lincoln. The government purchased it for one hundred thousand dollars, and it is now used as a branch of the Record and Pension Division of the War Department. President Lincoln was shot by J. Wilkes Booth at 10.20 o'clock P.M. on the evening of April 14, 1865, while seated in his private box in the theatre. SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS! _By Robert Leighton_ "Sic semper tyrannis!" the assassin cried, As Lincoln fell. O villain! who than he More lived to set both slave and tyrant free? Or so enrapt with plans of freedom died, That even thy treacherous deed shall glance aside And do the dead man's will by land and sea; Win bloodless battles, and make that to be Which to his living mandate was denied! Peace to that gentle heart! The peace he sought For all mankind, nor for it dies in vain. Rest to the uncrowned king, who, toiling, brought His bleeding country through that dreadful reign; Who, living, earned a world's revering thought, And, dying, leaves his name without a stain. _Liverpool, England, May 5, 1865_ [Illustration: ABRAHAM LINCOLN Foully assassinated, April 14, 1865] Tom Taylor wrote the following poem, which appeared in the _London Punch_, May 6, 1865. The engraving is a facsimile of the one published in the paper at the head of the poem. ABRAHAM LINCOLN, FOULLY ASSASSINATED