Lincoln "New birth of our new soil, the first American ” A Brief Biographical Sketch of Lincoln, Prepared under the direction of LINCOLN CENTENARY COMMITTEE of the CITY OF NEW YORK appointed by His Honor GEORGE BRINTON MCCLELLAN, Mayor 1908 The Lincoln Centenary Committee of The City of New York Written, Edited and Compiled Copyright, 1909, by the Lincoln Centenary Committee "A House Divided Against Itself" "The Electric Cord" in the Declaration. The American Union Cannot Be Broken. A Last Appeal to Patriotism and Reason. PAGE The Loss of "Tad's" Nanny Goat. The Case of a Man Named King.. A Mother's Sacrifice Upon the Altar of Freedom. ILLUSTRATIONS. TH The Purpose. HE aim of this pamphlet, prepared for distribution in the Public Schools of New York City on the occasion of the ceremonies attending the Commemoration of the Centennial Anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's Birth, is not, aside from an illuminating and suggestive brief glance at the salient features of his career, to be biographical. The historian has left nothing unrevealed in the life and career of Lincoln. No incident connected therewith; no public or private utterance of his; no scrap of paper bearing his slightest word, has been permitted to escape the painstaking researches of his biographers. These exhaustive chronicles, together with much lofty and instructive literature bearing on the life and character of Lincoln, are within easy command of every school boy and girl. It is rather, therefore, the purpose of this pamphlet, by a compilation of selections from Lincoln's State papers, his public addresses, his letters, his sayings, in which his intense Americanism, his reverence for the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, his patriotic devotion to the Union, his broad humanity, are revealed so vividly and eloquently, to stimulate our rising generation in a desire for deeper and more appreciative study of this "most American of Americans "; to impress it with the fact that the life, character and achievement of Abraham Lincoln stand forth as do those of no other American since Washington as something beyond human example for its utmost reverence and constant emulation. Aside from the general application of this purpose there lies a peculiar hope and belief that this presentation of testimony to the consuming patriotism and admirable personality of Lincoln will particularly appeal to the youth of foreign birth or alien parentage among us. The forlornest immigrant, fleeing from poverty or oppression in his native land to seek on our shores the refuge and enjoy the blessings and privileges of our country and its government, saved and preserved to him and to us for all time by Abraham Lincoln, left never a more wretched, squalid, hopeless home than the one in which that immortal American-Patriot, Statesman, Martyr-opened his eyes to the light of day. Yet he closed them upon it the glorified tenant of a Nation's home the most enviable on earth wherein man may dwell. |
