one evening when mr. carpenter, the artist, was alone with mr. lincoln in his study, the president said: “there is a poem that has been a great favorite with me for years, to which my attention was first called when a young man, by a friend, and which i afterward saw and cut from a newspaper and carried in my pocket till, by frequent reading, i had it by heart. i would give a great deal to know who wrote it, but i could never ascertain.”
he then repeated the poem, now familiar to the public, commencing, “oh! why should the spirit of mortal be proud?”
this poem, which was written by william knox, a young scotchman, a contemporary of sir walter scott, suits well the thoughtful, melancholy mood habitual to mr. lincoln. it is said{300} that a man may be known by his favorite poem. whether this can be said of men in general may be doubted. in the case of abraham lincoln i think those who knew him best would agree that the sadness underlying the poem found an echo in the temperament he inherited from his mother. i am sure my readers will be glad to find the poem recorded here, even though they may have met with it before:
oh! why should the spirit of mortal be proud?
like a swift-fleeting meteor, a fast-flying cloud,
a flash of the lightning, a break of the wave,
he passeth from life to his rest in the grave.
the leaves of the oak and the willow shall fade,
be scattered around and together be laid;
and the young and the old, the low and the high,
shall moulder to dust, and together shall lie—
the infant a mother attended and loved;
the mother that infant’s affection who proved:
the husband, that mother and infant who blest—
each, all, are away to their dwellings of rest.
the maid on whose cheek, on whose brow, in whose eye
shone beauty and pleasure,—her triumphs are by;
and the memory of those who loved her and praised,
are alike from the minds of the living erased.
the hand of the king that the sceptre hath borne,
the brow of the priest that the mitre hath worn,{301}
the eye of the sage and the heart of the brave,
are hidden and lost in the depths of the grave.
the peasant, whose lot was to sow and to reap,
the herdsman, who climbed with his goats up the steep,
the beggar, who wandered in search of his bread,
have faded away like the grass that we tread.
the saint, who enjoyed the communion of heaven,
the sinner, who dared to remain unforgiven,
the wise and the foolish, the guilty and just,
have quietly mingled their bones in the dust.
so the multitude goes—like the flower or the weed
that withers away to let others succeed;
so the multitude comes—even those we behold,
to repeat every tale that has often been told.
for we are the same our fathers have been;
we see the same sights our fathers have seen;
we drink the same stream, we view the same sun,
and run the same course our fathers have run.
the thoughts we are thinking our fathers would think;
from the death we are shrinking, our fathers would shrink
to the life we are clinging, they also would cling,—
but it speeds from us all like a bird on the wing.
they loved—but the story we can not unfold;
they scorned—but the heart of the haughty is cold;
they grieved—but no wail from their slumber will come;
they joyed—but the tongue of their gladness is dumb.
they died—ay, they died; we things that are now,
that walk on the turf that lies over their brow,{302}
and make in their dwellings a transient abode,
meet the things that they met on their pilgrimage road.
’tis the wink of an eye—’tis the draught of a breath—
from the blossom of health to the paleness of death,
from the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud:—
oh! why should the spirit of mortal be proud?
the last stanza will call to mind the startling suddenness with which abraham lincoln, the chief magistrate of a great nation, passed from the summit of power to the solemn stillness of death. was it a sad, prophetic instinct that caused the mind of the great martyr to dwell so constantly upon these solemn strains?
no man seems to have been more clearly indicated as the instrument of providence than abraham lincoln. it seems strange in the eyes of men that a rough youth, born and reared in the backwoods, without early educational advantages, homely and awkward, and with no polish of manner save that which proceeded from a good heart, should have been selected as the guide and savior of a great nation. but god’s ways are not as our ways, nor is his choice as ours. mr. lincoln had this advantage,—coming from the ranks of the people, he never lost sight of his sympathy for{303} his class. his nature and his sympathies were broad and unconfined.
he has been well described by one reared like himself, in the free atmosphere of the west: “nearly every great figure of history is a kind of great monstrosity. we know nothing about washington. he is a steel engraving. no dirt of humanity clings to his boots. lincoln lived where men were free and equal, and was acquainted with the people, not much with books. every man is in some sort a book. he lived the poem of the year in the fields, the woods, the blessed country. lincoln had the advantage of sociability. he was thoughtful, and saw on the horizon of his future the perpetual star of hope. to him every field was a landscape; every landscape a poem; every poem a lesson, and every grove a fairy land. oaks and elms are far more poetical than streets or houses. a country life is in itself an education. it gives the man an idea of home. he hears the rain on the roofs, the rustle of the breeze, the music of nature’s fullest control. you have no idea how many men education spoils. lincoln’s education was derived from men and things, and hence he had a chance to develop.{304} he had many sides. he not only had laughter, but he had tears, and never that kind of solemnity which is a wash to hide the features. he was not afraid to seek for knowledge where he had it not. when a man is too dignified he ceases to learn. he was always honest with himself. he was an orator; that is, he was natural. if you wish to be sublime you must keep close to the grass. you must sit close to the heart of human experience—above the clouds it is too cold. if you want to know the difference between an orator and a speaker read the oration of lincoln at gettysburg, and then read the speech of everett at the same place. one came from the heart, the other was from out of the voice. lincoln’s speech will be remembered forever. everett’s no man will read. it was like plucked flowers.
“if you want to find out what a man is to the bottom, give him power. any man can stand adversity—only a great man can stand prosperity. it is the glory of abraham lincoln that he never abused power only on the side of mercy. when he had power he used it in mercy. he loved to see the tears of the wife whose husband he had snatched from death.”{305}
i draw near the close of my task, having given, as i hope, some fair idea of one whose memory will always remain dear to the hearts of his countrymen. in that chequered life there is much to imitate, much to admire, little to avoid or censure. happy will be the day when our public men copy his unselfishness, his patriotic devotion to duty!
within a few months, on the eighteenth anniversary of mr. lincoln’s assassination, a poem was read at his grave by john h. bryant, of princeton, which will fitly close my story of the backwoods boy:
not one of all earth’s wise and great
hath earned a purer gratitude
than the great soul whose hallowed dust
this structure holds in sacred trust.
how fierce the strife that rent the land,
when he was summoned to command;
with what wise care he led us through
the fearful storms that ’round us blew.
calm, patient, hopeful, undismayed,
he met the angry hosts arrayed
for bloody war, and overcame
their haughty power in freedom’s name.
’mid taunts and doubts, the bondsman’s chain
with gentle force he cleft in twain,{306}
and raised four million slaves to be
the chartered sons of liberty.
no debt he owed to wealth or birth;
by force of solid, honest worth
he climbed the topmost height of fame
and wrote thereon a spotless name.
oh! when the felon hand laid low
that sacred head, what sudden woe
shot to the nation’s farthest bound,
and every bosom felt the wound.
well might the nation bow in grief,
and weep above the fallen chief,
who ever strove, by word or pen,
for “peace on earth, good-will to men.”
the people loved him, for they knew,
each pulse of his large heart was true
to them, to freedom, and the right,
unswayed by gain, unawed by might.
this tomb, by loving hands up-piled,
to him, the merciful and mild,
from age to age shall carry down
the glory of his great renown.
as the long centuries onward flow,
as generations come and go,
wide and more wide his fame shall spread,
and greener laurels crown his head.
and when this pile is fall’n to dust,
its bronzes crumbled into rust,{307}
thy name, o lincoln! still shall be
revered and loved from sea to sea.
india’s swart millions, ’neath their palms,
shall sing thy praise in grateful psalms,
and crowds by congo’s turbid wave
bless the good hand that freed the slave.
shine on, o star of freedom, shine,
till all the realms of earth are thine;
and all the tribes, through countless days,
shall bask in thy benignant rays.
lord of the nations! grant us still
another patriot sage, to fill
the seat of power, and save the state
from selfish greed. for this we wait.
