if I ever had any. I am sorry, fellow-citizens, that I have not prepared something short, worthy of the occasion. I am one of the aged men.

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(Turning and pointing to the statue) I served in the Legislature of 1836 with that venerated man. We didn't always agree in politics, but we always agreed to disagree as friends. I met him in early life, when he first came to the State in 1830, in my own town, Charleston, Coles county, Illinois. He was dressed in plain jeans clothes. I had no idea, then, that he would ever be President of the United States, nor did I believe that there was any man in the State of Illinois, or that there would ever come into the State any man that would be President of the United States.

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Mr. Lincoln and myself—to be serious-came from the same county, and were born within ten miles of the same place. He came to Indiana-and to a wilderness; I was educated in Kentucky, and though mine was not an extensive library, it stood out of reach of anything Lincoln had, and in his presence I considered myself always a learned man. And when I contemplate a boy like that, for I do suppose his breeches were patched at the knees and his arms out at the elbows, starting with his old mother to Indiana, then a forest, and passing on with his stepmother into Illinois, to be a day laborer and a flatboater; a man way down in the valley of humility, working his way up and on through all the phases of that eventful life, his brave and indomitable earnestness, fearlessness and honesty-never swerving from his honesty-finally fighting his way to the Presidency, where we trace him from that humble cabin in Kentucky to yonder monument, where he stands to-day. I say it is a miracle-fellow-citizens it is a miracle which only a Republican people can work. Merit will always meet its reward, and whenever another Washington shall make his appearance, another monument will go up. Yet that monument, however firm its base may be, the mouldering tooth of time will eat away; but there is another monument dedicated to Lincoln, one built in the memory and with words graven in the hearts of his countrymen, and till the last of them shall cease to live, and the English language cease to be spoken, that monument shall stand firm and unfailing until Gabriel blows his trump on the morning of the resurrection.

While Mr. Linder was speaking, Gen. W. T. Sherman stepped quietly away to look at the sarcophagus and catacomb containing the body of Mr. Lincoln. On being called for he came forward and spoke briefly, from which I make the following extracts:

I came here with feelings of great devotion, desirous to see and hear all that could be said, and I did listen with intense patience to that most admirable and eloquent speech of our friend, General Oglesby, and I turned and looked at the statue of Lin. coln, when the flag dropped from it, I gazed upon it long and well, because I loved that form most well in life. I can bear him no greater affection than I do. I turned and went with uncle Jesse Dubois to see the spot where his body rests. I also met the artist of the statue, Mead, whom I knew in Florence, Italy, and went with him to various points, and viewed his work. Now, therefore, I think I have at last done full justice to the subject, and I have responded promptly to you. If you will have it so, with feelings of kindness for the call to appear in your presence, and if I could add one word or utter one single thought that would add a particle to the fame of Mr. Lincoln, I would say it now; but Mr. Lincoln's writings, his speeches, and his procla mations all bear the stamp of an honest, fearless, great, good man, and nothing is truer or better than what General Oglesby has said, that "true fame lies solidly only on a pure character and blameless reputation." I believe Mr. Lincoln's fame does so rest as that of Washington, and that it will always be classified side by side with that of Washington. Surely no man ought to hope for a higher fame on the earth, and such fame will be Lincoln's.

Mr. Larkin G. Mead, the artist, was called for, and on being introduced to the audience, was greeted with applause. He made his bow as graceful as he could under the circumstances, and retired.

Hon. Schuyler Colfax, ex-Vice-President of the United States, was called for, and spoke briefly and eloquently, quoting from Mr. Lincoln's words, spoken

on the battle field of Gettysburg, Nov. 19th, 1863, and applied then to Oak Ridge Cemetery.

Hon.. Forster, M. P., of England, congratulating Gov. Palmer on the success of the arrangements and carrying into execution the dedication exercises, took occasion to say that the most noticeable feature of the assemblage was in the appearance of intelligence, thrift, neatness, health and decorum, and expressed the opinion that it could not be excelled in these respects anywhere in the world. Hon. Schuyler Colfax expressed the same views.

At the conclusion of Mr. Colfax's speech, the doxology was sung, and the benediction pronounced by Rev. Albert Hale, of Springfield, which concluded the exercises.

The procession reformed and returned to the city. The vast multitude gradually melted away, each and all carrying to their homes memories of the day and of the occasion that will be cherished while life endures.

CHAPTER XXX.

It seems peculiarly appropriate that the dedication services should have been held in connection with a reunion of the surviving veterans of one of the grand. divisions of the army that saved the nation. In the fallen condition of our race, no government, human or divine, has ever commanded respect that was not sustained by force against internal as well as well as external foes.

As

Abraham Lincoln, as President of the United States, was Commander-in-Chief of its armies. such, during the time he was at the head of the nation, he commanded more than one million of citizen soldiers. War was forced upon the nation with the avowed purpose of destroying it. He was compelled to submit to the dissolution of the Union, or accept war to prevent it. By turning to the engraving of the Moument and studying it, the reader will see that it teaches the lesson that the war was for the preservation ofthe Union. When Lincoln became President, March 4, 1861, war was threatened, and he plead with his dissatisfied fellow-countrymen not to commence hostilities, thus holding out the olive branch of peace. The reply was an attack on Fort Sumter, which was equivalent to casting the olive branch under foot, as shown in the engraving of the coat of arms. The Statue of Lincoln placed above all those emblems, with the coat of arms—which is emblematic of the constitution of the United States-beneath his feet as a pedestal, gave him authority for using the infantry, cavalry, artillery and navy, placed below and around him; for holding the

States-built in the Monument still lower-in a perpetual bond of Union.

It became imperative for him, as a military necessity, to emancipate four millions of slaves, which is indicated by the pen in his right hand, and the emancipation proclamation which he had just written, in his left. The broken chain of Slavery, part in the talons of the eagle and part in his beak, indicates that the contest is ended. As the closing scene to all this, the Commander-in-Chief dies by a bullet from the hand of a rebel fanatic; thus dying the death of a soldier as truly as any of the thousands who gave their lives on the field of battle for the preservation of the Union.

Vice President Dubois, in his address, attests the zeal and fidelity with which all the members of the Association discharged their several duties, but makes special mention of Hon. O. M. Hatch, Secretary of the Association, Hon. James H. Beveridge, Treasurer, and Hon. John T. Stuart, Chairman of the Executive Committee. It is no disparagement to the other members to mention these three as deserving special honor.

Mr. Hatch has conducted the correspondence of the Association and recorded its transactions for nearly nine years. To have done this in a private business amounting to nearly $200,000, would have commanded a liberal salary, and yet Mr. Hatch has done all this without fee or reward, except the consciousness of having discharged a pleasing but mournful duty.

Mr. Beveridge has not only faithfully accounted for every dollar that came into his hands, without retaining a farthing for his services, but has added to it many thousands in accrued interest.

The name of John T. Stuart is indissolubly associated with that of Abraham Lincoln, but the parallel between them has never been drawn that I am aware of. Mr. Stuart was born in 1807, in Fayette county,