good God, all things, whether joyous or sorrowful, will, in the end, help to bring about the highest good.

7. This type of character, this great moral power,-marked Mr. Lincoln through his whole life. It enabled him to use life's experiences for his own and others' good. The career of a Mississippi boatman,—so fatal to many young men, because they have not moral power to convert its boisterous experiences into steps in manly progress,-was to him, no doubt, a source of improvement in the power to resist temptation. He was a stronger man for this experience, in all the elements that go to form a noble character. A man that can draw moral nourishment from the turbid influences of such a life, must surely have true greatness conceded to him. A little man,-little in the essentials of a true manhood,could never digest such material into that noblest product of the Divine hand, an honest man. This power to transmute the evil of this world into a sterling Christian character, to gather honey from the thorns and nettles of an unpropitious experience, to turn the darts of the devil against him who hurled them forth,- this is a power allied to that of God himself, and stamps its possessor with the unmistakable impress of true greatness!

8. But Mr. Lincoln was also great in his simplicity, and in his full confidence in the ultimate success of the right. Little men are ever seeking circuitous paths,-ever striving to prop up their feebleness by intrigue and strategy. It takes a strong mind to rely implicitly and calmly upon the final triumph of truth and justice. The small craft toss and plunge with every wave that rises; but the vast steamship plows her way through their midst, never deviating from her true course. Thus, great minds, guided by a celestial light, spurn every solicitation that would draw them aside into the paths of chicanery and deceit. They see so clearly the end from

the beginning, they comprehend so fully the great purpose of life, that they cannot prevail upon themselves to stoop to the little by-plays of faction. And they always succeed, because their lives are in harmony with the great plan of the universe!

XVII. THE GRAVE OF LINCOLN.

نه

EDNA DEAN PROCTOR.

1. Now must the storied Potomac
Laurels forever divide;

Now to the Sangamon fameless
Give of its century's pride,—
Sangamon, stream of the prairies,
Placidly westward that flows,
Far in whose city of silence
Calm he has sought his repose.
Over our Washington's river
Sunrise beams rosy and fair;
Sunset on Sangamon fairer,-
Father and martyr lies there.

2. Kings under pyramids slumber,
Sealed in the Lybian sands;
Princes in gorgeous cathedrals,

Decked with the spoil of the lands;
Kinglier, princelier sleeps he,

Couched 'mid the prairies serene,

Only the turf and the willow

Him and God's heaven between;

Temple nor column to cumber
Verdure and bloom of the sod,-
So, in the vale by Beth-peor,
Moses was buried of God.

3. Break into blossom, O prairies!
Snowy and golden and red;
Peers of the Palestine lilies
Heap for your Glorious Dead!
Roses as fair as of Sharon,
Branches as stately as palm,
Odors as rich as the spices-
Cassia and aloes and balm,
Mary, the loved, and Salome,
All with a gracious accord,
Ere the first glow of the morning,
Brought to the tomb of the Lord.

4. Wind of the West! breathe around him
Soft as the saddened air's sigh,
When, to the summit of Pisgah,
Moses had journeyed to die;
Clear as its anthem that floated

Wide o'er the Moabite plain,
Low, with the wail of the people,
Blending its burdened refrain.

Rarer, O wind! and diviner

Sweet as the breeze that went by,

When, over Olivet's mountain,

Jesus was lost in the sky.

5. Not for thy sheaves nor savannas
Crown we thee, proud Illinois !
Here in his grave is thy grandeur,
Born of his sorrow thy joy.

Only the tomb by Mount Zion,
Hewn for the Lord, do we hold
Dearer than his in thy prairies,
Girdled with harvests of gold!
Still for the world, through the ages,
Wreathing with glory his brow,
He shall be liberty's savior,-

Freedom's Jerusalem thou!

ANALYSIS OF THE GRAVE OF LINCOLN.

What kind of poetry is this? [See Analysis of Gray Old Man of the Mountain, p. 68.] What is the general sentiment of it? [It is exultation in spite of sorrow; joy shining through tears. Let it be read with ringing tones, softened by a loving sadness.] When and how did Lincoln die? Where was he buried? State some interesting facts about his death and burial.

First Stanza.

What is the "Potomac," and why alluded to here? Why called "storied"? What is the "laurel," and why here mentioned? Why must the Potomac divide laurels? How has it been heretofore in regard to its laurels? What is the Sangamon," and why here mentioned? Why "fameless"? Is it always to remain so? Why? Why "century's pride"? What are "prairies"? Is the Sangamon a rapid stream? What expression in the poem bears upon this point? Is it clear or turbid? Into what does it flow? Meaning of "city of silence"? Whose city of silence? Who "sought his repose" here? In what sense sought? What river is "Washington's"? Why speak of "sunrise" on this river, and "sunset" on the other? Why is the sunset fairer?

Etymology and meaning of storied? [See directions under Gray Old Man of the Mountain.] laurels? divide? century? prairie? placidly? silence? repose? river? sunrise? martyr?

Is the first statement a positive one? How many lines does it include? Point out each of the statements in the first stanza, and show whether it is positive or not. What inflections then at the ends of the lines?

What is the most important word or group of words in the first statement? Repeat the statement carefully, and determine this point by listening. Take the same course with every other statement. What two pairs of words are set against each other in the three lines preceding the last?

Second Stanza.

What are "pyramids"? In what country chiefly do "kings slumber under them? What are the " Lybian sands"? Why sands? Why "sealed"?

What is said

In

of the "princes"? What are gorgeous cathedrals"? Are the princes or the cathedrals " decked with the spoil, &c."? What is meant by the "spoil of the lands"? What is the effect of this decking upon the dignity, the princely and kingly character, of the buried? Which is the stronger word, "kinglier" or "princelier"? Why are the prairies called " serene"? Why is his sleep "kinglier"? how many and what lines is the reason given? Does the soul really reach heaven any more easily when the body does not lie under artificial structures? How many of these structures are mentioned here, and what are they? What do "column and temple cumber"? How do they do it? Where is "Beth-peor"? Tell the story of the burial of Moses. Where do we find it recorded? Why is it alluded to here? Was it an honorable burial? [See "Burial of Moses," Exercise LXXXI.]

Meaning and etymology of pyramid? sealed? princes? kings? gorgeous? cathedrals? spoils ? couched? serene? heaven? temple? column? cumber? verdure? vale? burial? Determine inflections and emphases as before.

Third Stanza.

Why are the prairies directed to "break into blossom"? What is it to break into blossom? How many colors are mentioned, and what are they? Give the mode and person of the verb "heap," and show what its subject is? Meaning of the line," Peers of the Palestine lilies"? Case of the word peers? Why Palestine lilies? Whose "Glorious Dead" is meant? What is said of "roses as fair as of Sharon"? Case of the word " roses ? Why "Sharon"? Case of the word "branches"? "odors"? "cassia"? What is said of