THE MAN LINCOLN

WILBUR D. NESBIT

OT as the great who grow more great

N Until they are from us apart

He walks with us in man's estate;
We know he was a brother heart.
The marching years may render dim
The humanness of other men,
To-day we are akin to him

As they who knew him best were then.

Wars have been won by mail-clad hands,

Realms have been ruled by sword-hedged kings,

But he above these others stands

As one who loved the common things;

The common faith of man was his,

The common faith in man he had

For this to-day his brave face is

A face half joyous and half sad.

A man of earth! Of earthy stuff,
As honest as the fruitful soil,
Gnarled as the friendly trees, and rough
As hillsides that had known his toil;

Of earthy stuff-let it be told,

For earth-born men rise and reveal

A courage fair as beaten gold

And the enduring strength of steel,

So now he dominates our thought,

This humble great man holds us thus Because of all he dreamed and wrought, Because he is akin to us.

He held his patient trust in truth

While God was working out His plan, And they that were his foes, forsooth, Came to pay tribute to the Man.

Not as the great who grow more great
Until they have a mystic fame-
No stroke of pastime nor of fate

Gave Lincoln his undying name.

A common man, earth-bred, earth-born, One of the breed who work and wait

His was a soul above all scorn,

His was a heart above all hate.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

HE editor of this volume wishes briefly to mention again

splendid work of the Lincoln Centennial Memorial Committee of One Hundred, appointed by Hon. Fred A. Busse, Mayor of Chicago, and to give a list of that committee, with the officers and its sub-committees. The scope and magnitude of the Chicago celebration, the participation therein of all classes of citizens, the lack of friction in the carrying out of the plans of the Committee, the general success and wide publicity achieved, were largely due to the able leadership of Hon. William J. Calhoun, the distinguished President of the Committee of One Hundred.

He also wishes to take this opportunity of thanking by name some of the men who helped make the week in Chicago a success, and regrets that this acknowledgment will have to be confined to those connected with the official celebrations, as to attempt to name the hundreds of speakers and organizations, or the thousands of earnest and effective committeemen, who helped to make the general celebration memorable in the history of the city would take a volume in itself.

THE LINCOLN CENTENNIAL MEMORIAL COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED was appointed by the Mayor of Chicago, under the following resolution introduced in the Chicago City Council by Alderman Albert J. Fisher on March 16, 1908, and unanimously adopted:

WHEREAS, The memory and public acts of President Abraham Lincoln of Illinois have become the priceless heritage of the people, irrespective of, and above all party lines and affiliations; and