A PROCLAMATION. STATE OF ILLINOIS, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. February 12, 1909, will be the 100th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. Following the custom which obtains of making the centennial celebration of great events more than usually impressive, I deem it fitting that the citizens of Illinois should join in a State-wide and memorable observance of that anniversary. During all of Lincoln's mature life, he was a citizen of Illinois, and its most important incidents, previous to his life in Washington, occurred here. Here he formed the most intimate social relations and the most lasting friendships of his life. Here he began the remarkable and brilliant political career which disclosed to the nation and to the world the splendid ability and noble character of the great Illinoisan. Lincoln's name and the great work which he accomplished for our nation and for the cause of liberty and freedom everywhere, are known to the world, and the earnestness and unanimity with which we join in this tribute to his memory will be by the world esteemed a measure of our devotion to those principles. We should make this occassion an incentive to patriotism in our schools and among our citizens and should prize it as an opportunity to show to mankind the admiration which the liberty-loving people of his State feel for one of their own number who, when intrusted with more than kindly power, wielded that power for the uplifting of the down-trodden and the oppressed, and who made our country in fact as well as in name a free and united nation. Therefore, I urge the observance of the day with appropriate exercises by the schools of the State and by all municipal, civic, social, and religious organizations. Given under my hand and the great seal of State, at Springfield this fifth day of December, A. D., nineteen hundred and eight. CHARLES S. DENEEN, Governor. By the Governor: JAMES A. ROSE, Secretary of State. STATE OF ILLINOIS, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. To the Teachers of Illinois: Heroes of old came down from the skies. Full of mystery they filled the people with awe and dread. Abraham Lincoln was raised up from amongst his people and was like unto them. He caught up and embodied their soundest thought, their firm faith and conviction, their plain life and rugged strength. He was the whole of which they were the parts. His voice uttered their thought. His act expressed their faith and conviction. Thus was he great in his plainness and plain in his greatness. Like a Greek temple the simple grandeur of his life stands forth free from needless ornament or confusing detail. The child heart warms strangely at the simple story and the mature mind finds it deep in meaning. Therein lies the great worth of his life to us. We do not have to alter and reduce the facts to render them simple enough for the child and we do not have to enlarge them to hold the mind of the scholar. What is such a life worth to our boys and girls? Who can estimate its value as an educational force? Greater than all natural resources, of more value than all the products of mine and mill and factory, more abiding than all the achievements of art and science is the life of such a man to the nation. How it ties the people together! How it clears their thought and shapes their feeling! What a unifying, nationalizing force it is! The children from Maine to California become of one heart. and one mind in the study and love of Abraham Lincoln. And think of the millions from foreign lands coming to us with widely differing antecedents, with widely differing and often conflicting ideas of society and the State. Here is the storm center of education. How can we engender common ideals of conduct and life? How beget and fix a feeling of kinship, a love of country, a national spirit? The learning of a common language is the first step, but beyond that nothing goes further towards creating a spiritual unity and a common love of country than the story of the lives of great men. Of all our great men Lincoln seems to make the most direct and effective appeal to these children. It is easy to believe that their first genuine feeling of love for this country may come from their love of this great American. He becomes the door through which they enter our national life. The purpose of this programme is to let a little of the spirit of his life and work touch the hearts and minds of the school children of this State and country on the one hundredth anniversary of his birth. F. G. BLAIR, |