THE HODGENVILLE COMMEMORATION

CELEBRATION which focused the attention of the

country, as a whole, perhaps more than any other, was that at the Kentucky town of Hodgenville, within whose outlying country lies the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. There, on the farm upon which Lincoln was born, which has been purchased by a National Association formed for that purpose, largely initiated and made successful through the untiring efforts and enthusiasm of Mr. Robert J. Collier, the log cabin in which Lincoln first saw the light has been restored. Here was held a celebration national in character, and showing the unity, to-day, of the North and South of the American nation. With the President of the United States, Mr. Roosevelt, laying the cornerstone of a memorial building being erected by popular subscription to protect the log cabin in which Lincoln was born, this gathering typifies, as well as any meeting could, the significance of the day.

Exercises were conducted under an immense spreading tent with open sides, sheltering the Lincoln cabin and the speakers' platform; while the cornerstone, a block of gray granite about three feet square, crowned with flowers, hung in the grasp of a great derrick, awaiting the signal of the President, when, at the close of the speeches of the day, it should be lowered into its place, and the first trowelful of mortar applied by the President of the United States. Beneath the cornerstone had been placed a metallic box containing copies of the Constitution of the United States and other documents of historic value, contributed by the President, by Clarence Mackay, Robert J. Collier, and Richard Lloyd Jones of New York.

In addition to the President, who spoke for the Nation, the speakers were:-Gen. Luke E. Wright, the Secretary of War, himself a soldier, who spoke on behalf of the Confederate soldiers; Gen. James Grant Wilson of New York, representing

the soldiers of the Union Army; Governor Willson of Kentucky, who, representing the native State of Lincoln, gave the address of welcome to the distinguished visitors present; and Ex-Governor Folk of Missouri, who made the address on behalf of the Lincoln Farm Association.

One of the features of the day was the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation by the "representative of ten million grateful negro citizens," Ira T. Montgomery, who though now of Mount Bayou, Mississippi, is nevertheless a native of Kentucky, and is said to have been a slave of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy.

The cabin and the Lincoln spring-over which a stone arch had been erected-were decorated with the national colors. Every visitor wanted to drink at the spring, and the crowd had to form in line, each awaiting his turn.

That the South is not unmindful of the cause for pride that may well be hers in that Lincoln is one of her sons, is evidenced by the beautiful statue designed by the sculptor Adolph Alexander Weinman, and erected through the action of the State of Kentucky and the Lincoln Farm Association, in the Court House Square of the village of Hodgenville. Here, Lincoln is shown a man of the people; and, standing pedestaled in the market place of the little town which gave him birth, he looks out down the sandy roads which lead into the simple country where nature first taught him the lessons of his life, and where soon will arise the exquisite marble memorial whose cornerstone has been laid by one President, Theodore Roosevelt, and whose dedication will be at the hands, and with the voice of a second President, William H. Taft.

A SON OF KENTUCKY

AUGUSTUS E. WILLSON

the President of the United States, the Commonwealth

of Kentucky-one of the first twain daughters of the Union-and all of her people, give most cordial salute and welcome; and not less to Theodore Roosevelt, first citizen, loved, trusted and honored of the people. To all of the people of the Union here splendidly represented, our distinguished visitors and guests, and to the men of the Lincoln Farm Association, we give greeting, and rejoice to have you with us in Kentucky and to join you in this endeavor and in all the inspirations and associations of this time and place.

We have met here in memory of Abraham Lincoln, to know for ourselves and to prove to the world by a record made to endure, and deep-graven on these acres, that love of country and of its nobly useful citizens are not dreams nor idle words, but indeed living, stirring and breathing feelings. Abraham Lincoln is claimed by all humanity, and all time, as the type of the race best showing forth the best in all men in all conditions of life.

Our whole country claims him as the son of the whole Union. And Illinois says, "He was mine, the man of Illinois; here on my prairies he ripened into noble manhood and here he made his home.'

Indiana, too, says, "He was mine. the little child grew strong and tall." true.

In my southern hills
And each is right and

But Kentucky says, "I am his own mother. I nursed him at my breast; my baby, born of me. He is mine." Shall any claim come before the mother's?

All over this land the people are meeting to-day to honor the one hundredth year's return of his birthday. And we

are met in his birthplace to pledge anew the love of all the people of our land for each other, and to show forth now, and year by year, our love and reverence for the man, the soul, the life, which more than any in all the lives of all the earth in all the ages, stands out as the very type and sight of numan nature in its best loved, and its noblest vision.

He came from the rugged man-making school of poverty and hardship, with all man's lot of toil and trial, of sorrow and storm, unto the end that he, most kindly and homelike of friendly neighbors, should stand out, grand and alone, to lead a mighty people and a noble land safe through a storm of mortal strife and danger to the blessings of Union and peace under the Constitution and the law. He came to give liberty to every soul in all our broad domain, to the glory of God and all our land for all the ages.

As he said for the soldiers at Gettysburg, "We can not dedicate, we can not consecrate this ground." We meet here in Kentucky on the farm where he was born, to be consecrated and dedicated in the grace and beauty of his great spirit, to the work of upholding and keeping safe our Union, which he so nobly led and helped to save.

And when we try to tell the story of his life and work and his prophetic sayings, we find that nearly fifty years ago, as one inspired of God, he foresaw all and spoke all that we can say or think here, better and sweeter than mortal man could ever speak again.

To him more than any other man we owe-and shall for all time owe the joy, the power, and the gift of grace of a mighty people joined together as they never were before, under one flag and one covenant of the law.

And at last all see, what only part could see at first, the vital truth of the text to which he turned at Chicago before. the election, "A house divided against itself can not stand," repeated on the great seal of Kentucky, "United we stand, divided we fall."

Looking back now through nearly forty-seven years of mighty history, how strong, how wise, how clear, how prophetic, and how great are his inaugural words: