of feeling between Italy and the United States. An American historian, Mr. Nelson Gay-who should be here tonight, but who is engaged in a much nobler occupation of carrying relief to the mountain towns of Calabria-unearthed from the archives of our Embassy in Rome the long-concealed history of the offer, by President Lincoln to General Garibaldi, of the command of one of the Northern armies. Garibaldi refused the offer, largely because the American Government had not yet decided upon the liberation of the slaves, which was the only cause which would have induced the Italian patriot to engage in the American struggle. The incident had no consequences, but it serves to show in what esteem Lincoln held Garibaldi, and what a powerful sway the name and reputation of the great Italian patriot had in America at that time.

It is in such moments of stress and tribulation that real ties and real friendships between nations are made. Happily, the diplomatic intercourse between Italy and the United States is one long record of amity and good will. We are ever ready to recognize our indebtedness for the literary and artistic inspiration received from the land which gave birth to Dante, to Petrarch, to Raphael, to Leonardo da Vinci, and to Michael Angelo. If further link were needed, we have only to recall that it is from an Italian that we have taken the name which is so dear to us-"America."

Your Chairman has given to me a task which is ever most welcome to an American representative. The toast of "The President of the United States" is one which thrills every thread of our patriotic fibre, and we may be pardoned if we seize upon the moment, even here in this most hospitable foreign land, to indulge in an expression of the respect in which we hold the highest officer of our Government, and of the confidence we have in him and our institution.

It is by such gatherings as this that we keep fresh within us the memory of our greatest heroes, and contribute our share to maintain the standards and ideals of our forefathers.

THE MAN LINCOLN

WILBUR D. NESBIT

OT as the great who grow more great

NOT

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