the end of this bridge, the commission proposed that a Lincoln memorial be erected, which should have a character distinctively its own-one suggestion being that of a great portico of Doric columns. This plan had the support of President Roosevelt. The question of a permanent Lincoln museum was also discussed, and in order that the priceless collections of Lincoln relics now in private hands may some time be brought together as the property of the government, it is hoped that such a plan may be realized. When that time comes, it is to be hoped that the great Gunther Lincoln collection, now stored in Chicago, may become thus once more available to the public, unless Chicago itself shall have sooner provided a suitable building for its preservation and display. In the meantime, while these plans for a great national memorial were being canvassed and discussed in and out of Congress, and through the press of the country-cities, towns, and villages all over the United States, colleges, universities, schools, churches, fraternal organizations, and private citizens were dedicating permanent memorials of their own, not so pretentious as the vast projects proposed in Congress, but equally commemorative of the Man they had thought so to honor, and perhaps even more vital in influence by reason of being set in the busy ways of town and market place, where the people go about their daily tasks. Hundreds of memorial tablets were placed on walls and buildings; monuments were dedicated; busts of Lincoln placed in public halls, schools, libraries, and other places of congregation; new municipal parks named for Lincoln and thrown open to the public; while many of the sites where Lincoln once made history, were permanently marked, for the information of future generations, by tablets commemorating his connection with the events which had there taken place. The Grand Army of the Republic had struck off, at the United States Mint at Philadelphia, a Lincoln Centenary medal in bronze, as "an everlasting token of respect to the Commander in Chief of the Union Army and Navy of the Civil War, and an heirloom to be handed down from generation to generation as a tribute to the loyalty of those who served under his command." The government, in commemoration of the Centenary, issued a Memorial stamp and a Memorial penny. The postage stamp was a two-cent one, of the size and color of the regular twocent stamp, and bore a profile of Lincoln, facing to the right, with the inscriptions: "U. S. Postage," and "1809-Feb. 121909," "Two Cents." The penny, on its obverse side, bears a profile relief of Lincoln facing the right, with the inscriptions: "In God we Trust," "Liberty," "1909," while on the reverse side are the words, "E Pluribus Unum," "One Cent," "United States of America.” When the distribution of these coins was made at the sub-treasuries, hundreds of people stood for hours in line for the opportunity of buying them, and soon they were sold at a premium on the street. The universal interest in the celebration of the Centenary is perhaps most clearly evidenced by the newspaper comment upon the life and services of Lincoln, and the celebrations of the week. The collection of clippings gathered for Chicago's Committee of One Hundred during the celebration, numbers over sixty thousand separate items, and fills more than thirty volumes the size of the "Encyclopedia Britannica." These clippings are an inexhaustible mine of anecdotes and reminiscences of Lincoln which could never again be duplicated. Many of them have been included, of course, in works already published, but others are new and of vital interest. Some day it is hoped that this new material may be made available for the lovers of Lincoln, through the historical societies or otherwise. The newspapers of the country printed Centennial editions, reviewing Lincoln's life, character, and the times which gave him birth; bringing into the least-lettered homes of the land intimate knowledge, not only of the sad, patient, kindly, wonderful man who held the nation intact, against all pressure from within and without, but of the conditions which confronted him-of the inner history of the Civil War, and what preceded and came after. It has been my plan here to give a brief indication of the marvellous interest expressed in the Centenary by the people of our country, and to preserve in permanent form some, at least, of the best addresses delivered on that occasion. It is hoped that the perusal of these addresses may kindle anew the already wide interest in the life and works of Abraham Lincoln, and, by showing the uniqueness of his place in the life of the nation, cause many who have never been so before, to become students of the life, words, character, and achievements of the most typical of all Americans. The tribute of a century, paid to him within the lifetime of his contemporaries, shows that Lincoln lives in the hearts of his countrymen, immortal. |