This historic volume was published in 1907 and is perfect for young boys and girls.
A summary of the Preface:
We know the old legend of the great gulf that
once opened in the earth in Rome and threatened to
destroy the city. The oracle declared that this gulf
would never close until the most precious thing in Rome
had been thrown into it. So the people brought gold
and jewels and beautiful furniture and ornaments of all
kinds. But the gulf remained as wide open as ever, and
the people were in despair. At last one brave man
who loved his country cried out: "The most precious
thing in Rome is her manhood ! " And he leaped straight
down into the gulf, dying for the sake of his country.
For immediately it shut together over his head and
Rome was saved.
In 1861, more than two thousand years afterward,
in our own land of America, a great gulf of disunion
opened in the midst of our Republic, and all our efforts
at closing it were of no avail, until the most precious
possession in our land, or in any land, had leaped into
the gulf. Four hundreds of thousands of brave men
gave their lives to the closing of this gulf of disunion
which would have destroyed the peace and greatness of
our land.
The last life to be sacrificed was Abraham Lincoln's.
And the gulf closed. For Lincoln was a man whom the
North as well as many in the South mourned for as a
patriot, a lover and friend of his whole country. He
was, as Stanton said of him, the greatest ruler of men
that the world has seen, a ruler by persuading, convinc-
ing, leading by his own purity of purpose and great
abilities.
Abraham Lincoln was as poor as any poor man ;
none has fewer opportunities than he had. But who
can bring so much out of so little, because who has his
ability and his wonderful industry?
Yet the keynote of his character was not his
ability or his industry, remarkable as these were. It
was something still higher — it was his purpose. A
remark that he once made shows how he felt as to all
the honors that life could give him. He said one day
that some persons were satisfied with being "Governor"
or holding some office; but this kind of thing could
never satisfy him. This was true. Not what he had,
but what he was and what he could do in the world
seemed to him worthy of struggle and labor.
The history of his life gives us a faint idea of what
his struggle and labor were. It tells us also how his
great desire to help the world was gratified in a
wonderful way.
Chapters:
- How People Lived in 1809
- Daniel Boone and the Lincoln Pioneers
- The Little Boy in the Lonely Woods
- Going to Indiana
- A Good Step-Mother
- Axe and School-Book
- What Lincoln Liked Best of All to do
- Among His Comrades
- His Trips to New Orleans
- How He Kept Shop; What Came of it
- The Black Hawk War
- Stumping for Election
- In Vandalia
- The Lincoln-Stone protest
- Settled in Springfield
- Abraham Lincoln Marries
- In Congress
- A Real Student
- How Lincoln Practiced Law
- The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
- Lincoln in New York and New England
- The Organization of the Republican Party
- In the Wigwam at Chicago
- What the South Was Doing in the Winter of 1860-61
- What the New President Had to Face
- Firing on the Flag
- How the North Responded
- The Battle of Bull Run
- Some of the Union Generals
- People who Tried to Advise
- General Lee Comes into Maryland
- Congress and Slavery
- The Emancipation Proclamation
- Foes Before and Foes Behind
- General Grant at Vicksburg
- War on the Ocean
- On the Field of Gettysburg
- How Mr. Lincoln Tried for Peace
- How the People Learned to Trust Him
- How Grant Fought It Out on That Line
- Lincoln's Walk Through Richmond
- TheJoy of the Natoin in Victory and Peace
- A People's Grief
- The Great American
A summary of the Preface:
We know the old legend of the great gulf that
once opened in the earth in Rome and threatened to
destroy the city. The oracle declared that this gulf
would never close until the most precious thing in Rome
had been thrown into it. So the people brought gold
and jewels and beautiful furniture and ornaments of all
kinds. But the gulf remained as wide open as ever, and
the people were in despair. At last one brave man
who loved his country cried out: "The most precious
thing in Rome is her manhood ! " And he leaped straight
down into the gulf, dying for the sake of his country.
For immediately it shut together over his head and
Rome was saved.
In 1861, more than two thousand years afterward,
in our own land of America, a great gulf of disunion
opened in the midst of our Republic, and all our efforts
at closing it were of no avail, until the most precious
possession in our land, or in any land, had leaped into
the gulf. Four hundreds of thousands of brave men
gave their lives to the closing of this gulf of disunion
which would have destroyed the peace and greatness of
our land.
The last life to be sacrificed was Abraham Lincoln's.
And the gulf closed. For Lincoln was a man whom the
North as well as many in the South mourned for as a
patriot, a lover and friend of his whole country. He
was, as Stanton said of him, the greatest ruler of men
that the world has seen, a ruler by persuading, convinc-
ing, leading by his own purity of purpose and great
abilities.
Abraham Lincoln was as poor as any poor man ;
none has fewer opportunities than he had. But who
can bring so much out of so little, because who has his
ability and his wonderful industry?
Yet the keynote of his character was not his
ability or his industry, remarkable as these were. It
was something still higher — it was his purpose. A
remark that he once made shows how he felt as to all
the honors that life could give him. He said one day
that some persons were satisfied with being "Governor"
or holding some office; but this kind of thing could
never satisfy him. This was true. Not what he had,
but what he was and what he could do in the world
seemed to him worthy of struggle and labor.
The history of his life gives us a faint idea of what
his struggle and labor were. It tells us also how his
great desire to help the world was gratified in a
wonderful way.
Chapters:
- How People Lived in 1809
- Daniel Boone and the Lincoln Pioneers
- The Little Boy in the Lonely Woods
- Going to Indiana
- A Good Step-Mother
- Axe and School-Book
- What Lincoln Liked Best of All to do
- Among His Comrades
- His Trips to New Orleans
- How He Kept Shop; What Came of it
- The Black Hawk War
- Stumping for Election
- In Vandalia
- The Lincoln-Stone protest
- Settled in Springfield
- Abraham Lincoln Marries
- In Congress
- A Real Student
- How Lincoln Practiced Law
- The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
- Lincoln in New York and New England
- The Organization of the Republican Party
- In the Wigwam at Chicago
- What the South Was Doing in the Winter of 1860-61
- What the New President Had to Face
- Firing on the Flag
- How the North Responded
- The Battle of Bull Run
- Some of the Union Generals
- People who Tried to Advise
- General Lee Comes into Maryland
- Congress and Slavery
- The Emancipation Proclamation
- Foes Before and Foes Behind
- General Grant at Vicksburg
- War on the Ocean
- On the Field of Gettysburg
- How Mr. Lincoln Tried for Peace
- How the People Learned to Trust Him
- How Grant Fought It Out on That Line
- Lincoln's Walk Through Richmond
- TheJoy of the Natoin in Victory and Peace
- A People's Grief
- The Great American
