Honest Abe of the West
O Hark! from the pine-crested hills of old Maine,
Where the splendor first falls from the wings of the morning,
And away in the West, over river and plain,
Rings out the grand anthem of Liberty's warning!
From green-rolling prairie it swells to the sea,
For the people have risen, victorious and free,
They have chosen their leaders, and bravest and best
Of them all is Old Abe, Honest Abe of the West!
The spirit that fought for the patriots of old
Has swept through the land and aroused us forever;
In the pure air of heaven a standard unfold
Fit to marshal us on to the sacred endeavor!
Proudly the banner of freemen we bear;
Noble the hopes that encircle it there!
And where battle is thickest we follow the crest
Of gallant Old Abe, Honest Abe of the West!
There's a triumph in urging a glorious cause,
Though the hosts of the foe for a while may be stronger,
Pushing on for just rules and holier laws,
Till their lessening columns oppose us no longer.
But ours the loud pæan of men who have passed
Through the struggles of years, and are victors at last;
So forward the flag! Leave to Heaven the rest,
And trust in Old Abe, Honest Abe of the West!
LINCOLN AS CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT
From an Ambrotype taken at Springfield, Illinois, August 13, 1860
William Henry Burleigh, born at Woodstock, Connecticut, February 2, 1812. In early manhood became an advocate of reforms then unpopular, and an acceptable lecturer on behalf of temperance and the anti-slavery cause. He removed to Pittsburgh in 1837, where he published the Christian Witness, and afterwards the Temperance Banner. As a writer, speaker, editor, poet, reformer, friend and associate, it was the universal testimony of those who knew him best and esteemed him most truly, that he stood in the forefront of his generation. His poetry, animated by deep love of nature and a profound desire to uphold truth and justice, gives him a place with our first minor poets.