Lincoln Called to the Presidency
Hark to the sound that speedeth o'er the land!
Behold the sword in fratricidal hand!
'Tis duty calls thee, Lincoln, and thy trust
Demands that all thy acts be wise and just.
No idle task to thee has been assigned,
But work that's worthy of a giant mind—
And on the issue hangs the nation's fame
As a free people who deserve the name.
So, walk thou in the way the fathers trod;
Be true to freedom, country, and to God;
Then truth will triumph, treason be undone,
And thou be hailed the second Washington.
The first, the Father of his country—thou,
Its Saviour. Bind the laurel on thy brow.
LINCOLN IN 1858
From a photograph by S. M. Fassett of Chicago
An act of Congress July 9, 1790, established the District of Columbia as the National Capital, and provided that prior to the first Monday of December, 1800, the Commissioners should have finished a suitable building for the sessions of Congress. The site of the Capitol was included in L'Enfant's plan for the city. The cornerstone was laid September 18, 1793, with Masonic rites, George Washington officiating. The wings of the central building were completed in 1811, and were partially burned by the British, in 1814. The entire central building was finished in 1827. The cornerstone of the extension was laid by President Fillmore, July 4, 1851. The extensions were first occupied by Congress 1857 and 1859. Up to that time the Senate Chamber was the present Supreme Court Room, and the Hall of Representatives was the present National Statuary Hall. The dome was finished during the administration of President Lincoln. The total cost of the Capitol building and grounds was about thirty million dollars. The remains of President Lincoln were escorted from the White House to the Capitol at three o'clock P.M., on the 19th of April, 1865. The number in the procession was estimated at forty thousand, and that many more were spectators along the route. The burial service was conducted by Dr. Gurley. The special train bearing the remains left at 8 A.M., Friday, April 21, for Springfield, Illinois, stopping at Baltimore, Maryland; Harrisburg and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Albany and Buffalo, New York; Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; Chicago, Illinois, reaching Springfield, Illinois, the 3d of May, and was buried the following day. The body lay in state in all of the above cities.
THE CAPITOL
The Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, in front of the Capitol, Washington, March 4, 1865
Edwin Markham, born at Oregon City, Oregon, April 23, 1852; settled in California in 1857, and worked there during his boyhood, principally as a blacksmith. Worked his way through the San Jose Normal School and Santa Rosa College. Became a writer of stories and verse for papers and magazines, and principal and superintendent of California schools. Was the author of The Man With the Hoe, and Other Poems (1899); The Man With the Hoe, with Notes by the Author (1900); The End of the Century (1899); Lincoln, the Great Commoner (1900); The Mighty Hundred Years; Lincoln and Other Poems (1901); The Shoes of Happiness (1915). His Man With the Hoe was extensively republished and gave him wide fame.