504 Presidential Addresses 



term of service needed all of the consolation and 

 of the strength that he could draw from the unseen 

 powers above him, it was Abraham Lincoln, who 

 worked and suffered for the people, and when he 

 had lived for them to good end gave his life at the 

 end. If ever there was a man who practically ap- 

 plied what was taught in our churches, it was Abra- 

 ham Lincoln. The other day I was rereading on 

 the suggestion of Mr. Hay a little speech not often 

 quoted of his, yet which seems to me one of the 

 most remarkable that he ever made; delivered right 

 after his re-election, I think, to a body of serenaders 

 who had come, if my memory is correct, from Mary- 

 land, and called for an address from him from the 

 White House. It is extraordinary to read that 

 speech, and to realize that the man who made it 

 had just come successfully through a great political 

 contest in which he felt that so much was at stake* 

 for the Nation that he had no time to think whether 

 or not anything was at stake for himself. The 

 speech is devoid of the least shade of bitterness. 

 There is not a word of unseemly triumph over those 

 who have been defeated. There is not a word of 

 glorification of himself, or in any improper sense 

 of his party. There is an earnest appeal, now that 

 the election is over, now that the civic strife has 

 been completed, for all decent men who love the 

 country to join together in service to the country; 

 and in the speech he uses a thoroughly Lincoln-like 

 phrase when he says "I have not willingly planted 

 a thorn in the breast of any man," thus trying to 



