339 



such a degree as to excite the admiration and bigh satisfaction of our 



best critics. 



And now it becomes my duty, as it is my pleasure, in the name 

 of the War Fund Committee, formally to requesl the Brooklyn Park 

 Commissioners, of whom (to Mr. Stranahan) you, sir, are the hon- 

 ored president, to accept in perpetuity the custody of this statue of 

 Abraham Lincoln, to love and to cherish and protect during all the 

 days of your authority. 



May it ever stand here, looking out over our fair city, where it 

 will hold in review the millions who will visit this beautiful park, 

 and where our citizens, and the people of everj name, as they come 

 up those broad avenues, and look toward the rising sun. will ever be 

 reminded of the pure, the noble, the patriotic Abraham Lincoln. 



May his lite and character be a model to ourselves and to our 

 children, and to all who would aspire to influence and position in our 

 land. May the union of all the States, and universal liberty — which 

 he loved, and which was his highest earthly aim to preserve — ever 

 be dear to the hearts of his countrymen, and may all the people of 

 the East and the West, of the North and the South, feel themselves 

 to be one people, with one common interest, only emulating each 

 other by their love for the old flag, and for the whole country, and 

 for the whole country's good. 



MR STRAXAHAX'S ACCEPTAXCE OX BEHALF OF THE PARK 



COMMISSIOX. 



Gentlemen of the War Fund Committee : — The Park Com 

 missioners have selected in this, the main entrance to Prospect Park, 

 three positions as, in their judgment affording appropriate localities 

 for the erection of as many statues, as memorials of three of the 

 eminent men whose lives are intimately identified with three great 

 struggles in our country's history. In one of these positions they 

 hope to see a statue of George Washington, who on this ground 

 fought his first battle in the war of the Revolution, and whose serv- 

 ices as Commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary army, and subse- 

 quently as President of these United States, have not only entitled 

 him to the nation's gratitude, but also secured for his name the en- 

 during respect and veneration of mankind. In the second position 

 they hope to see the statue of Andrew Jackson, distinguished among 

 the illustrious heroes that appeared in the war of Is 1:2, not less dis- 

 tinguished as the chief magistrate of this nation, and in both relations 

 evincing a devotion to the unity, integrity and prosperity of his 



