Jason Elmer Hammond

“ We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic cords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. ”

“ By the frame of the Government under which we live, this same people have wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief, and have with equal wisdom provided for the return of that little to their own hands at very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the Government in the short space of four years. ”

“ If this country cannot be saved without giving up the principle of Liberty, I was about to say I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it.
To sell or enslave any captured person on account of his color and for no offense against the laws of war, is a relapse into barbarism and a crime against the civilization of the age. ”

“ A nation may be said to consist of its territory, its people, and its laws.
I believe this government cannot permanently endure half slave and half free.
No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty. ”

“ Perhaps this is why he was so poor, perhaps this is why he was content to live in the little log cabin with so few of the comforts of life.
But Nancy Lincoln, the young mother, did not complain. She, too, had grown up among the rude scenes of the backwoods. She had never known better things. And yet she was by nature refined and gentle; and people who know her said she was very handsome. She was a model housekeeper, too; and her poor log cabin was the neatest and best-kept house in all that neighborhood. No woman could be busier than she. ”

“ In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. ”

“ The sober committee were horrified; but when Jones retired, Brown thought it but fair to defend his friend. “I know Jones so well,” said he, “and he is so honest a man, and so good an architect, that, if he states soberly and postively that he can build a bridge to Hades—why, I believe it; but I have my doubts about the abutment on the infernal side.” So, Lincoln added, when politicians said they could harmonize the Northern and Southern wings of the Democracy, why, I believed them; but I had my doubts about the abutment on the Southern side. ”

“ There was only one book studied at the school, and it was a spelling book. It had some easy reading lessons at the end, but these were not to be read until after every word in the book had been spelled. You can imagine how the big boys and girls felt when Abraham Lincoln proved that he could spell and read better than any of them.
OH! WHY SHOULD THE SPIRIT OF MORTAL BE PROUD? ”

“ There were no school houses in that part of Kentucky in those days, and of course there were no public schools. One winter a traveling schoolmaster came that way. He got leave to use a cabin not far from Mr. Lincoln’s, and gave notice that he would teach school for two or three weeks. The people were too poor to pay him for teaching longer. The name of this schoolmaster was Zachariah Riney.
The young people for miles around flocked to the school. Most of them were boys and girls, and a few were grown-up young men. The only little child was Abraham Lincoln, and he was not yet five years old. ”

“ Not far from Hodgensville, in Kentucky, there once lived a man whose name was Thomas Lincoln. This man had built for himself a little log cabin by the side of a brook, where there was an ever-flowing spring of water. ”

“ He did the work of two, sir, and it was Jemmie’s night, not his; but Jemmie was too tired, and Bennie never thought about himself, that he was tired, too.”
“What is this you say, child? Come here; I do not understand,” and the kind man caught eagerly, as ever, at what seemed to be a justification of an offense.
Blossom went to him; he put his hand tenderly on her shoulder and turned up the pale, anxious face towards his. How tall he seemed! and he was President of the United States, too. But Blossom told her simple and straightforward story, and handed Mr. Lincoln Bonnie’s letter to read. ”

“ There will be some black men who can remember that, with silent tongue and clenched teeth and steady eye and well-poised bayonet, they have helped mankind on to this great consummation; while, I fear, there will be some white ones unable to forget that, with malignant heart and deceitful speech, they have striven to hinder it.—August, 1863. ”

“ Perchance no other man has ever had a greater number of descriptive adjectives applied to him—brave, true, patriotic; industrious, patient, persevering; kind, sympathetic, loving; unselfish, devout, earnest; often sad and sorrowful, yet withal shrewd, alert, droll—it has been truly said that his life will be forever a growing power and blessing to the human race. ”

“ The president then turned to the girl and said: “Go home, my child, and tell that father of yours, who could approve his country’s sentence even when it took the life of a child like that, that Abraham Lincoln thinks the life far too precious to be lost. Go back, or—wait until tomorrow. Bennie will need a change after he has so bravely faced death; he shall go with you.”
“God bless you, sir,” said Blossom; and who shall doubt that God heard and registered the request.
Two days after this interview the young soldier came to the White House with his little sister. ”

“ The pupils having been assembled and being seated, and the flag borne by the standard bearer being in front of school, at the signal (either by a chord struck on the piano or, in the absence of a piano, from a bell) each scholar seizes the seat preparatory to rising. ”

“ The reasonable man has long since agreed that intemperance is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of all evils among mankind.
The purposes of the Almighty are perfect and must prevail, though we erring mortals may fail to accurately perceive them in advance. ”

“ It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this; but in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here ”

“ Maybe there are other things that your special case requires to make you happy; but, my friend, these I reckon will give you a good lift.
Gold is good in its place; but living, patriotic men are better than gold. ”

“ Tenth Signal.—The right arm is dropped to the side and the position of attention recovered.
Eleventh Signal.—Each scholar seizes the seat preparatory to turning it down.
Twelfth Signal.—The school is seated.
Flag-bearer.—The color-bearer grasps the staff at the lower end with his right hand and a foot or more (according to the length of the staff) above the end of the staff with his left hand. The staff is held directly in front of the middle of the body, slightly inclined forward from the perpendicular. ”

“ Second Signal.—The whole school rises quickly, as one person, each one standing erect and alert.
Third Signal.—The right arm is extended, pointing directly at the flag; as the flag-bearer should be on the platform where all can see the colors, the extended arm will be slightly raised above a horizontal line. ”