The Montana post. [volume] (Virginia City, Montana Territory [i.e. Mont.]) 1864-1869, 1865-07-01
Abraham Lincoln.
roUL1Y AssAss1sATrs APRIL IA, 1865.

["Punch," the severest and most persevering Sian
derer of Mr.. Lincoln, and the constant satirist o
his personal peculiarites makes the amende honora
bic in the following beautiful lines. The assassna
tion has worked perfect revolution in the senti
ments of those of the nation who looked upon tn
south.a gallant and oppressed chivalry 1t stand
alone in the annals of literature
You lay wreath on murdered Lncoln's bier.
You, who with mocking pencil won't to trace
Broad for the self-complacent British sneer,
His length of shambling limb, his furrowed face,
His gaunt gnarled hands, his unkempt bristling hair
His garb uncouth, his bearing i'll at ease
His lack Of all we prize as debonair, sF
Of power or will to shine, or art to please.
You, whose smart pen clsed up the pencils laugh
Reckless, So it could point its paragraph,
OF chiefs perplexity, or peoples pain.
Beside this corps, that bears for winding-sheet
The stars and stripes he lived to rear anew,
Between the mourners at his head and feet,
Say, scurril jester, is there room for YOU?
Yes he had lived to shame me from my sneer,
To lame my pencil and confute my pen rEtn.
To make me own this kind of princes peer,
This rail-spltter true-born king of men.
My shallow judgment had learnt to rue,
Noting how to occasions height he rose,
How his quaint wit made home-truths more true
How, iron-like, his temper grew by blows.
How humble, yet how hopeful he could be;
How in good fortune and i'll the same;
Nor bitter in success, nor boastful he, e.
Thirsty for gold, nor feverish for fame.
He went about his work-such work as few
Ever had laid on head and heart and hand
as one who knows, where there's task to do Tmand:
Mans honest will must Heavens good grace COM
Who trusts the strength will with the burden grow,
That God makes instruments to work his will
If but that will arrive to know, .,| o.,
Nor tamper with the weights of good and i'll.
So he went forth to battle on the side .'. "
That he felt clear was Liberty and Rights,
As in his peasant boyhood he had piled
His warfare with rude Natures thwarting nights
The uncleared forest, the unbroken soil,
The iron bark that turns the lumberer's axe
The rapid that o'erbears the boatman' g toll,
The prairie hiding the mazsd wanderers tracks,
The ambushed Indian, and the prowling bear
Such were the needs that helped his youth to train
Rough culture-but such trees large fruit may bear
IL but theirstocks be of right girth and grain.
So he grew up destined work to do,
And lived to do it; four long suffering years
Ill-fate, i'll feeling, ill-report lived through, ..
And then he heard the misses change to cheers,
The taunts to tribute, the abuse to praise, - .
And took both with the same unwavering mood:
Till, as he came on light from darkling days.
And seemed TO touch the goal from where he stood
4 felon hand, between the goal and him, -s-
Reached from behind his back, trigger prest-
And those perplexed and patient eyes were dim,
Those gaunt, long-laboring limbs were laid to rest
The words of mercy were upon his lips, ..
Forgiveness in his heart and on his pen,
When this vile murderer brought swift eclipse
To thoughts Of peace on earth, goodwill to men
The Old World and the New, from sea to sea,
Utter one voice of sympathy and shame ~
Sore heart, SO stopped when 1T at last beat high;
Sad life, cut short just as its triumph came
A deed accurst! Strokes have been struck before
\ By the assassin's hand, whereof men doubt
If more of horror disgrace they bore -.
But thy foul crime, like Gains stands darkIy out
Vile hand, that brandest murder on strife
Wbate'er its grounds, stoutly and nobly striven;
And with the martyrs crown, crownest a life rr
With much to praise, little to be forgiven.