Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1865-05-25
President LincOln's FayOrite
Poem.

Mr.. +. b. Carpenter, the well knowr
painter of 'The Emancipation Proclamation
Before the Cabinet" has written note il
reference to a poem much admired by Mr.
Lincoln. He says.
u have been urged by several friends tc
send you the enclosed poem, written dowr
by myself, from Mr.. Lincoln's lips, and al
though it may not be new to all your readers
the. events ofthe last week give it now pc
culiar interest"
Oh! WHY SHOULD THE SPIRIT OF MORTAL
BE PROUD?
Oh why should the spirit of mortal be proud
Hash of the lightning, n break of the wnye
Like swift teeting meteor, Il fast fying cloud
lie passeth from life to his rest in the grave.
The leaves of the oak and willow shall fndc.
BE scattered around, and together he laid:
And the young and the old, and the low and tn,
Shall mouder to dust, and together shall lie.
The infant mother attended and loved:
The mother that infants affection who proved
The husband that mother and infant who bles.
Each, ali, are away to their dwellings of rest.
The maid on whose brow, on whose cheek, in
whose eye,
shone beauty and pleasure-her triumphs arc
And alike from the minds ofthe living erased.
Are tne mem fleS OF mortalS who loved her and
praised
The head of the king that the sceptre hath borne
The brow ofthe priest that the mitre hath worn
1he eve OF the sage and the heart of the brave
Are hidden and lost in the depths of the grave
The peasant whose lot was to SOW and TO rean
me herdnan VINO climbed with his goats zip
The beggar who wandered in search ofhis bread
Have faded away like the grass that we treat
Thesaint who enjoyed the communion of heav-
The sinner who dared TO remain unforgiven.
The wise and the foolish the guilty and inst
Have quietly mingled their bones In the dust
So the multitude goes, like the flower or the
weed
That withcrs away to let others succeed:
80 the multitude comes even those we behold
10 repeat every tale that has often been told.
For we are the same our hers have been.
We see the same sights our fathers have seen;
We drink the same stream and view the same
sun,
And run the same course our fathers have run.
The thoughts we are thinking our fathers would
think;
From the death we are shrinking our fathers
would shrink;
To the lifew are clinging they also would cling;
They loved, but the story we cannot unfold;
They scorned, but the heart of the naughty is
cold;
They grieved, but no wall from their slumber
Will come;
They ioyed, but the tongue of their gladness is
dumb.
They died. aye! they died; we things that are
now;
We walk on the turf that lies over their brow
Ana make in their dwellings II transient abode
Meet tne things that they met on their pilgrim
age road
Yes! hope and dependency, pleasure and pain
We minSle together in sunshine and rain;
And The smile and the tear the song and the
dirgc,
still follow each other like surge upon surge.
'Tis the wink of an eye, tits tho draught of a
breath,
From The, blossom of health to the palencss OF
From the gilded saloon to the bier and the
shroud, "
Oh! why should the spirit of mortal be proud
Ihls poem was written by a Scotch poet, a
iavor!te OF Walter Scott's. He died Young OF
consumption.