The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1896-11-12
LINCOLN'S MEMORY.
A PECULIAR POWER.
Especially Fond Of Poetry.

i oue OI TTeSlO0nC LlQCOln'S gl1tt
was an extraordinary memory. AS he
used to say, he "couldn't help remem.
bering." Mr.. Noah Brooks cites many
interesting examples OF his power OF re.
talning things he had once heard. Zone
OF my cousins" he says, "John Holmes
Goo<,enow OF Maine, WAS appointed
Consul General at Constantinople early
in the Lincoln administration, and was
taken to the White House, before his
departure ior his post, to be presented
to the President. When Lincoln learn
ed that his visitor was grandson Of
John Holmes, one of the first senators
from Maine, he Immediately began to
recite poetical quotation which must
| have been more than hundred lines
In length.
"Mr. Goodenow. never having met
the President before was naturally as
toniohed at this outburst and as the
recitation went on and on, the suspi-
cion crossed his mind that Lincoln had
suddenly taken leave Of his wits But
when the lines were finished, the Pres
ident said :
There that poem was quoted by
your grandfather in speech which he
made in the United States Senate in
- and he named the date and
specified the occasion.
GAS John Holmes term in the SEN
ate ended III 1888, and Lincoln proba-
bly, was impressed by reading the
speech rather than by hearing it, this
feat of memory appears very remarka-
BILE.
He used to say, however, that his
happening to remember poem was no
sign of any special liking for it. Once
ne recited to Mr.. Brooks long and
do1eful ballad, "In the vein of Wilkins
and his Dinah,'" and on finishing it,
said, with deprecatory laugh, Il don't
believe I have thought of that before
for forty years"
At the same time he was a great low
er OF simple and hearty verse. One of
his favorites was Doctor Holmes "Last
Leaf" Concerning this poem Mr..
Brooks says:
Zone November day Lincoln and I
were driving out to the Soldiers Home,
near Washington, when the aspect of
the scene recalled the lines to his mind.
Slowly and with excellent judgment he
recited the whole poem: Enlarging
upon the pathos, wit and humor OF
Holmes, I found that the President had
never seen copy of the genial doctors
works, So far as he could remember. /
offered to lend him my copy Of the
poems, little bIue-and-gold book and
the next time l went to the White
House / took 1t with me.
about a week afterward called one
evening, aud the President being alone,
we settled down tor quiet chat. He
took from drawer in his table the
blue-and-gold Holmes, and went over
1t with much gusto, reading or reciting
several poems that had struck his fam
cy.
"F1nally, he said that he liked
Lexington as we'll as anything in the
book, The Last Leaf alone excepted,
and he began to read the poem but
when he came to the stanza beginning,
Green be the graves where the mar
tyrs are lying
Shroudless and tombless they sunk
to their rest,
his voice faltered, and he gave me the
book with the whispered request, you
read 1t; can't
ssMonths afterward, when several la
dies were in the Red Parlor, calling up
on Mrs. Lincoln, he recited that poem
without missing word, SO far as l
could remember it. And yet do not
believe that he ever saw the text of
Lexington except during the few busy
DAYS when he had my book"
Mr.. Brooks furnishes also pretty
story about Lincoln's first hearing OF
one OF Lonfellow's poems.
II think it was early in the war that
some public speaker sent Mr.. Lincoln a
newspaper report OF Il speech delivered
in New York. The President, apparent
ly, did not pay much attention TO the
speech, but a few lines of verse at the
close caught his eye. These were the
closing stanzas of Longfellow's Build
ing of the Ship beginning with:
Thou. too, sail on, 0 Ship OF State
Sail on, O Union, strong and great!
ssTo my surprise, he seemed to have
read the lines for the first time. Know
ing the whole poem us one Of my youth
full exercises in recitation, I began, Mt
his request, with the description of the
launching of the ship, and repeated it
to the end. As he listened to the last
lines:
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers,
our tears,
-. r>,np foo