The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1907-01-31

tntscences OF President Lincoln occurs
the following passage:
1.-THE evening OF March %, 1864. was
. most Interesting one 10 me. was
with the president alone In his ofllce
for several hours. Busy with pen and
papers when I went in. he presently
threw them aside and commenced talk
Ing to me OF Shakespeare, Of whom he
was very fond. Little TAD his son.
coming In, he sent him to the library
for copy OF the plays and then,read
to me several of his favortte passages.
Relapslng into sadder strain. he laid
the book aside and. leaning back In his
clair. said:
.There Is poem which has been n
great faSorfte with me for years. which
w. EST shown to me when young
man by friend and which after.
ward saw and cut from newspaper
AMI learned by heart. I would, he
continued. give great deal to know
who Wrote IL. but / have never been
able TO ascertain.t
Lincoln's Fayorite Poem.
''TLea. half closing. his eyes, he re
peated tie verses to me:
oh. why should the spirit of mortal be
proud?
Like q swift nee,Inr meteor. a fast nylns
A fa ...,,.. Of the lightning. a. break Of the
lie passelh from life to his rest in the
grave.
The leaves of the oak and the willow
slall fade.
ae scattered around and together be laid
And the $otne and the old and the low
and the high
Shall tnulder TO dust and together shal
The infant a mother Intended and loved.
The motAeT that infants afsccsicn Wilt
proved.
rha husband that mother ana infant VIII.
Each. MI. are away to their dwellings, Of
rest.
1.-THE maid on whose check. on whose
L hro.s. In whose eye.
saone beauty and pleasure. her trlumphs
And the the s,.9 OF those who loved her
Are alike from the minds OF tho living
erslstd.l
The .h hand of the King that the seepter
The brow Of the priest that the inter
The cye OF tie sage and the heart OF the
Are i,aaqa and los. in the depths OF the
''rhe peasant Whose lot was to SOW and
TO reap,
The herdsman who climbed with his goats
The E, ssss ,' who wandered In search of
Have faded away like the grass that We
1.-THE saint who enjoyed the communion
OF heaven.
The sinner who dared to remain unfor-
The wise and the foolish. the guilty and
Just.
Have quietly mingled their bones in the
dust.1z t.s - ~
so the multitude goes like the flower or
That withers away to let others succeed:
So the multitude comes. even those we
TO rsps as'a every tale tina. ha. often been
"For we are the same our fathers have
We see the same sights our fathers have
seen:
We drink the same stream. we view the
And run the same course our fathers, have
rum. FlfS
THE Thoughts we are thinking our fathers
would think;
From the death we are shrinking our fa-
theirs would shrink:
70 the life we are cItngtng they also
would cling.
But 4 speeds from us all like a bird on
the wing.
'They loved. but the story we cannot un-
fold:
They scorned. but the heart of the
naughty Is cold;
They grieved. but no wall from their
slumber will come:
They 3oyed. but the tongue OF their glad
ness Is dumb.
''rhey died-aye: they died. We things
that are now.
That walk on the turf that lies over their
And make in their dwellings transient
abode
Mee, the things that they met on their
pilgrimage road.
"Yea: hope and despondea'y. pleasure and
and pain,
Are mingled together ia sunshine and
And the smile and the tear, tho song and
still follow each other like surge upon
surge.
"'TIs the wink of an eye. It's the draft of
a breath,