Evening star., 1919-12-28
UNWILLING OF SHAFT
TO LINCOLN RECALLED
Private" Dalzell Describes Cere.
monies Half Century Ago and
Pleads for Saving Monument.

The Star has received a letter from
Private" Dalzell, written from Colum-
bus. Ohio, regarding the "little old first
monument to Abraham Lincoln" in
which he gives reminiscence of the
unveiling of the shaft that has just been
removed from its long occupied place
in front Of the City Hall and stored
pending decision as to it's re-erection
elsewhere. Private" Dalzell writes. it
is evident, without full knowledge of
the circumstances of the removal of the
statue. or indeed of the fact that it has
been actually taken down. His letter.
however, may be read as an expression
of hope that this. the first of the coun-
! try's memorials to the martyred Presi-
| dent to be erected. will be restored to
view in place even more suitable than
that from which it has just been re-
moved. The letter follows:
| ''Fifty-two years ago a very young
soldier from Ohio with his young BRIDE
stood proudly but sadly in very great
and solemn aSSemblage in front of the
city hall in Washington city and wit
messed the impressive ceremonies of the
unveiling of the first monument to
Abraham Lincoln. A deep and awful
hush was on the crowd, and the silence
was broken only when Andrew Johnson,
President of the United States, unveiled
the tall, grand figure of our beloved
martyr and pronounced the dedicatory
address, fitting and splendid tribute
to Lincoln's memory from the lips of the
man closest to him in life and death
himself consummate orator and his
toric parsonage.
| Nations Great Men Present.
witness the event stood plainly visible
all the great men of that age-the
! golden era of American greatness
"A list of them now would, at
glance, be the visible, tangible history
of America for fifty years of that
l nd
commanding spirits, in peace and war
rose. Saul-like. head and shoulders
above all the men of their generation,
the golden age of America The P-esi-
dent and cabinet. foreign ambassadors.
Grant: Grant Sherman: Sheridan. Custer.
Thomas. artists. sculptors, poets, states
men OF renown. Samson Greedy. be n
er, Thaddeus Stevens, Butler. Bingham,
Morton. l can name no one of our
Mighty men who was not th-r to hon
or the memory of Lincoln, who in life,
had led them all to glorious achieve
ment and undying fame. Time PLAYS
such tricks with an old mans memory
that this pen may slip a little on names
which wiser men know 1 will add to the
traement u l give or even eliminate some.
| Yes, Dut no difference, the spectacle as
a Whoie in its sublime pathos and
grandeur rises before me now as fresh
as II 1t were but yesterday.
: Llncoins personality, fresh in every
mind. in his grave but a few short
months, his blood yet crimson in Ford's
Iheater, the minute guns of 1865, and
the sobs OF the nation re-echoins sadly
, again here at the dedication of the
martyrs monument, the first that rose
out of the peoples hearts and purses
to his memory. The very ground was
hallowed, consecrated forever by the
solemn ceremonial and the august
presence OF the greatest men earth has
ever produced and hosts of the lowIy in
tears. Thousands of the boys in blue
who had marched to danger or death al
ms CALL stood there in worshipf1l
silence as they saw the monument they
had largely bought and paid for un-
veiled for eternity.
There. poor and simple, altogether
not half what any one desired, yet all
people, poor but patriotic could af.
ford in that day of Americas poverty
Rich in men, poor in purse, the nation
then could build no million dollar
monuments.
Must Save Monument.
| Ihe proposal to wreck and remove
that homely little monument. the Grs,
10 come from stricken and sorrow.
ing people, would be sacriIege like
the destruction of a temple or altar
OF our religion. No one but a yandal
could propose such desecra ton. There
let that little old monument stand
through the ages, commemorative
ankle the plain. homely life and char
acter OF the meek and lonely Lincoln
ana at the same time the love and
sorrow of the poor men and woman
who raised this shaft as the very he IT
they could afford in a period of naH
tional poverty.
PRIVATE DALZELJ."