Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1921-02-10
Supreme In wisdom and in power
The Rock of, Ages. stands, o..
Cans't thou not search His mind,
And trace the working of His hands?.

The great Memorial Monument to Lincoln has
lust been completed. 1t is a monument, as Ban
croft said it would be, to the dead ana not IA
monument Of victory. In no way does 1t even
suggest anything but love for the vanquished. The
South has gladly helped to pay for it and the
men and women in that section of the country
have watched it rise with increasing pride. One
NAV we'll say that its completion marks the final
union of the North and the South-erases the
last remnants of hate or mistrust that had con-
tinued to find an abiding place.
1t reflects the thought that ran through the
second inaugural address of Lincoln and was
summed up in the peroration of that address:
with malice toward none with charity for
all with frmness in the right as God gives us to
|rsee the right, let us strive on to finish the work
we are in, to bind"up the nations wounds, to
care for him who shall have borne the battle, and
for his widow and his Orphan-tO do all which
NAV. achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace
among ourselves and with all nations
The nation will dedicate this monument when
the cherry trees in the park surrounding it are
blooming. The date has not been fixed, but it
will be in early spring. 1t will undoubtedly be
one of the. notable events in the history of the
nations capital.
Plan of Memorial.
Henry Bacon, architect Of New York city, who
designed the memorial, says that from the be-
ginning Of his study of what Il memorial to Lin
coin should be he believed that it should be
composed of four events: a statue of the man, a
memorial of his Gettysburg speech, a memorial
of his second inaugural address, and the symbol
of the union Of the United States, which Lincoln
said it was his paramount object to save-and
which he did save. This idea has been strictly
carried out. Each feature is related to the
other by means of its design and position, and
each is so arranged that it becomes an integral
part of the whole, in order to attain unity and
simplicity in the appearance of the monument
Each feature impresses the behOlder with Its
greatest force and by means of isolation this Is
accomplished, though this isolation was not
planned to the extent of impairing the relation
of each feature to the others.
The most important object Is the statue OF
Lincoln, which is placed in the center of the
memorial. This position Of the memorial where
the statue is placed is not occupied by any Other
object that might detract from its effectiveness
and the visitor finds himself alone with thu
statue.
Each of the smaller halls opening off of thu
center space contains a memOriaI-one OF TIT
second inaugural address, and the other of tn
Gettysburg address. These speeches ar
shown in inCiSed letters on n monumental
tablet, and adjacent low reliefs, or decorations
relate in allegOry LinCOln's great qualities eviden
In those speeches. While these memorials ca
be seen from any part of the hall they are pan
tally screened from the central portion wher
the statue is placed by means of n row of loni
columns giving a certain isolation to the spac
thew occupy and augmenting thereby their in
pOrtance. Architect Bacon believes that thes
two great speeches made by Lincoln will Away
have a far greater meaning to the citizens of tn
r United States and visitors from other countrie
than n portrayal Of periods Of events by NEAR
d Of decoration. In this connection, however, i
carried out the view that some reliefs and dec