The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1930-01-31

Shrined the rude log cabin in which
he was born on February II, 1909.
Illinois, which first sent him into pub
lie life and gave him to the nation as
its President at one of the most crit
ical periods in its history, has a score
or more reminders of his greatness.
But it is curious fact that the state
In which he lived during fourteen of
the formative years of his life for a
long time did not have single me-
mortal erected in honor of Abraham
Lincoln.
That state is Indiana, to which he
: came at the age of seven. It was in
Indiana that he got most of his little
schooling; it was there that he earned
his first dollar; it was there that he
first met with the neighboring youth
In country crossroads store, first
read the newspapers and got in touch
with the outside world, first began to
discuss politics, first took part in pub
lie debates and first read law. The
soil of the Hoosier state was particu-
larry dear to him because it holds the
oody of the mother who bore him and
that Of his only sister who was mar
ried, lived and died there.
The only exception to the statement
that Indiana was strangely laggard in
honoring man whom she could prop
erly claim as one Of her greatest sons
is the fact that more than fifty years
ago, after vandal hands had cut to
pieces the first marker erected by citi-
Gems in Spencer county ever the grave
Of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, another and
more imposing marker was erected
there by Clement Studebaker of South
Bend. So it is especially appropriate
that his daughter, Mrs. Anne Stude-
Oaker Carlisle, should be the president
Of the Indiana Lincoln Union, which
Is now engaged in the work of raising
. a fund of more than a million dollars
to erect on Indiana soil national
shrine to commemorate the lives of
Lincoln and his mother.
Three years ago, on Mothers day,
the executive committee of the union
held memorial services at the grave
Of Nancy Hanks Lincoln and pledged
itself to the patriotic task. On that
occasion, an aviator looming low over
the grave and cabin site, dropped this
message:
! TO THE NAMES OF NANCY HANKS
LINCOLN 49,
The men and women of today are
here beside your grave
Among the guarding trees, to make
their VOW, your name ~.
Shall never die. And to their praise,
add our tribute, from the sky.
We are the artificers of the past,
whose handicraft
Has gained the praise of men. with
stone and clay, 81.
With brush and pen. we wrought. to
leave expressions of the truth we
found.
But you--You dared to take
A living child, a plastic infant mind,
Into soul of love. an instrument
divine. Your genius
Used an art that ours was mean be-
side. To you then,
Master Artist. we send our word of
praise.
Through devious paths that masked
the way,
You led with kindly hand, a child
into the light of truth. And made an
honest man.
The memorial will include the spot
where the Lincoln cabin stood and the
grave where his mother lies buried.
1t is intended that it shall in all re-
spects typify the pioneer days when
Lincoln was youth. The plans of
Frederick Law Olmstead, landscape
architect Of Brookline, Mass, which
have been adopted. include the COM
piete restoration Of the area with APP
propriate markers, magnificent me
mortal halI and the pioneer atmo-
sphere Of native trees and shrubbery.
with a small body Of water ana a
clearing.
The proposed national lnporial viii
link the three states of 4 lucky. In