Hark to the sound that speedeth o'er the land!
Behold the sword in fratricidal hand!
'Tis duty calls thee, Lincoln, and thy trust
Demands that all thy acts be wise and just.
No idle task to thee has been assigned,
But work that's worthy of a giant mind--
And on the issue hangs the nation's fame
As a free people who deserve the name.
So, walk thou in the way the fathers trod;
Be true to freedom, country, and to God;
Then truth will triumph, treason be undone,
And thou be hailed the second Washington.
The first, the Father of his country--thou,
Its Saviour. Bind the laurel on thy brow.
[Illustration: LINCOLN IN 1858