could be put in my place, he should
have it. I would gladly yield it to him. But though I believe I have
not so much of the confidence of the people as I had some time since,
I do not know that, all things considered, any other person has more;
and, however this may be, there is no way in which I can have any
other man put where I am. I must do the best I can and bear the
responsibility of taking the course which I feel I ought to take.'

"The President then proceeded to read his Emancipation Proclamation,
making remarks on the several parts as he went on, and showing that he
had fully considered the subject in all the lights under which it had
been presented to him."

The Proclamation was amended in a few matters of detail. It was signed
and published that day. The world knows the rest, and will not forget
it till "the last syllable of recorded time."

THE EMANCIPATION GROUP[7]

BY JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER

Moses Kimball, a citizen of Boston, presented to the city a duplicate
of the Freedman's Memorial Statue erected in Lincoln Square,
Washington, after a design by Thomas Ball. The group, which stands in
Park Square, represents the figure of a slave, from whose limbs the
broken fetters have fallen, kneeling in gratitude at the feet of
Lincoln. The verses which follow were written for the unveiling of the
statue, December 9, 1879.

Amidst thy sacred effigies
If old renown give place,
O city, Freedom-loved! to his
Whose hand unchained a race

Take the worn frame, that rested not
Save in a martyr's grave;
The care-lined face, that none forgot,
Bent to the kneeling slave.

Let man be free! The mighty word
He spake was not his own;
An impulse from the Highest stirred
These chiselled lips alone.

The cloudy sign, the fiery guide,
Along his pathway ran,
And Nature, through his voice, denied
The ownership of man.

We rest in peace where these sad eyes
Saw peril, strife, and pain;
His was the nation's sacrifice,
And ours the priceless gain.

O symbol of God's will on earth
As it is done above!
Bear witness to the cost and worth
Of justice and of love.

Stand in thy place and testify
To coming ages long,
That truth is stronger than a lie,
And righteousness than wrong.

[7] _By special permission of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Company._

ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S CHRI