Excerpt from Abraham LincolnMr. President and Gentlemen - As I am informed, the Cherry Tree Club meets once each year to commemorate the birthday of the Father of his Country. Your club is composed almost entirely of'young men, most of whom were born since the close of the Civil War, and few, if any, of you were old enough at that time to have any personal recollection of the events that marked the most tragic period in the history of the Republic. I am asked to portray the character of the man who was not only the central figure in that Titanic struggle, but whose memory is, and will ever be, enshrined in the hearts of all' liberty-loving people throughout the habitable globe. May I not hope that you will bear with me if I shall attempt more than a brief pass ing tribute to the character of this remarkable man. May I not be indulged in an endeavor to quicken in your minds the meaning of that great epoch in our history, while bring ing to your attention some of the conspicuous characteristics of the man about whom I am to speak, and some of the events connected with which he will always be the one prominent personality.In devotion to his country, in breadth of statesman ship, in exalted character, in blameless private life, the name of Abraham Lincoln will grow brighter with the ages - the synonym of true greatness - the harbinger of that period to which we all look, of peace on earth, good will to man. In his early days he struck his roots deep down into the common soil of the earth, and in his latest years his head towered and shone among the stars!About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.