AT THE MONUMENT OF LINCOLN.
The General Association of Illinois, at its recent meeting in Springfield, as it had done once before, went in a body to that shrine of patriotism, the monument to Abraham Lincoln. That patriotic song, now turned to a Christian psalm, “My country, ’tis of thee,” was sung by the people, and a prayer of thanksgiving was offered by Dr. G. S. F. Savage, who has now come to be one of the veteran ministers of the State.
Words of welcome were offered by the Attorney-General of Illinois, Mr. Geo. H. Hunt, and these were gracefully responded to by the Moderator, Rev. W. F. Day. Addresses were also made by Rev. E. K. Alden, D.D., Hon. Wm. H. Collins, and Rev. Jos. E. Roy.
At the former visit of this body, the Jubilee Singers were present to voice the gratitude of the emancipated race.
The colored troops, after their muster-out, gave for the monument more than $50,000, one-fourth of the whole.
The scroll held in the left hand of the bronze statue of Mr. Lincoln bears on it, in large letters, the word “Emancipation,” and the pen in his right hand indicates the signing of that talismanic instrument, while the coat-of-arms, set into the pedestal, represents the eagle as holding in his beak the broken chain of slaves.
Of the 178,000 colored soldiers, 80,000 had, with their great Liberator, laid down their lives for the life of the nation. And so it seemed well that one who was identified with the work of supplementing that edict of freedom should stand there to recount their deeds of valor and to relate with what enthusiasm they celebrate all over the South not only Emancipation Day and the Fourth of July, but Decoration Day itself. Who in that Southland shall be found to offer psalms and prayers, and scatter flowers over the graves of the 321,369 soldiers buried in the eighty-two national cemeteries there? As God would have it, the people are found there, numbered by millions, who delight to render this service of gratitude and of love—a people whose patriotism has never been tarnished with a breath of disloyalty.
What shall be done for a people who have been so true to the nation? Let them be confirmed in all the rights and emoluments of our Christian citizenship.