Let old and young accept their part,
And bow before this awful will,
And bear it with an honest heart.
Who misses or who wins the prize,—
Go, lose or conquer as you can;
But if you fail or if you rise,
Be each, pray God, a gentleman.”
In that great address which he gave on the occasion of his being sworn in the first time as President of the United States, toward the close, he said, “Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better or equal hope in the world? In our present differences is either party without faith in being right? If the Almighty ruler of nations, with his eternal truth and justice, be on your side of the North, or on yours of the South, that truth and that justice will surely prevail, by the judgment of this great tribunal of the American people.”
Lincoln Monument—Springfield, Illinois.