III. THE EMANCIPATOR
A tall, dark boy dressed in long black coat and rather ill-fitting clothes, dark hair rumpled and pushed back from forehead, sits writing as a rough-looking fellow with whip in one hand tries to pull a little boy, face blackened and poorly clothed, from his negro mother, who clings to child and weeps. A boy marches on stage, carrying large flag and recites:
"No slave beneath that starry flag,
The emblem of the free!
No fettered hand shall wield the brand
That smites for liberty:
No tramp of servile armies
Shall shame Columbia's shore,
For he who fights for freedom's rights
Is free for evermore!"
—George L. Taylor.
IV. THE PARDONER
Boy dressed as Lincoln stands in center of stage. By his side kneels a young lady, looking imploringly at him, hands raised and clasped. Lincoln shakes head sadly for "no." Girl bows head on hands and weeps. Lincoln goes hurriedly to desk, writes, gives her the paper. She kisses his hand, waves farewell and hurries from stage.
V. THE MARTYR
On an easel at center of stage have a picture of Lincoln, two large flags draped above it and smaller ones around it. On either side of picture stand girls dressed in white trimmed with red, white and blue bunting, each holding a flag. They repeat:
"He went about his work—such work as few
Ever had laid on head and heart and hand—
As one who knows, where there's a task to do,
Man's honest will must Heaven's good grace command.
"So he went forth to battle, on the side
That he felt clear was Liberty's and Right's,
As in his peasant boyhood he had plied
His warfare with rude Nature's thwarting mights.
"So he grew up, a destined work to do,
And lived to do it: four long-suffering years.
Ill-fate, ill-feeling, ill-report lived through,
And then he heard the hisses changed to cheers."
—Tom Taylor.