s the Past that consecrates today
The spot where rests one of the noble few
Who saw the right, and dared the right to do.
True to himself and to his fellow men,
With patient hand he moved the potent pen,
Whose inky stream did, like the Red Sea's flow,
Such bondage break and such a host o'erthrow!
The simple parchment on its fleeting page
Bespeaks the import of the better age,--
When man, for man, no more shall forge the chain,
Nor armies tread the shore, nor navies plow the main.
Then shall this boon to human freedom given
Be fitly deem'd a sacred gift of heaven;--
Though of the earth, it is no less divine,--
Founded on truth it will forever shine,
Reflecting rays from heaven's unchanging plan--
The law of right and brotherhood of man.

Edna Dean Proctor, born in Henniker, New Hampshire, October 10, 1838.
She received her early education in Concord and subsequently removed
to Brooklyn, New York. She contributed largely to magazine literature
and has traveled extensively abroad. Of all her poems _By the
Shenandoah_ is probably the most popular.

THE GRAVE OF LINCOLN

Now must the storied Potomac
Laurels forever divide;
Now to the Sangamon fameless
Give of its century's pride.
Sangamon, stream of the prairies,
Placidly westward that flows,
Far in whose city of silence
Calm he has sought his repose.
Over our Washington's river
Sunrise beams rosy and fair;
Sunset on Sangamon fairer,--
Father and martyr lies there.

Break into blossom, O prairie!
Snowy and golden and red;
Peers of the Palestine lilies
Heap for your Glorious Dead!
Roses as fair as of Sharon,
Branches as stately as palm,
Odors as rich as the spices--
Cassia and aloes and balm--
Mary the loved and Salome,
All with a gracious accord,
Ere the first glow of the morning
Brought to the tomb of the