LINCOLN AND THE POETS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2298, 17 March 1898, Page 50

LINCOLN AND THE POETS.

One of President Liacolu's gifts was an extraordinary memory. As he used to say, be " couldn't help remembering." Mr Noah Brooks cites many interesting examples of his power of retaining tbicg3 he had once heard. " One of my cousins," he says, " John Holmes Goodenow, of Maine, was appointed Consul-general at Constantinople early in the Lincoln Administration, and was taken to the White House, before his departure for his post, to bu presented to the President. When Lincoln learned that his visitor was a grandson of John Holmes, one of the first Senators from Maine, he immediately began to recite a poetical quotation which must have been more than 100 line 3in length.

"Mr Goodenow, never having met the President before, was naturally astonished at this outburst ; and as the recitation went on and on the suspicion crossed his mind that Lincoln had suddenly taken leave of his wits. Bat when the lines were finished the President said:

•• « There I that poem was quoted by your grandfather in a speech which he made in the United States Senate in ,' and he named the date and specified the occasion. "As John Kolmes's term in fcfes Senate

ended in 1833, and Lincoln probably was impressed by reading the speech rather than by hearing it, thi3 feat of memory appears very remarkable."

He used to 3ay, however, that his happening co remember a poem was no sign of any spacial liking for it. Once he recited to Mr Brooks a long and doleful ballad, "in the vein of « Vilikins and his Dinah,' " and, finishing, said, with a deprecatory laugh, " I don't believe I have thought of that before for 40 years."

Afc the same time he was a great lover of simple and hearty verse. One of his favourites was Dr Holmea's " Last Leaf." Concerning this poem Mr Brooks says :

" One November day Lincoln and I were driving out to the Soldiers' Home, near Washington, when the aspect of the scene recalled the lines to his mind. Slowly, and with excellent judgment, he recited the whole poem. Enlarging upon the pathos, wife, and humour of Holmes, I found that the President bad never seen a copy of the genial doctor's works, so far aa he could remember. I offered to lead him roy copy of the poems, a little blue and gold book; and next time I went to ths White House I took it with ms.

" About a week afterwards I called one evening, and the President being alone we settled down for a quiet chat. He took from a drawer in his table the bine and gold Holmes, and went over it with much gusto, reading or reciting several" posms that had struck hi* fancy.

" Finally, be said he liked ' Lexington ' as weil as anything in the book, • The Last Leaf alone excapied, and he began to read the poem; but when he came to the stanza beginning — Gieen be the graves where the irwrfcys are lyicg ! Shroudless and tombless they snnk to theiv rest, his voice faltered, and he g&vs me the book with the whispered request, ' You read it ; I einV

"Months afterwards, when several ladies were in the R:d Parlour, calliog upon Mrs LiccolD, he recited that poem withonfi missing a word, so far as I could remember it. And yet I do not believe that he ever saw the texb of ' Lssiogcon ' except during the few busy days when he had my book." Mr Brooks furnishes also a pretty story about Lincoln's first hearing of one of Longfellow's poema. " I think it was early in the war that some public speaker sent Mr Lincoln a newspaper report of a speech delivered in New York. The President, apparently, did not pay much attention to the speecb, but a few lines of verse at the close canghu his eye. These were tbs closing staczns or Longfellow's ' Building of tbs Ship, 2 beginnirg with —

Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State ! Sail on, O Union, strong aud gre.vb !

"To my surprise he seemed ro have read the lines for the first time. Knowing the whole poem as one of my youthful exercises in recitation I began, at bis request, with the description of the launching oi: the ship and repeated it to the end. As he listened to the last lines — Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, bis eyes filled and his cheeks were wet. He did not speak fcr borne minuses, but finally said with simplicity, ' It. is a wonderful gift to be able to stir men liks that.' "