Lincoln

by Vinnie Ream Hoxie.

In times which tried the souls of men,
When our fair land was wrenched in two,
What did you not for us and ours,
Most glorious Lincoln, grand and true?

Can we forget how 'midst the storm.
The cyclone of an angry past,
You held aloft our sacred flag,.
And set its trembling standard fast?

And when our country, drenched in blood.
Lay swooning after war's embrace,
You bade the troubled water “peace,”
And kept each starry gem in place?

O, Lincoln, Prophet, Hero, Friend!
You clasped the hands so long estranged.
You healed the wounds you broke the chains,
You honored all our silent slain.

Your loving prayers went up to heaven.
They were by pitying angels heard,
And catching up the sad refrain,
It was intoned at Gettysburg.

A Poem by Mrs. Hoxie

Mrs. E. M. La Penotiere, president of the state federation, at the annual breakfast Lincoln's birthday, made a strong plea for the cultivation of the muses and the inclusion of at least one original poem each year in the program of after dinner speeches. There was present in the audience a clever woman, one of whose many talents is writing poetry, who had written a poem which on account of its special appropriateness it was a pity had not been included in the program. The poem, by Mrs. Vinnie Ream Hoxie of St. Paul, was written specially for the Loyal Legion banquet Tuesday and was printed in the program with a reproduction of Mrs. Hoxie's statue of Lincoln.

A Poem by Mrs. Hoxie, The Minneapolis Journal, February 15, 1902, Page 17.