MARCH 17

Behold a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord. Samuel 30: 26.

Captured Flag.

(Extract from a speech at National Hotel, Washington, March 17, 1865, on presenting to Governor Morton, of Indiana, a Confederate flag captured by Indiana troops.)

It will be but a very few words that I shall undertake to say. I was born in Kentucky, raised in Indiana, and live in Illinois, and I am now here, where it is my business to be, to care equally for the good people of all the States. I am glad to see an Indiana regiment on this day able to present this captured flag to the Governor of Indiana. I am not disposed, in saying this, to make a distinction between the States, for all have done equally well.

There are flags in many lands,
There are flags of every hue;
But there is no flag, however grand,
Like our own Red, White, and Blue.

-Anonymous.

MARCH 18

What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? II. Corinthians 6:14.

Eternal Antagonism.

(Extract from speech at Peoria, Illinois, 1854.)

Slavery is founded in the selfishness of man's nature-opposition to it in his love of justice. These principles are an eternal antagonism, and when brought into collision so fiercely as extension brings them, shocks and throes and convulsions must ceaselessly follow. Repeal the Missouri Compromise, repeal all compromises, repeal the Declaration of Independence, repeal all past history, you still cannot repeal human nature. It still will be the abundance of man's heart that slavery is wrong, and out of the abundance of his heart his mouth will continue to speak.

Careless seems the great Avenger; history's pages but record
One death-grapple in the darkness 'twixt old systems and the Word;
Truth forever on the scaffold. Wrong forever on the throne-
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.

-Lowell.

MARCH 19

Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? Joshua 5:13.

A People's Contest.

(Extract from first message to Congress, July 4, 1861.)

Our adversaries have adopted some declaration of independence, in which, unlike the good old one penned by Jefferson, they omit the words, "All men are created equal." Why? They have adopted a temporary national constitution, in the preamble of which, unlike our good old one signed by Washington, they omit, "We, the people," and substitute, "We, the deputies of the sovereign and Independent States." Why? Why this deliberate pressing out of view the rights of men and the authority of the people? This is essentially a people's contest. On the side of the Union it is a struggle for maintaining in the world that form of government whose leading object is to elevate the condition of men, to lift artificial weights from all shoulders, to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all, to afford an unfettered start and a fair chance in the race of life.

O liberty! hearen's choice prerogative!

True bond of law! thou social soul of property!
Thou breath of reason! life of life itself!
For the valiant bleed. O sacred liberty!

MARCH 20

He multiplieth words without knowledge. Job 35:16.

King Richard the Third.

(To Mr. F. B. Carpenter, at White House, March 2, 1864.)

The opening of the play of King Richard the Third seems to me often entirely misapprehended. It is quite common for an

actor to come upon the stage, and, in a sophomoric style, to begin with a flourish:

"Now is the winter of our discontent

Made glorious summer by this sun of York,

And all the clouds that lowered upon our house,

In the deep bosom of the ocean buried."

Now, this is all wrong. Richard, you remember, had been, and was then, plotting the destruction of his brothers, to make room for himself. Outwardly the most loyal to the newly crowned king, secretly he could scarcely contain his impatience at the obstacles still in the way of his own elevation. He appears on the stage, just after the crowning of Edward, burning with repressed hate and jealousy. The prologue is the utterance of the most intense bitterness and satire.

Words learn'd by rote a parrot may rehearse,
But talking is not always to converse;
Not more distant from harmony divine,
The constant creaking of a country sign.

-Cowper.

MARCH 21

Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end. Proverbs 19:20.

A Small Retainer.

(Notes from a law lecture, 1850.)

As a general rule, never take your whole fee in advance, nor any more than a small retainer. When fully paid beforehand, you are more than a common mortal if you can feel the same interest in the case as if something was still in prospect for you as well as for your client.

All are architects of fate,

Working in these walls of time,
Some with massive deeds and great,
Some with ornaments of rhyme.

Nothing useless is, or low;

Each thing in its place is best;

And what seems but idle show

Strengthens and supports the rest.

For the structure that we raise,
Time is with materials filled;

Our to-days and yesterdays

Are the blocks with which we build.

Truly shape and fashion these;

Leave no yawning gaps between;
Think not, because no man sees,
Such things will remain unseen.

-Longfellow.