![]() ![]() But bowed down to the ground though he was, he still could not but fix his eyes on heights heretofore unscaled by any American. He said, and he knew, that he, by himself, was nothing. Humbly he gave credit to his hometown and to his neighbors for all that he was, for all that he had attained. The burdens upon him crushed him to the ground. History tells us that he had very good reason to wonder "when, or whether ever" he would see his home again. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell. Trusting in Him, who can go with me, and remain with you and be every where for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. Without the assistance of the Divine Being, who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. ![]() I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever, I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. ![]() Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young to an old man. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe every thing. My friends -No one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. One day short of his fifty-second birthday, Abraham Lincoln, president-elect of the United States, was saying his farewell to his hometown of Springfield, Illinois: ![]()
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