We come, O woman and mother, here to build our memorial to thee. Thine earthly garments were damp with the dews of the wilderness; thy feet were torn by the thorns of thy pathway; thine eyes dimmed by the tears of thy travail; but in thine arms them didst bear, and at thy bosom thou didst nourish, the babe of thy sacrifices, the child of thy toil,—him the master of his time, the beloved of centuries to be, the servant of justice and the liberator of the oppressed! And so, for thine own sake and for thy child's, we are here to do this fitting honor.
From the oration of General John C. Black at the dedication of monument to Lincoln's mother.
