A Visit to Lincoln’s Former Residence

□ Article / Pictures Chang Jiang Tr. by Zhang Jie

A Visit to Lincoln’s Former Residence

□ Article / Pictures Chang Jiang Tr. by Zhang Jie

During my stay in the United States in last spring and summer, I and my friends intentionally went to Lincoln’s hometown—Spring fi eld, a small town in the heart of Illinois when we were on our way back to Kansas City from Chicago.

I remembered it was a Sunday afternoon, we traveled southwestward from Chicago to Spring fi eld along Highway 55 for about 350 kilometers. It was nearly twilight when we arrived in. Accompanied with an American friend Justin, we walked to Lincoln’s hometown, No. 126, South Street 7 in the downtown.

Spring fi eld is also called Chun Tian city(Chun Tian refers to “Spring fi eld”in Chinese), and it is the capital of Illinois.As a small city, Spring fi eld is free from hustle and bustle of tracks or high-rises in Chicago. Buildings here are of primitive simplicity. European churches of huge size and the tall State House of castle style with dome make people stop and linger on. It is a tranquil city with tidy streets and few pedestrians. After about a ten-minute walk, we arrived at a two-storied detached house of white walls and green windows. Justin told us it was Lincoln's former residence,the only real estate of Lincoln, and was donated by his son to the government of Illinois as permanent property, and it is open to the public for free. Looking around, golden sunlight that fell on the outer walls of the house was extremely conspicuous. The four intersections around the residence had been slated for National Monuments, not only the street, but also the houses are completely preserved as its original appearance. At fi rst glance, the open block in front of the residence likes a square, making the house more outstanding with warm and bright color, elegant and decent appearance. Having missed the visit time, we could only wander around the house as the door had been closed. And several visitors are sitting against each other on the stages in front of the former residence of Lincoln,feeling and recalling Lincoln’s life quietly like us...

On February 12th, 1809, Lincoln was born in a remote valley of Hodginville in western Kentucky. His parents were both descendants of British immigrants. His father was a carpenter,honest and kind, while his mother died of illness when Lincoln was nine. He went through a tough childhood. Having no fixed occupation until 25, he worked as a clerk, sailor, rural postman,surveyor and woodcutter so as to make the ends meet. In 1837,Lincoln rode a borrowed horse to Spring fi eld with all his belongings.He hadn’t attended school for much time, he said: “All the time I spent in school was less than a year.” However, Lincoln was diligent and studious, he had read all the books of Shakespeare,books on history such as American History, philosophy and literature in his youth. He had an excellent memory and rhetorical skill, making himself, a man of 193cm tall, an erudite and intelligent man by self-study. At the age of 25, he was elected as Illinois congressman, in charge of rural post of fi ce and land measurement.In 1836, he got a lawyer’s license and became a lawyer, and soon became a leader of White party in the state council, living in Spring fi eld for about consecutive 24 years. In 1846, at the age of 37, Lincoln was elected to be a US congressman. After a long time of experience, role reversal and political ups and downs, he was elected as the sixteenth US president and marched his way from Spring fi eld to the White House, it was also the fi rst time for the Republican Party to be in power. In September of 1862, Lincoln made a draft of Emancipation Proclamation, which was signed and issued in January 1st of the following year. In 1864, he put forward the slogan “of the people, for the people, by the people”, won the civil war, safeguarded federal unification and blazed the trail for the US to be the world's leading industrial power in nineteenth Century, so he was noted as “the Great Liberator” and was highly praised by American people and the whole world. The Communist revolutionary mentor Karl Marx once gave high marks on Lincoln:“He is a man who will not be daunted by difficulties, deceived by success and will march for his great aim relentlessly...he is a person who can maintain good quality even if he reaches the height of greatness.”

There are Lincoln museum, law firm and the State House once Lincoln worked in in Spring fi eld. The neat streets, tranquil city and ancient buildings, the statue and trace of Lincoln can be found everywhere. No wonder Spring fi eld was called “The Lincoln City”.It was the primitive and richly-endowed Springfield that nurtured and accomplished Lincoln, who in return promoted his beloved second hometown. During his tenure as the president, Lincoln mentioned several times that he would return to Springfield to remain as a lawyer after he left of fi ce and he was ardently attached to Spring fi eld.

After sunset, we drove away from downtown to the north suburb of the city for less than ten minutes and visited Lincoln’s grave in Oak Ridge cemetery. The cemetery was solemn and grassed,sunset glow fl ushed the towering gravestone of Lincoln, who rested here permanently. In the evening of April 14th, 1865, Lincoln died the next day after assassinated at Ford’s Theater in Washington.He was the first American president died of assassination. The unfortunate incident caused considerable consternation at home and abroad, American people immersed in sincere condolence to Lincoln, about 7000 thousand people stood on the roadsides and paid tribute to the funeral procession and 1500 thousand people paid respect to the remains of Lincoln. It is wife that knows husband best. At the request of Mrs. Mary Lincoln, Lincoln was buried in Oak Ridge cemetery, back to Spring fi eld, a place he was obsessed with in his life. Mrs Lincoln and their three sons that died young were also buried in the Lincoln’s cemetery. In Oak Ridge cemetery, I found that Lincoln’s cemetery was surrounded by cemeteries of local residents whose houses were not far from the cemetery, by which I was perplexed because it was distinguished from China. Chinese would taboo to build the house around the cemetery, which I fi gured out as the distinction between American and Chinese in funeral culture.

As we moved away from the cemetery in the dusk, the highstanding gravestone blurred gradually, but the neighboring residences became increasingly clear. At that moment, my mind was tossing around: people in Spring fi eld had kept company with Lincoln over 150 years, generations of local people had reverently and elaborately guarded the name full of pride and glory—Abraham Lincoln!