was an important factor in causing his subsequent elevation to the Presidency.

JANUARY 19, ANNIVERSARY BIRTH OF ROBT. E. LEE, a limited holiday, commonly observed in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. General Robert Edward Lee was born at Stratford, Westmoreland County, Virginia, January 19, 1807. His father was "Light Horse Harry” Lee, a distinguished cavalry leader in the Revolutionary War; his mother, Anne Hall Carter. He entered West Point in 1825, on an appointment secured for him by General Andrew Jackson, and by his diligence and ability graduated in 1829 second in his class. In 1831 he married Mary Parke Custis, the great-grand-daughter of Martha Washington (Mrs. George Washington).

By this marriage Lee became possessor of the beautiful estate at Arlington, opposite Washington (now Arlington National Cemetery) which was his home until the Civil War. Lee was earnestly opposed to disunion, had given his own slaves their freedom, and regarded the institution of slavery as "a moral and a political evil in any country"; but his future actions were clearly foreshadowed in a letter to his son:

"Still, a union that can only be maintained by swords and bayonets, and in which strife and civil war are to take the place of brotherly love and kindness, has no charm for me. I shall mourn for my country and for the welfare and progress of mankind.

If the Union is dissolved and the government disrupted, I shall return to my native State and share the miseries of my people and, save in defense, will draw my sword on none."

While deploring the actions of his people, he believed that they had been wronged and his sympathy drew him to them. In the last analysis, too, he was a States-right man; for he "would defend any State if her rights were invaded."

Lee reached home, from Texas after that State had seceded, on March 1, 1861. Virginia opposed secession, and suggested a peace convention of the States and sent commissioners to Washington to endeavor to prevent hostilities. The State convention met February 13, 1861, and as late as April 1, it voted (89 to 45) against secession. Two days after President Lincoln's call for troops to coerce the seceding States, an ordinance of secession and adhesion to the Confederacy was voted (88 to 45), April 17, which was ratified by a popular majority of 16,241.

On April 18, President Lincoln sent Frank P. Blair to Lee, to say that if he would abide by the Union he should soon command the whole active army. Lee wrote later, "I declined the offer he made me to take command of the army that was to be brought into the field, stating, as candidly and courteously as I could, that, though opposed to secession and deprecating war, I could take no active part in an invasion of the Southern States."

On April 19, President Lincoln declared a blockade of the Southern ports; troops began to pour into Washington; the invasion of his State had, in Lee's opinion, begun, and on April 20, 1861, three days after Virginia passed its ordinance of secession, he sent to Simon Cameron, Secretary of War, his resignation as an officer in the United States army, and on April 23, took command in Richmond of the military forces of Virginia with the rank of Major General.

General Lee surrendered to General Grant of the Union forces at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The devotion of Lee's soldiers to their leader was never more strikingly shown than at the surrender.

Lee remained in Richmond until June, 1865, when he retired to a quiet country place. In October of 1865, he was installed as President of Washington College at Lexington, Virginia, now Washington and Lee University. In 1870 his health began to fail and he died at nine o'clock in the morning of October 12, 1870.

FEBRUARY 12, ANNIVERSARY, BIRTH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, a limited holiday publicly observed in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming, and is commonly observed in all other Northern

States and is gradually being observed in the Southern States, especially so since the World War.

Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States, was born near Hodgenville, in Hardin County, Kentucky, February 12, 1809. His ancestry has been traced, with some difficulty, back to Samuel Lincoln, of Norwich, England, who emigrated to America and settled in Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1638.

Some of his descendents, who were Quakers, settled in Amity Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, and finally in Rockingham County, Virginia. The Virginia Lincolns are described as "reputable and well to do." One of them, the President's grandfather, removed to Jefferson County, Kentucky.

Thomas Lincoln, Abraham's father, was a carpenter and a farmer, illiterate and thriftless; Nancy Hanks, his mother, was of humble parentage, but possessed of a keen intellect and considerable force of character. After several removals in Kentucky, Thomas Lincoln went, in 1816, to Spencer County, Indiana, where his wife died after two years, when Abraham was not quite eight years old, and a year later he married Mrs. Sally (Bush) Johnson, whom he had formerly courted.

When Abraham was 21, his father's migratory nature impelled him to try his fortunes in Illinois, and he settled on the north fork of the Sangamon, which empties into the Illinois River. Lincoln had received but little schooling, but had been studious at home. In 1832 he began to read law, studied hard,

and made swift progress. In the same year he was defeated for the State Legislature; but in 1834 he was again a candidate for the Legislature and was elected, running far ahead of his ticket; he was reelected in 1836, and began the anti-slavery record upon which so much of his fame will ever rest.

When the State capital was removed to Springfield in 1839, Lincoln settled there, moving from New Salem. Two years before he had been licensed as an attorney, and being at the capital, he could attend both to his duties as a member of the Legislature and his law practice.

Late in 1842, he married Miss Mary Todd, of Lexington, Kentucky, a daughter of the Honorable Robert S. Todd, a lady of good education and of higher social position than his own and whom he had known for two or three years.

Lincoln was defeated for Congress in 1843 by Colonel Baker. However, in 1846 he was elected to the House of Representatives. His term expired in 1848, and he was not re-elected.

In 1850, he refused the nomination for Congress, as he had previously refused the Governorship of Oregon Territory. In November, 1854, Lincoln was, despite his positive declination, again elected to the State Legislature. At the same time he was very desirous to succeed Shields (a Democrat) in the United States Senate, and, although he did not win the election for himself, he did win it for Lyman Trumbull.