Springfield, The Lincoln Memorial

On Monday morning our first stop was the Lincoln Memorial where Lincoln and most of this family is buried.  It is a beautiful tomb with a tall obelisk.  There are many bronze statues on the outside as well as the interior which depict the many different aspects of his life.  Below you see one bust that is quite large.  There is a tradition that if you rub Abe Lincoln's nose it will bring you good luck. So many people have touched it that the nose appears shiny gold whereas the rest of the statue has a good dark patina on it.  Here we are giving it a try.





















The Gettysburg Address


In order to reach the tomb itself you have to walk down a long hallway.



Statue standing in the center of the rotunda near the entrance.  It is a smaller replica of the statue in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.



Another view of the exterior of the Tomb.



Postscript by Marge:  I was surprised to find the tomb to be such a reverent, spiritual place.  It was very quiet, with a hush in the air that gave me the opportunity to reflect on the great accomplishments of this extraordinary man.  His courage to take on a large and difficult problem for our country and stand up for the truth that it was wrong to deprive men of their God-given agency touched my heart.  And then to think about the circumstances that ended his life brought tears to my eyes. I feel a great debt of gratitude for what he did for me to make America a better place to live.  I am thankful for this opportunity to visit Springfield and learn more about Abraham Lincoln. His life was portrayed in such a beautiful way.  I am thankful that he was such a spiritual man who listened to the promptings of God.   



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Isaac Morley Home

Image
About one mile north of the center of Kirtland, lies the Morley Farm.  Brother Isaac Morley and his wife had developed a very good productive farm. He was a long-time resident of Kirkland and was converted to the church when the missionaries came through in 1830 along with many of his friends from the Campbellite church.  He was a strong believer and never wavered in his testimony. He had built a 14 x 14 log schoolhouse for his children and others up on a small hill above his farm.  When Joseph Smith came to Kirtland the schoolhouse was used for many of the meetings held for the community and the church.  The fourth conference of the church was held in this schoolhouse. Isaac Morley was a great  support to the growing church. Whatever was asked of him, he obeyed the Lord.  When Joseph asked him to sell his farm and give the proceeds to the church, he did so. He was called to be first counselor to Bishop Edward Partridge.  He was ordained a patria...
Read more

Winter Quarters

Image
When we visited this area in 2008, we were there when the temple was closed so we missed going inside.  Our goal this year was to arrange our trip home so that we could be there for a session.  Even though the session was small, it was wonderful to see this beautiful temple that blesses the lives of the people that live in Omaha, Nebraska and the surrounding area.  One feature that was especially beautiful was the abundance of stained glass windows which contain images significant  from early church history. The Winter Quarters Temple Will we ever master the Selfie? The next morning we went to the Visitor's Center to learn more about what happened here when the pioneers had to stop and camp for the winter.  Amie called my attention to one of our ancestors who was here as well as in Nauvoo.  The father died before they arrived in Nauvoo and Sarah and her daughter and sons were left in a rather desperate situation.  She remarried in order...
Read more

The Rest of our Trip Home

Image
We stayed one night in Waterloo, Iowa so that we could go to the John Deere factory to watch how they manufacture large tractors.  We went to the tractor cab assembly plant because we couldn't see the large harvesters as their plant was closed that week.  It was a great tour.  We rode on a tram pulled by a little John Deere tractor as we traveled around the assembly floor of this 48-acre plant to watch the tractors being assembled. It was amazing to watch how well coordinated the whole process was, even though there were many different things going on at the same time.  Many parts of the process are completely automated to be done by "robots" with little human supervision.  For instance, in the section where the green or yellow paint is applied it is done by an automatic sprayer tube that was able to twist and turn to reach all surfaces of the part being painted.  And when it gets done, it knows to go back down and suck up all the excess paint so it won...
Read more