Creator:
unknown
Location:
Unknown place made
Origin Date:
1900-1920
Materials:
paper
Measurements:
overall: 3 1/4 in x 5 1/4 in
Item ID:
71.2009.083.0722
Holding Institution:
Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection, courtesy of the Indiana State Museum
Available for Viewing:
No
Category:
Cartoons, Broadsides & Ephemera

Description

This postcard is a reproduction of a page from a publication on which are photographs of United States President Abraham Lincoln and Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany. Below each portrait is a letter from each head of state to a mother who reportedly lost multiple sons on the battlefield. The article compares the sentiments expressed in each letter. Below Lincoln's portrait the letter reads: "Dear Madam: I have been shown in the files of the war department a statement of the adjutant general of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom". Below the Kaiser's portrait the letter reads: "His Majesty the kaiser hears that you have sacrificed nine sons in defense of the fatherland in the present war. His majesty is immensely gratified at the fact, and in recognition is pleased to send you his photograph, with frame and autograph signature." In italics below the letter a description reads: "The woman to whom the above letter was sent has since become a beggar for food on the streets of Delmenhors-Oldenburg". The postcard reverse is divided. Part of the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection, courtesy of the Indiana State Museum