Remarks on the Balcony of the Hotel in Bangor, Maine

My fellow citizens, my fellow countrymen:

It is indeed a great pleasure to be greeted by you today, as it has been to be greeted by people all over Maine. I can see by your faces that the old American spirit still burns as freely as ever. Driving through the thronged streets I see men who wear the button which tells that they fought in the great struggle. As soon as I saw the mounted policemen I knew that some of them were old cavalrymen.

You men who fought in that war did the greatest deed which men have ever done. You preserved for us a united country and showed the world that it was ever to be united.

While modes of fighting were different in the time of Lincoln from that of Washington, and still more different today, the spirit that wins is just the same.

The soldier of today who is worth his salt must have the same spirit which won at Appomattox. The only way to obtain good government is for each man to do his own share.

Now, my friends, let me interrupt just for a moment, I have a friend here who is lost in the crowd somewhere. He is Bill Sewall, of Island Falls, Aroostook county, and if anyone sees him please say to him that I want him to come to lunch with me here and now.