Fairbanks' Statue Dedicated In Hawaii

Fairbanks’ Statue Dedicated In Hawaii

This being the anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, his statue by Avard Fairbanks was dedicated today at the Ewa Plantation School in Hawaii, not far from Pearl Harbor.

This statue grew out of an ideal of democracy, felt so keenly in the heart of a country school teacher, that the trustees of her small estate commissioned Mr. Fairbanks to create a work exemplifying this woman’s enthusiasm for everything America represents as a hope for the world.

Taught In Alaska

Katherine McIntosh Burke was a country school teacher born at Leavenworth, Kas., Feb. 21, 1861. She taught in Kansas, Arizona, Nevada and Alaska. She went later to Hawaii where she taught in various schools on the islands of Kauai and Oahu. She worked quietly but zealously to bring the ideal of democracy to the hearts of her pupils and to youths of all races and nationalities. It was her lifelong ambition to leave something in line with the teaching of democracy which would uplift people of lowly circumstance, giving them hope and guidance.

Miss Burke was sensitive to the idea of emancipation and unity. She saw in Lincoln the inspiration for all races of the Pacific.

Prof. Fairbanks, too, feels deeply the importance of Lincoln today, and he is sensitive to the ideals which Miss Burke taught. ‘‘Lincoln is not dead, but is living,” says Fairbanks, “and this statue in bronze is only a symbol of the living idealism and concepts which are the spirit of today. Lincoln in his day was primarily concerned with preserving the union. Today our great mission is world unity and bringing together the East and the West, the cultures of the Orient and the Occident.”

A Youthful Lincoln

The statue, cast in bronze, is of a youthful Lincoln, for Fairbanks wished to show a stalwart and capable worker, a symbol of physical strength as well as spiritual. The actual life cast of Lincoln's head and hands were used by the sculptor in creating his likeness. Leonard Volk, a young sculptor, made the casts while Lincoln was living, and without realizing what an important contribution he made, he is now considered to be one of the outstanding men who has helped to preserve the memory of Lincoln and documents about him.

The base upon which the statue is placed is of rainbow granite. In ancient days the symbol of the rainbow was given to Noah that there should never again be such a deluge as the flood on the face of the earth. This base, now being so near Pearl Harbor, can also symbolize our hope that there will never again be the deluge of atrocities such as those which occurred there.

The above statue of Abraham Lincoln by Prof. Avard Fairbanks was dedicated today near Pearl Harbor.