MONROE - Ten score years ago, Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in Kentucky.
It was all together fitting and proper that he visit Abraham Lincoln Accelerated Learning Academy on Monday to celebrate his birthday, visit with the students and answer their questions.
The children also got to eat birthday cupcakes and sing "Happy Birthday" to the president.
George Buss, a Freeport, Ill., resident who has portrayed the 16th president for more than 20 years, including a re-enactment of the Lincoln-Douglas debate in Freeport last summer, took advantage of his one day free in the month to come to the school.
"This is my busiest month," he said.
The 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth has sparked many national events to honor to Lincoln.
Buss didn't just look the part of the man many consider the nation's greatest president. When he talked, he had a Southern accent which historians attribute to Lincoln; he had that slight smile seen in the famous last photograph taken of Lincoln; and through his stories he was able to convey the humor for which Lincoln was known.
Buss obviously enjoys portraying Lincoln and has researched Lincoln's life in detail.
One interesting fact about Lincoln, Buss said, was his relationship with Stephen Douglas, the man who defeated him for the U.S. Senate in 1858 and his chief opponent for the presidency in 1860.
"They knew each other for 30 years and Lincoln cried when he learned that Douglas had died."
His portrayal gave the children a chance to interview and see a "president" up close.
They reacted to him as if he really was Abraham Lincoln. In the kindergarten class, children wore hand-made stove pipe hats. In some of the classes the students stood when he entered their classroom. They came up with their own questions and several of the children respectfully referred to him as "Mr. Lincoln" before they asked their question.
"I was impressed with the students," he said. "Even the 6-year-olds gave me their attention."
The kindergartners looked up wide-eyed as Buss spoke to them about Lincoln's life.
"Mr. Lincoln," one kindergarten girl asked, "where did you live?"
"I lived in the same house where the president lives now, except back then in was known as the 'Executive mansion,'" he replied.
I was born in Kentucky, he told them. "In a log cabin about the size of this rug you're sitting on."
Buss said Lincoln is a symbol of Democracy to people around the world. His speeches explain clearly the meaning of freedom and are easily understood.
"Even young Democracies overseas look to Lincoln," Buss said.
It was all together fitting and proper that he visit Abraham Lincoln Accelerated Learning Academy on Monday to celebrate his birthday, visit with the students and answer their questions.
The children also got to eat birthday cupcakes and sing "Happy Birthday" to the president.
George Buss, a Freeport, Ill., resident who has portrayed the 16th president for more than 20 years, including a re-enactment of the Lincoln-Douglas debate in Freeport last summer, took advantage of his one day free in the month to come to the school.
"This is my busiest month," he said.
The 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth has sparked many national events to honor to Lincoln.
Buss didn't just look the part of the man many consider the nation's greatest president. When he talked, he had a Southern accent which historians attribute to Lincoln; he had that slight smile seen in the famous last photograph taken of Lincoln; and through his stories he was able to convey the humor for which Lincoln was known.
Buss obviously enjoys portraying Lincoln and has researched Lincoln's life in detail.
One interesting fact about Lincoln, Buss said, was his relationship with Stephen Douglas, the man who defeated him for the U.S. Senate in 1858 and his chief opponent for the presidency in 1860.
"They knew each other for 30 years and Lincoln cried when he learned that Douglas had died."
His portrayal gave the children a chance to interview and see a "president" up close.
They reacted to him as if he really was Abraham Lincoln. In the kindergarten class, children wore hand-made stove pipe hats. In some of the classes the students stood when he entered their classroom. They came up with their own questions and several of the children respectfully referred to him as "Mr. Lincoln" before they asked their question.
"I was impressed with the students," he said. "Even the 6-year-olds gave me their attention."
The kindergartners looked up wide-eyed as Buss spoke to them about Lincoln's life.
"Mr. Lincoln," one kindergarten girl asked, "where did you live?"
"I lived in the same house where the president lives now, except back then in was known as the 'Executive mansion,'" he replied.
I was born in Kentucky, he told them. "In a log cabin about the size of this rug you're sitting on."
Buss said Lincoln is a symbol of Democracy to people around the world. His speeches explain clearly the meaning of freedom and are easily understood.
"Even young Democracies overseas look to Lincoln," Buss said.