Look on this cast, and know the hand That bore a nation in its hold; From this mute witness understand What Lincoln was - how large of mould.

The passage treats a physical object—a cast of Lincoln’s hand—as a “mute witness” to moral and historical magnitude. Stedman suggests that Lincoln’s greatness can be apprehended not only through deeds and documents but through the embodied signs of labor, strength, and responsibility. “Bore a nation in its hold” compresses the Civil War presidency into an image of grasp and steadiness: the hand that held the Union together. The final phrase, “how large of mould,” uses sculptural language to imply both literal size and figurative stature, presenting Lincoln as a man formed on an unusually grand scale—capacious in endurance, purpose, and humanity.