Munsey's Magazine, May 1908

# Munsey's Magazine, May 1908 (Vol. 39, No. 11)

This issue features "The Remarkable Number of Great Men Whose Centenaries Will Be Celebrated Next Year" by Lyndon Orr, examining notable figures born in 1809 whose hundredth birthdays would be celebrated in 1909. The article surveys composers (Mendelssohn, Chopin), scientists (Charles Darwin), poets and writers (Edgar Allan Poe, Alfred Tennyson, Edward Fitzgerald, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Lord Houghton), historians (Alexander Kinglake), and statesmen (William Gladstone, Abraham Lincoln). Orr provides biographical sketches of each figure—their early lives, talents, and historical significance. The piece concludes by discussing planned commemorative celebrations for these centenaries, noting that Lincoln and Gladstone receive particular emphasis as transformative political figures, with extended tributes from Henry Watterson and Henry Ward Beecher praising Lincoln's character and Civil War leadership.