Lincoln 
 
 
 r: 
 
 457 
 .92 
 1907A 
 
 LINCOL 
 
 
1/ 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 From a photogranh {probably 1864) 
 
LIJVCOLJV 
 
 Life, Speeches 
 and Anecdotes 
 
 The Old 
 Press* 
 
 Greek. 
 
 G/iicaao 
 
 Boston 
 
h4^ 
 
 o 
 
 LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
 Two Copies Received 
 
 APH 20 1907 
 
 ' A iopynght Entry 
 ciiss A XX<J.,NO. 
 COPY B. 
 
 Lincolniana 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1907 
 BY SHERWIN CODY 
 

 -\_^ 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 ^ .^ ': .■ . Page 
 
 Lincoln, Life 7 
 
 Ideal American Hero. . . . .' 7 
 
 Lincoln's Mother. ....;.'... 10 
 
 Journey to Indiana 11 
 
 What Lincoln Read 14 
 
 Strikes Out for Himself 18 
 
 Politics and Love 19 
 
 Captain in the Black Hawk War 21 
 
 His First Speech 22 
 
 Studies Law 23 
 
 "A House Divided Against Itself" (Speech). 26 
 
 Elected President 27 
 
 Lincoln's Character ... 23 
 
 Assassination 31 
 
Page 
 His Life at the White House 33 
 
 Lincoln's Domestic Life 37 
 
 An Autobiographic Letter 41 
 
 Personal Appearance. •. 43 
 
 Letters and Recollections 44 
 
 Speeches 66 
 
 Note for Law Lecture 66 
 
 Reply to Douglas at Peoria 68 
 
 Farewell Address at Springfield, 1861 74 
 
 First Inaugural 75 
 
 Emancipation Proclamation 89 
 
 Gettysburg Address 91 
 
 Second Inaugural 92 
 
 Anecdotes 95 
 
 Lincoln's Pardons 95 
 
 Lincoln's Own Stories 102 
 
 Miscellaneous Anecdotes 108 
 
LINCOLN 
 
 Every man should have a hero. If there is any 
 one who confesses he has none, do not trust him; 
 he has no high ideals, he does not wish to be greater 
 or better than he is, and it is certain that he is in a 
 fair way to become one of earth's degenerates. 
 
 There is no nation that has ever attained greatness 
 without its list of heroes. Greece had Achilles and 
 Socrates and Demosthenes, Rome had Caesar, France 
 Napoleon, Germany Bismarck, England Alfred the 
 Great and Gladstone. America has her heroes, too, 
 whose names have been given to states and towns 
 and streets all over the land, until there is no one 
 who has not heard them often. Washington was 
 truly the Father of his Country, Franklin stands for 
 American wit and American common sense, and 
 Lincoln, born in poverty, brought up in a wilderness 
 full of ignorance, we worship as the savior of the 
 Nation. 
 
 Lincoln the Ideal American Hero. 
 
 Lincoln is an ideal hero for Americans, because he 
 came from the very lowest, poorest, meanest stock, 
 and rose to the very highest office we have to bestow. 
 As a boy and as a young man he was so like one of 
 us that there are few who cannot say they have as 
 many natural gifts or as many opportunities as he 
 had. He was plain, he was honest, he had good 
 
8 LINCOLN 
 
 health, and he was determined to get along in the 
 world. He had his faults, too. He did not like to 
 work any better than you do, he had a weakness 
 for loafing and telling stories, and he was not as 
 polite and polished in manners as his wife would 
 have liked him to be. Even when he became Presi- 
 dent he was worth but a few hundred dollars, all 
 invested in his small house and plain furniture in 
 Springfield. 
 
 But money does not make a man, polished man- 
 ners do not make him, even education does not make 
 great a man whose soul is small. Lincoln had but 
 a few months' schooling at a district school, and 
 though he read a good many books and studied law 
 until he was fairly skilled in his profession, his self- 
 education was no greater than may easily be at- 
 tained by any average American. 
 
 Lincoln was great because he looked at every- 
 thing so honestly and with such healthy common 
 sense. He never felt himself above even the humblest 
 of his fellows ; and though he knew he could think 
 more clearly and act more vigorously than most of 
 the men he met, he did not fancy that to be a cause 
 for "putting on airs." He was always the same Lin- 
 coln, whether President in the White House or a 
 poor railsplitter on a Western farm. That made the 
 people love him. They wanted him to be great, 
 because they seemed all to share in his greatness; 
 they wished him to hold high office because they 
 felt they could trust their most difficult problems to 
 him; and they knew that however high he rose he 
 
LIFE 9 
 
 would be just as ready to talk with them and help 
 them as when he was indeed one of themselves. 
 
 But much as his friends liked him and trusted 
 him, no one knew how really great he was until sud- 
 denly he was made President of the Union, just as 
 the Union seemed falling to pieces. He was like a 
 giant rock that has rolled down from a mountain 
 into the sea. The wind blew and the waters dashed 
 over it, and though it had come down so suddenly 
 it seemed as if it had been there forever. The 
 drowning and the hopeless clung to it, the boats all 
 anchored under its lee, and though the timid pre- 
 dicted the rock would fall on them and crush them 
 all, it stood unmoved till the gale was over. 
 
 Here is a hero whom we all may imitate. If we 
 have gifts and opportunities that he had not, let us 
 be thankful and make the most of them as he would 
 have done. But if we are no better off than he, as 
 is the case with many of us, let us take courage and 
 fight manfully on as he did; and while we may not 
 be great enough to fill as great a post as he did, in 
 whatever place our lot may fall we may act hon- 
 estly, nobly, and honestly, as he would have done. 
 This is what it means to choose an honest hero and 
 shape our lives after his. Caesar sacrificed his coun- 
 try to his ambition, and Napoleon, though a very 
 great man, was a very bad one. Lincoln fought a 
 bloody war, but, unlike Napoleon, he fought to save. 
 Even Napoleon's friends came in time to hate him. 
 To-day the South, who once thought Lincoln their 
 arch-enemy, have learned in a measure to look on 
 him as their best friend; and he is no longer the 
 
10 LINCOLN 
 
 hero merely of the West, or merely of the North; 
 he is the hero of the whole nation, and perhaps some 
 day he will be the hero of other nations that have 
 not yet heard his name. 
 
 ******** 
 
 Poor White Trash. 
 
 Lincoln was assassinated more than forty years 
 ago, but it is still difficult to speak of him without 
 being tempted to pronounce a sort of funeral eulogy 
 over him. We shall understand him better, how- 
 ever, if we follow the homely details of his early 
 life. 
 
 Abraham Lnicoln was born in Hardin county, 
 Kentucky, February 12, 1809. His parents belonged 
 to that class known in the South as "poor white 
 trash." Lincoln himself was very reserved about 
 his origin and his early life. When he was nom- 
 inated for the Presidency one of the first newspaper 
 men to interview him was J. L. Scripps of the Chi- 
 cago Tribune, who wished to prepare a campaign 
 biography of him. "Why, Scripps," said he, "it is 
 a great piece of folly to try to make anything out 
 of me or my early life. It can all be condensed into 
 a single sentence, and that sentence you will find 
 in Gray's 'Elegy,' 
 
 'The short and simple annals of the poor.* 
 That's all my life, and that's all you or any one 
 else can make out of it." 
 
 Lincoln's Mother. 
 
 Lincoln seldom spoke of his mother, Nancy Hanks, 
 as she is usually called. Mr. Herndon, Lincoln's law 
 
LIFE 11 
 
 partner, says in his biography that only once did the 
 future President refer in his hearing to his origin. 
 "It was about 1850, when he and I were driving in 
 his one-horse buggy to the court at Menard county, 
 
 lUinois During the trip he spoke for the 
 
 first time of his mother, dwelHng on her character- 
 istics, and mentioning or enumerating what quahties 
 he inherited from her. He said, among other things, 
 that she was the daughter of Lucy Hanks and a well- 
 bred but obscure Virginia farmer or planter; and he 
 argued that from this source came his power of 
 analysis, his logic, his mental activity, his ambition, 
 and all the qualities that distinguished him from the 
 other members and descendants of the Hanks fam- 
 ily." 
 
 His grandfather on his father's side was also 
 named Abraham. This Lincoln (or Linkhorn) went 
 from Virginia to Kentucky in 1780, and two years 
 later was killed by Indians, "not in battle," his 
 grandson tells us, "but by stealth when he was 
 laboring to open a farm in the forest." Abraham's 
 son Thomas, father of the President, was a remark- 
 ably shiftless man, and was always moving from 
 one farm to another, leaving his debts behind him. 
 Lincoln worked on the farm with his father until 
 he was grown up; but he had little respect for him, 
 and in later years did not often see him. 
 
 The Journey to Indiana. 
 
 Abraham had an older sister Sarah. When she 
 was seven years old they moved to Indiana, where 
 in the wilderness his father had purchased a farm 
 
12 LINCOLN 
 
 of the Government for two dollars an acre. He 
 brought his carpenter's tools and a quantity of whis- 
 key down Rolling Fork Creek on a crazy flatboat he 
 had built himself. When he reached the Ohio River 
 the boat upset one day, and all his goods went to 
 the bottom; but he got them out again, by dint of 
 patient fishing; and leaving them in care of a farmer 
 and selling his boat, he secured his farm and walked 
 back to get his family, whom he brought on in a 
 borrowed wagon. In the woods they built what was 
 called a half-faced camp, being enclosed on all sides 
 but one. It had neither floor, door, nor windows. 
 In this hovel they lived for a year, at the end of 
 which time friends and relatives joined them, to 
 whom they gave up the "half-faced camp," moving 
 into a more pretentious cabin. "It was of hewed 
 logs, and was eighteen feet square. It was high 
 enough to admit of a loft, where Abe slept, and to 
 which he ascended each night by means of pegs 
 driven in the wall. The rude furniture was in keep- 
 ing with the surroundings. Three-legged stools an- 
 swered for chairs. The bedstead, made of poles 
 fastened in the cracks of the logs on one side, and 
 supported by a crotched stick driven in the ground 
 on the other, was covered with skins, leaves and 
 old clothes. A table of the same finish as the stools, 
 a few pewter dishes, a Dutch oven, and a skillet com- 
 pleted the household outfit." 
 
 Here Lincoln spent his boyhood. One day they 
 had only roasted potatoes for dinner. As usual the 
 father asked a blessing. Little Abe looked up, and 
 
LIFE 13 
 
 remarked irreverently but very drolly, "Dad, I call 
 these mighty poor blessings." 
 
 The boy was somewhat mischievous, too. He 
 used to like to go coon hunting with the other boys. 
 There was, however, a little yellow dog that would 
 always bark when they tried to slip away. One 
 night, to prevent that, they carried the dog with 
 them. They got their coon and killed him, and 
 then for the fun of the thing sewed the coon's hide 
 on the yellow dog. The dog didn't like the operation, 
 and as soon as he was let loose made a beeline for 
 home. Bigger dogs, scenting coon, followed him, 
 and, perhaps mistaking him for a real coon, killed 
 him. The next morning Thomas Lincoln, the father, 
 found his yellow dog lying dead in the yard with the 
 coonskin on him. He was very angry, but the boys 
 knew that yellow Joe would never sound the call 
 again when they started on a coon hunt. 
 
 Scarcely two years had passed when Nancy Lin- 
 coln died of what was called "the milk-sick." Their 
 neighbors Betsey and Thomas Sparrow died of the 
 same disease, and even the cattle were affected by 
 this strange sickness. Mrs. Lincoln knew she was 
 going to die, and placing her feeble hands on little 
 Abe's head she said, "Be good to father and sister" ; 
 to all she said, "Be good to one another," and ex- 
 pressed the hope that they might live, as they had 
 been taught by her, to love their kindred and wor- 
 ship God. "She had done her work in this world. 
 Stoop-shouldered, thin-breasted, sad, — at times mis- 
 erable, — without prospect of any betterment in her 
 condition, she passed from earth, little dreaming of 
 
14 LINCOLN 
 
 the grand future that lay in store for the ragged, 
 hapless little boy who stood at her bedside in the 
 last days of her life." 
 
 A Dreary Life. 
 
 What a life little Abe and his sister lived after 
 this can be better imagined than told. It was dreary 
 in the extreme. But in the spring Thomas Lincoln 
 went back to Kentucky and married an old sweet- 
 heart, Sally Bush, who was a widow. This is the 
 way Thomas proposed : "Miss Johnston, I have no 
 wife and you no husband. I came a-purpose to 
 marry you. I knowed you from a gal and you 
 knowed me from a boy. I've no time to lose; and 
 if you're willin', let it be done straight off." She 
 replied that she could not marry at once, as she had 
 some debts to pay. He said, "Give me the list of 
 them." He got the list and paid them that evening. 
 The next morning they were married. 
 
 The new Mrs. Lincoln had a good stock of house- 
 hold furniture, and took it with her to Indiana. For 
 the first time in their lives Sarah and Abe had a 
 comfortable bed to sleep on. They had also found 
 a new mother, and learned to love her even more 
 than their own. She also brought into the family hef 
 own three children, two girls and a boy, with whom 
 the Lincolns lived in perfect accord. She was espe- 
 cially kind to Abe, and when she was' old and pen- 
 niless he gave her a farm, on which she died in 1869, 
 five years after he himself had gone to his account. 
 
 What Lincoln Read. 
 
 So the boy grew up, attending school a few months 
 
LIFE 15 
 
 each year, working on his father's farm, and reading 
 when he could, often lying at full length on the floor 
 before the fire, which gave the only light, for the 
 Lincolns were too poor to afford candle or lamp. 
 There were few books in those days. Lincoln read 
 the Bible, "Aesop's Fables," "Robinson Crusoe," 
 Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," a "History of the 
 United States," and Weems' "Life of Washington." 
 The last-named book he borrowed from a close- 
 fisted neighbor named Josiah Crawford. He laid it 
 on a little shelf in the cabin, near which there hap- 
 pened to be a crack between the logs. One night a 
 storm came up and the covers of the book got wet. 
 Crawford, whom the boys called "Old Blue Nose," 
 assessed the injury at seventy-five cents. Abe did 
 not have the money, but set to work and pulled 
 fodder for three days to pay off the debt. 
 
 He was over six feet before he was seventeen, and 
 when he attained his growth he was six feet four 
 inches, and proportionately strong. He was a great 
 story-teller, and always had his joke; but he liked 
 to read and study much better than he did to work. 
 The farmers sometimes thought him lazy, for "his 
 chief delight was to lie down under the shade of 
 some inviting tree to read and study. At night, 
 lying on his stomach in front of the open fireplace, 
 with a piece of charcoal he would cipher on a broad 
 wooden shovel. When the latter was covered over 
 on both sides he would take his father's drawing 
 knife or a plane and shave it off clean, ready for the 
 next day." Says his cousin John Hanks : "When 
 Abe and I returned to the house from work he 
 
16 LINCOLN 
 
 would go to the cupboard, snatch a piece of corn 
 bread, sit down, take a book, cock his legs up as 
 high as his head, and read. We grubbed, plowed, 
 mowed, and worked together barefooted in the field. 
 Whenever Abe had a chance in the field while at 
 work, or at the house, he would stop and read." 
 
 One of Lincoln's early delights was going to mill, 
 where was ground the corn which formed the prin- 
 cipal food of the family. The mill had a long arm, 
 to which each customer hitched his horse, and 
 driving it round and round, ground his own corn. 
 One day Lincoln's turn did not come till nearly night. 
 The old flea-bitten gray mare was rather lazy, and 
 as he sat on the arm he kept urging her to go faster, 
 crying, "Get up, you old hussy." The mare bore it 
 for a while, but suddenly, in the midst of one of 
 these exclamations, she let her hoof fly and hit him 
 in the forehead, knocking him senseless. The miller 
 picked up the lifeless boy and sent for his father, 
 who came and took him home in a wagon. He lay 
 all night unconscious, but toward morning began to 
 show signs of recovering. As his blood began to 
 flow through his veins once more, he awoke and 
 blurted out, "you old hussy," thus finishing the 
 phrase he had begun when the mare's hoof struck 
 him. He always regarded this as a remarkable oc- 
 currence in his life. 
 
 Pioneer Social Life. 
 
 The place in which Lincoln's early life was spent 
 was known as Gentryville. The social life of the 
 people centered about the church, which they would 
 often go eight or ten miles to attend, sometimes 
 
LIFE 17 
 
 staying over until the next day. Says Mr. Herndon, 
 "The old men starting from the fields and out of 
 the woods would carry their guns on their shoul- 
 ders and go with the women. They dressed in deer- 
 skin pants, moccasins, and coarse hunting shirts — 
 the latter usually fastened with a belt or leather 
 strap Arriving at the house where the services 
 were to be held they would recite to each other 
 thrilling stories of their hunting exploits, and smoke 
 their pipes with the old ladies. They were treated, 
 and treated each other, with the utmost kindness. 
 A bottle of liquor, a pitcher of water, sugar, and 
 glasses were set out for them ; also a basket of 
 apples or turnips, with now and then a pie or cake. 
 Thus they regaled themselves until the preacher 
 found himself in condition to begin. The latter, 
 having also partaken freely of the refreshments 
 provided, would "take off his collar, read his text, 
 and preach and pound till the sweat, produced alike 
 by his exertions and the exhilarating effects of the 
 toddy, rolled from his face in great drops. Shaking 
 hands and singing ended the service." 
 
 At nineteen Lincoln grew restless and wanted to 
 leave his father's home ; but a friend advised against 
 it, and soon after he had an opportunity to join 
 another friend in taking a flat-boat loaded with meat 
 and grain on a trading expedition to New Orleans. 
 Here on a second journey made a few years later 
 he attended a slave-market. He saw a girl put on 
 sale. The auctioneer trotted her up and down, and 
 the men pinched her fiesh and observed her gait as 
 if she had been a fine-bred mare instead of a human 
 
18 LINCOLN 
 
 being. Turning away from the scene in disgust, he 
 then and there conceived a deep-rooted hatred for 
 the institution of slavery ; and though afterward he I 
 showed great tolerance toward the slave-owners, 1 
 and never wished to deprive them of their property 
 without compensation, he felt that the institution of 
 slavery was a violation of the essential spirit of the 
 Declaration of Independence. 
 
 Soon after his return his father removed with all 
 his family to Macon county, Illinois. One incident 
 of the journey is worth relating. They took a little 
 dog with them, which trotted along behind the ox 
 wagon. One day it fell behind and failed to catch 
 up till after they had crossed a stream. Soon they 
 saw him on the opposite bank, whining and jumping 
 about in great distress. As the stream was partly 
 frozen and the water was running over the edges of 
 the ice, the dog was afraid to cross. The majority 
 decided that it was not worth while to go back 
 merely for a dog, "but," says Lincoln himself in j 
 telling the story, *T could not endure the idea of i 
 abandoning even a dog. Pulling oflf shoes and socks j 
 I waded across the stream and triumphantly returned ( 
 with the shivering animal under my arm. His frantic ' 
 leaps of joy and other evidences of a dog's grati- 
 tude amply repaid me for all the exposure I had 
 undergone." 
 
 Strikes Out for Himself. 
 
 He helped his father and the others hew out the ; 
 logs from which their house was to be built, and 
 split the rails for the fences; but as he had now 
 
LIFE 19 
 
 become of age, he felt that it was time to strike out 
 for himself. 
 
 He worked within sight of home for a while, and 
 then accepted an offer from one Denton Offut to 
 take a boat load of stock and provisions down to 
 New Orleans. He and John Hanks made their way 
 to Springfield. As Mr. Offut had no boat ready, 
 they set to work and built one themselves. At New 
 Salem their boat stuck on a dam, where it hung for 
 a day and a night. It was partly filled with water. 
 They unloaded it, but the water kept it from clearing 
 the dam, though one end projected over the edge. 
 Lincoln devised the simple expedient of rolling the 
 barrels forward and boring a hole in the bottom of 
 the boat at the end which stuck over the dam. Of 
 course the water ran out and the boat went over 
 easily. Offut thought this was wonderful ingenuity, 
 and said he would build a steamboat which should 
 have rollers for shoals and dams, runners for ice, 
 and with Lincoln in charge "By thunder, she'd have 
 to go." 
 
 A little farther down they had to take on some 
 pigs. The swine refused to be driven aboard, 
 always running back just as they seemed to be on 
 the point of going over the gangplank. Lincoln con- 
 iceived the idea of sewing up their eyes; but after 
 jthat was done they still refused to go, and they had 
 to catch the pigs one by one and carry them aboard. 
 
 Politics and Love. 
 
 On his return from New Orleans he promised to 
 act as clerk for Denton Offut, who proposed to open 
 
20 LINCOLN 
 
 a store at New Salem. He described himself at 
 this time as a piece of floating driftwood, that after 
 the winter of deep snow had come down the river 
 with the freshet ; borne along by the swelling waters, 
 and aimlessly floating about, he had accidentally 
 lodged at New Salem. Here he was to make his 
 first eflforts as a speaker and a politician; here he 
 met the girl with whom he fell in love, whose early 
 death first called out that melancholy which always 
 brooded over him, and made him the saddest as well 
 as the drollest of men. Here, too, he first made his 
 reputation for spinning yarns, with which he was 
 always ready. He also gained the respect of the 
 whole town by his skill in wrestling. It happened 
 that a few miles southwest of the village was a 
 strip of woods known as Clary's Grove. The boys 
 who lived down there were the terrors of the whole 
 region. Yet they were also ever ready to fight for 
 the defenceless, or for any one who could command 
 their respect. Their leader was Jack Armstrong, 
 under whom they were in the habit of "cleaning out" 
 New Salem whenever his word went forth. Offut 
 maintained that Lnicoln "was a better man" than 
 Jack Armstrong, and arranged a bet with "Bill" 
 Clary. The contest was to be a friendly one fairly 
 conducted, and all New Salem turned out to see it' 
 Even to this day the people of New Salem (no\v 
 scattered far and wide, for New Salem no longer 
 exists) tell the exciting scenes of that day; how 
 Lincoln, suddenly enraged at a suspicion of foul 
 tactics, fairly lifted the great bully from the ground 
 by the throat and shook him like a rag; and how 
 
LIFE 21 
 
 from that day the Clary Grove boys were his firm 
 friends and supporters. 
 
 Lincoln at this time weighed two hundred and 
 fourteen pounds, and had arms so long and muscles 
 so wiry that he could throw a cannon ball or maul 
 farther than any one else, while we hear that he 
 once raised a barrel of whiskey from the ground 
 and drank from the bunghole. 
 
 But this young giant had a strong head and a soft 
 heart, and many friends of a character very different 
 from the Clary Grove boys. Among these was Men- 
 tor Graham, the schoolmaster, on whose advice he 
 hunted up a man named Ganer, who was said to be 
 the owner of a Kirkham's grammar. After a walk 
 of several miles he returned to the store where he 
 was clerking, with the book under his arm. Some- 
 times he would lie at full length on the counter, his 
 head propped up by rolls of calico; or he would 
 steal away to the shade of a nearby tree, where he 
 tried patiently and persistently to master the rules of 
 grammar. How well he succeeded in mastering the 
 English language we may know when we remember 
 that in the Gettysburg speech we have one of the 
 most perfect specimens of oratory in the history of 
 any language. 
 
 Goes to the Black Hawk War. 
 
 Lincoln did not make a good clerk. Offut's store 
 failed, and Lincoln enlisted for the Black Hawk 
 war. He was elected captain of the company, an 
 honor which he appreciated; but he knew little of 
 military tactics. Once when he was marching the 
 
22 LINCOLN 
 
 company twenty abreast they came to a narrow gate. 
 Lincoln could not remember the military order for 
 "turning the company endwise." The situation was 
 becoming decidedly embarrassing when he faced the 
 lines and called, "Halt! This company will break 
 ranks for two minutes and form again on the other 
 side of the gate." The company did as ordered, 
 and thought none the less of their leader. His com- 
 pany was somewhat unruly, and for their misdeeds 
 he was once deprived of his sword for a day, and 
 at another time he was made to carry a wooden 
 sword for two days. 
 
 His First Speech. 
 
 When he came home he decided to run for the 
 legislature. This is the way in which he opened his 
 campaign. 
 
 "Fellow Citizens, I presume you all know who I 
 am. I am humble Abraham Lincoln. I have been 
 solicited by many friends to become a candidate for 
 the legislature. My politics are short and sweet, like 
 the old woman's dance. I am in favor of a national 
 bank. I am in favor of the internal improvement 
 system and a high protective tariff. These are my 
 sentiments and political principles. H elected I 
 shall be thankful; if not it will be all the same." 
 Of the 208 votes in New Salem, Lincoln received all 
 but three. He was not elected this time, however. 
 It was the only time he was ever defeated at the 
 hands of the people. 
 
 He now bought an interest in a country store, and 
 started in business for himself; but he did not sue- 
 
LIFE 23 
 
 ceed, and accumulated debts which he was many 
 years in paying off in full. He paid every penny he 
 owed, however. 
 
 Studies Law. 
 
 As he had nothing to do after the failure of the 
 business he decided to study law. He arranged to 
 
 'get board on credit, borrowed some law books, and 
 went to work. His friends remember him at this 
 time lying on his back under a tree, putting his feet 
 up the tree, as he pored over a volume of Chitty 
 
 ;or Blackstone. He had been appointed postmaster, 
 but this took little of his time, and as he went about 
 carrying the letters in his hat, he was able to give 
 most of his thought and attention to the study of law. 
 He also did odd jobs for the farmers. One day 
 when he was splitting rails a friend came out and 
 told him he had been appointed deputy surveyor. 
 As he himself was a Whig and he knew the man 
 who offered the appointment to be a Democrat, he 
 first asked if he were to be perfectly free to express 
 his political opinions should he accept the office. 
 Said he, "li my sentiments or even expression of 
 them is to be abridged in any way I would not 
 have it or any other office." He was wretchedly 
 poor and overwhelmed with debt, while trying to 
 study law under the most adverse circumstances, yet 
 he had the courage to assert his independence ! What 
 better proof that he was an honest man to the very 
 core! 
 
 He knew nothing of surveying; but he soon 
 learned it, as he did everything to which he turned 
 
24 LINCOLN 
 
 his mind. From that time he was always able to earn 
 a comfortable living. 
 
 His Political Career. 
 
 The subsequent events of his life may be briefly 
 told. He was elected to the legislature, and was 
 re-elected a number of times. As soon as he was 
 able he opened a law office in Springfield, where he 
 continued in practice until he was elected President. 
 He was for one term a member of Congress. 
 
 As a lawyer he was not great in the sense that 
 Webster was, but he had a commonsense, straight- 
 forward way of stating his case that always gained 
 the confidence of judge and jury. He never took 
 up a case unless he believed it was right, and many 
 a poor man or woman's cause he pleaded for nothing. 
 
 When the Republican party v^as organized in 1856, 
 Lincoln, though nearly fifty years of age, was merely 
 a fairly successful lawyer and local politician. He 
 was ambitious, and wished to be sent to the United 
 States Senate, but he was unknown outside of Illi- 
 nois. At the State convention that year he stated 
 his views, but his friends persuaded him to withdraw 
 what he had said for the time being. Two years 
 passed. In 1858 he was nominated by the Repub- 
 licans as their candidate for United States Senator. 
 Stephen Douglas was nominated by the Democrats. 
 Lincoln knew he would be nominated, and had pre- 
 pared his speech and had showed it to a number of 
 friends. They all advised him to omit the first para- 
 graph, told him it would cost him his election, and 
 that in every way it was unwise. He replied quietly. 
 
LIFE 25 
 
 "Friends, this thing has been retarded long enough. 
 The time has come when these sentiments should be 
 uttered; and if it is decreed that I should go down 
 because of this speech, then let me go down linked 
 to the truth — let me die in the advocacy of what is 
 just and right." When he spoke those words he 
 was no longer an ambitious politician; he had begun 
 to be great, as he had never been before ; for that 
 first made it possible for him to become President, 
 or rather, let us say, those firm, honest words first 
 convinced thinking men that here was the one man 
 the nation could trust in its hour of need. The 
 famous joint debate with Douglas followed, and 
 Douglas was elected Senator ; but already Lincoln 
 looked forward to the Presidency. 
 
 To understand what he did, and why he is so 
 great, we must consider the conditions and the 
 times. The question of slavery no longer interests 
 us, for it has been settled forever. But in 1858 it 
 was the great question for the nation. The South 
 wanted slavery, felt that it could not exist without 
 it, and was determined to stick to it under all cir- 
 cumstances. In the North there was a small but 
 very active party of Abolitionists that hated it, and 
 was determined to fight it to the bitter end. Most 
 of the people in the North did not believe in slavery, 
 but wished to let the Southern people have their own 
 way. So for fifty years the great men in Congress 
 wrangled and struggled to find some compromise, 
 some halfway plan that would satisfy both North 
 and South. Henry Clay had his plan; Webster de- 
 livered some of his greatest speeches in this turbu- 
 
26 LINCOLN 
 
 lent discussion. Just here a new question arose. 
 The South said, We are tired of this fight. Unless 
 you let us alone we will withdraw from the Union — 
 we will secede. Webster's greatest speech was made 
 on the proposition that no state could withdraw from 
 the Union. 
 
 "A House Divided Against Itself/" 
 
 Such were the conditio'ns when Lincoln stood up 
 before the convention at Springfield, 111., and said: 
 
 "Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention: 
 If we could first know where we are, and whither 
 we are tending, we could better judge what to do and 
 how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year 
 since a policy was initiated with the avowed object 
 and confident promise of putting an end to slavery 
 agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that 
 agitation not only has not ceased, but has constantly 
 augmented. In my opinion it will not cease until 
 a crisis shall have been reached and passed. 'A house 
 divided against itself cannot stand.' I believe this 
 government cannot endure permanently half slave 
 and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dis- 
 solved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do 
 expect it will cease to be divided. It will become 
 all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents 
 of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and 
 place it where the public mind will rest in the belief 
 that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or 
 its advocates will push it forward till it shall become 
 alike lawful in all the states, old as well as new, 
 North as well as South." 
 
LIFE 27 
 
 What Lincoln said was true. There could be no 
 peace till the battle had been fought out and slavery 
 had won or been beaten and driven from the coun- 
 try. Lincoln did not wish war; but if war must 
 come he was ready for it. 
 
 Elected President. 
 
 After the Douglas debates he made a great speech 
 at the Cooper Union, in New York, at which William 
 Cullen Bryant presided; and from this moment he 
 knew that he might become President. He was 
 elected in 1860, and was inaugurated March 4, 1861. 
 
 At that time it seemed as if the country was fall- 
 ing to pieces, that the great and glorious nation 
 founded by Washington and Franklin and Adams 
 and Patrick Henry and the rest was about to come 
 to an end. Less than six weeks after Lincoln en- 
 tered the White House, on April 14, 1861, Fort 
 Sumter surrendered. War had begun ; brother was 
 fighting brother; one after another the Southern 
 states withdrew and set up a government of their 
 own. At first Lincoln did not very well comprehend 
 the gigantic task laid upon him ; but he gradually 
 realized it, and when he sent his second annual 
 message to Congress he could say, "Fellow citizens, 
 we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and 
 this administration will be remembered in spite of 
 ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance 
 can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial 
 through which we pass will light us down, in honor 
 or dishonor, to the latest generation. We say we 
 are for the Union. The world will not forget that 
 
28 LINCOLN 
 
 we say this. We know how to save the Union. The 
 world knows we know how to save it. We, even 
 we, here — hold the power and bear the responsibility. 
 In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom 
 to the free — honorably alike in what we give and 
 what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly 
 lose, the last, best hope of earth." 
 
 Lincoln's Character. 
 
 And this was the spirit in which he himself pro- 
 ceeded to do what he conceived to be his duty. 
 "Our common country is in great peril, demanding 
 the loftiest views and boldest action to bring a 
 speedy relief. Once relieved, its form of govern- 
 ment is saved to the world; its beloved history and 
 cherished memories are vindicated, and its happy 
 future fully assured and rendered inconceivably 
 grand. . . . 
 
 "I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I 
 am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more when- 
 ever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. 
 I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, 
 and I shall adopt new views so fast as they are 
 shown to be true views." 
 
 In a letter to Reverdy Johnson he said, "I am a pa- 
 tient man-^always willing to forgive on Christian 
 terms of repentance, and also to give ample time for 
 repentance. Still, I must save this government, if 
 possible. What I cannot do, of course, I will not 
 do; but it may as well be understood, once for 
 all, that I shall not surrender this game leaving, any 
 available card unplayed." 
 
LIFE 29 
 
 In such utterances we see how cool and calm he 
 was. He did not get nervous or excited, he never 
 tried to do more than he could, and after days of 
 darkness and doubt and defeat, victory came at last, 
 the nation was saved, and peace now unites the 
 whole country in a common brotherhood. 
 
 During the time of his Presidency, Lincoln seldom 
 wrote to his friends, or indulged in any pleasures 
 or business of his own ; but he did tell a great many 
 stories to those who came to see him. It is said 
 that in 1862, when the North was plunged in gloom 
 by repeated defeats, an Ohio Congressman went to 
 see Lincoln, who at once began a funny story. 
 
 "Mr. President," said the Congressman, "I did 
 not come here this morning to hear stories; it is 
 too serious a time !" 
 
 "Ashley," replied Lincoln quickly, "sit down! I 
 respect you, as an earnest, sincere man. You can- 
 not be more anxious than I have been, constantly, 
 since the beginning of the war; and I say to you 
 now, that were it not for this occasional vent, I 
 should die !" 
 
 Nothing endeared President Lincoln so much to 
 the hearts of the people as his tenderness toward the 
 unfortunate. He was always pardoning deserters 
 and spies condemned to death. To a friend he once 
 said, "Some of our generals complain that I impair 
 discipline and subordination in the army by my 
 pardons and respites, but it makes me rested, after 
 a hard day's work, if I can find some good excuse 
 for saving a man's life." 
 
 A father once came to Lincoln to intercede for 
 
30 LINCOLN 
 
 the life of his s®n. Lincoln found it impossible to 
 grant a direct pardon, but wrote, "Job Smith is not 
 to be shot till further orders from me." The anxious 
 father was not satisfied with this and begged for 
 something more definite. "Well, my old friend," said 
 Lincoln, "I see you are not very well acquainted 
 with me. If your son never looks on death till fur- 
 ther orders come from me to shoot him, he will live 
 to be a great deal older than Methusaleh." 
 
 Once when Lincoln had pardoned twenty-four de- 
 serters at one time, all of whom were sentenced to be 
 shot, one of his generals objected that "Mercy to the 
 few is cruelty to the many." Lincoln replied, "My 
 general, there are already too many weeping widows 
 in the United States. For God's sake, don't ask me 
 to add to the number, for I won't do it." 
 
 The war was fought out during Lincoln's first term 
 as President. Grant won his victories in the West, 
 at Vicksburg and other places, and then led the army 
 against Richmond, forcing the surrender of Lee. 
 Lincoln's renomination was a foregone conclusion; 
 but to the convention he said simply that he knew 
 of no reason why he was a better man for the 
 Presidency than many others, but like the old Dutch 
 farmer, he thought it best "not to swop horses while 
 crossing a stream." 
 
 When triumphantly reelected, he turned to the 
 South with words of kindness and affection, bidding 
 his misguided brethren to come back in peace. "With 
 malice toward none, with charity for all, with firm- 
 ness in the right as God gives us to see the right, 
 let us finish the work we are in, to bind up the na- 
 
LIFE 31 
 
 tion's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne 
 the battle and for his widow and his orphans, to do 
 all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting 
 peace among ourselves and with all nations." 
 
 Assassination. 
 
 Thus he spoke in his inaugural address. Only a 
 few weeks later, on the 14th of April, the anniversary 
 of the surrender of Fort Sumter, he was assassinated 
 by Wilkes Booth, the actor. Booth was a hot- 
 headed young man, and with other Southern 
 sympathizers formed a plot to assassinate all the 
 chief men and overthrow the government. Lincoln 
 had gone to the theater with friends for an evening's 
 relaxation. He occupied a box, into the back of 
 which Booth made his way. At what he conceived 
 to be the dramatic moment he shot the President, 
 and leaped upon the stage. Unfortunately for him 
 he caught his foot in the flag which draped the box 
 and sprained his ankle. Nevertheless he stalked 
 across the stage, exclaiming in melodramatic fash- 
 ion, ''Sic semper tyrannis" "So ever with tyrants !" 
 At first the people thought this part of the play; 
 but when they understood what had been done all 
 was confusion. 
 
 When the news was flashed over the country that 
 Lincoln had been assassinated, it seemed as if a sud- 
 den pall and gloom had fallen on the land, as when it 
 becomes suddenly dark at midday, and people won- 
 der if the world is coming to an end. For four 
 years the nation had rested on Lincoln, depending 
 on him to carry it through ; and now it seemed as if 
 
32 LINCOLN 
 
 the glad fruits of the victories of a four years' war 
 were about to be lost, and the country would fall 
 into confusion and anarchy once more. 
 
 But gradually it was found that Lincoln's spirit 
 was as powerful after his death as it had ever been 
 before; and it has been growing stronger ever since, 
 until we realize that no small part of our country's 
 greatness today is due to him. 
 
 The President's Life at the White House. 
 
 John Hay, one of Lincoln's private secretaries and 
 later Roosevelt's secretary of state, has given us an 
 interesting description of the President's life at the 
 White House during the period of war. 
 
 "The President rose early, as his sleep was light 
 and capricious. In the summer, when he lived at 
 the Soldiers' Home, he would take his frugal break- 
 fast and ride into town in time to be at his desk at 
 eight o'clock. He began to receive visits nominally 
 at ten o'clock, but long before that hour struck the 
 doors were besieged by anxious crowds, through 
 whom the people of importance. Senators and Mem- 
 bers of Congress, elbowed their way after the fashion 
 which still survives. On days when the Cabinet 
 met — Tuesdays and Fridays — the hour of noon closed 
 the interviews of the m.orning. On other days it 
 was the President's custom, at about that hour, to 
 order the doors to be thrown open and all who were 
 waiting to be admitted. The crowd would rush in, 
 throng in the narrow room, and one by one would 
 make their wants known. Some came merely to 
 shake hands, to wish him Godspeed; their errand 
 
LIFE 33 
 
 was soon done. Others came asking help or 
 mercy ; they usually pressed forward, careless in 
 their pain as to what ears should overhear their 
 prayer. But there were many who lingered in the 
 rear and leaned against the wall, hoping each to be 
 last, that they might in tete-a-tete unfold their 
 schemes for their own advantage or their neighbor's 
 hurt. These were often disconcerted by the Presi- 
 dent's loud and hearty, 'Well, friend, what can I do 
 for you?' which compelled them to speak, or retire 
 and wait for a more convenient season. The in- 
 ventors were more a source of amusement than of 
 annoyance. They were usually men of some orig- 
 inahty of character, not infrequently carried to ec- 
 centricity. Lincoln had a quick apprehension of 
 mechanical principles, and often detected a flaw in 
 an invention which the contriver had overlooked. 
 He would sometimes go into the waste fields that 
 then lay south of the Executive Mansion to test an 
 experimental gun or torpedo. He used to quote 
 with much merriment the solemn dictum of one 
 rural inventor that *a gun ought not to rekyle; if it 
 rekyles at all, it ought to rekyle a little forrid.* 
 
 "At luncheon time he had literally to run the 
 gauntlet through the corridors between his office 
 and the rooms at the west end of the house occupied 
 by the family. The afternoon wore away in much 
 the same manner as the morning; late in the day 
 he usually drove out for an hour's airing; at six 
 o'clock he dined. He was one of the most ab- 
 stemious of men; the pleasures of the table had few 
 attractions for him. His breakfast was an egg and 
 
34 LINCOLN 
 
 a cup of coflee ; at luncheon he rarely took more 
 than a biscuit and a glass of milk, a plate of fruit 
 in its season; at dinner he ate sparingly of one or 
 two courses. He drank little or no wine; not that 
 he remained on principle a total abstainer, as he was 
 during a part of his early life in the fervor of the 
 'Washingtonian' reform ; but he never cared for 
 wine or liquors of any sort and never used tobacco. 
 ''There was little gayety in the Executive House 
 during his time. It was an epoch, if not of gloom, 
 at least of a seriousness too intense to leave room 
 for much mirth. There were the usual formal en- 
 tertainments, the traditional state dinners and recep- 
 tions, conducted very much as they have been ever 
 since. The great public receptions, with their vast, 
 rushing multitudes pouring past him to shake hands, 
 he rather enjoyed; they were not a disagreeable 
 task to him, and he seemed surprised when people 
 commiserated him upon them. He would shake 
 hands with thousands of people, seemingly uncon- 
 scious of what he was doing, murmuring some 
 monotonous salutation as they went by, his eye dim, 
 his thoughts far withdrawn ; then suddenly he would 
 see some familiar face, — his memory for faces was 
 very good, — and his eye would brighten and his 
 whole form grow attentive ; he would greet the 
 visitor with a hearty grasp and a ringing word and 
 dismiss him with a cheery laugh that filled the Blue 
 Room with infectious good nature. Many people 
 armed themselves with an appropriate speech to be 
 delivered on these occasions, but unless it was com- 
 pressed into the smallest possible space, it never was 
 
LIFE S5 
 
 uttered; the crowd would jostle the peroration out 
 of shape. If it were brief enough, and hit the Presi- 
 dent's fancy, it generally received a swift answer. 
 One night an elderly gentleman from Buffalo said, 
 'Up our way we believe in God and Abraham Lin- 
 coln,' to which the President replied, shoving him 
 along the line, 'My friend, you are more than half 
 right.* 
 
 "During the first years of the administration the 
 house was made lively by the games and pranks of 
 Mr. Lincoln's two youngest children, William and 
 Thomas ; Robert, the eldest, was away at Harvard, 
 only coming home for short vacations. The two 
 little boys, aged eight and ten, with their Western 
 independence and enterprise, kept the house in an 
 uproar. They drove their tutor wild with their good- 
 natured disobedience ; they organized a minstrel 
 show in the attic ; they made acquaintance with the 
 office-seekers and became the hot champions of the 
 distressed. WilHam was, with all his boyish frolic, 
 a child of great promise, capable of close applica- 
 tion and study. He had a fancy for drawing up 
 railway time-tables, and would conduct an imaginary 
 train from Chicago to New York with perfect pre- 
 cision. He wrote childish verses, which sometimes 
 attained the unmerited honors of print. But this 
 bright, gentle, and studious child sickened and died 
 in February, 1862. His father was profoundly moved 
 by his death, though he gave no outward sign of his 
 trouble, but kept about his work the same as ever. 
 His bereaved heart seemed afterwards to pour out 
 its fullness on his youngest child. Tad' was a 
 
36 LINCOLN 
 
 merry, warm-hearted, kindly little boy, perfectly law- 
 less, and full of odd fancies and inventions, the 
 'chartered libertine' of the Executive Mansion. He 
 ran continually in and out of his father's cabinet, 
 interrupting his gravest labors and conversations 
 with his bright, rapid and very imperfect speech, — 
 for he had an impedient which made his articulation 
 almost unintelligible until he was nearly grown. He 
 would perch upon his father's knee, and sometimes 
 even on his shoulder, while the most weighty con- 
 ferences were going on. Sometimes, escaping from 
 the domestic authorities, he would take refuge in that 
 sanctuary for the whole evening, dropping to sleep 
 at last on the floor, when the President would pick 
 him up and carry him tenderly to bed. 
 
 "Mr. Lincoln spent most of his evenings in his 
 office, though occasionally he remained in the draw- 
 ing-room after dinner, conversing with visitors or 
 listening to music, for which he had an especial 
 liking, though he was not versed in the science, and 
 preferred simple ballads to more elaborate composi- 
 tions. In his office he was not often suffered to be 
 alone ; he frequently passed the evening there with 
 a few friends in frank and free conversation. If 
 the company was all of one sort he was at his best ; 
 his wit and rich humor had full play ; he was once j 
 more the Lincoln of the Eighth Circuit, the cheeriest 
 of talkers, the riskiest of story-tellers ; but if a 
 stranger came in he put on in an instant his whole 
 armor of dignity and reserve. He had a singular 
 discernment of men ; he would talk of the most im- 
 portant political and military concerns with a free 
 
LIFE 37 
 
 dom which often amazed his intimates, but we do 
 not recall an instance in which his confidence was 
 misplaced. 
 
 "Where only one or two were present, he was 
 fond of reading aloud. He passed many of the 
 summer evenings in this way when occupying his 
 cottage at the Soldiers' Home. 
 
 "He read Shakspeare more than all other writers 
 together. He made no attempt to keep pace with 
 the ordinary literature of the day. Sometimes he 
 read a scientific work with keen appreciation, but he 
 pursued no systematic course. He owed less to 
 reading than most men. He delighted in Burns; of 
 Thomas Hood he was also excessively fond. He 
 often read aloud 'The Haunted House.' He would 
 go to bed with a volume of Hood in his hands, and 
 would sometimes rise at midnight and, traversing 
 the long halls of the Executive Mansion in his night- 
 clothes, would come to his secretary's room and 
 read aloud something that especially pleased him. 
 He wanted to share his enjoyment of the writer; it 
 was dull pleasure for him to laugh alone. He read 
 Bryant and Whittier with appreciation ; there were 
 many poems of Holmes that he read with intense 
 relish. The Last Leaf was one of his favorites ; 
 he knew it by heart, and used often to repeat it 
 with deep feeling." 
 
 Lincoln's Domestic Life. 
 
 Lincoln's relations with his wife were peculiar. He 
 had first of all been deeply in love with Anne Rut- 
 ledge, and her death had cast a gloom over his whole 
 
38 LINCOLN 
 
 life. After that he paid his addresses to various 
 young ladies, for his tender heart seemed to yearn 
 for domestic life. Each in turn refused him, how- 
 ever. At last he met in Springfield the sister of the 
 wife of a political comrade, Ninian W. Edwards. 
 Mary Todd came of a more or less aristocratic 
 Southern family, was well educated, and refined in 
 manners and habits. Lincoln was not ; but she was 
 ambitious, and she believed he had a political future. 
 Stephen Douglas, Lincoln's superior in refinement 
 and education, attempted to supplant Lincoln, but 
 soon dropped out of the race. 
 
 Lincoln was never sure he was really in love with 
 Miss Todd. In some of his gloomy moments he 
 made up his mind that he would break off their 
 engagement, and wrote her a letter telling her he 
 did not think he loved her. He showed it to a 
 friend, who threw it in the fire and told Lincoln to 
 go and tell her face to face. So the young man set 
 off; but he did not return for some hours. 
 
 "Well, old fellow, did you do as I told you and 
 you promised?" Speed asked when his friend re- 
 turned. 
 
 "Yes, I did," responded Lincoln, "and when I told 
 Mary I did not love her, she burst into tears, and 
 almost springing from the chair and wringing her 
 hands as if in an agony, said something about the 
 deceiver being himself deceived." Then he stopped. 
 
 "And what else did you say?" inquired Speed. 
 
 "To tell you the truth, Speed, it was too much for 
 me. I found the tears trickling down my own cheeks. 
 I caught her in my arms and kissed her." 
 
LIFE 39 
 
 So the engagement was renewed and January 1, 
 1841, set for the marriage. All Miss Todd's friends 
 assembled, the house was decked with flowers, and 
 the bride in her wedding veil and silks waited for 
 the bridegroom. But he did not appear. Messengers 
 were sent for him and he could not be found. So 
 the guests went sadly home and the lights were put 
 out. Miss Todd's mortification may easily be imag- 
 ined. 
 
 As for Lincoln, he was found by his friends toward 
 daybreak alone in the woods. Restless, miserable, 
 gloomy, desperate, he was truly an object of pity. 
 His friends feared insanity, and kept from him 
 "knives and razors, and every instrument that could 
 be used for self-destruction.' Moreover, they 
 watched with him night and day. He was a member 
 of the legislature, which was then in session ; but 
 he was unable to attend it until near its close. After 
 the adjournment he went to Kentucky, where he 
 spent some time at the home of his friend Speed, 
 and finally recovered his mental health and spirits. 
 
 Speed was married not long after this, and was 
 so happy that Lincoln was encouraged to make the 
 trial himself. A diplomatic lady friend brought 
 Miss Todd and Lincoln together again, their friend- 
 ship was renewed, and at last, on November 4, 1842, 
 they were married. 
 
 One of Lincoln's friends thinks he married his 
 wife to save his honor, and that thereby he sacri- 
 ficed his domestic peace. Lincoln lived with his 
 wife in much the way that other married couples 
 live, and had several children, of whom the best 
 
40 LINCOLN 
 
 known is Robert T. Lincoln. To the outer world 
 there never appeared to be any serious friction be- 
 tween the couple, but it would appear that they 
 were not altogether happy together. 
 
 Lincoln's manners were certainly annoying. One 
 evening while lying on the floor in his shirtsleeves 
 reading, a knock was heard at the door ; and though 
 Mrs. lincoln had often protested against his answer- 
 ing the door he insisted on doing it. This time he 
 found two ladies come to make a social call. He 
 invited them into the parlor, and informed them that 
 he would "trot the women folks out." It is not 
 strange that such things irritated Mrs, Lincoln not a 
 little. 
 
 Besides, she was strongly pro-slavery, being a 
 Kentucky woman. "If ever my husband dies," she 
 once remarked, "his spirit will never find me living 
 outside the limits of a slave state." 
 
 He humored her, however, though he often 
 avoided his home, staying in his office without food 
 all day and all night, or when ho was "on circuit" 
 spending his Sundays at the poor little tavern where 
 he had been lodging while his brother lav*^yers 
 hastened to their happy homes. Once, it is said, a 
 man called on Mrs. Lincoln to find out why his niece 
 had been unceremoniously discharged as her servant. 
 It seems the good lady used her tongue upon him 
 rather roughly. He at once went to find Lincoln 
 and require proper satisfaction for this disagreeable 
 treatment. Lincoln listened for a moment to his 
 story. "My friend," he interrupted, "I regret to 
 hear this, but let me ask you in all candor, can't you 
 
LIFE 41 
 
 endure for a few moments what I have had as my 
 daily portion for the last fifteen years?" Mr. Hern- 
 don, who tells the story, says these words were 
 spoken so mournfully and with such a look of dis- 
 tress that the man was completely disarmed, and 
 went away, merely pressing Lincoln's hand and ex- 
 pressing his sympathy. 
 
 Lincoln had four children, one of whom died in 
 infancy, one (Willie) died in the White House, 
 Thomas or 'Tad,' who died in Chicago, and Robert 
 Todd Lincoln, who became ambassador to the Court 
 of St. James (London) and is still living (1907). 
 
 At the request of a friend, Mr. Lincoln wrote out 
 the following account of himself : 
 
 An Autobiographic Letter. 
 
 *T was born February 12, 1809, in Hardin county, 
 Kentucky. My parents were both born in Virginia, 
 of undistinguished families — second families, perhaps 
 I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth 
 year, was of a family of the name of Hanks, some of 
 whom now reside in Adams, and others in Macon 
 county, Illinois. My paternal grandfather, Abraham 
 Lincoln, emigrated from Rockingham county, Vir- 
 ginia, to Kentucky about 1781 or 1782, where a 
 year or later he was killed by the Indians, not in 
 battle, but by stealth, when he was laboring to open 
 a farm in the forest. His ancestors, who were 
 Quakers, went to Virginia from Berks county, Penn- 
 sylvania. An effort to identify them with the 
 New England family of the same name ended in 
 nothing more definite than a similarity of Christian 
 
42 LINCOLN 
 
 names in both families, such as Enoch, Levi, Morde- 
 cai, Solomon, Abraham, and the like. 
 
 "My father, at the death of his father, was but six 
 years of age, and he grew up literally without educa- 
 tion. He removed from Kentucky to what is now 
 Spencer county, Indiana, in my eighth year. We 
 reached our new home about the time the State 
 came into the Union. It was a wild region, with 
 many bears and other wild animals still in the 
 woods. There I grew up. There were some schools, 
 so called, but no qualification was ever required of a 
 teacher beyond "readin', writin,' and cipherin' " to the 
 rule of three. If a straggler supposed to understand 
 Latin happened to sojourn in the neighborhood he 
 was looked upon as a wizard. There was absolutely 
 nothing to excite ambition for education. Of course, 
 when I came of age I did not know much. Still, 
 somehow, I could read, write, and cipher to the 
 rule of three, but that was all. I have not been to 
 school since. The little advance I now have upon 
 this store of education I have picked up from time to 
 time under the pressure of necessity. 
 
 'T was raised to farm work, which I continued till 
 I was twenty-two. At twenty-one I came to Illinois, 
 Macon county. Then I got to New Salem, at that 
 time in Sangamon, now in Menard county, where I 
 remained a year as a sort of clerk in a store. Then 
 came the Black Hawk war, and I was elected a 
 captain of volunteers, a success which gave me more 
 pleasure than any I have had since. I went the 
 campaign, was elated, ran for the legislature the 
 same year (1832), and was beaten — the only time I 
 
LIFE 43 
 
 ever have been beaten by the people. The next 
 three succeeding biennial elections I was elected to 
 the legislature. I was not a candidate afterward. 
 During this legislative period I had studied law 
 and removed to Springfield to practise it. In 1846 
 I was once elected to the lower house of congress. 
 Was not a candidate for re-election. From 1849 to 
 1854, both inclusive, practiced law more assiduously 
 than ever before. Always a Whig in politics, and 
 generally on the Whig electoral tickets, making 
 active canvasses. I was losing interest in politics 
 when the repeal of the Missouri compromise aroused 
 me again. What I have done since then is pretty 
 well known. 
 
 "If any personal description of me is thought desir- 
 able, it may be said I am, in height, six feet four 
 inches, nearly; lean in flesh, weighing on an average 
 one hundred and eighty pounds ; dark complexion, 
 with coarse black hair and gray eyes. No other 
 marks or brands recollected." 
 
 Lincoln's Personal Appearance, 
 
 Horace White, who reported Lincoln's joint de- 
 bates with Douglas for the Chicago Tribune, has 
 this vivid description of his personal appearance. 
 Says he, "I have before me a photograph taken at 
 Pittsfield, Illinois, during the campaign of 1858. 
 It looks as I have seen him a hundred times, his 
 lantern jaws and large mouth and solid nose firmly 
 set, his sunken eyes looking at nothing yet not unex- 
 pressive, his wrinkled and retreating forehead cut 
 off by a mass of tousled hair, with a shade of melan- 
 
44 LINCOLN 
 
 choly drawn like a veil over his whole face. Noth- 
 ing more unlike this can be imagined than the same 
 Lincoln when taking part in a conversation, or 
 addressing an audience, or telling a story. The 
 dull, listless features dropped like a mask. The 
 melancholy shadow disappeared in a twinkling. The 
 eye began to sparkle, the mouth to smile, the 
 whole countenance was wreathed with animation, 
 so that a stranger would have said: 'Why, this 
 man, so angular and sombre a moment ago, is really 
 handsome.' " 
 
 LETTERS AND RECOLLECTIONS.'' 
 In one sense the life of Lincoln as President is 
 the history of the Civil War. Now that it is all 
 over, we agree that he saved the Union. How did 
 he do it? What personal qualities, manners and 
 methods resulted in the final victory with which we 
 are all familiar. 
 
 The authoritative history of this period is the mon- 
 umental work of Nicolay and Hay, the ten-volume 
 Life of Lincoln. But here we get only the political 
 aspects, documents, and statements of historic facts. 
 There is little light on the simple question, "How 
 did the rail splitter manage a war that cost a million 
 dollars every twenty-four hours, control men who 
 were opposing him at every turn, and in the end 
 attain success?" 
 
 The question is too difficult to be answered fully 
 in the small space here available, but the following 
 quotations and anecdotes will suggest the answer. 
 
 *Letters in this section are used by permission of the 
 Century Company, owners of the copyright. 
 
LIFE 45 
 
 The First Inaugural. 
 
 Lincoln's first public appearance in Washington 
 was when he delivered his first inaugural address. 
 Says Mr. L. E. Chittenden in his "Recollections," 
 "Mr. Lincoln's ordinary voice was pitched in a high 
 and not unmusical key. Without effort it was heard 
 at an unusual distance. Persons at the most distant 
 margins of the audience said that every word he 
 spoke was distinctly audible to them. The silence 
 was unbroken. No speaker ever secured a more 
 undivided attention, for almost every person felt a 
 personal interest in what he was to say. His friends 
 feared, those who were not his friends hoped, that, 
 forgetting the dignity of his position, and the occa- 
 sion, he would descend to the practices of a story- 
 teller, and fail to rise to the level of a statesman. 
 For he was popularly known as the 'Rail-spHtter' ; 
 was supposed to be uncouth in his manner, and low, 
 if not positively vulgar in his moral nature. If not 
 restrained by personal fear, it was thought that he 
 might attack those who differed with him in opinion 
 v/ith threats and denunciations. 
 
 "But the great heart and kindly nature of the man 
 were apparent in his opening sentence, in the tone 
 of his voice, the expression of his face, in his whole 
 manner and bearing. . . . 
 
 "His introduction had not been welcomed by a 
 cheer, his opening remarks elicited no response. The 
 silence was long-continued, and became positively 
 painful. But the power of his earnest words be- 
 gan to show itself; the sombre cloud which seemed 
 
46 LINCOLN 
 
 to hang over the audience began to fade away when 
 he said, 'I hold that in the contemplation of uni- 
 versal law, and of the Constitution, the Union of 
 these states is perpetual!' — with the words *I shall 
 take care, as the Constitution expressly enjoins upon 
 me, that the "Laws of the Union shall be faithfully 
 executed in all the states." ' And when, with up- 
 lifted eyes and solemn accents, he said, 'The power 
 confided to me will be used to hold, occupy and 
 possess the property and places belonging to the 
 government,' a great wave of enthusiasm rolled 
 over the audience, as the united voices of the im- 
 mense multitude ascended heavenward in a roar of 
 assenting applause. 
 
 "From this time to the end of his address, Abra- 
 ham Lincoln controlled the audience at his will." 
 
 What Lincoln did in this speech he had to do 
 over and over again continually. Within a month 
 Wm. H. Seward, his secretary of state sent him 
 a remarkable memorandum headed "Some thoughts 
 for the President's consideration," which have been 
 summarized as follows : "After a month's trial, 
 you, Mr. Lincoln, are a failure as President. The 
 country is in desperate straits, and must use a des- 
 perate remedy. That remedy is to submerge the 
 South Carolina insurrection in a continental war. 
 Some new man must take the executive helm, and 
 wield the undivided presidential authority. I should 
 have been nominated at Chicago, and elected in No- 
 vember, but am willing to take your place and 
 perform your duties." 
 
 Mr. Lincoln quietly pigeonholed this remarkable 
 
LIFE 47 
 
 document and no one knew of it till twenty-five 
 years later. In his reply he wrote with simple dig- 
 nity, "If this must be done, I must do it. When 
 a general line of policy is adopted, I apprehend there 
 is no danger of its being changed without good rea- 
 son; still, upon points arising in its progress I wish, 
 and suppose I am entitled to have, the advice of all 
 the cabinet." This reply ended the argument. "In 
 one mind at least there was no further doubt that 
 the cabinet had a master, for only some weeks later 
 Mr. Seward is known to have .written : 'There is 
 but one vote in the cabinet, and that is cast by the 
 President.' " 
 
 Lincoln and his Generals. 
 
 The military situation during the war may be 
 briefly summarized as follows : Most of the army 
 was gathered about the city of Washington, at first 
 under McClellan, and later under Hooker, Halleck, 
 and other generals, who were always getting ready 
 to fight, but never fighting except when they were 
 attacked, until "All quiet on the Pot-o-mac" became 
 a byword of ridicule. A lesser army was operating 
 in the vicinity of the Mississippi river, and the first 
 great victory was the capture of Vicksburg by 
 Grant. But at the end of three years Robert E. 
 Lee was holding Virginia and no progress had been 
 made toward Richmond, indeed the Union army 
 had been disgracefully defeated on various occa- 
 sions. These were the darkest days for Lincoln; 
 but after Grant's successes in the West, he was 
 made lieutenant-general and placed in command 
 
48 . LINCOLN 
 
 of the Army of the Potomac. Sherman made his 
 famous march to the sea, and Sheridan cleared the 
 Shenandoah valley. After a hard year's fighting 
 Lee surrendered at Richmond. 
 
 Nothing is more interesting than the way in 
 which Lincoln handled his incompetent generals, 
 trying to get what he could out of each, until he 
 found further effort useless. 
 
 The following letters to McClellan well illustrate 
 the consideration and tact with which he tried to 
 crowd him into action, until, giving him up as hope- 
 less, he ordered McClellan's removal. 
 
 Telegram to General McClellan. Washington, 
 1 May, 1863. 
 
 Your call for Parrott guns from Washington 
 alarms me, chiefly because it argues indefinite pro- 
 crastination. Is anything to be done? 
 
 Letter to General McClellan. Washington, 
 9 May, 1862. 
 
 My dear Sir: I have just assisted the Secretary 
 of War in framing part of a despatch to you re- 
 lating to army corps, which despatch of course will 
 have reached you long before this will. 
 
 I wish to say a few words to you privately on 
 this subject. I ordered the army corps organiza- 
 tion not only on the unannnous opinion of the 
 twelve generals whom you had selected and as- 
 signed as generals of division, but also on the 
 unanimous opinion of every military man I could 
 gtet an opinion from (and every modern military 
 
LIFE 49 
 
 book), yourself only excepted. Of course, I did 
 not on my own judgment pretend to understand the 
 subject. I now think it indespensable for you 
 to know how your struggle against it is received 
 in quarters which we cannot entirely disregard. It 
 is looked upon as merely an effort to hamper one 
 or two pets and to persecute and degrade their 
 supposed rivals. I have had no word from Sumner, 
 Heintzelman, or Keyes. The commanders of these 
 corps are of course the three highest officers wHh 
 you, but I am constantly told that you have no con- 
 sultation or communication with them; that you 
 consult and communicate with nobody but General 
 Fitz-John Porter and perhaps General Franklin. I 
 do not say these complaints are true or just, but 
 at all events it is proper you should know of their 
 existence. Do the commanders of corps disobey 
 your orders in anything? 
 
 When you relieved General Hamilton of his com- 
 mand the other day, you thereby lost the confidence 
 of at least one of your best friends in the Senate. 
 And here let me say, not as applicable to you per- 
 sonally, that senators and representatives speak of 
 me in their places as they please without question, 
 and that officers of the army must cease addressing 
 insulting letters to them for taking no greater lib- 
 erty with them. 
 
 But to return. Are you strong enough — are you 
 strong enough, even with my help — to set your foot 
 upon the necks of Sumner, Heintzelman, and Keyes 
 all at once? This is a practical and very serious 
 question for you. 
 
50 LINCOLN 
 
 The success of your army and the cause of the 
 country are the same, and of course I only desire 
 the good of the cause. 
 
 Telegram to General McClellan. Washington, 
 23 May, 1862. 
 
 I am very glad of General F. J. Porter's victory. 
 Still, if it was a total rout of the enemy, I am 
 puzzled to know why the Richmond and Fredericks- 
 burg Railroad was not seized again, as you say 
 you have all the railroads but the Richmond and 
 Fredericksburg. I am puzzled to see how, lacking 
 that, you can have any, except the scrap from Rich- 
 mond to West Point. The scrap of the Virginia 
 Central from Richmond to Hanover Junction, with- 
 out more, is simply nothing. That the whole of 
 the enemy is concentrating on Richmond, I think 
 cannot be certainly known to you or me. Saxton, 
 at Harper's Ferry, informs us that large forces, 
 supposed to be Jackson's and Ewell's, forced his 
 advance from Charlestown to-day. General King 
 telegraphs us from Fredericksburg that contrabands 
 give certain information that 15,000 left Hanover 
 Junction Monday morning to reinforce Jackson. I 
 am painfully impressed with the importance of the 
 struggle before you, and shall aid you all I can 
 consistently with my view of due regard to all 
 points. 
 
 Letter to General McClellan. Washington, 
 1 July, 1862. 
 
 It is impossible to reinforce you for your present 
 emergency. If we had a million men we could not 
 
LIFE 51 
 
 get them to you in time. We have not the men to 
 send. If you are not strong enough to face the 
 enemy, you must find a place of security, and wait, 
 rest, and repair. Maintain your ground if you can, 
 but save the army at all events, even if you fall 
 back to Fort Monroe. We still have strength 
 enough in the country and will bring it out. 
 
 Telegram to General McClellan. Washington, 
 5 July, 1862. 
 
 A thousand thanks for the relief your two des- 
 patches of 12 and 1 p. m. yesterday gave me. Be 
 assured the heroism and skill of yourself and offi- 
 cers and men is, and forever will be, appreciated. 
 
 If you can hold your present position, we shall 
 hive the enemy yet. 
 
 From a Letter to General McClellan. Washing- 
 ton, 13 October, 1862. 
 
 My dear Sir: You remember my speaking to you 
 of what I called your over-cautiousness. Are you 
 not over-cautious when you assume that you can- 
 not do what the enemy is constantly doing? Should 
 you not claim to be at least his equal in prowess, 
 and act upon the claim? As I understand, you 
 telegraphed General Halleck that you cannot sub- 
 sist your army at Winchester unless the railroad 
 from Harper's Ferry to that point be put in working 
 order. But the enemy does now subsist his army 
 at Winchester, at a distance nearly twice as great 
 from railroad transportation as you would have to 
 do without the railroad last named. He now 
 
52 LINCOLN 
 
 wagons from Culpeper Court House, which is just 
 about twice as far as you would have to do from 
 Harper's Ferry. He is certainly not more than half 
 as well provided with wagons as you are. I cer- 
 tainly should be pleased for you to have the ad- 
 vantage of the railroad from Harper's Ferry to 
 Winchester, but it wastes all the remainder of au- 
 tumn to give it to you, and in fact ignores the ques- 
 tion of time, which cannot and must not be ignored. 
 Again, one of the standard maxims of war, as you 
 know, is to "operate upon the enemy's communica- 
 tions as much as possible without exposing your 
 own." You seem to act as if this applies against 
 you, but cannot apply in your favor. Change po- 
 sitions with the enemy, and think you not he would 
 break your communication with Richmond within 
 the next twenty-four hours? You dread his going 
 into Pennsylvania; but if he does so in full force, 
 he gives up his communications to you absolutely, 
 and you have nothing to do but to follow and ruin 
 him. If he does so with less than full force, fall 
 upon and beat what is left behind all the easier. 
 Exclusive of the water-line, you are now nearer 
 Richmond than the enemy is by the route that you 
 can and he must take. Why can you not reach there 
 before him, unless you admit that he is more than 
 your equal on a march? His route is the arc of 
 a circle, while yours is the chord. The roads are 
 as good on yours as on his. You know I desired, 
 but did not order, you to cross the Potomac below, 
 instead of above, the Shenandoah and Blue Ridge. 
 My idea was that this would at once menace the 
 
LIFE 53 
 
 enemy's communications, which I would seize if he 
 would permit. 
 
 If he should move northward, I would follow him 
 closely, holding his communications. If he should 
 prevent our seizing his communications and move 
 toward Richmond, I would press closely to him, 
 fight him if a favorably opportunity should present, 
 and at least try to beat him to Richmond on the 
 inside track. 1 say "try" : if we never try, we shall 
 never succeed. If he makes a stand at Winchester, 
 moving neither north nor south, I would fight him 
 there, on the idea that if we cannot beat him when 
 he bears the wastage of coming to us, we never can 
 when we bear the wastage of going to him. This 
 proposition is a simple truth, and is too important 
 to be lost sight of for a moment. In coming to 
 us he tenders to us an advantage which we should 
 not waive. We should not so operate as to merely 
 drive him away. As we must beat him somewhere 
 or fail finally, we can do it, if at all, easier near to 
 us than far away. If we cannot beat the enemy 
 where he now is, we never can, he again being 
 within the intrenchments of Richmond. 
 Telegram to General McClellan. Washington, 
 24 October, 1862. 
 
 I have just read your despatch about sore-tongued 
 and fatigued horses. Will you pardon me for ask- 
 ing what the horses of your army have done since 
 the battle of Antietam that fatigues anything? 
 Telegram to General McClellan. Washington, 
 27 October, 1862. 
 
 Your despatch of 3 p. m. today, in regard to fill- 
 
54 LINCOLN 
 
 ing up old regiments with drafted men, is received, 
 and the request therein shall be complied with as 
 far as practicable. 
 
 And now I ask a distinct answer to the question, 
 Is it your purpose not to go into action again until 
 the men now being drafted in the States are incor- 
 porated into the old regiments? 
 
 On November 5 McClellan was relieved from 
 command. 
 
 When he placed the command of the Army of the 
 Potomac in the hands of General Hooker he wrote 
 to him the following characteristic letter : 
 
 Letter to General J. Hooker. Washington^ 
 26 January, 1863. 
 
 General: I have placed you at the head of the 
 Army of the Potomac. Of course I have done this 
 upon what appear to me to be sufficient reasons, 
 and yet I think it best for you to know that there 
 are some things in regard to which I am not quite 
 satisfied with you. I believe you to be a brave and 
 skilful soldier, which of course I like. I also believe 
 you do not mix politics with your profession, in 
 which you are right. You have confidence in your- 
 self, which is a valuable if not an indispensable 
 quality. You are ambitious, which, within reasonable 
 bounds, does good rather than harm ; but I think 
 that during General Burnside's command of the 
 army you have taken counsel of your ambition and 
 thwarted him as much as you could, in which you 
 did a great wrong to the country and to a most 
 meritorious and honorable brother officer. I have 
 
LIFE 55 
 
 heard, in such a way as to believe it, of your re- 
 cently saying that both the army and the government 
 needed a dictator. Of course it was not for this, 
 but in spite of it, that I have given j^ou the command. 
 Only those generals who gain successes can set up 
 dictators. What I now ask of you is military success, 
 and I will risk the dictatorship. The government will 
 support you to the utmost of its ability, which is 
 neither more nor less than it has done and will do 
 for all commanders. I much fear that the spirit 
 which you have aided to infuse into the army, of 
 criticising their commander and withholding con- 
 fidence from him, will now turn upon you. I shall 
 assist you as far as I can to put it down. Neither 
 you nor Napoleon, if he were alive again, could get 
 any good out of an army while such a spirit prevails 
 in it ; and now beware of rashness. Beware of rash- 
 ness, but with energy and sleepless vigilance go 
 forward and give us victories. 
 
 Meade succeeded Hooker and won the battle of 
 Gettysburg, but failed to follow up his success, and 
 Lincoln wrote him as follows ; but the letter was 
 never signed or sent. Lincoln knew it was useless, 
 and he would not inflict unnecessary pain, even on 
 an erring general. 
 
 Letter to General Meade After the Battle of 
 
 Gettysburg. Washington, 14 July 1863. 
 
 Never Signed or Sent. 
 
 I have just seen your despatch to General Halleck, 
 asking to be relieved of your command because 
 of a supposed censure of mine. I am very, very 
 
56 LINCOLN 
 
 grateful to you for the magnificent success you 
 gave the cause of the country at Gettysbwrg; and I 
 am sorry now to be the author of the slightest 
 pain to you. But I was in such deep distress myself 
 that I could not restrain some expression of it. I 
 have been oppressed nearly ever since the battle of 
 Gettysburg by what appeared to be evidences that 
 yourself and General Couch and General Smith 
 were not seeking a collision with the enemy, but 
 were trying to get him across the river without an- 
 other battle. What these evidences were, if you 
 please, I hope to tell you at some time when we 
 shall both feel better. The case, summarily stated, 
 is this : You fought and beat the enemy at Gettys- 
 burg, and, of course, to say the least, his loss was 
 as great as yours. He retreated, and you did not, 
 as it seemed to me, pressingly pursue him; but a 
 flood in the river detained him till, by slow degrees 
 you were again upon him. You had at least twenty 
 thousand veteran troops directly with you, and as 
 many more raw ones within supporting distance, 
 all in addition to those who fought with you at 
 Gettysburg, while it was not possible that he had 
 received a single recruit, and yet you stood and 
 let the flood run down, bridges be built, and the 
 enemy move away at his leisure without attacking 
 him. And Couch and Smith ! The latter left Car- 
 lisle in time, upon all ordinary calculation, to have 
 aided you in the last battle of Gettysburg, but he did 
 not arrive. At the end of more than ten days, I 
 believe, twelve, under constant urging, he reached 
 Hagerstown from Carlisle, which is not an inch 
 
LIFE 57 
 
 over fifty-five miles, if so much, and Couch's move- 
 ment was very little different. 
 
 Again, my dear general, I do not believe you 
 appreciate the magnitude of the misfortune involved 
 in Lee's escape. He was within your easy grasp, 
 and to have closed upon him would, in connection 
 with our other late successes, have ended the war. 
 As it is, the war will be prolonged indefinitely. 
 If you could not safely attack Lee last Monday, 
 how can you possibly do so south of the river, 
 when you can take with you very few more than 
 two thirds of the force you then had in hand? 
 It would be unreasonable to expect, and I do not 
 expect [that], you can now effect much. Your 
 golden opportunity is gone, and I am distressed im- 
 measureably because of it. 
 
 I beg you will not consider this a prosecution or 
 persecution of yourself. As you had learned that 
 I was dissatisfied, I have thought it best to kindly 
 tell you why. 
 
 What Lincoln wanted from his generals was 
 results, and if he got them he cared little how they 
 were obtained. After the capture of Vicksburg 
 Lincoln sent the following letter to General Grant. 
 It is dated July 13, the day before the preceding let- 
 ter to Meade was written. 
 
 Letter to General Grant After the Surrender of 
 Vicksburg. Washington, 13 July 1863. 
 
 My dear General: I do not remember that you 
 and I ever met personally. I write this now as 
 a grateful acknowledgment for the almost inesti- 
 
58 LINCOLN 
 
 mable service you have done the country. I wish 
 to say a word further. When you first reached 
 the vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought you should do 
 what you finally did — march the troops across the 
 neck, run the batteries with the transports, and 
 thus go below ; and I never had any faith, except 
 a general hope that you knew better than I, that the 
 Yazoo Pass expedition and the like could succeed. 
 When you got below and took Port Gibson, Grand 
 Gulf and vicinity, I thought you should go down the 
 river and join General Banks, and when you turned 
 northward, east of the Big Black, I feared it was 
 a mistake. I now wish to make the personal 
 acknowledgment that you were right and I was 
 wrong. 
 
 A few months later, April 30, 1864, Lincoln wrote 
 as follows to General Grant, who was then in 
 command of the army of the Potomac: 
 
 Letter to General Grant. Washington^ 
 30 April, 1864. 
 
 Not expecting to see you again before the spring 
 campaign opens, I wish to express in this way 
 my entire satisfaction with what you have done up 
 to this time, so far as I understand it. The par- 
 ticulars of your plans I neither know nor seek 
 to know. You are vigilant and self-reliant; and, 
 pleased with this, I wish not to obtrude any con- 
 straints or restraints upon you. While I am very 
 anxious that any great disaster or capture of our 
 men in great numbers shall be avoided, I know 
 these points are less likely to escape your attention 
 than they would be mine. If there is anything 
 
LIFE 59 
 
 wanting which is within my power to give, do not 
 fail to let me know it. And now, with a brave 
 army and a just cause, may God sustain you. 
 
 From General Grant's Memoirs. 
 
 In his Memoirs, General Grant has an interesting 
 account of his personal interview with Lincoln : 
 
 "Just after receiving my commission as lieutenant- 
 general," he says, "the President called me aside to 
 speak to me privately. After a brief reference to 
 the military situation, he said he thought he could 
 illustrate what he wanted to say by a story, which 
 he related as follows : *At one time there was a 
 great war among the animals, and one side had 
 great difficulty in getting a commander who had 
 sufficient confidence in himself. Finally they found 
 a monkey by the name of Jocko, who said that he 
 thought he could command the army if his tail 
 could be made a little longer. So they got more 
 tail and spliced it on to his caudal appendage. He 
 looked at it admiringly, and then thought he ought 
 to have a little more still. This was added, and 
 again he called for more. The splicing process 
 was repeated many times, until they had coiled 
 Jocko's tail around the room, filling all the space. 
 Still he called for more tail, and, there being no 
 other place to coil it, they began wrapping it around 
 his shoulders. He continued to call for more, and 
 they kept on winding the additional tail about him 
 until its weight broke him down.' I saw the 
 point," says Grant, "and rising from my chair re- 
 plied, 'Mr. President, I will not call for more as- 
 
60 LINCOLN 
 
 sistance unless I find it impossible to do with 
 what I already have.' " 
 
 It is said that about the time Grant was winning 
 some of his victories in the West, a temperance or- 
 ganization petitioned the President to remove him 
 because he drank too much whiskey, and the Presi- 
 dent repHed, "If I could find out what kind of 
 whiskey Grant drinks, I would send a barrelful to 
 every other general in the field." A friend asked 
 him later whether this story was true or not, and 
 Lincoln replied that the story originated in King 
 George's time. When General Wolfe was accused 
 of being mad, the King replied, "I wish he would 
 bite some of my other generals." 
 
 General Grant sums up his relations with the 
 President by saying, "With all his disappointments 
 from failures on the part of those to whom he had 
 intrusted commands, and treachery on the part of 
 those who had gained his confidence but to betray 
 it, I never heard him utter a complaint, nor cast 
 a censure, for bad conduct or bad faith. It was his 
 nature to find excuses for his adversaries. In his 
 death the nation lost its greatest hero ; in his death 
 the South lost its most just friend." 
 
 The Dark Hours. 
 
 "The darkest hour of the Civil War came in the 
 first week of May, 1863, after the bloody battle of 
 Chancellorsville," says W. O. Stoddard, who was at 
 that time an inmate of the White House. "The 
 country was weary of the long war, with its drain- 
 ing taxes of gold and blood. Discontent prevailed 
 
LIFE 61 
 
 everywhere, and the opponents of the Lincoln ad- 
 ministration were savage in their denunciation. More 
 than a third of each day's mail already consisted of 
 measureless denunciation ; another large part was 
 made up of piteous appeals for peace. 
 
 "There were callers at the White House. Mem- 
 bers of the Senate and House came with gloomy 
 faces ; the members of the Cabinet came to con- 
 sult or condole. The house was like a funeral, 
 and those who entered or left it trod softly for 
 fear they might wake the dead. 
 
 "That night the last visitors in Lincoln's room 
 were Stanton and Halleck, and the President was 
 left alone. Not another soul except the one secre- 
 tary busy with the mail in his room across the hall ! 
 The ticking of a clock would have been noticeable ; 
 but another sound came that was almost as regular 
 and as ceaseless. It was the tread of the President's 
 feet as he strode slcwly back and forth across his 
 chamber. That ceaseless march so accustomed the 
 ear to it that when, a little after twelve, there was 
 a break of several minutes, the sudden silence made 
 one put down his letters and listen. 
 
 "The President may have been at his writing 
 table, or he may — no man knows or can guess ; but 
 at the end of the minutes, long or short, the tramp 
 began again. Two o'clock and he was walking yet, 
 and when, a little after three, the secretary's task 
 was done and he slipped noiselessly out, he turned 
 at the head of the stairs for a moment. It was 
 so — the last sound he heard as he went down was 
 the footfall in Lincoln's room. 
 
62 LINCOLN 
 
 "The young man was there again before eight 
 o'clock. The President's room was open. There sat 
 Lincoln eating his breakfast alone. He had not been 
 out of his room; but there was a kind of cheery, 
 hopeful morning light on his face. He had watched 
 all night, but besides his cup of coffee lay his in- 
 structions to General Hooker to push forward. 
 There was a decisive battle won that night in that 
 long vigil with disaster and despair. Only a few 
 weeks later the Army of the Potomac fought it all 
 over again as desperately — and they won it — at 
 Gettysburg." 
 
 Letter to John D. Johnston, 2 January, 1851, 
 Refusing Request for Loan, 
 
 The following letter to J. D. Johnston, who was 
 a son by a former marriage of Lincohi's stepmother, 
 is both characteristic and amusing. 
 
 Dear Johnston: Your request for eighty dollars 
 I do not think it best to comply with now. At the 
 various times when I have helped you a little you 
 have said to me, "We can get along very well now" ; 
 but in a very short time I find you in the same 
 difficulty again. Now, this can only happen by some 
 defect in your conduct. What that defect is, I think 
 I know. You are not lazy, and still you are an 
 idler. I doubt whether, since I saw you, you have 
 done a good whole day's work in any one day. You 
 do not very much dislike to work, and still you do 
 not work much, merely because it does not seem 
 
LIFE 63 
 
 to you that you could get much for it. This habit 
 of uselessly wasting time is the whole difficulty; it 
 is vastly important to you, and still more so to your 
 children, that you should break the habit. It is 
 more important to them, because they have longer 
 to live, and can keep out of an idle habit before they 
 are in it, easier than they can get out after they 
 are in. 
 
 You are now in need of some money; and what I 
 propose is, that you shall go to work, "tooth and 
 nail,' for somebody who will give you money for it. 
 Let father and your boys take charge of your things 
 at home, prepare for a crop, and make the crop, 
 and you go to work for the best money wages, or in 
 discharge of any debt you owe, that you can get; 
 and, to secure you a fair reward for your labor, I 
 now promise you, that for every dollar you will, 
 between this and the first of May, get for your own 
 labor, either in money or as your own indebtedness, 
 I will then give you one other dollar. By this, if 
 you hire yourself at ten dollars a month, from me 
 you will get ten more, making twenty dollars a 
 month for your work. In this I do not mean you 
 shall go off to St. Louis, or the lead mines, or the 
 gold mines in California, but I mean for you to go 
 at it for the best wages you can get close to home 
 in Coles County. Now, if you will do this, you 
 will be soon out of debt, and, what is better, you 
 will have a habit that will keep you from getting 
 in debt again. But, if I should now clear you out 
 of debt, next year you would be just as deep in as 
 
64 LINCOLN 
 
 ever. You say you would almost give your place 
 in heaven for seventy or eighty dollars. Then you 
 value your place in heaven very cheap, for I am 
 sure you can, with the offer I make, get the sev- 
 enty or eighty dollars for four or five months' work. 
 You say if I will furnish you the money you will 
 deed me the land, and, if you don't pay the money 
 back, you will deliver possession. Nonsense ! If 
 you can't now live with the land, how will you then 
 live without it? You have always been kind to me, 
 and I do not mean to be unkind to you. On the 
 contrary, if you will but follow my advice, you will 
 find it worth more than eighty times eighty dollars 
 to you. 
 
 Letter to Horace Greeley. Washington, 
 22 August, 1862. 
 In Answer to an Open Letter in the Tribune 
 Headed "^The Prayer of Twenty Millions/' 
 Accusing Lincoln of Being Too Friendly To- 
 ward THE Pro-Slavery Advocates. 
 
 Dear Sir: I have just read yours of the 19th, ad- 
 dressed to myself through the New York "Tribune." 
 If there be in it any statements or assumptions of 
 fact which I may know to be erroneous, I do 
 not, now and here, controvert them. If there 
 be in it any inferences which I may believe to be 
 falsely drawn, I do not, now and here, argue against 
 them. If there be perceptible in it an impatient 
 and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an 
 old friend whose heart I have always supposed to 
 be right. 
 
LIFE 65 
 
 As to the policy I "seem to be pursuing," as you 
 say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt. 
 
 I would save the Union, I would save it the 
 shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner 
 the national authority can be restored, the nearer 
 the Union will be *'the Union as it was." If there 
 be those who would not save the Union unless they 
 could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree 
 with them. If there be those who would not save 
 the Union unless they could at the same time 
 destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My 
 paramount object in this struggle is to save the 
 Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery. 
 If I could save the Union without freeing any slave 
 I would do it ; and if I could save it by freeing all the 
 slaves, I would do it ; and if I could save it by free- 
 ing some and leaving others alone, I would also do 
 that. What I do about slavery and the colored race, I 
 do because I believe it helps to save the Union ; 
 and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not 
 believe it would help to save the Union, I shall do 
 less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts 
 the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall 
 believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try 
 to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I 
 shall adopt new views "so fast as they shall appear 
 to be true views. 
 
 I have here stated my purpose according to my 
 view of official duty; and I intend no modification 
 of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men 
 everywhere could be free. 
 
66 LINCOLN 
 
 SPEECHES 
 
 NOTE FOR LAW LECTURE 
 
 Written About 1 July, 1850. 
 
 I am not an accomplished lawyer. I find quite 
 as much material for a lecture in those points 
 wherein I have failed, as in those wherein I have 
 been moderately successful. The leading rule for 
 the lawyer, as for the man of every other calling, 
 is diligence. Leave nothing for to-morrow which 
 can be done to-day. Never let your correspondence 
 fall behind. Whatever piece of business you have 
 in hand, before stopping, do all the labor pertain- 
 ing to it which can then be done. When you bring 
 a common-law suit, if you have the facts for doing 
 so, write the declaration at once. If a law point be 
 involved, examine the books, and note the authority 
 you rely on upon the declaration itself, where you 
 are sure to find it when wanted. The same of de- 
 fenses and pleas. In business not likely to be liti- 
 gated, — ordinary collection cases, foreclosures, par- 
 titions, and the like, — make all examinations of titles, 
 and note them, and even draft orders and de- 
 crees in advance. This course has a triple advantage ; 
 it avoids omissions and neglect, saves you labor 
 when once done, performs the labor out of court 
 when you have leisure, rather than in court when 
 you have not. Extemporaneous speaking should be 
 practiced and cultivated. It is the lawyer's avenue 
 
SPEECHES 67 
 
 to the public. However able and faithful he may be 
 in other respects, people are slow to bring him busi- 
 ness if he cannot make a speech. And yet there is 
 not a more fatal error to young lawyers than relying 
 too much on speech-making. If any one, upon his 
 rare powers of speaking, shall claim an exemption 
 from the drudgery of the law, his case is a failure 
 in advance. 
 
 Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to 
 compromise whenever you can. Point out to them 
 how the nominal winner is often a real loser — in 
 fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker 
 the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a 
 good man. There will still be business enough. 
 
 Never stir up litigation. A worse man can scarce- 
 ly be found than one who does this. Who can be more 
 nearly a fiend than he who habitually overhauls the 
 register of deeds in search of defects in titles, 
 whereon to stir up strife, and put money in his 
 pocket? A moral tone ought to be infused into the 
 profession which should drive such men out of it. 
 
 The matter of fees is important, far beyond the 
 mere question of bread and butter involved. Prop- 
 erly attended to, fuller justice is done to both law- 
 yer and client. An exorbitant fee should never be 
 claimed. As a general rule never take your whole 
 fee in advance, nor any more than a small retainer. 
 When fully paid beforehand, you are more than 
 a common mortal if you can feel the same interest 
 in the case, as if something was still in prospect 
 for you, as well as for your client. And when you 
 lack interest in the case the job will very likely 
 
68 LINCOLN 
 
 lack skill and diligence in the performance. Settle 
 the amount of fee and take a note in advance. Then 
 you will feel that you are working for something, 
 and you are sure to do your work faithfully and 
 well. Never sell a fee note — at least not before the 
 consideration service is performed. It leads to 
 negligence and dishonest}^ — negligence by losing in- 
 terest in the case, and dishonesty in refusing to re- 
 fund when you have allowed the consideration to 
 fail. 
 
 There is a vague popular belief that lawyers are 
 necessarily dishonest. I say vague, because when 
 we consider to what extent confidence and honors 
 are reposed in and conferred upon lawyers by the 
 people, it appears improbable that their impression 
 of dishonesty is very distinct and vivid. Yet the 
 impression is common, almost universal. Let no 
 young man choosing the law for a calling for a 
 moment yield to the popular belief — resolve to be 
 honest at all events; and if in your own judgment 
 you cannot be an honest lawyer resolve to be hon- 
 est without being a lawyer. Choose some other oc- 
 cupation, rather than one in the choosing of which 
 you do, in advance, consent to be a knave. 
 
 REPLY TO SENATOR STEPHEN A. DOUG- 
 LAS AT PEORIA, 
 
 Illinois, 16 October, 1854, the Greatest Speech 
 OF THE Douglas Debate. 
 
 About a month after the introduction of the bill 
 [to give Nebraska and Kansas territorial govern- 
 
SPEECHES 69 
 
 ments] on the judge's own motion it is so amended 
 as to declare the Missouri Compromise inoperative 
 and void; and, substantially, that the people who 
 go and settle there may establish slavery, or ex- 
 clude it, as they may see fit. In this shape the bill 
 passed both branches of Congress and became a 
 law. 
 
 This is the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. 
 The foregoing history may not be precisely accu- 
 rate in every particular, but I am sure it is suffi- 
 ciently so for all the use I shall attempt to make 
 of it, and in it we have before us the chief material 
 enabHng us to judge correctly whether the repeal 
 of the Missouri Compromise is right or wrong. I 
 think, and shall try to show, that it is wrong — wrong 
 in its direct effect, letting slavery into Kansas and 
 Nebraska, and wrong in its prospective principle, 
 allowing it to spread to every other part of the 
 wide world where men can be found inclined to 
 take it. 
 
 This declared indifference, but, as I must think, 
 covert real zeal, for the spread of slavery, I can- 
 not but hate. I hate it because of the monstrous 
 injustice of slavery itself. I hate it because it de- 
 prives our republican example of its just influence 
 in the world; enables the enemies of free institu- 
 tions with plausibility to taunt us as hypocrites ; 
 causes the real friends of freedom to doubt our 
 sincerity; and especially because it forces so many 
 good men among ourselves into an open war with 
 the very fundamental principles of civil liberty, criti- 
 cizing the Declaration of Independence, and insist- 
 
70 LINCOLN 
 
 ing that there is no right principle of action but 
 self-interest. 
 
 Before proceeding let me say that I think I have 
 no prejudice against the Southern people. They 
 are just what we would be in their situation. If 
 slavery did not now exist among them, they would 
 not introduce it. If it did now exist among us, we 
 should not instantly give it up. ' This I believe of the 
 masses North and South. Doubtless there are indi- 
 viduals on both sides who would not hold slaves 
 under any circumstances, and others who would 
 gladly introduce slavery anew if it were out of 
 existence. We know that some Southern men do 
 free their slaves, go North and become tip-top 
 Abolitionists, while some Northern ones go South 
 and become most cruel slave-masters. 
 
 When Southern people tell us they are no more 
 responsible for the origin of slavery than we are, 
 I acknowledge the fact. When it is said that the 
 institution exists, and that it is very difficult to get 
 rid of it in any satisfactory way, I can understand 
 and appreciate the saying. I surely will not blame 
 them for not doing what I should not know how 
 to do myself. If all earthly power were given me, 
 I should not know what to do as to the existing 
 institution. My first impulse would be to free all 
 the slaves, and send them to Liberia, to their own 
 native land. But a moment's reflection would con- 
 vince me that whatever of high hope (as I think 
 there is) there may be in this in the long run, its 
 sudden execution is impossible. If they were all 
 landed there in a day, they would all perish in the 
 
SPEECHES 71 
 
 next ten days ; and there are not surplus shipping 
 and surplus money enough to carry them there in 
 many times ten days. What then? Free them all, 
 and keep them among us as underlings? Is it quite 
 certain that this betters their condition? I think I 
 would not hold one in slavery at any rate, yet the 
 point is not clear enough for me to denounce people 
 upon. What next? Free them, and make them 
 politically and socially our equals ? My own feel- 
 ings will not admit of this, and if mine would, we 
 well know that those of the great mass of whites 
 will not. Whether this feeling accords with justice 
 and sound judgment is not the sole question, if 
 indeed it is any part of it. A universal feeling, 
 whether well or ill founded, cannot be safely dis- 
 regarded. We cannot then make them equals. It 
 does seem to me that systems of gradual emanci- 
 pation might be adopted, but for their tardiness in 
 this I will not undertake to judge our brethren of 
 the South. 
 
 When they remind us of their constitutional 
 rights, I acknowledge them — not grudgingly, but 
 fully and fairly; and I would give them any legisla- 
 tion for the reclairning of their fugitives which 
 should not in its stringency be more likely to carry 
 a free man into slavery than our ordinary criminal 
 laws are to hang an innocent one. 
 
 But all this, to my judgment, furnishes no more 
 excuse for permitting slavery to go into our own 
 free territory than it would for reviving the 
 African slave-trade by law. The law which for- 
 bids the bringing of slaves from Africa, and that 
 
72 LINCOLN 
 
 which has so long forbidden the taking of them 
 into Nebraska, can hardly be distinguished on any 
 moral principle, and the repeal of the former could 
 find quite as plausible excuses as that of the latter. 
 Equal justice to the South, it is said, requires us 
 to consent to the extension of slavery to new coun- 
 tries. That is to say, inasmuch as you do not object 
 to my taking my hog to Nebraska, therefore I must 
 not object to your taking your slave. Now, I ad- 
 mit that this is perfectly logical, if there is no dif- 
 ference between hogs and negroes. But while you 
 thus require me to deny the humanity of the ne- 
 gro, I wish to ask whether you of the South, your- 
 selves, have ever been willing to do as much ? It 
 is kindly provided that of all those who come into 
 the world only a small percentage are natural 
 tyrants. That percentage is no larger in the slave 
 States than in the free. The great majority South, 
 as well as North, have human sympathies, of which 
 they can no more divest themselves than they can 
 of their sensibility to physical pain. These sympa- 
 thies in the bosoms of the Southern people mani- 
 fest, in many ways, their sense of the wrong of 
 slavery, and their consciousness that, after all, there 
 is humanity in the negro. If they deny this, let me 
 address them a few plain questions. In 1820 you 
 joined the North, almost unanimousl)'', in declaring 
 the African slave-trade piracy, and in annexing to 
 it the punishment of death. Why did you do this? 
 If you did not feel that it was wrong, why did you 
 join in providing that men should be hung for it? 
 The practice was no more than bringing wild ne- 
 
SPEECHES 73 
 
 groes from Africa to such as would buy them. But 
 you never thought of hanging men for catching 
 and selHng wild horses, wild buffaloes, or wild bears. 
 
 Again, you have among you a sneaking individual 
 of the class of native tyrants known as the "Slave- 
 Dealer." He watches your necessities, and crawls 
 up to buy your slave, at a speculating price. If .you 
 cannot help it, you sell to him; but if you can help 
 it, you drive him from your door. You despise him 
 utterly. You do not recognize him as a friend, or 
 even as an honest man. Your children must not 
 play with his ; they may rollick freely with the little 
 negroes, but not with the slave-dealer's children. 
 If you are obliged to deal with him, you try to get 
 through the job without so much as touching him. 
 It is common with you to join hands with the men 
 you meet, but with the slave-dealer you avoid the 
 ceremony — instinctively shrinking from the snaky 
 contact. If he grows rich and retires from busi- 
 ness, you still remember him, and still keep up 
 the ban of non-intercourse upon him and his fam- 
 ily. Now why is this? You do not so treat the 
 man who deals in corn, cotton, or tobacco. 
 
 And yet again. There are in the United States 
 and Territories, including the district of Columbia, 
 433,643 free blacks. At five hundred dollars per 
 head they are worth over two hundred millions of 
 dollars. How comes this vast amount of property 
 to be running about without owners? We do not 
 see free horses or free cattle running at large. How 
 is this? All these free blacks are the descendants 
 of slaves, or have been slaves themselves ; and they 
 
74 LINCOLN 
 
 would be slaves now but for something which has 
 operated on their white owners, inducing them at 
 vast pecuniary sacrifice to liberate them. What is 
 that something? Is there any mistaking it? In 
 all these cases it is your sense of justice and hu- 
 man sympathy continually teUing you that the poor 
 negro has some natural right to himself — that those 
 who deny it and make mere merchandise of him 
 deserve kickings, contempt, and death. 
 
 And now why will you ask us to deny the hu- 
 manity of the slave, and estimate him as only the 
 equal of the hog? Why ask us to do what you will 
 not do yourselves? Why ask us to do for nothing 
 what two hundred millions of dollars could not 
 induce you to do? 
 
 ADDRESS OF FAREWELL. 
 
 Springfield, Illinois^ 11 February^ 1861. 
 
 My Friends: No one, not in my situation, can 
 appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To 
 this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe 
 everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a cen- 
 tury, and have passed from a young to an old man. 
 Here my children have been born, and one is buried. 
 I now leave, not knowing when or whether ever I 
 may return, with a task before me greater than 
 that which rested upon Washington. Without the 
 assistance of that Divine Being who ever attended 
 him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance, I 
 cannot fail. Trusting in him who can go with me, 
 and remain with you, and be everywhere for good. 
 
SPEECHES 75 
 
 let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To 
 his care commending you, as I hope in your prayers 
 you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate 
 farewell. 
 
 FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 Washington, 4 March, 1861. 
 
 Fellow-citizens of the United States: In compli- 
 ance with a custom as old as the government itself, 
 I appear before you to address you briefly, and to 
 take in your presence the oath prescribed by the 
 Constitution of the United States to be taken by 
 the President "before he enters on the execution of 
 his office." 
 
 I do not consider it necessary at present for me 
 to discuss those matters of administration about 
 which there is no special anxiety or excitement. 
 
 Apprehension seems to exist among the people of 
 the Southern States that by the accession of a Re- 
 publican administration their property and their 
 peace and personal security are to be endangered. 
 There has never been any reasonable cause for such 
 apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to 
 the contrary has all the while existed and been 
 open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all 
 the published speeches of him who now addresses 
 you. I do but quote from one of those speeches 
 when I declare that 'T have no purpose, directly or 
 indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery 
 in the States where it exists. I believe I have no 
 lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to 
 
76 LINCOLN 
 
 do so." Those who nominated and elected me did 
 so will full knowledge that I had made this and 
 many similar declarations, and had never recanted 
 them. And, more than this, they placed in the 
 platform for my acceptance, and as a law to them- 
 selves and to me, the clear and emphatic resolution 
 which I now read: 
 
 Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the 
 rights of the States, and especially the right of each 
 State to order and control its own domestic insti- 
 tutions according to its own judgment exclusively, 
 is essential to that balance of power on which the 
 perfection and endurance of our political fabric de- 
 pend, and we denounce the lawless invasion by 
 armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, 
 no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest 
 of crimes. 
 
 I now reiterate these sentiments; and, in doing 
 so, I only press upon the public attention the most 
 conclusive evidence of which the case is susceptible, 
 that the property, peace, and security of no section 
 are to be in any wise endangered by the now incom- 
 ing administration. I add, too, that all the pro- 
 tection which, consistently with the Constitution 
 and the laws, can be given, will be cheerfully given 
 to all the state when lawfully demanded, for what- 
 ever cause — as cheerfully to one section as to an- 
 other. 
 
 There is much controversy about the delivering 
 up of fugitives from service or labor. The clause 
 I now read is as plainly written in the Constitution 
 as any other of its provisions: 
 
SPEECHES 77 
 
 No person held to service or labor in one State, 
 under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall 
 in consequence of any law or regulation therein be 
 discharged from such service or labor, but shall 
 be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such 
 service or labor may be due. 
 
 It is scarcely questioned that this provision was 
 intended by those who made it for the reclaiming 
 of what we call fugitive slaves ; and the intention 
 of the lawgiver is the law. All members of Con- 
 gress swear their support to the whole Constitution 
 — to this provision as much as any other. To the 
 proposition, then, that slaves whose cases come 
 within the terms of this clause "shall be delivered 
 up," their oaths are unanimous. Now, if they would 
 make the effort in good temper, could they not with 
 nearly equal unanimity frame and pass a law by 
 means of which to keep good that unanimous oath? 
 
 There is some difference of opinion whether this 
 clause should be enforced by national or by State 
 authority; but surely that dift'erence is not a very 
 material one. If the slave is to be surrendered, it 
 can be but of little consequence to him or to others 
 by which authority it is done. And should any one 
 in any case be content that his oath shall be unkept 
 on a merely unsubstantial controversy as to how 
 it shall be kept? 
 
 Again, in any law upon this subject, ought not 
 all the safeguards of liberty known in civilized and 
 humane jurisprudence to be introduced, so that a 
 free man be not, in any case, surrendered as a slave? 
 And might it not be well at the same time to pro- 
 
78 LINCOLN 
 
 vide by law for the enforcement of that clause in 
 the Constitution which guarantees that "the citizen 
 of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and 
 immunities of citizens in the Several states" ? 
 
 I take the official oath today with no mental reser- 
 vations, and with no purpose to construe the Con- 
 stitution or laws, by any hypocritical rules. And 
 while I do not choose now to specify particular acts 
 of Congress as proper to be enforced, I do suggest 
 that it will be much safer for all, both in official and 
 private stations, to conform to and abide by all those 
 acts which stand unrepealed, than to violate any of 
 them, trusting to find impunity in having them held 
 to be unconstitutional. 
 
 It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration 
 of a President under our National Constitution. 
 During that period fifteen different and greatly dis- 
 tinguished citizens have, in succession, administered 
 the executive branch of the government. They 
 have conducted it through many perils, and gen- 
 erally with great success. Yet, with all this scope 
 of precedent, I now enter upon the same task for 
 the brief constitutional term of four years under 
 great and peculiar difficulty. A disruption of the 
 Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is now 
 formidably attempted, 
 
 I hold that, in contemplation of universal law and 
 of the Constitution, the Union of these States is 
 perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, 
 in the fundamental law of all national governments. 
 It is safe to assert that no government proper ever 
 had a provision in its organic law for its own ter- 
 
SPEECHES 79 
 
 mination. Continue to execute all the express pro- 
 visions of our National Constitution, and the Union 
 will endure forever — it being impossible to destroy 
 it except by some action not provided for in the 
 instrument itself. 
 
 Again, if the United States be not a government 
 proper, but an association of States in the nature of 
 contract merely, can it, as a contract, be peaceably 
 unmade by less than all the parties who made it? 
 One party to a contract may violate it — break it, so 
 to speak; but does it not require all to lawfully re- 
 scind it? 
 
 Descending from these general principles, we find 
 the proposition that in legal contemplation the 
 Union is perpetual confirmed by the history of the 
 Union itself. The Union is much older than the 
 Constitution. It was formed, in fact, by the Articles 
 of Association in 1774. It was matured and con- 
 tinued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776. 
 It was further matured, and the faith of all the 
 then thirteen States expressly plighted and engaged 
 that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of Con- 
 federation in 1778. And, finally, in 1787 one of the 
 declared objects for ordaining and establishing the 
 Constitution was "to form a more perfect Union." 
 
 But if the destruction of the Union by one or 
 by a part only of the states be lawfully possible, the 
 Union is less perfect than before the Constitution, 
 having lost the vital element of perpetuity. 
 
 It follows from these views that no State upon 
 its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the 
 Union; that resolves and ordinances to that effect 
 
80 LINCOLN 
 
 are legally void; and that acts of violence, within 
 any State or States, against the authority of the 
 United States, are insurrectionary or revolutionary, 
 according to circumstances. 
 
 I therefore consider that, in view of the Con- 
 stitution and the laws, the Union is unbroken; and 
 to the extent of my ability I shall take care, as the 
 Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that 
 the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all 
 the States. Doing this I deem to be only a simple 
 duty on my part; and I shall perform it so far as 
 practicable, unless by rightful masters, the American 
 people, shall withhold the requisite means, or in 
 some authoritative manner direct the contrary. I 
 trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only 
 as the declared purpose of the Union that it will 
 constitutionally defend and maintain itself. 
 
 In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or 
 violence ; and there shall be none, unless it be 
 forced upon the national authority. The power con- 
 fided in me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess 
 the property and places belonging to the govern- 
 ment, and to collect the duties and imposts ; but 
 beyond what may be necessary for these objects, 
 there will be no invasion, no using of force against 
 or among the people anywhere. Where hostility 
 to the United States, in any interior locality, shall 
 be so great and universal as to prevent competent 
 resident citizens from holding the Federal offices, 
 there will be no attempt to force obnoxious strangers 
 among the people for that object. While the strict 
 legal right may exist in the government to enforce 
 
SPEECHES 81 
 
 the exercise of these offices, the attempt to do so 
 would be so irritating, and so nearly impracticable 
 withal, that I deem it better to forego for the time 
 the uses of such offices. 
 
 The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be 
 furnished in all parts of the Union. So far as pos- 
 sible, the people everywhere shall have that sense 
 of perfect security which is most favorable to calm 
 thought and reflection. The course here indicated 
 will be followed unless current events and expe- 
 rience will show a modification or change to be 
 proper, and in every case and exigency my best 
 discretion will be exercised according to circum- 
 stances actually existing, and with a view and a 
 hope of a peaceful solution of the national troubles 
 and the restoration of fraternal sympathies and af- 
 fections. 
 
 That there are persons in one section or another 
 who seek to destroy the Union at all events, and 
 are glad of any pretext to do it, I will neither affirm 
 nor deny; but if there be such, I need address no 
 word to them. To those, however, who really love 
 the Union may I not speak? 
 
 Before entering upon so grave a matter as the 
 destruction of our national fabric, with all its bene- 
 fits, its memories, and its hopes, would it not be 
 wise to ascertain precisely why we do it? Will 
 you hazard so desperate a step while there is any 
 possibility that any portion of the ills you fly from 
 have no real existence. Will you, while the certain 
 ills you fly to are greater than all the real ones you 
 
82 LINCOLN 
 
 fly from — will you risk the commission of so fear- 
 ful a mistake? 
 
 All profess to be content in the Union if all con- 
 stitutional rights can be maintained. Is it true, 
 then, that any right, plainly written in the constitu- 
 tion, has been denied? I think not. Happily the 
 human mind is so constituted that no party can 
 reach to the audacity of doing this. Think, if you 
 can, of a single instance in which a plainly written 
 provision of the Constitution has ever been denied. 
 If by the mere force of numbers a majority should 
 deprive a minority of any clearly written constitu- 
 tional right, it might, in a moral point of view, 
 justify revolution — certainly would if such a right 
 were a vital one. But such is not our case. All 
 the vital rights of minorities and of individuals are 
 so plainly assured to them by affirmations and nega- 
 tions, guaranties and prohibitions, in the Constitu- 
 tion, that controversies never arise concerning them. 
 But no organic law can ever be framed with a pro- 
 vision specifically applicable to every question which 
 may occur in practical administration. No fore- 
 sight can anticipate, nor any document of reason- 
 able length contain, express provisions for all pos- 
 sible questions. Shall fugitives from labor be sur- 
 rendered by national or by State authority? The 
 Constitution does not expressly say. May Congress 
 prohibit slavery in the Territories? The Constitu- 
 tion does not expressly say. Must Congress protect 
 slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does 
 not expressly say. 
 
 From questions of this class spring all our con- 
 
SPEECHES 83 
 
 stitutional controversies, and we divide upon them 
 into majorities and minorities. If the minority will 
 not acquiesce, the majority must, or the government 
 must cease. There is no other alternative; for con- 
 tinuing the government is acquiescence on one side 
 or the other. 
 
 If a minority in such case will secede rather than 
 acquiesce, they make a precedent which in turn will 
 divide and ruin them; for a minority of their own 
 will secede from them whenever a majority refuses 
 to be controlled by such minority. For instance, 
 why may not any portion of a new confederacy a 
 year or two hence arbitrarily secede again, precisely 
 as portions of the present union now claim to secede 
 from it? All who cherish disunion sentiments are 
 now being educated to the exact temper of doing 
 this. 
 
 Is there such perfect identity of interests among 
 the States to compose a new Union, as to produce 
 harmony only, and prevent renewed secession? 
 
 Plainly, the central idea of secession is the essence 
 of anarchy. A majority held in restraint by con- 
 stitutional checks and limitations, and always chang- 
 ing easily with deliberate changes of popular opin- 
 ions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of 
 a free people. Whoever rejects it does, of neces- 
 sity, fly to anarchy or to despotism. Unanimity is 
 impossible ; the rule of a minority, as a permanent 
 arrangement, is wholly inadmissible; so that, re- 
 jecting the majority principle, anarchy or despotism 
 in some form is all that is left. 
 
 I do not forget the position, assumed by some, 
 
84 • LINCOLN 
 
 that constitutional questions are to be decided by 
 the Supreme Court ; nor do I deny that such decis- 
 ions must be binding, in any case, upon the parties 
 to a suit, as to the object of that suit, while they 
 are also entitled to very high respect and considera- 
 tion in all parallel cases by all other departments 
 of the government. And while it is obviously pos- 
 sible that such decision may be erroneous in any 
 given case, still the evil effect following it, being 
 limited to that particular case, with the chance that 
 it may be overruled and never become a precedent 
 for other cases, can better be borne than could the 
 evils of a different practice. At the same time, the 
 candid citizen must confess that if the poHcy of the 
 government, upon vital questions affecting the whole 
 l|; people, is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the 
 
 Supreme Court, the instant they are made, in ordi- 
 nary litigation between parties in personal actions, 
 the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, 
 having to that extent practically resigned their gov- 
 ernment into the hands of that eminent tribunal. 
 Nor is there in this view any assault upon the court 
 or the judges. It is a duty from which they may 
 not shrink to decide cases properly brought before 
 them, and it is no fault of theirs if others seek to 
 turn their decisions to political purposes. 
 
 One section of our country beheves slavery is 
 right, and ought to be extended, while the other 
 believes it is wrong, and ought not to be extended. 
 This is the only substantial dispute. The fugitive- 
 slave clause of the Constitution, and the law for the 
 suppression of the foreign slave-trade, are each as 
 
SPEECHES 85 
 
 well enforced, perhaps, as any law can ever be in 
 a community where the moral sense of the people 
 imperfectly supports the law itself. The great body 
 of the people abide by the dry legal obligation in 
 both cases, and a few break over in each. This, I 
 think, cannot be perfectly cured; and it would be 
 worse in both cases after the separations of the 
 sections than before. The foreign slave-trade, now 
 imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived, 
 without restriction, in one section, while fugitive 
 slaves, now only partially surrendered, would not be 
 surrendered at all by the other. 
 
 Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We can- 
 not remove our respective sections from each other, 
 nor build an impassable wall between them. A hus- 
 band and wife may be divorced, and go out of the 
 presence and beyond the reach of each other; but 
 the different parts of our country cannot do this. 
 They cannot but remain face to face, and inter- 
 course, either amicable or hostile, must continue 
 between them. Is it possible, then, to make that 
 intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory 
 after separation than before? Can ahens make 
 treaties easier than friends can make laws? Can 
 treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens 
 than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to 
 war, you cannot fight always; and when, after much 
 loss on both sides, and no gain on either, you cease 
 fighting, the identical old question as to terms of 
 intercourse are again upon you. 
 
 This country, with its institutions, belongs to the 
 people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow 
 
86 LINCOLN 
 
 weary of the existing government, they can exer- 
 cise their constitutional right of amending it, or 
 their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow 
 it. I cannot be ignorant of the fact that many 
 worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of having 
 the National Constitution amended. While I make 
 no recommendation of amendments, I fully recog- 
 nize the rightful authority of the people over the 
 whole subject, to be exercised in either of the modes 
 prescribed in the instrument itself; and I should, 
 under existing circumstances, favor rather than 
 Oppose a fair opportunity being afforded the people 
 to act upon it. I will venture to add that to me 
 the convention rnode seems preferable, in that it 
 allows amendments to originate v;ith the people 
 themselves, instead of only permitting them to take 
 or reject propositions originated by others not es- 
 pecially chosen for the purpose, and which might 
 not be precisely such as they would wish to either 
 accept or refuse. I understand a proposed amend- 
 ment to the Constitution — which amendment, how- 
 ever, I have not seen — has passed Congress, to the 
 effect that the Federal Government shall never in- 
 terfere with the domestic institutions of the States, 
 including that of persons held to service. To avoid 
 misconstruction of what I have said, I depart from 
 my purpose not to speak of particular amendments 
 so far as to say that, holding such a provision to 
 now be implied constitutional law, I have no ob- 
 jection to its being made express and irrevocable. 
 The chief magistrate derives all his authority from 
 the people, and they have conferred none upon him 
 
SPEECHES 87 
 
 to fix terms for the separation of the States. The 
 people themselves can do this also if they choose; 
 but the executive, as such, has nothing to do with it. 
 His duty is to administer the present government, 
 as it came to his hands, and to transmit it, unim- 
 paired by him, to his successor. 
 
 Why should there not be a patient confidence in 
 the ultimate justice of the people Is there any 
 better or equal hope in the world? In our present 
 differences is either party without faith of being in 
 the right? If the Almighty Ruler of Nations, with 
 his eternal truth and justice, be on your side of the 
 North, or on yours of the South, that truth and 
 that justice will surely prevail by the judgment of 
 this great tribunal of the American people. 
 
 By the frame of the government under which we 
 live, this same people have wisely given their pub- 
 lic servants but little power for mischief; and have, 
 with equal wisdom, provided for the return of that 
 Httle to their own hands at very short intervals. 
 While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, 
 no administration, by any extreme of wickedness 
 or folly, can very seriously injure the government 
 in the short space of four years. 
 
 My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well 
 upon this whole subject. Nothing valuable can be 
 lost by taking time. If there be an object to hurry 
 any of you in hot haste to a step which you would 
 never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated 
 by taking time; but no good object can be frus- 
 trated by it. Such of you as are now dissatisfied, 
 still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on 
 
88 LINCOLN 
 
 every sensitive point, the laws of your own framing 
 under it; while the new administration will have no 
 immediate power, if it would, to change either. If it 
 were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold 
 the right side in the dispute, there still is no single 
 good reason for precipitate action. Intelligence, 
 patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him 
 who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are 
 still competent to adjust in the best way all our 
 present difficulty. 
 
 In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, 
 and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil 
 war. The government will not assail you. You 
 can have no conflict without being yourselves the 
 aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven 
 to destroy the government, while I shall have the 
 most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and de- 
 fend it." 
 
 I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but 
 friends. We must not be enemies. Though pas- 
 sion may have strained, it must not break our bonds 
 of afifection. The mystic chords of memory, stretch- 
 ing from every battle-field and patriot grave to every 
 living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, 
 will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again 
 touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels 
 of our nature. 
 
SPEECHES 89 
 
 FINAL EMANCIPA TION P ROC LAM A TION. 
 1 January, 1863. 
 
 Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, 
 in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
 and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the 
 President of the United States, containing, among 
 other things, the following, to wit : 
 
 That on the first day of January, in the year of 
 our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty- 
 three, all persons held as slaves within any State, 
 or designated part of a State, the people whereof 
 shall then be in rebellion against the United States, 
 shall be then, thenceforward, and forever, free; and 
 the Executive Government of the United States, 
 including the military and naval authority thereof, 
 will recognize and maintain the freedom of such 
 persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such 
 persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may 
 make for their actual freedom. 
 
 That the Executive will, on the first day of Jan- 
 uary aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States 
 and parts of States, if any, in which the people 
 thereof respectively shall then be in rebellion against 
 the United States; and the fact that any State, or 
 the people thereof, shall on that day be in good 
 faith represented in the Congress of the United 
 States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein 
 a majority of the qualified voters of such State 
 shall have participated, shall in the absence of 
 strong countervailing testimony be deemed conclusive 
 
90 LINCOLN 
 
 evidence that such State and the people thereof are 
 not then in rebellion against the United States. 
 
 Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of 
 the United States, by virtue of the power in me 
 vested as commander-in-chief of the army and navy 
 of the United States, in time of actual armed rebel- 
 lion against the authority and government of the 
 United States, and as a fit and necessary war meas- 
 ure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first 
 day of January, in the year of our Lord one thou- 
 sand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accord- 
 ance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed 
 for the full period of 100 days from the day first 
 above mentioned, order and designate as the States 
 and parts of States wherein the people thereof, re- 
 spectively, are this day in rebellion against the 
 United States, the following, to wit : 
 
 Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes 
 of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, 
 St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre 
 Bonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, 
 including the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, 
 Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North 
 Carolina, and Virginia (except the forty-eight coun- 
 ties designated as West Virginia, and also the coun- 
 ties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth 
 City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including 
 the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which 
 excepted parts are for the present left precisely as 
 if this proclamation were not issued. 
 
 And by virtue of the power and for the purpose 
 aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons 
 
SPEECHES 91 
 
 held as slaves within said designated States and 
 parts of States are, and henceforward shall be, free; 
 and that the Executive Government of the United 
 States, including the military and naval authorities 
 thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of 
 said persons. 
 
 And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared 
 to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in 
 necessary self-defense ; and I recommend to them 
 that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully 
 for reasonable wages. 
 
 And I further declare and make known that such 
 persons of suitable condition will be received into 
 the armed service of the United States to garrison 
 forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to 
 man vessels of all sorts in said service. 
 
 And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an 
 act of justice, warranted by the Constitution upon 
 military necessity, I invoke the considerate judg- 
 ment of mankind and the gracious favor of Al- 
 mighty God. 
 
 ADDRESS AT THE DEDICATION OF THE 
 
 GETTYSBURG NATIONAL CEMETERY, 
 
 19 November, 1863. 
 
 Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers 
 brought forth on this continent a new nation, con- 
 ceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition 
 that all men are created equal. • 
 
 Now we are engaged in a great civil war, t?sting 
 whether that nation, or any nation so conceited and 
 so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a 
 
92 LINCOLN 
 
 great battle-field of that war. We have come to 
 dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting- 
 place for those who here gave their lives that that 
 nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper 
 that we should do this. 
 
 But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate — we 
 cannot consecrate — we cannot hallow — this ground. 
 The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, 
 have consecrated it far above our poor power to 
 add or detract. The world will httle note nor long 
 remember what we say here, but it can never forget 
 what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, 
 to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which 
 they who fought here have thus far so nobly ad- 
 vanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to 
 the great task remaining 'before us — that from these 
 honored dead we take increased devotion to that 
 cause for which they gave the last full measure of 
 devotion; that we here highly resolve that these 
 dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, 
 under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and 
 that government of the people, by the people, for the 
 people, shall not perish from the earth. 
 
 SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 Washington, 4 March, 1865. 
 
 Fellow Countrymen: At this second appearing to 
 take the oath of the presidential office, there is less 
 occasion for an extended address than there was 
 at the first. Then a statement, somewhat in detail, 
 of a course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. 
 
SPEECHES 93 
 
 Now, at the expiration of four years, during which 
 public declarations have been constantly called forth 
 on every point and phase of the great contest which 
 still absorbs the attention and engrosses the ener- 
 gies of the nation, little that is new could be pre- 
 sented. The progress of our arms, upon which all 
 else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public 
 as to myself; and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory 
 and encouraging to all. With high hope for the 
 future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured. 
 
 On the occasion corresponding to this four years 
 ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an im- 
 pending civil war. All dreaded it — all sought to 
 avert it. While the inaugural address was being 
 delivered from this place, devoted altogether to 
 saving the Union without war, insurgent agents 
 were in the city seeking to destroy it without war 
 • — seeking to dissolve the Union, and divide effects, 
 by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war; but 
 one of them would make war rather than let the 
 nation survive; and the other would accept war 
 rather than let it perish. And the war came. 
 
 One-eighth of the whole population were colored 
 slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but 
 localized in the Southern part of it These slaves 
 constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All 
 knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of 
 the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this 
 interest was the object for which the insurgents 
 would rend the Union, even by war; while the 
 government claimed no right to do more than to 
 restrict the territorial enlargement of it. 
 
94 LINCOLN 
 
 Neither party expected for the war the magnitude 
 or the duration which it has already attained. Neither 
 anticipated that the cause of the conflict might 
 cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should 
 cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a 
 result less fundamental and astounding. Both read 
 the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and 
 each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem 
 strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's 
 assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat 
 of other men's faces; but let us judge not, that we 
 be not judged. The prayers of both could not be 
 answered — that of neither has been answered fully. 
 
 The Almighty has his own purposes. "Woe unto 
 the world because of offenses ! for it must needs be 
 that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom 
 the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that 
 American slavery is one of those offenses which, in 
 the providence of God, must needs come, but which, 
 having continued through his appointed time, he 
 now wills to remove, and that he gives to both 
 North and South this terrible war, as the woe due 
 to those by whom the offense came, shall we dis- 
 cern therein any departure from those divine at- 
 tributes which the believers in a living God always 
 ascribe to him? Fondly do we hope — fervently do 
 we pray — that this mighty scourge of war may 
 speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue 
 until all the wealth piled by the bondman's two hun- 
 dred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, 
 and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash 
 shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as 
 
SPEECHES 05 
 
 was said three thousand years ago, so still it must 
 be said, "The judgments of the Lord are true and 
 righteous altogether." 
 
 With malice toward none; with charity for all; 
 with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see 
 the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are 
 in ; to bind up the nation's wounds ; to care for him 
 who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, 
 and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and 
 cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, 
 and with all nations. 
 
 ANECDOTES 
 
 Lincoln's Pardons. 
 
 Such was the serious side of Lincoln's Presi- 
 dency; but woven all through it was the relief of 
 his humor — his amusing stories — and his humanity — 
 which found opportunity for constant exercise in the 
 almost daily private tragedies that came under his 
 personal notice. 
 
 Many stories are told of how Lincoln pardoned 
 deserters and others condemned to death, and many 
 of these are pure romance, devoid of the slightest 
 truth. In his Reminiscences General Butler tells 
 the following anecdote. He said to the President, 
 "The bounties which are now being paid to new 
 recruits cause very large desertions. Men desert 
 and go home, and get the bounties and enlist in other 
 regiments.'* 
 
96 LINCOLN 
 
 " 'That is too true,' he replied, 'but how can we 
 prevent it?' 
 
 " 'By vigorously shooting every man who is caught 
 as a deserter, until it is found to be a dangerous 
 business.' 
 
 "A saddened, weary look came over his face 
 which I had never seen before, and he slowly re- 
 plied, — 
 
 " 'You may be right — probably you are so ; but, 
 God help me ! how can I have a butcher's day 
 every Friday in the Army of the Potomac?'" 
 
 Perhaps the best known story of Lincoln's par- 
 dons, and the one most truly characteristic of the 
 man, is that of Scott, the Vermonter, who slept at 
 his post when on sentry duty. He had taken the 
 place of a sick comrade one night, and the very next 
 night was drafted himself. He said frankly he was 
 afraid he couldn't keep awake two nights in suc- 
 cession, but if it was his duty he would do his best. 
 
 The hostile armies lay close together, and the 
 pickets of the two armies had been almost on 
 friendly terms. To correct this demoralization Gen- 
 eral Smith had issued a stringent order, and when 
 Scott was found fast asleep at his post he was 
 singled out as the first victim and was ordered to 
 be shot. 
 
 Scott's comrades knew there was no braver man 
 in the regiment than this Vermont farmer, and the 
 captain of his company with a few others started 
 out at once to Washington to see Mr. L. E. Chitten- 
 den, who tells the story most authentically in hi3 
 
ANECDOTES 97 
 
 Remiscences. The boys were taken to the President, 
 who opened the conversation by asking, 
 
 "What is this? Another expedition to kidnap 
 somebody, or to get another brigadier appointed, 
 or for a furlough to go home to vote? I cannot 
 do it, gentlemen. Brigadiers are thicker than drum- 
 majors, and I couldn't get a furlough for myself 
 if I asked it from the War Department." 
 
 When the little captain had stated Scott's case, he 
 ended, "He is as brave a boy as there is your army, 
 sir. Scott is no coward. Our mountains breed 
 no cowards. They are the homes of thirty thousand 
 men who voted for Abraham Lincoln. They will 
 not be able to see that the best thing to be done 
 with William Scott will be to shoot him like a 
 traitor and bury him like a dog! Oh, Mr. Lincoln, 
 can you?" 
 
 "No, I can't!" exclaimed the President. It was 
 one of the moments when his countenance became 
 such a remarkable study. It had become very ear- 
 nest as the captain rose with his subject; then it 
 took on that melancholy expression which, later in 
 his life, became so infinitely touching. I thought 
 I could detect a mist in the deep cavities of his 
 eyes. Then, in a flash, there was a total change. 
 He smiled, and finally broke into a hearty laugh as 
 he asked me, 
 
 "Do your Green Mountain boys fight as well as 
 they talk? If they do, I don't wonder at the 
 legends about Ethan Allen." Then his face softened 
 as he said, "What do you expect me to do? As you 
 
98 LINCOLN 
 
 know, I have not much influence with the depart- 
 ments." 
 
 A reprieve was suggested to permit an examina- 
 tion of the case. 
 
 "No!" exclaimed Lincoln, "I do not think that 
 course would be safe. You do not know these 
 officers of the regular army. They are a law unto 
 themselves. They sincerely think that it is good 
 policy occasionally to shoot a soldier. I can see 
 it, where a soldier deserts or commits a crime, 
 but I cannot in such a case as Scott's. They say 
 that I am always interfering with the discipline of the 
 army, and being cruel to the soldiers. Well, I can't 
 help it, so I shall have to go right on doing wrong. 
 I do not think an honest, brave soldier, conscious of 
 no crime but sleeping when he was weary, ought 
 to be shot or hung. The country has better uses 
 for him. 
 
 "Captain," continued the President, "your boy 
 shall not be shot — that is, not to-morrow, nor until 
 I know more about this case." To me he said, 'T 
 will have to attend to this matter myself. I have 
 for some time intended to go up to the Chain 
 Bridge. I will do so to-day. I shall then know 
 that there is no mistake in suspending the execu- 
 tion." 
 
 I remarked that he was undertaking a burden 
 which we had no right to impose; that it was 
 asking too much of the President in behalf of a 
 private soldier. 
 
 "Scott's life is as valuable to him as that of any 
 person in the land," he said. "You remember the 
 
ANECDOTES 99 
 
 remark of a Scotchman about the head of a noble- 
 man who was decapitated, — ''It was a small matter 
 of a head, but it was valuable to him, poor fellow, 
 for it was the only one he had." 
 
 During the day Lincoln went out to the camp. 
 Scott afterward told a comrade the story of his 
 interview with the President. Said he, "The Presi- 
 dent was the kindest man I had ever seen. I knew 
 him at once by a Lincoln medal I had long worn. 
 I was scared at first, for I had never before talked 
 with a great man. But Mr, Lincoln was so easy 
 with me, so gentle, that I soon forgot my fright. He 
 asked me all about my people at home, the neighbors, 
 the farm, and where I went to school, and who my 
 schoolmates were. Then he asked me about mother, 
 and how she looked, and I was glad I could take 
 her photograph from my bosom and show it to him. 
 He said how thankful I ought to be that mother 
 still lived, and how, if he was in my place, he would 
 try to make her a proud mother, and never cause 
 her a sorrow or a tear. I cannot remember it all, 
 but every word was so kind. 
 
 "He had said nothing yet about that dreadful next 
 morning. I thought it must be that he was so kind- 
 hearted that he didn't like to speak of it. But 
 why did he say so much about my mother, and 
 not causing her a sorrow or a tear when I knew 
 that I must die the next morning? But I supposed 
 that was something that would have to go unex- 
 plained, and so I determined to brace up, and tell 
 him that I did not feel a bit guilty, and ask him 
 wouldn't he fix it so that the firing-party would 
 
 tOfC, 
 
100 LINCOLN 
 
 not be from our regiment ! That was going to be 
 the hardest of all — to die by the hands of my 
 comrades. 
 
 ''Just as I was going to ask him this favor, he 
 stood up, and he says to me, 'my boy, stand up here 
 and look me in the face.' I did as he bade me. 'My 
 boy,* he said, 'you are not going to be shot to- 
 morrow. I believe you when you tell me you could 
 not keep awake. I am going to trust you, and send 
 you back to your regiment. But I have been put 
 to a good deal of trouble on your account. I have 
 had to come up here from Washington when I 
 have a great deal to do, and what I want to know 
 is, how are you going to pay my bill?' There was 
 a big lump in my throat; I could scarcely speak. I 
 had expected to die, you see, and had kind of got 
 used to thinking that way. To have it all changed 
 in a minute ! But I got it crowded down, and 
 managed to say, 1 am grateful, Mr. Lincoln ! I 
 hope I am as grateful as ever a man can be for 
 saving my life. But it comes upon me sudden and 
 unexpected like. I didn't lay out for it at all. But 
 there is some way to pay you, and I will find it after 
 a little. There is the bounty in the savings bank. 
 I guess we could borrow some money on a mort- 
 gage of the farm. There was my pay was some- 
 thing, and if he could wait until pay-day I was sure 
 the boys would help, so I thought we could make 
 it up, if it wasn't more than five or six hundred 
 dollars. 'But it is a great deal more than that,' he 
 said. Then I said I didn't see just now, but I was 
 sure I would find some way — if I lived. 
 
ANECDOTES 101 
 
 "Then Mr. Lincoln put his hands on my should- 
 ers and looked into my face as if he was very sorry 
 and said, 'My boy, my bill is a very large one. 
 Your friends cannot pay it, nor your bounty, nor the 
 farm, nor all your comrades ; There is only one man 
 in all the world who can pay it, and his name is 
 William Scott. If from this day William Scott does 
 his duty, so that, if I was there when he comes 
 to die, he can look me in the face as he does 
 now, and say, I have kept my promise, and I 
 have done my duty as a soldier, then my debt will 
 be paid. Will you make that promise and try to 
 keep it?" 
 
 William Scott kept his promise. He had this in- 
 terview with Lincoln in September, 1861. The fol- 
 lowing spring, in March, 1862, Scott was shot in 
 battle before the entrenchments at Lee's Mills, in 
 the vitinity of Yorktown. A desperate charge was 
 ordered, and the Vermont regiment dashed against 
 one of the strongest positions in the Confederate 
 line. They were repulsed, and retreated under a 
 heavy fire, leaving nearly half their number dead 
 or wounded in the river and on the opposite shore. 
 
 William Scott was almost the first to reach the 
 south bank of the river, the first in the riflepits, 
 and the last to retreat. • He recrossed the river 
 with a wounded officer on his back — he carried him 
 to a place of safety, and returned to assist his 
 comrades, who did not agree on the number of 
 wounded men saved by him from drowning or cap- 
 ture, but all agreed that he had carried the last 
 wounded man from the south bank, and was nearly 
 
102 LINCOLN 
 
 across the stream, when the fire of the rebels was 
 concentrated upon him, he staggered with his living 
 burden to the shore, and fell literally shot all to 
 pieces. 
 
 So it was that he paid his debt to President 
 Lincoln. 
 
 Lincoln's Own Stories. 
 
 Lincoln was a tireless worker. He loaded his 
 Cabinet and his secretaries to the limit of their 
 strength, but was always considerate and thoughtful 
 of their comfort. Three of his secretaries lived with 
 him in the White House and usually worked far 
 into the night, and, even after their labors for the 
 day had closed, Lincoln would often wander around 
 barefooted and in his night-shirt, too wakeful to 
 seek his own bed, and read poems from Burns, jokes 
 from Artemas Ward, and the letters of Petroleum 
 V. Nasby to the members of his household. 
 
 His sense of humor was his salvation. It was 
 the safety valve by which his heart was relieved. 
 He was melancholy by nature and inclined to be 
 morbid, and it was this keen enjoyment of the ridi- 
 culous that enabled him to endure with patience 
 his official trials and anxieties. Says Chauncey M. 
 Depew in his recollections of Lincoln, "The presi- 
 dent threw himself on a lounge and rattled off 
 story after story. It was his method of relief, 
 without which he might have gone out of his mind, 
 and certainly would not have been able to accom- 
 plish anything like the amount of work which he 
 did. It is the popular supposition that most of 
 Lincoln's stories were original, but he said, 'I have 
 
ANECDOTES 103 
 
 originated but two stories in my life, but I tell 
 tolerably well other people's stories.' " 
 
 The stories Lincoln told, and the anecdotes about 
 him, are so closely related that it is not worth 
 while to try to separate them. They are here re- 
 lated with no special regard to sequence. 
 
 It is said that during the darkest days of the 
 war a party of prohibitionists called on Lincoln and 
 urged with him that the reason why the North did 
 not win was because the soldiers drank so much 
 whiskey. With a twinkle in his eye Lincoln replied, 
 "That seems very unfair on the part of the Lord, 
 for the Southerners drink a great deal worse whiskey 
 and a great deal more of it than the soldiers of the 
 Nofth." 
 
 "Stop Your Boat — Fve Lost My Apple!" 
 
 One day a farmer from the backwoods came to 
 the President to tell him that the soldiers had 
 stolen some of his hay, and he wanted his claim 
 paid at once. 
 
 "Why, my good sir," said Lincoln, "if I should 
 attempt to consider every such individual case, I 
 should find work enough for twenty Presidents," 
 and to illustrate his point he told the following story : 
 
 "In my early days I knew one Jack Chase, who 
 was a lumberman on the Illinois, and, when steady 
 and sober, the best raftsman on the river. It was 
 quite a trick twenty-five years ago to take the logs 
 over the rapids, but he was skilful with a raft, and 
 always kept her straight in the channel. Finally a 
 steamer was put on, and Jack — he's dead now, poor 
 fellow ! — was made captain of her. He always used 
 
104 LINCOLN 
 
 to take the wheel going through the rapids. One 
 day, when the boat was plunging and wallowing 
 along the boiling current, and Jack's utmost vigilance 
 was being exercised to keep her in the narrow chan- 
 nel, a boy pulled his coat-tail and hailed him with, 
 'Say, Mister Captain! I wish you would just stop 
 your boat a minute — I've lost my apple overboard !' " 
 
 The Swearing Driver. 
 
 On another occasion a poor man from Tennessee 
 was waiting at the White House, and General Fisk 
 took in him to see the President. The man's son 
 was under sentence of death for some military 
 offense. Lincoln heard him patiently, took his 
 papers, and said he would look into the case and 
 report the following day. 
 
 "To-omorrow may be too late !" cried the man 
 tragically, and the streaming tears told how much 
 he was moved. 
 
 "Come," said Mr. Lincoln, "wait a bit, and I'll 
 tell you a story;" and then he told the old man 
 General Fisk's story about the swearing driver, as 
 follows : 
 
 When Fisk, then Colonel, organized his regiment 
 in Missouri he proposed to his men that he should 
 do all the swearing for the regiment. They agreed, 
 and for a long time he heard of no violation of their 
 promise. 
 
 The Colonel had a teamster named John Todd, 
 and as the roads were in very poor condition this 
 teamster had difficulty in driving his team and keep- 
 ing his temper at the same time. One day he hap- 
 
ANECDOTES 105 
 
 pened to be driving his mule-team through a series 
 of particularly bad mud-holes, when, unable to re- 
 strain himself any longer, he burst forth with a 
 volley of most energetic oaths. When the Colonel 
 heard of it he called John to account. 
 
 "John," said he, "didn't you promise to let me do 
 all the swearing for the regiment?" 
 
 "Yes, I did, Colonel," he replied, "but the fact 
 is the swearing had to be done then or not at all, 
 and you weren't there to do it." 
 
 The old man was so much amused he laughed 
 heartily, and then the President wrote a few words 
 on a card which brought tears to the old fellow's 
 eyes, for the life of his son had been saved. 
 
 "Glad of It." 
 
 When the telegram from Cumberland Gap reached 
 Lincoln that "firing was heard in the direction of 
 Knoxville," he remarked that he was "glad of it." 
 Some person present, who was thinking intently of 
 the peril of Burnside's army, wanted to know why 
 Mr. Lincoln was "glad of it." 
 
 "Why, you see," responded the President, "it 
 reminds me of Mrs. Sallie Ward, a neighbor of 
 mine, who had a very large family. Occasionally one 
 of her numerous progeny would be heard crying in 
 some out of the way place, upon which Mrs. Ward 
 would exclaim, 
 
 "'There's one of my children that isn't dead yet.'" 
 
 The Coon That "Got Away." 
 Toward the end of the war some gentlemen who 
 
106 LINCOLN 
 
 visited Lincoln at the White House asked him 
 "what he would do with Jeff Davis." 
 
 "There was a boy in Springfield," replied Mr. Lin- 
 coln, "who saved up his money and bought a coon, 
 which after the novelty wore off became a great 
 nuisance. 
 
 "He was one day leading him through the streets, 
 and had his hands full to keep clear of the little 
 vixen, who had torn his clothes half off him. At 
 length he sat down on the curbstone, completely 
 fagged out. A man passing by, noticing his unhappy 
 expression, asked him what was the matter. 
 
 " 'Oh,' said the boy, 'this coon is such a terrible 
 trouble to me!' 
 
 " 'Why don't you get rid of him, then ?' said the 
 gentleman. 
 
 " 'Hush !' said the boy. 'Don't you see he is gnaw- 
 ing his rope off? I'm going to let him do it, and 
 then I will go home and tell the folks that he 
 got away from me!'" 
 
 Root Hog or Die. 
 
 At the so-called peace conference on the steamer 
 River Queen in Hampton Roads, Feb. 3, 1865, Mr. 
 Hunter, representing the Confederacy, remarked that 
 since the slaves had always worked under compul- 
 sion, if they were freed they would do no work 
 at all, and the South would starve, black and whites 
 together, as no work would be done. Said Lincoln, 
 
 "Mr. Hunter, you ought to know a great deal bet- 
 ter about the matter than I, for you have always 
 lived under the slave system. I can only say, in 
 
ANECDOTES 107 
 
 reply to your statement of the case, that it reminds 
 me of a man out in Illinois, by the name of Case, 
 who undertook, a few years ago, to raise a very 
 large herd of hogs. It was a great trouble to feed 
 them; and how to get around this was a puzzle to 
 him. At length he hit upon the plan of planting an 
 immense field of potatoes, and, when they were 
 sufficiently grown, he turned the whole herd into 
 the field and let them have full swing, thus saving 
 not only the labor of feeding the hogs, but that also 
 of digging the potatoes. Charmed with his sagacity, 
 he stood one day leaning against the fence, counting 
 his hogs, when a neighbor came along. 
 
 " 'Well, well !' said he. *Mr. Case, this is all very 
 fine. Your hogs are doing very well just now. But 
 you know out here in Illinois the frost comes early, 
 and the ground freezes a foot deep. Then what 
 are they going to do?' 
 
 "This was a view of the matter which Mr. Case 
 had not taken into account. Butchering time for 
 hogs was away on in December or January. He 
 scratched his head and at length stammered, 'Well, 
 it may come pretty hard on their snouts, but I don't 
 see but it will be root hog or die!' " 
 
 Daniel Webster's Dirty Hands. 
 
 One of the most amusing of Mr. Lincoln's stories 
 was that of Daniel Webster's hands. 
 
 One day Daniel had done something very naughty 
 in school, and was called up by the teacher to be 
 punished, the form of punishment being the old- 
 fashioned ferruling of the hands. His hands hap- 
 
108 LINCOLN 
 
 pened to be very dirty, and out of a sense of per- 
 sonal shame, on his way to the teacher's desk, he 
 spit upon the palm of his right hand and rubbed it 
 on his pantaloons. 
 
 " 'Give me your hands, sir,' said the teacher very 
 sternly, 
 
 "Out went the right hand, partly cleansed. The 
 teacher looked at it a moment, and said, — 
 
 " 'Daniel, if you will find another hand in this 
 school as filthy as that, I will let you off this timel' 
 
 "Instantly from behind his back came the left hand. 
 'Here it is, sir," was the ready reply. 
 
 "'That will do,' said the teacher, 'for this time; 
 you may take your seat, sir.' " 
 
 Miscellaneous Anecdotes. 
 
 Quite as characteristic of Lincoln as his stories, 
 are the anecdotes of his witty and humorous remarks 
 on various occasions. 
 
 He was greatly pestered by the office-seekers, but 
 he never refused to see them, saying "They don't 
 want much and get very little. Each one considers 
 his business of great importance, and I must gratify 
 them. I know how I should feel if I were in their 
 place." And when he was attacked with varioloid 
 in 1861 he said to his usher, "Tell all the office- 
 seekers to come and see me, for now I have some- 
 thing that I can give them." 
 
 Mrs. McCulloch and other ladies called at the 
 
 White House one afternoon to attend a reception 
 
 by Mrs. Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln said laughingly to 
 them, — 
 
ANECDOTES 109 
 
 "I am always glad to see yon, ladles, for I know 
 you don't want anything." 
 
 Mrs. McCulloch replied, "But, Mr. President, I 
 do want something; I want you to do something 
 very much." 
 
 "Well, what is it?" he asked, adding, "I hope it 
 isn't anything I can't do." 
 
 "I want you to suppress the Chicago Times, be- 
 cause it does nothing but abuse the administration," 
 she replied. 
 
 "Oh, tut, tut! We mustn't abridge the liberties 
 of the press or the people. But never mind the 
 Chicago Times. The administration can stand it if 
 the Times can." 
 
 On another occasion he went to examine a newly 
 invented "repeating" gun, which was peculiar in 
 that it prevented the escape of gas. After the in- 
 spection, he said, 
 
 "Well, I believe this really does what it is repre- 
 sented to do. Now, have any of you heard of any 
 machine or invention for preventing the escape of 
 gas from newspaper establishments?" 
 
 One day he was complaining of the injustice of 
 Mr. Greeley's criticisms, when a friend suggested, 
 
 "Why don't you publish the facts in every news- 
 paper in the United States? The people will then 
 understand your position and your vindication will 
 be complete." 
 
 "Yes," said Lincoln, "all the newspapers will pub- 
 lish my letter, and so will Greeley. The next day 
 
110 LINCOLN 
 
 he will comment upon it, and keep it up in that way 
 until at the end of three weeks I will be convicted 
 out of my own mouth of all the things he charges 
 against me. No man, whether he be a private citizen 
 or President of the United States, can successfully 
 carry on a controversy with a great newspaper and 
 escape destruction, unless he owns a newspaper 
 equally great with a circulation in the same neighbor- 
 hood." 
 
 One day a handsome woman called at the White 
 House to get the release of a relative who was in 
 prison. She tried to use her personal attractions to 
 influence the President. After a little he concluded, 
 as he afterwards said, that he was "too soft" to 
 deal with her, and sent her over to the War Depart- 
 ment with a sealed envelope which contained a card 
 on which he had written, "This woman, dear Stan- 
 ton, is smarter than she looks to be." 
 
 To another woman, whom he suspected of coming 
 to the White House on a pretext, he gave a note ad- 
 dressed to Major Ramsey, which read, — 
 
 "My Dear Sir: The lady — bearer of this— says 
 she has two sons who want to work. Set them at 
 it if possible. Wanting to work is so rare a merit 
 that it should be encouraged. A. Lincoln." 
 
 When a delegation of clergymen called to urge 
 the appointment of one of their number as consul to 
 the Hawaiian Islands on the ground that he was sick 
 and needed the change, Lincoln questioned the man 
 closely as to his symptoms and then remarked, 
 
ANECDOTES 111 
 
 "I am sorry to disappoint you, but there are eight 
 other men after this place, and every one of them 
 is sicker than you are." 
 
 A party of friends from Springfield called at the 
 White House one day and told the President what 
 an elaborate funeral had been given to a certain 
 Illinois politician who was noted for his vanity and 
 love of praise. After listening to the end Lincoln 
 remarked, 
 
 "If Jim had known he was to have that kind of a 
 funeral, he would have died long ago." 
 
 When a deputation called upon the President to 
 criticise certain features of his administration, he 
 responded as follows : 
 
 "Gentlemen, suppose all the property you were 
 worth was in gold, and you had put it in the hands 
 of Blondin to carry across the Niagara River on a 
 rope: would you shake the cable and keep shouting 
 to him, 'Blondin, stand up a little straighter — Blondin, 
 stoop a little more — go a little faster — lean a little 
 more to the north — lean a little more to the south?* 
 No, you would hold your breath as well as your 
 tongue, and keep your hands off till he was safe 
 over. 
 
 "The government is carrying an immense weight. 
 Untold treasures are in our hands. We are doing 
 the very best we can. Don't badger us. Keep quiet, 
 and we will get you safe across." 
 
 Lincoln also had a strain of severity in him. 
 
 Once an officer attacked General Sherman, calling 
 
 him a bully and a tyrant, unfit to command troops. 
 
112 LINCOLN 
 
 Lincoln quietly asked if he had any grievance. The 
 officer replied that General Sherman had accused 
 him of some misconduct and threatened to shoot 
 him if it occurred again. 
 
 "If I were in your place," remarked the President 
 in a confidential whisper, "I wouldn't repeat that 
 offense, because Sherman is a man of his word." 
 
 Lincoln's instinctive love of a joke appears very 
 clearly in his humorous remark on hearing of the 
 capture of a brigadier-general and twelve army mules 
 near Washington, — 
 
 "How unfortunate! I can fill that general's place 
 in five minutes, but those mules cost us two hundred 
 dollars apiece." 
 
 The President's last story before his assassination 
 was that of how the Patagonians eat oysters. Ward 
 Lamon had called to ask the President to sign a 
 pardon for an old soldier convicted of violating the 
 army regulations. 
 
 "Lamon, do you know how the Patagonians eat 
 oysters?" suddenly asked the President as he held 
 the pen in his hand to write the pardon. 
 
 "I do not, Mr. Lincoln," responded Lamon. 
 
 "It is their habit to open them as fast as they can 
 and throw the shells out of the wmdow, and when 
 the pile of shells grow to be bigger than the house, 
 why, they pick up stakes and move. Now Lamon, 
 I have felt like beginning a new pile of pardons, and 
 I guess this is a good one to begin on." 
 
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