ILLUSTRIOUS * > ftMEFiicAK* SERIES 
 
 ?&<$&&&s&s^^
 
 LINCOLN ROOM 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 MEMORIAL 
 
 the Class of 1901 
 
 founded by 
 
 HARLAN HOYT HORNER 
 
 and 
 HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER
 
 ABEAHAM LINCOLN.
 
 (BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD SERIES OF ILLUSTRIOUS AMERICANS.) 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 
 
 BACKWOODS BOY; 
 
 OR, 
 
 HOW A YOUNG RAIL-SPLITTER 
 BECAME PRESIDENT. 
 
 BY 
 
 HORATI ; O ALGER, JR., 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF JAMES A. GARFIELD, 
 "LUCK AND PLUCK," ETC., ETC. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 JOHN R. ANDERSON & HENRY S. ALLEN, 
 
 66 & 68 READE STREET. 
 
 1883.
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1883, B* 
 HORATIO ALGER, JR.
 
 TO 
 
 ALEXANDER HENRIQUES. 
 
 OF NEW YORK, 
 ^ PRESIDENT OF THE OLD GUARD, 
 
 k AND 
 
 ^9 VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE, 
 
 Qtfcijs "Folunu is 3nstri&c& 
 
 WITH SINCERE FRIENDSHIP AND REGARD.
 
 THE BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD SERIES 
 
 "EMINENT CHARACTERS BY EMINENT 
 AUTHORS." 
 
 Each volume complete in itself, fully illustrated, and 
 uniform with this. Price, $1.25. 
 
 NOW RBADV. 
 
 1. From Canal Boy to President; or, The 
 
 Boyhood and Manhood of James A. Garfield. By Horatio 
 Alger, Jr. 
 
 2. Abraham Lincoln, the Backwoods Boy; 
 
 or, How a Young Rail-Splitter became President. Being 
 the Boyhood and Manhood of Abraham Lincoln. By 
 Horatio Alger, Jr. 
 
 READY EARLY IN OCTOBER. 
 
 3. The Surveyor Boy and Presiilent; or Young 
 
 People's Life of George Washington. By Win. M. Thayer, 
 author of " Log Cabin to White House," Etc. 
 
 JOHN R. ANDERSON & HENRY S. ALLEN, 
 
 PUBLISHERS, 
 66 AND 68 READE STREET, NEW YOBK.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 I VENTURE to say that among our public men 
 there is not one whose life can be studied with 
 more interest and profit by American youth than 
 that of Abraham Lincoln. It is not alone that, 
 born in an humble cabin, he reached the highest 
 position accessible to an American, but especially 
 because in every position which he was called 
 upon to fill, he did his duty as he understood it, 
 and freely sacrificed personal ease and comfort in 
 the service of the humblest. I have prepared the 
 story of Lincoln's boyhood and manhood as a 
 companion volume to the life of Garfield, which 
 I published two years since, under the title, 
 " From Canal Boy to President." The cordial 
 welcome which this received has encouraged me 
 to persevere in ray plan of furnishing readers, 
 young and old, with readable lives of the greatest
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 and best men in our history. I can hardly Lope 
 at this late day to have contributed many new 
 facts, or found mucn new material. I have been 
 able, however, through the kindness of friends, to 
 include some anecdotes not hitherto published. 
 But for the most part I have relied upon the well- 
 known and valuable lives of Lincoln by Dr. Hol- 
 land and Ward H. Larnon. I also acknowledge, 
 
 o s 
 
 with pleasure, my indebtedness to " Six Months 
 in the White House," by F. B. Carpenter; Henry 
 J. Raymond's "History of Lincoln's Administra- 
 tion," and the "Life of Lincoln," by D. W. 
 Bartlett. I commend, with confidence, either or 
 all of these works to those of my readers who 
 may desire a more thorough and exhaustive life 
 of " The Backwoods Boy." 
 
 HOKATIO ALGEE, JK. 
 NEW YORK, July 4, 1883.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 I. THE LOG-CABIN, - - 9 
 II. THE NEW MOTHER, - - -17 
 III. ABE AND HIS FAMILY, - - - 26 
 IV. ABE'S SCHOOLING, - 34 
 V. ABE AND HIS NEIGHBORS, - 43 
 VI. A RIVER TRIP, - - 51 
 VII. LINCOLN AS A CLERK, - - 60 
 VIII. IN THE BLACK HAWK CAMPAIGN, - 69 
 IX. IN THE LEGISLATURE, - - 78 
 X. A CASE IN COURT, - 87 
 XI. MR. LINCOLN FORMS TWO PARTNER- 
 SHIPS, - - 96 
 XII. THE LAWYER IN HIS OFFICE AND AT 
 
 HOME, - - - 105 
 XIII. THE RAIL -SPLITTER ENTERS CON- 
 GRESS, - 113 
 XIV. THE FIRST SPEECH IN CONGRESS, - 121 
 XV. MR. LINCOLN'S FAMILY, - 136 
 XVI. THE SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN, - - 147 
 XVII. THE Two GIANTS, - - - - ir>o
 
 8 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAQV 
 
 XVIII. ILLINOIS DECLARES FOR THE RAIL- 
 SPLITTER, - - - 164 
 XIX. NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT, - - 173 
 XX. FAREWELL TO SPRINGFIELD, - - 183 
 XXI. A VISIT TO MR. LINCOLN, - 191 
 XXII. THE INAUGURATION, - - 198 
 XXIII. THE WAR BEGINS, - 20? 
 XXIV. MR. LINCOLN IN THE WHITE HOUSE, 211 
 XXV. MR. LINCOLN AND THE LITTLE BOY 
 
 A GROUP OF INCIDENTS, - - 225 
 
 XXVI. MR. LINCOLN'S HUMANITY, - - 237 
 
 XXVII. ANECDOTES OF MR. LINCOLN, - - 246 
 
 XXVIII. PRESIDENT LINCOLN AS A RELIGIOUS 
 
 MAN, - 256 
 
 XXIX. EMANCIPATING THE SLAVES, - - 264 
 
 XXX. ELECTED FOR A SECOND TERM, - 269 
 
 XXXI. THE SPEECH AT GETTYSBURG, - 273 
 
 XXXII. THE CURTAIN FALLS, - - 277 
 
 XXXIII. MR. HERNDON'S ESTIMATE OF MR. 
 
 LINCOLN, - - 285 
 
 XXXIV. MR. LINCOLN'S FAVORITE POEM, - 299
 
 THE 
 
 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE LOG-CABIN. 
 
 THREE children stood in front of a rough log- 
 cabin in a small clearing won from the surround- 
 ing forest. The country round about was wild 
 and desolate. Not far away was a vast expanse 
 of forest, including oaks, beeches, walnuts, and 
 the usual variety of forest trees. 
 
 We are in Indiana, and the patch of land on 
 which the humble log-cabin stood is between the 
 forks of Big Pigeon and Little Pigeon Creeks, a 
 mile and a half east of Gentryville, a small vil- 
 lage not then in existence. 
 
 The oldest of the three children was Nancy 
 
 (9)
 
 IQ BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 Lincoln, about twelve years old. Leaning 
 against the cabin in a careless attitude was a 
 
 O 
 
 tall, spindling boy, tbin-faced, and preternatu- 
 rally grave, with a swarthy complexion. He was 
 barefoot and ragged ; the legs of his pantaloons, 
 which were much too short, revealing the lower 
 part of his long legs ; for in his boyhood, as in 
 after days, he ran chiefly to legs. 
 
 "Who in the wildest flight of a daring imagina- 
 tion would venture to predict that this awkward, 
 sad-faced, ragged boy would forty years later sit 
 in the chair of Washington, and become one of 
 the rulers of the earth ? I know of nothing more 
 wonderful in the Arabian Nights than this. 
 
 The second boy was a cousin of the other two 
 children Dennis Hanks, who, after the death of 
 his parents, had come to live in the Lincoln 
 household. 
 
 The sun was near its setting. It seemed al- 
 ready to bave set, for it was hidden by the forest 
 trees behind which it had disappeared. 
 
 " Abe," said the girl, addressing her brother, 
 " do you think father will be home to-night ? " 
 
 " I reckon," answered Abe laconically, shifting 
 from one foot to the other.
 
 ABU A HA N L TNCOLN. \ \ 
 
 "I hope so," said Dennis. "It's lonesome 
 stayin' here by ourselves." 
 
 " There's some one comin' with father," said 
 Nancy slowly. "We're goin' to have a new 
 mother. I hope we'll like her." 
 
 " It'll seem good to have a woman in the 
 house," said Dennis. "It seems lonesome-like 
 where they're all men." 
 
 " I reckon you mean yourself and me," said 
 Abe smiling. 
 
 The boy's grave, thin face brightened up as he 
 said this in a humorous tone. 
 
 " Then I ought to be considered a woman if 
 you two are goin' to set up as men," said Nancy. 
 " But Dennis is right. It'll be good for us if 
 she's the right sort. Some step-mothers ain't." 
 
 " I reckon you're right," said Abe again. 
 
 "I'm afraid she won't like the house," said 
 Nancy. " It ain't as good as it might be, though 
 it's better than the ' camp ' we used to live in." 
 
 As she spoke her eyes turned toward an even 
 more primitive dwelling forty yards away. It 
 was known as " a half -faced camp," and was 
 merely a cabin enclosed on three sides and open 
 on the fourth ; built not of logs, but of poles. It
 
 12 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 was fourteen feet square, and without a floor. 
 Here it was that the elder Lincoln lived with 
 his family when first he settled down in the In- 
 diana wilderness after his removal from Ken- 
 tucky. The present dwelling was an improve- 
 ment on the first, but how far it was from being 
 comfortable may be judged from a description. 
 
 It was indeed a cabin, while the other had been 
 only a camp, but it had neither floor, door, nor 
 window. There was a doorway for an entrance, 
 but there was nothing to keep out intruders. 
 There was small temptation, however, for the 
 professional burglar. The possessions of the 
 Lincolns were altogether beneath the notice of 
 even the poorest tramp. A few three-legged 
 stools served for chairs. In one corner of the 
 cabin was an extemporized bedstead made of 
 poles stuck in the cracks of the logs, while the 
 other end rested in the crotch of a forked stick 
 sunk in the earthen floor. A bag of leaves cov- 
 ered with skins and old petticoats rested on some 
 boards laid over the poles. Here had slept the 
 elder Lincoln and his wife, while Abe laid him- 
 self down in the loft above. A hewed* punch- 
 eon supported by four legs served for a table. A
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 13 
 
 few dishes of pewter and tin completed the list of 
 furniture. 
 
 This was the home to which Thomas Lincoln 
 was bringing his new wife. She was a widow 
 from Elizabethtown in Kentucky, where he had 
 formerly lived. She was an old flame of Mr'. 
 Lincoln, but had rejected him, being able, as she 
 thought, to do better. But when within a few 
 years he became a widower and she a widow, the 
 suit was renewed and the answer was favorable. 
 
 Even now the married pair are on their way 
 home. 
 
 Mrs. Johnston considered herself a poor widow, 
 but she was much better off than the man she had 
 just married. She was the owner of a bureau 
 that cost forty dollars ; this alone being a value 
 far greater than her new husband's entire stock 
 of furniture. Other articles, too, she had, in- 
 cluding a table, a set of chairs, a large clothes 
 chest, cooking utensils, knives, forks, bedding, 
 and other articles. 
 
 " Look, Abe ! " said Nancy in sudden excite- 
 ment, pointing to an approaching vehicle. 
 
 Abe followed the direction of his sister's finger, 
 and he opened his eyes in astonishment. A large
 
 14: BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 four-horse team was in sight a strange and un- 
 usual spectacle in that wilderness. The children 
 could not have been more excited if Barnum's 
 grand procession of circus chariots had filed into 
 view a vision of Oriental splendor. 
 
 " There's father ! " exclaimed Abe, distinguish- 
 ing with a boy's keen vision the well-known fig- 
 ure of his father sitting beside the driver. 
 
 " Father and Uncle Kalph," corrected Nancy. 
 
 " And the team's full of furniture. Can it be 
 comin' here ? " 
 
 "I reckon your new mother's aboard," said 
 Dennis. 
 
 This remark made the children thoughtful, 
 because it recalled their own sad-faced and gen- 
 tle mother who had faded from life a year before 
 and gone uncomplainingly to her rest. Then, 
 besides, the prospect of a step-mother is apt to 
 be disquieting when nothing is known of her dis- 
 position or character. 
 
 "Is all that furniture comin' here?" solilo- 
 quized Nancy wonderingly. 
 
 " I reckon so," answered Abe. 
 
 When the team came nearer another exciting 
 discovery was made. There were others aboard
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ^5 
 
 the wagon besides tlieir father, their new mother, 
 and their uncle Ralph Krame, who was the owner 
 of the team. There were two girls and a boy, 
 children of Mrs. Lincoln by her former marriage. 
 They were not far from the same age as the three 
 children who were awaiting their arrival, but they 
 were much better dressed. It was clear that the 
 log-cabin would no longer be lonely. It would 
 be full and running over. The six children and 
 their parents were to be crowded into it. 
 
 " That is ray house, Sally," said Thomas Lin- 
 coln, pointing out the cabin in the woods to his 
 new wife. 
 
 " That! " she exclaimed in dismay, for her new 
 husband had led her to expect that he was toler- 
 ably well-to-do, not with any intention to de- 
 ceive, but mainly because they had different 
 standards of comfort. 
 
 We can imagine that the heart of the new wife 
 must have sunk within her as from the wagon she 
 caught the first sight of her future home. She 
 had not been accustomed to luxury, but her old 
 home was luxurious compared with this. 
 
 She relapsed into silence, and did not choose to 
 make her husband uncomfortable by revealing
 
 IQ ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 the true state of her feelings. She seems to 
 have been a capable woman, and probably made 
 up her mind upon the instant to make " the best 
 of it." Besides, she had already caught sight of 
 the children. 
 
 " And those are Nancy and Abe ? " she said. 
 
 "Yes," answered Thomas Lincoln. "That's 
 Abe with the long legs, and the other boy is his 
 cousin Dennis." 
 
 The new Mrs. Lincoln regarded with womanly 
 compassion the three neglected children, and in 
 her heart she resolved to make their lot more de- 
 sirable. Perhaps the children read her face aright, 
 for, as they scanned her kindly face, all fear of 
 the new step-mother disappeared, and they re- 
 sponded shyly, but cordially, to her greeting.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 T I! E NEW M O T II E K . 
 
 WHEN the new Mrs. Lincoln entered the hum- 
 ble log-cabin which was to be her future home, 
 it may well be imagined that her heart sank 
 within her at the primitive accommodations, or 
 rather, lack of accommodations. 
 
 " How do you like it \ " asked Thomas Lincoln, 
 who was much more easily satisfied than his wife. 
 
 " Not at all at present. There are no doors or 
 windows. There is not even a plank floor." 
 
 " We have got along without them," said her 
 husband. 
 
 "We can't get along without them any longer. 
 You are a carpenter, and can easily provide them. 
 I will put in my furniture, and after awhile we 
 will have things more comfortable." 
 
 "I don't think w r e need the bureau. You say 
 
 it cost forty dollars. You had better sell it. It 
 2 ft?)
 
 13 SO YHG OD AND MANE OD OF 
 
 is sinful extravagance to have so much money in 
 furniture." 
 
 u I can't consent to that," said Mrs. Lincoln de- 
 cidedly. "I have nothing that is too good for us. 
 I will see that you and the children live more 
 comfortably in future." 
 
 Abe and Nancy looked on with interest while 
 the bureau and the other possessions of their now 
 mother were taken from the wagon by their fa- 
 ther and their uncle Ralph. They began to think 
 they were going to live in city style. In particu- 
 lar they admired the bureau which had cost forty 
 dollars. Why, their cabin had not cost that. 
 They felt something like the country minister of 
 sixty years since, to whom his parishioners pre- 
 sented a carpet for the " fore room." When it 
 was spread on the floor, he gazed at it admiringly 
 and ejaculated, " What, all this and heaven too ! 
 This is too much ! " 
 
 Mrs. Lincoln was quite in earnest, and set her 
 husband to work the next day at the improve- 
 ments she had specified. When after a time 
 they were completed ; when the earthen floor was 
 succeeded by one of boards ; when two windows 
 had been set in the sides of the cabin, and a door
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. J9 
 
 closed up the entrance ; when the primitive bed 
 and bedstead had been superseded by the new- 
 comer's comfortable bedstead and bedding, and 
 the three-legged stools had been removed to give 
 place to chairs, the three children were very 
 happy. 
 
 And indeed it was a happy day for Thomas 
 Lincoln and his young family when his second 
 wife took charge of his household. She was 
 kind-hearted and energetic, and, though she had 
 three children of her own, she was never found 
 wanting in care or affection for her husband's 
 children. She took a special interest in young 
 Abe. She read him better than his father, and 
 saw that there was that in him which it would 
 pay to develop. 
 
 To begin with, she rigged him out in new 
 clothes. His ragged condition had excited her 
 sympathy, and she rightly judged that neat attire 
 helps a boy's or girl's self-respect. I have no 
 doubt that Abe, though he never had a weakness 
 for line clothes, surveyed himself complacently 
 when for the first time he saw himself respecta- 
 bly dressed. 
 
 This is the description v\f Abe's step-mother
 
 20 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 given many years after by Mrs. Chapman, the 
 daughter of Dennis Hanks: 
 
 " His wife, my grandmother, is a very tall 
 woman, straight as an Indian ; fair complexion, 
 and was, when I first remember her, very hand- 
 some, sprightly, talkative, and proud ; wore her 
 hair curled till gray; is kind-hearted and very 
 charitable, and also very industrious." 
 
 It may be mentioned here that this good lady 
 lived long enough to see the neglected boy whom 
 she so kindly took in hand elected to the highest 
 place in the gift of his countrymen. 
 
 It was not long before Mrs. Lincoln began to 
 broach her plans for the benefit of her step-son. 
 
 " Abe," she said one day, " have you ever been 
 to school ? " 
 
 "Yes, ma'am. I went to school a little while 
 in Kentucky." 
 
 " You didn't learn much, I suppose ? " 
 
 " JSTot much ; I can read and write a little." 
 
 " That's a good beginning. In this country, 
 Abe, you will never amount to much unless you 
 get an education. Would you like to go to 
 school ? " 
 
 " Yes," answered the boy earnestly.
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. %\ 
 
 " I will speak to your father about it. Is there 
 any school near here?" 
 
 " Yes, Mr. Dorsey keeps school about a mile 
 and a half from here, near the Little Pigeon 
 Creek meeting-house." 
 
 " You and Nancy and Dennis mast go there." 
 
 Mrs. Lincoln broached the subject to her hus- 
 band. 
 
 " Abe ought to go to school, Thomas," she said, 
 "and so ought the other children." 
 
 " I don't know as I can spare him," said his fa- 
 ther. " I need his help in the shop and on the 
 farm." 
 
 " He can find time out of school-hours. The 
 boy must have an education." 
 
 " I agree to that, wife. It shall be as you say." 
 
 In Mr. Dorsey's school Abe's studies were ele- 
 mentary. His time was given to reading, writ- 
 ing, and ciphering. The school-house was about 
 as primitive as the Lincoln cabin before the im- 
 provements were made on it. It was built of un- 
 hewn logs, and holes stuffed with greased paper 
 supplied the place of windows. It was low- 
 studded, being barely six feet high. The schol- 
 ars studied in classes, and Abe's ambition was ex-
 
 22 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 cited, so that lie soon came to be looked upon as 
 one of the foremost scholars. 
 
 A year or two later, in the same humble school- 
 house, a new teacher named Andrew Crawford 
 wielded the ferule. He was, it may be inferred, 
 a better scholar than Mr. Dorsey, and was able to 
 carry his pupils further. 
 
 Abe was now in his fifteenth year, and was 
 growing at an alarming rate. He was already 
 nearly six feet in height, and must have pre- 
 sented a singular appearance in the rustic garb in 
 which he presented himself at this temple of learn- 
 ing. I quote Mr. Lamon's description of his phys- 
 ical appearance and dress : 
 
 " He was growing at a tremendous rate, and 
 two years later attained his full height of six feet 
 four inches. He was long, wiry, and strong; 
 while his big feet and hands and the length of 
 his legs and arms were out of all proportion to 
 his small trunk and head. His complexion was 
 very swarthy, and Mrs. Gentry says that his skin 
 was shrivelled and yellow even then. He wore 
 low shoes, buckskin breeches, linsey-wolsey shirt, 
 and a cap made of the skin of an opossum or a 
 coon. The breeches clung close to his thighs and
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 23 
 
 legs, but failed by a large space to meet the tops 
 of his shoes. Twelve inches remained uncovered 
 and exposed that much of ' shin-bone sharp, blue, 
 and narrow.' ' He would always come to school 
 thus, good-humoredly and laughing,' says his old 
 friend, Nat Grigsby. ' He was always in good 
 health, never was sick, had an excellent constitu- 
 tion, and took care of it.' " 
 
 It impresses us rather curiously to learn that 
 the new teacher Crawford undertook to teach 
 " manners " to the rough brood that was under 
 his charge. It was certainly a desirable accom- 
 plishment, but the teaching must have been at- 
 tended with some difficulties. 
 
 For the amusement of my young readers I will 
 try to describe one of these lessons. Mr. Craw- 
 ford wished the boys to learn how to enter a 
 room and pay their respects to the assembled 
 company. 
 
 " Abe, it is your turn," he says. 
 
 Abe Lincoln, understanding what is meant, 
 rose from his seat, and retires from the room. 
 A moment later a knock is heard at the door. 
 A scholar, specially deputed to do so we will
 
 24 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 suppose Nat Grigsby advances to the door and 
 opens it. 
 
 Before him stands Abe tall, awkward, with 
 the lower part of his limbs exposed. 
 
 Nat bows, and, taking him by the arm, leads .' 
 him from bench to bench, presenting him to his 
 fellow-pupils, as though he were a guest going 
 the rounds in a drawing-roorn. Abe, who was 
 never without a sense of fun, no doubt stole tim- 
 orous glances askance at his rustic garb as he 
 strode here and there, bowing politely to the 
 boys and girls whom he knew so well. Yet it is 
 possible that this exercise may have made it less 
 awkward for him in later days to attend to his 
 social duties when events brought him promi- 
 nently before the country. 
 
 So far from laughing at Master Crawford's in- 
 struction in manners, I am disposed to think very 
 favorably of it. He must on the whole have been 
 a sensible man, and no doubt had a considerable 
 influence over the rough boys who submitted wil- 
 lingly to what possibly struck them as ludicrous. 
 
 I doubt, however, with all his pains, whether 
 he succeeded in making Abe Lincoln graceful or
 
 ABB AH AM LINCOLN. 25 
 
 courtly. On the whole, he was rather unpromis- 
 ing material ; being long, lank, and awkward. 
 Yet this tall, gawky boy was laying the founda- 
 tion of a noble manhood. He was making the 
 most of his slender advantages, not dreaming 
 what greatness the Future had in store for him.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ABE AND HIS FAMILY. 
 
 MY young readers may naturally feel some cu. 
 riosity as to the Lincoln family and their previous 
 history. 
 
 The grandfather of Abraham was one of the 
 pioneer settlers of Kentucky. About the year 
 1780 he removed from Rockingham County, Yir- 
 ginia, to what was then an unsettled wilderness. 
 His death was tragical. Four years later, while 
 at work in the field, at some distance from his 
 cabin, he was shot down by a prowling Indian. 
 How his widow managed, with the care of five 
 helpless children, we do not accurately know, but 
 God helps the struggling, and she reared them 
 all till they reached man's and woman's estate. 
 Thomas Lincoln, born in 1778, was the third child, 
 and the future President was his son. He was a 
 
 4 
 
 good-natured, popular man, but inefficient and un- 
 (26)
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 27 
 
 successful, and whatever there was great in his 
 eminent son did not come from him. 
 
 Nancy Hanks, Abe's own mother, was born in 
 Virginia, and was probably related to some fam- 
 ily emigrating from that State. Dr. Holland says 
 of her : " Mrs. Lincoln, the mother, was evident- 
 ly a woman out of place among these primitive 
 surroundings. She was five feet live inches high, 
 a slender, pale, sad, and sensitive woman, with 
 much in her nature that was truly heroic, and 
 much that shrank from the rude life around her. 
 A great man never drew his infant life from a 
 
 O 
 
 purer or more womanly bosom than her own." 
 Though she died young, she had taught her chil- 
 dren to read, and so laid the foundation of their 
 education. 
 
 When Thomas Lincoln had made up his mind 
 to move from Kentucky, he sold his humble home, 
 or rather bartered it for ten barrels of whisky 
 and twenty dollars in money. It must not be in- 
 ferred that he was an intemperate man this 
 would not be true but money was scarce in those 
 days, and it was common to bailer, taking pay in 
 commodities which were marketable. This was 
 before the days of temperance societies; whisky
 
 28 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 was generally drunk, even by ministers, and there 
 was little risk in accepting it. - 
 
 So Thomas Lincoln, leaving home by himself 
 to find a new residence for his family, built a 
 flat-boat, and launched it on the Rolling Fork, a 
 creek emptying into the Ohio River. He reached 
 the river in safet} 7 , but then came a disaster. His 
 flat-boat was upset, and two-thirds of his whisky, 
 and many of his housekeeping and farm utensils 
 were lost. He did the best he could, however. 
 With friendly assistance he saved all Ee was able, 
 and proceeding on his journey, carried his 
 goods about eighteen miles into Spencer County, 
 Indiana, the place where we find him at the com- 
 mencement of our narrative. He returned to 
 Kentucky for his family, and brought them with 
 him to the new home in the wilderness. Seven 
 days, we are told, were consumed on the journey, 
 though the distance could not have been very 
 grcat We can easily imagine what privations 
 and weariness of body this journey involved. 
 People of to-day don't know what " moving" is. 
 They should have lived in the year 1S16, and 
 made a toilsome seven days' march through the 
 wilderness to understand what it meant then.
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 29 
 
 Nor were their trials and privations over when 
 the moving was accomplished. I am tempted to 
 quote here from Mr. Ward H. Lamon's interest- 
 ing Life of Lincoln, an account of life in the new 
 Indiana home, contained in a letter from Mr. 
 David Turnham, a school-fellow of Abe: 
 
 " When my father came here in the spring of 
 1819, he settled in Spencer County, within one 
 mile of Thomas Lincoln, then a widower. The 
 chance for schooling was poor; but, such as it 
 was, Abraham and myself attended the same 
 schools. 
 
 " We first had to go seven miles to mill ; and 
 then it was a hand-mill that would grind from 
 ten to fifteen bushels of corn in a day. There 
 was but little wheat grown at that time; and 
 when we did have wheat, we had to grind it on 
 the mill described, and use it without bolting, as 
 there were no bolts in the country. In the course 
 of two or three years, a man by the name of 
 Huffman built a mill on Anderson River, about 
 twelve miles distant. Abe and 1 had to do the 
 milling on horseback, frequently going twice to 
 get one grist. Then they began building horse- 
 mills of a little better quality than the hand-mills.
 
 30 BOYHOOD AND MAHHOOJ) OF 
 
 " The country was very rough, especially in the 
 low lands, so thick with brush that a man could 
 scarcely get through on foot. These places were 
 called Roughs. The country abounded in game, 
 such as bears, deer, turkeys, and the smaller game. 
 
 " At that time there were a great many deer- 
 licks; and Abe and myself would go to these 
 licks sometimes, and watch of nights to kill deer, 
 though Abe was not so fond of a gun as I was. 
 There were ten or twelve of these licks in a small 
 prairie on the creek, lying between Mr. Lincoln's 
 and Mr. Wood's. This gave it the name of Prairie 
 Track of Pigeon Creek." 
 
 I have already said that Thomas Lincoln was a 
 carpenter. He did not, however, understand his 
 trade very well, and, though he was employed in 
 small jobs, there is no evidence that he was ever 
 employed to bnild a house, or was considered com- 
 petent to do so. In fact, he derived but a small 
 income from his trade, and probably looked upon 
 himself rather as a farmer than a mechanic. It 
 was a piece of good fortune for himself and his 
 children, that, shiftless and unambitious as he was, 
 he should have won a wife so much more capable 
 and energetic than himsoif . He was much shorter
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 31 
 
 than his son Abe, beiug an inch or two under six 
 feet. In some respects they were alike, however, 
 for Thomas Lincoln had a gift for telling stories, 
 and would sit about at " stores," or under trees, 
 and amuse his neighbors with an inexhaustible 
 fund of anecdotes. Of education he had little or 
 none. He could write his name, having learned 
 this much from his first wife, Abe's mother, but 
 he never had the ambition or perseverance to go 
 farther up the hill of learning. We are told, 
 however, that he was in favor of his children's 
 obtaining an education, though it was probably 
 the mother and step-mother to whom Abe and 
 his sister were especially indebted for such advan- 
 tages as they enjoyed. I may say, however, that 
 the most valuable part of Abraham Lincoln's edu- 
 cation was not derived from books. He was a 
 close and keen observer of men and things, and 
 few men excelled him in insight into human nat- 
 ure, and the motives, the weaknesses, and the 
 subterfuges of men. Yet with all this knowledge 
 of the bad as well as ths good that was in men, 
 he was always a kindly and sympathetic judge and 
 critic. 
 
 I suppose all boys at some time or other in their
 
 32 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 early years have a narrow escape. My young 
 readers may be interested to know how near we 
 came to losing our future President. It was when 
 Abe was seven years old, and before he removed 
 to Indiana. 
 
 He was accustomed to go on numerous tramps 
 with his cousin, Dennis Hanks, who sought to 
 initiate him into the mysteries of fishing. On 
 on 3 occasion he attempted to " coon " across Knot 
 Creek, by swinging over on a sycamore tree. But 
 he lost his hold and tumbled into the deep water. 
 He would have drowned but for the exertions of 
 his boy companion, who had great difficulty in 
 saving him. The readers of Garfield's Life will 
 remember ho\v he also came near death by drown- 
 ing, when considerably older than Abe was at this 
 juncture. But God looks after the lives of His 
 chosen instruments, and saves them for His work. 
 
 There is no doubt that Abe found plenty to do 
 outside of school. In fact, that did not take up 
 much of his time, for we are told that, adding to- 
 gether all the time he spent in attendance, the ag- 
 gregate w T ould not exceed a year. 
 
 As to the sort of work he did, his father found 
 work for him on the land which he had under
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 33 
 
 cultivation. Then the " chores " which boys in 
 such households are always called upon to do, 
 in his case exacted more time on account of 
 the lack of average accommodations. For in- 
 stance, the water had to be brought from a spring 
 a mile away, and Abe and his sister were em- 
 ployed to fetch it. There was no water to be had 
 nearer, except what was collected in holes in the 
 ground after a rain, and this was necessarily unfit 
 for drinking, or, indeed, any other purpose unless 
 strained. But Abe is not to be pitied for the 
 ' hardships of his lot. That is the way strong men - 
 are made.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ABE'S SCHOOLING. 
 
 " SPELL defied ! " 
 
 This question was put to a class in spelling by 
 the master. 
 
 The iirst pupil in the straggling line of back- 
 woods boys and girls who stood up in class, an- 
 swered with some hesitation : " D-e-f-i-d-e, defied." 
 
 The master frowned. 
 
 " Next ! " he called sharply. 
 
 The next improved upon the effort of the first 
 speller, and in a confident tone answered : 
 
 " D-e-f-y-d-e." 
 
 " Wrong again ! The next may try it," said the 
 teacher. 
 
 " D-e-f-y-d ! " said the third scholar. 
 
 "Worse and worse! You are entitled to a 
 medal ! " said Crawford, sarcastically. " Next ! " 
 
 "D-e-f-y-e-d ! " was the next attempt. 
 (34)
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 35 
 
 "Really, you do me great credit," said the 
 teacher, a frown gathering on his brow. "You 
 can't spell an easy word of two syllables. It is 
 shameful. I'll keep the whole class in all the 
 rest of the day, if necessary, till the word is 
 spelled correctly." 
 
 It now became the turn of a young girl named 
 Roby, who was a favorite with Abe. She was a 
 pretty girl, but, nevertheless, the terrible word 
 puzzled her. In her perplexity she chanced to 
 turn toward the seat at the window occupied by 
 her long-legged friend, Abe. 
 
 Abe was perhaps the best speller in school. A 
 word like defied was easy enough to him, and he 
 wanted to help the girl through. 
 
 As Miss Roby looked at him she saw a smile 
 upon his face, as he significantly touched his eye 
 with his finger. The girl took the hint, and 
 spelled the word correctly. 
 
 " Right at last ! " said Master Crawford, whose 
 back was turned, and who had not seen Abe's 
 dumb show. " It's lucky for you all that one of 
 the class knew how to spell, or I would have kept 
 my word, and kept you all in." 
 
 Though Master Crawford's school had a de-
 
 36 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 partment of manners, there was no department 
 of English composition. Abe took this np on 
 his own account, according to his schoolmate, 
 Nat Grigsby, and probably the teacher consented 
 to examine his essays, though he did not require 
 them of his other pupils. Considering the kind- 
 ness of heart which he afterward exhibited on many 
 occasions, my readers will not be surprised to hear 
 that his first composition was against cruelty to 
 animals. This is said to have been called forth 
 by the conduct of some of his fellow-pupils in 
 catching terrapins and putting coals of fire on 
 their backs. 
 
 After a time Master Crawford's school was dis- 
 continued, and some two or three years later Abe 
 attended another, kept by a Mr. Swaney. It gives 
 us an idea of the boy's earnest desire to obtain an 
 education, when we learn that he had to walk 
 four and a half miles to it from his fathers house, 
 and this walk had to be repeated, of course, in 
 the afternoon. How many of my young readers 
 would care sufficiently for an education to walk 
 nine miles a day, to and from school ? 
 
 We are told that the new school-house was no 
 more impressive, architecturally, than the first, al-
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 37 
 
 ready described. In fact, it was very similar, 
 though it had two chimneys instead of one. The 
 course of instruction does not seem to have been 
 any higher than at Mr. Crawford's school. The 
 department of "manners" was omitted, though 
 it is doubtful whether many of the pupils could 
 have appeared to advantage in a city ball-room. 
 
 Probably Abe did not attend Mr. Swaney's 
 school many weeks, and this, we are told, was the 
 end of his school attendance anywhere. He had, 
 however, in that short time imbibed a love of 
 learning, which is to be credited rather to his 
 own tastes than to' the influence of his teachers, 
 and carried on by himself the studies of which 
 he had learned something in the humble back- 
 woods school. We are told that he was, already 
 the equal of his teachers in learning, which prob- 
 ably was not saying much. Nevertheless he did 
 not regard his education as finished. He had his 
 books, and kept on studying at home, or wherever 
 he was employed. In the hard work which fell 
 to his lot he did not take much interest. He knew 
 that it was necessary, but he did not enjoy it. 
 He preferred to labor with his brain rather than 
 with his hands, and often seemed so listless and
 
 38 BOYHOOD AND IfAXIlOOD OF 
 
 preoccupied that lie got the reputation of being 
 " awful lazy." 
 
 This is what his neighbor, Romine, says of him : 
 " He worked for me ; was always reading and 
 thinking ; used to get mad at him. I say, Abe 
 was awful lazy ; he would laugh, and talk, and 
 crack jokes and tell stories all the time; didn't 
 love work, but did dearly lore his pay. He worked 
 
 for me frequently, a few days only at a time 
 
 Lincoln said to me one day, that his father taught 
 him to work, but never learned him to love it." 
 
 All the information we can obtain about this 
 early time is interesting, for it was then that Abe 
 was laying the foundation of his future eminence. 
 His mind and character were slowly developing, 
 and shaping themselves for the future. 
 
 From Mr. Lamon's Life I quote a paragraph 
 which will throw light upon his habits and tastes 
 at the age of seventeen : 
 
 " Abe loved to lie under a shade-tree, or up in 
 the loft of the cabin, and read, cipher, and scrib- 
 ble. At night he sat by the chimney 'jamb,' and 
 ciphered by the light of the tire, on the wooden 
 fire-shovel. When the shovel was fairly covered, 
 he would shave it off with Tom Lincoln's draw-
 
 ABRAHAM LIA COLN. 39 
 
 ing-knife, and begin again. In the day-time be 
 used boards for the same purpose, out of doors, 
 and went through the shaving process everlasting- 
 ly. His step-mother repeats often that ' he read 
 every book he could lay his hands on.' She says, 
 ' Abe read diligently. He read every book he 
 could lay his hands on, and when he came across 
 a passage that struck him, he would write it down 
 on boards if he had no paper, and keep it there 
 until he did get paper. Then he would rewrite 
 it, look at it, repeat it. He had a copy-book, a 
 kind of scrap-book, in which he put down all 
 tilings, and thus preserved them.' " 
 
 I am tempted also to quote a reminiscence of 
 John Hanks, who lived with the Lincolns from 
 the time Abe was fourteen to the time he became 
 eighteen years of age : " When Lincoln Abe 
 and I returned to the house from work, he would 
 go to the cupboard, snatch a piece of corn-bread, 
 take down a book, sit down on a chair, cock his 
 legs up as high as his head, and read. He and I 
 worked barefooted, grubbed it, ploughed, mowed, 
 and cradled together ; ploughed corn, gathered it, 
 and shucked corn. Abraham read constantly 
 when he had opportunity."
 
 40 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 It may well be supposed, however, that the 
 books upon which Abe could lay hands were few 
 in number. There were no libraries, either pub- 
 lic or private, in the neighborhood, and he was 
 obliged to read what he could get rather than 
 those which he would have chosen, had he been 
 able to select from a large collection. Still, it is 
 a matter of interest to know what books he actu- 
 ally did read at this formative period. Some of 
 them certainly were worth reading, such as 
 "^Esop's Tables," "Robinson Crusoe," "Pil- 
 grim's Progress," a History of the United State?, 
 and Weem's "Life of Washington." The last 
 book Abe borrowed from a neighbor, old Josiah 
 Crawford, (I follow the statement of Mr. Lamon, 
 rather than of Dr. Holland, who says it was Mas- 
 ter Crawford, his teacher). When not reading it, 
 he laid it away in a part of the cabin where he 
 thought it would be free from harm, but it so 
 happened that just behind the shelf on which he 
 placed it was a great crack between the logs of 
 the wall. One night a storm came up suddenly, 
 the rain beat in through the crevice, and soaked 
 the borrowed book through and through. The 
 book was almost utterly spoiled. Abe felt very
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 41 
 
 uneasy, for a book was valuable in his eyes, aa 
 well as in the eyes of its owner. 
 
 He took the damaged volume and trudged over 
 to Mr. Crawford's in some perplexity and morti- 
 fication. 
 
 " Well, Abe, what brings you over so early ? " 
 said Mr. Crawford. 
 
 " I've got some bad news for you," answered 
 Abe, with lengthened face. 
 
 u Bad news ! What is it ? " 
 
 " You know the book you lent me the ' Life 
 of Washington ' ? " 
 
 o 
 
 " Yes, yes." 
 
 " Well, the rain last night spoiled it," and Abe 
 showed the book, wet to a pulp inside, at the 
 same time explaining how it had been injured. 
 
 " It's too bad, I vum ! You'd ought to pay tor 
 it, Abe. You must have been dreadful careless \ ri 
 
 " I'd pay for it if I had any money, Mr. Craw- 
 ford." 
 
 " If you've got no money, you can work it 
 out," said Crawford. 
 
 " I'll do whatever you think right." 
 
 So it was arranged that Abe should work three 
 days for Crawford, " pulling fodder," the valuer
 
 42 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 of his labor being rated at twenty-five cents a 
 day. As the book had cost seventy-five cents 
 this would be regarded as satisfactory. So Abe 
 worked his three days, and discharged the debt. 
 Mr. Lamon is disposed to find fault with Crawford 
 for exacting this penalty, but it appears to me 
 only equitable, and I am glad to think that Abe 
 was willing to act honorably in the matter.
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 ABE AND HIS NEIGHBOK8. 
 
 IF Abe's knowledge had increased in proportion 
 to the increase in his stature, he* would have been 
 unusually learned at the age of seventeen, for he 
 stood at that time nearly six feet four inches in his 
 stockings, and, boy as he was, was taller than any 
 man in the vicinity. 
 
 I must not omit to state that he had a remark- 
 able memory, and this was of great service to him 
 in his early efforts at oratory. Mr. Lamon tells 
 us that 
 
 " He frequently amused his young companions 
 by repeating to them long passages from the 
 books he had been reading. On Monday morn- 
 ings he would mount a stump and deliver, with 
 a wonderful approach to exactness, the sermon he 
 had heard the day before. His taste for public 
 
 speaking appeared to be natural and irresistible." 
 
 (43)
 
 44 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 Let me describe one of the scenes in which 
 Abe often took part. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln have gone to church, for 
 it is Sunday morning. The children are excused 
 on account of the distance, and are left at home 
 to fill up the time as they may. 
 
 " Come in," said Abe, appearing at the door of 
 the cabin, " I'm going to preach." 
 
 With more willingness, perhaps, than if the 
 services were to be conducted by a grown-up 
 minister, the other young people in the family 
 enter and sit down in decorous style, while Abe 
 pulls down the Bible, reads a passage, and gives 
 out a hymn. This is sung with more earnestness 
 than musical taste, and then the young preacher 
 begins his sermon. 
 
 I am sure we should all like to have been pres- 
 ent, and should have listened with interest while 
 the gaunt, awkward boy, gesticulating with his 
 long arms, delivered a homily not original with 
 himself, but no doubt marked by some of his pe- 
 culiarities. 
 
 We are told that this young audience, the girls 
 probably, were sometimes affected to tears. One 
 might have been tempted to predict that the boy
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 45 
 
 would develop into a preacher when he grew to 
 man's estate. But Abe did not confine himself 
 to " preaching." He was just as fond of other 
 kinds of public speaking. Sometimes in the har- 
 vest field he mounted a stump and began to talk 
 on political subjects. 
 
 More than once Thomas Lincoln, going out to 
 the field, found work at a standstill, and a little 
 group collected at one point, Abe being the cen- 
 tral figure. 
 
 " What's all this ? " he would ask angrily. 
 
 "It's Abe," one of the hands would answer. 
 "He's givin' us a ronsin' speech on politics." 
 
 "I'll rouse him!" oaid the incensed father. 
 " Only let me get at him ! " 
 
 So he would push his way into the crowd un- 
 seen by Abe, and would suddenly seize his son 
 by the collar and drag him from his extemporized 
 rostrum. 
 
 " Now go to work ! " he would exclaim in ir- 
 ritation. "You can't make your living by talk- 
 ing." 
 
 Abe, with a comical smile, would close his 
 'speech, to resume it on some more auspicious 
 occasion.
 
 46 BOYHOOD AXD MANHOOD OF 
 
 1 have already said that Thomas Lincoln was a 
 carpenter, though a poor one. Abe sometimes 
 worked with him in the shop, but had no idea of 
 learning the trade. He preferred to work in the 
 field, and, as he could not fill up his time on the 
 four acres his father cultivated, he hired out to 
 any one of the neighbors who required his 
 services. 
 
 No prediction could have surprised his em- 
 ployers more than that the tall, awkward youth, 
 who had grown out of his clothes, would hereaf- 
 ter hold in his hands the destinies of the country, 
 and guide it triumphantly to the end of a pro- 
 tracted and bloody struggle. 
 
 The career of Lincoln is a striking illustration 
 of the often-repeated saying that " Truth is 
 stranger than fiction." 
 
 While there is room for suspicion that Abe was 
 not fond of physical labor, he is said to have 
 worked very satisfactorily for those who em- 
 ployed him. He had no troublesome pride, but 
 was willing to do anything that was asked, and 
 pleased the women especially by never objecting 
 when called upon " to make a fire, carry water. 
 or nurse a baby."
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 47 
 
 I am tempted to quote from Mr. Lamon's in- 
 teresting volume an account furnished him by 
 Mrs. Elizabeth Crawford of the people among 
 whom Abe lived and some of their peculiarities. 
 It throws light upon the homely side of the fut- 
 ure President's character and speech : 
 
 " You wish me to tell you how the people used 
 to go to meeting hosv far they went. At that 
 time we thought it nothing to go eight or ten miles. 
 The old ladies did not stop for the want of a 
 shawl, or cloak, or riding-dress, or two horses in 
 the winter-time ; but they would put on their 
 husbands' old overcoats, and wrap up their little 
 ones, and take one or two of them on their 
 beasts, and their husbands would walk, and 
 they would go to church, and stay in the neigh- 
 borhood until the next day, and then go home. 
 The old men would start out of their fields from 
 their work, or out of the woods from hunting, 
 with their guns on their shoulders, and go to 
 church. Some of them dressed in deer-skin 
 pants and moccasins, hunting-shirts, with a rope 
 or leather strap around them. They would come 
 in laughing, shake hands all around, sit down and 
 talk about the game they had killed, or some
 
 48 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 other work they bad done, and smoke their pipes 
 together with the old ladies. If in warm weather, 
 they would kindle up a little iire out in the meet- 
 ing-house yard to light their pipes. 
 
 " If in winter-time, they would hold church in 
 some of the neighbors' houses. At such times 
 they were always treated with the utmost of kind- 
 ness ; a bottle of whisky, a pitcher of water, su- 
 gar, and glass were set out, or a basket of apples 
 or turnips, or some pies and cakes. Apples were 
 scarce them times. Sometimes potatoes were 
 used for a treat. (I must tell you that the first 
 treat I ever received in old Mr. Linkhern's house 
 that was our President's father's house was a 
 plate of potatoes, washed and pared very nicely, 
 and handed 'round. It was something new to 
 me, for I had never seen a raw potato eaten be- 
 fore. I looked to see how they made use of 
 them. They took off a potato, and ate them like 
 apples). 
 
 " Thus they spent the time till time 'for preach- 
 ing 'to commence, then they would all take their 
 sjats; the preacher would take his stand, draw 
 his coat, open his shirt-collar, and commence 
 service by singing and prayer ; take his text and
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 4.9 
 
 preach till the sweat would roll off in great drops. 
 Shaking hands and singing then ended the serv- 
 ice. The people seemed to enjoy religion more 
 in them days than they do now. They were glad 
 to see each other, and enjoyed themselves better 
 than they do now." 
 
 Such is the testimony of an old lady, who, like 
 old people generally, is prone to praise the past 
 at the expense of the present. 
 
 The ladies in Abe's early days wore "corn-field 
 bonnets, scoop-shaped, flaring in front, and long, 
 though narrow behind." They were as fond of 
 dancing as our city ladies, but did not find an 
 elaborate toilet so essential. It was not uncom- 
 mon for both sexes to discard shoes and dance 
 barefooted. I have no doubt they enjoyed 
 themselves as well, if not better, in this absence 
 of restraint, than their more polished sisters who 
 are to be found in city drawing-rooms to-day. 
 
 Brought up in such an unconventional atmos- 
 phere, it is not surprising that Abraham Lincoln 
 never set much value upon form and ceremony, 
 and sometimes shocked his more conventional po- 
 litical associates. 
 
 Mr. John B. Alley, a member of the Massa-
 
 50 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 chusetts Congressional delegation during the war 
 of the Rebellion, described to me on one occasion 
 how much shocked Senator Sumner was when, 
 on calling upon the President, in company with 
 Lord Lyons, the English Minister, they found 
 him sitting at ease in true "Western style, with 
 his heels resting on the table. 
 
 " How are yon, Sumner? " was the President's 
 greeting. " Take a seat, Lord Lyons." 
 
 And all the while the good President did not 
 seem to be aware that he was acting in a manner 
 unbecoming the dignity of a great ruler. Yet he 
 might have been aware of it, and secretly en- 
 joyed the annoyance of his distinguished guests. 
 I am not prepared to recommend my young 
 readers to imitate Lincoln in this respect, but I 
 wish them to understand how he was affected by 
 his early acquaintances and surroundings. We 
 shall all agree that there are many things more 
 important than polished manners and personal 
 dignity, and we shall find hereafter that Abra- 
 ham Lincoln, in spite of his homely manners, 
 was a Providential man, who served his country 
 in her hour of need, as probably no other could 
 have done.
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 A KTVEE TKIP. 
 
 THUS passed the early years of Abraham Lin- 
 coln. He was approaching manhood, well pre- 
 pared physically to undertake its responsibilities, 
 but with a very slender stock of knowledge. He 
 had, however, acquired a taste for learning, and - 
 was a close, careful, and shrewd observer. He 
 had also the ability to speak fluently in rough- 
 and-ready style on any subject of which lie knew 
 anything. Of the world he had seen very little, 
 but his knowledge in that direction was to be ex- 
 tended by a trip down the Ohio and Mississippi 
 Rivers, which he took at the age of nineteen. 
 
 Early in 1828 he chanced to be in the employ 
 of Mr. Gentry, the founder of Gentryville, a vil- 
 lage which had sprung up since Thomas Lincoln 
 had lived in the neighborhood. 
 
 One morning Allen Gentry said to Lincoln :
 
 52 BOYHOOD AND MANUOOD OF 
 
 " Abe, how would you like to go to New Or- 
 leans with me ? " 
 
 " Are yon going ? " asked Abe eagerly. 
 
 " Yes, I am almost sure of going. I have 
 spoken to father about letting me go on a trading 
 trip down the river, and I should like to have you 
 go with me." 
 
 " I'll go," said Abe promptly, " if you'll give 
 me the chance." 
 
 " There is no one I would like better to have 
 with me," answered Allen, "and I can't go 
 alone." 
 
 He had good reason for preferring Abe to any 
 of his other friends, not only that young Lincoln 
 was very strong and capable, but because he had 
 then, as in after years, a pleasant humor, which 
 showed itself in stories which he had pat for any 
 occasion. Though homely enough, they were 
 never destitute of point, and were brimming 
 over with shrewd fun. 
 
 To a backwoods boy the proposed trip was as 
 fascinating perhaps more so, notwithstanding the 
 hard work involved as a European trip nowadays. 
 There was constant variety; there was a varying 
 panorama of meadows and villages, as they floated
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 53 
 
 down the rapid current to the mouth of the great 
 river. 
 
 Mr. Gentry favored his son's plan, and prepara- 
 tions were speedily made. 
 
 The , craft on which the two young men em- 
 barked was a flat-boat, roughly made. It was 
 loaded with a cargo of bacou and other produce, 
 such as it was thought would sell readily down 
 South. Abe was the leader of the expedition, 
 and the business was under his care, inexperi- 
 enced as he was. He was ready to take the re- 
 sponsibility then as in after years, when he pi- 
 loted the ship of State with its valuable cargo 
 over rougher waters. 
 
 o 
 
 My young readers may be interested to know 
 th-it he was paid eight dollars per month, eating 
 and sleeping on bo.ird, and that he was furnished 
 with free return passage on a steamboat. 
 
 The custom was to stop at all important points 
 and seek an opportunity to trade. During the 
 night the boat was tied up to the shore, and the 
 two young men slept on board in the little 
 cabin. 
 
 Generally, there was no risk of robbery or 
 hostile attack ; but one night, a few miles below
 
 54 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 Baton Rouge, the two young men were startled 
 by hearing footsteps on board. 
 
 "What's that?" inquired Allen, starting. 
 
 " We must have visitors," replied Abe quietly. 
 
 " Then they are not the right kind. They 
 must be thieves." 
 
 " I reckon so. Let us get up and give them a 
 reception." 
 
 Eising as quietly as possible, Abe and Allen 
 Gentry looked out and saw that the invading 
 force consisted of seven stalwart negroes. They 
 were of the same class, only bolder, as the chicken 
 thieves, who visit their neighbors' hen-roosts. 
 
 " They are after our bacon," said Abe. " We 
 must try to save our bacon if we can," he added, 
 with a humorous smile. 
 
 Now, it requires some courage to get up in the 
 dead of night and confront a gang of thieves, es- 
 pecially when they are seven to two, but the two 
 young men were courageous, and they had no 
 idea of submitting tamely to robbery. 
 
 " Bring the guns, Abe ! " exclaimed Allen in a 
 loud tone, intending to be heard by the maraud- 
 ers. " Bring the guns ; shoot them ! " 
 
 Lincoln had no 'gun, but he had a huge bludg-
 
 ABRAHAM LTNCOLX. 55 
 
 eon, and he sprang upon them, belaboring them 
 with all the strength of his sinewy arm. No won- 
 der they were terrified as they surveyed the com- 
 manding stature of the stripling and felt his ter- 
 rible blows. Seven to two as they were, they 
 found discretion the better part of valor, and fled, 
 some jumping into tho water. 
 
 But Allen and Abe were not satisfied with this 
 victory. They felt that they must give their guilty 
 visitors a lesson. So they chased them far back into 
 the country, and, on returning, thought it best to 
 cut loose and float down the river, lest they should 
 have another call from their unwelcome visitors, 
 possibly reinforced by others of the same stripe. 
 These seven negroes little dreamed that the in- 
 trepid young man who so belabored them was des- 
 tined under the providence of God to be the cham- 
 pion and deliverer of their race from the bondage 
 under which they groaned. I may add that Abe 
 himself would perhaps have been even more sur- 
 prised could this have been revealed to him, as, 
 bludgeon in hand, he chased the flying negroes 
 over the meadows. 
 
 The time consumed in this river trip was about 
 three months. The result was satisfactory to his
 
 56 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 emplojer, and showed that his confidence in his 
 young neighbor was not misplaced. On his re- 
 turn, young Lincoln worked as before, wherever 
 opportunity offered, and probably, being under 
 age, turned in his earnings to the common fund. 
 But the time was coming when the family were 
 to find a new home. Born in Kentucky, Abe 
 had spent rather more than half his life in Indi- 
 ana, but a new State the one which now claims 
 him as her most distinguished con was soon to 
 receive him. In the spring of 1830, Thomas 
 Lincoln pulled up stakes and moved to Illinois. 
 But his immediate family was smaller now than 
 when he left Kentucky. Abe's sister had mar- 
 ried early, and survived her marriage but about 
 a year. However, there were the step-children, 
 and the families of Dennis Hanks and Levi Hall, 
 so that the company numbered thirteen in ail. 
 Fifteen days' journey brought them to a point 
 ten miles west of Decatur, where a small house 
 was erected on the north bank of the north fork 
 of the Sangamon Hiver. Abe and his cousin 
 John broke up fifteen acres of land and split rails 
 enough to serve as a fence. This was the first 
 time, so far as we know, that young Lincoln jus-
 
 THE YOUNG RAIL SPLITTER. Page 57.
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 57 
 
 tified the appellation, which clung to him in after 
 years, of Tail-splitter. 
 
 But young Lincoln was now n earing the age of 
 twenty-one. Largely because of his affection for 
 his step-mother, to whom he was always ready to 
 acknowledge his obligations, he had remained 
 about home much longer than many sons, who 
 forget filial duty under the impulse of ambition 
 or enterprise. So his twenty-first birthday found 
 him still a member of the home household. Then, 
 naturally enough, he felt that it was time to set 
 up for himself. So in March or April he left 
 home, but he seemed to have formed no definite 
 plans none at least likely to carry him far away 
 from home. He was a candidate for labor, aiid 
 took whatever offered, but the proceeds went into 
 his own pocket. 
 
 One of the "jobs" which he undertook was 
 splitting rails for a man named Kirkpatrick. I 
 quote from Dr. Holland in reference to this period : 
 
 " A man who used to work with Abraham oc- 
 casionally during his first year in Illinois, says 
 that at that time he was the roughest-looking per- 
 son he ever saw. He was tall, angular, and un- 
 gainly, and wore trousers made of flax and tow,
 
 58 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 cut tight at the ankle, and out at both knees. 
 He was known to be very poor, but he was a 
 welcome gnest in every house in the neighbor- 
 hood. This informant speaks of splitting rails 
 with Abraham, and reveals some interesting facts 
 concerning wages. Money was a commodity never 
 reckoned upon. Abraham split rails to get cloth- 
 ing, and he made a bargain with Mrs. Nancy Mil- 
 ler to split four hundred rails for every yard of 
 brown jeans, dyed with white walnut bark, that 
 would be necessary to make him a pair of 
 trousers. In those days he used to walk four, 
 six, and seven miles to his work." 
 
 My young readers will be interested in a story 
 which relates to this time. Abe was working for 
 a Mr. Brown, "raising a crap," when a traveler 
 stopped at the house and inquired if he could ob- 
 tain accommodations for the night, there being 
 no tavern near. 
 
 " Well," said Mr. Brown, " we can feed your 
 crittur and give you somethin' \$ eat, but we 
 can't lodge you unless you can sleep on the same 
 bed with the hired man." 
 
 The man, who was sprucely dressed, hesitated, 
 and inquired :
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 59 
 
 "Who is he?" *" 
 
 "Well," said. Mr. Brown, "you can come and 
 see him." 
 
 So the man followed the farmer to the back of 
 the house, where young Lincoln lay extended at 
 full length on the ground in the shade. 
 
 " There he is," said Brown. 
 
 " Well, 1 think he'll do," said the stranger, and 
 he stayed and slept with Abe, whom ho then no 
 doubt looked down upon as his "soeid" infeiior. 
 Could he have looked forward with prophetic 
 ken, he would have felt honored by such chance 
 association with .a man destined to be President 
 of the United States. 
 
 I am sorry that some doubts are thrown upon 
 this story, but I have ventured to tell it, for the 
 vivid contrast between the position which young 
 Lincoln undoubtedly occupied at that time and 
 that which in after years he so adequately iilled.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 LINCOLN AS A OLEEK. 
 
 YOUNG Lincoln's successful trip to New Orleans 
 led to liis engagement for a similar trip in the 
 early part of 1831. With him were associated 
 John Hanks and John Johnston. Their em- 
 ployer was a Mr. Denton Offutt, of Lexington, 
 Kentucky, and a part of the cargo consisted of a 
 drove of hogs. Each of the three was to be paid 
 at the rate of fifty cents per day, and the round 
 sum of sixty dollars divided between them. Abe 
 considered this very good pay, and was very glad 
 to make the engagement. The three young men 
 not only managed the boat, but built it, and this 
 retarded the expedition. We read with some in- 
 terest that while they were boarding themselves 
 at Sangamontown, while building the boat, Aba 
 officiated as cook to the entire satisfaction of his 
 
 associates. 
 
 (60)
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN.. Ql 
 
 "At New Orleans," says John Hanks, " we 
 law negroes chained, maltreated, whipped, and 
 scourged. Lincoln saw it; his heart bled, he said 
 nothing much, was silent from feeling, was sad, 
 looked bad, felt bad, was thoughtful and abstract- 
 ed. I can say, knowing it, that it was on this 
 trip that he formed his opinions of slavery. It 
 run its iron in him then and there, May, 1831. 
 I have heard him say so often and often." 
 
 One day, soon after his return from his second 
 river trip, Abe received a visit from a muscular, 
 powerfully-built man, who accosted him thus:- 
 " You are Abe Lincoln, I reckon ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Abe ; " you are right there." 
 
 " I've heard you can wrestle some," continued 
 the stranger. 
 
 " A little," answered young Lincoln, modestly. 
 
 " I've come to wrestle with you to see who's 
 the best man. My name's Daniel Needham." 
 
 The stranger announced his name with evident 
 pride, and young Lincoln recognized it as that of 
 a man who had a high reputation as an amateur 
 pugilist. 
 
 " I'm glad to know you," said Lincoln, " and I 
 don't mind accepting your challenge."
 
 62 BOYHOOD AM) MANHOOD OF 
 
 Abe valued his popularity among the boys, and, 
 though he did not feel sure of the result, he felt 
 that it would not do to back out. . He would lose 
 his reputation, which was considerable. 
 
 " Where shall it be ? " asked Needham. 
 
 " Just where and when you like," answered 
 Abe, promptly. 
 
 So the meeting was fixed in the " greenwood " 
 at Wabash Point, and there it was that the two 
 met in friendly rivalry. 
 
 Though Daniel JSTeedham was older and more 
 firmly knit, Lincoln was sinewy and strong, and 
 his superior height, and long arms and legs gave 
 him a great advantage sufficient to compensate 
 for his youth and spareness. 
 
 The result was that Abe achieved victory in 
 short order. He threw his older opponent twice 
 with so much ease that Needham rose to his feet 
 very much mortified as well as astonished. 
 
 "Lincoln," said he, making the confession re- 
 luctantly, "you have thrown me twice, but you 
 can't whip me." 
 
 "Are you satisfied that I can throw you?" 
 asked Abe. "If yon are not, and must be con- 
 vinced through a thrashing, I will do that too for
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Q$ 
 
 " I reckon we'll put it off," said Needham, find- 
 ing his young rival more willing than he had ex- 
 pected. He had hoped that, though not shrinking 
 from a friendly wrestling contest, Abe might hes- 
 itate to, meet him in a more serious encounter. 
 
 I have told this story partly because I know my 
 young readers would be interested in it, partly to 
 give an idea of the strength and athletic power 
 of the hero of rny story. 
 
 But wrestling contests would not earn a living 
 for young Lincoln. He was in search of employ- 
 ment, and found it. As one thing leads to an- 
 other, the same man who had sent him to New 
 Orleans in charge of a flat-boat, opened a store at 
 New Salem, and needing a clerk, bethought him- 
 self of young Lincoln. Abe unpacked the goods 
 upon their arrival, and worked energetically to 
 put them in order. With a new store-book, serv- 
 ing as a ledger, and a pen behind his car, he made 
 his debut as a " first clerk " of the leading mer- 
 cantile establishment in the town. In the readi- 
 ness with which he turned from one thing to an- 
 other, Abe might well be taken for a typical Yan- 
 kee, though born in Kentucky. 
 
 We are now to look upon the future President
 
 64 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 in a new capacity. As a clerk he proved honest 
 and efficient, and my readers will be interested in 
 some illustrations of the former trait which I find 
 in Dr. Holland's interesting volume. 
 
 One day a woman came into the store and pur- 
 chased sundry articles. They footed up two dol- 
 lars and six and a quarter cents, or the young 
 clerk thought they did. We do not hear nowa- 
 days of six and a quarter cents, but this was a 
 coin borrowed from the Spanish currency, and was 
 well known in my own boyhood. 
 
 The bill was paid, and the woman was entirely 
 satisfied. But the young store-keeper, not feeling 
 quite sure as to the accuracy of his calculation, 
 added up the items once more. To his dismay he 
 found that the sum total should have been but 
 two dollars. 
 
 " I've made her pay six and a quarter cents too 
 much," said Abe, disturbed. 
 
 It was a trifle, ana many clerks would have dis- 
 missed it as such. But Abe was too conscientious 
 for that. 
 
 " The money must be paid back," he decided. 
 
 This would have been easy enough had the 
 woman lived "just round the corner," but, as tlie
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Q$ 
 
 young man knew, she lived between two and 
 three miles away. This, however, did not alter 
 the matter. It was night, but he closed and lock- 
 ed the store, and walked to the residence of his 
 customer. Arrived there, he explained the mat- 
 ter, paid over the six and a quarter cents, and re- 
 turned satisfied. If I were a capitalist, I would 
 be willing to lend money to such a young man 
 without security. 
 
 Here is another illustration of young Lincoln's 
 strict honesty : 
 
 A woman entered the store and asked for half 
 a pound of tea. 
 
 The young clerk weighed it out, and handed it 
 to her in a parcel. This was the last sale of the 
 day. 
 
 The next morning, when commencing his du- 
 ties, Abe discovered a four-ounce weight on the 
 scales. It flashed upon him at once that he had 
 used this in the sale of the night previous, and 
 so, of course, given his customer short weight. I 
 am afraid that there are many country merchants 
 who would not have been much worried by this 
 discovery. Not so the young clerk in whom we 
 are interested. He weighed out the balance of 
 5
 
 6j6 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 the half pound, shut up store, and carried it to 
 the defrauded customer. I think my young 
 readers will begin to see that the name so often 
 given, in later times, to President Lincoln, of 
 "Honest Old Abe," was well deserved. A man 
 who begins by strict honesty in his youth is not 
 likely to change as he grows older, and mercan- 
 tile honesty is some guarantee of political honesty. 
 
 There is another incident for which I am also 
 indebted to Dr. Holland : 
 
 The yonng clerk was waiting upon two or three 
 ladies, when a noted bully entered the store, and 
 began to talk in a manner offensive not only to 
 the ladies, but to any person of refinement. 
 
 Young Lincoln leaned over the counter, and 
 said quietly, " Don't you see that ladies are 
 present ? " 
 
 " What is that to me \ " demanded the bully. 
 
 " Out of respect for them, will you stop your 
 rough talk ? " 
 
 " I will talk as I please, and I should like to 
 see the man that will stop me," answered the bully, 
 arrogantly. " If you think yon are the better 
 man, we'll try it on the spot." 
 
 Lincoln began to see that the man meant to
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Qf 
 
 force a quarrel upon him, and he did not shrink 
 from it. 
 
 " If you will wait till the ladies retire," he said 
 quietly, "I Mill give you any satisfaction you 
 wish." 
 
 The ladies had by this time completed their 
 purchases, and were glad to leave the store. 
 
 Ko sooner had they left than the bully broke 
 out into a storm of abuses and insults. The 
 young clerk listened with the quiet patience ha- 
 bitual to him, and finally observed: "Well, if 
 you must be whipped, I suppose I may as well 
 whip you as any other man." 
 
 " That's what I'm after," answered the bully. 
 
 " Come outdoors, then," said Lincoln. 
 
 Abe, when they were fairly outside, thought 
 there was no need of further delay. He grappled 
 with the bnlly, threw him upon the ground with 
 ease, and, holding him there, rubbed some " smart- 
 weed " in his face and eyes till he bellowed for 
 mercy. 
 
 "Do you give up ?" asked Abe, in no way ex- 
 cited. 
 
 " Yes, yes ! " 
 
 Upon this, Lincoln went for some water, wash-
 
 68 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 ed his victim's face, and did what he could to al- 
 leviate his sufferings. It is safe to say that the 
 fellow never wanted another dose of the same 
 medicine. It will further interest my young 
 readers to learn that, so far from feeling a grudge 
 against Lincoln, the bully became his fast friend, 
 and behaved henceforth in a more creditable 
 manner.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 IN THE BLACK HAWK CAMPAIGN. 
 
 THOUGH the young clerk proved faithful and 
 efficient, his whole time was not taken up by his 
 duties in Offutt's store. Knowing well the de- 
 fects of his education, it occurred to him that he 
 could use profitably some of his leisure by em- 
 ploying it in study. He knew little or nothing 
 of English grammar, and this was likely to inter- 
 fere with him if called upon to act in any public 
 capacity where he would be required to make 
 speeches. 
 
 " I have a notion to study English grammar," 
 he said to Mr. Graham, the schoolmaster. 
 
 " That is the best thing you can do, if you 
 expect to enter political life," said the teacher in 
 reply. 
 
 " Where do you think I can find a grammar ? " 
 
 asked Lincoln. 
 
 (G9)
 
 70 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD 0V 
 
 It must be remembered that educational books, 
 and indeed books of any kind, were scarce in 
 those days. 
 
 " I think you will find one at Yaner's." 
 
 " I will go at once and see," said Lincoln. 
 
 He set out at once, though Yaner's was six 
 miles distant, but such a walk did not trouble the 
 young man at all. I am sure it will strike some 
 of my young readers who dislike grammar, as 
 odd that he should be willing to take so long a 
 walk with such an object in view ; but they too 
 might do the same if they were as earnestly bent 
 upon self-improvement as our hero. It is enough 
 to say that he succeeded in obtaining the coveted 
 book, and began at once to study it. Sometimes 
 he was able to go out of doors and lie under a 
 shade-tree ; at other times he stretched his long, 
 ungainly form on the counter and pored in- 
 tently over the little book. I don't know whether 
 the obscure little text-book is still in existence ; 
 if it were, it would be a valuable memorial of 
 this transition period in the young man's mental 
 growth. 
 
 The time came for a change in young Lincoln's 
 mode of life. Mr. Offutt's business declined,
 
 ABIiA HAM LINCOLN. 7 \ 
 
 and the store was closed. He was once more out 
 of employment. Now it happened about this 
 time that the peace of this region was disturbed 
 by a series of Indian -difficulties. Black Hawk, a 
 chief of the Sacs, was the instigator and Indian 
 leader. He was a man of commanding presence 
 and superior abilities. In defiance of a warning 
 given him by General Atkinson, commanding 
 the United States troops at Rock Island, he left 
 his reservation, and announced his intention ot 
 ascending the Rock River to the territory of the 
 Winnebagoes. The force under General Atkinson 
 being small, he issued a call for volunteers. One 
 company was raised in New Salem and the vicin- 
 ity, and Lincoln enlisted. Though without mili- 
 tary experience, he was elected to the post of 
 Captain by a large majority of the company, and 
 accepted. Tins was a tribute to his popularity 
 among his friends and neighbors. 
 
 Though the Black Hawk campaign was in no 
 way remarkable, and involved very little fighting, 
 it is noteworthy, as Dr. Holland remarks, that 
 two men afterward Presidents of the United 
 States were engaged in it. These were Zachary 
 Taylor and Abraham Lincoln. I do not propose
 
 72 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 to enter into a detailed account of this campaign 
 and of Lincoln's part in it ; I prefer to quote 
 Mr. Lincoln's own account of it, years afterward, 
 when a member of the House of Representatives 
 at Washington. It was during the political cam- 
 paign when General Cass was the Democratic 
 candidate, and was intended to ridicule the 
 claims of his friends, that he had rendered dis- 
 tinguished military service to the republic. 
 
 " By the way, Mr. Speaker," said Mr. Lincoln, 
 " do you know I am a military hero ? Yes, sir, 
 in the days of the Black Hawk war, I fought, 
 bled, and came away. Speaking of General Cass' 
 career reminds me of my own. I was not at 
 Sillman's Defeat, but I was about as near it as 
 Cass to Hull's surrender; and, like him, I saw 
 the place soon afterward. It is quite certain I 
 did not break my sword, for I had none to break ; 
 but I bent my musket pretty badly on one occa- 
 sion. If General Cass went in advance of me in 
 picking whortleberries, I guess I surpassed him 
 in charges upon the wild onions. If he saw any 
 live, fighting Indian, it was more than I did ; but 
 I had a good many bloody struggles with the 
 mosquitoes, and although I never fainted from
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 73 
 
 loss of blood, I can truly say I was often very 
 hungry." 
 
 When Mr. Lincoln himself became a candidate 
 for the Presidency, an attempt was made to make 
 capital for him out of this military episode, but 
 fortunately he possessed more substantial claims 
 than this. 
 
 Though there was little fighting to be done, 
 there was an occasion that tested the young Cap- 
 tain's courage and resolution. As the incident is 
 characteristic of Lincoln, and shows his love of 
 justice and humanity, I will transcribe, as better 
 than any paraphrase of my own, the account 
 given by Mr. Lamon in his Life of Lincoln : 
 
 " One day, during these many marches and coun- 
 ter-marches, an old Indian found his way into the 
 camp, weary, hungry, and helpless. He professed 
 to be a friend of the whites; and, although it was 
 an exceedingly perilous experiment for one of his 
 color, he ventured to throw himself upon the 
 mercy of the soldiers. But the men first mur- 
 mured, and then broke out into fierce cries for 
 his blood. , 
 
 " ' We have come out to fight the Indians,' 
 said they, * and by G we intend to do it ! '
 
 74 JSOTHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 *c 
 " The poor Indian, now in the extremity of his 
 
 distress and trouble, did what he ought to have 
 done before : he threw down before his assailants 
 a soiled and crumpled paper which he implored 
 them to read before his life was taken. It was a 
 letter of character and safe conduct from Gen. 
 Cass, pronouncing him a faithful man, who had 
 done good service in the cause for which this 
 army was enlisted. But it was too late; the men 
 refused to read it, or thought it a forgery, and 
 were rushing with fury upon the defenceless old 
 savage, when Capt. Lincoln bounded between 
 them and their appointed victim. 
 
 " 'Men,' said he, and his voice for a moment 
 stilled the agitation around him, ' this must not 
 1e done fie must not ~be shot and killed by us" 
 
 "'But,' said some of them, 'the Indian is a 
 spy.' 
 
 "Lincoln knew that his own life was now in 
 only less danger than that of the poor creature 
 that cowered behind him. During the whole of 
 this scene Capt. Lincoln seemed to rise to an un- 
 usual height of stature. The towering form, the 
 passion and resolution in his face, the physical 
 power and terrible will exhibited in every motion
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 75 
 
 of his body, every gesture of his arm, produced 
 an effect upon the furious mob as unexpected 
 perhaps to him as to any one else. They paused, 
 listened, fell back, and then sullenly obeyed what 
 seemed to be the voice of reason as well as au- 
 thority. But there were still some murmurs of 
 disappointed rage and half-suppressed exclama- 
 tions, which looked toward vengeance of some 
 kind. At length one of the men, a little bolder 
 than the rest, but evidently feeling that he spoke 
 for the whole, cried out : 
 
 " ' This is cowardly on your part, Lincoln ! ' 
 
 " Whereupon the tall Captain's figure stretched 
 a few inches higher again. He looked down upon 
 these varlets who would have murdered a de- 
 fenceless old Indian and now quailed before his 
 single hand, with lofty contempt. The oldest of 
 his acquaintances, even Bill Green, who saw him 
 grapple Jack Armstrong and defy the bullies 
 at his back, never saw him so much aroused 
 before. 
 
 u ' If any man thinks I am a coward, let him 
 test it,' said he. 
 
 " ' Lincoln,' responded a new voice, ' you are 
 stronger and heavier than we are.'
 
 76 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 " ' This you can guard against ; choose your 
 weapons,' returned tho rigid Captain. 
 
 " Whatever may be said of Mr. Lincoln's choice 
 of means for the preservation of military disci- 
 pline, it was certainly very effectual in this case. 
 There was no more disaffection in his camp, and 
 the word ' coward ' was never coupled with his 
 name again. Mr. Lincoln understood his men 
 better than those who would be disposed to criti- 
 cise his conduct. He has often declared himself 
 that his life and character were both at stake, and 
 would probably have been lost had he not at that 
 supremely critical moment forgotten the officer and 
 asserted the man. To have ordered the offend- 
 ers under arrest would have created a powerful 
 mutiny ; to have tried and punished them, would 
 have been impossible. They could scarcely be 
 called soldiers ; they were merely armed citizens, 
 'with a nominal military organization. They were 
 but recently enlisted, and their term of service 
 was about to expire. Had he preferred charges 
 against them, and offered to submit their differ- 
 ences to a court of any sort, it would have been 
 regarded as an act of personal pusillanimity, and 
 his efficiency would have been gone forever."
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ff 
 
 Then, as afterward, Lincoln proved to be the 
 man for the emergency. This humble captain 
 of volunteers was selected by Providence to 
 guide and direct his co-untrymen in the greatest 
 and most bloody civil contest that was ever waged, 
 and at all times of doubt, danger, and perplexity 
 he manifested the same calm courage, the same 
 firm resolution, and the same humanity, which 
 made him at the age of twenty-three the intrepid 
 champion of a friendless old Indian.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 
 
 IN THE LEGISLATURE. 
 
 Mr young readers will have noticed how ex- 
 tremely slender thus far had been the educational 
 advantages of young Lincoln. Of the thousands 
 of men who have risen to eminence in this coun- 
 try from similar poverty, few have had so little 
 to help them. In England the path of promotion 
 is more difficult, and I doubt whether any one 
 circumstanced as Abraham Lincoln was could 
 ever have reached a commanding position. It 
 will be interesting in this connection to read the 
 statement made by John Bright at his recent in- 
 stallation as Lord Rector of Glasgow University. 
 It will show what a difference there is between 
 limited advantages in England and in America : 
 
 " I am an entire stranger to University life in 
 the University sense," says Mr. Bright. " I may 
 
 be said to be a man who never had the advan- 
 (78)
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 79 
 
 tagcs of education. 1 had the teaching of some 
 French as Englishmen teach French, and I had 
 the advantages of a year's instruction in Latin by 
 a most admirable tutor a countryman of yours 
 from the University" of Edinburgh. But there 
 was not much Greek not so much that any 
 trace of it is left. There was nothing in the 
 shape of mathematics or science. Looking at 
 education as you take it, I am a person who had 
 the misfortune to have had almost none of it in 
 my youth. You will not, therefore, be surprised 
 if I feel a certain humiliation in seeming to teach 
 
 o 
 
 you anything, and if I feel a strong sense of envy 
 but not a blauiable envy that I never possessed 
 the advantages which are placed within your 
 reach. But if I had no education such as col- 
 leges and universities give, if my school-life 
 ended at the precise time when your university 
 career begins ; if I am unknown to literature and 
 to science and to arts, I ask myself what is it that 
 has brought me within the range of your sympa- 
 thies brought me to this distinguished position ? 
 I suppose it must be because you have some sym- 
 pathy with my labors. You believe that I have 
 been in some sort a political teacher ; that I have
 
 80 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 taken some pains and perhaps have been of some 
 service in the legislation and government of our 
 country." 
 
 Had Lincoln possessed one-half the educational 
 equipment of John Bright when he entered upon 
 political life he would have felt much better sat- 
 isfied. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln on his return from the 
 Black Hawk campaign was twenty-three years 
 old. Though he was about as poor as he had 
 always been, he was rich in the good opinion of 
 his friends and neighbors. This is evinced by an 
 application then made to him to allow himself to 
 run for the Legislature. He consented, though 
 surprised at the request, and polled a vote con- 
 siderably in advance of other candidates of the 
 same party. In New Salem he polled an almost 
 unanimous vote, men voting for him without re- 
 gard to party lines. Still, he was defeated. A 
 brief speech which he made during the canvass 
 has been preserved, and, as it is characteristic, I 
 quote it : 
 
 " GENTLEMEN AND FELLOW-CITIZENS : I pre- 
 sume you all know who I am.- I am humble 
 Abraham Lincoln. I have been solicited by
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 81 
 
 many friends to become a candidate for the Leg- 
 islature. My politics are short and sweet, like 
 the old woman's dance. I am in favor of a na- 
 tional bank. I am in favor of the internal im- 
 provement system and a high protective tariff. 
 These are my sentiments and political principles. 
 If elected, I shall be thankful ; if not, it will be 
 all the same." 
 
 It will be seen that Mr. Lincoln had cast in his 
 lot with the "Whig party the party of whom 
 Henry Clay was at that time the most distin- 
 guished representative, and for whom the young 
 man had a strong admiration. 
 
 The great problem of how he was to make his 
 living had not yet been solved by young Lincoln. 
 Dr. Holland is our authority for the statement 
 that he seriously took into consideration the proj- 
 ect of learning the blacksmith's trade. An op- 
 portunity, however, offered for him to buy out a 
 stock of goods owned by a man of Radford, in con- 
 nection with a man named Berry. This supplied 
 him employment for a time, but not of a profitable 
 nature, for his partner proved a hindrance rather 
 than a help, and failure ensued. Lincoln was in- 
 volved in debt, and it was six years before he 
 fi
 
 82 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 freed himself from his obligations. About this 
 time he received his first political appointment 
 that of postmaster from the administration of 
 General Jackson. It brought in very little rev- 
 enue, but gave him a privilege which he valued 
 of reading all the newspapers which came to the 
 office. The office seemed to have been conducted 
 in free and easy style. When the young post- 
 master had occasion to go out he closed the office 
 and carried off the mail matter in his hat. 
 
 When his store was closed permanently, young 
 Lincoln received an offer from the surveyor of 
 Sangamon County to undertake all his work in 
 the immediate neighborhood of New Salem. 
 Though Lincoln knew nothing of surveying, 
 either practically or theoretically, he qualified 
 himself for the work, procured a compass and 
 chain, and went to work. It is an interesting 
 proof of the young surveyor's thoroughness that, 
 in spite of his inadequate preparation, the accu- 
 racy of his surveys has never been called in ques- 
 tion. 
 
 Two years later Lincoln ran again for the Leg- 
 islature, and this time he succeeded. Among his 
 colleagues was Major John T. Stuart, a prosper-
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 83 
 
 cms lawyer of Springfield. He was a previous 
 acquaintance of young Lincoln, and their present 
 companionship strengthened the interest of the 
 older man in his struggling young friend. 
 
 " Wlvy don't you study law ? " he asked Lin- 
 coln. 
 
 " Because I am poor ; I have no money to buy 
 the necessary books," said Abe. 
 
 " Have you ever thought of following the pro- 
 fession ? " 
 
 " Yes, I have already read law some." 
 
 "I believe you would succeed. If books are 
 all you need, I have a large law library and will 
 lend you what you need." 
 
 Abe's face lighted up with pleasure. 
 
 " You are very kind," he said, "and I will take 
 you at your word. When can I have the books ? " 
 
 ' k Whenever you will call for them." 
 
 This was not an offer which young Lincoln 
 could afford to slight. At the close of the canvass 
 he walked to Springfield, called at the office of 
 his friend Stuart, and returned to New Salem 
 with a load of books, which he forthwith besan 
 
 ' O 
 
 to read and study. 
 
 "Abe's progress in the law," says Mr. Lamon,
 
 84: VOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 "was as surprising as the intensity of his applica- 
 tion to study. He never lost a moment that 
 might be improved. It is even said that he read 
 and recited to himself on the road and by the 
 wayside, as he came down from Springfield with 
 the books he had borrowed from Stuart. The 
 first time he went up he had ' mastered ' forty 
 pages of Blackstone before he got back. It was 
 not long until, with his restless desire to be doing 
 something practical, he began to turn his acqui- 
 sitions to account in forwarding the business of 
 his neighbors. He wrote deeds, contracts, notes, 
 and other legal papers, for them, ' using a small 
 dictionary and an old form-book'; pettifogged 
 incessantly before the justice of the peace, 
 and probably assisted that functionary in the 
 administration of justice as much as he ben- 
 efited his own clients. This species of country 
 student practice was entered upon very early, 
 and kept up until long after he was a distin- 
 guished man in the Legislature. But in all this 
 he was only trying himself; as he was not ad- 
 mitted to the bar until 1837, he did not regard it 
 as legitimate practice, and never charged a penny 
 for his services."
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 5 
 
 Young Lincoln took part in the legislative work 
 of the first session during which he served as a 
 member, but did not push himself forward. He 
 listened and took notes of what was done, and 
 how it was done. He was assigned to an honor- 
 able place on the Committee on Public Accounts 
 and Expenditures. It was about this time that 
 he saw for the first time Stephen A. Douglas, with 
 whom he was in after years to be associated in 
 the memorable canvass for the Senatorship. 
 Douglas, who was only about five feet in height, 
 was also slender, and in personal appearance pre- 
 sented a striking contrast to the long-legged young 
 legislator who overtopped him by more than a 
 foot. 
 
 " He is the smallest man I ever saw," said Lin- 
 coln. 
 
 Douglas filled up as he grew older, till he came 
 to deserve the title by which he was so long 
 known, of " The Little Giant." He was not at 
 that time a member of the Legislature, but was 
 a successful candidate for the position of District 
 Attorney for the district in which he lived. Un- 
 like Lincoln, he was not a Western man by birth, 
 having been born and " raised " in Yermont. In
 
 $Q ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 fact he had only come West during the previous 
 year ; but he was not a man to hide his light under 
 a bushel, and soon worked himself into promi- 
 nence in his new home. Two years later, in 1838, 
 Douglas, as well as Lincoln, was elected to the 
 Legislature, and they served together. In public 
 life, therefore, Lincoln preceded Douglas by two 
 years, but the latter advanced much more rapidly 
 and became a man of national reputation, while 
 Lincoln was still comparatively obscure.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 A CASE IN COURT 
 
 WE are told by Mr. Lamon, that Mr. Lincoln 
 got his license as an attorney early in 1837, and 
 commenced practice regularly as a lawyer in the 
 town of Springfield, in March of that year. It 
 is with this place that his name was associated for 
 the remainder of his life. Though it contained 
 at that time less than two thousand inhabitants, 
 it was a town of considerable importance. The 
 list of the local bar contained the names of sev- 
 eral men of ability and reputation. Stephen A. 
 Douglas, already referred to, was public prosecu- 
 tor in 1836. Judge Stephen T. Logan was on the 
 bench of the Circuit Court. There was John T. 
 Stuart also, who had recommended young Lincoln 
 to become a lawyer, and was now his partner. 
 
 The law office of Stuart and Lincoln was in 
 
 the second story above the court-room, in Hoff- 
 
 (87)
 
 88 'BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 man's Row. It was small and poorly furnished. 
 Lincoln slept in the office, and boarded with Hon. 
 "William Butler, who appears to have been a poli- 
 tician and wire-puller. 
 
 At last, then, after a youth of penury, a long 
 hand-to-hand struggle with privations in half a 
 dozen different kinds of business, we find our 
 hero embarked in the profession which, for the 
 remainder of his life, he owned as mistress. He 
 is twenty-eight years of age, with some legislative 
 experience, but a mere novice in law. But he 
 was ambitious, and in spite of his scanty equip- 
 ment as regards book-knowledge, he made up his 
 mind to succeed, and he did succeed. 
 
 Though I am thereby anticipating matters, I 
 propose to relate an incident of his law practice 
 which I find quoted in " Raymond's History " of 
 Lincoln's Administrations, from the Cleveland 
 Leader. It illustrates not merely Mr. Lincoln's 
 methods and shrewdness as a lawyer, but also 
 his fidelity to friends. 
 
 * 
 
 This is the story : 
 
 " Some four years since, the eldest son of Mr. 
 Lincoln's old friend, the chief supporter of his 
 widowed mother the good old man having some
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 39 
 
 * 
 
 time previously passed from earth was arrested 
 on a charge of murder. A young man had been 
 killed during a riotous melee in the night time at 
 a camp-meeting, and one of his associates stated 
 that the death-wound was inflicted by young 
 Armstrong. A preliminary examination was gone 
 into, at which the accuser testified so positively, 
 that there seemed no donbt of the guilt of the 
 prisoner, and therefore he was held for trial. 
 
 "As is too often the case, the bloody act caused 
 an undue degree of excitement in the public 
 mind. Every improper incident in tine life of the 
 prisoner each act which bore the least semblance 
 of rowdyism each school-boy quarrel was sud- 
 denly remembered and magnified, until they pict- 
 ured him as a fiend of the most horrible hue. As 
 these rumors spread abroad they were received ^.s 
 gospel truth, and a feverish desire for vengeance 
 seized upon the infatuated populace, whilst only 
 prison bars prevented a horrible death at the 
 hands of the populace. The events were heralded 
 in the county papers, painted in the highest colors, 
 accompanied by rejoicing over the certainty of 
 punishment being meted out to the guilty party. 
 The prisoner, overwhelmed by the circumstances
 
 90 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 in which he found himself placed, fell into a 
 melancholy condition bordering on despair, and 
 the widowed mother, looking through her tears, 
 saw no cause for hope from earthly aid. 
 
 " At this juncture the widow received a letter 
 from Mr. Lincoln, volunteering his services in an 
 effort to save the youth from the impending stroke. 
 Gladly was his aid accepted, although it seemed 
 impossible for even his sagacity to prevail in such 
 a desperate case ; but the heart of the attorney 
 was in his work, and he set about it with a will 
 which knew no such word as fail. Feeling that 
 the poisoned condition of the public mind was 
 such as to preclude the possibility of impanelling 
 an impartial jury in the court having jurisdiction, 
 he procured a change of venue and a postpone- 
 ment of the trial. He then went studiously to 
 work, unravelling the history of the case, and sat- 
 isfied himself that his client was the victim of 
 malice, and that the statements of the accuser 
 were a tissue of falsehoods. 
 
 " When the trial was called on, the prisoner, 
 pale and emaciated, with hopelessness written on 
 every feature, and accompanied by his half-hoping, 
 half-despairing mother whose only hope was in
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 9 { 
 
 a mother's belief of her son's innocence, in the 
 justice of the God she worshipped, and in the 
 noble counsel, who, without hope of fee or re- 
 ward upon earth, had undertaken the cause took 
 his scat in the prisoners' box, and, with a ' stony 
 firmness,' listened to the reading of the indict- 
 ment. 
 
 " Lincoln sat quietly by, whilst the large body 
 of auditors looked on him as though wondering 
 what he could say in defence of one whose guilt 
 they looked upon as certain. The examination of 
 the witnesses for the State was begun, and a well- 
 arranged mass of evidence, circumstantial and 
 positive, was introduced, which seemed to impale 
 the prisoner beyond the possibility of extrication. 
 
 " The counsel for the defense propounded but 
 few questions, and those of a character which ex- 
 cited no uneasiness on the part of the prosecutor 
 merely, in most cases, requiring the main wit- 
 nesses to be definite as to time and place. When 
 the evidence of the prosecution was ended, Lin- 
 coln introduced a few witnesses, to remove some 
 erroneous impressions in regard to the previous 
 character of his client, who, though somewhat 
 rowdyish, had never been known to commit a
 
 92 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 vicious act ; and to show that a greater degree of 
 ill-feeling existed between the accuser and the ac- 
 cused than between the accused and the deceased. 
 
 " The prosecutor felt that the case was a clear 
 one, and his opening speech was brief and for- 
 mal. Lincoln arose, while a deathly silence per- 
 vaded the vast audience, and, in a clear and mod- 
 erate tone, began his argument. Slowly and care- 
 fully he reviewed the testimony, pointing out the 
 hitherto unobserved discrepancies in the state- 
 ments of the principal witness. That which had 
 seemed plain and plausible he made to appear 
 crooked as a serpent's path. The witness had 
 stated that the affair took place at a certain hour 
 in the evening, and that, by the brightly shining 
 moon, he saw the prisoner inflict the death-blow 
 with a slung-shot. Mr. Lincoln showed tha*t at 
 the hour referred to, the moon had not yet ap- 
 peared above the horizon, and, consequently, the 
 whole tale was a fabrication. 
 
 " An almost instantaneous change seemed to 
 have been wrought in the minds of his auditors, 
 and the verdict of ' not guilty ' was at the end of 
 every tongue. But the advocate was not content 
 with this intellectual achievement. His whole
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 93 
 
 being had for months been bound up in this work 
 of gratitude and mercy, and as the lava of the 
 overcharged crater bursts from its imprisonment, 
 so great thoughts and burning words leaped forth 
 from the soul of the eloquent Lincoln. He drew 
 a picture of the perjurer so horrid and ghastly, 
 that the accuser could sit under it no longer, but 
 reeled and staggered from the court-room, whilst 
 the audience fancied they could see the brand 
 upon his brow. Then in words of thrilling pathos, 
 Lincoln appealed to the jurors as fathers of some 
 who might become fatherless, and as husbands of 
 wives who might be widowed, to yield to no pre- 
 vious impressions, no ill-founded prejudice, but to 
 do his client justice; and as he alluded to the 
 debt of gratitude which he owed the boy's sire, 
 tears were seen to fall from many eyes unused to 
 weeping. 
 
 "It was near night when he conclude'd by say- 
 ing that if justice were done, as he believed it 
 would be, before the sun should set, it would 
 shine upon his client a free man. 
 
 " The jury retired, and the court adjourned for 
 the day. Half an hour had not elapsed, when, 
 as the officers of the court and the volunteer at-
 
 94 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 torney sat at the tea-table of their hotel, a mes- 
 senger announced that the jury had returned to 
 their seats. All repaired immediately to the 
 court-house, and whilst the prisoner was being 
 brought from the jail, the court-room was filled 
 to overflowing with citizens from the town. 
 
 " When the prisoner and his mother entered, 
 silence reigned as completely as though the house 
 were empty. The foreman of the jury, in an- 
 swer to the usual inquiry from the court, deliv- 
 ered the verdict of ' NOT GUILTY ! ' The widow 
 dropped into the arms of her son, who lifted her 
 up, and told her to look upon him as before, free 
 and innocent. Then with the words, ' Where is 
 Mr. Lincoln ? ' he rushed across the room, and 
 grasped the hand of his deliverer, whilst his heart 
 was too full for utterance. Lincoln turned his 
 eyes toward the west, where the sun still lingered 
 in view, and then, turning to the youth, said : ' It 
 is not yet sundown, and you are free.' I confess 
 that my cheeks were not wholly unwet by tears, 
 and I turned from the affecting scene. As I cast 
 a glance behind, I saw Abraham Lincoln obeying 
 the Divine injunction by comforting the widowed 
 and fatherless."
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: 95 
 
 "When a lawyer can so bravely and affectionate- 
 ly rescue the innocent from the machinations of 
 the wicked, we feel that he is indeed the expo- 
 nent and representative of a noble profession. It 
 is unfortunate that lawyers so often lend them- 
 selves to help iniquity, and oppress the weak. 
 Mr. Lincoln always did his best when he felt that 
 liight and Justice were on his side. When he 
 had any doubts on this point, he lost all his en- 
 thusiasm and his courage, and labored mechani- 
 cally, lie believed in justice, and would not will- 
 ingly act on the wrong side. On one occasion he 
 discovered that he had been deceived by his client, 
 and informed his associate lawyer that he (Lin- 
 coln) would not make the plea. His associate, 
 therefore, did so, and to Lincoln's surprise gained 
 a verdict. Convinced, nevertheless, that his client 
 was wrong, he would not accept any part of the 
 handsome fee of nine hundred dollars, which he 
 paid. Only an honest and high-minded lawyer 
 would have acted thus.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 MR. LINCOLN FORMS TWO PARTNERSHIPS. 
 
 PRACTICING law in those days, and in that re- 
 gion, had some peculiar features. It was the cus- 
 tom for lawyers to " ride the circuit," that is, to 
 accompany the judges from one country-town to 
 another, attending to such business as might offer, 
 in different sections of the State. Railroads had 
 not yet found their way out so far West, and the 
 lawyer was wont to travel on horseback, stopping 
 at cabins on the way to eat and sleep, and, in 
 brief, to " rough it." One brought up like Lin- 
 coln was not likely to shrink from any hardships 
 which this might entail. Indeed, it is likely that, 
 upon the whole, he enjoyed it, and that these 
 journeys increased his natural shrewdness and 
 knowledge of human nature, and furnished him 
 with no inconsiderable part of the apposite sto- 
 ries which he was wont to quote in later years. 
 (96)
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 97 
 
 Here is an incident which will amuse my read- 
 ers. It is told by Mr. Francis E. Willard : " In 
 one of my temperance pilgrimages through Illi- 
 nois, I met a gentleman who was the companion 
 in a dreary ride which Lincoln made in a light 
 wagon, going the rounds of a Circuit Court where 
 he had clients to look after. The weather was 
 rainy, the road heavy with mud of the Southern 
 Illinois pottery, never to be imagined as to its 
 blackness and profundity by him who has not 
 seen it, and assuredly needing no description to 
 jostle the memory of one who has. Lincoln en- 
 livened the way with anecdote and recital, for few 
 indeed were the incidents that relieved the tedium 
 of the trip. 
 
 " At last, in wallowing through a ' slough ' of 
 the most approved Western manufacture, they 
 came upon a poor shark of a. hog, who had suc- 
 cumbed to gravitation, and was literally fast in 
 the mud. The lawyers commented on the poor 
 creature's pitiful condition, and drove on. About 
 half a mile was laboriously gone over, when Lin- 
 coln suddenly exclaimed : ' I don't know how you 
 feel about it, but I've got to go back and pull that 
 hog out of the slough.' 
 7
 
 98 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 " His comrade laughed, thinking it merely a 
 joke; but what was his surprise when Lincoln 
 dismounted, left him to his reflections, and, strid- 
 ing slowly back, like a man on stilts, picking his 
 way as his long walking implements permitted, 
 he grappled with the drowning hog, dragged him. 
 out of the ditch, left him on its edge to recover 
 his strength, slowly measured off the distance 
 back to his buggy, and the two men drove off as 
 if nothing had happened." 
 
 This little incident is given to show that Mr. 
 Lincoln did not confine his benevolence to his 
 own race, but could put himself to inconvenience 
 to relieve the sufferings of an inferior animal. 
 In fact, his heart seemed to be animated by the 
 spirit of kindness, and this is one of the most im- 
 portant respects in which I am glad to hold him 
 out as an example to the young. Emulate that 
 tenderness of heart which led him to sympathize 
 with " the meanest thing that breathes," and, like 
 him, you will win the respect and attachment of 
 the best men and women! 
 
 The young lawyer, successful as he was in 
 court, did not make money as fast as some of- his 
 professional associates. One reason I have al-
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. y^ 
 
 ready given he would not willingly exert bis 
 power on the wrong side. Moreover, he was 
 modest, and refrained from exorbitant charges, 
 and he was known at times to remit fees justly 
 due when his client was unfortunate. One day 
 he met a client who had given him a note, nearly 
 due, for professional services. 
 
 " Mr. Lincoln," he said, " I have been thinking 
 of that note I owe you. I don't see how I am to 
 meet it. I have been disabled by an explosion, 
 and that has affected my income." 
 
 " I heard of your accident," said Lincoln, " and 
 I sympathize with you deeply. As to the note, 
 here it is." 
 
 " But I can not meet it at present." 
 
 "I don't want you to. Take it, and destroy it. 
 I consider it paid." 
 
 No doubt many lawyers would have done the 
 same, but it so happened that Lincoln was at that 
 moment greatly in need of money, and was 
 obliged to defer a journey on that account. It 
 was not out of his abundance, but out of his pov- 
 erty, that he gave. 
 
 As to his professional methods, they were pe- 
 culiar. He was always generous to an opponent.
 
 100 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 Instead of contesting point by point, he often 
 yielded more than was claimed, and excited alarm 
 in the breast of his client. Bat when this was 
 done, he set to work and stated his own view of 
 the case so urgently that the strength of his op- 
 ponent's position was undermined, his arguments 
 torn to pieces, and the verdict secured. He was 
 remarkably fair, and stated his case so clearly that 
 no juror of fair intelligence could fail to under- 
 stand him. 
 
 It has already been said that Mr. Lincoln had a 
 partner. It is a proof of his scrupulous honesty 
 that when upon his circuits he tried any cases that 
 were never entered at the office, he carefully set 
 aside a part of the remuneration for the absent 
 partner, who otherwise would never have* known 
 of them, and might be supposed hardly entitled 
 to a share of the fees. 
 
 For the following anecdote, in further illustra- 
 tion of Mr. Lincoln's conscientiousness in money 
 matters, I am indebted to Mr. Frank B. Carpen- 
 ter's very interesting little volume, entitled " Six 
 Months at the White House": "About the time 
 Mr. Lincoln came to be known as a successful 
 lawyer, he was waited upon by a lady who held a
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 real-estate claim which she desired to have him 
 prosecute, putting into his hands, with the nec- 
 essary papers, a check for two hundred and fifty 
 dollars as a retaining fee. Mr. Lincoln said he 
 would look the case over, and asked her to call 
 again the next day. Upon presenting herself, 
 Mr. Lincoln told her that he had gone through 
 the papers very carefully, and he must tell her 
 frankly that there was not a ' peg ' to hang her 
 claim upon, and he could not conscientiously ad- 
 vise her to bring an action. The lady was satis- 
 fied, and, thanking him, rose to go. ' Wait,' said 
 Mr. Lincoln, fumbling in his vest pocket ; ' here 
 is the check you left with me.' ' But, Mr. Lin- 
 coln,' returned the lady, ' I think you have earned 
 that? ' !No, no,' he responded, handing it back 
 to her, ' that would not be right. I can't take 
 pay for doing my duty.' " 
 
 I must find a place here for one of Mr. Lin- 
 coln's own stories, relating to a professional ad- 
 venture, which must have amused him. Mr. Car- 
 penter is my authority here also : 
 
 " When I took to the law I was going to court 
 one morning, with some ten or twelve miles of
 
 102 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 bad road before me, when overtook me in 
 
 his wagon. 
 
 "'Hello, Lincoln!' said he; 'going to the 
 court-house ? Come get in, and I will give you a 
 seat.' 
 
 " "Well, I got in, and went on reading 
 
 his papers. Presently the wagon struck a stump 
 on one side of the road ; then it hopped off to the 
 other. I looked out and saw the driver was jerk- 
 ing from side to side in his seat ; so said I, ' Judge, 
 I think your coachman has been taking a drop 
 too much this morning.' 
 
 " 'Well, I declare, Lincoln,' said he, 'I should 
 not much wonder if you are right, for he has 
 nearly upset me half a dozen times since starting.' 
 
 " So, putting his head out of the window, he 
 shouted : ' Why, you infernal scoundrel, you are 
 drank!' 
 
 " Upon which, pulling up his horses, and turn- 
 ing round with great gravity, the coachman said : 
 ' Bedad ! but that's the first rightful decision your 
 Honor has given for the last twelve months.' " 
 
 Mr. Lincoln's law partnership with Mr. Stuart 
 was of brief duration. It was dissolved in 1840,
 
 ABRAHA M LINCOLN. } 03 
 
 and in the same year he formed a new partner- 
 ship with Judge S. T. Logan, a lawyer of learn- 
 ing and ability. 
 
 In 1842 he formed another partnership, of a 
 still more important character. He married Miss 
 Mary Todd on the 4th of November of that year. 
 Miss Todd belonged to a family of social promi- 
 nence, and it is a matter of interest that,. before 
 marrying Mr. Lincoln, she is said to have had an 
 opportunity of marrying another person, whose 
 name was mentioned for the Presidency years be- 
 fore Mr. Lincoln's. I refer to Hon. Stephen A. 
 Douglas, who is said to have been an unsuccessful 
 suitor for the hand of Miss Todd. 
 
 Six months after marriage, in a private letter 
 written to an intimate friend, Mr. Lincoln refers 
 thus to his domestic arrangements : " We are not 
 keeping house," -he writes, "but boarding at the 
 Globe Tavern, which is very well kept by a widow 
 lady of the name of Beck. Our rooms are the 
 same Dr. Wallace occupied there, and boarding 
 only costs four dollars a week." 
 
 Abraham Lincoln had reached the age of thir- 
 ty-three years before he ventured to marry. Cir- 
 cumstances had until then proved unfavorable, for
 
 104 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 his struggle with poverty had been unusually pro- 
 tracted. Now, however, he was settled both mat- 
 rimonially and professionally, and the most im- 
 portant part of his life, for which he had been so 
 long preparing, may be said to have fairly begun.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE LAWYER, IN HIS OFFICE AND AT HOME. 
 
 I HAVE already told my readers something of 
 Mr. Lincoln as a lawyer. I may add that he 
 stood high in the estimation of his professional 
 brethren. " For my single self," says one, " I 
 have for a quarter of a century regarded Mr. 
 Lincoln as one of the finest lawyers I ever knew, 
 and of a professional bearing so high-toned and 
 honorable as justly, and without derogating from 
 the claims of others, entitling him to be presented 
 to the profession as a model well worthy of the 
 closest imitation." 
 
 Now these are general terms, and do not show 
 us how the young lawyer who had risen step by 
 step from the hardest physical labor to an honor- 
 able position at the bar, looked and spoke. For- 
 tunately Judge Drummond, of Chicago, gives us 
 
 (.05)
 
 106 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 a graphic picture of him, and I am glad to 
 ^note it : 
 
 " With a voice by 110 means pleasant, and, in- 
 deed, when excited, in. its shrill tones almost dis- 
 . agreeable; without any of the personal graces of 
 the orator; without much in the outward man 
 indicating superiority of intellect ; without great 
 quickness of perception still, his mind was so 
 vigorous, his comprehension so exact and clear, 
 and his judgment so sure, that he easily mastered 
 the intricacies of his profession, and became one 
 of the ablest reasoners and most impressive 
 speakers at our bar. With a probity of character 
 known of all, with an intuitive insight into the 
 human heart, with a clearness of statement which 
 was itself an argument, with uncommon power 
 and felicity of illustration, often, it is true, of a 
 plain and homely kind and with that sincerity 
 and earnestness of manner which carried convic- 
 tion, he was, perhaps, one of the most successful 
 jury lawyers we have ever had in the State. He 
 always tried a case fairly and honestly. He never 
 intentionally misrepresented the evidence of a 
 witness or the argument of an opponent. He 
 met both squarely, and if he could not explain the
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 one or answer the other, substantially admitted 
 it. He never misstated the law according to his 
 own intelligent view of it." 
 
 I hope my young readers will not skip this state- 
 ment, but read it carefully, because it will show 
 them the secret of the young lawyer's success. 
 He inspired confidence ! He was not constantly 
 trying to gain the advantage by fair means if pos- 
 sible, but at any rate to gain it. He wanted jus- 
 tice to triumph, however it affected his own inter- 
 ests. I wish there were more such lawyers. The 
 law would then lose much of the odium which 
 unprincipled practitioners bring upon it. 
 
 Let us look in upon Mr. Lincoln as he sits in 
 his plain office, some morning. He is writing 
 busily, when a timid knock is heard at his door. 
 
 " Come in ! " he says, his pen still moving 
 rapidly over the paper before him. 
 
 The door opens slowly, and an old woman, 
 bending under the burden of seventy-five year?, 
 enters, and stands irresolutely at the entrance. 
 
 " Mr. Lincoln ! " she says in a quivering voice. 
 
 As these accents reach him, Mr. Lincoln woke 
 up hastily, and seeing the old lady hastily un- 
 doubles himself, and draws forward a chair.
 
 108 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 " Sit down, mj good lady ! " he says. " Do 
 you wish to see me on business?" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Tell me what I can do for you ? " and he 
 fixes his eyes on the frail old woman, showing a 
 respect and consideration for her, poor as she 
 evidently is, which a rich client might not so 
 readily receive. 
 
 Encouraged by the kindness of her reception 
 she told her story. She was entitled to a pension, 
 as it appeared, on account of her husband, who 
 had fought in the Revolutionary war. This pen- 
 sion she had secured through the agency of a 
 certain pension agent, but he had charged her the 
 exorbitant sum of two hundred dollars for col- 
 lecting her claim. This was a heavy tax upon the 
 poor old woman with her limited means, and she 
 was likely to be little better off for her pension 
 if she should be compelled to pay this money. 
 
 " Two hundred dollars ! That is shameful ! " 
 said the sympathetic lawyer. " Who is this 
 agent ? " 
 
 She told him. 
 
 " Do you live in Springfield ? " 
 
 " No sir."
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 1Q9 
 
 "Are you in need of money?" he inquired 
 delicately. 
 
 " Yes, sir. The agent has kept back what he 
 has collected, and " 
 
 " I see. We will try to bring him to terms." 
 
 " Oh, sir if you can help me " said the old 
 
 lady, hopefully. 
 
 " I will do my best. Here is some money for 
 your immediate wants. Now I will ask you a 
 few questions, and we will see what we can do 
 for you." 
 
 Mr. Lincoln immediately commenced suit 
 against the agent to recover a portion of the 
 money which he had withheld. In his address 
 to the jury he did not omit to allude to the pa- 
 triotism of the dead husband, and the poverty of 
 his widow, and no doubt castigated in fitting 
 terms the unfeeling rapacity of the claim agent. 
 He gained the suit, and compelled the fellow to 
 disgorge one hundred dollars, which he had the 
 pleasure of paying over to his aged client. 
 
 Meanwhile he was pleasantly situated. His 
 income would now allow him to live in comfort- 
 able style. He established himself in a pleasant 
 two-story house, built after a fashion quite com-
 
 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 mon in New England, with a room on each side 
 of the front door, and an extension in the rear. 
 It was situated at the corner of two streets, and 
 though neither costly nor sumptuous, might be 
 considered a palace when contrasted with the 
 rude cabins in which his earlier years were passed. 
 Four children were born to him, and their 
 childish ways were a source of constant enjoy- 
 ment, when he returned to his home, weaiy or 
 perplexed. One of these, Willie, died after his 
 father became President ; the youngest, best 
 known as Tad, who was the pet of the White 
 House, is also dead, and only the eldest, Robert 
 Todd, now Secretary of War, survives. It is 
 said that he was a most indulgent father, and 
 governed by Love alone. His own father had 
 often been stern and rough, but Abraham Lin- 
 coln's nature was full of a deep tenderness for 
 ? all things weak, small, or in distress, and he could 
 not find it in his heart to be harsh or stern at 
 home. 
 
 On pleasant summer mornings the young law- 
 yer, with his tall figure, might have been seen 
 drawing one of his children to and fro along the 
 sidewalk in a child's w;i":on. " Without hat or
 
 A BRA HAM LINCOLN, 
 
 coat, and wearing a pair of rough shoes, his hands 
 behind him holding to the tongue of the wagon, 
 and his tall form bent forward to accommodate 
 himself to the service, he paced up and down the 
 walk, forgetful of everything around him, and 
 intent only on some subject that absorbed his 
 mind." A young man, who as a boy used to see 
 him thus occupied, admits that he used to wonder 
 " how so rough and plain a man could live in so 
 respectable a house." 
 
 I once asked a lady who for a considerable 
 time lived opposite Mr. Lincoln, at Springfield, 
 whether he was really as plain as his pictures all 
 represented him. 
 
 " I never saw one of his pictures that did not 
 flatter him," she answered. 
 
 " My oldest son was a companion and playfel- 
 low of Mr. Lincoln's younger boys," she contin- 
 ued, " and was in and out of his house a dozen 
 times a day. He was a very quiet man. He 
 used to stay at home in the evening, and read or 
 meditate, but Mrs. Lincoln was of a gayer tem- 
 perament, and cared more for company." 
 
 Mr. Lincoln was always a thoughtful man, and 
 though amid social surroundings he could tell a
 
 112 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 droll story with a humorous twinkle of the eye, 
 his features in repose were grave and even melan- 
 choly. As he walked along the street, he often 
 seemed abstracted, and would pass his best friends 
 without recognizing them. Even at the table he 
 was often self-absorbed, and ate his food mechan- 
 ically, but there was nothing in his silence to dull 
 or make uncomfortable those around him. After 
 a time he would arise from his silence, and make 
 himself companionable as he was always able to 
 do, and lead conversation into some channel in 
 which members of his family could take part.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE KAIL-SPLITTER ENTERS CONGRESS. 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S professional success did 
 not iill the measure of his ambition. It certainly 
 was a great step upward from the raw-boned, 
 ragged, barefooted lad to the prosperous lawyer, 
 and our hero, if I may so call him, doubtless felt 
 complacent when he considered the change in his 
 position and surroundings. I may take occasion 
 to say here that Abe to return to the name which 
 he did not wholly lay aside when he emerged 
 from boyhood and youth never put on airs be- 
 cause of his elevation, nor looked down upon the 
 humble relatives whom he had left behind. 
 Whenever in his journeyings he found himself 
 near the residence of any of his poorer relations, 
 he took special pains to visit them, and, if pos- 
 sible, to stay with them. Often he pressed upon 
 
 them money when they appeared to need it not 
 8 (113)
 
 H4: BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 with the air of a liberal patron, but with straight- 
 forward friendliness and cordiality. Once when 
 he was urged to remain at the hotel with his pro- 
 fessional friends, instead of making a call upon 
 an aged aunt, he said : 
 
 "Why, aunt's heart would be broken if I 
 should leave town without calling upon her." 
 
 Let me add that this call required something 
 more than ordinary good-natured consideration, 
 for the aunt in question lived several miles away, 
 and her nephew had no horse at his command, 
 but walked all the way. I am very glad to call 
 the attention of all my yonng friends to this ad- 
 mirable trait in the character of President Lin- 
 coln. I wish it were more common. I am sure 
 w r e all admire the boy or girl who is always 
 thoughtful of the feelings and happiness of older 
 relatives. 
 
 But to return from this digression, let me re- 
 peat that Mr. Lincoln had other aspirations than 
 to succeed as a lawyer. It has been said that nine 
 out of ten American boys cherish a vague ambi- 
 tion to become President. This is plainly an ex- 
 aggeration, but it is certain that a large number 
 entertain the hope of some day entering public
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 life, either as legislator or Congressman, or at any 
 rate as a salaried officer. That is one reason wh}'' 
 there is such a horde of office-seekers swarming 
 to our National or State capitals, ambitious to 
 earn a living at the expense of the Government. 
 Some throw up good mercantile positions and 
 spend months in the attempt to secure a position 
 as department clerk, foreign consul, or poorly- 
 paid postmaster. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln's ambition was of a more 
 elevated character. He had a pardonable ambi- 
 tion to take part in the government of his coun- 
 try, not for the sake of the position so much, as 
 because he felt within himself the capacity to 
 shape legislation to worthy ends. He was not 
 alone in this idea. His fellow-citizens had gauged 
 him and felt that he was lit to represent them. I 
 have already spoken of his service in the Stato 
 Legislature ; but he was only preparing himself 
 there for a wider arena. In 1846 he received the 
 nomination for Congress from the Sangamon dis- 
 trict. ISTow it was not the fashion in those days 
 for a candidate to remain quietly at home pursu- 
 ing his business as usual while waiting for the 
 popular verdict. It is perhaps the more dignified
 
 11(3 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 course to pursue, but it would not have elected 
 Mr. Lincoln. He understood at once that he 
 would have to " stump " the district. I need 
 hardly explain to my young readers what this 
 means. He must visit the principal towns and 
 villages, and address public meetings of the peo- 
 ple on political subjects of present interest, ex- 
 plaining clearly how he stood, and how he pro- 
 posed to vote if elected. 
 
 For this service Lincoln was very well fitted. 
 He had a vigorous Saxon style, and he knew how 
 to make things clear even to the humblest intel- 
 lect. Then, again, he possessed a fund of homely, 
 but pertinent stories, which often produced more 
 effect than a protracted argument. Howe\ 7 er, he 
 was not limited to such means of influencing his 
 audiences. He had a logical mind and a happy 
 faculty of stating things clearly and precisely, so 
 as to convince the reason as well as to persuade 
 the judgment. 
 
 There was no lack of topics on w T hich to speak. 
 The country was in an excited state. Texas had 
 been admitted to the Union, war with Mexico 
 had succeeded, and opinions were divided as to 
 the wisdom of entering upon it. The Whig party,
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 of which Mr. Lincoln was a member, considered 
 it unnecessary and unjustifiable. So also did 
 the Anti-Slavery party, then coming into exist- 
 ence. Many of my young readers have doubtless 
 read .the " Biglow Papers," by our eminent poet 
 and diplomatist, James .Russell Lowell, and have 
 enjoyed the quaint and pungent sarcasm with 
 which he assails those who were instrumental in 
 bringing on this ill-advised war. I speak of it 'as 
 ill-advised, for, though some of the results, no- 
 tably the acquisition of California, have proved 
 beneficial, the object for which the war was com- 
 menced and waged was far from commendable. 
 The tariff also had been recently repealed, and 
 the result was a disturbance of the business inter- 
 ests of the country. Clearly, Congress and the 
 country had plenty to talk about and plenty to 
 legislate about. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln's speeches in this "stumping" 
 tour have not been preserved, but we have every 
 reason to believe that he did himself credit, and 
 maintained the reputation he had already ac- 
 quired as a strong and forcible speaker. The 
 best evidence we can adduce is his triumphant 
 election by much more than the usual party vote.
 
 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 Even Mr. Clay, with all his popularity as a Presi- 
 dential candidate in 1844, received a majority less 
 by about six hundred than were given to Abra- 
 ham Lincoln in his contest for a seat in Congress. 
 So we chronicle one more step in the upward 
 progress of the young rail-splitter. On the 6th 
 of December, 1847, he took his seat in the Thir- 
 tieth Congress, as a Representative from his 
 adopted State of Illinois. At the same time his 
 future rival, Stephen A. Douglas, took his seat in 
 the United States Senate, representing the same 
 State. Lincoln was the tallest man among the 
 nearly three hundred who sat in the House. 
 Douglas was the shortest man in the Senate. 
 Both were to achieve high distinction, and to fill 
 a remarkable place in the history of their coun- 
 try. To Lincoln distinction came with slower 
 steps, but he was destined to mount higher and 
 achieve a more enduring fame. Of the two, 
 Douglas was more of a politician, and he was 
 more ready to sacrifice principle in the interest of 
 personal ambition. Years later they were to 
 stump the State as competitors for Senatorial 
 honors in a memorable canvass, and still later to 
 be rival candidates for the Presidency. In the
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 first, Douglas secured the election ; in the second, 
 Lincoln. It is to the credit of Douglas that when 
 the last contest was decided, and his competitor, 
 who had secured the prize for which he had la- 
 bored earnestly for years, was about to take his 
 seat, at a time when the first faint rumblings of 
 the Civil War were being heard, and well- 
 grounded fears were entertained for the safety 
 of the President-elect, he laid aside all the bitter- 
 ness of personal feelings and disappointed ambi- 
 tion, and rode with his old rival to the capital on 
 Inauguration Day, content to share any personal 
 risk in which he might be placed. 
 
 The closing period of the life of Douglas does 
 him great credit. It shows him in the character 
 of patriot, rather than as politician. In former 
 years he had been willing to make concessions to 
 the slave power, in order to further his own 
 chances of the Presidential succession. Now, 
 when civil war was imminent and the integrity 
 of the Government was menaced, he forgot the 
 politician and stood side by side with Lincoln for 
 the preservation of the Government which he had 
 so long served. It was a source of sincere regret 
 to Abraham Lincoln that Douglas should have
 
 120 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 been removed^by death so early in the Civil War. 
 It removed from him a staunch friend and sup- 
 porter, whose influence was all the greater be- 
 cause he was perhaps the most prominent mem- 
 ber of the opposition. 
 
 I have a personal remembrance of Mr. Doug- 
 las, to whom I was introduced on the occasion of 
 a visit to Massachusetts. Short as he was, he had 
 a dignified and impressive presence, and his mas- 
 sive figure well entitled him to the name by which 
 he was so commonly known, " The Little Giant." 
 He was not destined to achieve the object of his 
 ambition, but he will long be remembered as an 
 influential actor in our political history.
 
 CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 THE FIKST SPEECH IN CONGRESS. 
 
 THE backwoods-boy is now in Congress. He 
 is one of the law-makers of the nation, and is an 
 equal associate of eminent statesmen gathered 
 from all parts of the country. 
 
 Let us look about us as we enter the old Hall 
 of Representative?, and see into what company 
 the backwoods-boy has come. 
 
 In the Speaker's chair sits a dignified-looking 
 man, an accomplished parliamentarian, whom 
 friends and opponents alike concede to be amply 
 competent to discharge the duties of his high 
 place this is Robert C. Winthrop, of Massachu- 
 setts, living still in a dignified and honored old 
 age. Among the notable members of this Con- 
 gress were John Quincy Adams, who had already 
 been President, but who was willing notwith- 
 standing to serve his country in an humble 
 
 (121)
 
 122 EOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 place; George Ashmun, also representing Mas- 
 sachusetts ; Jacob Collamer ; Alexander H. Ste- 
 phens, afterward Yice-President of the Southern 
 Confederacy ; Robert Toombs ; Andrew Johnson, 
 afterward associated with Mr. Lincoln as Yice-Pres- 
 ident, and upon whose shoulders fell the mantle of 
 his lamented chief ; Marsh, Truman Smith, Wil- 
 mot, Bhett, Giddings, and others, whose names 
 were already conspicuous. This will give some 
 idea of the personnel of the House ; while in the 
 Senate chamber, at the other end of the Capitol, 
 Websier, Calhoun, Dix, Dickinson, Hale, Critten- 
 den, and Corwin lent weight and dignity to that 
 co-ordinate legislative branch of the Government. 
 
 Such were the men with whom the young West- 
 ern member was to share the labors of legislation. 
 Time has given to some of them a fame which 
 they did not then possess. Their successors of 
 our day may, after the lapse of a generation, bei 
 names as weighty ; but I am afraid we shall look 
 in vain for successors of Webster, Calhoun, John 
 Quincy Adams, A. H. Stephens, and Crittenden. 
 
 The question will occur to my young readers, 
 What part did Abraham Lincoln take in the 
 national councils ? Was he a cipher, an obscure
 
 ABRA HAM LINCOLN. J 23 
 
 member, simply filling his seat and drawing his 
 pay, or did he take an active part in the business 
 of the session ? I will say in answer, that he was 
 by no means a cipher. Though he did not aspire 
 to be a leader for in a new member that would 
 have been in bad taste he was always ready to 
 take part when he felt called upon to do so, and 
 his vote and words were such as he would not 
 in after years have felt it necessary to recall or 
 apologize for. 
 
 It is interesting to know that he arrayed him- 
 self with Mr. Giddings in favor of abolishing 
 slavery in the District of Columbia. Mr. Gid- 
 dings little suspected that the plain member 
 from Illinois, whose co-operation he had secured, 
 was to be the instrument under Providence of 
 abolishing slavery, not only in the District of 
 Columbia, but throughout the land. 
 
 But slavery was not at that time the leading 
 political question of the day. Parties were 
 divided upon the subject of the Mexican war. 
 While opposed to the war, Mr. Lincoln was in 
 favor of voting for the necessary supplies and 
 appropriations, and he took care, in an elaborate 
 speech, to explain his position. He felt that it
 
 124: BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 was his duty as a citizen and a patriot to see that 
 the army which had been sent to Mexico should 
 be properly sustained ; but he did not for a mo- 
 ment concede that the war was just or necessary. 
 As President Polk saw fit to construe such a vote 
 as a formal approval of his action and of the 
 war, Mr. Lincoln made an elaborate speech in 
 arraignment of his interpretation. As this was 
 Mr. Lincoln's first speech in Congress, I shall 
 make considerable quotations from it, partly to 
 show where he stood on this important question, 
 arid partly to prove to my readers that he was no 
 novice, but well qualified for the high position to 
 which he had been elected by the suffrages of his 
 fellow-citizens. I am quite aware that many of 
 my young readers will skip this portion as unin- 
 teresting; but I hope that if in after years they 
 are led to read this biography once more, they 
 will count it worth while to read it. 
 
 After reviewing and controverting the reasons 
 assigned by the President for the statement that 
 Mexico had invaded our soil, and that therefore 
 " by the act of the Republic of Mexico a state 
 of war exists between that Government and the 
 United States," Mr. Lincoln proceeds :
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 125 
 
 "I am now through the whole of the Presi- 
 dent's evidence ; and it is a singular fact, that if 
 any one should declare the President sent the 
 army into the midst of a settlement of Mexican 
 people who had never submitted, by consent or 
 by force, to the authority of Texas or of the 
 United States, and that there and thereby the first 
 blood of the war was shed, there is not one word 
 in all the President has said which would either 
 admit or deny the declaration. In this strange 
 omission chiefly consists the deception of the 
 President's evidence an omission which it does 
 seem to me could scarcely have occurred but by 
 design. My way of living leads me to be about 
 the courts of justice ; and there I have sometimes 
 seen a good lawyer struggling for his client's 
 neck, in a desperate case, employing every artifice 
 to work round, befog, and cover up with many 
 words some position pressed upon him by the 
 prosecution, which he dared not admit and yet 
 could not deny. Party bias may help to make 
 it appear so ; but, with all the allowance I can 
 make for such bias, it still does appear to me 
 that just such, and from such necessity, are the 
 President's struggles in this case.
 
 126 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 " Some time after my colleague (Mr. Richard- 
 son) introduced the resolutions I have mentioned, 
 I introduced a preamble, resolution, and interrog- 
 atories, intended to draw the President out, if 
 possible, on this hitherto untrodden ground. To 
 show their relevancy, I propose to state my un- 
 derstanding of the true rale for ascertaining the 
 boundary between Texas and Mexico. It is that 
 wherever Texas was exercising jurisdiction was 
 hers ; and wherever Mexico was exercising juris- 
 diction was hers; and that whatever separated 
 the actual exercise of jurisdiction of the one 
 from that of the other, was the true boundary 
 between them. If, as is probably true, Texas 
 was exercising jurisdiction along the western 
 bank of the Nueces, and Mexico was exercising 
 it along the eastern bank of the Rio Grande; 
 then neither river was the boundary, but the 
 uninhabited country between the two was. The 
 extent of our territory in that region depended 
 not on any treaty-fixed boundary (for no treaty 
 had attempted it), but on revolution. Any people 
 anywhere, being inclined and having the power, 
 have the right to rise up and shake off the exist- 
 ing Government, and form a new one that suits
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. } 3 7 
 
 them better. This is a most valuable, a most 
 sacred right a right which, we hope and believe, 
 is to liberate the world. Nor is this right con- 
 fined to cases in which the whole people of an 
 existing Government may choose to exercise it. 
 Any portion of such people that can may revo- 
 lutionize and make their own of so much of the 
 territory as they inhabit. More than this, a ma- 
 jority of any portion of such people may revolu- 
 tionize, putting down a minority, intermingled, 
 or near about them, who may oppose their move- 
 ments. Such minority was precisely the case of 
 the Tories of our own Revolution. It is a quality 
 of revolutions not to go by old lines or old laws, 
 but to break up both and make new ones. As 
 to the country now in question, we bought it of 
 France in 1803 and sold it to Spain in 1819, ac- 
 cording to the President's statement. After this, 
 all Mexico, including Texas, revolutionized against 
 Spain ; and still later, Texas revolutionized against 
 Mexico. In my view, just so far as she carried 
 her revolution by obtaining the actual, willing or 
 unwilling, submission of the people, so far the 
 country was hers and no further. 
 
 "Now, sir, for the purpose of obtaining the
 
 123 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 very best evidence as to whether Texas had actu- 
 ally carried her revolution to the place where the 
 hostilities of the present war commenced, let the 
 President answer the interrogatories I proposed, 
 as before mentioned, or some other similar ones. 
 Let him answer fully, fairly, and candidly ; let 
 him answer with facts, and not with arguments. 
 Let him remember he sits where Washington sat ; 
 and, so remembering, let him answer as Wash- 
 ington would answer. As a nation should not, 
 and the Almighty will not be evaded, so let him 
 attempt no evasion, no equivocation ; and if, so 
 answering, he can show that the soil was ours 
 where the first blood of the war was shed that 
 it was not within an inhabited country, or, if 
 within such, that the inhabitants had submitted 
 themselves to the civil authority of Texas or of 
 the United States, and that the same is true of the 
 site of Fort Brown then I am with him for his 
 justification. In that case, I shall be most happy 
 to reverse the vote I gave the other day. I have 
 a selfish notion for desiring that the President 
 may do this; I expect to give some votes in con- 
 nection with the war, which, without his so do- 
 ing, will be of doubtful propriety, in my own
 
 ABRAIIAM LINCOLN. 129 
 
 judgment, but which will be free from the doubt, 
 if he does so. 
 
 " But if he can not or will not do this if on 
 any pretense, or no pretense, he shall refuse or 
 omit it then I shall be fully convinced of what 
 I more than suspect already, that he is deeply 
 conscious of being in the wrong ; that he feels 
 the blood of this war, like the blood of Abel, is 
 crying to heaven against him ; that he ordered 
 General Taylor into the midst of a peaceful Mexi- 
 can settlement, purposely to bring on war ; that 
 originally having some strong motive what I 
 will not stop now to give my opinion concern- 
 ing to involve the two countries in a war, and 
 trusting to escape scrutiny by fixing the public 
 gaze upon the exceeding brightness of military 
 glory that attractive rainbow that rises in 
 showers of blood that serpent's eye that charms 
 to destroy he plunged into it, and has swept on 
 and on, till, disappointed in his calculation of the 
 case with which Mexico might be subdued, he 
 now finds himself he knows not where. How 
 like the half-insane mumbling of a fever dream 
 is the whole war part of the last message ! At 
 one time telling us that Mexico has nothing what- 
 9
 
 130 BOYH90D AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 ever that we can get but territory ; at another, 
 showing us how we can support the war by levy- 
 ing contributions on Mexico ; at one time urging 
 the national honor, the. security of the future, the 
 prevention of foreign interference, and even the 
 good of Mexico herself, as among the objects of 
 the war ; at another, telling us that * to reject in- 
 demnity by refusing to accept a cession of terri- 
 tory would be to abandon all our just demands, 
 and to wage the war, bearing all its expenses, 
 without a, purpose or definite object? 
 
 " So then, the national honor, security of the 
 future, and everything but territorial indemnity, 
 may be considered no purposes and indefinite ob- 
 jects of the war ! But having it now settled that 
 territorial indemnity is the only object, we are 
 urged to seize, by legislation here, all that he was 
 content to take a few months ago, and the whole 
 province of Lower California to boot, and to still 
 carry on the war to take all we are fighting for, 
 and still fight on. Again the President is resolv- 
 ed, under all circumstances, to have full territo- 
 rial indemnity for the expenses of the war ; but 
 he forgets to tell us how we are to get the excess 
 after those expenses s*hall have surpassed the value
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 of the whole of the Mexican territory. So, again, 
 he insists that the separate national existence of 
 Mexico shall be maintained ; but he does not tell 
 us how this can be done after we shall have taken 
 all her territory. Lest the questions I here sug- 
 gest be considered speculative merely, let me be 
 indulged a moment in trying to show they are 
 not. 
 
 " The war has gone on some twenty months, 
 for the expenses of which, together with an in- 
 considerable old score, the President now claims 
 about one-half of the Mexican territory, and that 
 by far the better half, so far as concerns our 
 ability to make anything out of it. It is com- 
 paratively uninhabited, so that we could establish 
 land offices in it, and raise money in that way. 
 But the other half is already inhabited, as I un- 
 derstand it, tolerably densely for the nature of 
 the country ; and all its lands, or all that are val- 
 uable, already appropriated as private property. 
 How, then, are we to make anything out of these 
 lands with this incumbrance on them, or how re- 
 move the incumbrance ? I suppose no one will 
 say we should kill the people, or drive them out, 
 or make slaves of them, or even confiscate their
 
 132 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 property ? How, then, can we make much out of 
 this part of the territory ? If the prosecution of 
 the war has, in expenses, already equalled the 
 better half of the country, how long its future 
 prosecution will be in equalling the less valuable 
 half is not a speculative but a practical question, 
 pressing closely upon us, and yet it is a question 
 which the President seems never to have thought 
 of. 
 
 " As to the mode of terminating the war and 
 securing peace, the President is equally wandering 
 and indefinite. First, it is to be done by a more 
 vigorous prosecution of the war in the vital parts 
 of the enemy's country; and, after apparently 
 talking himself tired on this point, the President 
 drops down into a half-despairing tone, and tells 
 us ' that, with a people distracted and divided by 
 contending factions, and a government subject to 
 constant changes, by successive revolutions, the 
 continued success of our arms may fail to obtain 
 a satisfactory peace? Then he suggests the pro- 
 priety of wheedling the Mexican people to desert 
 the counsels of their own leaders, and, trusting in 
 our protection, to set up a government from which 
 we can obtain a satisfactory peace, telling us that
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 133 
 
 f this may become the only mode of obtaining such 
 a peace? But soon lie falls into doubt of this 
 too, and then drops back on to the already aban- 
 doned ground of 'more vigorous prosecution.' 
 All this shows that the President is in no wise 
 satisfied with his own positions. First, he takes 
 up one, and, in attempting to argue us into it, he 
 argues himself out of it ; then seizes another, and 
 goes through the same process ; and then, con- 
 fused at being able to think of nothing new, he 
 snatches up the old one again, which he has some 
 time before cast off. His mind, tasked beyond 
 its power, is running hither and thither, like some 
 tortured creature on a burning surface, finding no 
 position on which it can settle down and be at 
 ease. 
 
 " Again, it a singular omission in the message, 
 that it nowhere intimates when the President ex- 
 pects the war to terminate. At its beginning, 
 General Scott was, by this same President, driven 
 into disfavor, if not disgrace, for intimating that 
 peace could not be conquered in less than three 
 or four months. But now, at the end of about 
 twenty months, during which time our arms have 
 given us the most splendid successes every de-
 
 134: BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 partment and every part, land and water, officers 
 and privateers, regulars and volunteers, doing all 
 that men could do, and hundreds of things which 
 it had ever before been thought that men could 
 not do ; after all this, this same President gives 
 us a long message without showing us that, as to 
 the end, he has himself even an imaginary con- 
 ception. As I have before said, he knows not 
 where he is. He is a bewildered, confounded, 
 and miserably perplexed man. God grant he may 
 be able to show that there is not something about 
 his conscience more painful than all his mental 
 perplexity?" 
 
 It will be seen that, new as he is to the halls of 
 Congress, Mr. Lincoln speaks with the freedom, 
 and in the assured tone, of a veteran member. I 
 have nothing to say as to the sentiments contained 
 in these extracts. I wished my readers to see 
 what sort of a speech the Illinois Congressman, 
 trained in the backwoods, and almost absolutely 
 without educational advantages, was able to make. 
 It will be conceded that the result, all things cou 
 sidered, is remarkable. When, twelve years later, 
 he was nominated for the post of Chief Magis- 
 trate, it was a fashion among many, in both po-
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 135 
 
 litical parties, to speak of him as an obscure mem- 
 ber of Congress, who had never attracted any at- 
 tention during his service in the House. This 
 was not correct. He took a prominent part in 
 legislation of all kinds, and made himself ac- 
 quainted with whatever subjects came up for con- 
 sideration. 
 
 It has often been said that fact is stranger than 
 fiction, and I am tempted to remark that the new 
 Congressman who so boldly criticised President 
 Polk for his management of the war, was far from 
 dreaming that he himself would be subject to 
 similar attacks when, as President, the manage- 
 ment of a far more important war devolved upon 
 him.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 ME. LINCOLN'S FAMILY. 
 
 WHEN Mr. Lincoln's first Congressional term 
 expired, he declined to be a candidate for re-elec- 
 tion. He was a delegate to the convention that 
 nominated General Taylor for the Presidency, 
 and did what he could to bring about his election. 
 He would have preferred Henry Clay, who was 
 unquestionably far more fit for the position of 
 Chief Magistrate, being an experienced statesman, 
 while Taylor was only a rough soldier ; but avail- 
 ability then, as now, controlled the choice of con- 
 ventions, and Clay was laid aside, failing, like 
 Webster, to reach the Presidency. 
 
 My young readers are aware that President 
 Taylor died about a year after his inauguration, 
 and was succeeded by Millard Fillmore, the Yice- 
 President. Mr. Fillmore offered Lincoln the po- 
 sition of Governor of Oregon, then a Territory. 
 (-36)
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 137 
 
 The offer was considered, and might have been 
 accepted but for the opposition of Mrs. Lincoln, 
 who naturally objected to going so far from home 
 and friends. So, for the time, Mr. Lincoln re- 
 tired from politics, though he by no means ceased 
 to feel an interest in the state of the country. He, 
 like other sagacious statesmen, saw that slavery 
 was to be the rock in the way of national har- 
 mony, and we are told by Mr. Lamon, that when 
 coming home to Springfield from the Fremont 
 Court in company with Mr. Stuart, he said : " The 
 time will come when we must all be Democrats 
 or Abolitionists. When that time comes my mind 
 is made up. The slavery question can't be com- 
 promised." 
 
 About this time his father, who had lived to 
 see the first political success of his son, was draw- 
 ing near the end of his life. His latter years had 
 been made comfortable by the pecuniary help 
 freely tendered by his son, who gave, but not out 
 of his abundance. Anxious that his father should 
 have every comfort which his case required, he 
 wrote the following letter, which I quote, because 
 it illustrates not only his solicitude for his family, 
 but also exhibits his faith in his Maker :
 
 138 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 " SPRINGFIELD, January 12, 1851. 
 
 " DEAR BROTHER On the day before yesterday 
 I received a letter from Harriet, written at Green- 
 up. She says she has just returned from your 
 house, and that father is very low, and will hard- 
 ly recover. She also says that you have written 
 me two letters, and, although I have not answered 
 them, it is not because I have forgotten them, or 
 not been interested about them, but because it ap- 
 peared to me I could write nothing which could 
 do any good. You already know that I desire 
 that neither father nor mother shall be in want 
 of any comfort, either in health or sickness, while 
 they live ; and I feel sure you have not failed to 
 use my name, if necessary, to procure a doctor or 
 anything else for father in his present sickness. 
 My business is such that I could hardly leave 
 home now, if it were not, as it is, that my own 
 wife is sick-a-bed. 
 
 " I sincerely hope father may yet recover his 
 health ; but, at all events, tell him to remember 
 to call upon and confide in our great and good 
 and merciful Maker, who will not turn awaj 7 from 
 him in any extremity. He notes the fall of a 
 sparrow, and numbers the hairs of our heads ; and
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 139 
 
 He will not forget the dying man who puts his 
 trust in him. Say to him that, if we could meet 
 now, it is doubtful whether it would not be more 
 painful than pleasant, but that, if it be his lot to 
 go now, he will soon have a joyous meeting with 
 loved ones gone before, and where the rest of us, 
 through the help of God, hope ere long to join 
 him. 
 
 " Write me again when you receive this. 
 " Affectionately, 
 
 "A. LINCOLN." 
 
 The money expended for his father and mother 
 we may be sure that Mr. Lincoln gave cheerfully, 
 and I should have a very poor opinion of him if 
 it were otherwise ; but he was also called upon to 
 assist another member of the family who was far 
 less deserving. His step-brother, John Johnston, 
 was a rolling-stone, idle, shiftless, and always 
 hard up. I am going to quote here the greater 
 part of a letter written to this step-brother, be- 
 cause it contains some very practical advice, which 
 most of my young readers will not need, but it 
 may fall under the eye of some one who will be 
 benefited by it. It appears that John had made
 
 140 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 application for a loan of eighty dollars. Mr. 
 Lincoln writes : 
 
 " Your request for eighty dollars I do not think it 
 best to comply with now. At the various times when 
 1 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 con- 
 duct ; 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 to 
 you that you could get much for it. This habit 
 of uselessly wasting time is the whole difficulty ; 
 and 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 should go to work 
 ' tooth and nail ' for somebody who will give you
 
 . ABRAHAM LINCOLN.. 
 
 money for it. Let father and your boys take 
 charge of 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 next May, get for your own labor, either 
 in money or your own indebtedness, I will then 
 give you one other dollar. By this, if you hire your- 
 self 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 into 
 debt again. But, if I should now clear you out 
 of debt, next year you would be just as deep in 
 as 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 ma!:e, get
 
 14-2 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 the seventy 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 me the money back, you will de- 
 liver possession. Nonsense! If you can't now 
 live with the land, how will you then live with- 
 out it ? You have always been kind to me, and 
 I do not mean to be unkind to you. On the con- 
 trary, if you will but follow my advice, you will 
 find it worth more than eighty times eighty dol- 
 lars to you." 
 
 This was certainly excellent advice, and the 
 offer was a kind and generous one. But it does 
 not seem to have convinced the one who received 
 it, for we find him nursing plans of emigration. 
 Shiftless people are very apt to think they can 
 earn a living away from home better than at 
 home. But the trouble is in themselves, not in 
 their surroundings. Abraham Lincoln finds it 
 necessary, under date of November 4, 1851, to 
 combat this fancy of his step-brother. 1 shall 
 not apologize for copying a second letter, and I 
 hope all my young readers will carefully read and 
 consider it. 
 
 " When I came into Charleston day before yes-
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 14.3 
 
 terday, I learned that you are anxious to sell the 
 land where you live, and move to Missouri. I 
 have been thinking of this ever since, and can 
 not but think such a notion is utterly foolish. 
 What can you do in Missouri better than here ? 
 Is the land any richer? Can you there, any 
 more than here, raise corn and wheat and oats 
 without work? Will anybody there, any more 
 than here, do your work for you ? If you intend 
 to go to work, there is no better place than right 
 where you are; if you do not intend to go to 
 work you can not get along anywhere. 
 
 " Squirming and crawling about from place to 
 place can do no good. You have raised no crop 
 this year ; and what you really want is to sell the 
 land, get the money, and spend it. Part with the 
 land you have, and my life upon it, you will never 
 after own a spot big enough to bury you in. 
 Half you will get for the land you will spend in 
 moving to Missouri, and the other half you will 
 eat and drink and wear out, and no foot of land 
 will be bought. Now, I feel it is my duty to 
 have no hand in such a piece of foolery. I feel 
 that it is so even on your own account, and par- 
 ticularly on mother's account. The eastern forty
 
 144 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 acres I intend to keep for mother while she lives; 
 if you will not cultivate it, it will rent for enough 
 to support her ; at least it will rent for something. 
 Her dower in the other two forties she can let 
 you have, and no thanks to me. Now, do not 
 misunderstand this letter ; I do not write it in 
 any unkindness I write it, in order, if possible, 
 to get you to face the truth, which truth is, you 
 are destitute because you have idled away all your 
 time. Your thousand pretences for not getting 
 along better are all nonsense : they deceive nobody 
 but yourself. Go to work is the only cure in 
 your case." 
 
 Nothing can be plainer, or more in accordance 
 with common sense than this advice. Though it 
 was written for the benefit of one person only, I 
 feel that I am doing my young, and possibly some 
 older, readers a service in transferring it to my 
 pages, and commending them to heed it. In my 
 own experience, which is by no means exception- 
 al, I have known many who have been willing to 
 move anywhere, and make any change, for the 
 chance of earning a living more easily. About 
 thirty years ago, a great wave of emigration 
 flowed toward the far Pacific, and men of all call-
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 145 
 
 ings and professions, including not a few college 
 graduates, put on the miner's humble garb and 
 del ved for gold among the mountains and by the 
 river-courses of California. Some came back 
 rich, but in many -cases had they been willing to 
 work as hard and live as frugally at the East, they 
 would have fared as well. In this case, perhaps, 
 it was as well to remove where the incentives to 
 work overcame their natural indolence, and awak- 
 ened their ambition. 
 
 Jn this country, fortunately, there are few 
 places where an industrious man can not get a 
 living, if he is willing to accept such work as 
 falls in his way. This willingness often turns the 
 scale, and converts threatening ruin into prosper- 
 ity and success. Some years since, I made one 
 of the passengers in a small steamer on Puget 
 Sound. My attention was drawn to a young man, 
 apparently about twenty, who was accompanied 
 by his wife and two young children. They were 
 emigrating from Indiana, I believe. He was evi- 
 dently an industrious man, and his brown face 
 and hands spoke of labor in the field, and under 
 the summer sun. I entered into conversation, 
 
 and my new acquaintance told me with perfect 
 10
 
 146 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 cheerfulness that when he arrived at Seattle, he 
 would have just ten dollars left, to keep himself 
 and family till he could secure work. 
 
 " How should I feel," I could not help asking 
 myself, "if I were placed in similar circumstances, 
 though I had myself only to provide for ? " 
 
 Yet the young man appeared quite undisturbed. 
 He had faith in himself, and in Providence, and 
 borrowed no trouble. I have no doubt he found 
 something to do before his money gave out. He 
 was not one of that shiftless and restless class to 
 whom it is very clear Mr. Lincoln's step-brother 
 belonged. Such men thrive in a new country, and 
 make a living anywhere.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN. 
 
 ME. LINCOLN had served a term in the House 
 of Representatives with credit to himself and 
 profit to the country. He was regarded as a ris- 
 ing man, and every year made him more promi- 
 nent. It is not strange that his ambition should 
 have coveted a seat in the Senate. In 1855 he 
 was a candidate before the Legislature to succeed 
 General Shields, but, failing to get the required 
 number of votes, he counselled his friends to vote 
 for Judge Trumbull, who was elected. It was a 
 personal disappointment, for he wished to be 
 Senator, but in the end it proved to his advan- 
 tage. A seat in the Senate would have stood in 
 the way of his later triumph, and some one else 
 in all probability would have been nominated and 
 elected President of the United States in 1860. 
 
 1 have already spoken of Mr. Lincoln's opposi- 
 
 (147)
 
 148 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 tion -to slavery. He was not an extreme man, 
 and he was never classed with the Abolitionists 
 that intrepid band who worked early and late, 
 and for years almost without hope, against the 
 colossal system of wrong whose life seemed so 
 entwined with the life of the republic that it 
 looked as if both must fall together. Abraham 
 Lincoln moved slowly. He was not an impulsive 
 man, but took time to form a determination. 
 Even in the war there were many who blamed 
 him for what appeared to be his slowness, but 
 after a while they were led to see that if slow he 
 was sure, and struck only when the time had 
 come. 
 
 The ten years before the war were years of po- 
 litical commotion. The "irrepressible conflict" 
 between slavery and the spirit of freedom had 
 commenced, and Abraham Lincoln arrayed him- 
 self among the champions of freedom. There 
 was a desperate struggle to introduce slavery into 
 the Territories, so that in course of time more 
 slave States might be added to the Union, and 
 thus the slave system might be strengthened and 
 continue to retain the political ascendency it had 
 possessed for years. The rapid growth of the
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 free Northwest alarmed the slave power, and a 
 counterpoise was required. Northern statesmen 
 who -cherished an ambition to be President had 
 notice served upon them that they must help the 
 slave power or forfeit its support. Among those 
 who weakly yielded to this arrogant demand was 
 Stephen A. Douglas. He favored the principle 
 of " squatter sovereignty," permitting the inhab- 
 itants of any Territory to establish slavery within 
 its limits if so disposed. In the year 1854, Mr. 
 Lincoln, in a public debate with Mr. Douglas 
 held at Springfield at the State fair, used this sig- 
 nificant language : 
 
 " My distinguished friend says it is an insult to 
 the emigrants to Kansas and Nebraska to suppose 
 they are not able to govern themselves. We 
 must not slur over an argument of this kind be- 
 cause it tickles the ear. It must be met and an- 
 swered. 1 admit that the emigrant to Kansas 
 and Nebraska is able to govern himself, but," the 
 speaker rising to his full height, " 1 deny his right 
 to govern any other person WITHOUT THAT FEE- 
 SON'S CONSENT." 
 
 This was but a preliminary skirmish. Four 
 years later came the memorable series of debates
 
 150 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 between Lincoln and Douglas, each being the 
 nominee of his party for the United States Sen- 
 ate. The platform on which Lincoln stood con- 
 tained two significant planks, and these furnished 
 khe key-note for the speeches called forth by the 
 campaign. I quote them both, and I hope that 
 my young friends will not skip them. 
 
 " 3. The present administration has proved rec- 
 reant to the trusts committed to its hands, and by 
 its extraordinary, corrupt, unjust, and undignified 
 exertions, to give effect to the original intention 
 and purpose of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, by forc- 
 ing upon the people of Kansas against their will, 
 and in defiance of their known and earnestly-ex- 
 pressed wishes, a constitution recognizing slavery 
 as one of their domestic institutions, it has for- 
 feited all claim to the support of the friends of 
 free men, free labor, and free rights." 
 
 " 5. While we deprecate all interference on the 
 part of political organizations with the action of 
 the Judiciary, if such action is limited to its ap- 
 propriate sphere, yet we can not refrain from ex- 
 pressing our condemnation of the principles and 
 tendencies of the extra judicial opinions of a ma- 
 jority of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 United States in the matter of Dred Scott, wherein 
 the political heresy is put forth that the Federal 
 Constitution extends slavery into all the Territo- 
 ries of the republic, and so maintains it that nei- 
 ther Congress nor people, through their territorial 
 legislature, can by law abolish it. We hold that 
 Congress possesses sovereign power over the Ter- 
 ritories while they remain in a territorial condi- 
 tion, and that it is the duty of the General Gov- 
 ernment to protect the Territories from the curse 
 of slavery, and to preserve the public domain for 
 the occupation of free men and free labor. And 
 we declare that no power on earth can carry and 
 maintain slavery in the States against the will 
 of the people and the provisions of their consti- 
 tutions and laws; and we fully endorse the recent 
 decision of the Supreme Court of our own State 
 which declares ' that property in persons i re 
 pugnant to the Constitution and laws of Illinois, 
 and that all persons within its jurisdiction are 
 supposed to be free ; and that slavery, where it 
 exists, is a municipal regulation without any ex- 
 tra territorial operation.' " 
 
 "With the other points of difference we are not 
 concerned. Whether slavery should or should not
 
 152 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 be allowed to extend its blight over the virgin soil 
 of the new Territories, and thus make its final ex- 
 tinction well-nigh impossible : that was the all-im- 
 portant issue, and not Illinois alone, but the coun- 
 try at large, was profoundly interested in the argu- 
 ments of the two contestants. 
 
 Which was likely to "win ? 
 
 It might have been supposed at the outset that 
 Lincoln would find himself overmatched. He 
 was hardly known outside his own State, though 
 he had served two years in Congress. Douglas 
 was a statesman of national reputation. For fif- 
 teen years he had been in the thick of the conflict. 
 He was a recognized leader of his party, and al- 
 ready he was looked upon as a probable President 
 at no distant period. In scholastic training he 
 was far ahead of Mr. Lincoln. He was a forcible 
 pcnfrcr r swx_ada3ii^nd experienced politician, and 
 his recognized position Ten? arcertain weight to his 
 words which his opponent could not claim. 
 
 But, admitting all this, Mr. Douglas found him- 
 self confronted by no inferior antagonist. Abra- 
 ham Lincoln had a strong logical mind, quick to 
 detect sophistry and bold to expose it. He had 
 a fine command of language, a clear and pleasant
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 voice, and a power of sarcasm which he used with 
 powerful execution at times. This is the way in 
 which an intelligent correspondent speaks of his 
 speech at Galesburg : 
 
 "For about forty minutes he spoke with a 
 power which we have seldom heard equalled. 
 There was a grandeur in his thoughts, a compre- 
 hensiveness in his arguments, and a binding force 
 in his conclusions, which were pe fectly irresisti- 
 ble. The vast throng was silent as death, every 
 eye was fixed upon the speaker, and all gave him 
 serious attention. He was the tall man eloquent ; 
 his countenance glowed with animation, and his 
 eye glistened with an intelligence that made it 
 lustrous. He was no longer awkward and un- 
 gainly ; but graceful, bold, and commanding. 
 
 " Mr. Douglas had been quietly smoking up to 
 this time, but here he forgot his cigar arid list- 
 ened with anxious attention. When he rose to 
 reply he appeared excited, disturbed, and his sec- 
 ond effort seemed to us vastly inferior to his first. 
 Mr. Lincoln had given him a great task, and Mr. 
 Douglas had not time to answer him, even if lie 
 had the ability." 
 
 Yet there were many points of resemblance be-
 
 154: ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 tween the two contestants. Both had been cra- 
 dled in poverty, and had fought their way up- 
 ward from obscurity to distinction. Douglas had 
 climbed the higher, but the topmost round of the 
 ladder on which he had for some time fixed long- 
 ing eyes, he was destined never to mount. He 
 had sacrificed much to reach the crowning distinc- 
 tion, but it was not for him. His awkward, un- 
 graceful opponent, obscure in comparison with 
 him, was destined to stride past him and sit in the 
 coveted seat of power. But the smaller prize 
 the Senatorship was won by Douglas, though 
 Lincoln carried the popular vote.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE TWO GIANTS. 
 
 IF I were writing a complete and exhaustive 
 biography of Mr. Lincoln, I should be tempted 
 to quote freely from the speeches made by botli 
 contestants in the memorable campaign which 
 made Douglas a Senator, and his opponent the 
 next President of the United States. But neither 
 my space, nor the scope of my book, allows this. 
 I will, however, quote, as likely to be of general 
 interest, the personal description of Lincoln given 
 by his distinguished rival : 
 
 " In the remarks I have made on this platform," 
 said Judge Douglas, "and the position of Mr. 
 Lincoln upon it, I mean nothing personally dis- 
 respectful or unkind to that gentleman. I have 
 known him for nearly twenty-five years. There 
 were many points of sympathy between us when 
 
 we first got acquainted. "We were both cornpara- 
 
 (155)
 
 156 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 lively boys, and both struggling with poverty in 
 a strange land. I was a school-teacher in the 
 town of Winchester, and he a nourishing grocery- 
 keeper in the town of Salem. He was more suc- 
 cessful in his occupation than I was in mine, and 
 hence more fortunate in this world's goods. Lin- 
 coln is one of those peculiar men who perform 
 with admirable skill everything which they un- 
 dertake. I made as good a school-teacher as I 
 could, and when a cabinet-maker I made a good 
 bedstead and tables, although my old boss said I 
 succeeded better with bureaus and secretaries than 
 with anything else; but I believe that Lincoln 
 was always more successful in business than I, for 
 his business enabled him to get into the Legislat- 
 ure. I met him there, however, and had a sym- 
 pathy with him, because of the up-hill struggle 
 we both had in life. 
 
 " He was then just as good at telling an anec- 
 dote as now. He could beat any of the boys 
 in wrestling, or running a foot-race, in pitching 
 quoits, or tossing a coppar; could ruin more 
 liquor than all the boys of the town together, and 
 the dignity and impartiality with which he pre- 
 sided at a horse-race or a fist-fight, excited the ad-
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 157 
 
 miration and won the praise of everybody that 
 was present and participated. I sympathized with 
 him because he was struggling with difficulties 
 and so was I. Mr. Lincoln served with me in the 
 Legislature in 1836, when we both retired, and lie 
 subsided, or became submerged, and he was lost 
 sight of as a public man for some years. In 1846, 
 when Wilmot introduced the celebrated proviso, 
 and the Abolition tornado swept over the country, 
 Lincoln again turned up as a Member of Con- 
 gress from the Sangamon district. I was then in 
 the Senate of the United States, and was glad to 
 welcome my old friend and companion. While 
 in Congress, he distinguished himself by his op- 
 position to the Mexican war, taking the side of 
 our common enemy against his own country ; and 
 when he returned home he found that the indig- 
 nation of the people followed him everywhere, 
 and he was again submerged, or obliged to re- 
 tire into private life, forgotten by his former 
 friends." 
 
 This sketch of Mr. Lincoln, though apparent- 
 ly friendly, was artfully calculated to stir up prej- 
 udice against him, and the backwoods statesman 
 was not willing to leave it unanswered. Gener-
 
 158 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 ally he was quite well able to take care of him- 
 self, and did not fail in the present instance. 
 
 This is his reply : 
 
 " The Judge is wofully at fault about his early 
 friend Lincoln being a grocery-keeper. I don't 
 know as it would be a great sin if I had been ; 
 but he is mistaken. Lincoln never kept a grocery 
 anywhere in the world. It is true that Lincoln 
 did work the latter part of one winter in a little 
 still-house up at the head of a hollow. And so I 
 think my friend, the Judge, is equally at fault 
 when he charges me at the time when I was in 
 Congress with having opposed our soldiers who 
 were fighting in the Mexican war. The Judge 
 did not make his charge very distinctly, but I can 
 tell you what he can prove by referring to the 
 record. You remember I was an old Whig, and 
 whenever the Democratic party tried to get me to 
 vote that the war had been righteously begun by 
 the President, I would not do it. But whenever 
 they asked for any money, or land-warrants, or 
 anything to pay the soldiers there, during all that 
 time I gave the same vote that Judge Douglas did. 
 You can think as you please as to whether that was 
 consistent. Such is the truth ; and the Judge has a
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. \ 5 9 
 
 right to make all he can out of it. But when he, 
 by a general charge, conveys the idea that I with- 
 held supplies from the soldiers who were fighting 
 in the Mexican war, or did anything else to hin- 
 der the soldiers, he is, to say the least, grossly and 
 altogether mistaken, as a consultation of the rec- 
 ords will prove to him." 
 
 Hot content with defending himself, Mr. Lin- 
 coln essayed on his side to contrast his opponent 
 and himself, and, like him, he indulged in per- 
 sonal reminiscences. 
 
 " Twenty-two years -ago Judge Douglas and I 
 first became acquainted ; we were both young 
 then he a trifle younger than I. Even then we 
 were both ambitious, I perhaps quite as much 
 so as he. With me the race of ambition has been 
 a failure, a flat failure ; with him it has been 
 one of splendid success. His name fills the na- 
 tion, and is not unknown even in foreign lands. 
 I affect no contempt for the high eminence he 
 has reached, so readied that the oppressed of 
 my species might have shared with me in the ele- 
 vation. I would rather stand on that eminence 
 than wear the richest crown that ever pressed a 
 monarch's brow."
 
 1(30 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 In another connection Mr. Lincoln says : " Sen- 
 ator Douglas is of world-wide renown. All the 
 anxious politicians of his party, or who had been 
 of his party for years past, have been looking 
 upon him as certainly, at no distant day, to be the 
 President of the United States. They have seen 
 in his round, jolly, fruitful face, post-offices, land- 
 offices, marshalships, and cabinet appointments, 
 charge ?hips and foreign missions, bursting and 
 sprouting out in wonderful exuberance, ready to 
 be laid hold of by their greedy hands. And as 
 they have been gazing upon this attractive pict- 
 ure so long, they can not, in the little distraction 
 that has taken place in the party, bring themselves 
 to give up the charming hope ; but, with greedier 
 anxiety, they rush, about him, sustain him, and 
 give him marches, triumphal entries, and recep- 
 tions, beyond what, even in the days of his high- 
 est prosperity, they could have brought about in 
 his favor. On the contrary, nobody has ever ex- 
 pected me to be President. In my poor, lean, 
 lank face nobody has ever seen that any cabbages 
 were sprouting out. There are disadvantages, all 
 taken together, that the Republicans labor under. 
 We have to fight this battle upon principle, and 
 ^ principle alone."
 
 ASH AHA M LIXCOLN. 1 Q \ 
 
 It may be paid, in summing up, that Mr. Lin- 
 coln proved himself to be fully a match for Judge 
 Douglas in this memorable campaign. 1 may go 
 further and say that he overmatched him, for he 
 adroitly propounded questions which his oppo- 
 nent was compelled to answer, and did answer in 
 a way that killed him as a Presidential candidate. 
 Though he ran in 1860, it was as an independent 
 candidate. He had failed to retain the full con- 
 fidence of his party, and could not secure the reg- 
 ular nomination. Indeed, he contributed indi- 
 rectly to Lincoln's election, by dividing his own 
 party, so that Mr. Lincoln became President, 
 though receiving considerably less than one-half 
 of the popular vote. It is obvious that Mr. Lin- 
 coln, who admits, as we have seen, that he was 
 quite as ambitious as Douglas, was looking farther 
 than the Senatorship. Yet he was personally dis- 
 appointed when the majority in the Legislature 
 proved to be for Douglas, and secured the elec- 
 tion of the latter. He expressed this in his usual 
 quaint way when some one asked him how he 
 felt. He said, " that he felt like the boy that 
 stubbed his toe, it hurt too bad to laugh, and he 
 
 was too big to cry." 
 11
 
 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 It is probable that Abraham Lincoln, though 
 he says no one had ever expected him to be Pres- 
 ident, was not without Presidential aspirations. 
 He thought no doubt that an election as Senator 
 would help his chances, and that the Senatorial 
 position would prove a stepping-stone. Even the 
 shrewdest, however, are liable to make mistakes, 
 arid we are led to believe that Mr. Lincoln was mis- 
 taken in this instance. If he had triumphed over 
 Douglas in 1858, it is more than likely that by 
 some word or act as Senator he would have aroused 
 prejudices that would have made him unavail- 
 able in 1860, and the nation would never have 
 discovered the leader who, under Providence, led 
 it out of the wilderness, and conducted it to peace 
 and freedom. I do not want to moralize over- 
 much, but can not help saying to my readers that 
 in the lives of all there are present disappoint- 
 ments that lead to ultimate success and prosperity. 
 It would not be hard to adduce convincing proofs. 
 Washington and Garfield both desired to go to 
 sea when they were boys. Had their wishes been 
 gratified their after-careers might have been very 
 different. Cromwell had made all arrangements 
 to sail for America when still obscure. He was
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 1(53 
 
 prevented, and remained in his own country to 
 control its destiny, and take a position at the head 
 of affairs. .Remember this when your cherished 
 plans are defeated. There is a higher wisdom 
 than ours that shapes and directs our lives.
 
 CHAPTER XVTQ. 
 
 ILLINOIS DECLARES FOR THE KAIL-SPLITTEE. 
 
 HENCEFORTH Abraham Lincoln was a marked 
 man. He had sprung into national prominence. 
 Limited as had been his tenure of office includ- 
 ing only two years in the lower house of Con- 
 gress it is remarkable how suddenly he came to 
 be recognized as a leader. But at the East he 
 was known only by reputation. This was soon 
 remedied. He received an invitation to lecture 
 in New York, or rather in Mr. Beecher's church 
 in Brooklyn. He was well pleased to accept, but 
 stipulated that he should be permitted to speak 
 on a political subject. When he reached New 
 York, he found that a change had been made in 
 the place where he was to speak, and the Cooper 
 Institute, where at intervals nearly every eminent 
 man in the country has been heard, had been en- 
 gaged for his debut. 
 (164)
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 It was not without a feeling of modest shyness 
 that he surveyed the immense audience gathered 
 to hear him, and he was surprised to see the most 
 cultivated citizens of the great metropolis upon 
 the platform. Among them was William Cullen 
 Bryant, who was president of the meeting, and 
 in that capacity introduced him as "an eminent 
 citizen of the West, hitherto known to you only 
 by reputation." 
 
 Mr. Lincoln commenced his address in low 
 tones, but his voice became louder and his man- 
 ner more confident as he proceeded. His speech 
 was an elaborate argument to prove that the orig- 
 iiial framers of the American Government in- 
 tended that the Federal Government should ex- 
 ercise absolute control of the Federal territories, 
 so far as the subject of slavery was concerned, 
 and had never surrendered this high privilege to 
 local legislation. This he established by incon- 
 trovertible proof, and in so doing quite upset 
 Senator Douglas' theory of Squatter Sovereignty. 
 Incidentally he vindicated the right of the Re- 
 publican party to exist. 
 
 I have not room to quote from this remarkable 
 speech. I am afraid I have already introduced
 
 166 LOTHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 more extracts from speeches than my young read- 
 ers will enjoy. They are necessary, however, if 
 we would understand what were the views of 
 Mr. Lincoln, and what made him President. 
 
 The next day Mr. Lincoln's speech was printed 
 in full in two prominent papers the Tribune 
 and the Evening Post, accompanied by comments 
 of the most favorable character. The first was 
 edited by Horace Greeley, the latter by the poet 
 Bryant, who was nearly as conspicuous a politi- 
 cian as a poet. " No man ever before made such 
 an impression on his first appeal to a New York 
 audience," said the Tribune. 
 
 Robert Lincoln, Mr. Lincoln's oldest son, was 
 a student at Harvard, and his father travelled 
 into New England to visit him. He was besieged 
 by applications to speak at Republican meetings, 
 and accepted a few invitations, being everywhere 
 cordially received. This visit no doubt bore 
 fruit, and drew many voters to his standard, when 
 he had been formally presented to the country as 
 a candidate for the Presidency. That my read- 
 ers may learn how he spoke, and how he ap- 
 peared, I quote from the Manchester (N. H.) 
 Mirror, an independent paper:
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 " He spoke an hour and a half with great fair- 
 ness, great apparent candor, and with wonderful 
 interest. He did not abuse the South, the admin- 
 istration, or the Democrats, or indulge in any 
 personalities, with the exception of a few hits at 
 Douglas' notions. He is far from prepossessing 
 in personal appearance, and his voice is disagree- 
 able ; and jet he wins your attention and good- 
 will from the start. He indulges in no flowers of 
 rhetoric, no eloquent passages. He is not a wit, 
 a humorist, or a clown ; yet so great a vein of 
 pleasantry and good-nature pervades what he 
 says, gilding over a deep current of practical ar- 
 gument he keeps his hearers in a smiling mood, 
 with their mouths open ready to swallow all he 
 says. His sense of the ludicrous is very keen ; 
 and an exhibition of that is the clincher of all 
 his arguments, not the ludicrous acts of persons, 
 but ludicrous ideas. Hence he is never offensive, 
 and steals away willingly into his train of belief 
 persons who were opposed to him. For the first 
 half hour his opponents would agree with every- 
 thing he uttered ; and from that point he began 
 to lead them off little by little, until it seemed 
 as if he had srot them all into his fold. He dis-
 
 1(53 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 plays more shrewdness, more knowledge of the 
 masses of mankind, than any public speaker we 
 have heard since Long Jim Wilson left for Cali- 
 fornia." 
 
 On the day succeeding his speech in Norwich, 
 he met in the cars a clergyman named Gulliver, 
 who sought his acquaintance. 
 
 " Mr. Lincoln," he said, " I thought your speech 
 last evening the most remarkable I ever heard." 
 
 " You do not mean this ? " said Mr. Lincoln, 
 incredulously. 
 
 "Indeed, sir," said Gulliver, "I learned more 
 of the art of public speaking last evening than I 
 could from a whole course of lectures on rhetoric." 
 
 Mr. Lincoln was puzzled, for he was not a man 
 to accept extravagant compliments. 
 
 " I should like very much to know what it was 
 in my speech which you thought so remarkable," 
 lie said. 
 
 " The clearness of your -statements," answered 
 Gulliver, "the unanswerable style of your rea 
 soning, and especially your illustrations, which 
 were romance and pathos, and fun and logic, all 
 welded together." 
 
 " I am much obliged to you for this," said Mr.
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Lincoln. " I have been wishing for a long time 
 to find some one who would make this anal- 
 ysis for me. It throws light on a subject which 
 has been dark to me. I can understand very 
 readily how such a power as you have ascribed 
 to- me will account for the effect which seems to 
 be produced by my speeches. I hope you have 
 not been too flattering in your estimate. Cer- 
 tainly I have had a most wonderful success for a 
 man of rny limited education." 
 
 " Mr. Lincoln, may I say one thing to you be- 
 fore we separate ? " asked Mr. Gulliver later. 
 
 " Certainly ; anything you please." 
 
 " You have spoken of the tendency of political 
 life in Washington to debase the moral convic- 
 tions of our representatives there, by the admixt- 
 ure of considerations of mere political expe- 
 diency. You have become, by the controversy 
 with Mr. Douglas, one of our leaders in this great 
 struggle with slavery, which is undoubtedly the 
 struggle of the nation and the age. What I 
 would like to say is this, and I say it with a full 
 heart : Be true to your principles, and we will 
 ~be true to you, and God will l)e true to us all ! " 
 
 " I say amen to that ! amen to that ! " answered
 
 170 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 Mr. Lincoln, taking his hand in both his own, 
 while his face lighted up sympathetically. 
 
 I may as well mention, here the first public oc- 
 casion on which Mr. Lincoln's name was men- 
 tioned for the Presidency. 
 
 On the 9th and 10th of May the Republican 
 State Convention met at Decatur. Mr. Lincoln 
 was present as a spectator, but he attracted the 
 attention of Gov. Oglesby, who rose, and said : 
 " T am informed that a distinguished citizen of 
 Illinois, and one whom Illinois will ever delight 
 to honor, is present ; and I wish to move that this 
 body invite him to a seat on the stand." 
 
 Public interest and curiosity were aroused. 
 Who was this distinguished citizen ? 
 
 The Governor paused a moment, and then ut- 
 tered the name of Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 Instantly there was a roar of applause, there 
 was a rush to where the astonished Lincoln sat, 
 he was seized, and the crowd being too dense to 
 press through, he was literally passed over the 
 heads arid shoulders of the great throng until 
 breathless he found himself on the platform. 
 Willing or unwilling he was literally for the time 
 being "in the hands of his friends."
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Later on Gov. Oglesby rose once more and 
 said : " There is an old Democrat outside who 
 has something which he w r islies to present to the 
 Convention." 
 
 " What is it ? " " What is it ? " " Eeceive it ! " 
 shouts the crowd. 
 
 The door of the wigwam opens, and an old 
 man, bluff and hearty, comes forward, bearing on 
 his shoulder two small rails, surmounted by a 
 banner, with this inscription : 
 
 TWO KAILS 
 
 FROM A LOT MADE BY ABRAHAM LlNCOLN AND 
 JOHN HANKS, IN THE SANGAMON BOTTOM, IN 
 
 THE YEAR 1830. 
 
 This old man was John Hanks himself ! His 
 entrance was greeted with tumultuous applause. 
 
 " Lincoln ! Lincoln ! A speech ! " shouts the 
 crowd. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln seemed amused. He rose at length 
 and said : 
 
 "Gentlemen, I suppose you want to know 
 something about those things," (the rails). " Well, 
 the truth is, John Hanks and I did make rails in
 
 172 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 the Sangamon Bottom. I don't know whethei 
 we made those rails or not; fact is, I don't think 
 they are a credit to the makers," (laughing as he 
 spoke). " But I do know this : I made rails then, 
 and I think I could make better ones than these 
 now." 
 
 Before the Convention dissolved, a resolution 
 was passed, declaring that "Abraham Lincoln is 
 the first choice of the Republican party of Illi- 
 nois for the Presidency, and instructing the dele- 
 gates to the Chicago Convention to use all honor- 
 able means to secure his nomination, and to cast 
 the vote of the State as a unit for him." 
 
 So Abraham Lincoln, " the rail-Splitter," as he 
 was familiarly called, was fairly in the field as a 
 candidate for the highest office in the gift of the 
 nation.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 NOMINATED FOE PRESIDENT. 
 
 ON the 16th of May the Republican Conven- 
 tion assembled in Chicago. Considered with 
 reference to its outcome, no more important con- 
 vention had assembled since the organization of 
 the Government. Though this could not be real- 
 ized at the time, its deliberations were followed 
 with great interest all over the country. The 
 opponents of the slave power were, for the tirst 
 time, to make a formidable effort to prevent its 
 extension and indefinite perpetuation. 
 
 Of course, there had been more or less election- 
 eering in advance. Half a dozen candidates were 
 in the field ; but there were two who were recog- 
 nized as leading in strength and popularity. 
 These were William H. Seward and Abraham 
 Lincoln. The former, in length and variety of 
 
 public service, in general culture, and national 
 
 (173)
 
 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 reputation, was far superior. It was felt that he 
 would make an admirable candidate, and that he 
 deserved the nomination ; but there were many 
 who were strongly opposed to him. Three im- 
 portant States Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and 
 Indiana declared that, as against Douglas, they 
 could do nothing if Seward were the nominee. 
 Illinois, of course, was for Lincoln, and this 
 giant of the Western prairies enjoyed a popu- 
 larity which his more experienced competitor 
 could not boast. Yet for the first two days 
 Seward's chances seemed the better of the two. 
 The other candidates whose names were present- 
 ed to the Convention were Mr. Dayton, of New 
 Jersey ; Mr. Cameron, of Pennsylvania ; Edward 
 Bates, of Missouri ; and Ohio offered two dis- 
 tinguished sons Salmon P. Chase and John 
 McLean. 
 
 On the first and second ballots Mr. Seward led ; 
 but, on the third, Mr. Lincoln lacked but a vote 
 and a half of the number necessary to make him 
 the nominee. An Ohio delegate rose and changed 
 four votes from Chase to Lincoln. This was suffi- 
 cient. He was nominated. The vast building 
 shook with the cheers of the dense throng. State
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 175 
 
 after State changed its vote to tho man of destiny, 
 and his nomination was made unanimous. In the 
 afternoon, Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, was nomi- 
 nated for Vice-President. 
 
 Meanwhile Mr. Lincoln was in Springfield, 
 bearing the suspense as well as he could. My boy 
 readers will be interested to know that he spent 
 a considerable part of his time in playing base- 
 ball, his mind being too preoccupied to do his 
 ordinary work. Dispatches were received from 
 time to time, but nothing decisive. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln and some of his friends were wait- 
 ing in the office of the Journal when the local 
 editor rushed in, in a fever of excitement. 
 
 ""What's the news?" was the breathless in- 
 quiry. 
 
 " The Convention has made a nomination," he 
 said, " and Mr. Seward " 
 
 A look of intense disappointment was begin- 
 ning to show itself on the faces of the listeners. 
 They supposed that Seward was nominated. 
 
 " And Seward is the second man on the list," 
 continued the editor. 
 
 He could no longer restrain himself. Jumping 
 on the editorial table, he shouted, " Gentlemen, I
 
 176 EOYROOD AND MAX HOOD OF 
 
 propose three cheers for Abraham Lincoln, the 
 next President of the United States." 
 
 The cheers were given with a will. 
 
 The dispatch was handed to Mr. Lincoln, who 
 read it quietly. 
 
 Then he put it in his pocket, saying, " There 
 is a little woman on Eighth Street who will be 
 interested to hear this," and he walked home. 
 
 In Springfield the news excited the greatest 
 enthusiasm. All knew and loved Abraham Lin- 
 coin. He set himself above no one, but greeted 
 all with cordial kindness. The nomination was 
 felt to be a personal compliment to Springfield. 
 The country had come to them for a President, 
 and to the man above all others whom they would 
 personally have selected. 
 
 That day Mr. Lincoln had to keep open house. 
 His modest residence proved quite too small to 
 contain the crowds who wanted to enter and 
 shake hands with the man who had become so 
 suddenly of national importance. They received 
 a cordial welcome ; and no one could detect in 
 the nominee any unusual elation nor any devi- 
 ation from his usual plain and modest deport- 
 ment.
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 1 77 
 
 & 
 
 The next day Mr. Lincoln was formally noti- 
 fied of his election by a Committee of the Con- 
 vention, with Mr. Ashmun at the head. This 
 was his response: 
 
 " MR. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN OF THE COM- 
 MITTEE: I tender to yon, and through you to 
 the Republican National Convention, and all the 
 people represented in it, my profonndest thanks 
 for the high honor done me, which you now for- 
 mally announce. Deeply and even painfully 
 sensible of the great responsibility which is in- 
 separable from this high honor a responsibility 
 which I could almost wish had fallen upon some 
 one of the far more eminent men and experi- 
 enced statesmen whoso distinguished names were 
 before the Convention, I shall, by your leave, 
 consider more fully the resolutions of the Con- 
 vention, denominated the platform, and, without 
 unnecessary and unreasonable delay, respond to 
 you, Mr. Chairman, in writing, not doubting that 
 the platform will be found satisfactory, and the 
 nomination gratefully accepted. And now I will 
 not longer defer the pleasure of taking you, and 
 each of you, by the hand." 
 
 Let us consider who were Mr. Lincoln's rivals 
 12
 
 IT'S BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 in the Presidential race. Usually there are but 
 two tickets in the field. This time there were 
 four. First in order of time had come the Na- 
 tional Constitutional Union Convention, made up 
 largely of old Whigs. At this Convention John 
 Bell, of Tennessee, was nominated for President, 
 .and Edward Everett, of Massachusetts, for Vice- 
 President. The Democratic National Convention 
 had met at Charleston, but adjourned without 
 deciding upon a candidate. Mr. Douglas was 
 the most prominent man before it, but extreme 
 Southerners doubted his entire devotion to 
 slavery, and he was unable to obtain the neces- 
 sary two-thirds vote. The two factions into 
 which the Convention split afterward met: the 
 one at Baltimore, the other at Richmond. At 
 the Baltimore Convention Stephen A. Douglas 
 was nominated for President, and Mr. Johnson, 
 of Georgia, for Yice-President. At the Rich- 
 mond Convention of Southern seceders, John C. 
 Breckinridge, of Kentucky, and Joseph Lane, of 
 Oregon, were selected as standard-bearers. 
 
 O f 
 
 In this division of the Democracy lay the hope 
 of the new Republican party. With the De- 
 mocracy united they would have been unable to
 
 ABBA HAM LINCOLN. J 79 
 
 cope ; but they were stronger than either faction. 
 When the eventful 6th of November arrived, the 
 result was what might have been anticipated. 
 Abraham Lincoln, the poor boy whose fortunes 
 we have so long followed, reached the highest step 
 of political preferment. He received 1,857,610 
 votes; Mr. Douglas came next, with 1,291,574; 
 while Mr. Brecldnridge could muster only 850,082 ; 
 Mr. Bell secured 646,124. Of the electoral votes, 
 however, Mr. Lincoln received a majority, namely, 
 180 out of 292. 
 
 To go back a little. From the day of Mr. Lin- 
 coln's nomination he was beset by callers some 
 drawn by curiosity, and many by considerations 
 of private interest. They found him the same 
 unaffected, plain man that he had always been. 
 He even answered the door-bell himself, and per- 
 sonally ushered visitors in and out. My readers 
 will be interested in two anecdotes of this time, 
 which I transcribe from the interesting volume 
 of Dr. Holland, already more than once re- 
 ferred to : 
 
 " Mr. Lincoln being seated in conversation with 
 a gentleman one day, two raw, plainly-dressed 
 young ' Suckers ' entered the room and bashfully
 
 180 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 lingered near the door. As soon as he observed 
 them and apprehended their embarrassment, he 
 rose and walked to them, saying, ' How do you 
 do, my good fellows ? What can I do for you ? 
 Will you sit down ? ' 
 
 " The spokesman of the pair, the shorter of 
 the two, declined to sit, and explained tho object 
 of the call thus : he had had a talk about the rela- 
 tive height of Mr. Lincoln and his companion, 
 and had asserted his belief that they were of 
 exactly the same height. He had come in to 
 verify his judgment. Mr. Lincoln smiled, went 
 and got his cane, and, placing the end of it upon 
 the wall, said, ' Here, young man, come under 
 here.' 
 
 " The young man cams under the cane, as 
 Mr. Lincoln held it, and when it was perfectly 
 adjusted to his height, Mr. Lincoln said, ' Now 
 come out, and hold up the cane.' This he did, 
 while Mr. Lincoln stepped under. Rubbing his 
 head back and forth to see that it worked easily 
 under the measurement, he stepped out, and de- 
 clared to the sagacious fellow who was curiously 
 looking on, that he had guessed with remarkable 
 accuracy that he and the young man were ex-
 
 A.BRA HAM LINCOLN. 
 
 actly of tlie same height. Then he shook hands 
 with them, and sent them on their way. Mr. Lin- 
 coln would just as soon have thought of cutting 
 off' his right hand as he would have thought of 
 turning those boys away with the impression that 
 they had in any way insulted his dignity. 
 
 " They had hardly disappeared when an old 
 and modestly-dressed woman made her appear- 
 ance. She knew Mr. Lincoln, but Mr Lincoln did 
 not at first recognize her. Then she undertook 
 to recall to his memory certain incidents con- 
 nected with his ride upon the Circuit especially 
 upon his dining at her house upon the road at dif- 
 ferent times. Then he remembered her and her 
 home. Having fixed her own place in her recol- 
 lection, she tried to recall to him a certain scanty 
 dinner of bread and milk that he once ate at her 
 house. He could not remember it ; on the con- 
 trary, he only remembered that he had always 
 fared well at her house. ' Well,' said she, ' one 
 day you came along after we had got through 
 dinner, and we had eaten up everything, and I 
 could give you nothing but a bowl of bread and 
 milk ; and you. ate it ; and when you got up you 
 said it was good enough for the President of the
 
 182 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 United States.' The good old woman, remember- 
 ing the remark, had come in from the country, 
 making a journey of eight or ten miles, to relate 
 to Mr. Lincoln this incident, which, in her mind, 
 had doubtless taken the form of prophecy. Mr. 
 Lincoln placed the honest creature at her ease, 
 chatted with her of old times, and dismissed her 
 in the most happy and complacent frame of 
 mind."
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 FAREWELL TO SPRINGFIELD. 
 
 HOWEVER bitter and acrimonious a political 
 campaign may have been, the result is usually 
 accepted good-naturedly. The defeated party 
 hopes for better luck next time, and awaits with 
 interest the course of the new Executive. But 
 this was not the case after the election which 
 made Mr. Lincoln President. The South was 
 sullen, the North divided in sentiment. The 
 party that sustained slavery had staked all on the 
 issue of the campaign. They were not disposed 
 to acquiesce in the result. They were quiet, but 
 it was a dangerous quiet. They were biding their 
 time, and meant mischief. 
 
 James Buchanan was President. He was an 
 old man ; cautious to timidity, overawed by the 
 bold, defiant spirits that constituted his Cabinet 
 
 not seeing, or not caring to see, the evidences of 
 
 (188)
 
 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 their disloyalty. Never did a President long 
 more ardently for his term to close. He saw that 
 a storm was brewing, the like of which the coun- 
 try had never seen. He earnestly hoped that it 
 would not burst till he had laid down the respon- 
 sibilities of office. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln waited quietly at Springfield 
 for the time to come that should separate him 
 from the tranquil course of life he had led hith- 
 erto and precipitate him into the maelstrom of 
 political excitement at Washington, wherein he was 
 to be the central figure. Knowing him as in after 
 years we learned to know him, we can not doubt 
 that at times he felt almost overwhelmed by his 
 coming burdens. It was well, perhaps, that he 
 was not permitted to be too much alone. His 
 attention was distracted by throngs of visitors, 
 autograph-hunters and office-seekers being the 
 most conspicuous who consumed a large part of 
 his time. 
 
 As this story is written especially for young peo- 
 ple, I will venture to transcribe from Mr. Hol- 
 land's " Life " two incidents which connected 
 him with children : 
 
 " He was holding a reception at the Tremont
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 185 
 
 House in Chicago. A fond father took in a little 
 boy by the hand who was anxious to see the new 
 President. The moment the child entered the par- 
 lor door, he of his own motion, and quite to the sur- 
 prise of his father, took off his hat, and, giving it a 
 swing, cried, 'Hurrah for Lincoln!' There was a 
 crowd, but as soon as Mr. Lincoln could get hold 
 of the little fellow, he lifted him in his hands, and, 
 tossing him toward the ceiling, laughingly shouted, 
 ' Hurrah for you ! 3 
 
 " To Mr. Lincoln it was evidently a refreshing 
 episode in the dreary work of hand-shaking. 
 
 " At a party in Chicago during this visit, he 
 saw a little girl timidly approaching him. He 
 called her to him, and asked her what she wished 
 for. She replied that she wanted his name. Mr. 
 Lincoln looked back into the room, and said, 
 ' But here are other little girls they would feel 
 badly if I should give my name only to you.' 
 The little girl replied that there were eight in 
 all. 'Then,' said Mr. Lincoln, 'get me eight 
 sheets of paper and pen and ink and I will see 
 what I can do for you.' The paper was brought, 
 and Mr. Lincoln sat down in the crowded draw- 
 ing-room, and wrote a sentence upon each sheet,
 
 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 appending his name; and thus every little girl 
 carried off her souvenir." 
 
 On the llth of February, 1861, Abraham Lin- 
 coln left his pleasant Western home for the cap- 
 ital. It was to be a leisurely journey, for he 
 would be expected to stop at many points to 
 meet friends and receive friendly greetings. 
 Three weeks were to elapse before he would be 
 inaugurated, but, as he bade farewell to his 
 friends and neighbors, he felt that the burden of 
 care had already fallen upon him. How he felt 
 may be understood from the few farewell words 
 which he spoke. As reported l>y Mr. Lam on, 
 they are as follows : 
 
 " FRIENDS : No one who has never been placed 
 in a like position can understand iny feelings at 
 this hour, nor the oppressive sadness I feel at this 
 parting. For more than a quarter of a century I 
 have lived among you, and, during all that time, 
 I have received nothing but kindness at your 
 hands. Here I have lived from my youth, until 
 now I am an old man. Here the most sacred ties 
 o earth were assumed. Here all my children 
 were born, and here one of them lies buried. 
 To yon, dear friends, I owe all that I have all
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 that I am. All the strange, checkered past seems 
 to crowd upon my mind. To-day I leave you. I 
 go to assume a task more difficult than that which 
 devolved upon Washington. Unless the great 
 God who assisted him shall be with and aid me, 
 I must fail ; but, if the same Omniscient mind 
 and almighty arm that directed and protected him 
 shall guide and support me, I shall not fail I 
 shall succeed. Let us all pray that the God of 
 our fathers may not forsake us now. To Him I 
 commend you all. Permit me to ask that, with 
 equal security and faith, you will invoke His 
 wisdom and guidance for me. With these few 
 words, I must leave you ; for how long, I know 
 not. Friends, one and all, I must now bid you 
 an affectionate farewell." 
 
 I have already alluded to Mr. Lincoln's consti- 
 tutional melancholy inherited from his mother. 
 With it was joined a vein of superstition, which at 
 times darkened the shadow that seemed to hover 
 about him. In this connection, and as an illus- 
 tration of this characteristic of the President- 
 elect, I quote an interesting reminiscence of John 
 Hay, the secretary of Mr. Lincoln, in the words 
 of his chief :
 
 188 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 " It was just after my election in 1860, when 
 the news had been coming in thick and fast all 
 day, and there had been a great ' hurrah, boys ! ' 
 so that I was well tired out, and went home to 
 rest, throwing myself upon a lounge in my cham- 
 ber. Opposite to where I lay was a bureau with 
 a swinging glass upon it ; and, in looking in that 
 glass, 1 saw myself reflected nearly at full length ; 
 but my face, I noticed, had two separate and dis- 
 tinct images the tip of the nose of one being 
 about three inches from the tip of the other. 1 
 was a little bothered perhaps startled, and got 
 up and looked in the glass, but the illusion van- 
 ished. On lying down again I saw it a second 
 time plainer, if possible, than before ; and then 
 I noticed that one of the faces was a little paler 
 say, five shades than the other. I got up, and 
 the thing melted away; and 1 went off, and in 
 the excitement of the hour forgot all about it 
 nearly, but not quite ; for the thing would once 
 in a while come up and give me a little pang, as 
 if something uncomfortable had happened. When 
 I went home, I told my wife about it ; and a few 
 days after, I tried the experiment again when, 
 sure enough, the thing came back again ; but I
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 never succeeded in bringing back the ghost after 
 that, though I once tried very industriously to 
 show it to ray wife, who was worried about it 
 somewhat. She thought it was a ' sign ' that I 
 was to be elected to a second term of office, and 
 that the paleness of one of the faces was an omen 
 that I should not see life through the last term." 
 
 Mrs. Lincoln's impression was curiously correct, 
 as it turned out ; but we must set it down as a 
 singular coincidence, and nothing more. Camp- 
 bell, in one of his spirited lyrics, tells us that 
 " Coming events cast their shadows before "; but 
 it is hardly likely that in this case God should 
 have sent the President-elect a premonition of the 
 fate which was to. overtake him some years 
 later. It is better to consider that the vision had 
 a natural cause in the rumors of assassination 
 which were even then rife on account of the bitter 
 feeling excited by the election of a Republican 
 President. Such rumors had been brought to 
 Mr. Lincoln himself, and he had been urged to 
 take measures against assassination. But he con- 
 sidered them useless. " If they want to kill me," 
 he said, " there is nothing to prevent." He felt 
 that it would be easy enough for an enemy to
 
 190 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 take his life, no matter how many guards he 
 might have around him. If it were his destiny 
 to die, he felt that death would come in spite of 
 all precautions. 
 
 I need hardly say that Mr. Lincoln was unfor- 
 tunate in having such a temperament. Fortu- 
 nately, it is exceptional. A cheerful, sunny tem- 
 perament, that rejoices in prosperity and makes 
 the best of adversity, providing against ill-for- 
 tune, but not anticipating it, is a happy posses- 
 sion. In Mr. Lincoln his morbid feelings were 
 lighted up and relieved by a strong sense of hu- 
 mor, which made him in his lighter moments a 
 very agreeable companion.
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 A VISIT TO MR. LINCOLN. 
 
 BEFORE proceeding to speak of Abraham 
 Lincoln as President, I desire that my read- 
 ers may know him as well as possible, and for 
 that purpose I will transcribe an account of a 
 visit to him by a correspondent of the New York 
 Evening Post. I find it in D. "W. Bartlett's 
 book, entitled " The Life and Public Services of 
 Hon. Abraham Lincoln ": 
 
 " It had been reported by some of Mr. Lincoln's 
 political enemies that he was a man who lived in 
 the lowest Hoosier style, and I thought I would see 
 for myself. Accordingly, as soon as the business 
 of the Convention was closed, I took the cars for 
 Springfield. I found Mr. Lincoln living in a 
 handsome, but not pretentious, double two-story 
 frame house, having a wide hall running through 
 
 the center, with parlors on both sides, neatly, but 
 
 (191)
 
 192 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 not ostentatiously furnished. It was jnst such a 
 d '/veiling as a majority of the well-to-do residents 
 of these tine Western towns occupy. Everything 
 about it had a look of comfort and independence. 
 The library I remarked in pa:sing particularly, 
 and I was pleased to see long rows of books, 
 which told of the scholarly tastes and culture of 
 the family. 
 
 " Lincoln received us with great, and, to me, sur- 
 prising, urbanity. I had seen him before in New 
 York, and brought with mo an impression of his 
 awkward and ungainly manner; but in his own 
 house, where he doubtless feels himself freer than 
 in the strange New Tork circles, he had thrown 
 this off, and appeared easy if not graceful. 
 
 " He is, as you know, a tall, lank man, with a 
 long neck, and his ordinary movements are un- 
 usually angular, even out West. As soon, how- 
 ever, as he gets interested in conversation, his face 
 lights up, and his attitudes and gestures assume a 
 certain dignity and impressiveness. His conver- 
 sation is fluent, agreeable, and polite. You see 
 at once from it that he is a man of decided and 
 original character. His views are all his own ; 
 such as he has worked out from a patient and va-
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 ried scrutiny of life, and not such as he has learn- 
 ed from others. Yet he can not be called opin- 
 ionated. He listens to others like one eager to 
 learn, and his replies evince at the same time both 
 modesty and self-reliance. I should say that 
 sound common-sense was the principal quality of 
 his mind, although at times a striking phrase or 
 word reveals a peculiar vein of thought. He tells 
 a story well, with a strong idiomatic smack, and 
 seems to relish humor, both in himself and others. 
 Our conversation was mainly political, but of a 
 general nature. One thing Mr. Lincoln remark- 
 ed which I will venture to repeat. He said that 
 in the coming Presidential canvass he was wholly 
 uncommitted to any cabals or cliques, and that he 
 meant to keep himself free from them, and from 
 all pledges and promises. 
 
 " I had the pleasure also of a brief interview 
 with Mrs. Lincoln, and, in the circumstances of 
 thes2 persons, I trust I am not trespassing on the 
 sanctities of private life, in saying a word in re- 
 gard to that lady. Whatever of awkwardness 
 may be ascribed to her husband, there is none of 
 it in her. On the contrary, she is quite a pattern 
 
 of liidylike courtesy and polish. She converses 
 13
 
 194: BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 with freedom and grace, and is thoroughly au 
 fait in all the little amenities of society. Mrs. 
 Lincoln belongs, by the mother's side, to the 
 Preston family of Kentucky ; has received a liberal 
 and refined education, and, should she ever reach 
 it, will adorn the White House. She is, I ain 
 told, a strict and consistent member of the Pres- 
 byterian church. 
 
 " Not a man of us who saw Mr. Lincoln but 
 was impressed by his ability and character. In 
 illustration of the last, let me mention one or two 
 things which your readers, I think, will be pleased 
 to hear. Mr. Lincoln's early life, as you know, 
 was passed in the roughest kind of experience on 
 the frontier, and among the roughest sort of peo- 
 ple. Yet, I have been told, that, in the face of 
 all these influences, he is a strictly temperate man, 
 never using wine or strong drink, and, stranger 
 still, he does not ' twist the filthy weed,' nor 
 smoke, nor use profane language of any kind. 
 When we consider how common these vices are 
 all over our country, particularly in the West, it 
 must be admitted that it exhibits no little strength 
 of character to have refrained from them. 
 
 " Mr. Lincoln is popular with his friends and
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 195 
 
 neighbors ; the habitual equity of his mind points 
 him out as a peace-maker and composer of diffi- 
 culties ; his integrity is proverbial ; and his legal 
 abilities are regarded as of the highest order. 
 The sobriquet of * Honest Old Abe ' has been won 
 by years of upright conduct, and is the popular 
 homage to his probity. He carries the marks of 
 honesty in his face and entire deportment. 
 
 " I am the more convinced by this personal in- 
 tercourse with Mr. Lincoln, that the action of our 
 Convention was altogether j udicious and proper." 
 
 I call the attention of rny readers to what is 
 said of Mr. Lincoln's freedom from bad habits of 
 every kind, though brought up as he had been, 
 and with the surroundings of his early life, it 
 would have been natural for him to fall into them. 
 
 During Mr. Lincoln's visit to New York, he 
 visited the Five Points House of Industry. This 
 was probably at the time of his first visit, already 
 referred to, when he made an address at the 
 Cooper Institute. One who was at that time a 
 teacher in the House of Industry, gives this ac- 
 count of the visit : 
 
 " Our Sunday-school in the Five Points was as- 
 sembled one Sabbath morning, a few months
 
 196 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 since, when I noticed a tall and remarkable-look- 
 ing man enter the room and take a seat among us. 
 He listened with fixed attention to our exercises, 
 and his countenance manifested such genuine in- 
 
 O 
 
 terest that I approached him and suggested that 
 he might bo willing to say something to the chil- 
 dren. 
 
 " He accepted the invitation with evident 
 pleasure, and, coming forward, began a simple ad- 
 dress, which at once fascinated every little hearer, 
 and hushed the room into silence. His language 
 was strikingly beautiful, and his tones musical 
 with intensest feeling. The little faces around 
 would droop into sad conviction as he uttered 
 sentences of warning, and would brighten into 
 sunshine as he spoke cheerful words of promise. 
 Once or twice he attempted to close his remarks, 
 but the imperative shouts of ' Go on ! ' ' Oh, do 
 go on!' would compel him to resume. As I 
 looked upon the gaunt and sinewy frame of the 
 stranger, and marked his powerful head and de- 
 termined features, now touched into softness by 
 the impressions of the moment, I felt an irre- 
 pressible curiosity to learn something more about 
 him, and when he was quietly leaving the room,
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 197 
 
 I begged to know his name. He courteously re- 
 plied : 
 
 " ' It is Abraham Lincoln, from Illinois ! ' ' 
 It is easy to understand how the sight of these 
 poor children should have touched the heart of 
 the backwoods boy. Doubtless they recalled to 
 his memory his own neglected childhood, and his 
 early privations, when he was not in a position to 
 learn even as well as thess poor waifs from the 
 city streets. If only that speech could have been 
 reported, with what interest would we read it to- 
 day. It must have been instinct with sympathy 
 to have made such a powerful impression on these 
 poor children and the teacher who tells the story.
 
 CHAPTEE XXII. 
 
 THE INAUGURATION. 
 
 THERE were unusual circumstances attending 
 the close of Mr. Lincoln's journey to the Capital. 
 So bitter was the feeling engendered among his 
 opponents that plots were entered into against his 
 life. Dr. Holland states that the President-elect 
 was cognizant of his danger. An attempt was 
 made to throw the train off the track on which 
 he journeyed from Springfield. There was a 
 rumor that when he reached Baltimore conspira- 
 tors would surround his carriage in the guise of 
 friends, and accomplish his assassination. These 
 reports were probably exaggerated, and Mr. La- 
 mon discredits them altogether, but it is likely 
 that they were well founded. At any rate, meas- 
 ures were taken to ferret out the conspiracy, and, 
 by advice of General Scott and Senator Seward, 
 
 then in Washington, Mr. Lincoln quietly left 
 (193)
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 199 
 
 Harrisbnrg by a speeial train in advance of his 
 party, and arrived in Washington at half-past six 
 in the morning, when no one expected him except 
 those who had arranged this deviation from the 
 regular programme. The moment hs left Har- 
 risbnrg the telegraph wires were cut, so that intel- 
 ligence of his departure could not be sent to a 
 distance. 
 
 It was strange and as yet unprecedented, this 
 S2eret and carefully-guarded journey, but the cir- 
 cumstances seemed to make it necessary. His 
 friends received him with a feeling of happy re- 
 lief, and, as the morning advanced, and it was 
 learned that he was in the city, Washington en- 
 joyed a ssnsation. There were many at the time 
 who ridiculed the fears of Mr. Lincoln's friends, 
 and disapproved of the caution which counselled 
 his secret arrival; but sad events that have since 
 saddened and disgraced the nation, show that both 
 he and his friends were wise. The assassination 
 of Lincoln on his way to the Capital would have 
 had far more disastrous effects than the unhappy 
 tragedy of April, 1865, and might have estab- 
 lished Jefferson Davis in the White House. 
 There was a strong disloyal element in Wash-
 
 200 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 ington, and there were more perhaps who re- 
 garded Mr. Lincoln with hostility than with friend- 
 ship, but among those who probably were heartily 
 glad to hear of his arrival was President James 
 Buchanan, who was anxious and eager to lay 
 down the sceptre, and transfer his high office to 
 his lawful successor. Timid by nature, he was 
 not the pilot to guide the ship of State in a storm. 
 No one ever more willingly retired to the peace 
 and security of private life. 
 
 Indeed, as we consider the condition of the 
 country and the state of public feeling, we are 
 disposed rather to condole with the new President 
 than to congratulate him. In times of peace and 
 prosperity the position of Chief Magistrate is a 
 prize worth competing for ; but, in 1861, even a 
 strong man and experienced statesman might well 
 have shrunk from assuming its duties. 
 
 General Winfield .Scott was at that time in 
 military command of Washington. He was fear- 
 ful that the inaugural exercises might be inter- 
 rupted by some violent demonstration, and made 
 preparations accordingly, but he was happily dis- 
 appointed. The day dawned bright and clear. 
 Washington was in holiday attire. Business was
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 20] 
 
 generally suspended, and there was an unusual in- 
 terest to hear Mr. Lincoln's inaugural address. 
 Among the attentive listeners were the retiring 
 President and Chief-Justice Taney, of the Su- 
 preme Court, a man whose sympathies were with 
 the slave power. It was a creditable and note- 
 worthy incident of this memorable occasion, that 
 among the friends who stood by Mr. Lincoln most 
 staunchly, even holding his hat as he delivered his 
 inaugural, was his old Senatorial and Presidential 
 competitor, Stephen A. Douglas. Whatever, his 
 sentiments were on the issues of the day, he was 
 not willing to side with, or in any way assist, 
 those who menaced the national existence. An- 
 other defeated candidate, Mr. Breckinridge, was 
 present, having just surrendered the Vice-Presi- 
 dent's chair to Mr. Hamliii. It was a scene for 
 an artist. There could be no more striking pict- 
 ure than one which should faithfully represent 
 Abraham Lincoln, reading his iirst inaugural be- 
 fore an audience of representative men, half of 
 whom were hostile, and many of whom, three 
 months later, were in arms against the Govern- 
 ment. All alike, foes as well as friends, were 
 eager to hear what the new President had to say.
 
 202 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 Had it been Seward instead of Lincoln, they 
 could have formed a reasonable conjecture, but 
 this giant from the Western prairies ; this Back- 
 woods Boy, who had grown to maturity under the 
 most unpromising circumstances ; this man, witli 
 his limited experience in but one national office, 
 was an unknown quantity in politics, and no one 
 knew what manner of man he was. But we shall 
 never have such a picture. People had more im- 
 portant things to think of then, and it is too late 
 now. In a time of intense feeling, when the na- 
 tional existence was at stake, and no one knsw 
 what events the next week would bring forth, 
 there was little taste or time for art. 
 
 We, too, may well feel interested in the utter- 
 ances of the President-elect. I should be glad to 
 quote the entire address, but as this is impractica- 
 ble, I will make a few significant extracts : 
 
 " I do not consider it necessary at present, 
 said Mr. Lincoln, " for me to discuss those mat- 
 ters of administration about which there is no 
 special anxiety or excitement. Apprehensions 
 seem to exist among the people of the Southern 
 States, that, by the accession of a Republican ad- 
 ministration, their property and their peace and
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 203 
 
 personal security are to be endangered. There 
 has never been any reasonable cause for such ap- 
 prehension. 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 ad- 
 dresses you. I do but quote from one of those 
 speeches, when I declare that ' I have no purpose, 
 directly or indirectly, to interfere with the insti- 
 tution of slavery in the States where it exists.' I 
 believe I have no lawful right to do so ; and I 
 have no inclination to do so. Those who nomi- 
 nated and elected me did so with the full knowl- 
 edge that I had made this, and made many simi- 
 lar declarations, and had never recanted them." 
 
 Further on he says : 
 
 " It is seventy-two years to-day since the first 
 inauguration of a President under our national 
 Constitution. During that period fifteen different 
 and very distinguished citizens have, in succession, 
 administered the executive branch of the Govern- 
 ment. They have conducted it through many 
 perils, and generally with great success. Yet, 
 with all this scope for precedent, I now enter 
 upon the same task, for the brief constitutional
 
 204 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 term of four years, under great and peculiar 
 difficulties. 
 
 " A disruption of the Federal Union, hereto- 
 fore only menaced, is now formidably attempted. 
 I hold that in the contemplation of universal law 
 and of the Constitution, the union of these States 
 is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not ex- 
 pressed, in the fundamental law of all national 
 governments. It is cafe to assert that no govern- 
 ment proper ever had a provision in its organic 
 law for its own termination. Continue to exe- 
 cute all the express provisions 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. 
 
 "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 are legally void ; and that acts of vio- 
 lence within any State or States against the au- 
 thority 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,
 
 ABRAIIA. M LINCOLN. 205 
 
 as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon 
 me, that the laws of the Union shall be faithfully 
 executed in all tho States. Doing this, which 1 
 deem to be only a simple duty on my part, I shall 
 perfectly perform it, so far as is practicable, un- 
 less my rightful masters, the American people, 
 shall withhold the requisition, or in some author- 
 itative manner direct the contrary. 
 
 " I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, 
 but only as the declared purpose of the Union, 
 th it it will constitutionally defend and maintain 
 itself." 
 
 After arguing at some length against separa- 
 lion, Mr. Lincoln closes his address with an ap- 
 peal to his fellow-citizens : 
 
 "My countrymen, one and all, think calmly 
 and well upon this whole subject. Nothing val- 
 uable 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 tak- 
 ing time; but no good object can be frustrated 
 by it. 
 
 " Such of you as are now dissatisfied still have
 
 20G BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the sen- 
 sitive point, the laws of your own framing, under 
 it ; while the new administration will have no im- 
 mediate power, if it would, to change either. 
 
 " If it were admitted that you who are dissat- 
 isfied hold the right side in the dispute, there is 
 still no single reason for precipitate action. In- 
 telligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm re- 
 liance on Him who has never yet forsaken this 
 favored land, are still competent to adjust, in the 
 best way, all our present difficulties. 
 
 " In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-country- 
 men, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of 
 civil war. The Government will not assail you. 
 
 " You can have no conflict without being your- 
 selves the aggressors. You have no oath regis- 
 tered in heaven to destroy the Government, while 
 I shall have the most solemn one to ' preserve, 
 protect, and defend ' it. 
 
 " I am loth 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 affection. 
 
 " The mystic chords of memory, stretching from
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 07 
 
 every battle-field and patriotic grave to every 
 living heart and hearthstone all over this broad 
 land, Mill yet swell the chorus of the Union, 
 when again touched, as surely they will be, by the 
 better angeis of our nature."
 
 CHAPTER XX1I1. 
 
 THE WAR BEGINS. 
 
 No President ever assumed office under such 
 circumstances as Abraham Lincoln. Nominally 
 chief magistrate of the whole United States, 
 seven members of the confederation had already 
 seceded. These were South Carolina, Georgia, 
 Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, and Louis- 
 iana. Some had been hurried out of the Union 
 by a few hot-headed politicians, against the wishes 
 of a considerable part of their inhabitants. It is 
 known that General Lee and Alexander II. 
 Stephens, though they ultimately went with their 
 States, were exceedingly reluctant to array them- 
 selves in opposition to the Government. 
 
 Mr. Stephens used these patriotic words in an 
 address before the Legislature of Georgia, Nov. 
 14, 1860, after the result of the election was made 
 
 known : " The firs'; question that presents itsolf 
 
 (208)
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 209 
 
 is, shall the people of the South secede from the 
 Union in consequence of the election of Mr. Lin- 
 coln to the Presidency of the United States ? My 
 countrymen, I tell you candidly, frankly, and 
 earnestly that I do not think that they ought. In 
 my judgment the election of no man, constitu- 
 tionally chosen to that high office, is sufficient 
 cause for any State to separate from the Union. 
 It ought to stand by and aid still in maintaining 
 the Constitution of the country. To make a point 
 of resistance to the Government, to withdraw from 
 it because a man has been constitutionally elected, 
 
 puts us in the wrong We went into the 
 
 election with this people. The result was differ- 
 ent from what we wished ; but the election has 
 been constitutionally held. Were we to make a 
 point of resistance to the Government, and go 
 out of the Union on this account, the record 
 would be made up hereafter against us." 
 
 These wise and moderate counsels did not pre- 
 vail. There was a feeling of bitterness which im- 
 pelled Southern men to extreme measures. More- 
 over, the temper and firmness of the North were 
 misunderstood. It was thought they would make 
 
 the most humiliating concessions to preserve the 
 14
 
 210 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 integrity of the Union, while on the other hand 
 the constancy and determination of the Southern 
 people were not sufficiently appreciated at the 
 North. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln's first necessary act was to make 
 choice of a Cabinet. He demonstrated his sa- 
 gacity in surrounding himself with trained and 
 experienced statesmen, as will be seen at once by 
 the following list : 
 
 Secretary of State, William H. Seward, of New 
 York; Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. 
 Chase, of Ohio ; Secretary of "War, Simon Cam- 
 eron, of Pennsylvania ; Secretary of the Navy, 
 Gideon Welles, of Connecticut; Secretary of the 
 Interior, Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana ; Post- 
 master-General, Montgomery Blair, of Maryland ; 
 Attorney-General, Edward Bates, of Missouri. 
 
 These gentlemen were confirmed, and entered 
 upon the discharge of their duties. Thus the 
 new Administration was complete. Simon Cam- 
 eron, as Secretary of War, was superseded in less 
 than a year by Edwin M. Stanton, who proved 
 to be the right man in the right place. A man 
 of remarkable executive talent, never shrinking 
 from the heavy burden of labor and care which
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 his office imposed, he worked indefatigably, and 
 though he may have offended some by his brusque 
 manners, and unnecessary sternness, it is doubtful 
 whether a better man could Lave been selected 
 for his post. He had been a member of Mr. 
 Buchanan's Cabinet in its last days, and did what 
 he could to infuse something of his own vigor 
 into the timid and vacillating Executive. 
 
 It will be seen that Mr. Lincoln called to the 
 most important place in the Cabinet the man who 
 was his most prominent rival for the nomination, 
 William II. Seward. In doing this he strength- 
 ened his administration largely in the minds of 
 the people at large, for who was there who was 
 ignorant of Mr. Seward's great ability and states- 
 manship? It may be remarked here that the 
 new President left to each of his Secretaries large 
 discretion in their respective departments, and 
 did not interfere with or overrule them except in 
 cases of extreme necessity. A man of smaller 
 nature would have gratified his vanity and sense 
 of importance by meddling with, and so marring 
 the work of his constitutional advisers; but hav- 
 ing selected the best men he could find, Mr. Lin- 
 coln left them free to act, and held them respon-
 
 212 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 sible for the successful management of their de- 
 partments. 
 
 The new President was not long left in uncer- 
 tainty as to the intentions of the seceding States. 
 On the 13th of March he received a communica- 
 tion from two gentlemen, claiming to be com- 
 missioners from a government composed of the 
 seven seceding States, expressing a desire to enter 
 upon negotiations for the adjustment of all ques- 
 tions growing out of the separation. To have re- 
 ceived them would have been to admit the fact 
 and right of secession, and therefore their request 
 was denied. On the llth of April, General 
 Beauregard, in accordance with instructions from 
 the rebel Secretary of War, demanded of Major 
 Anderson, in command at Fort Sumter, the sur- 
 render of the fort. Major Anderson declined, 
 but was compelled to do so on the morning of the 
 4th, after a bombardment of thirty-three hours. 
 Thus the South had taken the initiative, and had 
 made an armed attack upon the Government. 
 Thus far the President had pursued a conciliatory 
 some thought it a timid policy, but when he 
 heard that Sumter had been taken forcible 
 possession of by rebellious citizens, he felt that
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 213 
 
 there was no more room for hesitation. The time 
 had covr.e to act. 
 
 On the day succeeding the evacuation of the 
 fort, he issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 
 soldiers to recover possession of the " forts, places, 
 and property which have been seized from the 
 Union," and at the same time summoned an extra 
 session of both Houses of Congress, to assemble 
 on Thursday, the fourth day of July, " to con- 
 sider and determine such measures as, in their 
 wisdom, the public safety and interest may seem 
 to demand." 
 
 It is needless to say that the evacuation of Fort 
 Sumter, and the President's proclamation, created 
 a whirlwind of excitement. The South was jubi- 
 lant, the North was deeply stirred, and the procla* 
 mation was generally approved and promptly 
 responded to. These spirited lines of the poet 
 Whittier are well called 
 
 THE VOICE OF THE NORTH. 
 
 Up the hill-side, down the glen 
 House the sleeping citizen ; 
 Summon out the might of men ! 
 
 Like a lion growling low 
 Like a night-storm rising slow 
 Like the tread of unseen foe
 
 214 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 It is coming it is nigh ! 
 Stand your homes and altars by, 
 On your own free threshold die ! 
 
 Clang the bells in all your spires, 
 On the grey hills of your sires 
 Fling to heaven your signal fires I 
 
 Oh ! for God and duty stand, 
 Heart to heart, and hand to hand, 
 Round the old graves of the land. 
 
 Who so shrinks or falters now, 
 Who so to the yoke would bow, 
 Brand the craven on his brow. 
 
 Freedom's so 1 has only place 
 For a free and fearless race 
 None for traitors false and base. 
 
 Perish party perish clan, 
 Strike together while you can, 
 Like the strong arm of one man. 
 
 Like the angel's voice sublime, 
 Heard above a world of crime, 
 Crying for the end of Time. 
 
 With one heart and with one mouth 
 Let the North spe ik to the South; 
 Speak the word befitting both. 
 
 In contrast with this, I will cite a poem, which 
 might be called, not inappropriately,
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOL&'. 215 
 
 THE VOICE OF THE SOUTH. 
 
 Rebels ! 'tis a holy name ! 
 
 The name our fathers bore, 
 When battling in the cause of Right 
 Against the tyrant in his might, 
 
 In the dark days of yore. 
 
 Rebels ! 'tis our family name ! 
 
 Our father, Washington, 
 Wa? the arch rebel in the fight, 
 And gave the name to us aright 
 
 Of father unto son. 
 
 Rebels ! 'tis our given name ! 
 
 Our mother Liberty 
 Received the title with her fame, 
 In days of grief, of fear and s'^ame, 
 
 When at her breast were we. 
 
 Rebels! 'tis our sealed name! 
 
 A baptism of blood ! 
 The war ay, and the diu of strife 
 The fearful contest, life for life 
 
 The mingled crim on flood ! 
 
 Rebels ! 'tis a patriot's name ! 
 
 In struggles it was given ; 
 We bore it then" -when tyrant-; raved, 
 And through their curses 'twas engraved 
 
 On the doomsday book of heaven. 
 
 Rebels! 'tis our fighting name! 
 For peace rules o'er the laud,
 
 216 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Until they speak of craven woe 
 
 Until our rights received a blow, 
 
 From foes' or brother's hand. 
 
 Rebels ! 'tis our dying name ! 
 
 For although life is dear, 
 Yet freemen born and freeanen bred, 
 We'd rather live as freemen dead 
 
 Than live in slavish fear. 
 
 Then call us Rebels if you will 
 
 We glory in the name ; 
 For bending under unjust laws, 
 And swearing faith to an iinjust cause, 
 
 We count a greater shame.
 
 CHAPTER XXIY. 
 
 MR. LINCOLN JN THE WHITE HOUSE. 
 
 AND thus commenced the great war of the He- 
 oellion a war which in some respects has never 
 had its parallel. Commencing but a few weeks 
 after Mr. Lincoln's administration began, it was 
 at its last gasp when upon the 4th of March, 
 1865, he was for the second time inaugurated. 
 
 If I were to write a full account of Mr. Lin- 
 coln's administration, it must include a history 
 of the war. I propose to do neither. As my 
 title imports, I have aimed only to show by what 
 steps a backwoods boy, born and brought up on 
 the Western prairies, with the smallest possible 
 advantages of education and fortune, came to 
 stand in the foremost place among his fellow- 
 citizens. I might, therefore, consider my task 
 accomplished; but, if I sliould stop here, I 
 
 should have failed to set forth fully the charac- 
 
 (217)
 
 218 3072IOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 ter and traits of this remarkable man ; for it was 
 only in the years of his Presidency that the world, 
 and, I may add, his friends, came to know him as 
 he was. I doubt even if he knew himself until 
 the responsibilities of office fell upon him ; and, un- 
 der the burden, he expanded to the full stature of 
 a providential man. There are some aspects in 
 which I shall consider him, and, in the incidents 
 and anecdotes I may have to relate, I shall not 
 attempt to preserve the order of time. 
 
 First, then, the consciousness of official rank 
 never appeared present to Mr. Lincoln. In the 
 White House, as in his modest Western home, he 
 was the same plain, unpretending Abraham Lin- 
 coln. Nor did he lose his sympathy for the humble 
 class from which he had himself sprung. Upon 
 this point I quote from Mr. F. B. Carpenter's very 
 interesting volume, already referred to : 
 
 " The Hon. Mr. Odell gave me a deeply inter- 
 esting incident which occurred in the winter of 
 1864 at one of the most crowded of the Presiden- 
 tial levees, illustrating very perfectly Mr. Lin- 
 coln's true politeness and delicacy of feeling. 
 
 " On the occasion referred to the pressure be- 
 came so great that the usual ceremony of hand-
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 shaking was for once discontinued. The Presi- 
 dent had been standing for some time, bowing 
 his acknowledgments to the thronging multi- 
 tude, when his eye fell upon a couple who had 
 entered unobserved a wounded soldier and his 
 plainly-dressed mother. Before they could pass 
 out he made his way to where they stood, and, 
 taking each of them by the hand, with a delicacy 
 and cordiality which brought tears to many eyes, 
 he assured them of his interest and welcome. 
 Governors, Senators, and diplomats passed with 
 simply a nod ; but that pale, young face he 
 might never see again. To him and to others 
 like him did the nation owe his life; and Abra- 
 ham Lincoln was not the man to forget this, even 
 in the crowded and brilliant assembly of the dis- 
 tinguished of the land." 
 
 " Mr. Lincoln's heart was always open to chil- 
 dren," says the same writer. u I shall never for- 
 get his coming into the studio one day and find- 
 ing my own little boy of two summers playing 
 on the floor. A member of the Cabinet was with 
 him, but, laying aside all restraint, he took the 
 little fellow at once in his arms, and they were 
 soon on the best of terms.
 
 220 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 "Old Daniel gave me a touching illustration 
 of this element in his character. A poor woman 
 from Philadelphia had been waiting with a baby 
 in her arms for several days to see the President. 
 It appeared by her story that her husband had fur- 
 nished a substitute for the army, but some time 
 afterward, in a state of intoxication, was induced 
 to enlist. When reaching the post assigned his 
 regiment he deserted, thinking the Government 
 was not entitled to his services. Returning home 
 he was arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced 
 to be shot. The sentence was to be executed 
 on a Saturday. On Monday his wife left her 
 home with her baby to endaavor to see the 
 President. 
 
 " Said Daniel, ' She had been waiting here 
 three days, and there was no chance for her to 
 get in. Late in the afternoon of the third day, 
 the President was going through the passage to 
 his private room to get a cup of tea. On the way 
 he heard the baby cry. He instantly went back 
 to his office and rang the bell. 
 
 " ' " Daniel," said he, " is there a woman with 
 a baby in the anteroom ? " 
 
 " ' I said there was, and if he would allow me
 
 A TtUA HAM LINCOLN. 221 
 
 to say it, it was a case he ought to see ; for it was 
 a matter of life and death. 
 
 " ' " Send her to me at once," said he. 
 
 " ' She went in, told her story, and the Presi- 
 dent pardoned her husband. As the woman 
 came out from his presence her eyes were lifted 
 and her lips moving in prayer, the tears streaming 
 down her cheeks.' Said Daniel, *I went up to 
 her, and, pulling her shawl, said, "Madam, it 
 was the baby that did it." ' " 
 
 It may readily be supposed that a man of Mr. 
 Lincoln's democratic tastes and training might 
 on some occasions act very unconventionally, 
 and in a way to shock those who are sticklers for 
 etiquette. Certainly, he was very far from aping 
 royalty, as may be judged from the following in- 
 cident : 
 
 When the Prince of Wales was betrothed to 
 the Princess Alexandra, Queen Yictoria an- 
 nounced the fact to each of the European sover- 
 eigns and to the rulers of other countries by an 
 autograph letter. Lord Lyons, the British am- 
 bassador at Washington, who was a bachelor, 
 called upon President Lincoln to present this im~ 
 portant document in person.
 
 222 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 " May it please your Excellency," said the am- 
 bassador, with formal dignity, '*'! hold in my 
 hand an autograph letter from my royal mis- 
 tress, Queen Victoria, which I have been com- 
 manded to present to your Excellency. In it she 
 informs your Excellency that her son, His Royal 
 Highness, the Prince of Wales, is about to con- 
 tract a matrimonial alliance with Her Hoyal 
 Highness, the Princess Alexandra, of Denmark." 
 
 The President's eye twinkled as he answered, 
 briefly, " Lord Lyons, go thou and do likewise. 51 
 
 Says Dr. Holland : ""Mr. Lincoln's habits at the 
 White House were as simple as they were at his 
 old home in Illinois. He never alluded to him- 
 self as ' President,' or as occupying ' the Presi- 
 dency.' His office he always designated as ' this 
 place.' ' Call me Lincoln,' said he to a friend. 
 'Mr. President' had become so very tiresome to 
 him. 'If you see a newsboy down the street, 
 send him up this way,' said he to a passenger as 
 he stood waiting for the morning news at his 
 gate. 
 
 " Friends cautioned him against exposing him- 
 self so openly in the midst of enemies, but he never 
 heeded them. He frequently walked the streets at
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: 223 
 
 night entirely unprotected, and he felt any check 
 upon his free movements as a great annoyance. He 
 delighted to see his familiar Western friends, and 
 he gave them always a cordial welcome. He met 
 them on the old footing, and fell at once into the 
 accustomed habits of talking and story-telling. 
 An old acquaintance with his wife visited Wash- 
 ington. Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln proposed to these 
 friends a ride in the Presidential carriage. It 
 should he stated in advance that the two men 
 had probably never seen each other with gloves 
 on in their lives, unless when they were used as 
 protection from the cold. The question of each 
 Mr. Lincoln at the White House and his friend 
 at the hotel was whether he should wear gloves. 
 Of course, the ladies urged gloves ; but Mr. Lin- 
 coln only put his in his pocket, to be used or not, 
 according to circumstances. 
 
 " When the Presidential party arrived at the 
 hotel to take in their friends, they found the gen- 
 tleman, overcome by his wife's persuasions, very 
 handsomely gloved. The moment he took his 
 seat he began to draw off the clinging kids, while 
 Mr. Lincoln began to draw his on. 
 
 " ; No, no, no ! ' protested his friend, tugging
 
 224 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 at liis gloves ; ' it is none of my doings. Put up 
 your gloves, Mr. Lincoln.' , 
 
 " So the two old friends were on even and easy 
 terms, and had their ride after their old fashion." 
 
 The President of the United States can afford 
 to be more unconventional than kings and em- 
 perors, but I should not be surprised to learn that 
 they too, at times, would be glad to escape from 
 the rigid rules of etiquette and enjoy the freedom 
 of a private citizen. Even Queen Victoria, it is 
 related, can unbend when she meets her early 
 friends, and forget for the time that she must 
 maintain the dignity of a Queen.
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 MR. LINCOLN AND THE LITTLE BOY A GROUP OF 
 ANECDOTE?. 
 
 EX-GOVERNOR RICE, of Massachusetts, tells a 
 story of President Lincoln, which will prove of 
 especial interest to my young readers. I tran- 
 scribe it from the Union Signal : 
 
 On an occasion (while he was in Congress) he 
 and Senator Wilson found it necessary to visit 
 the President on business, he says : 
 
 " "We were obliged to wait some time in the 
 anteroom before we could be received ; and, when 
 at length the door was opened to us, a small lad, 
 perhaps ten or twelve years old, who had been 
 waiting for admission several days without suc- 
 cess, slipped in between us, and approached the 
 President in advance. 
 
 " The latter gave the Senator and myself a 
 15 (225)
 
 226 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OP 
 
 cordial but brief salutation, and turning imme- 
 diately to the lad, said, 'And who is the little 
 boy?' 
 
 " During their conference the Senator and my- 
 self were apparently forgotten. The boy soon 
 told his story, which was in substance that he had 
 come to Washington seeking employment as a 
 page ip the House of Representatives, and he 
 wished the President to give him such an ap- 
 pointment. To this the President replied that 
 such appointments were not at his disposal, and 
 that application must be made to the door-keeper 
 of the House at the Capitol. 
 
 "'But, sir,' said the lad, still undaunted, ' I am 
 a good boy, and have a letter from my mother, 
 and one from the supervisors of my town, and 
 one from my Sunday-school teacher ; they all 
 told me that I could earn enough in one session of 
 Congress to keep my mother and the rest of us 
 comfortable all the remainder of the year.' 
 
 " The President took the lad's papers and ran 
 his eye over them with that penetrating and ab- 
 sorbent look so familiar to all who knew him, and 
 then took his pen and wrote upon the back of one 
 of them, ' If Capt. Goodnow can give a place to
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 27 
 
 this good little boy, I shall be gratified,' and 
 signed it 'A. Lincoln.' 
 
 " The boy's face became radiant with hope, and 
 he walked out of the room with a step as light as 
 though all the angels were whispering their con- 
 gratulations. 
 
 " Only after the lad had gone did the President 
 seem to realize that a Senator and another person 
 had been for some time waiting to see him. 
 
 "Think for a moment of the President of a 
 great nation, and that nation engaged in one of 
 the most terrible wars waged against men, him- 
 self worn down with anxiety and labor, subjected 
 to the alternations of success and defeat, racked 
 by complaints of the envious, the disloyal, and the 
 unreasonable, pressed to the decision of grave 
 questions of public policy, and encumbered by 
 the numberless and nameless incidents of civil 
 and martial responsibility, yet able so far to for- 
 get them all as to give himself up for the time 
 being to the errand of a little boy, who had 
 braved an interview uninvited, and of whom he 
 knew nothing, but that he had a story to tell of 
 his mother and of his ambition to serve her." 
 Of a different character, but equally character-
 
 228 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 istic of Mr. Lincoln, is a story told by General 
 Charles G. Dahlgren, brother of Admiral Dahl- 
 gron : 
 
 "As Mr. Lincoln and my brother were about 
 to go to dinner, and while the President was 
 washing his hands, Secretary Stan ton entered ex- 
 citedly with a telegram in his hand and said, ' Mr. 
 President, I have just received a dispatch from 
 Portland that Jake Thompson is there waiting to 
 take the steamer to England and I want to arrest 
 him.' Mr. Lincoln began to wipe his hands on a 
 towel, and said, in a long, drawling voice, ' Bet- 
 ter let him slide.' 
 
 "'But, Mr. President,' said Secretary Stanton, 
 ' this man is one of the chief traitors was one of 
 Buchanan's Cabinet, betrayed the country then, 
 and has fought against us ever since. He should 
 be punished.' 
 
 " ' W-e-1-1,' said the President, < if Jake Thomp. 
 son is satisfied with the issue of the war, I am. 
 B-e-t-t-e-r let him slide.' 
 
 " ' Such men should be punished to the full ex- 
 tent of the law,' said Mr. Stanton. ' Why, if we 
 don't punish the leaders of the rebellion, what 
 shall wa say to their followers ? '
 
 A1UIAITAM LTNCOLy. 229 
 
 " B-e-t-t-e-r let them slide, Stanton,' said the 
 President, laying aside his towel. 
 
 "Mr. Stanton went out, evidently annoyed, 
 and Mr. Lincoln, turning to ray brother, said : 
 ' Dahl, that is one of the things I don't intend 
 to allow. When the war is over, I want it to 
 stop, and let both sides go to work and heal the 
 wounds, which, Heaven knows, are bad enough ; 
 but jogging and pulling them is not the best way 
 to heal a sore.' 
 
 "And the old General, turning to his work, 
 said, with a sigh, ' If that policy had been carried 
 out, the wounds would have healed long ago.' " 
 
 The following story, told by M. J. Ramsdell, 
 shows that Mr. Lincoln judged men sometimes 
 by their spirit rather than their military qualifica- 
 tions : 
 
 "A sergeant of infantry, whom I shall call 
 Dick Gower, commanded his company in a great 
 many battles in the West in the early days of the 
 war. His company officers had all been killed, 
 but right royally did Dick handle his men. At 
 the first lull in the campaign, the officers of his 
 regiment, of his brigade, and of his division, 
 united in recommending him for a lieutenancy
 
 230 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 in the regular army. The commanding officer 
 joined in the recommendation. Mr. Lincoln or- 
 dered the appointment. Forthwith, Sergeant 
 Dick was ordered before an examining board 
 here in Washington, for the regular army officers 
 were tenacious of what they thought their 
 superiority. Dick presented himself in a soiled 
 and faded sergeant's uniform, his face and hands 
 bronzed and cracked by the winds and suns of a 
 hot campaign. 
 
 "The curled darling of Washington society, 
 the perfumed graduates of West Point, who had 
 never seen a squadron set in the field, conducted 
 the examination to ascertain if Dick was n't to be 
 an officer in the regular army. They asked him 
 questions as to engineering, mathematics, philos- 
 ophy, and ordnance, of harbor warfara, of field 
 campaigns, and all such stuff. Not a single ques- 
 tion could Dick answer. ' What is an echelon ? ' 
 was asked. ' I don't know,' answered Dick ; ' I 
 never saw one.' ' What is an abbattis ? ' was the 
 next question ? Dick answered : ' You've got me 
 again. We haven't got 'em in the West.' ' Well, 
 what is a hollow square ? ' continued his torment- 
 ors. ' Don't know,' said Dick sorrowfully ; ' I
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 231 
 
 never heard of one.' ' Well,' finally said a young 
 snip in eye-glasses, ' what would you do in com- 
 mand of a company if the cavalry should charge 
 on you ? ' They had at last got down to Dick's 
 comprehension, and he answered with a resolute 
 face and a flashing eye, 'I'd give them Jesse, 
 that's what I'd do, and I'd make a hollow square 
 in every mother's son of them.' A few more 
 technical questions were asked, but poor Dick 
 was not able to answer them, and the examina- 
 tion closed. 
 
 " The report was duly sent to the Secretary of 
 War, who submitted it to Mr. Lincoln, saying 
 that evidently Dick would not do for an officer. 
 Mr. Lincoln, when through with the report, and 
 found that Dick had not answered a single ques- 
 tion, but he came to where Dick said what he 
 would do if attacked by cavalry, and then he did 
 what sensible Abe Lincoln did in all such matters, 
 he threw the report on his table and made a little 
 memorandum in pencil ordering the Secretary of 
 War to appoint Dick Gower a lieutenant in the 
 regular army. Dick achieved distinction after- 
 ward, and was everywhere known in ths army as 
 a man without fear, who never made a mistake."
 
 232 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 A correspondent of the Boston Traveller fur- 
 nishes a humorous story told by President Lin- 
 coln, to show the embarrassment which he felt as 
 to the disposal of Jefferson Davis : 
 
 " A gentleman told me a story recently which 
 well illustrates Lincoln's immense fund of anec- 
 dotes. Said he : ' Just after Jeff Davis had been 
 captured I called over at the White House to see 
 President Lincoln. I was ushered in, and asked 
 him : " Well, Mr. President, what are you going 
 to do with Jeff Davis 2 " Lincoln looked at me 
 for a moment, and then said, in his peculiar, hu- 
 morous way : " That reminds me of a story. A 
 boy 'way out West caught a coon and tamed it to 
 a considerable extent, but the animal created such 
 mischief about the house that his mother ordered 
 him to take it away and not to come home until 
 he could return without his pet. The boy went 
 down-town with the coon, secured with a strong 
 piece of twine, and in about an hour he was found 
 sitting on the edge of the curbstone, holding the 
 coon with one hand and crying as though his 
 heart would break. A big-hearted gentleman, 
 who was passing, stopped and kindly inquired : 
 ' Say, little boy, what is the matter | J TliQ boy
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN'. 333 
 
 wiped a tear from his eye with his sleeve, and in 
 an injured tone, howled: 'Matter! Ask me 
 what's the matter! You see that coon there? 
 Well, I don't know what to do with the darn 
 thing. I can't sell it, I can't kill it, and ma won't 
 let me take it home.' That," continued Lincoln, 
 " is precisely my case. I am like the boy with 
 the coon. I can't sell him, I can't kill him, and 
 I can't take him home ! " ' " 
 
 I have already remarked that Mr. Lincoln was 
 superstitious. He seemed to be deeply impressed 
 by dreams, and claimed to be notitiecl in this way 
 of the approach of important events. 
 
 " On the Friday of his death he called his Cab- 
 inet together at noon, and he seemed dispirited. 
 He said : ' I wish I could hear from Sherman.' 
 General Grant, who was present, said : 'You will 
 hear well from Sherman.' He said: 'I don't 
 know. I have had a dream, the same that I had 
 before the battles of Bull Kim, of Chancellors- 
 ville, and of Swan River. It has,' he said, ' al- 
 ways boded disaster.' It made a great impres- 
 sion on all of the Cabinet and on General Grant. 
 Mr. Lincoln had been remonstrated with forgoing 
 about unattended, but he said : '"What is the use
 
 234: BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 of precautions ? If they want to kill me they will 
 kill me.' He was killed, but history will place him 
 next to "Washington in the list of beloved Presi- 
 dents. The skill displayed by him in managing 
 Chase, Stanton, Surnner, Fesseuden, Wade, Sew- 
 ard, and other candidates for the Presidency, was 
 wonderful, and when there was any hitch he was 
 reminded of a story, illustrating the situation. 
 His stories were, in short, ' parables.' " Boston 
 Budget. 
 
 Even in the hour of victory he was thoughtful, 
 not jubilant. 
 
 " When General Weitzel escorted President 
 Lincoln and his companions through the Capitol 
 at Richmond the day after the occupation, in 
 April, 1865, they reached what the rebels called 
 the Cabinet room of the great President of the 
 Southern Confederacy. General Weitzel said : 
 ' This, Mr. President, is the chair which has been 
 so long occupied by President Davis.' He pulled 
 it from the table and motioned the President to 
 sit down. Mr. Lincoln's face took an extra look 
 of care and melancholy. The narrator says ' he 
 looked at it a moment and slowly approached and 
 wearilv sat down. It was an hour of exultation
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 235 
 
 with the soldiers ; we felt that the war was ended, 
 and we knew that all over the North bells were 
 pealing, cannon booming, and the people were 
 delirious with joy over the prospect of peace. I 
 expected to see the President manifest some spirit 
 of triumph as he sat in the seat so long occupied 
 by the rebel Government ; but his great head fell 
 into his broad hand and a sigh that seemed to 
 come from the soul of a nation, escaped his lips 
 and saddened every man present. His mind 
 seemed to be travelling back through the dark 
 years of the war, and he was counting the cost in 
 treasure, life, and blood that made it possible for 
 him to sit there. As Jie rose without a word and 
 left the room slowly and sadly, tears involuntarily 
 came to the eyes of every man present, and we 
 soldiers realized that we had not done all the suf- 
 fering nor made all the sacrifices.' " 
 
 "Where Abraham Lincoln obtained some of his 
 anti-slavery ideas may be learned from a recent 
 article in the Century, by Leonard W. Bacon, who 
 describes the effects of his father's writings upon 
 this subject on the mind of the future President : 
 
 " ' These essays ' from the preface to which I 
 have just quoted had been written at divers
 
 23G .ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 times from 1833 onward, and were collected, in 
 1846, into a volume which has had a history. It 
 is a book of exact definitions, just discriminations, 
 lucid and tenacious arguments ; and it deals with 
 certain obstinate and elusive sophistries in an ef- 
 fective way. It is not to be wondered at that when 
 it fell into the hands of a young Western lawyer, 
 Abraham Lincoln, whose characteristic was ' not 
 to be content with an idea until he could bound 
 it north, east, south, and west,' it should prove 
 to be a book exactly after his mind. It was to 
 him not only a study on slavery, but a model in 
 the rhetoric of debate. It is not difficult to trace 
 the influence of it in that great stump-debate with 
 Douglas, in which Lincoln's main strength lay in 
 his cautious wisdom in declining to take the ex- 
 treme positions into which his wily antagonist 
 tried to provoke or entice him. When, many 
 years after the little book had been forgotten by 
 the public, and after slavery had fallen before the 
 President's proclamation, it appeared from Lin- 
 coln's own declaration to Dr. Joseph P. Thomp- 
 son that he owed to that book his definite, reason- 
 able, and irrefragable views on the slavery ques- 
 tion, my father felt to sing the Nunc dimitiis."
 
 CHAPTER XXYI. 
 MK. LINCOLN'S HUMANITY. 
 
 MARTIAL law is severe, and, doubtless, not 
 without reason. Desertion in time of war is a 
 capital offence, and many a poor fellow suffered 
 the penalty during the terrible four years of the 
 civil war. Many more would have suffered but 
 for the humane interposition of the President, 
 who was glad to find the slightest excuse for sav- 
 ing the life of the unfortunate offender. As Dr. 
 Holland observes, he had the deepest sympathy 
 for the soldiers who were fighting the battles of 
 their country. He knew something of their 
 trials and privations, their longing for home, and 
 the strength of the temptation which sometimes 
 led them to lapse from duty. There was infinite 
 tenderness in the heart of this man which made 
 
 him hard to consent to extreme punishment. 
 
 (237)
 
 238 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 I propose to cull from different sources illus- 
 trations of Mr. Lincoln's humanity. The first I 
 find in a letter written to Dr. Holland by a per- 
 sonal friend of the President : 
 
 " 1 called on him one day in the early part of 
 the war. He had just written a pardon for a 
 young man who had been sentenced to be shot, 
 for sleeping at his post as a sentinel. He re- 
 marked as he read it to me, ' I could not think of 
 going into eternity with the blood of the poor 
 young man on my skirts.' Then he added, ' It is 
 not to be wondered at that a boy, raised on a farm, 
 probably in the habit of going to bed at dark, 
 should, when required to watch, fall asleep, and I 
 can not consent to shoot him for such an act.' " 
 
 Dr. Holland adds that Rev. Newman Hall, of 
 London, in a sermon preached upon and after Mr. 
 Lincoln's death, says that the dead body of this 
 youth was found among the slain on the field of 
 Fredericksburg, wearing next his heart the photo- 
 graph of his preserver, beneath which he had 
 written, " God bless President Lincoln." On an- 
 other occasion, when Mr. Lincoln was asked to 
 assent to the capital punishment of twenty-four 
 deserters, sentenced to be shot for desertion, he
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 239 
 
 said to the General who pleaded the necessity of 
 enforcing discipline, "No, General, there are al- 
 ready 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." 
 
 From Mr. Carpenter's " Six Months at the 
 White House," I make the following extract : 
 
 " The Secretary of War and Generals in com- 
 mand were frequently much annoyed at being 
 overruled, the discipline and efficiency of the 
 service being thereby, as they considered, greatly 
 endangered. But there was no going back of the 
 simple signature, ' A. Lincoln,' attached to proc- 
 lamation or reprieve. 
 
 " My friend Kellogg, Representative from Essex 
 County, New York, received a dispatch one even- 
 ing from the army, to the effect that a young 
 townsman who had been induced to enlist through 
 his instrumentality, had, for a serious misdemean- 
 or, been convicted by a court-martial, and was 
 to be shot the next day. Greatly agitated, Mr. 
 Kellogg went to the Secretary of War, and urged 
 in the strongest manner, a reprieve. 
 
 " Stanton was inexorable. 
 
 " ' Too many cases of the kind had been let
 
 240 BOYHOOD AND MAXHOOD OF 
 
 off,' he said; 'and it was time an example was 
 made.' 
 
 " Exhausting his eloquence in vain, Mr. Kellogg 
 said : ' Well, Mr. Secretary, the boy is not going 
 to be shot of that I give you fair warning ! ' 
 
 " Leaving the "War Department, he went di- 
 rectly to the "White House, although the hour was 
 late. The sentinel on duty told him that special 
 orders had been issued to admit no one that night. 
 After a long parley, by pledging himself to as- 
 sume the responsibility of the act, the Congress- 
 man passed in. The President had retired ; but, 
 indifferent to etiquette or ceremony, Judge Kel- 
 logg pressed his way through all obstacles to his 
 sleeping apartment. In an excited manner he 
 stated that the dispatch announcing the hour of 
 execution had but just reached him. 
 
 " ' This man must not be shot, Mr. President,' 
 said he. ' I can't help what he may have done. 
 "Why, he is an old neighbor of mine; I can't al- 
 low him. to be shot ! ' 
 
 " Mr. Lincoln had remained in bed, quietly list- 
 ening to the vehement protestations of his old 
 friend (they were in Congress together). Ho at 
 length said, ( Well, I don't believe shooting him
 
 A 'JMAHAM LINCOLN. 04 \ 
 
 will do him any good. Give me that pen. 
 And, so saying, ' red tape ' was unceremoniously 
 cut, and another poor fellow's lease of life was 
 indefinitely extended." 
 
 I continue to quote from Mr. Carpenter : 
 " One night Speaker Colfax left all other busi- 
 ness to ask the President to respite the son of a 
 constituent who was sentenced to be shot at Dav- 
 enport for desertion. He heard the story with 
 his usual patience, though he was wearied out 
 with incessant calls and anxious for rest, and then 
 replied, ' 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, and I go to 
 bed happy, as I think how joyous the signing of 
 my name will make him and his family and his 
 friends.' 
 
 " The Hon. Thaddeus Stevens told me that on 
 one occasion he called at the White House with 
 an elderly lady in great trouble, whose son had 
 been in the army, but for some offence had been 
 court-martialed, and sentenced either to death or 
 imprisonment at hard labor, for a long term. 
 16
 
 242 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 There were some extenuating circumstances ; 
 and, after a full hearing, the President turned to 
 the Representative, and said : 
 
 "'Mr. Stevens, do you think this is a case 
 which will warrant my interference ? ' 
 
 " ' With my knowledge of the facts and the 
 parties,' was the reply, ' I should have no hesita- 
 tion in granting a pardon.' 
 
 " ' Then,' returned Mr. Lincoln, ' I will pardon 
 him,' and he proceeded forthwith to execute the 
 paper. 
 
 "The gratitude of the mother was too deep for 
 expression, and not a word was said between her 
 and Mr. Stevens until they were half-way down- 
 stairs on their passage out, when she suddenly 
 broke forth in an excited manner with the words, 
 ' I knew it was a copperhead lie ! ' 
 
 " ' What do you refer to, madam ? ' asked Mr. 
 Stevens. 
 
 " ' Why, they told me he was an ugly-looking 
 man ! ' she replied with vehemence. ' He is the 
 handsomest man I ever saw in my life ! ' 
 
 "Doubtless the grateful mother voiced the 
 feeling of many another, who, in the rugged and 
 care-worn face had read the sympathy and good- 
 ness of the inner nature."
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 243 
 
 Another Case. 
 
 " A young man connected with a New York 
 regiment had become to all appearances a hard- 
 ened criminal. He had deserted two or three 
 times, and, when at last detected and imprisoned, 
 had attempted to poison his guards, one of whom 
 subsequently died from the effects of the poison 
 unconsciously taken. Of course, there seemed no 
 defence possible in such a case. But the fact 
 came out that the boy had been of unsound 
 mind. 
 
 " Some friends of his mother took up the mat- 
 ter, and an appeal was made to the Secretary of 
 War. He declined positively to listen to it, 
 the case was too aggravating. The prisoner 
 (scarcely more than a boy) was confined at El- 
 mira, N. Y. The day for the execution of his 
 sentence had nearly arrived, when his mother 
 made her way to the President. He listened to 
 her story, examined the record, and said that his 
 opinion accorded with that of the Secretary of 
 War; he could do nothing for her. 
 
 "Heart-broken, she was compelled to relin- 
 quish her last hope. One of the friends who had 
 hec'oirie interested, upon learning the result of
 
 244 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 the application, waited upon Senator Harris. 
 That gentleman said that his engagements utter- 
 ly precluded his going to see the President upon 
 the subject, until twelve o'clock of the second 
 night following. This brought the time to 
 Wednesday night, and the sentence was to be 
 executed on Thursday. Judge Harris, true to 
 his word, called at the White House at twelve 
 o'clock on Wednesday night. The President had 
 retired, but the interview was granted. The 
 point made was that the boy was insane, thus 
 irresponsible, and his execution would be murder. 
 Pardon was not asked, but a reprieve, until a 
 proper medical examination could be made. 
 
 " This was so reasonable that Mr. Lincoln ac- 
 quiesced in its justice. He immediately ordered 
 a telegram sent to Elmira, delaying the execution 
 of the sentence. Early the next morning he sent 
 another by a different line, and, before the hour 
 of execution had arrived, he had sent no less than 
 four different reprieves by different lines to dif- 
 ferent individuals in Elmira, so fearful was he 
 that the message would fail or be too late." 
 
 These are but a few of the stories that have 
 been told in illustration of President Linc-ohi's
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 245 
 
 humanity. Whatever may have been the opin- 
 ion of the generals in command, as to the expe- 
 diency of his numerous pardons, they throw a 
 beautiful light upon his character, and will en- 
 dear his memory to all who can appreciate his 
 tender sympathy for all, and his genuine and un- 
 affected goodness.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 ANECDOTES OF ME. LINCOLN. 
 
 A MAN'S character often is best disclosed by 
 trifling incidents, and it is for this reason, per- 
 haps, that the public is eager to read anecdotes 
 of its illustrious men. I shall devote the present 
 chapter to anecdotes of President Lincoln, gath- 
 ered from various quarters. I shall not use quo- 
 tation-marks, but content myself with saying at 
 the outset that they are all borrowed. 
 
 At the reception at the President's house one 
 afternoon, many persons present noticed three 
 little girls poorly dressed, the children of some 
 mechanic or laboring man, who had followed the 
 visitors fully into the house to gratify their curi- 
 osity. They passed round from room to room, 
 and were hastening through the reception-room 
 
 with some trepidation when the President called 
 
 (246)
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 247 
 
 to them, " Little girls, are you going to pass me 
 without shaking hands ? " 
 
 Then he beiit his tall, awkward form down, 
 and shook each little girl warmly by the hand. 
 Everybody in the apartment was spell-bound by 
 the incident so simple in itself, yet revealing so 
 much of Mr. Lincoln's character. 
 
 The President and the Paymaster. 
 
 One of the numerous paymasters at Washing- 
 ton sought an introduction to Mr. Lincoln. He 
 arrived at the White House quite opportunely, 
 and was introduced to the President by the Uni- 
 ted States Marshal, with his blandest smile. 
 While shaking hands with the President the 
 paymaster remarked : 
 
 "I have no official business with you, Mr. 
 President ; I only called to pay my compli- 
 ments." 
 
 " I understand," was the reply, " and, from the 
 complaints of the soldiers, I think that is all you 
 do pay." 
 
 The Interviewer. 
 
 An interviewer, with the best intentions in the 
 world, once went to Mr. Lincoln's room in the
 
 218 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 White House while he was President, and in- 
 quired : 
 
 " Mr. President, what do you think of the war 
 and its end ? " 
 
 To which Mr. Lincoln politely and laughingly 
 replied : 
 
 " That question of yonrs puts me in mind of a 
 story about something which happened down in 
 Egypt, in the southern part of Illinois." 
 
 The point of it was that a man burned his fin- 
 gers by being in too much haste. Mr. Lincoln 
 told the story admirably well, walking up and 
 down the room, and heartily laughing all the 
 while. The interviewer was quick to see the 
 point. As a matter of course he was cut to the 
 quick, and quickly down-stairs he rushed, saying 
 to himself: 
 
 " I'll never interview that man again." 
 
 How Mr. Lincoln secured a Ride. 
 
 When Abraham Lincoln was a poor lawyer, he 
 found himself one cold day at a village some dis- 
 tance from Springfield, and with no means ot 
 conveyance. 
 
 Seeing a gentleman driving along the Spring-
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 249 
 
 field road in a carriage, he ran up to him and po- 
 litely said : 
 
 " Sir, will you have the goodness to take my 
 overcoat to town for me ? " 
 
 "With pleasure," answered the gentleman. 
 " But how will you get it again ? " 
 
 " Oh, very easily," said Mr. Lincoln, " as I in- 
 tend to remain in it." 
 
 " Jump in," said the gentleman laughing. And 
 the future President had a pleasant ride. 
 
 The Presidents Influence. 
 
 Judge Baldwin, of California, an old and highly 
 respectable and sedate gentleman, called on Gen- 
 eral Halleck, and, presuming on a familiar ac- 
 quaintance in California a few years since, solic- 
 ited a pass outside of the lines to see a brother in 
 Virginia, not thinking he would meet with a re- 
 fusal, as both his brother and himself were good 
 Union men. 
 
 " We have been deceived too often," said Gen- 
 eral Halleck, " and I regret I can't grant it." 
 
 Judge B. then went to Stanton, and was very 
 briefly disposed of with the same result.
 
 250 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 Finally he obtained an interview with Mr. Lin- 
 coln and stated his case. 
 
 " Have you applied to General Halleck ? " said 
 the President. 
 
 " And met with a flat refusal," said Judge B. 
 
 " Then you must see Stanton," continued the 
 President. 
 
 " I have, and with the same result," was the 
 reply. 
 
 *' Well, then," said the President, with a smile 
 of good humor, " I can do nothing, for you must 
 know that 1 have very little influence with this 
 administration." 
 
 The Germa/n Lieutenant. 
 
 A lieutenant, whom debts compelled to leave 
 his father-land, succeeded in being admitted to 
 President Lincoln, and, by reason of his commend- 
 able and winning deportment and intelligent ap- 
 pearance, was promised a lieutenant's commission 
 in a cavalry regiment. 
 
 He was so enraptured with his success, that he 
 deemed it a duty to inform the President that he 
 belonged to one of the oldest noble houses in Ger 
 
 o 
 
 many.
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 251 
 
 " Oh, never mind that," said Mr. Lincoln, with a 
 twinkle of the eye ; " you will not find that to be 
 any obstacle to your advancement." 
 
 A Pass for Richmond. 
 
 A gentleman called on the President, and so- 
 licited a pass for Richmond. 
 
 " "Well," said Mr. Lincoln, " I would be very 
 happy to oblige you if my passes were respected ; 
 but the fact is, sir, I have, within the last two 
 years, given passes to two hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand men to go to Richmond, and not one has 
 got there yet." 
 
 Mr. Lincoln and the Preacher. 
 
 An officer under the Government called at the 
 Executive Mansion, accompanied by a clerical 
 friend. 
 
 " Mr. President," said he, " allow me to present 
 
 to you iny friend, the Rev. Mr. F., of . 
 
 Mr. F. has expressed a desire to see you, and have 
 some conversation with you, and I am happy to 
 be the means of introducing him." 
 
 The President shook hands with Mr. F., desired 
 him to be seated, and took a seat himself. Then
 
 252 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 his countenance having assumed an expression 
 of patient waiting he said: "I am now ready 
 to hear what you have to say." 
 
 " Oh, hless you, sir," said Mr. F., " I have noth- 
 ing special to say. I merely called to pay my re- 
 spects to you, and, as one of the million, to assure 
 you of my hearty sympathy and support." 
 
 " My dear sir," said - the President, rising 
 promptly, his face showing instant relief, and 
 with both hands grasping that of his visitor, " I 
 am very glad to see you ; I am very glad to see 
 you, indeed. I thought you had come to preach 
 to me." 
 
 Mr. Lincoln and his Advisers. 
 
 Some gentlemen from the West waited upon 
 the President. They were in a critical mood. 
 They felt that things were not going on as they 
 should, and they wanted to give advice. The 
 President heard them patiently, and then replied : 
 
 " 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, or 
 keep shouting out to him ' Blondin, stand up a
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 253 
 
 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 safely over. 
 The Government is carrying an immense weight. 
 Untold treasures are in its hands. It is doing the 
 best it can. Don't badger it. Keep silence, and 
 we'll get you safe across." 
 
 This simple illustration answered the complaints 
 of half an hour, and not only silenced but charmed 
 the audience. 
 
 Somewhat similar is the answer made to a 
 Western farmer, who waited upon Mr. Lincoln, 
 with a plan for the successful prosecution of the 
 war, to which the President listened with as much 
 patience as he could. When he was through, he 
 asked the opinion of the President upon his plan. 
 
 " Well," said Mr. Lincoln, " I'll answer by tell- 
 ing you a story. You have heard of Mr. Blank, 
 of Chicago ? He was an immense loafer in his 
 way in fact, never did anything in his life. One 
 day he got crazy over a great rise in the price of 
 wheat, upon which many wheat speculators gained 
 large fortunes. Blank started oil one morning to
 
 254 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 one of the most successful of the wheat specula- 
 tors, and, with much enthusiasm, laid before him 
 a plan by which he (the said Blank) was certain of 
 becoming independently rich. When he had fin- 
 ished he asked the opinion of his hearer upon his 
 plan of operations. The reply came as follows : 
 ' I advise you to stick to your business.' ' But,' 
 asked Blank, ' what is my business ? ' 'I don't 
 know, I'm sure, what it is,' said the merchant, 
 'but whatever it is, I advise you to stick to it.' 
 
 " And now," said Mr. Lincoln, " I mean noth- 
 ing offensive, for I know you mean well, but I 
 think you had better stick to your business, and 
 leave the war to those who have the responsibility 
 of managing it." 
 
 It is said that Mr. Gladstone, the English pre- 
 mier, is known for his skill in chopping wood. 
 The following anecdote shows that President Lin- 
 coln also was not without experience in the same 
 direction : 
 
 During one of the last visits that he made to 
 James River, a short time before the capture of 
 Richmond, he spent some time in walking around 
 among the hospitals, and in visiting various fatigue
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 255 
 
 parties at work in putting up cabins and other 
 buildings. 
 
 He came upon one squad who were cutting logs 
 for a house; and chatting a moment with the 
 hardy woodsmen, asked one of them to let him 
 take his axe. Mr. Lincoln grasped the helve with 
 the easy air of one perfectly familiar with the 
 tool, and remarked that he used to be " good on 
 the chop." 
 
 The President then let in on a big log, making 
 the chips fly, and making as smooth a cut as the 
 best lumberman in Maine could do. 
 
 Meantime, the men crowded round to see the 
 work ; and, as he handed back the axe, and walked 
 away with a pleasant joke, the choppers gave him 
 three as hearty cheers as he ever heard in the 
 whole of his political career.
 
 CHAPTER XXYIII. 
 
 PRESIDENT LINCOLN AS A RELIGIOUS MAN. 
 
 SOON after the death of Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Noah 
 Brooks published in Harper's Monthly an inter- 
 esting article, devoted to reminiscences of his 
 dead friend. From this article, I make a few ex- 
 tracts, for which my readers will thank me : 
 
 "Just after the last Presidential election, he 
 said : ' Being only mortal, after all, I should have 
 been a little mortified if I had been beaten in 
 this canvass ; but that sting would have been 
 more than compensated by the thought that the 
 people had notified me that all my official respon- 
 sibilities were soon to be lifted off my back.' 
 In reply to the remark that in all these cares he 
 was daily remembered by all who prayed, not to 
 be heard of men, as no man had ever before been 
 remembered, he caught at the homely phrase, and 
 
 said, ' Yes, I like that phra?e, " not to be heard of 
 
 (-256)
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 257 
 
 men," and, again, it is generally true as you say; 
 at least I have been told so, and I have been a 
 good deal helped by just that thought.' Then he 
 solemnly and slowly added: 'I should be the 
 most presumptuous blockhead upon this footstool, 
 if I, for one day, thought that I could discharge 
 the duties which have come upon me since I came 
 into this place, without the aid and enlightenment 
 of One who is stronger and wiser than all others.' " 
 " At another time he said cheerfully, ' I am very- 
 sure that if I do not go away from here a wise 
 man, I shall go away a better man, for having 
 learned here what a very poor sort of man I 
 am.' Afterward, referring to what he called a 
 change of heart, he said he did not remember any 
 precise time when he passed through any special 
 change of purpose or heart ; but he would say, 
 that his own election to office, and the crisis im- 
 mediately following, influentially determined him 
 in what he called ' a process of crystallization ' 
 then going on in his mind. Reticent as he was, 
 and shy of discoursing much of his own mental 
 exercises, these few utterances now have a value 
 with those who knew him, which his dying words 
 would scarcely have possessed." 
 17
 
 258 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 " On Thursday of a certain week, two ladies 
 from Tennessee caine before the President, ask- 
 ing the release of their husbands, held as pris- 
 oners of war at Johnson's Island. They were 
 put off until Friday, when they came again, and 
 were again put off until Saturday. At each of 
 the interviews one of the ladies urged that her 
 husband was a religious man. On Saturday, 
 
 when the President ordered the release of the 
 
 t 
 
 prisoner, he said to this lady : ' You say your hus- 
 band is a religious man : tell him, when you meet 
 him, that I say I am not much of a judge of re- 
 ligion, but that, in my opinion, the religion which 
 sets men to rebel and tight against their Govern- 
 ment, because, as they think, that Government 
 does not sufficiently help some men to eat their 
 bread in the sweat of other men's faces, is not "the 
 sort of religion upon which people can get to 
 heaven.' " 
 
 " On an occasion I shall never forget," says the 
 Hon. H. C. Denning, of Connecticut, " the con- 
 versation turned upon religious subjects, and Mr. 
 Lincoln made this impressive remark : ' I have 
 never united myself to any church, because I have 
 found difficulty in giving my assent, without men-
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 59 
 
 tal reservation, to the long, complicated state- 
 ments of Christian doctrine which characterize 
 their Articles of Belief and Confessions of Faith. 
 When any church will inscribe over its altar, as 
 its sole qualification of membership, the Saviour's 
 condensed statement of the substance of both 
 Law and Gospel, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
 God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and 
 thy neighbor as thyself," that church will I join 
 with all my heart and with all rny soul.' " 
 
 Though Mr. Lincoln never formally united 
 himself with any church, doubtless for the rea- 
 son given above, because he knew of none broad 
 and tolerant enough for him, it is clear that his 
 mind was much occupied with matters connected 
 with religion. ~No one could charge him with 
 scoffing at sacred things. Had he even been so 
 inclined, the bereavement which visited him in 
 the death of his son Willie, who died February 
 20th, 1862, would assuredly have changed him. 
 Devoted as he was to his children, this loss af- 
 fected him deeply, and it was not till several 
 weeks had passed that he was in any measure rec- 
 onciled. 
 
 " Gentlemen," said one of the guests at a din-
 
 260 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 ner-party in Washington, during which the Presi- 
 dent had been freely discussed, "you may talk as 
 you please about Mr. Lincoln's capacity. I don't 
 believe him to be the ablest statesman in America, 
 by any means, and I voted against him on both 
 occasions of his candidacy. But I happened to 
 see, or rather to hear, something the other day 
 that convinced me that, however deficient he may 
 be in the head, he is all right in the heart. 1 was 
 up at the White House, having called to see the 
 President on business. I was shown into the 
 office of his private secretary, and told that Mr. 
 Lincoln was busy just then, but would be dis- 
 engaged in a short time. While waiting, I heard 
 a very earnest prayer being uttered in a loud 
 female voice in the adjoining room. 1 inquired 
 what it meant, and was told that an old Quaker 
 lady, a friend of the President's, had called that 
 afternoon and taken tea at the White House, and 
 that she was then praying with Mr. Lincoln. 
 After the lapse of a few minutes the prayer 
 ceased, and the President, accompanied by a 
 Quakeress, not less than eighty years old, enter- 
 ed the room where I was sitting. I made up my 
 iiiia:l then, gentlemen, that Mr. Lincoln was not
 
 ABBA HA M LINCOLN. 231 
 
 a bad man ; and I don't think it will be easy to 
 efface the impression that the scene I witnessed, 
 and the voice I heard, made upon my mind ! " 
 
 To some members of the Christian Commis- 
 sion who were calling upon him, Mr. Lincoln said : 
 " If it were not for my firm, belief in an over- 
 ruling Providence, it would be difficult for mo, 
 in the midst of such complications of affairs, to 
 keep my reason on its seat. But I am confident 
 that the Almighty has His plans, and will work 
 them out ; and, whether we see it or not, they 
 will be the wisest and best for us. I have always 
 taken counsel of Him, and referred to Him my 
 plans, and have never adopted a course of pro- 
 ceeding without being assured, as far as I could 
 be, of His approbation. To be sure, He has not 
 conformed to my desires, or else we should have 
 been out of our trouble long ago. On the other 
 hand, His will does not seem to agree with the wish 
 of our enemy over there (pointing across the Poto- 
 mac). He stands the Judge between us, and we 
 ought to be willing to accept His decision. We 
 have reason to anticipate that it will be favorable 
 to us, for our cause is right." 
 
 It was during this interview, as Dr. Holland
 
 262 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 tells us, that the fact was privately communicated 
 to a member of the Commission that Mr. Lincoln 
 was in the habit of spending an early hour each 
 day in prayer. 
 
 It will hardly be necessary, after the reader haa 
 read thus far, to answer the charge made in some 
 quarters that Mr. Lincoln was an infidel. Few 
 of his critics possess his simple faith in God arid 
 his deep reverence for the Almighty, whose in- 
 strument he firmly believed himself to be. I can 
 not deny myself the satisfaction of reproducing 
 here Dr. Holland's remarks upon the life and 
 character of the President : 
 
 "Mr. Lincoln's character was one which will 
 grow. It will become the basis of an ideal man. 
 It was so pure, and so unselfish, and so rich in 
 its materials, that fine imaginations will spring 
 from it to blossom and bear fruit through all the 
 centuries. This element was found in Washing, 
 ton, whose human weaknesses seem to have faded 
 entirely from memory, leaving him a demi-god ; 
 and it will be found in Mr. Lincoln to a still more 
 remarkable degree. The black race have already 
 crowned him. "With the black man, and particu- 
 larly the black freedman, Mr. Lincoln's name is the
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 263 
 
 saintliest which -he pronounces, and the noblest 
 he can concejve. To the emancipated he is more 
 than man a heing scarcely second to the Lord 
 Jesus Christ himself. That old, white-headed 
 negro, who undertook to tell what ' Massa Lin- 
 kura ' was to his dark-minded brethren, embodied 
 the vague conceptions of his race in the words : 
 ' Massa Linkum, he ebery whar ; he know ebery 
 ting; he walk de earf like de Lord.' He was to 
 these men the incarnation of power and goodness ; 
 and his memory will live in the hearts of this un- 
 fortunate and oppressed race while it shall exist 
 upon the earth." 
 
 While the names of Lincoln and Washington 
 are often associated, the former holds a warmer 
 place in the affections of the American people 
 than his great predecessor, who, with all his ex- 
 cellence, was far removed by a certain coldness 
 and reserve from the sympathies of the common 
 people. Abraham Lincoln, on the other hand, 
 was always accessible, and his heart overflowed 
 with sympathy for the oppressed and the lowly. 
 The people loved him, for they felt that he was 
 one of themselves.
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 EMANCIPATING THE SLAVES. 
 
 THE " great central act " of Mr. Lincoln's ad- 
 ministration, as he himself calls it, was the eman- 
 cipation of the slaves. At the stroke of a pen 
 the shackles fell from four millions of persons in 
 a state of servitude. On the 1st of January, 1863, 
 emancipation was proclaimed, and the promise 
 was made that "the Executive Government of 
 the United States, including the military and 
 naval authorities thereof, will recognize and 
 maintain the freedom of said persons." 
 
 This important proclamation carried joy, not 
 only to the persons most interested, but to the 
 friends of Freedom everywhere. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln had been importuned to take this 
 step before. Earnest anti-slavery men like Charles 
 
 Snmner and Horace Greeley felt that he delayed 
 (204)
 
 A UK A TIAM LINCOLN. 
 
 too long ; but the President was wiser than they. 
 He had always been an anti-slavery man, but his 
 own wishes did not give him the right to abol- 
 ish slavery. I can not do better than to give 
 Mr. Lincoln's reasons for the course he pursued, 
 in his own words, spoken to George Thompson, 
 an eminent English anti-slavery man, in April, 
 1864: 
 
 " Mr. Thompson," said the President, " the 
 people of Great Britain and of other foreign gov- 
 ernments were in one great error in reference to 
 this conflict. They seemed to think that, the 
 moment I was President, I had the power to 
 abolish slavery, forgetting that, before I could 
 have any power whatever, I had to take the oath 
 to support the Constitution of the United States, 
 and execute the laws as I found them. When 
 the Kebellion broke out, my duty did not admit 
 of a question. 1 did not consider that I had a 
 right to touch the ' State ' institution of slavery 
 until all other measures for restoring the Union 
 had failed. The paramount idea of the Constitu- 
 tion is the preservation of the Union. It may not 
 be specified in so many words, but that this was 
 the idea of its founders is evident ; for, without
 
 206 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 the Union, the Constitution would be worthless. 
 It seems clear, then, that in the last extremity, if 
 any local institution threatened the existence of 
 the Union, the Executive could not hesitate as to 
 his duty. In our case, the moment came when I 
 felt that slavery must die that the nation must 
 live ! I have sometimes used the illustration in 
 this connection of a man with a diseased limb 
 and his surgeon. So long as there is a chance of 
 the patient's restoration, the surgeon is solemnly 
 bound to try to save both life and limb ; but when 
 the crisis comes, and the limb must be sacrificed 
 as the only chance of saving the life, no honest 
 man will hesitate. 
 
 " Many of my strongest supporters urged Eman- 
 cipation before I thought it indispensable, and, I 
 may say, before I thought the country ready for 
 it. It is my conviction that, had the proclama- 
 tion been issued even six months earlier than it 
 was, public sentiment would not have sustained 
 it. Just so as to the subsequent action in refer- 
 ence to enlisting blacks in the Border States. 
 The step, taken sooner, could not, in my judg- 
 ment, have been carried out. A man watches his 
 pear-tree day after day, impatient for the ripen-
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 2G7 
 
 ing of the fruit. Let him attempt to force the 
 process, and he may spoil both fruit and tree. 
 But let him patiently wait, and the ripe pear at 
 length falls into his lap ! "We have seen this great 
 revolution in public sentiment slowly, but surely, 
 progressing, so that, when final action came, the 
 opposition was not strong enough to defeat the 
 purpose. I can now solemnly assert that I have* 
 a clear conscience in regard to my action on this 
 momentous question. I have done what no man 
 could have helped doing, standing in my place." 
 
 I find an interesting account in Mr. Carpen- 
 ter's volume, of the circumstances attending Mr. 
 Lincoln's signing the Emancipation Proclamation, 
 quoted, I believe, from Col. Forney. It runs 
 thus : 
 
 " The roll containing the Emancipation Proc- 
 lamation was taken to Mr. Lincoln at noon on 
 the 1st day of January, 1863, by Secretary Seward 
 and his son Frederick. 
 
 " As it lay unrolled before him, Mr. Lincoln 
 took a pen, dipped it in ink, moved his hand to 
 the place for the signature, held it a moment, and 
 then removed his hand and dropped the pen. 
 After a little hesitation he again took up the pen
 
 268 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 and went through the same movement as before. 
 Mr. Lincoln then turned to Mr. Seward, and said : 
 
 " ' I have been shaking hands since nine o'clock 
 this morning, and my right arm is almost para- 
 lyzed. If my name ever goes into history it 
 will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it. 
 If my hand trembles when I sign this Proclama- 
 tion, all who examine the document hereafter will 
 say, " He hesitated." : 
 
 " He then turned to the table, took up the pen 
 again, and slowly, firmly wrote that 'Abraham 
 Lincoln,' with which the world is now familiar. 
 He looked up, smiled, and said : ' That will do.' " 
 
 That act linked the name of Abraham Lincoln 
 with one of the greatest acts in all history. That 
 act gave him an earthly immortality !
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 ELECTED FOR A SECOND TEEM. 
 
 IN hard and incessant labor, under a burden of 
 care and anxiety that were making him an old 
 man before his time, the term for which Mr. 
 Lincoln was elected President passed slowly away. 
 And the question came to the ISTation, "Who 
 shall be our next President ? Shall it be the man 
 who has led us thus far through the wilderness, 
 or shall we make choice of another leader ? " 
 
 There was a difference of opinion. Some were 
 in favor of General Fremont, many favored Mr. 
 Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury, and there 
 is no doubt that both of these two eminent men 
 wished for the office. Mr. Lincoln, too, wished 
 to be re-elected, not, I am sure, because power 
 was sweet, but because he wished to carry out to 
 the end the mighty work which it had been given 
 
 to him to do. He knew that Mr. Chase desired 
 
 (269)
 
 270 LOT HOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 to succeed him, but it did not make him less 
 friendly; nor when it devolved upon him to 
 appoint a successor to Chief-Justice Taney, did it 
 prevent him from conferring upon his chief rival 
 that high office. He considered Mr. Chase, of all 
 men, most fit to fill the position, and that with 
 him was the paramount consideration. 
 
 However politicians may have differed with 
 regard to the Presidency, the people were with 
 Mr. Lincoln. They had learned to trust him, and 
 the politicians were obliged to acquiesce in their 
 choice. He was nominated, and duly elected, and 
 the country breathed more freely. It was an as- 
 surance that the war would proceed till the rebel- 
 lion was crushed out, and the restoration of the 
 Union was now looked upon, under God, as cer- 
 tain. 
 
 During the campaign, Senator Sherman, of 
 Ohio, in a speech at Sandusky, gave this rough 
 but accurate sketch of Mr. Lincoln and his claims 
 to support. It was addressed to a Western 
 audience, and doubtless produced a powerful im- 
 pression : 
 
 " I know old Abe," said the Senator, " and I 
 tell you there is not, at this hour, a more patriotic
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 or a truer man living than that man Abraham 
 Lincoln. Some say he is an imbecile ; but he not 
 only held his own in his debates with Douglas, 
 whose power is admitted, and whom I considered 
 the ablest intellect in the United States Senate, 
 but got a little the better of him. He has been 
 deliberate and slow, but when he puts his foot 
 down it is with the determination and * certainty 
 with which our generals take their steps ; and, 
 like them, when he takes a city he never gives it 
 up. This firm old man is noble and kind-hearted. 
 He is a child of the people. Go to him with a 
 story of woe, and he will weep like a child. This 
 man so condemned works more hours than any 
 President that ever occupied the chair. His 
 solicitude for the public welfare is never-ceasing. 
 I differed from him at first myself, but at last 
 felt and believed that he was right, and shall vote 
 for this brave, true, patriotic, kind-hearted man. 
 All his faults and mistakes you have seen ; all his 
 virtues you never can know. His patience in 
 labor is wonderful. He works far harder than any 
 man in Erie County. At the head of this great 
 nation look at it ! He has all the bills to sign 
 passed by Congress. No one can be appointed to
 
 272 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 any office without his approval. No one can be 
 punished without the judgment receives his sig- 
 nature, and no one pardoned without his hand. 
 This man always right, always just we propose 
 to re-elect now to the Presidency."
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 TIIE SPEECH AT GETTYSBURG. 
 
 ONE of the most important and critical battles 
 of the Civil War took place on the soil of Penn- 
 sylvania. The battle of Gettysburg commenced 
 on the 1st day of July, 1863, and lasted for three 
 days. The invasion of Pennsylvania by Lee's 
 forces was a bold turning of the tables upon the 
 Federal forces, but fortunately they had a brave, 
 cool, and skillful commander in General Meade, 
 who beat back the Confederates with terrible 
 loss. 
 
 It is needless to say that excitement, amount- 
 ing to panic, prevailed throughout the North. 
 Had Lee been successful in his bold movement, 
 he would probably have continued his victories 
 through the State, and menaced more than one 
 Northern city. The danger was averted, but the 
 
 victory was won at large cost. The Federal loss 
 1 R (378)
 
 274 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 in dead, wounded, and missing amounted to 
 twenty-three thousand, though considerably lose 
 than the losses on the other side. A piece of 
 land adjoining the cemetery of the town was 
 given by the State as a last resting-place for the 
 loyal soldiers who had fallen in the battle, and on 
 the 19th of November it was dedicated. Two 
 addresses were made one by lion. Edward 
 Everett, which was not unworthy of the eminent 
 Massachusetts orator ; but the second, though 
 brief, was a gem which will live longer than the 
 stately periods of Everett. It was by President 
 Lincoln himself, and surprised even those who 
 best appreciated him. There are few of my 
 readers to whom it is not familiar, but I can not 
 deny myself the pleasure of recording it here : 
 
 " Four score and seven years ago," eaid Mr. 
 Lincoln, " our fathers brought forth upon this 
 continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and 
 dedicated to the proposition that all men are 
 created equal. ISTow we are engaged in a great 
 civil war, testing whether that nation, or any 
 nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long 
 endure. We are met on a great battle-field of 
 that war. We have come to dedicate a portion
 
 ASH AH A JU LINCOLN. 275 
 
 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 can not dedi- 
 cate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow 
 this ground. The brave men, living and dead, 
 who struggled here, have consecrated it far above 
 our power to add or detract. The world will 
 little 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 advanced. It is rather 
 for us to be here dedicated to the great task re- 
 maining 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 the 
 government of the people, by the people, and 
 for the people shall not perish from the earth." 
 
 Is there anything to be found in the addresses 
 of any orator, ancient or modern, more elevated 
 in sentiment or admirable in expression ? Yet the
 
 278 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 speaker had been reared in the backwoods, a 
 stranger to schools and colleges, and his eloquence 
 was neither acquired nor inherited. This speech 
 alone proclaims Abraham Lincoln a man of 
 genius.
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 THE CURTAIN FALLS. 
 
 AN Oriental monarch, fearing that in the plen- 
 itude of his power he might forget the common 
 fate, engaged a trusted attendant from time to 
 time to remind him of his mortality. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln needed no such reminder. 
 Before his iirst inauguration, and at intervals dur- 
 ing his official life, he received frequent threat- 
 ening letters, menacing him with death. These 
 
 o > o 
 
 lie kept in a package by themselves. Though he 
 never permitted them to influence his action, they 
 had their natural effect njpon a mind and temper- 
 ament subject to despondency, and not free from 
 superstition. Mr. Lincoln had a strong impres- 
 sion that he would not live through his term of 
 office. When, however, he was inaugurated for 
 
 a second time, amid the plaudits of the nation, 
 
 (27?)
 
 278 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 and the clouds of civil war seemed lifting to re- 
 veal a brighter future, his spirits, too, became 
 buoyant, and he permitted himself to believe that 
 all would end well, and he would be permitted to 
 reconcile the disaffected States, and bring them 
 back into the national fold. His heart was full of 
 tenderness and magnanimity toward the States in 
 rebellion. His large heart was incapable of har- 
 boring malice, or thirsting for revenge. 
 
 But he was only to come in sight of the Prom- 
 ised Land. It was for another leader to finish his 
 weary and protracted task, and reap where he had 
 sown. 
 
 On the evening of the fourteenth of April, 
 1865, President Lincoln and wife with two friends 
 occupied a box at Ford's Theatre, by invitation 
 of the manager, to witness a performance of Tom 
 Taylor's " American Cousin." They arrived late, 
 and their entrance was greeted with enthusiasm, 
 the large audience rising to their feet and cheer- 
 ing. 
 
 Not long afterward, John "WTlkes Booth, a 
 young actor, who, throughout the war, had made 
 no secret of his sympathy with the Confederate 
 cause, entered the theatre, and, not without did!
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. gfO 
 
 culty, made his way through the crowded drcoL 
 clrcle to the back of the box in which the Presi- 
 dent's party w T ere seated. 
 
 " The President has sent for me," he said to 
 the servant, showing his card, and thus he gained 
 admission. 
 
 Standing in the door-way, after a hasty glance 
 at the interior, he took a small Derringer pistol 
 in one hand, holding at the same time a double- 
 edged dagger in the other, he aimed deliberately 
 at Mr. Lincoln, who sat in an arm-chair, with his 
 back to him. There was a quick report, and the 
 fatal bullet had entered Mr. Lincoln's brain. Ma- 
 jor Rathbone, the only other gentleman present 
 in the box, quickly comprehending the truth, 
 tried to seize the assassin, but he was too quick 
 for him-. Striking at him with his dagger, he 
 sprang to the front of the box, leaped upon the 
 stage, crying in a theatrical tone, "Sic semper 
 tyrannis ! " and " The South is avenged ! " and, 
 favored by his knowledge of the stage, escaped 
 at the rear before the actors and audience, stupe- 
 fied by the suddenness of his act, could arrest hia 
 flight. 
 
 Too well had the assassin done his work ! The
 
 280 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 President never spoke, or recovered conscious- 
 ness. He was carried from the theatre to a house 
 near at hand, where, at twenty-two minutes past 
 seven the next morning, he expired, with his 
 mourning friends around him. 
 
 On the same evening another tragedy came 
 near being enacted in another part of the city a 
 branch, no doubt, of the same wicked conspiracy. 
 "Mr. Seward, Secretary of State, lay sick at his 
 house, having been thrown from his carriage and 
 severely injured a few days before. A man, who 
 proved to be Lewis Payne Powell, gained admis- 
 sion by a subterfuge, and, though warned by the 
 servant that no one was admitted to see Mr. Sew- 
 ard, pushed past him into the Secretary's cham- 
 ber. At the entrance the Secretary's son, Mr. 
 Frederick Seward, forbade him to enter, but Pow- 
 ell struck him upon the forehead with the butt of 
 a pistol, and, rushing to the bed, stabbed the help 
 less Secretary three times, and would have killed 
 him but for his nurse, a soldier named Robinson, 
 who grappled with him, receiving severe blows 
 in the struggle. Powell escaped from the house > 
 after stabbing no less than five persons. 
 
 To describe the grief, anger, and consternation
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 2 S 1 
 
 which these two tragedies produced throughout 
 the country, would be well-nigh impossible. Then, 
 for the iirst time, it became apparent how dear to 
 the popular heart was the plain, honest, untiring 
 man who, for more than four dark and gloomy 
 years, had borne the national burden, and labored 
 as best he might to restore peace and harmony to 
 a distracted land. 
 
 The conspirators had been only too successful, 
 but they had not accomplished all they had in 
 view. It had been expected that General Grant 
 would form one of the President's party ; fortu- 
 nately, he had excused himself, and left the city. 
 Could he, too, have fallen a victim, dark indeed 
 would have been the daAvning of the next day, 
 and the wide-spread feeling of horror would have 
 been deepened. 
 
 In a recent conversation General Grant thus 
 speaks of this sad time : " The darkest day of my 
 life was the day I heard of Lincoln's assassination. 
 I did not know what it meant. Here was the re- 
 bellion put down in the field, and starting up 
 again in the gutters; we had fought it as war, 
 now we had to fight it as assassination. Lincoln 
 was killed on the 14th of April. I was busy
 
 82 -BO THO GI > A ND MANU OD OF 
 
 sending out orders to stop recrniting, the pur- 
 chase of supplies, and to muster out the army. 
 Lincoln had promised to go to the theatre, and 
 wanted me to go with him. While I was with 
 the President a letter came from Mrs. Grant, say- 
 ing that she must leave Washington that night. 
 She wanted to go to Burlington to see her chil- 
 dren. Some incident of a trifling nature had 
 made her resolve to leave that evening. I was 
 glad to have it so, as I did not want to go to the 
 theatre. So I made my excuse to Lincoln, and, 
 at the proper hour, we started for the train. As 
 we were driving along Pennsylvania Avenue, a 
 horseman rode past us on a gallop, and back 
 again around our carriage, looking into it. 
 
 " Mrs. Grant said : ' There is the man who sat 
 
 near us at lunch to-day with some other men, and 
 
 .tried to overhear our conversation. He was so 
 
 rude that we left the dining-room. Here he is 
 
 now, riding after us.' 
 
 " I thought it was only curiosity, but learned 
 afterwards that the horseman was Booth. 1 
 seemed that I was to have been attacked, and 
 Mrs. Grant's sudden resolve to leave changed th . 
 plan. A few days after I received an anonymous
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 83 
 
 letter from a man, saying that he had been de- 
 tailed to kill me ; that he rode on my train 
 as far as Havre de Grace, and as my car was 
 locked he failed to get in. He thanked God that 
 he had failed. I remembered that the conductor 
 had locked the car, but how true the letter was I 
 can not say. I learned of the assassination as I 
 was passing through Philadelphia. I turned 
 around, took a special train, and came on to Wash- 
 ington. It was the gloomiest day of my life." 
 
 Of the imposing funeral ceremonies, and the 
 manifestations of deep grief throughout the na- 
 tion, I need not speak. As Dr. Holland well 
 says : " Millions felt that they had lost a brother, 
 or a father, or a dear personal friend. It was a 
 grief that brought the nation more into family 
 sympathy than it had been since the days of the 
 Revolution. Men came together in public meet- 
 ings, to give expression to their grief 
 
 There were men engaged in the rebellion who 
 turned from the deed with horror. Many of these 
 had learned something of the magnanimity of 
 Mr. Lincoln's character ; and they felt that the 
 time would come when the South would need his 
 friendship."
 
 284 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 There is no reason to believe that the Southern 
 leaders countenanced or instigated this atrocious 
 deed. It was the act of a half-crazed political 
 fanatic, and the few who were in sympathy with 
 him, and cognizant of his plans, were men of like 
 character. Justice overtook them in the end, as 
 might have been expected, but they had wrought 
 irreparable mischief, and plunged a whole people 
 kito mourning.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 MR. HERNDON'S ESTIMATE OF MR. LINCOLN. 
 
 No one probably was better fitted to give a 
 discriminating analysis of Mr. Lincoln's character 
 than Mr. W. H. Herndon, for more than twenty 
 years his law-partner. From an address delivered 
 at Springfield, 111., Dec. 12, 1865, by that gen- 
 tleman, I shall, therefore, quote freely, without 
 indorsing everything that is said, but submitting 
 it as the opinion of a man who knew Mr. Lincoln 
 well : 
 
 " Mr. Lincoln read less and thought more than 
 any man in his sphere in America. No man can 
 put his finger on any great book written in the 
 last or present century that he read. "When 
 young he read the Bible, and when of age he 
 read Shakespeare. This latter book was scarcely 
 ever out of his mind. Mr. Lincoln is acknowl- 
 
 (285)
 
 286 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 edged to have been a great man, but the ques- 
 tion is, Y/hat made him great ? 1 repeat that he 
 read less and thought more than any man of his 
 standing in America, if not in the world. lie 
 possessed originality and power of thought in an 
 eminent degree. He was cautious, cool, concen- 
 trated, with continuity of reflection ; was patient 
 and enduring. These are some of the grounds of 
 his wonderful success. 
 
 "Not only was nature, man, fact, and principle 
 suggestive to Mr. Lincoln not only had he accu- 
 rate and exact perceptions, but he was causative ; 
 i.e., his mind ran back behind all facts, things, 
 :.nd principles to their origin, history, and first 
 cause, to that point where forces act at once as 
 effect and cause. He would stop and stand in the 
 street and analyze a machine. He would whittle 
 things to a point, and then count the numberless 
 inclined planes and their pitch, making the point. 
 Mastering and defining this, he would then cut 
 that point back and get a broad transverse section 
 of his pine stick and point and define that. Clocks, 
 omnibuses, and language, paddle-wheels, and 
 idioms, never escaped his observation and analy- 
 sis. Before he could form any idea of anything
 
 LINCOLN. 287 
 
 before he would express his opinion on any 
 subject, he must know it in origin and history, 
 in substance and quality, in magnitude and 
 gravity. He must know his subject inside and 
 outside, upside and downside. He searched his 
 own mind and nature thoroughly, as I have often 
 heard him say. Pie must analyze a sensation, an 
 idea, and words, and run them back to their or- 
 igin, history, purpose, and destiny." 
 
 " All things, facts, and principles had to run 
 through his crucible and be tested by the fires of 
 his analytic mind ; and hence, when he did speak, 
 his utterances rang out gold-like quick, keen, 
 and current upon the counters of the understand- 
 ing. He reasoned logically, through analogy and 
 comparison. All opponents dreaded him in his 
 originality of idea, condensation, definition, and 
 foice of expression, and woe be to the man who 
 hugged to his bosom a secret error if Mr. Lincoln 
 got on the chase of it ! 1 say, woe to him ! 
 Time could hide the error in no nook or corner 
 of space in which he would not detect and ex- 
 pose it." 
 
 " Mr. Lincoln w; ? .s a peculiar man, having a pe- 
 culiar mind. He was gifted with a peculiarity
 
 288 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 namely, a new lookout on nature. Everything 
 had to be newly created for him facts newly 
 gathered, newly arranged, and newly classed. He 
 had no faith., as already expressed. In order to 
 Relieve, he must see and feel and thrust his hand 
 into the place. Such a mind as this must act 
 strongly, must have its time. His forte and 
 power lay in his love of digging out for himself 
 and hunting up for his own mind its own food, 
 to be assimilated unto itself; and then, in time, 
 he could and would form opinions and conclu- 
 sions that no human power could overthrow. 
 They were as irresistible as iron thunder, as pow- 
 erful as logic embodied in mathematics." 
 
 " An additional question naturally suggests it- 
 self here, and it is this : Had Mr. Lincoln great, 
 good common sense ? Different persons of equal 
 capacity and honesty hold different views on this 
 question one class answering in the affirmative 
 and the other in the negative. 
 
 " These various opinions necessarily spring out 
 of the question just discussed. If the true test is 
 that a man shall quickly, wisely, and well judge 
 che rapid rush and whirl of human transactions as 
 accurately as though indefinite time and proper
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 89 
 
 conditions were at his disposal, then I am com- 
 pelled to follow the logic of things, and say that 
 Mr. Lincoln had no more than ordinary common 
 sense. The world, men, and their actions must 
 be judged as they rush and pass along. They will 
 not wait on us will not stay for onr logic and 
 analysis; they must be seized as they ran. We 
 all our life act on the ^moment. Mr. Lincoln 
 knew himself, and never trusted his dollar or his 
 fame on his casual opinions; he never acted hast- 
 ily on great matters." 
 
 " The great predominating elements of Mr. 
 Lhicoln's peculiar character were first, his great 
 capacity and power of reason ; secondly, his excel- 
 lent understanding; thirdly, an exalted idea of 
 the sense of right and equity ; and fourthly, his 
 intense veneration of what was true and good. 
 His reason ruled despotically all other faculties 
 and qualities of his mind. His conscience and 
 heart were ruled by it. His conscience was ruled 
 by one faculty reason ; his heart was ruled by 
 two faculties reason and conscience. I know it 
 is generally believed that Mr. Lincoln's heart, his 
 love and kindness, his tenderness and benevolence 
 
 wore his ruling qualities; but tin's opinion is er- 
 
 10
 
 290 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OP 
 
 roneotn in every particular. First, as to his rea- 
 son. He dwelt in the mind ; not in the con- 
 science, and not in the heart. He lived and 
 breathed and acted from his reason, the throne 
 of logic and the home of principle, the realm of 
 Deity in man. It is from this point that Mr. Lin- 
 coln must be viewed. His views were correct and 
 original. He was cautions not to be deceived ; he 
 was patient and enduring. He had concentration 
 and great continuity of thought ; he had a pro- 
 found analytic power ; his vision was clear, and 
 he was emphatically the master of statement. 
 His pursuit of the truth was indefatigable terri- 
 ble. He reasoned from his well-chosen princi- 
 ples with such clearness, force, and compactness, 
 that the tallest intellects in the land bowed to him 
 with respect. He was the strongest man 1 ever 
 saw looking at him from the stand-point of his 
 reason, the throne of his logic. He came from 
 that height with an irresistible and crushing 
 force. His printed speeches will prove this ; 
 but his speeches before courts, especially before 
 the Supreme Courts of the State and Nation, 
 would demonstrate it. Unfortunately none of 
 them have been preserved. Here he demanded
 
 ARRAHAJl LINCOLN. 291 
 
 time to think and prepare. The office of reason 
 is to determine the truth. Truth is the power of 
 reason the child of reason. He loved and idol- 
 ized truth for its own sake. It was reason's food. 
 " Conscience, the second great quality and forta 
 of Mr. Lincoln's character, is that faculty which 
 loves the just. Its office is justice ; right and 
 equity are its correlatives. It decides upon all 
 acts of all people at all times. Mr. Lincoln had 
 a deep, broad, living conscience. His great rea- 
 son told him what was true, good and bad, right, 
 wrong, just or unjust, and his conscience echoed 
 back its decision ; and it was from this po^'nt that 
 he acted and spoke and wove his character and 
 fame among us. His conscience ruled his heart ; 
 he was always just before he was gracious. This 
 was his motto his glory ; and this is as it should 
 be. It can not be truthfully said of any mortal 
 man that he was always just. Mr. Lincoln was 
 not always just, but his general life was. It fol- 
 lows that if Mr. Lincoln had great reason and 
 great conscience, he was an honest man. His 
 great and general life was honest, and he was 
 justly and rightfully entitled to the appellation, 
 ' Honest Abe ! ' Honesty was his great polar star.
 
 292 BOYHOOD AXD MANHOOD OF 
 
 "Mr. Lincoln had also a good understanding ; 
 that is, the faculty that understands and compre- 
 hends the exact state of things, their near and re- 
 mote relation. The understanding does not nec- 
 essarily inquire for the reason of things. I must 
 here repeat that Mr. Lincoln was an odd and orig- 
 inal man ; he lived by himsslf and out of himself. 
 He could not absorb. He was a very sensitive 
 man, unobtrusive and gentlemanly, and often hid 
 himself in the common mass of men, in order to 
 prevent the discovery of his individuality. He 
 had no insulting egotism and no pompous pride ; 
 no haughtiness and no aristocracy. He was not 
 indifferent, however, to approbation and public 
 opinion. He was not an upstart and had no inso- 
 lence. He was a meek, quiet, unobtrusive gen- 
 tleman. Theso qualities of his nature merged 
 somewhat his identities. Head Mr. Lincoln's 
 speeches, letters, messages, and proclamations ; 
 read his whole record in his actual life, and you 
 can not fail to perceive that he had good under- 
 standing. He understood and fully comprehended 
 himself; and what he did, and why he did it, bet- 
 ter than most living men."
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 293 
 
 "There are two opinions radically different 
 opinions expressed about Mr. Lincoln's will by 
 men of equal and much capacity. One opinion 
 is that ho had no will, and the other is that he was 
 all will omni potently so. These two opinions 
 are loudly and honestly affirmed. Mr. Lincoln's 
 mind loved the true, the right, and good all the 
 great truths and principles in the mind of man. 
 He loved the true first, the right second, and the 
 good the least. Hid mind struggled for truths and 
 his soul for substances. Neither in his heart nor 
 ill his soul did he care for forms, methods, ways, 
 the new-substantial facts or things. He could 
 not by his very structure and formation in mind 
 and body care anything about them. He did not 
 intensely or much care for particular individual 
 man dollar, property, rank, order, manners, and 
 such like things. He had no avarice in his nat- 
 ure, or other like vice What suited a lit- 
 tle, narrow, critical mind, did not suit Mr. Lin- 
 coln's, any more than a child's clothes did his 
 body. Generally, Mr. Lincoln did not take any 
 interest in little local elections town meetings. 
 He attended no gatherings that pertained to local 
 or other such interests, saving general politic-al
 
 294 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 ones. He did not care (because he cotild not in 
 his nature) who succeeded to the presidency of 
 this or that Christian Association or Railroad 
 Convention ; who made the most money ; who 
 was going to Philadelphia; when and for what; 
 and what were the costs of such a trip. He could 
 not care who among friends got this office or that 
 who got to be street inspector or alley commis- 
 sioner. jSTo principle of goodness, of truth, or 
 right was here. How could he be moved by 
 such things as these ? He could not understand 
 why men struggled for such things. He made 
 this remark to me one day I think at Washing- 
 ton : ' If ever this free people if this Govern- 
 ment itself is ever utterly demoralized, it will 
 come from this human wriggle and straggle for 
 office ; a way to live without work ; from which 
 nature I am not free myself.' It puzzled him a 
 good deal at Washington to know and to get at the 
 root of this dread desire, this contagious disease 
 of national robbery in the nation's death-struggle. 
 "Because Mr. Lincoln could not feel any inter- 
 est in such little things as I have spoken of, nor 
 feel any particular interest in the success of tho^e 
 who were then struggling and wriggling, he was
 
 AWAUAM LINCOLN. 295 
 
 called indifferent nay, ungrateful to his friends. 
 Especially is this the case with men who have 
 aided Mr. Lincoln all their life. Mr. Lincoln al- 
 ways and everywhere wished his friends well ; he 
 loved his friend?, and clung to them tenaciously, 
 like iron to iron welded ; yet he could not be act- 
 ively and energetically aroused to the true sense 
 of his friends' particularly strong feelings of anx- 
 iety for office. From this fact Mr. Lincoln has 
 been called ungrateful. He was not an ungrate- 
 ful man by any means. He may have been a 
 cool man a passive man in his general life; yet 
 he was not ungrateful. Ingratitude is too posi- 
 tive a word it doss not convey the truth. Mr. 
 Lincoln may not have measured his friendly du- 
 ties by the applicant's hot desire ; I admit this. 
 He was not a selfish man, if by selfishness is 
 meant that Mr. Lincoln would do any act, even to 
 promote himself to the Presidency, if by that act 
 any human being was wronged. If it is said that 
 Abraham Lincoln preferred Abraham Lincoln to 
 any one else in the pursuit of his ambitions, and 
 that, because of this, he was a selfish man, then I 
 can see no objections to such an idea, for this is 
 universal human nature.
 
 206 BOYHOOD AXD MANHOOD OP 
 
 " It must be remembered that Mr. Lincoln's 
 mind acted logically, cautiously, and slowly. Now, 
 Laving stated tlie above facts, the question of his 
 will and its power is easily solved. Be it remem- 
 bered that Mr. Lincoln cared nothing for 
 simple facts, manners, modes, ways, and 
 such like things. Be it remembered, that 
 he did care for trath, for right, fo.- principle, 
 for all that pertains to the good. In relation 
 to simple facts, unrelated to substance, forms, 
 rules, methods, ways, manners, he cared nothing ; 
 and if he could be aroused, he would do anything 
 for anybody at any time, as well foe as friend. As 
 a politician he would courteously grant all facts 
 and forms all non-essential things to his oppo- 
 nent. He did so because he did not care for 
 them ; they were rubbish, husks, trash. On the 
 question of substance, he hung and clung with all 
 his might. On questions of truth, justice, right, 
 the good, on principle his will was as firm as 
 
 steel and as tenacious as iron Ask Mr. 
 
 Lincoln to do a wrong thing, and he would scorn 
 the request ; ask him to do an unjust thing, and 
 he would cry ' Begone ! ' ask him to sacrifice his
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 297 
 
 convictions of the truth, and his soul would indig- 
 nantly exclaim, ' The world perish first ! ' ' 
 
 "Mr. Lincoln sometimes walked our streets 
 cheerily, good-hum oredly, perhaps joyously and 
 then it was, on meeting a friend, he cried, ' How 
 d'ye?' clasping one of his friend's hands in both 
 of his, giving a good, hearty soul-welcome. Of 
 a winter's morning he might be seen stalking and 
 stilting it toward the market-house, basket on arm, 
 his old gray shawl wrapped around his neck, his 
 little Willie or Tad running along at his heels, 
 asking a thousand little quick questions, which 
 his father heard not, not even then knowing that 
 little Willie or Tad was there, so abstracted was 
 he. When he thus met a friend, he said that 
 something put him in mind of a story which he 
 heard in Indiana or elsewhere, and tell it he w r ould, 
 and there was no alternative but to listen. 
 
 " Thus, I say, stood and walked and looked this 
 singular man. He was odd, but when that gray 
 eye and face, and every feature were lit up by the 
 inward soul in fires of emotion, then it was that 
 all those apparently ugly features sprang into or-
 
 298 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 gaus of beauty, or sunk themselves into a sea of 
 inspiration that sometimes flooded his face. Some- 
 times it appeared to me that Lincoln's soul was 
 just fresh from the presence of its Creator." 
 
 " This man, this long, bony, wiry, sad man, float- 
 ed into our county in 1831, in a frail canoe, down 
 the north fork of the Sangamon River, friendless, 
 penniless, powerless, and alone begging for work 
 in this city, ragged, struggling for the common 
 necessaries of life. This man, this peculiar man, 
 'left us, in 1861, the President of the United 
 States, backed by friends and power, by fame 
 and all human force; and it is well to inquire 
 how ? 
 
 " To sum up, let us say, here is a sensitive, dif- 
 fident, unobtrusive, natural-made gentleman. His 
 mind was strong and deep, sincere and honest, 
 patient and enduring ; having no vices and having 
 only negative defects, with many positive virtues. 
 His is a strong, honest, sagacious, manly, noble 
 life. He stands in the foremost rank of men in 
 all ages, their equal, one of the best types oi 
 this Christian civilization."
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 ME. LINCOLN'S FAVORITE POEM. 
 
 ONE evening when Mr. Carpenter, the artist, 
 was alone with Mr. Lincoln in his study, the 
 President said : " There is a poem that has been 
 a great favorite with me for years, to which my 
 attention was first called when a young man, by a 
 friend, and which I afterward saw and cut from 
 a newspaper and carried in my pocket till, by fre- 
 quent reading, I had it by heart. I would give 
 a great deal to know who wrote it, but I could 
 never ascertain." 
 
 He then repeated the poem, now familiar to the 
 public, commencing, " Oh ! why should the spirit 
 of mortal be proud ? " 
 
 This poem,, which was written by William 
 Knox, a young Scotchman, a contemporary of Sir 
 Walter Scott, suits well the thoughtful, melan- 
 choly mood habitual to Mr. Lincoln. It is said 
 
 (209)
 
 300 
 
 that a man may be known by his favorite poem. 
 Whether this can be said of men in general may 
 be doubted. In the case of Abraham Lincoln I 
 think those who knew him best would agree that 
 the sadness underlying the poem found an echo 
 in the temperament he inherited from his mother. 
 I am sure my readers will be glad to find the 
 poem recorded here, even though they may have 
 met with it before : 
 
 Oh ! why should the spirit of mortal be proud ? 
 Like a swift fleeting meteor, a fast-flving cloud, 
 A flash of the lightning, a break of t!ie wave, 
 He passeth from life to his rest in the grave. 
 
 The leaves of tho oak and the willow shall fade, 
 Be scattered around and together belaid; 
 And the youn;T an 1 the old, the low and the high, 
 Shall moulder to dust, and together shall lie 
 
 The infant a mother attended and loved ; 
 The mother that infant's affection who proved: 
 The husb md, that mo'her and infant who blest 
 Each, all, are away to their dwellings of rest. 
 
 The maid on whose cheek, on whose brow, in whose eye, 
 Shone beauty and pleasure, her triumphs are by ; 
 And t' e memory of those who loved her and praised, 
 Are alike fivni the minds of the living erased. 
 
 The hand of the king fiat the sceptre ha'h borne, 
 The brow of tlse priest tlint the nvtre hath worn,
 
 ABR.ill.Ui LENCOLX. 3<)1 
 
 The oye of the sage and the heart of the brave, 
 Are hidckn and lost in the depths of the grave. 
 
 The pea3;mt, whose lot was to sow and to reap, 
 The herdsman, wlio c'imbod with his goats up the steep, 
 The beggar, who wandered in search of his bread, 
 Have faded away like the grass that we tread. 
 
 The siint, who enjoyed the communion of Heaven, 
 Tlie sinner, who dared to remain unforgiven. 
 The \vie and the foolish, the guilty and just, 
 Have quie ly mingled their bones in the dust. 
 
 So the multitude goes like the flower or the weed 
 That withers away to let others succeed ; 
 So the multitude comes even those we behold, 
 To repeat every tale that has often teen told. 
 
 For we are the same our fathers have been ; 
 We see the same sights our fathers have seen ; 
 We drink the same stream, wo view the same sun, 
 And run the same course our fathers have run. 
 
 Tlie thoughts we are thinking our fathers wo'ild think ; 
 From the death we are shrinking, our fathers would shrink 
 To the life we are clinging, they also would cling, 
 But it speeds from us all like a bird on the wing. 
 
 They loved but the story we can not unfold ; 
 They scorned but the heart of the haughty is cold ; 
 They grieved but no wail froai their slumber will come ; 
 They joyed but the tongue of their gladness is dumb. 
 
 They died ay, they died ; we things that are now, 
 That walk on the turf that lies over their brow,
 
 303 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 I 
 
 And make in their dwellings a transient abode, 
 
 Meet the things that they met on their pilgrimage road. 
 
 'Tis the wink of an eye 'tis the draught of a breath 
 From the blossom of health to the paleness of death, 
 From the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud : 
 Oh ! why should the spirit of mortal be proud? 
 
 The last stanza will call to mind the startling 
 suddenness with which Abraham Lincoln, the 
 Chief Magistrate of a great nation, passed from 
 the summit of power to the solemn stillness of 
 death. Was it a sad, prophetic instinct that caused 
 the mind of the great martyr to dwell so constant, 
 ly upon these solemn strains? 
 
 No man seems to have been more clearly indi- 
 cated as the instrument of Providence than Abra- 
 ham Lincoln. It seems strange in the eyes of 
 men that a rough youth, born and reared in the 
 backwoods, without early educational advantages, 
 homely and awkward, and with no polish of man- 
 ner save that which proceeded from a good heart, 
 should have been selected as the Guide and Savior 
 of a great nation. But God's ways are not as our 
 ways, nor is His choice as ours. Mr. Lincoln had 
 this advantage, coming from the ranks of the 
 people, he never lost sight of his sympathy for
 
 AJr LINCOLN. 303 
 
 his class. His nature and his sympathies were 
 broad and nnconiined. 
 
 He has been well described by one reared like 
 himself, in the f rejs atmosphere of the "West : 
 " Nearly every great figure of history is a kind of 
 great monstrosity. We know nothing about 
 Washington. He is a steel engraving. No dirt 
 of humanity clings to his boots. Lincoln lived 
 where men were free and equal, and was acquaint- 
 ed with the people, not much with books. Every 
 man is in some sort a book. He lived the poem 
 of the year in the fields, the woods, the blessed 
 country. Lincoln had the advantage of sociabil- 
 ity. He was thoughtful, and saw on the horizon 
 of his future the perpetual star of hope. To 
 him every field was a landscape ; every landscape 
 a poem ; every poem a lesson, and every grove a 
 fairy land. Oaks and elms are far more poetical 
 than streets or houses. A country life is in itself 
 an education. It gives the man an idea of home. 
 He hears the rain on the roofs, the rustle of the 
 breeze, the music of nature's fullest coiitro 1 . You 
 have no idea how many men education spoils. 
 Lincoln's education was derived from men and 
 things, and hence he had a chance to develop.
 
 304 BOYHOOD AND M.LFHOOD OF 
 
 lie had many sides. He not only had langbter, 
 but he had tears, and never that kind of solemni- 
 ty which is a wash to hide the features. He was 
 'iOt afraid to seek for knowledge where he had it 
 tot. When a man is too dignified he ceases to 
 earn. He was always honest with himself. He 
 iras an orator ; that is, he was natural. If you 
 A ? ish to be sublime you must keep close to the 
 grass. You must sit close to the heart of human 
 experience above the clouds it is too cold. If 
 you want to know the difference between an ora- 
 tor and a speaker read the oration of Lincoln at 
 Gettysburg, and then read the speech of Everett 
 at the same place. One came from the heart, the 
 other was from out of the voice. Lincoln's speech 
 vnll be remembered forever. Everett's no mau 
 will read. It was like plucked flowers. 
 
 " If you want to find out what a man is to the 
 bottom, give him power. Any man can stand 
 adversity only a great man can stand prosperity. 
 It is the glory of Abraham Lincoln that he never 
 abused power only on the side of mercy. When 
 he had power he used it in mercy. He loved to 
 see the tears of the wife whose husband he had 
 snatched from death."
 
 AURA RAM LINCOLN. 305 
 
 I draw near the close of my task, having given, 
 as I hope, some fair idea of one whose memory 
 will always remain dear to the hearts of his coun- 
 trymen. In that chequered life there is much to 
 imitate, much to admire, little to avoid or censure. 
 Happy will be the day when our public men copy 
 his unselfishness, his patriotic devotion to duty ! 
 
 Within a few months, on the eighteenth anni- 
 versary of Mr. Lincoln's assassination, a poem 
 was read at his grave by John II. Bryant, of 
 Princeton, which will fitly close my story of the 
 Backwoods Boy: 
 
 Not one of all earth's wise and great 
 
 Hath earned a purer gratitude 
 
 Than the great Soul whose hallowed dust 
 
 This structure holds in sacred trust. 
 
 
 
 How fierce the strife that rent the land, 
 When he was summoned to command; 
 "With what wise care he led us through 
 The fearful ttornis that 'round us blew. 
 
 Calm, patient, hopeful, undismayed, 
 
 He mi-t the angry hosts arrayed 
 
 For bloody war, and overcame 
 
 Their haughty power in Freedom's narne. 
 
 'Mid taunts and doubts, the bondsman's chain 
 With gentle force he cleft in twain, 
 20
 
 306 BOYHOOD AND MANHOOD OF 
 
 And raised four million slaves to be 
 The chartered sons of Liberty. 
 
 No debt he owed to wealth or birth ; 
 By force of solid, honest worth 
 He climbed the topmost height of fame, 
 And wrote thereon a spotless name. 
 
 Oh ! when the felon hand laid low 
 That sacred head, what sudden woe 
 Shot to the Nation's farthest bound, 
 And every bosom felt the wound. 
 
 Well might the Nation bow in grief, 
 And weep above the fallen chief, 
 Who ever strove, by word or pen, 
 For ' ; peace on earth, good-will to men." 
 
 The people loved him, for they knew, 
 Each pulse of his large heart was true 
 To them, to Freedom, and the right, 
 Unswayed by gain, unawed by might. ,. 
 
 This tomb, by loving hands up-piled, 
 To him, the merciful and mild, 
 From nge to age shall carry down 
 The glory of his great renown. 
 
 As the long centuries onward flow, 
 
 As generations come and go, 
 
 Wide and more wide his fame shall spread, 
 
 And greener laurels crown his head. 
 
 And when this pile is fall'n to dust, 
 Its bronzes crumbled into rust,
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 307 
 
 Thy name, O Lincoln ! still shall be 
 Revered and loved from sea to sea. 
 
 India's swart millions, 'neath their p:\1ms, 
 Shall sing thy praise in grateful psalms, 
 And crowds by Congo's turbid wave 
 Bless the good hand that freed the slave. 
 
 Shine on, Star of Freedom, shine, 
 Till all the realms of earth are thine; 
 Aud all the tiibes, through countless days, 
 Shall bask in thy benignant rays. 
 
 Lord of the Nations ! grant us still 
 Another patriot sage, to fill 
 The seat of power, and save the State 
 From selfish greed. For this we wait.
 
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