7 < -- \vl^«lli^^^^H ^5;^A^^V ^;$issj^:m$?i®M^ me of a sror CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FROM Ts. ■:r.:i.'F.^.Giirley D^' Date Due vr //^ \ / MAR d I llicolrtt: f u-V^i T inv \--'^' ;!j . lif^jap. / w/^ / r:« : ' "" -. rm-.' y f 'j^fe^— r 'PtET, ''H^ P> M IQ jB»t5«" -J. %/ . if I t^y-^-^' Iv^'8 )% -;.- u ?./ ^'-^' d!'<^ '0., u^- '-&tr^: ' ■" '■'Y!^ ■MA ^^^' , j/f :■■-■' m:- rh' •)V.:i':i,. c . f, t," />^'"" ABRAHAM LINCOLN. The 1 6th President of the United States. ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES, Including "Early Life Stories ;" "Professional Life Stories;" "White House Incidents;" "War Reminiscences," Etc.. Etc. Also His Speeches, Chronologically Arranged, FROM PaPPSVILLE, IlL., 1832, TO HiS LAST SPEECH in Washington, April ii, 1865. Including His Inaugurals, Emancipation Procla- mation, Gettysburg Address, Etc., Etc., Etc. FULLY ILLUSTRATED, EDITED BY J. B. McClure, a. M. :o:- Editor of " Mistakes of Ingersoll;" "Life of Gen. Garfiei!,d;" "Edison and his Inventions;" •'Moody's Anecdotes;" "Sketches of Gen. Grant;" Evils of the Cities;" ■'Poetic Pearls;" Etc. CHICAGO. Rhodes & McClure Publishing Company. 1897. Entef^d^ccordingto Act of Congress, in the year 1894, by Rhodes & MgCluke Publishing Company, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. All Rights reserved. In his speeches — and we may add — his stories, the great Lincoln ' 'still lives, " with an influence for good among men. Whatever may attach to his mere biography, that reveals a life of struggle and disadvantage in early years — unparalleled in fact in this respect — the truth is the MAN LINCOLN is not in the "early cabin home," but in ' ' words that never die " — in the compiled ut- terances of this volume, that reveal and perpetuate the soul life of him who spoke so often, so ftilly arid truly, of life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap- piness, and of a governmeht ' ' that is of the peo- ple, by the people, and for the people." In this form these' stories and speeches, whose radiance lightens all pathways, are dedicated to the world, in the firm faith that in the fulness of time, the kriowledge of the truth shall make all people free. J. B. McCLURE. EARLY LIFE STORIES. An Honest Boy; Young Lincoln "Pulls Fodder" Two Days for a Damaged Book 1 8 An Incident of Lincoln's Early Hardships and Nar- row Escape from Death 21 A Pig Story; Lincoln's Kindness to the Brute Crea- tion 32 A Hard Tussle with Seven Negroes; Life on a Mis- sissippi Flat-boat 33 A Remarkable Story; "Honest Abe" as Postmaster. 40 A Humorous Speech; Lincoln in the Black Hawk War 46 A Joke on Lincoln's Big Feet * '. . 50 Baby Footprints 73 "Clarey's Grove Boys"; A Wrestling Match 57 Elected to the Legislature 47 Gen. Linder's Early Recollections; Amusing Stories. 55 How Lincoln Earned his First D'ollar 17 How Lincoln Helped to Build a Boat: and How he Loaded the Live Stock 28 How Lincoln Resented an Insult 29 [61 CONTENTS. 7 How Lincoln Piloted a Flat-boat Over a Mill Dam. 42' How Lincoln Became a Captain 45 How Lincoln Treated His Early Friend, Dennis Hanks, in Washington 62 Incidents Illustrating Lincoln's Honesty 27 Judge Ewing's Story 63 Judge Moses' Early Recollections, of Lincoln 64 Little Lincoln Firing at Big Game Through the Cracks of His Cabin Home 20 Lincoln and his Gentle Annie; A Touching Inci- dent 24 Lincoln Splits Several Hundred Rails for a Pair of Pants; How he Looked, as Described by a Com- panion 35 Lincoln's Story of a Girl in New Salem 35 Lincoln's Mechanical Ingenuity 39 Lincoln's Marriage; Interesting Letters., 51 Lincoln's Mother; How He Loved Her 54 Mrs. Brown's Story of Young Abe; How a Man Slept witb a President of the United States 36 Reminiscences; The Turning Point 59 Splitting Rails and Studying Klathematics; Simmons, Lincoln & Company 42 Senator Cullom's Interesting Reminiscences of Lin- coln , 66 ' 'The Long Nine. " 49 What Some Men Say About Lincoln; His First Meeting with Richard Yates 30 When and Where Lincoln Obtained the Name of "Honest Abe." , 37 Young Lincoln's Kindness of Heart- He Carries Home and Nurses a Drunkard 21 8 CONTEiJTS. Young" Lincoln and his Books; Their Influence on his Mind 22 PROFESSIONAL LIFE STORIES. A Remarkable Law Suit About a Colt 75 A Famous Story 7^ A letter to His Beloved Stepmother 82 An Amusing Story Concerning Thompson Camp- bell ,. 85 An Incident Related by one of Lincoln's Clients .... 87 Attention Shown to Relatives 91 A Good Temperance Man 94 A Revolutionary Pensioner Defended by Lincoln. . . loi Gen. Linder's Account of the Lincoln- Shields Duel. ,95 Honest Abe and His Lady Cliont 89 How Lincoln Kept His Business Accounts 91 How Lincoln Always Turned a Stury to His Advan- tage 103 Hon. l^ewton Bateman's Thrilling Story of Mr; Lin- coln; The Great Man Lookiag to See How the Springfield Preachers Voted 106 How Lincoln and Judge B. Swapped Horses 75 Lincoln's Story of a young Lawyer as he Told it to Gen. Garfield 79 Lincoln and His Stepmother 80 Lincoln's Story of Joe Wilson and his "Spotted Animals. " 86 Lincoln Defends Col. Baker 88 Lincoln in Court 92 Lincoln Defends the Son of an Old Friend Indicted for Murder 97 Lincoln's Pungent Retort 100 CONTENTS. 9 Lincolii Threatiens a Twenty Year's' Agitation in Illi- nois lOI Lincoln's Visit to Kansas in Lincoln and the Little Chicago Girls 114 Lincoln's Simplicity 113 One of Lincoln's ' 'Hardest Hits. " 93 Sorhe of Lincoln's "Cases" and how He Treated Them * 99 The Lincoln- Shields Duel '. 83 The Judge and the Drunken Coachman ' 88 Why Mr. Lincoln Let His Whiskers Grow 115 WHITE HOUSE INCIDENTS. A Story Which Lincoln Told the Preachers 122 An Irish Soldier Who Wanted Something Stronger than Water 127 A Story About Jack Chase 128 A ' 'Pretty Tolerable Respectably Sort of a Clergy- man" '. 132 An Apt Illustration 135 A Touching Incident 144 A Praying President , 161 ' 'Browsed Around" 136 Bishop Turner's Remiscences. 164 Common Sense 131 Cutting Red Tape i 36 Comments of Mr. Lincoln on the Emancipation Proclamation 14S Ejecting a Cashiered Officer from the White House, i ^3 How Lincoln Stood up for the Word "Sugar-Coat- ed." 123 lO CONTENTS. How Lincoln and Stanton Dismissed Applicants for Office , 138 How the Negroes Regarded ' 'Massa Lincoln" 154 Lincoln's Advice to a Prominent Bachelor 124 Looking Out for Breakers 128 Lincoln's Confab with a Committee on "Grant's Whisky. " 131 Lincoln and the Artist ' 133 Lincoln and the Preadher 142- Lincoln and Little ' 'Tad." 142 Lincoln Wipes the Tears from his Eyes and Tells a Story 147 Lincoln Arguing Against the Emancipation Procla- mation that he May Learn all About It 149 Lincoln and the Newspapers 150 Lincoln's Bull-frog Story 150 Lincoln's Story of a Poodle Dog .' 151 Lincoln's Speech to the Union League 152 Lincoln and the Wall Street Gamblers 154 Lincoln's Habits in the White House 157 Lincoln's High Compliment to the Women of Amer- ica • 158 Lincoln in the Hour of Great Sorrow 159 Mr. Lincoln and the Bashful Boys 125, Minnehaha and Minneboohoo! 133 More Light and Less Noise 135 Mr. Lincoln's Laugh ' 150 Mr. Lincoln's Remedy for Baldness 168 Opened his Eyes 132 One of Lincoln's Drolleries 137 One of Lincoln's Last Stories 156 Philosophy of Canes 13a CONTENTS. 1 1 Stories Illustrating Lincoln's Meniory 129, Seward and Chase 1 67 Trying the "Greens" on Jake 121 Telling a Story and Pardoning a Soldier 162- "Where the President's Mind Wandered 141 WAR STORIES. A Soldier that Knew no Royalty 173 A Lit'tle Soldier Boy 1 74 A Remarkable Letter ... 183 A "Henpecked Husband" 185 A Short Practical Sermon 186 A Celebrated Case 186 A Church Which God Wanted for the Union Sol- diers 1 90. An Interesting Incident Connected with Signing the Emancipation Proclamation 194 A Dream that was Portentous; What Lincoln said to Gen. Grant Said About It 175 A Merciful President 201 A Touching Incident in the Life of Lincoln 207 A Joke on Mr. Chase 209. ' 'A Great Deal of Shuck for a Little Nubbin" 226 A Position that Lincoln Wanted 228 An Inauguration Incident 238 A Lincoln Story About Little Dan Webster's , Soiled Hands; How Dan Escaped a Flogging. 229. "Borrowing the Army -178, D. L. Moody's Story of Lincoln's Compassion; ! What a Little Girl Did with Mr. Lincoln to Save her Brother 231 Dr. Edwards Bumping the President 236 12 CONTENTS. Gen. C. H. Howard''s Reminiscences 221 Getting at the Pass-word 223 His Visits to the Hospitals 1 79 How Lincoln Relieved Rosecrans 192 How a Negro Argued the Point 203 How Lincoln Associated his Second Nomination with a very Singular Circumstance 205 How Lincoln Illustrated what Might be Done wit!}' Jeff Davis 208 How Lincoln Told a Secret 215 Hon. Frederick Douglas' Reminiscences 233 Hon. Leonard Swett's Reminiscences 216 Lincoln's Vow 178 Lincoln's Politeness 1 79 Lincoln's Curt Reply to a Clergyman 185 Lincoln's Cutting Reply to the Confederate Commis- sion 199 l^incoln and Judge Baldwin 200 Lincoln' and the Colored People of Richmond ...... 218 Lincoln's First Convictions of War; His Great Sad- ness 220 Lincoln and a Clergyman 224 Lincoln and the Little Baby; A Touching Story .... 230 Lincoln "Taking up a Collection" 237 Lincoln and Stanton Fixing up Peace Between the Two Contending Armies 239 Mr. Lincoln and a Clergyman 182 No Mercy for the Man Stealer 202 Pardons a Soldier 1 76 Recollections of the War President by Judge Wil- liam Johnson 187 Story of Andy Johnson and his Doubtful Interest in CONTENTS. 1 3 Prayers 171 Sallie Ward's Practical Philosophy 175 The Serpent in Bed with Two Children 198 The President's Aversion to Bloodshed, /^f^^ The President Advises Secretary Stanton to Preparfi for Death (^22^^ "Tad's" Rebel Flag 227 The Brigadier General and the Horses.. 238 Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Passes to Rich- mond 216 MISCELLANEOUS STORIES, ETC. Attending Henry Ward Beecher's Church 243 An Amusing Illustration 249 Abraham Lincoln's Death; Walt Whitman's Vivid Description of the Scene at Ford's Theater 28 1 Didn't Know his Own House; How Mrs. Lincoln Surprised her Husband 271 F.uneral Services of Lincoln's Mother; The Old Pas- tor and Young Abraham (^,5 1 How Lincoln Took his Altitude; A Prophetic Bowl of Milk 255 Lincoln's Love for Little Tad. 244 Lincoln at the Five Points- House of Industry in New York '. 245 Lincoln and his New Hat 246 Lincoln's 'Failure as a Merchant; He, However, Six Years Later Pays the "National Debt." 247 Lincoln's Feat at the Washington Navy Yard with an Axe 248 How Lincoln won the Nomination for Congress .... 257 How Lincoln won a Case from his Partner 263 14 CONTENTS. Lincoln's Life as Written by Himself; The Whole Thing in a Nut Shell 265 Lincoln's Foster-Mother; Her Romantic Marriage to Thomas Lincoln 272 Little Lincoln Stories 275 Lincoln's Last Story and Last Written Words and Conversation '. 279 Lincoln's Favorite Poem. 288 Lincoln as a Lover 265 Something Concerning Mr. Lincoln's Religious Views 253 Thurlow Weed's Recollections 254 LINCOLN'S SPEECHES— 1832.1865. A Great Congressional Speech 326 A Fourth of July Speech 446 Douglas' Seven Questions 386 ' 'God Bless the Women of America" 449 Exculpating the Whigs 302 Forquer's Lightning Rod is Struck 294 First Talk After Nomination 423 First Inaugural Address 429 First Speech After Nomination 423 Lincoln's First Political Speech 291 Lincoln's First Speech in the Supreme Court 301 Lincoln's Temperance Speech ! 309 Lincoln "Linked to Truth" 347 Lincoln's First Speech in the Senatorial Campaign.. 348 Lincoln's Great Cooper Institute Speech 393 Lincoln's Rail Splitting Speech 422 Lincoln's Speech at Gettysburg 448 Lincoln's Second Inaugural 453 CONTENTS. 15 Lincoln's Religious Belief 464 Lincoln's Speech in Washington 426 Mr. Lincoln's Debate with Douglas 361 National Bank vs. Sub-Trea.sury 303 President Lincoln's Last Speech 458 ■ Showing his Hand ' 293 Speech After the Battle of the Wilderness , 450 Speech on the War 451 Speech to 140th Indiana Regiment 455 The Perpetuity of Our Free Institutions 295 "The Age is Not Dead" 345 The Ballot vs. the Bullet 345 The Emancipation Proclamation 443 ILLUSTRATIONS. -Birthplace of Abraham Lincoln 19 Unforgotten 25 -Early Home of the Lincolns in Illinois 31 White Pigeon Church 38 The Old Capitol Building at Springfield, 111 48 Lincoln's Residence at Springfield, 111 73 Abraham Lincoln the Young Lawyer 74 ■Gen. Tames A. Garfield 79 Mrs. Sarah Bush Lincoln, Lincoln's Stepmother ... 81 W. H. Herndon, Lincoln's Law Partner. 102 The Republican Wigwam at Chicago, Where Lin- coln was Nominated 107 John Hanks, Lincoln's Rail Splitting Companion . . 118 United States Capitol 120 Lincoln's Family at Home in the White House .... 146 Mrs. John A. Logan 158 The Dawn 195 1 6 ILLUSTRATIONS . Qen. Grant After his Return from a Tour of the AA^orld 196 Qjrthplace of Gen. U. S. Grant 207 Dwighi L . Moody 231 ^en. Grant's Monument at Lincoln Park, Chicagjo . . 240 Henry Ward Beecher 242 Lipcoln's Father's Monument, near Rockford, Ind.. 250 Triumphal Arch 258 The Original Fort Dearborn (as built in 1804) .... 261 The Lincoln Family Moving from Kentucky to Indi- 3,na in 18 16 2.73 Xhe House in Which Lincoln Died, April 15, 1865. 287 Monument of Abraham Lincoln at Lincoln Park, Chicago 292 George Washington, First President of the United States . ^ 299 The Fountain 308 Temptation 311 The Dance and the ' 'Gulf" 319 The WaitingiWife 323 Gen. Taylor's Army near Popocataptl, in Mexico.. 341 Capitol at Springfield 348 The Old Jerasulem Which Fell 369 Half Slave and Half Free , 371 Our Savior Performing the Miracle in Cana 384 Lincoln Raising the Flag on Independence Hall, Philadelphia 425 First Inauguration 428 ]U,incoln's Burial 466 I^ficoln's Tomb 470 ^rpnze Pieces, Etc 47 1 :o: LINCOLN'S STORIES, RELATED BY HIMSELF AND BY OTHERS. :o: EARLY LIFE. How Lincoln Earned His First Dollar. The following interesting storywastold by Mr. Lincoln to Mr. Seward and a few friends one evening in the Executive Mansion at Washington. The President said: "Seward, you never heard, did you, how I earned my first foliar.?" "No," rejoined Mr. Seward. "Well," continued Mr. Lincoln, "I belonged, you know, to what they call down South, the 'strubs.' We had succeeded in raising, chiefly by my labor, sufficient produce, as I thought, to justify me in taking it down the river to sell. ; 'After much persuasion, L got the consent of mother to go, and constructed a little flatboat, large enough to take a barrel or two of things that we had gathered, with myself and little bundle, down to the Southern market. A steamer was coming down the river. We have, you know, no wharves on the Western streams; and the custom was, if passengers were at any of the landings, for them' to go out in a boat, the steamer stopping and taking them on board. • 'I was contemplating my new flatboat, and wondering [17] 1 8 LINCOLN'S, STORIES AND SPEECHES. whether I could make it strong or improve it in any par- ticular, when two men came down to the shore in car- riages with trunks, and looking at the different boats singled out mine, and asked, 'Who owns this?' I an- swered, somewhat modestly, 'I do.' 'Will you," said one of them, 'take us and our trunks out to the steamer?' 'Certainly,' said I. I was very glad to have the chance of earning something. I suppose that each of them would give me two or three bits. The trunks were put on my flatboat, the passengers seated themselves on the trunks, and I sculled them out to the steamboat . '•They got on board, and I lifted up their heavy trunks, and put them on deck. The steamer was about to put on steam again, when I called out that they had forgotten to pay me. Each of them took from his pocket a silver half-dollar, and threw it on the floor of my bpat. I could scarcely believe my eyes as I picked up the money. Gentlemen, you may think it was a very little thing, and in these days it seems to me a trifle; but it was a most important incident m my life. I could scarcely credit that I, a poor boy, had earned a dollar. The world seemed wider and fairer before me. I was a more hopeful and confident being from that time." -:o: An Honest Boy — Young Lincoln "Pulls Fodder" Two Days for a Damaged Book. The following incident, illustrating several traits al- ready developed in the early boyhood of Lincoln, is vouched for by a citizen of Evansville, Ind. " who knew him in the days referred to: In his eagerness to acquire knowledge, young Lincoln 20 LINCOLN STORIES AND SPEECHES. had borrowed of Mr. Crawford, a neighboring farmer, a copy of Weems' Life of Washington — the only one known to be in existence in that region of the country. Before he had finished reading the book, it had been left, by a not unnatural oversight, in a window. Meantime a rainstorm came on, and the book was so thoroughly wet as to make it nearly worthless. This mishap caused him much pain; but he went, in all honesty, to Mr. Crawford with the ruined book, explained the calamity that had happened through his neglect, and offered, not having sufficient money, to "work out" the value of the book. "Well, Abe," said Mr. Crawford, after due delibera- tion, "as it's you, I won't be hard on you. Just come over and pull fodder for me two days, and we will call our accounts even." The offer was readily accepted, and the engagement literally fulfilled. As a boy, no less than since, Abraham Lincoln had an honorable conscientiousness, integrity, industry, and an ardebt love of knowledge. -:o:- Little Lincoln Firing at Big Game Through the Cracks of His Cabin Home. Whileyet a little boy, one day when Lincoln was in his cabin home, in what was then a wilderness in Indi- ana, he chanced to look through a crack in the log walls of the humble residence and espied a flock of wild tur- keys feeding within range of his .father's trusty rifle. He at once took in the possibilities of the situation and ven- tured to take down the old gun, and putting the long barrel through the opening, with a hasty aim, fired into the flock. When the smoke had cleared away, it was ob- EARLY LIFE. 21 served that one of the turkeys lay dead on the field. This is said to have been the largest game on which Lincoln ever pulled a trigger, his brilliant success in this instance having.no power to excite in him the passion for hunting. :o:- An Incident of Lincoln's Early Hardships and Narrow^ Escape from Death. A little incident occurred while young Lincoln lived in Indiana, which illustrates the early hardships and sur- roundings to which he was subjected. On one occasion he was obliged to take his grist upon the back of his father's horse, and go fifty miles to get it ground. The mill itself was very rude, and driven by horse-power. The customers were obliged to wait their "turn," with- out reference to their distance from home, and then use their own horse to propel the machinery. On this occasion, Abraham, having arrived at his turn, fastened his mare to the lever, and was following her closely upon her rounds, when, urging her with a switch, and "cluck- ing" to her in the usual way, he received a kick from her which prostrated him, and made him insensible. With the first instant of returning consciousness, he finished the cluck, which he had commenced when he received the kick (a fact for the psychologist), and with the next he probably thought about getting home, where he ar- rived at last, battered, but ready for further service. -:o:- Young Lincoln's Kindness of Heart — He Carries Home and Nurses a Drunkard. An instance of young Lincoln's practical humanity at 22 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. an early period of his life is recorded, as follows: One evening, while returning from a "raising" in his wide neighborhood, with a number of companions, he dis- covered a straying horse, with saddle and bridle upon him. The horse was recognized as belonging to a man who was accustomed to excess in drink, and it was sus- pected at once that the owner was not far off. A short search only was necessary to confirm the suspicions of the young men. The poor drunkard was found in a perfectly helpless con- dition, upon the chilly ground. Abraham's companions urged the cowardly policy of leaving him to his fate, but young Lincoln would not hear to the proposition. At his request, the miserable sot was lifted on his shoulders, and he actually carried him eighty rods to the nearest house. Sending word to his father that he should not be back that night, with the reason for his absence, he at- tended and nursed the man until the morning, and had the pleasure of believing that he had saved his life Young Lincoln and His Books — Their Influence on His Mind. The books which Abraham had the early privilege of reading were the Bible, much of which he could repeat, .iEsop's Fables, all of which he could repeat. Pilgrim's Progress, Weems' Life of Washington, and a Life of Henry Clay, which his mother had managed to purchase for him. Subsequently he read the Life of Franklin and Ramsey's Life of Washington. In these books, read and re-read, he found meat for his hungry mind. The Holy EARLY LIFE. 2$ Bible, ^sop and John Bunyan — could three better books have been chosen for him from the richest library ? For those who have witnessed the dissipating effects of many books upon the minds of modern children it is not hard to believe that Abraham's poverty of books was the wealth of his life. These three books did much to per- fect that which his mother's teachings had begun, and to form a character which, for quaint simplicity, earnest- ness, truthfulness and purity has never been surpassed among the historic personages of the world. The Life of Washington, while it gave him a lofty example of patriotism, incidentally conveyed to his mifid a general knowledge of /American history; and the Life of Henry Clay spoke to him of a living man who had risen to politi- cal and professional eminence from circumstances almost as humble as his own. The Jatter book undoubtedly did much to excite his taste for politics, to kindle his ambition, and to make him a warm admirer and partisan of Henry Clay. Abraham must have been very young when he read Weems' Life of Washington, and we catch a glimpse of his precocity in the thoughts which it excited, as revealed by himself in a speech made to the New Jersey Senate, while on hia way to Washington to assume the duties, of the Presi- dency. Alluding to his early reading of this book, he says: "I remember all the accounts there given of the battle fields and struggles for the liberties of the country, and none fixed themselves upon my imagination so deeply as the struggle here at Trenton, New Jersey. * * * T recol- lect thinking then, a boy even though I was, that there ■must hrve been something tnore than common that those 24 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. men struggled far." Even at this age, he was not only an interested reader of the story, but a student of motives. -:o:- Lincoln and His Gentle Annie — A Touching Incident. The following interesting particulars connected with the early life of Abraham Linclon, are from the Virginia (111!) Enquirer, of date March i, 1879: John McNamer was buried last 'Sunday, near Peters- burg, Menard County. A long while ago he was Assessor and Treasurer of the county for several successive terms. Mr. McNamer was an early settler, in that section, and before the Town of Petersburg was laid out was in busi- ness at Old Salem, a village that existed many years ago two miles south of the present site of Petersburg. Abe Lincoln was then postmaster of the place, and sold whisky to its inhabitants. There are old-timers yet liv- ing in Menard who bought many a jug of corn-juice from Old Abe, when he lived at Salem. It was here that Annie Rutlege dwelt, and in whose grave Lincoln wrote that his heart was hurried. As the story runs, the fair and gentle Annie was originally John McNamer's sweet- heart, but Abe took a ' 'shine" to the young lady, and succeeded in heading off McNamer, and won her affec- tions. But Annie Rutlege died, and Lincoln went to Springfield, where he some time afterwards married. It is related that during the war a lady belonging to a prominent 'Kentucky family visited Washington to beg for her sons pardon, who was then in prison under sentence of death for belonging to a band of guerrillas who had committed many murders and outrages. With the mother 26 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. was her daughter, a beautiful young lady, who was an accomplished musician. Mr. Lincoln received the visi- tors in his usual kind manner, and the mother made known the object of her visit, accompanying her plea with tears and sobs and all the customary dramatic inci- dents. There were probably extenuating circumstances in favor of the young rebel prisoner, and while the President seemed to be deeply pondering, the young lady moved to a piano near by, and taking a seat commenced to sing "Gentle Annie," a very sweet and pathetic ballad,' which, before the war, was a familiar song in almost every household in the Union, and is not yet entirely forgotten, for that matter. It is to be presumed that the young lady sang the song with more plaintiveness and effect than Old Abe had ever heard it in Springfield. During its rendition, he arose from his seat, crossed the room to a window in the westward, through which he gazed for several minutes with that "sad, far-away look," which has so often been noted as one of his peculiarities. His memory, no doubt, went back to the days of his humble life on the banks of the Sangamon, and with visions of Old Salem and its rustic people, who once gathered in his primitive store, came a picture of the "Gentle Annie" of his youth, whose ashes had rested for many long years under the wild flowers and brambles of the old rural burying-ground, but whose spirit then, perhaps, guided him to the side of mercy. Be that as it may, Mr. Lincoln drew a large red silk handkerchief from his coat-pocket, with which he wiped his face vigorously, Then he turned, advanced quickly to his desk, wrote a brief note, which he handed to the lady, and informed her that it was the EARLY LIFE. 2f pardon she sought. The seen© was, na doubt touching in a great degree, and proves that a nice song, well sung, has often a powerful influence, in recalling tender recollections. It proves, also, that Abraham. Lincoln was a man of fine feelings, and that, if the oqcurrence was a put-up job on the lady's part, it accomplished its purpose all the same. :o: Incidents Illustrating. Lincoln's Honesty.. ' Lincoln could not rest for an instant under the con^ sciousness that he had, even unwittingly, defrauded any- body. On one occasion, while clerking in Offutt's store, at New Salem, 111. , he sold a woman a little bill of goods, amounting in value by the reckoning, to two dollars six and a quarter cents. He received the money, and the woman went away. On adding the items of the bill again, to make himself sure of correctness, he found that he had taken six and a quarter cents too much. It was. night, and, closing and locking the store, he started out on foot, a distance of two or three miles, for the house of his defrauded customer, and, delivering over to her the sum whose possession had so much troubled him, went home satisfied. > On another occasion, just as he was closing the store- for the night, a woman entered, arwi asked for a half pound of tea. The tea was weighed out and paid for, and the store was left for the night. The next morning Lincoln entered to begin the. duties of the day, when he discovered a four-ounce weight on the scales. He saw at once that he bad made a mistake, and, shutting the store, he took a long walk before breakfast to, deliver the 38 Lincoln's stories and speeches. remainder of the tea. These are very humble incidents, but they illustrate the man's perfect conscientiousness — his sensitive honesty — better, perhaps, than they would if they were of greater moment. How Lincoln Helped to Build a Boat, and How He Loaded the Live Stock. While a laboring man, Lincoln, Hanks & Johnston on one occasion contracted to build a boat on Sangamon River, at Sangamon Town, about seven miles northwest of Springfield. For this work they were to receive twelve dollars a month each. When the boat was finished (and every plank of it was sawed by hand with a whip-saw), it was launched on the Sangamon, and floated to a point below New Salem, in Menard (then Sangamon) County, where a drove of hogs was to be taken on board. At this time, the hogs of the region ran wild, as they do now in portions of the border states. Some of them were savage, and all after the manner of swine, were difficult to manage. They had, however, been gathered and penned, but not an inch could they be made to move toward the boat. All the ordinary resources were ex- hausted in the attempts to get them on board. There was but one alternative, and this Abraham adopted. He actually carried them on board, one by one. His long arms and great strength enabled him to grasp them as in a vise, and to transfer them rapidly from the shore to the boat. They then took the boat to New Orleans, ac- cording to contract. EARLY LIFE. 29 How Lincoln Resented an Insult. While showing goods to two or three women in Offutt's store one day, a bully came in and began to talk in an offensive manner, using much profanity, and evidently wishing to provoke a quarrel. Lincoln leaned over the counter and begged him, as ladies were present, not to indulge in such talk. The bully retorted that the oppor- tunity had come for which he had long sought, and he would like to see the man, who could hinder him from saying anything he might choose to say. Lincoln, still cool, told him that if he would wait until the ladies re- tired he would hear what he had to say, and give him any satisfaction he desired. As soon as the women were gone, the man became furi- ous. Lincoln heard his boasts and his abuse for a time, and finding that he was not to be put off without a fight, said: ' 'Well, if you must be whipped, I suppose I may as well whip you as any other man. " This was just what the bully had been seeking, he said, so out of doors they went, and Lincoln made short work with him. He threw him upon the ground, held him there as if he had been a child, and gathering some ' 'smart-weed" which grew upon the spot, rubbed it into his face and eyes, until the fellow bel- lowed with pain. Lincoln did all this without a particle of anger, and when the job was finished, went immediately for water, washed his victim's face, and did everything he could to alleviate his distress. The upshot of the matter was that the man became his fast and life-long friend, and was a better man from that day. It was impossible then, and it always remained for Lincoln to cherish resentm:ent or revenge. 30 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. What Some Men Say About Lincoln— His First Meeting With Richard Yates. Lincoln was a marked and peculiar young man. Peo- ple talked about him . His studious habits, his greed for information, his thorough mastery of the difficulties of every new position in which he was placed, his intelli- gence touching all matters of public concern, his un- wearying good nature, his skill in telling a story, his great athletic power, his quailit, odd ways, his uncouth| •appearance, all tending to bring him in sharp contrast with the dull mediocrity by which he was surrounded . Denton Offutt, his old employer in the store, said, after having a conversation with Lincoln, that the young man ^'had talent enough in him to make a President." In every circle in which he found himself, whether refined or coarse, he was always the center of attraction. William G. Greene says that when he (Greene) was a member of the Illinois College, he brought home with him, on a vacation, Richard Yates, afterwards Governor of the State, and some other boys, and; in order to entertain them, took them all up to see Lincoln. He found him in his usual position and at his usual occupa- tion. He was flat on his back, on a cellar door, reading a newspaper. That was the manner in which a Presi- dent of the United States and a Governor of Illinois be- came acquainted with one another. Mr. Greene says that Lincoln then repeated the whole of Burns, and was a devoted student of Shakspeare. So the rough back- woodsman, self-educated, entertained the college boys, and was invited to dine with them On bread and milk. How he managed to upset his bowl of milk is not a mat- 32 Lincoln's stories and speeches. ter of history, but the fact that he did so, as is the furth- er fact that Greene's mother, who loved Lincoln, tried to smooth over the accident and relieve the young man's embarassment. -:o:- A Pig Story — Lincoln's Kindness to the Brute Creation. An amusing incident occurred in connection with "riding the circuit," which gives a pleasant glimpse into the good lawyer's heart . He was riding by a deep slough, in which, to his exceeding pain, he saw a' pig struggling, and with such faint efforts that it was evident that he could not extricate himself from the mud. Mr. Lincoln looked at the pig and the mud which enveloped him, and then looked at some new clothes with which he had but a short time before enveloped himself. De- ciding against the claims of the pig, he rode on, but he could not'get rid of the vision of the poor brute, and, at last, after riding two miles, he turned back, determined to rescue thd animal at the expense of his new clothes. Arrived at the spot, he tied his horse, and cooly went to work to build of old rails a passage to the bottom of the hole. Descending on these rails, he seized the pig and dragged him out, but not without serious damage to the clothes he wore. Washing his hands in the nearest brook, and wiping them on the grass, he mounted his gig and rode along. He then fell to examining the mo- tive that sent him back to the release of the pig, At the first thought it seemed to be pure benevolence, but, at length, he came to the conclusion that it was selfishness, for he certainly went to the pig's relief in order (as he EARLY LIFE. 33 said to the friend to whom he related the incident,) "to take a pain out of his own mind." This is certainly a new view of the nature of sympathy; and one which it will be well for the casuist to examine. -:o: A Hard Tussle With Seven Negroes — Life on a Mississippi Fiat-Boat. At the age of nineteen, Abraham made his second- es- say in navigation, and this time caught something more than a glimpse of the great world in which he' was des- tined to play so important a part . A trading neighbor applied to him to take charge of a flat-boat and its cargo, and, in corripany with his own son, to take it to the sugar plantations near New Orleans. The entire business of the trip was placed in Abraham's hands. The fact tells its own story touching the young man's reputation for capacity and integrity. He had never made the trip, knew nothing of the journey, was unaccustomed to busi- ness transactions, had never been much upon the river; but his tact, ability and honesty were so trusted that the- trader was willing to risk his cargo and his son in Lin-- coln's care. The incidents of a trip like this were not likely to be- exciting, but there were many social chats with settlers, and hunters along the banks of the Ohio and Mississippi., and there was much hailing of similar craft afloat. Ar- riving at a sugar plantation somewhere between Natchez and New Orleans, the boat was pulled in, and tied to the shore for purposes of trade; and here an incident oc- curred which was sufSciently exciting, and one which, in the memory of recent events, reads somewhat strangely. 34 Lincoln's stories and speeches. Here seven negroes attempted the life of the future lib- erator of the race, and it is not improbable that some of them have lived to be emancipated by his proclamation. Night had fallen, and the two tired voyagers had lain dovs^n on their hard bed for sleep. Hearing a noise on shore, Abraham shouted: "Who's there.?" The noise continuing,, and no voice replying, he sprang to his feet, and saw seven negroes, evidently bent on plunder. Abraham guessed the errand at once, and seizing a hand-spike, rushed towards them, and knocked one into the water the moment he touched the boat. The second, third and fourth who leaped on board were served in the same rough way. Seeing that they were not likely to make headway in their thieving enterprise, the remainder turned to flee. Abraham and his companion growing excited and warm with their work, leaped on shore, and followed them. Both were too swift on foot for the negroes, and all of them received a severe pounding. They returned to their boat just as the others escaped from the water, but the latter fled into the darkness as fast as their legs could carry them. Abraham and his fellow in the fight were both injured, but not disabled. Not being armed, and unwilling to wait until the negroes had received reinforcements, they cut adrift, and floated down a mile or two, tied up to the bank again, and watched and waited for the morning. The trip was brought at length to a successful end. The cargo, or ' load," as they called it, was all disposed of for money, the boat itself sold for lumber, and the EARLY LIFE. 35 young men retraced the passage, partly, at least, on shore and on foot, occupying several weeks in the diffi- cult and tedious journey. tot- Lincoln Splits Several Hundred Rails for a Pair of Pants — How He Looked, as Described by a Companion. A gentleman by the name of George Cluse, who used to work with Abraham Lincoln during his first years in Illinois, says that at that time he was the roughest look- ing person he ever saw. He was tall, angular and un- gainly, wore trousers made of flax and tow, cut tight at the ankle and out at both knees. He was known to be very poor, but he was a welcome guest in every house in the neighborhood. Mi. Cluse speaks of splitting rails with Abraham, and reveals some very interesting facts concerning wages. Money was a commodity never reckoned upon. Lincoln split rails to get cloth- ing, and he made a bargain with Mrs. Nancy Miller 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 these days Lincoln used to walk five, six and seven miles to work. -tor- Lincoln's Story of a Girl in New Salem. Among the numerous delegations which thronged Washington during the early part of the war, was one from New York, which urged very strenously the send- ing of a fleet to the Southern cities — Charleston, Mobile and Savannah — with the object of drawing oft the rebel 36 lincol'ns stories and speeches. army from Washington. Mr. Lincoln said the object reminded him of the case of a girl in New Salem, who was greatly troubled with a ' 'singing" in her head. Var- ious remedies were suggested by the neighbors, but noth- ing tried afforded any relief. At last a man came along — "a common sense sort of a man," inclining his head toward the gentlemen complimentarily — "who was ask- ed to prescribe for the difficulty . After due inquiry and examination, he said the cure was very simple. 'What is it.'' was the question. 'Make a plaster oi psalm-tunes, and apply to her feet, and draw the "singing" down" was the rejoinder." -:o: Mrs. Brown's Story of Young Abe — How a Man Slept With the President of the United States. Rev. A. Hale, of Springfield, 111., is responsible for the following interesting story: Mr. Hale, in May, 1861, (after Lincoln's election to the Presidency) went out about seven miles from his home to visit a sick lady, and found there a Mrs. Brown who had come in as a neighbor. Mr. Lincoln's name having been mentioned, Mrs. Brown said: "Well, I remember Mr., Linken. He worked with my old man thirty-four year ago, and made a crap. We lived on the same farm where we live now, and the' nexl winter they hauled the crap all the way to Galena, and sold it for two dollars and a half a bushel. At that time there were n,o public houses, and travelers were obliged to stay at any house along the road that could take them EARLY LIFE. 37 in . One evening a right smart looking man rode up to the fence, and asked my old man if he could get to stay over night- " 'Well,' said Mr. Brown, "we can feed your crittur, and give you something to eat, but we can't lodge you unless you can sleep on the same bed with the hired man.' "The man hesitated, and asked: " 'Where is he.?' " 'Well,' said Mr. Brown, -you can come and see him.' ' 'So the man got down from his crittur, and Mr. Brown took him around to where, in the shade of the house, Mr. Linken lay his full length on the ground, with an open book before him . " 'There,' said Mr. Brown, pointing at him, 'he is.' "The stranger looked at him a minute, and said: " 'Well, I think he'll do.' and he staid and slept with the President of the United States. " When and Where Lincoln Obtained the Name of "Honest Abe." During the year that Lincoln was in Denton Offcutt's store, that gentleman, whose business was somewhat widely and unwisely spread about the country, ceased to prosper in his finances, and finally failed. The store was shijt up, the mill was closed, and Abraham Lincoln was out of business. The year had been one of great advance, in many respects. He had made new and val- uable acquaintances, read many books, mastered the grammar of his own tongue, won multitudes of friends. EARLY LIFE. 39 and became ready for a step still further in advance. Those who could appreciate brains respected him, and those whose ideas of a man related to his muscles were devoted to him. It was while he was performing the work of the store that he acquired the soubriquet " Hon- est Abe." — -a characterization that he never dishonored, and an abbreviation that he never outgrew. He was judge, arbitrator, referee, umpire, authority, in all dis- putes, games and matches of man-flesh and horse-flesh; a pacificator in all quarrels; everybody's friend; the best natured, the most sensible, the best informed, the most modest and unassuming, the kindest, gentlest, roughest, strongest, best young fellow in all New Salem and the region round about. -:o:- Lincoln's Mechanical Ingenuity. That he had enough mechanical genius to make him a good mechanic, there> is no doubt. With such rude tools as were at his command he had made cabins and flat-boats; and after his mind had become absorbed in public and professional affairs he often recurred to his mechanical dreams for amusement. One of his dreams took form, and he endeavored to make a practical mat- ter of it. He had had experience in the early naviga- tion of the Western rivers. One of the most serious hindrances to this navigation was low water, and the lodgment of the various craft on the shifting shoals and bars with which these rivers abound. He undertook to contrive an apparatus which, folded to the hull of the boat like a bellows, might be inflated on occasion, and, by its levity, lift it over any obstruction upon which it 40 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. might rest. On this contrivance, illustrated by a model whittled out by himself, and now preserved in the Patent Office at Washington, he secured letters patent; but it is certain that the navigation of the Western rivers was not revolutionized by it. -:o:- A Remarkable Story — ''Honest Abe" as Post. master. Mr. Lincoln was appointed Postmaster by President Jackson. The office was too insignificant to be consider- ed politically, and it was given to the young man because everybody liked him, and because he was the only man willing to take it who could make out the returns. He was exceedingly pleased with the appointment, because it gave him a chance to read every newspaper that was taken in the vicinity. He had never been able to get half the newspapers he. wanted before, and the office gave him the prospect of a constant feast. Not wishing to be tied to the office, as it yielded him no revenue that would reward him for the confinement, he made a Post- office of his hat. Whenever he went out the letters were placed in his hat. When an anxious looker for a letter found the Postmaster, he had found his office; and the public officer, taking off his hat, looked over his mail wherever the public might find him. He kept the office until it was discontinued, or removed to Petersburg. One of the most beautiful exhibitions of Mr. Lincoln's rigid honesty occurred in connection with the settlement of his accounts with the Post-office Department, several years afterward. EARLY LIFE. 4 1 It was after he had become a lawyer, and had been a legislator. He had passed through a period of great poverty, had acquired his education in the law in the midst of many perplexities, inconviencies, and hardships, and had met with temptations, such as few men could resist, to make a temporary use of any money he might have in his hands. One day, seated in the law office of his partner, the agent of the Post-office Department en- tered, and inquired if Abraham Lincoln was within. Mr. Lincoln responded to his name, and was informed that the agent had called to collect a balance due the Depart- ment since the discontinuance of the New Salem office. A shade of perplexity passed over Mr. Lincoln's face, which did not escape the notice of friends present. One of them said at once: "Lincoln if you are in want of money, let us help you." He made no reply, but suddenly rose, and pulled out from a pile of books a little old trunk, and, returning to the table, asked the agent how much the amount of his debt was. The sum was named, and then Mr. Lincoln opened the trunk, pulled out a little package of coin wrapped in a cotton rag, and counted out the exact sum, amounting to something more than seventeen dollars. After the agent had left the room, he remarked quietly that he had never used any man's money but his own. Although this sum had been in his hands during all these years, he had never regarded it as available, even for any temporary use of his own. :o: 42 Lincoln's stories and speeches. How Lincoln Piloted a Flat. Boat Over a Mill- Dam. Governor Yates, of Illinois, in a speech at Springfield, quoted one of Mr. Lincoln's early friends — W. T. Greene — as having said that the first time he ever saw Mr. Lin- coln, he was in the Sangamon River with his trousers rolled up five feet, more or less, trying to pilot a flat- boat over a mill-dam. The boat was so full of water that it was hard to manage. Lincoln got the prow over, and then, instead of waiting to bail the water out, bored a hole through the projecting part and let it run out; af- fording a forcible illustration of the ready ingenuity of the future President in the quick invention of moral ex- pedients. — '■ :o: Splitting Rails and Studying Mathemetics-Sim- mons, Lincoln & Company. In the year 1855 or '56, George B. Lincoln, Esq., of Brooklyn, was traveling through the West in connection with a large New York dry-goods establishment. He found himself one night in a town on the Illinois River, by the name of Naples. The only tavern of the place had evidently been constructed with reference to busi- ness on a small scale. Poor as the prospect seemed, Mr. Lincoln had no alternative but to put up at the place. The supper-room was also used as a lodging-room. Mr. L. told his host that he thought he would ' 'go to bed." ' 5ed!" echoed the landlord; "there is no bed for you in this house, unless you sleep with that man yonder. Be has the only one we have to spare." EARLY LIFE. 43 "Well," returned Mr. Lincoln, "the gentleman has possession, and perhaps would not like a bedfellow." Upon this a grizzly head appeared out of the pillows, and said: "What is your name?" "They call me Lincoln at home," was the reply. •'Lincoln!" repeated the stranger; "any connection of our Illinois Abraham .''" "No," replied Mr. L., "I fear not." "Well," said the oljd gentleman, "I will let any man by the name of 'Lincoln' sleep with me, just for the sake of the natne. You have heard of Abe.'" he inquired. "Oh, yes, very often," replied Mr. Lincoln. "No man could travel far in this State without hearing of him, and I would be very glad to claim connection, if I could do so honestly." "Well," said the old gentleman, "my name is Sim- mons. .'Abe' and I used to live and work together when we were young men. Many a job of wood-cutting and rail-splitting have I done up with him. Abe Lincoln was the likeliest boy in God's world. He would work all day as hard as any of us — and study by fire-light in the log house half the night; and. in this way he made him- self a thorough, practical surveyor. Once, during those days, I was in the upper part of the State, and I met General Ewing, whom President Jackson had sent to the Northwest to make surveys. I told him about Abe Lin- coln, what a student he was, and that I wanted he should give him a job. He looked over his iriemorandum, and, pulling out a paper, said: " 'There is county must be surveyed; if your friend can do the work properly, I shall be glad to have 44 ljocoln's stories and speeches. him undertake it — the compensation will be six hundred •dollars. ' "Pleased as I could be, I hastened to Abe, after I got home, with an account of what I had secured for him. He was sitting before the fire in the log cabin when I told him; and what do you think was his answer.' When I finished, he looked up very quietly, and said: " 'Mr. Simmons, I thank you very sincerely for your kindness, but I don't think I will undertake the job.' " 'In the name of wonder,' said I, 'why.' Six hundred dollars does not grow upon every bush out here in Illinois.' " 'I know that,' said Abe, 'and I need the money bad enough, Simmons, as you know; but I have never been under obligation to a Democratic administration, and I never intend to be so long as I can get my living another way. General Ewing must find another man to do his work.' " Mr. Carpenter related this story to the President one day, and asked him if it were true. "Pollard Simmons!" said Lincoln, "well do I remem- ber him. It is correct about our working together, but the old man must have stretched the facts somewhat about the survey of the county. I think I should have been very glad of the job at that time, no matter what administration was in power." Notwithstanding this, however, Mr. Carpenter was in- clined to believe Mr. Simmons was not far out of the wav and tboucbt this seemed very characteristic of what Abraham Lincoln may be supposed to have been at twenty-three or twenty-five years of age. :o: EARLY LIFE. 45 How Lincoln Became a Captain. In the threatening aspect of affairs at the time of the- Black Hawk War, Governor Reynolds issued a call for volunteers, aia'' among the companies that immediately responded was one from Menard County, Illinois. Many of the volunteers were from New Salem and Clarey's Grove, and Lincoln, being out of business, was first to enlist. The company being full, they held a meeting at Richland for the election of officers. Lincoln had won many hearts and they told him that he must be th6ir captain. It was an office that he did not aspire to, and one for which he felt that he had no special fitness; but he consented to be a candidate. There was but one other candidate for the oflce (a Mr. Kirkpa.trick), and he was one of the most influential men in the county. Prev- iously, Kirkpatrick had been an employer of Lincoln, and was so overbearing in his treatment of the young man that the latter left him. The simple mode of electing their captain, adopted by the company, was by placing the candidates apart, and telling the men to go and stand with the one they preferred. Lincoln and his competitor took their positions, and then the word was given. At least three out of every four went to Lincoln at once. When it was seen by those who had ranged themselves with the other candidate that Lincoln was the choice of the majority of the com- pany, they left their places, one by one, and came over to the successful side, until Lincoln's opponent in the friendly strife was left standing almost alone. "I felt badly to see him cut so," says a witness of the scene. 4-6 Lincoln's stories and speeches. Here was an opportunity for revenge. The humble laborer was his employer's captain, but the opportunity was never improved. Mr. Lin'coln frequently confessed that no subsequent success of his life had given him half the satisfaction that this election did. He had acheived public recognition; and to one so humbly bred, the dis- tinction was inexpressibly delightful. A Humorous Speech — Lincoln in the Black Hawk War. The friends of General Cass, When that gentleman was a candidate for the Presidency, endeavored to endow him with a military reputation. Mr. Lincoln, at that time a representative in Congress, delivered a speech be- fore the House, which in its allusions to Mr. Cass, was exquisitely sarcastic and irresistably humorous: "By the way, Mr. Speaker," said Mr. Lincoln, "do you know I am a military hero.' "Yes, sir, in the days of the Black Hawh War, I fought, bled and came away. Speaking of General Cass' career reminds me of my own. I was not at Stillman's Defeat, but I was about as near it as Cass to Hull's surrender; and like him I saw the place very 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 occasion. * * * * jf General Cass went in advance of me in picking whortle- berries, I guess I surpassed him in charges upon the wild onion. If he saw any live; fighting Indians , it is more than I did, but I had a good many bloody strugles with the musquitoes, and although I never fainted from loss of blood, I can truly say I was often very hungry . " EARLY LIFE. 47 Mr. Lincoln concluded by saying that if he ever turn- ed Democrat and shopld run for the Presidency, he hoped they would not make fun of him by attempting to make him a military hero! Elected to the Legislature. In 1834, Lincoln was a candidate for the legislature, and was elected by the highest vote cast for any candi- date. Major John T . Stuart, an officer in the Black Hawk War, and whose acquaintance Lincoln made at Beardstown, was also elected. Major Stuart had al- ready conceived the highest opinion of the young man, and seeing much of him during the canvass for the elec- tion, privately advised him to study law. Stuart was him- self engaged in a large and lucrative practice at Spring- field. Lincoln said he was poor — that he had no money to buy books, or to live where books might be borrowed or used. Major Stuart offered to lend him all he needed, and he decided to take the kind lawyer's advice, and ac- cept his offer. At the close of the canvass which re- sulted in his election, he walked to Springfield, borrowed ' ' a load " of books of Stuart, and took them home with him to New Salem. Here he began the study of law in good earnest, though with no preceptor. He studied while he had bread, and then started out on a surveying tour to win the money that would buy more. One who remembers his habits during this period says that he went, day after day, for weeks, and sat under an oak tree near New Salem and read, moving around EARLY LIFE. 49 to keep in the shade as the sun moved. He was so much absorbed that some people thought and said that he was crazy. Not unfrequently he met and passed his best friends without noticing them. The truth was that he had found the pursuit of his hfe, and had become very much in earnest. During Lincoln's campaign he possessed and rode a horse, to procure which he had quite likely sold his com- pass and chain, for, as soon as the canvass had closed, he sold the horse and bought these instruments indispen- sable to him in the only pursuit by which he could make his living. When the time for the assembling of the legislature had arrived Lincoln dropped his law books, shouldered his pack, and, on foot, trudged to Vandalia, then the capital of the State, about a hundred miles, to make his entrance into public life. .o: "The Long Nine." The Sangamon County delegation to the Illinois Leg- islature, in 1834, of which Lincoln was a member^ con- sisting of nine representatives, was so rernarkable fqr the physical altitude of its members that they were, known as ' ' The Long Nine. " Not a member of the number was less than six feet high, and Lincoln was the tallest o£ the nine, as he was the leading man intellectually irj and out of the House. Among those who composed the House werp (^en^ral John A. McClernand, afterwards a member of Congress; Jesse K. DuBois, afterwards Auditor of the State; Jas. 50 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. Semple, afterwards twice the Speaker of the House of Representative&, ► and subsequently United States Sena- tor; Robert Smith, afterwards member of Congress; John Hogan, afterwards a member of Congress from St. Louis; General James Shields, afterwards United States Sena- tor (who died recently) ; John Dement, who has since been Treasurer of the State; Stephen A. Douglas, whose subsequent career is familiar to all; Newton Cloud, Pres- ident of the convention which framed the present State Constitution of Illinois; John J. Hardin, whqfell at Bu- ena Vista; John Moore, afterwards Lieutenant Governor of the State; William A. Richardson, subsequently Uni- ted States Senator, and William McMurtry, who has Since been Lieutenant Governor of the State. This list does not embrace all who had then, or who have since been distinguished, but it is large enough to show that Lincoln was, during the term of this legisla- ture, thrown into association, and often into antagon- ism, with the brightest men of the new State. A Joke on Lincoln's Big Feet. He had walked his hundred miles to Vandalia; in 1836, as he did in 1834, and when the session closed he walked home again. A gentleman in Menard County remembers meeting hjm and a detachment of "The Long Nine " on their way home. They were all mounted ex- cept Lincoln, who had thus far kept up with them on foot. If he had money he was hoarding it for more import- ant purposes than that of saving leg-weariness and leath- EARLY ►LIFE. SI er. The weather was raw, and Lincoln's clothing was none of the warmest. Complaining of being cold to one of his companions, this irreverent member of ' ' The Long Nine " told his fu- ture President that it was no wonder he was cold — "there was so much of him on the ground." None of the party appreciated this homely joke at the expense of his feet (they were doubtless able to bear it) more thor- oughly than Lincoln himself. We can imagine the cross-fires of wit and humor by which the way was enlivened during this cold and tedi- ous journey. The scene was certainly a rude one, and seems more like a dream than a reality, when we remem- ber that it occurred not very many years ago, in a State which contains hardly less than three millions of peo- ple and seven thousand and six hundred miles of rail- way. :o: Lincoln's Marriage — Interesting Letters. • In 1842, in his thirty-third year, Mr. Lincoln married Miss Mary Todd, a daughter of Hon. Robert S. Todd, of Lexington, Kentucky. The marriage took place in Springfield, where the lady had for several years resid- ed, on the fourth of November of the year mentioned. It is probable that he married as early as the circum- stances of his life permitted, for he had always loved the society of women, and possessed a nature that took pro- found delight in intimate female companionship. A letter written on the eighteenth of May following his marriage, to J. E. Speed, Esq. , of Louisville, Ken- tucky, an early and a life-long personal friend, gives a 52 Lincoln's STORIES and speeches. pleasant glimpse of his domestic arrangements at this time. " We are not keeping house," Mr. Lincoln says in this letter, "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. * * * t most heartily wish you and your Fanny will not fail to come. Just let us know the time, a week in advance, and we will have a room prepared for you, and we'll all be merry together for awhile." He seems to have been in excellent spirits, and to have been very hearty in the enjoyment of his new relation. The private letters of Mr. Lincoln were charmingly nat- ural and sincere. His personal friendships were the sweet- est sources of his happiness. To a particular friend, he wrote February 25, 1842: " Yours of the i6th, announcing that Miss and you ' are no longer twain, but one flesh,' reached me this morning. I have no way of telling you how much hap- piness I wish you both, though I believe you both can conceive it. I feel somewhat jealous of both of you now, for you will be so exclusively concerned for one another that I shall be forgotten entirely. My acquaintance with Miss (I call her thus lest you should think I am speaking of your mother), was too short for me to reasonably hope to long be remembered by her; and still I am sure I shall not forget her soon. Try if you cannot remind her of that debt she owes me, and be sure you do not interfere to prevent her paying it. ' ' I regret to learn that you have resolved not to return to Illinois. I shall be very lonesome without you. How miserably things seem to be arranged in this world! If 54 Lincoln's STORIES and speeches. we have no friends we have no pleasure;andif we have them, we are sure to lose them, and be doubly pained by the loss. " I did hope' she and you would make your home here, yet I own I have no right to insist. You owe obligations to her ten thousand times more sacred than any you can owe to others, and in that light let them be respected and observed. It is natural that she should desire to remain with her relations and friends. As to friends, she should not need them anywhere — she would have them in abundance here.. Give my kind regards to Mr. and his family, particularly to Miss E. Also to your mother, brothers and sisters. Ask little E. D if she will ride to town with me if I come there again. And, finally, give a double reciprocation of all the love she sent me. Write me often, and believe me, yours forever, Lincoln. -:o: Lincoln's Mother — How He Loved Her. "A grfeat man," says J. G. Holland, "never drew his infant life from a purer or more womanly bosom than her own; and Mr. Lincoln always looked back to her with unspeakable affection. Long after her sensitive heart and weary hands had crumbled into dust, and had climbed to life again in forest flowers, he said to a friend, with tears in his eyes: ' All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother — blessings on her memory! ' " She was five feet, five 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. EARLY LIFK. 55 Her death occurred in 1818, scarely two years after her removal from Kentucky to Indiana, and when Abra- ham was in his tenth year. ' They laid her to rest under the trees near their cabin home, and, sitting on her grave, the little boy wept his irreparable loss. Gen. Linder's Early Recollections — Amusing Stories. I did not travel, says Gen. Linder, on the circuit in 183s, on account of my health and the health of my wife, but attended court at Charleston that fall, held by Judge Grant, who had exchanged circuits with our judge, Jus- tin Harlan. It was here I first met Abraham Lincoln, of Spring- field, at that time a very retiring and modest young man, dressed in a plain suit of mixed jeans. He did not make any marked impression upon me, or any other member of the bar. He was on a visit to his relations in Coles, where his father and stepmother lived, and some of her children. Lincoln put up at the hotel, and here was where I saw him. Whether he was reading law at this time I cannot say. Certain it is, he had been admitted to the bar, al- though he had some celebrity, having been a captain in the Blackhawk campaign, and served a term in the Illi- nois Legislature; but if he won any fame at that season I have never heard of it. He had been one of the repre- sentatives from Sangamon. If Lincoln at this time felt the divine afiSatus of great- ness stir within him I have never heard of it. It was rather common with us then in the West to suppose that 56 Lincoln's stories and speeches. there was no Presidential timber growing in the North- west, yet, he doubtless had at that time the stuff out of which to make half a dozen Presidents. I had known his relatives in Kentucky, and he asked me about them. His uncle, Mordecai Lincoln, I had known from my boyhood, and he was naturally a man of considerable genius; be was a man of great drollery, and it would almost make you laugh to look at him. I never saw but one other man whose quiet, droll look excited in me the same disposition to laugh, and that was Artemus Ward. He was quite a story-teller, and in this Abe resembled his Uncle Mord, as we called him. He was an honest man, as tender-hearted as a woman, and to the last de- gree charitable and benevolent. No one ever took offense at Uncle Mord's stories — not even the ladies. I heard him once tell a bevy of fash- ionable girls that he knew a very large woman who had a husband so small that in the night she often mistook him for the baby, and that upon one occasion she took him up and was singing to him a soothing lullaby, when he awoke and told her that she was mistaken, that the baby was on the other side of the bed. Lincoln had a very high opinion of his uncle, and on one occasion he said to me: " Linder, I have often said that Uncle Mord run off with the talents of the fam- ily." Old Mord, as we sometimes called him, had been in his younger days a very stout man, and was quite fond of playing a game of fisticuffs with any one who was noted as a champion. He told a parcel of us once of a pitched battle that he EARLY LIFE. 57 had fought on the side of a hill or ridge; that- at the bot- tom there was a rut or canal, which had been cut out by the freshets. He said they soon clinched, and he threw his man and fell on top of him. He said he always thought he had the best eyes in the world for measuring distances, and having measured the distance to the bottom of the hill, 'he concluded that by rolling over and over till they came to the bottoni his an- tagonist's body would fill it, and he would be wedged in so tight that he could whip him at his leisure. So he let the fellow turn him, and over and over they went, when about the twentieth revolution brought Uncle Mord*s back in contact with the rut, " and," said he, "before fire could scorch a feather, I cried out in stentorian voice: ' Take him off ! '" :o:- " Clary's Grove Boys" — A Wrestling Match. There lived at the time "youn^ Lincoln resided at New Salem, Illinois, in and around the village, a band of rol- licking fellows, or more properly, royste'ring rowdies, known as the "Clary's Grove Boys." The special tie that united them was physical courage and prowess. These fellows, although they embraced in their number many men who have since become respectable and influential, were wild and rough beyond toleration in any commu- nity not made up like that which produced them. They pretended to be "regulators," and were the terror of all who did not acknowledge their rule; and their mode of securing allegiance was by flogging every man who failed to acknowledge it, They took it upon themselves to try the mettle of ev- S8 LINCOLN ^SSTORIES AND SPEECHES. ery new comer, and to learn the sort of stuff he was made of. ' Some of their number was appointed to fight, wrestle, or run a foot-race with each incoming stranger. Of course Abraham Lincoln was - obliged to pass tlje or- deal. Perceiving that he was a man who would not easily be floored; they selected their champion, Jack Armstrong, and imposed upon him the task of laying • Lincoln upon his back. There is no evidence that Lincoln was an unwilling party to the sport, for it was what he had always been accustomed to. The bout was entered upon, but Arm- strong soon discovered that he had met more, than his match. The boys were looking on, and seeing that their cham- pion was likely to get the worst of it, did after the man- ner of such irresponsible bands. They gathered around Lincoln, struck and disabled him, and then Armstrong, by ' ' legging " him, got him down. Most men would have been indignant, not to say furi- ously angry, under such foul treatment as this; but if Lincoln was either, he did not show it. Getting up in perfect good humor, he fell to laughing over his discom- fiture,^ and joking about it. They had all calculated upon making him angry, and they intended, with the amiable spirit which characterized the " Clary's Grove Boys," to give, him a terrible drubbing. They were disappointed, and, in their admiration of him, immediately invited him to become one of the company. t :o. EARLY UFE. 59 Reminiscences — The Turning, Point. It was while young Lincoln was engaged in the duties of Offutt's store that the turning point in his Hfe occurred. Here he commenced the study of English grammar. There was not a text-book to be obtained in the neigh- borhood, but, hearing that there was a copy of Kirkham's Grammar in the possession of a person seven or eight miles distant, he walked to his house and succeeded in borrowing it. L. M. Green, a lawyer in Petersburg, Menard Countyj says that every time he visited New Salem, at this period, Lincoln took him out upon a hill and asked him to ex~ plain some point in Kirkham that had given him trouble^ After having mastered the book, he remarked to a friend that if that was what they called a science, he thought he could ' ' subdue another. " Mr. Green says that Mr. Lincoln's talk at this time showed that he was beginning to think of a great life and a great destiny. Lincoln said to him, on one occasion, that all his family seemed to have good sense, but, some- how, none had ever become distinguished. He thought that perhaps he might become so. He had talked, he said, with men who had the reputation of being great men, but he could not see that they differed, much frotm others ! During this year he was also much eag-aged, with de- bating clubs, often walking six or seven miles to attend them. One of these clubs held its meetings at an old storehouse in New Salem, and the first speech 3'oung Lincoln ever made was made there. He used to call the exercise ' ' practicing polemics; " 6o Lincoln's stories and speeches. As these clubs were composed principally of men of no ed- ucation whatever, some of their " polemics" are remem- bered as the most laughable of farces. His favorite new^spaper, at this time, was the Louis- ville Journal, a paper which he received regularly by mail, and paid for during a number of years when he had not money enough to dress decently He liked its politics, and was particularly delighted with its wit and humor, of which he had the keenest appreciation. When out of the store, he was always busy in the pursuit of knowl- edge. One gentlemen who met him during this period says that the first time he saw him he was lying on a trundle- bed covered with books and papers, and rockinq a cradle with his foot. The whole scene, however, was entirely characteristic — Lincoln reading and studying, and at the same time helping his landlady by quieting her child. " My early history," said Mr. Lincoln to J. L. Scripps, "is perfectly characterized by a single line of Gray's Elegy: " The short and simple annals of the poor.' " A gentleman who knew Mr. Lincoln well in early man- hood says: "Lincoln at this period had nothing but plenty of friends." Says J. G. Holland: " No man ever lived, probably, who was more a self-made man than Abraham Lincoln. Not a circumstance of life favored the development which he had reached. " After the customary handshaking on one occasion at Washington, several gentlemen came forward and asked EARLY LIFE. 6 1 the President for his autograph. One of them gave his name as " Cruikshank. " '.' That reminds me, " said Mr. Lincoln, ' ' of what I used to be called when a young man — 'Long-shanks ! ' " Mr. Holland says: "Lincoln was a religious man. The fact may be stated without any reservation — with only an explanation. He belie'^ed in'God, and in His personal supervision of the affairs of men. He believed himself to be under His control and guidance. He believed in the power and ultimate triumph of the right, through his be- lief in God." Governor Yates, in a speech at Springfield, before a meeting at which William G. Greene presided, quoted Mr. Greene as having said that the first time he ever saw Lincoln he was ' ' in the Sangamon River, with his trowsers rolled up Ave feet, more or less, trying to pilot a flatboat over a mill-dam. The boat was so full of water that it was hard to manage. Lincoln got the prow over, and then, instead of waiting to bail the water out, bored a hole through the projecting part, and let it run out." A prominent writer says: "Lincoln was a childlike man. No public man of modern days has been fortunate enough to carry into his manhood so much of the direct- ness, truthfulness and simplicity of childhood as distin- guished him. He was exactly what he seemed. " Mr. Lincoln and Douglas met for the first time when the latter was only 23 years of age. Lincoln, in speak- ing of the fact, subsequently said that Douglas was then • ' the least man he ever saw. " He was not only very shorty but very slender. 62 Lincoln's stories and speeches. Lincoln's mother died in 1818, scarcely two years after her removal to Indiana from Kentucky, and when Abra- ham was in his tenth year. They laid her to rest under the trees near the cabin, and, sitting on her grave, the lit- tle boy wept his irreparable loss. The Blackhawk war was not a very remarkable affair. It made no military reputations, but it was noteworthy in the single fact that the two simplest, homliest and truest men engaged in it afterwards became Presidents of the United States, viz: General (then Colonel) Zachary Tay- lor, and then Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln never spoke of it as anything more than an interesting episode in his life, except upcm one occasion when he used it as an in- strument for turning the military pretensions of another into ridicule. :o: How Lincoln Treated His Early Friend, Dennis Hanks, in Washington. Dennis Hanks was once asked to visit Washington to secure the pardon of certain persons in jail for partici- pation in copperheadism. Dennis went and arrived in Washington, and instead of going, as he said, to a ' 'tav- ern," he went to the White House. There was a porter on guard, and he asked: "Is Abe in.'" ' ' Do you mean Mr. Lincoln, " asked the porter. "Yes: is he in there.' " and brushing the porter aside he strode into the Toom and said: " Hello, Abe, how are you.?" ' ' And Abe said : ' ' Well, well, " and just gathered him up in his arms and talked of the days gone by. EARLY LIFE. 63 O, the days gone by! They talked of their boyhood days, and by and by Uihcoln said: What brings you here all the way from Illinois? " And then Dennis told him his mission and Lincoln re- plied: , " I will grant it, Dennis, for old times' sake. I will send for Mr. Stanton. It is his business. " Stanton came into the room and strode up and down and said the men ought to be punished more than they^ were. Mr. Lincoln sat quietly in his chair and awaited for the tempest to subside and then quietly said to Stan- ton he would like to have the papers the next day. When he had gone Dennis said: "Abe, if I was as big and ugly as you are I would take him over my knee and spank him. " Lincoln replied: "No, Stanton is an able and valuable man to this nation, and I am glad to bear his anger for the service he can give this nation. :o:- Judge Ewing's Story. Judgp Ewing, at a Lincoln banquet in Chicago, Febru- ary, 1894, speaking on the "Reminiscences of Lincoln, " said his first acquaintance with the war President was very early in his own life. "It was in McLean County, Illinois;" he said, "about 1 840. My father was then a candidate for the State 'Sen- ate, on the Democratic ticket. Mr. Lincoln was stump- ing the State as an electoJr for William Henry Harrison. One day he stopped at my father's house and, .a^fter a friendly discussion of antagonistic party principles, said, by way of a partial compromise: ' You have got a lot of 64 LINCOLN STORIES AND SPEECHES. fine-looKing boys here, Mr. Ewing, can't you give me one of them to raise up for a good Whig? ' " ' Well, theire'is my youngest son,' said my father, pointing to me. ' He is about the no-accountest chap of the lot, you can take him. ' Mr. Lincoln patted me on the chin with a smile of ac- ceptance, and from that day until I was grown the neigh- borhood boys called me ' Whig Ewing." ' -:o:- Judge Moses' Early Recollections of Lincoln, Judge John Moses, President of the Chicago Historical Society, at a Lincoln celebration in Chicago, February 12, 1894, gave the following interesting account of the early life of the war President. ' ' Besides myself there are at present living in Chicago only two men who knew Lincoln as well as I. Mr. Lin- coln began his public career nearly half k century ago. The first time I sa^v him was at the great convention at Peoria, in June, 1844, during Jhe Clay-Polk campaign. Great crowds were gathered at the city, and among them were all the leaders of the old Whig party. At that time I was only a boy. I can well remember the tall, slim, sallow-complex- ioned man, with long, bushy hair, addressing the crowd from one of the many platforms. The man was Abra- ham Lincoln, and he was discussing the tariff question. He was then 35 years old, married, and had one son, Robeirt T. Lincoln . In 1836, Lincoln, who was living on a farm in West Salem, boirowed a horse and rode to Springfield. He se- cured a room of Mr. Steel, and in partnership with John EARLY LIFE. 6$ T. Stuart started a law office. The business was only partially successful, and in a short time Lincoln returned home and rented a room at the home of old ' Aunt Su- san ' Johnson. There he stayed for ten weeks and stud- ied hard. He then returned to Springfield, and previous to the Peoria convention was an elector and canvassed the State. Two years afterwards, in 1 846, he was elected to Con- gress and took a prorninent part in the election of 1848, when General Taylor was elected President. During Taylor's administration Lincoln was a candidate for land commissioner at Washington, but failed to get the office. He then retired from politics for a time and studied and continued to practice law Lincoln's really active political life began in 1854, af- ter the repeal of the Missouri compromise. He went to Winchester, 111., >vhere he made his first speech on the Missouri compromise. At that time it was generally con- ceded that Lincoln ought to be a nominee for Senator, and he was afterward indorsed as such, but on account of the refusal of three Democrats to support him he lost the- ballot. After the campaign came the presidential election of: 1856. The Republican party was then formed in the- State by a conference of editors at Decatur. A large- convention was called at Bloomington, and Lincoln was; the most conspicuous person there and seemed to domi-^ nate the convention. Among the speakers were O, H. Browning, Owen Lovejoy and Colonel Bissell. Lincoln was the first to speak, and at the convention made a platform against slavery. During this great speech the audience became 66 LINCOLN STORIES AND SPEECHES. SO excited that it rose to its feet in a body, and Lincoln with both hands raised said: ' We will not dissolve the Union, and they shall not." Senator CuUum's Interesting Reminiscences of Lincoln. At the third annual banquet of the Lincoln Associa- tion of Philadelphia, given February 12, 1894, Senator CuUum of Illinois, among other good things, gave the fol- lowing reminiscences. It was my fortune to know Mr. Lincoln well. My knowledge of him dates baek in my own life to the time' I was ten or twelve years old, and even before this time I can remember that men would come twenty or thirty miles to see my father in those pioneer days to learn whom to employ as a lawyer when they were likely to have cases in court. He would say to them: "If Judge Stephen T. Logan is there employ him; if he is not; there is a yoimg man by the name of Lincoln who will do just about as well." In my boyhood days I was permittgd to attend the ses- sions of .the Circuit Court one week, twice a year. The first time I enjoyed the privilege I saw Mr. Lincoln and the gallant Col. E. D. Baker engaged in defence of a man charged with the crime of murder, That great trial, es- pecially the defence hy those great lawyers, made an im- pression on my mind which will never be effaced. , Late in 1 846, when Mr. Lincoln became the Whig can- didate for Congress, I heard him deliver a political speech. Th^' county in which my father and family resided was a EARLY LIFE. 6/ part of his Congressional district . When Mr, Lincoln came to the county my father met him with his carriage and took him to all his appointments. I went to the meeting nearest my home; it was an open-air meeting in a grove • On being introduced Mr. Lincoln began his speech as follows: "Fellow-citizens: Ever since I have been in Taze- well county my old friend Major Cullum has taken me around; he has heard all my speeches, and the only way I can fool the old Major and make him believe I am making a new speech is by turning it end for ebd once in awhile. - "I knew him at the bar, both when I was a boy and afterwards when I came to the practice of the law in the capital of Illinois, his home then, mine now. I knew him in the private walks of life, in the law office, in the court room, in the political campaigns of the time, and to the close of his great career . I knew him as the leader of the great Republican party, when, as now, it was full of enthusiasm for liberty and equal rights, when the plat- form was, in substance the declaration of independence, and he was its champion . "He believed in 'preserving the jewel of liberty in the family of freedom.' Aye, he believed in making the American people one great family of freedom. ' 'I heard much of the great debate between him and Douglas, the greatest political debate which ever took place in America. I heard him utter the memorable words in the Republican Convention of my State, in 1858. "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I be- 68 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. lieve this Government cannot permanently endure half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall, but I do ex- pect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other "What words of wisdom! He could look through the veil between hrm and the future and see the end. It is said that before this great speech was delivered he read it to friends, and all of them but one advised against its delivery. With a self-reliance born of earnest convic- tion he said the time had come when these, sentiments should be uttered, and that, if he should go down be- cause of their utterances by him, then he would go down linked with the truth. "It lifts up and ennobles mankind to hear and study brave words of truth uttered by great men. , 'Let me die in the advocacy of what is just and right,' he said again. "In these days of apparen,t shallow convictions on many subjects; days of greed for wealth, of rushing for the mighty dollar, is it not well to pause and think over the lives of great men of our own country and the world.^ We are now in the very shadow of the death of a great and good man — George W. Childs — ^just passed away. A man who lived to do good; to make the pathway of his fellows smoother and easier; a great hearted philan- thropist whose fame is world-wide, and will endure as long as sympathy and generosity are found in the human heart. ' ' Mr. Lincoln was a great debater, as was Douglas. They often met in debate. On one occasion Douglas EARLY LIFE. 69 charged that there was an alliance between Lincoln and the Federal office holders, and that he would deal with them as the Russians did with the allies in the Crimean War, not stopping to inquire whether an Englishman, Frenchman or Turk was hit. Lincoln replied, denying the alliance, but mildly suggested to Douglas that the al- lies took Sebastapol. ' ■ Lincoln was a man of faith in the right when the great contest between him and Douglas ended and the election was over. Lincoln had carried the popular vote of the State, but Douglas secured a majority of the Leg- islature. "When it was settled that Douglas had triumphed in securing a majority of the Legislature, I happened to meet him in the street and said to, Mr. Lincoln, is it true that Douglas has a majority of the Legislature.' ' ' He said ' yes. ' ' ' I felt greatly disappointed, and so expressed myself, when he said: ' ' ' Never mind, rpy boy, it will come all right, ' and in two years from that day the country was ablaze with bonfires all over the land celebrating its first national Re- publican victory in his election as President of the Uni- ted States. V It has been said Mr. Lincoln never went to school. He never did very much, but in the broad sense he was an educated man. He was a student^ — -a thinker — he ed- ucated himself, and mastered any question which claimed his attention. ' ' In my belief there has been no man in this country possessing greater power of analyzation than he did. Webster and Lincoln, while unlike in intellect, were two 70 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. of the greatest men intellectually this country has pro- duced. " Mr. Lincoln was said to be slow and timid when, as President he walked along the danger path before him. He learned the truth of an observation by Cicero, ' that whoever enters upon public life should take care that the question how far the measure is virtuous be not the sole consideration, but also how far he may have the means of carrying it into execution. ' So in the great struggle for national life he sought to go on no faster than he could induce the loyal people to go with him. "As we lookback over the period of agitation of slav- ery and of the great Civil War, we see Lincoln towering above all as the savior of his country and as the liberator of three millions of slaves. Lincoln was a shrewd and crafty man. After, as you remember, Vallandigham, of Ohio, was sent South, through the Rebel lines, he got round on the Canada border and finally returned home without leave. People thought his return would cause trouble. " It is said that Fernando Wood called on the Presi- dent and cautiously inquired if he had been informed that Vallandigham had got home. Lincoln knew that by sending him South he had broken his power for evil, and in reply to Mr. Wood he said: " 'No, sir; I have received no official information of that act, and what is more, sir, don't intend to." ' 'Another illustration of his great good nature and shrewdness is told. As the war approached its close, Mr. Lincoln and General Sherman were in consultation at City point. One of the questions considered was what should be done with Jeff Davis when captured. EARLY LIFE. /I General Sherman inquired if he should let him escape. Mr. Lincoln told him the story of the temperance lec- turer who was plentifully supplied with lemonade. The host in a modest way inquired if the least bit of some- thing stronger, to brace him up would be agreeable. The lecturer answered he could not think of it — he was op- posed to it on principal; but, glancing at the black bot- tle near by, he added: " 'If you could manage to put in a little drop un^ beknown to me, it wouldn't hurt me much.' " 'Now, General,' said Mr. Lincoln, 'I am bound to oppose the escape of Jeff Davis, but if you can manage to let him slip out unbeknown'st like, I guess it won't hurt me much.' "Mr. Lincoln was never disturbed by little things. Mr. Chase was President Lincoln's Secretary , of the Treasury. As the time approached the Presidential nomination, Mr. Lincoln was understood to be a candi- date, and Mr. Chase was a candidate, retaining his place in the Cabinet. Being in Washington for a time, I had a conversation with Mr. Lincoln about Mr. Chase's can- dida,cy, and I advised Mr. Lincoln to turn him out. He replied: " 'No, let him alone; he can do me no more harm in office than out.' ' 'When the President was considering Mr . Chase in connection with the high office of Chief Justice of the United States, a deputation of great men from Ohio — Ohio always had and has yet many — came to Washing- ton to protest against Mr. Chase's appointment, and presented some letters at some time written by Mr. 72 Lincoln's stories and speeches. Chase,, criticising Mr. Lincoln. He read them, and with his usual goodnature, remarked: ' ' 'If Mr. Chase has said some hard things about me, I in turn have said some hard things about him, which, I guess, squares the account. ' "Mr. Chase was appointed. ' 'He was an American in the highest sense. He stood for America, for liberty, for the Declaration of Inde- pendence, for equality of rights, and he journeyed from his home to the National Capital to obey the call of the people and guide the ship of state through the portend- ing storm, he came to his own historic city and in old Independence Hall he declared 'that if the Government could not be saved without giving up the Declaration of Independence, he would rather be assassinated on the spot than surrender it. ' "He was a Republican, as we are; he not only believ- ed in union, liberty and equality, but under his guidance the policy of the Government was established, which has been maintained for more than thirty years and never seriously interfered with until now, and which has given the people unexampled prosperity. "Mr. President and gentlemen, his life and public ut- terances speak to us now in this period of peril to busi- ness and commerce. Yes, to sustain the honor of our nation as a Republic, to stand fast by our colors, save the people from poverty and distress, the nation from financial wreck, and its flag in this and other lands from dishonor. " EARLY LIFE. 73 Baby Foot Prints. The Rev. Robert Mclntyre in a Lincoln Eulogy at the Auditorium, Chicago, among other good things, said: One day at the cabin in which Mr. Lincoln spent his early years I was told this story: Sometime before he was elected President Mr. Lincoln visited some of his people there and he stood in the doorway watching a summer shower hunted by a pack of sunbeams, which laid the rain in puddles gleaming in the yard. ♦ They, say that Mr. Lincoln, taking up a little girl who was kin to him, carried her out into the yard and dipped her baby feet in the mud-puddle. Then, carrying her into the cabin he lifted her and mark- ed the ceiling with her feet, leaving marks that remained there for many years. We are told that something of that kind happened to him, by a power greater than him- self that lifted him up among the heights and leaving those footprints that will shine forever in the annals of human endeavor. I do not like this theory because it takes away hope from our youth. Lincoln was like other men. He was not a miraculous man in any sense of the word. He had indeed less of the supernatural about him than any man in history and more of the natural, and it was this that made him so great and lovable in the eyes of the people. Washington has been idealized until we have forgotten his real character. I confess he is a nebulous character to me. Now they are going to refine and sandpaper and veneer Lincoln until nothing of the simple, loving, common- place soul is left to us. We don't want this. We want him just as he is. 74 Lincoln's stories and speeches. ABRAHAM LINCOLN, WHEN A YOUNG LAWYER. PROFESSIONAL LIFE STORIES. How Lincoln and Judge B. Swapped Horses. When Abraham Lincoln was a lawyer in Illinois, he and a certain Judge once got to bantering one another about trading horses; and it was agreed that the next morning at 9 o'clock they should make a trade, the horses to be unseen up to that hour, and no backing out, under a forfeiture of $25. At the hour appointed the Judge came up, leading the sorriest looking specimen of a horse ever seen in those parts. In a few minutes Mr. Lincoln was seen approach- ing with a wooden saw-horse upon his shoulders. Great were the shouts and the laughter of the crowd, and both were greatly increased when Mr. Lincoln, on surveying the Judge's animal, set down his saw-horse, and exclaim- ed: "Well, Judge, this is the first time I ever got the worst of it in a horse trade. " -:o:- A Remarkable Law Suit About a Colt. The controversy was about a colt , in which thirty- four witnesses swore that they had known the colt from its falling, and it was the property of the plaintiff, while [75] 76 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. thirty swore that they had known the colt from its fall- ing, and that it was the property of the defendant. It may be stated, at starting, that these witnesses were all honest, and that the mistake grew out of the exact re- semblances which the two colts bore to each other. One circumstance was proven by all the witnesses, or nearly all of them, viz: that the two claimants of the colt agreed to meet on a certain day with the two mares which were respectively claimed to be the dams of the colt, and permit the colt to decide which of the two he belong- ed to. The meeting occurred according to agreement, and, as it was a singular case and excited a good deal of popular interest, there were probably a hundred men assembled on their horses and mares from far and near. Now, the colt really belonged to the defendant in the case. It had strayed away and fallen into company with the plaintiff's horses. The plaintiff's colt had, at the same time, strayed away and had not returned, and was not to be found. The moment the two mares were brought upon the ground, the defendant's mare and the colt gave signs of recogoition. The colt went to its dam and would not leave her. They fondled each other; and although the plaintiff brought his mare between them, and tried in various ways to divert the colt's attention, the colt would not be separated from the dam. It then fol- lowed her home, a distance of eight or ten miles, and when within a mile or two of the stables, took a short cut to them in advance of its dam. The plaintiff had sued to recover the colt thus gone back to his owner. In the presentation of this case to the jury, there were thirty-four witnesses on the side of the plaintiff, while the PROFESSIONAL LIFE. "JJ defendant had, on his side, only thirty-witnesses; but he had on his side the colt itself and its dam — thirty-four men against thirty men and two brutes. Here was a case that was to be decided by the pre- ponderance of evidence. All the witnesses were equally positive, and equally credible. Mr. Lincoln was on the side of the defendant, and contended that the voice of nature in the mare and colt ought to outweigh the testi- mony of a hundred men. The jury were all farmers,^ and all illiterate men, and he took great pains to make them understand what was meant by the "preponder- ance of evidence." He said that in a civil suit, absolute certainty, or such certainty as would be required to con- vict a man of crime, was not- essential. They must de- cide the case according to the impression which the evi- dence had produced upon their minds, and, if they felt puzzled at all, he would give them a test by which they could bring themselves to a just conclusion. ' 'Now, " said he. ' 'it you were going to bet on this case, on which side would you be willing to risk a picayune? That side on which you would be willing to bet a picay- nue is the side on which rests the preponderance of evi- dence in your minds. It is possible that you may not be right, but that is not the question. The question is as to where the preponderance of evidence lies, and you can judge exactly where it lies in your minds by? de- ciding as to which side you would he willing to bet on. The jury understood this. There was no mystifica- tion about it. They had got hold of a test by which thej could render an intelligent verdict. Mr. Lincoln saw into their minds, aud knew exactly what they needed; 7'8 Lincoln's stories and speeches. and the moment they received it he knew his case was safe, as a quick verdict for the defendant proved it to be. In nothing coftnected with this case was the ingenuity of Mr. Lincoln more evident, perhaps, than in the insignif- icance of the sum which lie placed in risk by the hypo- thetical wager. It was not a hundred dollars, or a thous- and dollars, or even a dollar, but the smallest silver coin, to show to them that the verdict should go- with the pre- ponderance of evidence, even if the preponderance should be only a hair's weight. :o:- A Famous Story. It is said that Mr. Lincoln was always ready to join m a laugh at the expense of his person, concerning which he was indifferent. Many of his friends will recognize the following story — the incident actually occurred — which he always told with great glee: "In the days when I used to be 'on the circuit,' " said Lincoln, ' 'I was accosted in the cars by a stranger, who said: ' 'Excuse me, sir, but I have an article in my possession which belongs to you." "How is that.'" I asked, considerably astonished. The stranger took a jack-knife from his pocket. ' 'This knife," said he, '-was placed in my hands some years ago, with the injunction that I was to keep it until I found a man uglier than myself. I have carried it from that time to this. Allow me now to say, sir, that I think you are fairly entitled to the property." PROFESSIONAL LIFE. 79 GEN. JAMES A. GARFIELD. Lincoln's Story of a Young Lawyer as he told it to General Garfield. General Garfield, of Ohio, received from the Pipesident the account of the capture of Norfolk with the following preface : "By the way, Garfield," said Mr. Lincoln, "you never 8o Lincoln's stories and speeches. heard, did you, that Chase, Stanton and I had a cam- paign of our own? We went down to Fortress Monroe in Chase's revenue cutter and consulted v/ith Admiral Goldsborough as to the feasibihty of taking Norfolk by landing on the north shore and making a march of eight miles. The admiral said, very positively, there was no landing on that shore, and we should have to double the cape and approach the place from the sonth side, which would be a long and difficult journey. I thereupon asked him if he had ever tried to find a landing, and he replied that he had not. "Now," said I, "Admiral, that reminds me of a chap out "West who had studied law, but had never tried a case. Being sued, and not having confidencJe in his abil- ■ ity to manage his own case, he employed a fellow-lawyer to manage it for him. He liad onlj' a confused idea of the meaning of law terms, but was anxious to make a display of learning, an4b4|p the trial constantly made sug- gestions to his lawyer, who paid no attention to him. At last, fearing that his lawyer was not handling the oppos- ing counsel very well, he lost all patienc^ and springing to his feet, cried out: 'Why don't you go at him with a capias, or a surre-butter, or something, and not stand jthere like a confounded old nunum-pritum? ' " -:o: Lincoln and His SteprMother. Soon after Mr. Lincoln entered upon his profession at Sptingfreld, he was engaged in a criminal case in which it was thought there was little chance of success. Throw- ing all' his powers into it he came off victorious, and promptly received for his services five hundred dollars. PROFSSIONAL LIFE. 8 1 A legal friend calling upon him the next morning found him sitting before a table, upon which his money was spread out, counting it over and over. "Look here. Judge," said he; "See what a heap of MRS. SARAH BUSH LINCOLN; LINCOLN S STEPMOTHER.. money I've got from the case. Did you ever see anything like it.? Why, I never had so much money in my life before, put it all together.?" Then crossing his arms upon the table, his manner sobering down, he add- ed, "I have got just five hundred dollars; if it were only 82 Lincoln's stories and speeches. seven hundred and fifty, I would go directly and purchase a quarter section of land, and settle it upon my old step- mother." His friend said that if the deficiency was all he needed he would loan him the amount, taking his note, to which Mr. Lincoln instantly acceded. His friend then said: "Lincoln I would not do just what you have indicated. Your step-mother is getting old, and will not probably live many years. I would settle the property upon her for her use during her lifetime, to revert to you upon her death." With much feeling Mr. Lincoln replied: "I shall do no such thing. It is a poor return at best for all the good woman's devotion and fidelity to me, and there is not going to be any half-way business about it;" and so saying, he gathered up his money and proceeded forthwith to carry his long-cherished purpose into execution. :o: A Letter to His Beloved Stepmother. Lincoln's love for his second mother was most filial and affectionate. In a letter of Nov. 4, 1851, just after the death of his father, he writes to her as follows: "Dear Mother: Chapman tells me he wants you to go and live with him. If I were you I would try it awhile. If you get tired of it (as I think you will not) you can return to your own home. Chapman feels very kindly to you, and I have no doubt he will make your situation very pleasant. Sincerely, your son, A. Lincoln. PROFESSIONAL LIFE. 83 The Lincoln. Shields Duel. The late Gen. Shields was Auditor of the State of Illi- nois in 1839. While he occupied this important office he was involved in an ' 'affair of honor" with a Spring- field lawyer — no less a personage than Abraham Lincoln. At this time "James Shields, Auditor," was the pride of the young Democracy, and was considered a dashing fellow by all, the ladies included. In the summer of 1842 the Springfield Journal con- tained some letters from the f'Lost Township," by a contributor whose nom de plume was "Aunt Becca," which held up the gallant young Auditor as "a ball- room dandy, floatin' about on the earth without heft or substance, just like a lot of cat-fur where cats had been fightin'." These letters caused intense excitement in the town. Nobody knew or guessed their authorship. Shields swore it would be coffee and pistols for two if he should find out who had been lampooning him so unmercifully. Thereupon "Aunt Becca" wrote another letter, which made the furnace of his wrath seven times hotter than before, in which she made a very humble apology and ■offered to let him squeeze her hand for satisfaction, adding: ' 'If this should not answer, there is one thing more I would rather do than to get a lickin'. I have all along expected to die a widow; but, as Mr. Shields is rather good-looking than otherwise, I must say I don't care if we compromise the matter by — really, Mr. Printer, I can't help blushin' — but I — must come out — I — but widowed modesty — well, if I must, I must — wouldn't he — maybe 84 LfNCOLN's STORIES AND SPEECHES. • sorter let the old grudge drap if I was to consent to be — be — his wife. I know he is a fightin' man, and would rather fight than eat; but isn't marryin^ better than fightin', though it does sometimes run into it? And I don't think, upon the whole, I'd be sich a bad match, neither; I'm not over sixty, and am just four feet three in my bare feet, and not much more round the gerth ; and for color, I wouldn't turn my back to nary a girl in the Lost Townships. But, after all, maybe I'm countin' my chickens before they're hatched, and dreamin' of matrimonial bliss when the only alternative reserved for me maybe a lickin'. Jeff tells me the way these fire- eaters do is to give the challenged party the choice of weapons, which, being the case, I tell you in confidence, I never fight with anything but broomsticks or hot water, or a shovelful of coals or some such thing; the former of which, being somewhat like a shillelah, may not be so very objectionable to him. I will give him a choice, however, in one thing, and that is whether, when we fight, I shall wear breeches or he petticoats, for I presume this change is sufficient to place us on an equality. ' Of course some one had to shoulder the responsibility of these letters after such a shot. The real author was none other than Miss Mary Todd, afterward the wife of Abraham Lincoln, to whom she was engaged, and who was in honor bound to assume, for belligerent purposes, the responsibility of her sharp pen-thrusts. Mr. Lincoln accepted the situation . Not long after the two men, with their seconds, were on their way to the field of of honor. But the affair was fixed up without any fight- professional' LIFE. 85 ing, and thus ended in a fizzle the Lincoln-Shields duel of the Lost Township. -:o:- An Amusing Story Concerning Thompson Campbell. Among the numerous visitors on one of the President's reception days were a party of Congressmen, among whom was the Hon. Thomas Shannon of California. Soon after the cnstomary greeting, Mr. Shannon said: "Mr. President, I met an old friend of yours in Cali- fornia last summer, Thompson Campbell, who had a good deal to say of your Springfield life. " "Ah!" returned Mr. Lincoln, "lam glad to hear of him. Campbell used to be a dry fellow," he continued. "For a time he was Secretary of State. One day, dur- ing the legislative vacation, a meek,, cadaverous-looking man, with a white neck-cloth, introduced himself to him at his office, and stating that he had been informed that Mr. C. had the letting of the Assembly Chamber, said that he wished to secure it, if possible, for a course to lec- ture he desired to deliver in Springfield. "May I ask," said the Secretary, "what is to be the subject of your lectures.' " ' 'Certainly, " was the reply, with a very solemn expres- sion of countenance. "The course I wish to deliver is on the second coming of our Lord. " "It is no use," said Mr. C. "If you will take my ad- vice you will not waste your time in this city. It is my private opinion that if the Lord has been in Springfield once, He will not come the second time! " 86 Lincoln's stories and speeches. Lincoln's Story of Joe Wilson and His "Spotted Animals." Although the friendly relations which existed between the President and Secretary Cameron were not inter- rupted by the retirement of the latter from the War Ofifice, so important a change in the Administration could not of course take place without the irrepressible ' 'story' from Mr. Lincoln. Shortly after this event some gentle- men called upon the President, and expressing muchsat- isfaction at the change, intimated that in their judgment the interests of the country required an entire reconstruc- tion of the Cabinet . Mr. Lincoln heard them throiigh, and' then shaking his head dubiously, replied, with his peculiar smile: "Gentlemen, when I was a young man I used to know very well one Joe Wilson, who built himself a log-cabin not far from where I lived. Joe was very fond of eggs and chickens, and he took a good deal of pains in fitting up a poultry shed. Having at length got together a choice lot of young fowls — of which he was very proud — he began to be much annoyed by the depredations of those little black and white spotted animals, which it is not necessary to name. One night Joe was awakened by an unusual cackling and fluttering among his chickens. ' Getting up, he crept out to see what was going on. ' 'It was a moonlight night, and he soon caught sight of half a dozen of the little pests, which, with their dam, were running in and out of the shadow of the shed. Very wrathy, Joe put a double charge into his old musket, and thought he would 'clean' out the whole tribe at one shot. Somehow he only killed one, and the balance scampered PROFESSIONAL LIFE. 87 off across the field. In telling the story, Joe would always pause here, and hold his nose. " 'Why didn't you follow them up, and kill the rest ?' inquired the neighbors. " 'Blast it," said Joe, 'why, it was eleven weeks before I got over killin' one. If you want any more skirmishing in that line you can just do it yourselves !' " -:o:- An Incident Related by One of Lincoln's Clients, It was not possible for Mr. Lincoln to regard his clients simply in the light of business. An unfortunate man was a subject of his sympathy, a Mr. Cogdal, who related the incident to Mr. Holland, met with a financial wreck in 1843. He employed Mr. Lincoln as his lawyer, and at the close of the business, gave him a note to cover the regular lawyer's fees. He was soon afterwards blown up by an accidental discharge of powder, and lost his hand. Meeting Mr . Lincoln some time after the acci- dent, on the steps of the State House, the kind lawyer asked him how he was getting along. "Badly enough," replied Mr. Cogdal, "I am both broken up in business and crippled. " Then he added, I 'I have been thinking about that note of yours. " Mr. Lincoln, who had probably known all about Mr. Cogd'al's troubles, and had prepared himself for the meet- ing, took out his pocket-book, and saying, with a laugh, "well, you needn't think any more about it," handed him the note. Mr . Cogdal protesting, Mr. Lincoln said, ' 'if you had the money, I would not take it, " and hurried away. At this same date he was frankly writing about his pov- 88 Lincoln's stories and speeches. erty to his friends, as a reason for not making them a visit, and probably found it no easy task to take care of his family, even when board at the Globe Tavern was ' 'only four dollars a week. " :o: Lincoln Defends Col. Baker. On one occasion when Col. Baker was speaking in a court-house, which had been a store-house, and, on mak- ing some remarks that were offensive to certain political rowdies in the crowd, they cried: "Take him off the stand." Immediate confusion ensued, and there was an attempt to carry the demand into execution. Directly over the speaker's head was an old scuttle, at 'which it appeared Mr. Lincoln had been listening to the speech. In an instant, Mr. Lincoln's feet came through the scuttle, followed by his tall and sinewy frame, and he was standing by Col. Baker's side. He raised his hand, and the assembly subsided immediately into silence. "Gentlemen," said Mr, Lincoln, "let us not disgrace the age and country in which we live. This is a land where freedom of speech is guaranteed. Mr. Baker has a right to speak, and ought to be permitted to do so . I a,m here to protect him, and no man shall take him from this stand if I can prevent it. " The suddenness of his appearance, his perfect calm- ness and fairness, and the knowledge that he would do what he had promised to do, quieted all disturbance, and the speaker concluded his remarks without difficulty. : o The Judge and the Drunken Coachman. Attorney-General Bates was once remonstrating with the President against the appointment to a judicial posi- PROFESSIONAL LIFE 89 tion of considerable importance of a western man, who, though on the "bench," was of indifferent reputation as a lawyer. "Well now, Judge," returned Mr. Lincoln, "I think you are rather too hard on . Besides that, I must ' tell you, he did me a good turn long ago. ^When I took to the law, I was walking to court one morning, with some ten or twelve miles of bad road before me, when overtook me in his wagon . ' " 'Hallo, Lincoln !' said he; 'going to the court-house.' Come in and I will give you a seat. ' ' 'Well, I got in, and went on reading his papers. Preseritly 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 jerking from side to side in his seat; so said I, 'Judge; I think your coachman has been tak- ing a drop too much this morning . ' " 'Wellj 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 scoun- drel you are drunk ! ' ' 'Upon which pulling up his horses and turning round with great gravity, the coachman said. 'Be dad ! but that's the first rightful decision your honor has given for the last twelve months !' " -:o:- Honest Abe and His Lady Client. About the time Mr. Lincoln began to be known as a successful lawyer, he was waited upon by a lady, who held a real-estate claim which she desired to have him go liccoln's stories and speeches. prosecute, putting into his hands, with the necessary 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 must tell her frankly that there was not a "peg" to hang her claim upon, and he could not conscientiously advise her to bring an action. The lady was satisfied, 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. Lincoln," returned the lady, "I think you earned that." PROFESSIONAL LIFE. 9 1 ■'No, no, " he responded, handing it back to her; "that would not be right. I can't take pay for doing my duty." -:o:- Attention Shown to Relatives. One of the most beautiful traits of Mr. Lincoln was- his considerate regard for the poor and obscure relatives he had left, plodding along in their humble ways of life. Wherever upon his circuit he found them, he always, went to their dwellings, ate with them, and, when con- venient, made their houses his home. He never assumed; in their presence the slightest superiority to them, in- the facts and conditions of his life. He gave them money when they needed and he possessed it. Countless times-, he was known to leave his companions at the village- hotel, after a hard day's work in the court room, and"" spend the evening with these old friends and campanions-. of his humbler days. On one occasion, vwhen urged not to go, he replied, ' 'Why, aunt's heart would be broken if I should leave town without calling upon her;" yet he was; obliged to walk several miles to make the call. :o: How Lincoln Kept His Business Accounts. A little fact in Lincoln's work will illustrate his ever- present desire to deal honestly and justly with men. He- had always a partner in his professional life, and, when he went out upon the circuit, this partner was usually at home. When out he frequently took up and disposed of cases that were never entered at the office. In these cases, after receiving his fees, he divided the money in his; 92 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. pocket-book, labeling each sum (wrapped in a piece of paper), that belonged to his partner, stating his name, and the case on which it was received. He could not be ■content to keep an account. He divided the money, so that if Ije, by any casualty should fail of an opportunity to pay it over, there could be no dispute as to the exact amount that was his partner's due. This may seein trivial, nay, boyish, but it was like Mr. Lincoln. Lincoln in Court. Senator McDonald states that he saw a jury trial in Illinois, at which Lincoln defended an old man charged, with assault and battery. No blood had been spilled, but there was malice in the prosecution, and the chief witness was eager to make the most of it. On cross-ex- amination, Lincoln' gave him rope and drew him out; asked him how long the fight lasted, and how much ground it covered. The witness thought the fight must have lasted half an hour, and covered an acre of ground. Lincoln called his attention to the fact that nobody was hurt, and then, with an inimitable air, asked him if he didn't think it was "a mighty small crop for an acre of ground." The jury rejected the case with contempt as beneath the dignity of twelve brave, good men and true. In another cause the son of his old friend, who had employed him and loaned him books, was charged with a murder committed in a riot at a camp-meeting. Lincoln volunteered for the defense. A witness swore that he saw the prisoner strike the fatal blow. It was night, but be swore that the full moon was shining clear, and he saw everything distingtly. The case seemed hopeless, but PROFESSIONAL LIFE. 93 Lincoln produced an almanac, and showed that at the hour there was no moon . Then he depicted the crime of perjury with such eloquence that the faJse witness fled the Court House. One who heard the trial says:' "It was near-night when he concluded, saying: 'If justice was done, before the sun set it would shine upon his client a free man. ' " The Court charged the jury; they retired, and presently returned a verdict — "Not guilty." The prisoner fell into his weeping mother's arms, and then turned to thank Mr. Linclon, who, looking out at the; sun, said: "It is not yet sundown, and you are free." :o:- One of Lincoln's "Hardest Hits." In Abbott's "History of the Civil "War," the following story is told of one of Lincoln's "hardest hits:" "I once knew," said Lincoln, "a sound churchman by the name of Brown, who was a member of a very sober and pious cornmittee having in charge-the, erection of a bridge ovei' a dangerous and rapid river. Several architects failed, and at last Brown said he had a friend named Jones, who had built several bridges and, undoubtedly could build that one . So Mr . Jones was called in, " 'Can you build this bridge .'' inquired the committee. " 'Yes,' replied Jones, or any other. I could build a bridge to the infernal regions, if necessary !' The committee were shocked, and Brown felt called upon to defend his friend. 'I know Jones so well,' said he, 'and he is so honest a man and so good an architect that if he states soberly and positivaly that he can build a bridge to — to , why, I believe it; but I feel bound '94 Lincoln's shories and speeches. to say that I have my doubts about the abutment on the infernal side.' "So," said Mr. Lincoln, "when politicians told me that the northern and southern wings of the Democracy could be harmonized, why, I believed them, of course; but I always had my doubts about the 'abutment' on the other side." -:o:- A Good Temperance Man. Immediately after Mr. Lincoln's nomination for Presi- dent at the Chicago Convention, a committee, of which PROFESSIONAL LIFE. 95 Governor Morgan, of New York, was Chairman, visited him in Springfield, 111. , where he was officially informed of his nomination. After this ceremony had passed, Mr. Lincoln remarked to the company that as an appropriate conclusion to an interview so important and interesting as that which had just transpired, he supposed good man,ners would require that he should treat the committee with something to drink; and opening a door that led into a room in the rear, he called out, "Mary ! Mary!" A girl responded to the call, to whom Mr. Lincoln spoke a few words in an under-tone, and, closing the door, returned again to con- verse with his guests. In a few minutes the maiden en- tered, bearing a large waiter, containing several glass tumblers, and a large pitcher in the midst, and placed it upon the center-table. Mr. Lincoln arose, and gravely addressing the company, said: "Gentlemen, we must pledge our mutual healths in the most healthy beverage which God has given to man — it is the' only beverage I have ever used or allowed in my family, and I cannot conscientiously depart from it on the present occasion — it is pure Adam's ale from the spring;" and, taking a tumbler, he touched it to his lips, and pledged them his highest respects in a cup of cold water. Of course, all ihis guests were constrained to admire his consistency, and to join in his example. ;o; Gen. Linder's Account of the Lincoln-Shields Duel. When the famous challenge was sent by General Shields to Mr. Lincoln, it was at once accepted, and by 96 Lincoln's stories and speeches. the advice of his especial friend and second, Dr. Merri- man, he chose broadswords as the weapons with which, to fight. Dr. Merriman being a splendid swordsman trained him in the use of that instrument, which made it almost certain that Shields would be killed or discom- fited, for he was a small, short-armed man, while Lincoln was a tall, sinewy, long-armed man, and as stout as Hercules. They went to Alton, and were to fight on the neck of land between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, near their confluence. John J. Hardin, hearing of the con- templated duel, determined to prevent it, and hastened to Alton, with all imaginable celerity, where he fell in with the belligerent parties, and aided by some other friends of both Lincoln and Shields, succeeded in effect- ing a reconciliation. PROFESSIONAL LIFE. ' 97 After this affair between Lincoln and Shields, I met Lincoln at the Danville court, and in a walk we took to- gether, seeing him make passes with a stick, such as are made in the broadsword exercise, I was induced to ask him why he had selected that weapon with which to light Shields. He promptly answered in that sharp, ear- splitting voice of his: ' 'To tell you the truth, Linder, I did not want to kill Shields, and felt sure I could disarm him, having had about a month to learn the broadsword exercise ; . and furthermore, I didn't want the darned fellow to kill me, which I rather think he would have done if we had se- lected pistols." :o:- Lincoln Defends the Son of An Old Friend In- dicted for Murder. Jack Armstrong, the leader of the "Clarey Grove Boys," with whom Lincoln in early life had a scufifle which "Jack" agreed to call -'a drawn battle," in conse- quence of his own foul play, afterwards became a life- long, warm friend of Mr. Lincoln, Later in life the ris- ing lawyer would stop at Jack's cabin home, and here. Mrs. Armstrong, a most womanly person, learned to re- spect Mr. Lincoln. There was no service to which she did not make her guest abundantly welcome, and he: never ceased to feel the tenderest gratitude for her kindness. At length her husband died, and she became depend- ent upon her sons. The oldest of these, while in at- tendance upon a camp-meeting; found himself involved in a melee, which resulted in the death of a young man. 98 Lincoln's stories and speeches. and young Armstrong was charged by one of his asso- ciates •with striking the fatal blow'. He was examined, and imprisoned to await his trial. The public mind, was in a blaze of excitement, and interested parties fed the flame. Mr. Lincoln knew nothing of the merits of this case, that is certain. He only knew that his ^Id friend Mrs. Armstrong was in sore trouble ; and he sat down at once, anda^olunteeredby letter to defend her son. His first act was to procure the postponement and a change of the place of trial. There was too much fever in the minds of the immediate public to permit of fair treat- ment. When the trial came on, the case looked very hopeless to all but Mr. Lincoln, who had assured him- self that the young man was not guilty. The evidence on behalf of the State being all in, and looking like a solid and consistent mass of testimony against the pris- oner, Mr. Lincoln undertook the task of analyzing and destroying it, which he did in a manner that surprised every one. The principal witness testified that "by the aid of the brightly shining moon, he saw the prisoner inflict the death-blow with a slung shot." Mr. Lincoln proved by the almanac that there was no moon shining at the time. The mass of testimony against the prisonei* melted away, until ' 'not guilty" was the verdict of every man present in the crowded court-room. There is, of course, no record of the plea made on this occasion, but it is remembered as one in which Mr. Lin- coln made an appeal to the sympathies of the jury, which quite surpassed his usual efforts of the kind, and melted ail to tears. The jury were out but half an hour, when they returned with their verdict of "not guilty." The PROFESSIONAL LIFE. 99 widow fainted in the arms of her son, who divided his attention between his services to her and his thanks to his deliverer. And thus the kind woman who cared for the poor young man, and showed herself a mother to him in his need, received the life of a son, saved from a cruel conspiracy, as her reward, from the hand of her grateful beneiiciary. -:o:- Some of Lincoln's "Cases" and How He Treated Them. A sheep-grower on a certain occasion sold a number of sheep at a stipulated average price. When he deliv- ered the animals, he delivered many lambs, or sheep too young to come fairly within the terms of the contract. He was sued for damages by the injured party, and Mr. Lincoln was his attorney. At the trial, the facts as to the character of the sheep were proved, and several wit- nesses testified as to the usage by which all under a cer- tain age were regarded as lambs, and of inferior value. Mr. Lincoln, on comprehending the facts, at once chang- ed, his line of effort, and confined himself to ascertaining the real number of inferior sheep delivered. On address- ing the jury, he Said that from the facts proved, they must give a verdict against his client, and he only asked their scrutiny as to the actual damage suffered. In another case, Mr. Lincoln was conducting a suit against a railroad company. Judgment having been giv- en in his favor, and the court being about to allow the amount claimed by him, deducting an approved and al- lowed offset, he rose and stated that his opponents had not proved all that was justly due them in an offset; and loo Lincoln's stories and speeches. proceeded to state and allow a further sum against his client, which the court allowed in its judgment. His de- sire for the establishment of exact justice overcame his own selfish love of victory, as well as his partiality for his clients' feelings and interests. Lincoln's Pungent Retort. A little incident occurred during a political campaign that illustrated Mr. Lincoln's readiness in turning a polit- ical point. He was making a speech at Charleston, Coles County, Illinois, when a voice called out: "Mr. Lincoln, is it true that you entered this State barefoot, driving a yoke of oxeni'" Mr. Lincoln paused for full half a minute, as if con- sidering whether he should notice such cruel impertin- ence, and then said that he thought he could prove the fact by at least a dozen men in the crowd, any one of whom was more respectable than his questioner. But the question seemed to inspire him, and he went on to show what free institutions had done for himself, and to exhibit the evils of slavery to the white man wherever it existed, and asked if it was not natural that he should hate slavery and agitate against it. > '•Yes," said he, "we will speak for freedom and against slavery, as long as the Constitution of our country guar- antees free speech, until everywhere on this wide land the sun shall shine, and the rain shall fall, and the wind shall blow upon no man who goes forth to unrequitted PROFESSIONAL LIFE. lOI A Revolutionary Pensioner Defended by Lin. coin. An old woman of seventy-five years, the widow of a revolutionary pensioner, came tottering into his law of- fice one day, and, taking a seat, told him that a certain pension agent had charged her the exhorbitant fee of two hundred dollars for collecting her claim. Mr. Lincoln was satisfied by her representations that she had been swindled, and finding that she was not a resident of the town, and that she was poor, gave her money, and set about the work of procuring restitution. He immedi- ately entered suit against the agent to recover a portion of his ill-gotten money. The suit was entirely success- ful, and Mr. Lincoln's address to the jury before which the case was tried is remembered to have been peculiar- ly touching in its allusions to the poverty of the wid- ow, and the patriotism of the husband she had sacrificed to secure the Nation's independence. He had the grati- fication of paying back to her a hundred dollars, and sending her home rejoicing. -:o: Lincoln Threatens a Twenty Years' Agitation in Illinois. One afternoon an old negro woman came into the of- fice of Lincoln & Herndon, in Springfield, and told the story of her trouble, to which both lawyers listened. It appeared that she and her offspring had been born slaves in Kentucky, and that her owner, one Hinkle, had brought the whole family into Illinois, and given them their freedom. Her son had gone down the Mis- I02 LINCOLN S STORIES AND SPEECHES. sissippi as a waiter or deck hand, on a steamboat. Ar- riving at New Orleans, he had imprijdently gone ashore, and had been snatched up by the police, in accordance with the law then in force concerning free negroes from other States, and thrown into confinement. Subsequent- ly, he was brought out and tried. Of course he was fined, and, the boat having left, he was sold, or was in W. H. HERNDON, LINCOLN 8 LAW PARTNER. immediate danger of being sold, to pay his fine and ex- penses. Mr. Lincoln was very much moved, and re- quested Mr. Herndon to go over to the State House, and inquire of Governor Bissel if there was not something he could do to obtain possession of the negro. Mr. Hern- don made the inquiry, and returned with the report that. PROFESSIONAL LIFE. IO3 the Governor regretted to say that he had no legal or constitutional right to do anything in the premises. Mr. Lincoln rose to his feet in great excitement and ex- claimed: "By the Almighty, I'll have that negro back here, or I'll have a twenty years' agitation in Illinois, until the Governor does have a legal and constitutional right to do something in the premises." He was saved from the latter alternative — at least in the direct form which he proposed. The lawyers sent money to a New Orleans correspondent — money of their own — who procured the negro, and returned him to his mother. :o: How Lincoln Always Turned a Story to His Advantage. One of his modes of getting rid of troublesome friends, as well as troublesome enemies, was by telling a story. He began these tactics early in life; and he grew wonder- fully adept in them. If a man broached a subject which he did not wish to discuss, he told a story which chang- ed, the direction of the conversation. If he was called upon to answer a question, he answered it by telling a story. He had a story for everything — something had occurred at some place where he used to live, that illus- trated every possible phase of every possible subject with which he might have connection. His faculty of making or finding a story to match every event in his history, and every event to which he bore any relation, was really marvelous. That he made, or adapted, some of his stories, there is no question, It is beyond belief that those which en- I04 Lincoln's stories and speeches. tered his mind left it no richer than they came. It is not to be supposed that he spent any time in elaborating them, but by some law of association every event that occurred suggested some story, and, almost by an invol- untary process, his mind harmonized their discordant points, and the story was pronounced "pat," because it was made so before it was uttered- Every truth, or combination of truths, seemed immediately to clothe it- self in a form of life, where he kept it for reference. His mind was full of stories ; and the great facts of his life and history on entering his mind seemed to take up their abode in these stories, and if the garment did not fit it was so modified that it did . A good instance of the execution which he sometimes effected with a story, occurred in the legislature. There was a troublesome member from Wabash County, who gloried particularly in being a "strict constructionist." He found something "unconstitutional" in every measure that was brought forward for discussion. He was a member of the Judiciary Committee. No amount of sober argument could floor the member from Wabash. At last he came to be considered a man to be silenced, and Mr. Lincoln was resorted to for an expedient by which this object might be accomplished. He soon honored the draft thus made upon him. A measure was brought forward in which Mr. Lincoln's constiuents were interested, when the member from Wabash arose and discharged all his batteries upon its unconstitutional points." Mr. Lincoln then took the floor, and, with the quizzical expression of features which he could assume at will, and a mirthful twinkle in his gray eyes, said: PROFESSIONAL LIFE. I OS "Mr. Speaker, the attack of the member from Wafcash upon the constitutionality of this measure, reminds me of an old friend of mine. He's a peculiar looking old fellow, with shaggy, overhanging eyebrows, and a pair of spectacles under them. (Everybody turned to the member from Wabash, and recognized a personal de- scription.) One morning just after the old man got up, he imagined, on looking out of his door, that he saw rather a lively squirrel on a tree near his house. So he took down his rifle and fired at the squirrq!, ^but the squir- rel paid no attention to the shot. He loaded and fired again, and again, until, at the thirteenth shot, he set down his gun impatiently, and said to his boy, who was looking on: " Boy, there's something wrong about this rifle.' " 'Rifle's all right, I know 'tis, ' responded the boy, 'but Where's your squirrel.-'' ■' 'Don't you see him, humped up about half way up the tree.'" inquired the old man, peering over his specta- cles, and getting mystified. " 'No I don't,' responded the boy; and' -then turning and looking into his father's face he exclaimed, '1 see your squirrel! You've been firing at a louse on your eye- brow!' The story needed neither application nor explanation. The House was in convulsions of laughter; for Mr. Lin- coln's skill in telHng a story was not inferior to his ap- preciation of its points and his power of adapting them to the case in hand. It killed off the member from Wabash, who was very careful afterwards not to provoke any allusion to his ' 'eyebrows. " io6 Lincoln's stories and speeches. Hon. Newton Bateman's Thrilling Story of Mr. Lincoln — The Great Man Looking to See How the Springfield Preachers Voted. At the time of Lincoln's nomination, at Chicago, Mr. Newton Bateman, Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of Illinois, occupied a room adjoining and opening into the Executive Chamber at Springfield. Frequently this door was open during Mr. Lincoln's re- ceptions, and throughout the seven months or more of his occupation, he saw him nearly every day. Often when Mr. Lincoln was tired, he closed the door against all intruders, and called Mr. Bateman into his room for a quiet talk . On one of these occasions, Mr. Lincoln took up a book containing a careful canvass of the city of Springfield, in which he lived, showing the candi- date for whom each citizen had declared it his intention to vote in the approaching election. Mr. Lincoln's friends had, doubtless at his own request, placed the re- sult of the canvass in his hands. This was towards the close of October, and only a few days before election. Calling Mr. Bateman to a seat by his side, having pre- viously locked all the doors, he said: 'Let us look over this book; I wish particularly to see how the ministers of Springfield are going to vote.' The leaves were turned, one by one, and as the names were examined Mr. Lincoln frequently asked if this one and that were not a minister, or an elder, or a member of such or such church, and sadly expressed his surprise on receiving an affirmative answer. In that manner they went through the book, and then he closed it and io8 Lincoln's stories and speeches. sat silently for some minutes regarding a memorandum in pencil which lay before him. At length, he turned to Mr. Bateman, with a face full of sadness, and said: ' 'Here are twenty-three ministers of different denom- inations, and all of them are against me but three, and here are a great many prominent members of churches, a very large majority are against me. Mr. Bateman, I am not a Christian, — God knows I would be one, — but I have carefully read the Bible and I do not so under- stand this book,' and he drew forth a pocket New Testa- ment. 'These men will know,' he continued, 'that I am for freedom in the Territories, freedom everywhere as free as the Constitution and the laws will permit, and that my opponents are for slavery. They know this, and yet, with this book in their hands, in the light of which human bondage cannot live a moment, they are going to vote against me; I do not understand it at all.' "Here Mr. Lincoln paused — paused for long minutes, his features surcharged with emotion. Then he rose and walked up and down the reception-room in the effort to retain or regain his self-possession. Stopping at last he said, with a trembling voice and cheeks wet with tears:" " 'I know there is a God, and that he hates injustice and slavery. I see the storm coming, and I know that His hand is in it. If He has a place and work for me, and I think He has, I believe I am ready. I am noth- ing, but Truth is everything: I know I am right, be- cause I know that liberty is right, for Christ teaches it, and Christ is God. I have told them that a house div- ided against itself can not stand; and Christ and Reason say the same; and they will find it so.' *' 'Douglas don't care whether slavery is voted up or PROFESSIONAL LIFE. * IO9 down, but God cares, and humanity cares, and I care; and with God's help I shall not fail. I may not see the end; but it will conie, and I shall be vindicated; and these men will find they have not read their Bible right. ' 'Much of this was uttered as if he were speaking to himself, and with a sad, earnest solemnity of manner impossible to be described. After a pause, he resumed: " 'Dosen't it seem strange that men" can. ignore the moral aspect of this contest.' No revelation could make it plainer to me that slavery or the Government must be destroyed . The future would be something awful, as I look at it, but for this rock on which I stand,' (alluding to the Testament which he still held in his hand,) 'es- pecially with the knowledge of how these ministers are going to vote. It seems as if God had borne with this thing (slavery) until the very teachers of religion had come to defend it from the Bible, and to claim, for it a divine character and sanction; and now the cup of in- iquity is full, and the vials of wrath will be poured out.' ' 'Everything he said was of a peculiarly deep, tender, and, religious tone, and all was tinged with a touching melancholy. He repeatedly referred to his conviction that the day of wrath was at hand, and that he was to be an actor in the terrible struggle which would issue on the overthrow of slavery, although he might not live to see the end. "After further reference to a belief in the Divine Providence, and the fact of God in history, the conver- sation turned upon prayer. He freely stated his belief in the duty, privilege, and efficacy of prayer, and intim- ated, in no unmistakable terms, that he had sought in that way the Divine guidance and favor . The effect of no Lincoln's stories and speeches. this conversation upon the mind of Mr. Bateman, a Christian gentleman whom Mr. Lincoln profoundly re- spected, was to convince him that Mr. Lincoln had, in a quiet way, found a path to the Christian standpoint — that he had found God, and rested on the eternal truth of God. As the two men were about to separate, Mr. Bateman remarked: " 'I have not supposed that you were accustomed to think so much upon this class of subjects; cetainly your friends generally are ignorant of the sentiments you have expressed to me.' "He replied quickly: 'I know they are, but I think more on these subjects than upon all others, and I have done so for years; and I am willing you should know it.'" When his clients had practiced gross deception upon him, Mr. Lincoln forsook their cases in mid-passage; and he always refused to accept fees of those whom he advised not to prosecute. On one occasion, while en- gaged upon an important case, he discovered that he was on the wrong side. His associate in the case was immediately informed that he (Lincoln) would not make the plea. The associate made it, and the case, much to the surprise of Lincoln, was decided for his client. Per- fectly convinced that his client was wrong, he would not receive one cent of the fee of nine hundred dollars which he paid. It is not wonderful that one who knew him well spoke of him as ' 'perversely honest. PROFESSIONAL LIFE. Ill Lincolns Visit to Kansas. Captain J. R. Fitch, of Evanston, 111. , in a contribution to the N. W. Christion Advocate, gives a very interesting account of Mr. Lincoln's visit to Kansas, which is as fol- lows: In the winter of 1859, shortly after the memorable con- test between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas for the United States Senate, in which, although Illi-» nois had given a Republican majority of 4,000 votes, the Democrats secured a majority of the Legislature on joint ballot, thereby securing the election of the minor- ity candidate, an invitation was extended to Mr. Lincoln to pay a visit to the then Territory of Kansas. Mr. Lincoln graciously accepted the invitation, and ap- pointed a time convenient for him to come. A commit- tee was appointed to meet him at the nearest railroad station, which was in Missouri between St. Joseph and Neston. If my memory serves me, the committee consisted of Mark W. Delahay, afterwards United States District Judge; D. J. Brewer, now one of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court; Hon. Henry J. Adams, Uncle George Keller, Josiah H. Kellogg, and myself. On the appointed day we met Mr. .Lincoln at the station with car- riages and drove down to Leavenworth city. In the evening a meeting was held in Stockton's hall. The hall was crowded to its utmost capacity, and when Mr. Lincoln rose to speak he seemed to unvvind himself, and, as he straightened himself up, he reminded me of a telescope being opened out, joint by joint. He stood there at first like a whipped boy at school, the most awk- 112 Lincoln's stories and speeches. ward specimen of humanity it had ever been my pleasure to look upon. When he began his address, however, the impression was instantaneous that an orator was talking — a man who thoroughly believed every word he was saying. The audierice was spellbound as he told of the crimes com- mitted for the perpetuation of slavery. The pro-slavery Democrats had secured seats for them- selves in one part of the hall. Among them was a Presbyterian minister from Kentucky, a fine looking but very vain man. After Mr. Lincoln had poured his hot shot into the pro- slavery party as long as the minister, whose name was Pitzer, could stand it, he rose and called out in a loud voice: ' ' How about amalgamation.' " Mr. Lincoln, turning toward him, said: "I'll attend to you in a minute, young man," then went on and finished his sentence. Then, turning to where Mr. Pitzer had been standing, said: ' ' Where is the young man who asked me about amal- gamation.? " Mr. Pitzer rose in all dignity, and in a tone of voice that seemed to say:" "Watch me squelch him," replied, "I am the gentleman." Mr. Lincoln, pointing his long, bony finger at him, and swinging his arm up and down, replied: "I never knew but one decent, respectable white man to marry a colored woman, and that was an ex-Demo- cratic Vice-president from the State of Kentucky." Mr. Pitzer turned, and with the exclamation of, "1 never heard Colonel Richard M. Johnson so insulted be- PROFESSIONAL LIFE. II3 fore," made his way out of the hall amid the jeers and gibes of tiie crowd. Whether Mr. Lincoln knew that Mr. Pitzer was frbrn Kentucky or not I never knew, but all Democrats and Republicans alike felt that the rebuke was well mer- ited. After the meeting was over, Mr. Lincoln and friends were invited to the home of Judge Delahay, where Mr. Lincoln was entertained. We had refreshments, includ- ing wine, of which almost everyone, except Mr. Lin- coln, partook. The next day we escorted him back to the train, and to my dying day I shall never forget our parting. I #as only twenty-two years old. Mr. Lincoln bade each one good-bye, and gave each a hearty grasp of the hand. He bade me good-bye last, and as he took my hand in both of his, and stood there towering above me, he looked down into my eyes with that sad, kindly look of his, and said: " My young friend, do not put an enemy in your mouth to steal away your brains." At that moment I thought I never should again. And, oh, how that look haunted me in after years before I knew the better way, when in iny moments of weakness I was tempted to put the intoxicating cup to my lips. And though those loving eyes are closed in death, yet that look is never very far from me. It is with me now while I pen these lines; it is photographed on my hea,rt, a blessed memory of our martyred President. :o: 114 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. Lincoln and the Little Chicago Girls. Mr. Lincoln made a hurried trip to Chicago on busi- ness, and was received with great enthusiasm by DemoT crats as well as Republicans. At the house of a friend he beholds a group of little girls. One of them gazes at him wistfully. ' ' What is it you would like, dear? " ' ' I would like, if you please, to have you write your name for me." ' ' But here are several of your mates, quite a number of them, and they will feel badly if I write my name for you and not for them also. How many are there, all told.? " "Eight of us." '• Oh, very well; then give, me eight slips of paper and pen and ink, and I will see what I can do." Eeach of the little misses, when she went home that evening carried his autograph. :o: PROFESSIONAL LIFE. II 5 Why Mr. Lincoln Let His Whiskers Grow. If we had been in the village of Westfield, on the shore of Lake Erie, Chautauqua County, N. Y. , on an Octo- ber evening, we might have seen little Grace Bedell look- ing at a portrait of Mr. Lincoln and a picture of the log cabin which he helped build for his father in 1830. " Mother, " said Grace, "I think that Mr. Lincoln would look better if he wore whiskers, and I mean to write and tell him so." "Well, you may. if you want to," the mother an- swered. Grace's father was a Republican and was going to vote for Mr. Lincoln. Two older brothers were Democrats; but she was a Republican . Among the letters going West the next day was one with this inscription: ' ' Hon. Abraham Lincoln, Esq. , Springfield, Illinois. " It was Grace's letter, telling him how old she was, where she lived, that she was a Republican, that she thought he would make a good President, but would look better if he would let his whiskers grow. If he would she would try to coax her brothers to vote for him. She thought the rail fence around the cabin very pretty. " If you have not time to answer my letter, will you allow your little girl to reply for you.' " wrote Grace at the end. Mr. Lincoln was sitting in his room at the State house with a great pile of letters before him from the leading Republicans all over the Northern States in regard to the progress of the, campaign; letters from men who would want an office after his inauguration; letters abusive and ii6 Lincoln's stories and speeches. indecent, which were tossed into the waste basket. He- came to one from Westfield, N. Y. It was not from any- one who wanted an office, but from a Httle girl who wanted him to let his whiskers grow. That was a letter which he must answer, A day or two later Grace Bedell comes out of the West- field postoffice with a letter in her hand postmarked Springfield, 111 . Her pulse beat as never before. It is a cold morning — the wind blowing bleak and chill across the tossing waves of the lake. Snowflakes are falling. She cannot wait till she reaches home, but tears open the letter. The melting flakes blur the writing, but this i;s. what she reads: "Springfield, III., Oct. 19, i860. Miss Grace Bedell: My Dear Little Miss — Your very agreeable letter of the- 1 5th is received. I regret the necessity of saying I have no daughter. I have three sons, one seventeen, one nine, and one seven years of < age. They, with their mother, constitute my whole family. As to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think p'eo- ple would call it a piece of silly affection (affectation) if I should begin it now.? Your very sincere well-wisher, A. Lincoln." It was natural that the people should desire to see the man who had been elected President, and the route tO' Washington was arranged to take in a number of the large cities — Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus, Pitts- burg, Cleveland and Buffalo. In each of these he spent a night aiid addressed great crowds of people. When PROFESSIONAL LIFE. 11/ the train left Cleveland, Mr. Patterson, of Westfield, was invited into Mr. Lincoln's car. ' ' Did I understand that your home is in Westfield.' " Mr. Lincoln asked. "Yes, sir, that. is my home." " Oh, by the way, do you know of anyone living there !by the name of Bedell.' " " Yes, sir, I know the family very well." ' ' I have a corresdondent in that f anlily. Mr. Bedell's little girl, Grace, wrote me a very interesting letter ad- vising me to wear whiskers, as she thought it would im- prove my looks. You see that I have followed her sug- gestion. Her letter was so unlike many that I have re- ceived — some that threatened assassination in case I was elected — that it was really a relief to receive it and a pleasure to answer it. " -The train reached Westfield, and Mr. LincDln stood upon the platform of the car to say a few words to the people. " I have a little correspondent here, Grace Bedell, and if the little miss is present I would like to see her. " Grace was far down the platform, and the crowd pre- vented her seeing or hearing him . "Grace, Grace, the President is calling for you!" they shouted. A friend made his way with her through the crowd. " Here she is." Mr. Lincoln stepped down from the car, took her by the hand, and gave her a kiss . ■ ' You see, Grace, I have let my whiskers grow for you." ii8 Lincoln's stories ani> speeches. The kinldy smile was upon his face. The train whirled on. His heart was lighter. For one brief moment he had forgotten the burdens that were pressing on him. :o: — JOHN HANKS, LINCOLN'S RAIL-SPLITTING COMPANION. Lincoln's Simplicity. It was during the dark days of 1863, says Schuyler^ Colfax, on the evening of a public reception given at the White House. The foreign legations were there gathered about the President. PROFESSIONAL LIFE. II 9 A young English nobleman was just being presented to the President. Inside the door, evidently overawed by the splendid assemblage, was an honest-faced old farmer, who shrank from the passing crowd until he and the plain-faced old lady clinging to his arm were pressed back to the wall. The President, tall and, in a measure, stately in his personal presence, looking over the heads of the assem- bly, said to the English nobleman: "ExCuse me, my Lord, there's an old friend of mine." Passing backward to the door, Mr. Lincoln said, as he grasped the old farmer's hand: "Why, John, I'm glad to see you. I haven't seen you since you and I made rails for old Mrs. in Sanga- mon county, in 1837. How are you .'" The old man turned to his wife with quivering lip, and without replying to the President's salutation, said: "Mother, he's just the same old Abe !" "Mr. Lincoln," he said finally, "you know we had three boys; they all enlisted in the same company; John was killed in the 'seven days' fight;' Sam was taken prisoner and starved to death, and Henry is in the hos- pital. We had a little money, an' I said: 'Mother, we'll go to Washington an' see him. An' while we were here I said we'll go up and see the President." Mr. Lincoln's eyes grew dim, and across his rugged, homely, tender face swept the wave of sadness his friends had learned to know, and he said: "John, we all hope this miserable war will soon be over. I must see all these folks hete for an hour or so and I want to talk with you. " The old lady and her husband were hustled into a private room in spite of their protests. [UniTBD STAIKS CAPIXVL.J [I20l WHITE HOUSE INCIDENTS. Trying, the "Greens" on Jake. A deputation of bankers were one day introduced to the President by the Secretary of the Treasury. One of the party, Mr. P of Chelsea. Mass., took occasion to refer to the severity of the tax laid by Congress upon State Banks. "Now," said Mr. Lincoln, "that reminds me of a cir- cumstance that took place in a neighborhood where I lived when I was a boy. In the spring of the year the farmers were very fond of a dish which they called greens, though the fashionable name for it now-a-days is spinach, I believe. One day after dinner, a large fam- ily were taken very ill. The doctor was called in, who attributed it to the greens, of which all had frequently partaken. Living in the family was a half-witted boy named Jake. On a subsequent occasion, when greens had been gathered for dinner, the head of the house said: ' ' 'Now, boys, before running any further risk in this thing, we will first try them on Jake, If he stands it, we are all right.' [131] 122 Lincoln's stories and speeches. "And just so, I suppose," said Mr. Lincoln, "Con- gress thought it would try this tax on State Banks!" -:o:- A Story Which Lincoln Told the Preachers. A year or more before Mr. Lincoln's death, a delega- tion of clergymen waited upon him in reference to the- appointment of the army chaplains The delegation consisted of a Presbyterian, a Baptist, and an Episcopal clergyman. They stated that the character of many of the chaplains was notoriously bad, and they had come to urge upon the President the necessity of more discre- tion in these appointments. "But, gentlemen," said the President, that is a matter which the Government has nothing to do with; the chap- lains are chosen by the regiments. " Not satisfied with this, the clergymen pressed, in turn, a change in the system. Mr. Lincoln heard them through without remark, and then said, "Without any disrespect, gentlemen, I will tell you a 'little story.' ' 'Once, in Springfield, I was going off on a short jour- ney, and reached the .depot a little ahead of time. Leaning against the fence just outside the depot was a little darkey boy, whom I knew, named 'Dick,' busily digging with his toe in a mud-puddle. As I came up, I said, 'Dick, what are you about.''' ' ' 'Making a church, ' said he. " 'A church,' said I; 'what do you mean.?' " 'Why, yes,' said Dick, pointing with his toe, 'don't you see there is the shape of it; there's the steps and front door — here the pews, where the folks set — and there's the pulpit.' WHITE HOUSE INCIDENTS. 1 23 " Yes, I see,' said I; 'but why don't you make a min- ister?' " 'Laws,' answered Dick, with a grin, 'I hain't got mud enough.' " -:o: How Lincoln Stood Up for the Word "Sugar. Coated." Mr. Defrees, the Government printer, states, that, when one of the President's message was being printed, he v\^as a good deal disturbed by the use of the term ' 'sugar-coated, " and finally went to Mr. Lincoln about it. Their relations to each other being of the most in- timate character, he told the President frankly, that he ought to remember that a message to Congress was a different affair from a speech at a mass meeting in Illi- nois; that the messages became a part of history, and should be written accordingly. ' 'What is the matter now.?" inquired the President. "Why," said Mr. Defrees, "you have used an undig- nified expression in the message;" and then, reading the paragraph aloud, he added, "I would alter the structure of that if I were you. " "Defrees," replied Mr. Lincoln, "that word expresses exactly my idea, and I am not going to change it. The time will never come in this country when the people won't know exactly what 'sugar-coated' means. ' On a subsequent occasion, Mr. Defrees states that a certain sentence of another message was very awkwardly constructed. Calling the President's attention to it in the proof-copy, the latter acknowledged the force of the 124 Lincoln's stories and speeches. objection raised, and said, "Go home, Defrees, and see if you can better it." The next day Mr, Dufrees took into him his amend- ment. Mr. Lincoln met him by saying: ' 'Seward found the same fault that you did, and he has been rewriting the paragraph, also." Then, reading Mr. Defrees' version, he said, "I believe you have beaten Seward; but, 'I jings,' I think I can beat you both." Then, taking up his pen, he wrote the sentence as it was finally printed. Lincoln's Advice to a Prominent Bachelor. Upon the bethrothal of the Prince of Wales to the Princess Alexandra, Queen Victoria sent a letter to each of the European sovereigns, and also to President Lin- coln, announcing the fact. Lord Lyons, her ambassa- dor at Washington, — a "bachelor," by the way, — re- quested an audience of Mr. Lincoln, that he might pre- sent this important document in person. At the time appointed he was received at the White House, in com- pany with Mr. Seward. "May it please your Excellency," said Lord Lyons, "I hold in my hand an autograph letter from my royal mistress. Queen Victoria, which I have been commanded to present to your Excellency. In it she informs your Excellency that her son, his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, is about to contract a matrimonial alliance with her Royal Highness the Princess Alexandra of Den- mark." After continuing in this strain for a few minutes, Lord Lyons tendered the letter to the President and awaited WHITE HOUSE INCIDENTS. 12$ his reply. It was short, simple, and expressive, and consisted simply of the words: "Lord Lyons, go thou and do likewise." It is doubtful if an English embassador was ever ad- dressed in this manner before, and it would be interest- ing to learn_ what success he met with in putting the reply in diplomatic language when he reported it to her Majesty. Mr. Lincoln and the Bashful JSoys. The President and a friend were standing upon the threshold of the door under the portico of the White House, awaiting the coachman, when a letter was put into his hand. While he was reading this, people were passing, as is customary, up and down the promenade, which leads through the grounds of the War Department, crossing, of course, the portico. Attention was attracted to an approaching party, apparently a countryman, plainly 126 Lincoln's stories and speeches. dressed, with his wife and two little boys, who had evi- dently been straying about, looking at the places of pub- lic interest in the city. As they reached the„ pottico the father, who was in advance, caught sight of the tall figure of Mr. Lincoln, absorbed in his letter. His wife and the little boys were ascending the steps-. The man stopped suddenly, put out his hand with a "hush" to his faJnily, and, after a moment's gaze, he bent down and whispered to them, "There is the Presi- dent !" Then leaving them, he slowly made a circuit around Mr. Lincoln, watching him intently all the while. At this point, having finished his letter, the President turned and said: "Well, we will not wait any longer for the carriage; it won't hurt you and me to walk down." The countryman here approached very difHdently, and asked if he might be allowed to take the President by the hand; after which, "Would he extend the same privilege to his wife and little boys }" Mr. Lincoln, good-naturedly, approached the latter, who had remained where they were stopped, and, reachr ing down, said a kind word to the bashful little fellows, who shrank close up to their mother, and did not reply. This simple act filled the father's cup full: "The Lord is with you, Mr. President," he said, rever- ently; and then, hesitating a moment, he added, with strong emphasis, "and the people, too, sir; and the peo- ple, too !" A few moments later Mr. Lincoln remarked to his iriend: "Great men have various estimates. When Daniel Webster made his tour throgh the West years ago, he visited Springfield among other places, where great preparations had been made to receive him. As WHITE HOUSE INCIDENTS. I27 the procession was going through the town, a barefooted little darkey boy pulled the sleeve of a man named T. , and asked: ' ' 'What the folks were all doing down the street ?' " 'Why, Jack,' was'the reply, 'the biggest man in the world is coming . ' "Now, there lived in Springfield a man by the name of G , a very corpulent man. Jack darted off down the street, but presently returned, with a very disap- pointed air. " 'Well, did you see him }' inquired T. " 'Yees,' returned Jack; 'but laws he ain't half as big as old G.',' An Irish Soldier Who Wanted Something Stronger Than Soda Water. Upon Mr. Lincoln's return to Washington, after the capture of Richmond, a member of the Cabinet asked him if it would be proper to permit Jacob Thompson to slip through Maine in disguise, and embark from Port- land. The President, as usual, was disposed to be merci- ful, and to peirmit the arch-rebel to pass unmolested, but the Secretary urged that he should be arrested as a traitoir. "By permitting him to escape the penalties of treason, " persistently remarked the Secretary, ' 'you sanc- tion it." "Well," replied Mr. Liucoln, "let me tell you a story. ' 'There was an Irish, soldier here last summer, who \vanted sbmething to drink stronger than water, and stopped at a drug-shop, where he espied a soda- fountain. 128 Lincoln's stories and speeches. " 'Mr. Doctor' said he, 'give me, plase, a glass of soda wither, an' if yees can put in a few drops of whisky un- beknown to any one, I'll be obleeged.' "Now," said Mr. Lincoln, if Jake Thompson is per- mitted to go through Maine unbeknown to any one, what's the harm ? So don't have him arrested. " -:o:- Looking Out for Breakers. in a time of despondency, some visitors were telling the President of the ' 'breakers" so often seen ahead — ' 'this time surely coming." "That," said he, "suggests the story of the school-boy, who never could pronounce the names 'Shadrach,' 'Meshach,' and 'Abednego.' He had been repeatedly whipped fot it without effect. Some times afterwards he saw the names of the regular lesson for the day. Putting his finger upon the place, he turned to his next neighbor, an older boy, and whispered, 'Here comes those ' 'tormented Hebrews" again !" :o: A Story About Jack Chase. A farmer from one of the border counties went to the President on a certain occasion with the complaint that the Union soldiers in passing his farm had helped them- selves not only to hay but to his horse; and he hoped the proper officer would be required to consider his claim im- mediately. "Why, my good sir," replied Mr. Lincoln, "if I should attempt to consider every such individual case, I should find work enough for twenty Presidents ! "In my early days I knew one Jack Chase who was a lumberman on the Illinois, and when steady and Sober WHITE HOUSE INCIDENTS. 1 29 the best raftsman on the river. It was quite a trick twenty-five years ago to take the logs over the rapids, but he was skillful with a raft, and always kept her straight in the channel. Finally a steamer was put on, and Jack — he's dead now, poor fellow ! — was made cap- tain of her. He always used to take the wheel going through the rapids. One day when the boat was plung- ing and wallowing along the boiling current, and Jack's utmost vigilance was being exercised t® keep her in the narrow channel, a boy pulled his coat-tail and hailed him with: 'Say, Mister Captain ! I wish you would just stop your boat a miniite — I've lost an apple overboard !' -:o: Stories Illustrating Lnicoln's Memory. Mr. Lincoln's memory was very remarkable. At one of the afternoon receptions at the White House a strangf r shook hands with him, and as he did so re- marked, casually, that he was elected to Congress about: the time Mr. Lincon's term as representative expired,, which happened many years before. "Yes, ' said the President, "you are from ," men- tioning the state. "I jemember reading of your election- in a newspaper one morning on a steamboat going downJ to Mount Vernon." At another time a gentleman addressed him, saying,. "I presume, Mr. President, you have forgotten me .'" "No," was the prompt reply; "your name is Flood. I' . saw you last, twelve years ago at — , " naming the place- and the occasion. "I am glad to see," he continued, ' 'that the Flood flows on, " Subsequent to his re-election a deputation of bankers 130 Lincoln's stories and speeches. from various sections were introduced one day by the Secretary of the Treasury. After a few moments of gen- eral conversation, Mr. Lincoln turned to one of them and said: "Your district did not give me so strong a vote at the last election as it did in 1 860. " ':! think, sir, that you must be mistaken," replied the banker. "I have the impression that your majority was considerably increased at the last election," * "No," rejoined' the President, "you fell off about six hundred votes." Then taking down from the bookcase the offlcial canvass of 1 860 and 1 864 he referred to the vote or the district named and proved to be quite right in his assertion. -:o: Philosophy of Canes. A gentleman calling at the White House one ^vening carried a cane which in the course of conversation at- tracted the President's attention. Taking it in his hand he said: ' 'I always used a cane when I was a boy. It was a freak of mine. My favorite one was a knotted beech stick, and I carved the head myself. There's a mighty amount of character in sticks. Don't you think so .■• You have seen these fishirig-poUs that fit into a cane ? Well, that was an old idea of mine. Dogwood clubs were favorite ones with the boys. I suppose they use them yet. Hickory is too heavy, unless you get it from a young sapling. Have you ever noticed how a stick in one's hand will change his appearance .'' Old women arid witches wouldn't look so without sticks. Meg Merrilies understands that." WHITE HOUSE INCIDENTS. I3I Common Sense. The Hon. Mr, Hubbard, of Connecticut, once called tipon the President in reference to a newly invented gun, concerning which a committee had been appointed to make a report . The "report" was sent for, and when it came in was found to be oi the most voluminous description. Mr. Lincoln .glanioed at it and said: "I should want a new lease of life to read this through !" Throwing it down upon the table he added: "Why can't a committee of this kind occasionally exhibit a grain of common sense ? If I send a man to buy a horse for me, I expect him to tell me his points — not how many hairs there are in his tail." -:o: Lincoln's Confab with a Committee on "Grant's Whisky." Just previous to the fall of Vicksburg a self-constituted committee, solicitous for the morale of our armies, took it upon themselves to visit the President and urge the je-- moval of General Grant. In some surprise Mr. Lincoln inquired, "For what rea- son r "Why," replied the spokesman, "he drinks too much whisky. " "Ah !" rejoined Mr. Lincoln, dropping his lower Hp. * 'By the way, gentlemen, can either of you tell me where General Grant procures his whisky .' because, if I can find out, I will send every general in the field a barrel of it 1" 132 LINCOLN S STORIES AND SPEECHES. A "Pretty Tolerable Respectable Sort of a Cler- gyman." Some one was discussing in the presence of Mr. Lin- coln the character of a time-serving Washington clergji.. man Said Mr. Lincoln to his visitor: "I think you are rather hard upon Mr. . He re- minds me of a man in Illinois, who was tried for passing a counterfeit bill. It was in evidence that before passing it he had taken it to the cashier of a bank and asked his opinion of the bill, and he received a very prompt reply that it was a counterfeit. His lawyer, who had heard the evidence to be brought against his client, asked him just before going into court, 'Did you take the bill to the cashier of the bank and ask him if it was good }' " 'I did,' was the reply, " 'Well, what was the reply of the cashier }' "The rascal was in a corner, but he got out of it in this fashion: 'He said it was a pretty tolerable, respectable sort of a bill. ' " Mr. Lincoln thought the clergyman was "a pretty talerable, respectable sort of a clergyman." :o; Opened His Eyes. Mr. Lincoln sometimes had a very effective way of dealing with men who troubled him with questions. A visitor once asked him how many men the Rebels had in the field. The President replied, very seriously, '^ Twelve hun- dred thousand, according'to the best authority. '' The interrogator blanched in the face, and ejaculated. •' Good Heavens ! " "Yes, sir, twelve hundred thousand — no doubt of it. WHITE HOUSE INCIDENTS. 1 33 You see, all of our generals, when they get whipped, say the enemy outnumbers them from three or five to one, and I must believe them. We havg four hundred thou- sand men in the field, and three times four makes twelve. Don't you see it? " :o: Minnehaha and Minneboohoo ! Some gentlemen fresh from a Western tour, during* a call at the White House, referred in the course of con- 'versation to a body of water in Nebraska, which bore an Indian name signifying " weeping water. " Mr. Lincoln instantly responded: "As ' laughing water, ' according to Mr. Longfellow, is ' Minnehaha, " this evidently should ■be ' Minneboohoo. ' " Lincoln and the Artist. F. B. Carpenter, the celebrated artist and author of the well-known painting of Lincoln and his Cabinet is- suing the Emancipation Proclamation, describes his first meeting with the President, as follows: "Two o'clock found me one of the throng pressing to- ward the center of attraction, the ' blue ' room. From 'the threshold of the ' crimson ' parlor as I passed, I had a glimpse of the gaunt figure of Mr. Lincoln in the dis- tance, haggard-looking, dressed in black, relieved only •by the prescribed white gloves; standing, it seemed to me, solitary and alone, though surrounded by the crowd, l)ending low now and then in the process of hand-shak- ing, and responding half abstractedly to the well-meant ^greetings of the miscellaneous assemblage. 134 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. ' ' Never shall I forget the electric thrill which went through my whole being at this instant. I seemed to see lines radiating from ^very part of the globe, converging to a focus where that plain, awkward-looking man stood,, and to hear in spirit a million prayers.. ' as the sound of many waters,' ascending in his behalf. "Mingled with supplication I could discern a clear sym- phony of triumph and blessing, swelled with an ever-in- creasing volume. It was the voice of those who had been bondmen and bondwomen, and the grand diapason swept up from the coming ages. ' ' It was soon my privilege in the regular succession,, to take that honored hand. Accompanying the act, my name and profession were announced to him in a low tone by one of the assistant secretaries, who stood by his side. "Retaining my hand, he looked at me inquiringly for an instant, and said, ' Oh, yes; I know; this is the painter.' Then straightening himself to his full height, with a twin- kle of the eye, he added, playfully, ' Do you think, Mr. C , that you could make a hadsome picture of me? ' emphasizing strongly the last word. ' ' Somewhat confused at this point-blank shot, uttered in a voice so loud as to attract the attention of those in immediate proximity, I made a random reply, and took the occasion to ask if I could see him in his study at the close of the reception. ' ' To this he replied in the peculiar vernacular of the West, ' I reckon, ' resuming meanwhile the mechanical and traditional exercise of the hand which no President has ever yet been able to avoid, and which, severe as is the ordeal, is likely to attach to the position so long as the Republic endures. " WHITE HOUSE INCIDENTS. 1 35 An Apt Illustration. At the White House one day some gentlemen were present from the West, excited and troubled about the comissions or omissions of the Admistration. The Pres- ident heard them patiently, and then replied: " Gentle- men, suppose all the property you have were 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 little straighter — Blondin, stoop a little more — go a little fast- er — 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 until he was safe over. The Government is carrying an immense weight. Untold treasures are in her hands. They are doing the very best they can. Don't badger them. Keep silence, and we'll get you safe across. " :o:- More Light and Less Noise. An editorial in a New York journal opposing Lincoln's re-nomination, is said to have called out from him the following story: A traveler on the frontier found himself out of his reck- oning one night in a most inhospitable region. A ter- rific thunder storm came up to add to his trouble. . He floundered along until his horse at length gave out. The lightning afforded him the only clew to his way, but the peals of thunder were frightful. One bolt, which seemed to crash the earth beneath him, brought him to his'knees. 136 Lincoln's stories and spfeches. By no means a praying man, his petition was short and to the point — " O, Lord, if it is all the same to you, give us a little more light and a little less noise! " "Browsed Around." A party of gentlemen, among whom was a doctor of divinity of much dignity of manner, calling at the White House one day, was informed by the porter that the Pres- ident was at dinner, but that he would present their cards. The doctor demurred at this, saying that he would call again. ' ' Edward " assured them that he thought it would make no difference, and went in with the cards. In a few minutes the President walked into the room, with a kindly salutation, and a request that the friends would take seats. The doctor expressed regret that their visit was so ill-timed, and that his Excellency was disturbed while at dinner. ' ' Oh ! no consequence at all, " said Mr. Lincoln, good- naturedly. " Mrs. Lincoln is absent at present, and when she is away I generally ' browse ' around. " :o:- Cutting Red Tape. Upon entering the President's office one afternoon, says a Washington correspondent, I found the President busily counting greenbacks. " This, sir," said he, "is something out of my usual line; but a President of the United States has a multi- plicity of duties not specified in the Constitution or acts of Congress. This is one of them. This money belongs WHITE HOUSE INCIDENTS. 1 3/ to a poor negro who is a porter in the Treasary Depart- ment, at present very bad with the small-pox. He is now in the hospital, and could not draw his pay because he could not sign his name. " I have been at considerable trouble to over comethe ■difficulty' and get it for him, and have at length succeeded in cutting red tape, as you newspaper men say. I am now dividing the money and putting by a portion labeled, in an envelope, with my own hands, according to his wish; " and he proceeded to indorse the package very care- iully. No one witnessing the transaction could fail to appre- ciate the goodness of heart which prompted the Presi- dent of the United States to turn aside for a time from his weighty cares to succor one of the humblest of his fellow-creatures in sickness and sorrow. -:o: One of Lincoln's Drolleries. Concerning a drollery of President Lincoln, this story is told: During the rebellidn an Austrian Count applied to President Lincoln for a position in the army. Being in- troduced by the Austrian Minister, he needed, of course, no further recommendation; but, as if fearing that- his importance might not be duly appreciated, he proceeded ■to explain that he was a Count, that his family were an- cient and highly .respectable, when Lincoln, with a mer- ry twinkle in his eye, tapping the aristiocratic lover of titles on the shoulder, in a fatherly way, as if the man 138 Lincoln's stories and speeches. had confessed to some wrong, interrupted in a soothing tone: " Never mind; you shall be treated with just as much consideration for all that . How Lincoln and Stanton Dismissed Appli- cants for Office. A gentleman states in a Chicago journal: In the winter of 1864, after serving three years in the Union army, and being honorably discharged, I made application for the post sutlership at Point Lookout. My father being interested, we made application to Mr. Stan- ton, then Secretary of War. We obtained an audience, and was ushered into the presence of the most pornpous man I ever met. As I entered he waved his hand for me to stop at a given dis- tance from him, and then put these questions, viz: ' ' Did you serve three years in the army? " " I did, sir." " Were you honorably discharged.'" " I was, sir." ' ' Let me see your discharge. " I gave it to him. He looked it over, and then said: " Were you ever wounded.' " I told him yes, at the battle of Williamsburg, May 5,, 1861 He then said: ' ' I think we can give this position to a soldier who has lost an arm or leg, he being more deserving; " and he then said that I looked hearty and healthy enough WHITE HOUSE INCIDENTS. 1 39 to serve three years more. He would not give me a chance to argue my case. The audience was at an end. He waved his hand to me. I was then dismissed from the august presence of the Honorable Secretary of War. My father was waiting for me in the hallway, who saw by my countenance that I was not successful. I said to my father: ' ' Let us go over to Mr. Lincoln ; he may give us more satisfaction." He said it would do no good, but we went over. Mr. Lincoln's reception room was full of ladies and gentlemen when we entered, and the scene was one I shall never forget. On her knees was a woman in the agonies of des- pair, with tears rolling down her cheeks, imploring for the life of her son, who had deserted and had been condemned to be shot. I heard Mr. Lincoln say: "Madam, do not act this way, it is agony to me; I would pardon your son if it was in my power, but there must be an example made or I will have no army. " At this speech the woman fainted. Lincoln motioned to his attendant, who picked the woman up and car- ried her out. All in the room were in tears. But, now changing the scene from the sublime to the ridiculous, the next applicant for favor was a. big, bux- om Irish woman, who stood before the President with arms akimbo, saying: "Mr. Lincoln, can't I sell apples on the railroad.' '^ Lincoln said: "Certainly, madam, you can sell all you wish." 140 Lincoln's stories and speeches. But she said: "You must give me a pass, or the soldiers will not let me." Lincoln then wrote a few lines and gave it to her, who said: ' ' Thank you, sir; God bless you. " This shows how quick and clear were all this man's decisions. I stood and watched him for two hours, and he dis- missed\each case as quickly as the above, with satis- faction to all. My turn soon came. Lincoln turned to my father and said: " Now, gentlemen, be pleased to be as quick as pos- sible with your business, as it is growing late. " My father then stepped up to Lincoln and introduced me to him. Lincoln then said: "Take a seat, gentlemen, and state your business as quick as possible." There was but one chair by Lincoln, so he motioned my father to sit, while I stood. My father stated the business to him as stated above. He then said: " Have you seen Mr. Stanton.' " We told him yes, that he had refused. He (Mr. Lin- coln) then said: "Gentlemen, this is Mr. Stanton's business; I cannot interfere with him; he attends to all these matters, and I am sorry I can not help you." He saw that we were disappointed, and did his best to revive our spirits. He succeeded well with my father, who was a Lincoln man, and who was a staunch Repub- lican. Mr. Lincoln' then said: WHITE HOUSE INCIDENTS. I4I "Now, gentlemen, I will tell you what it is; I have thousands of applications like this every day, but we can not satisfy all for this reason, that these positions are like office seekers — there are too many pigs for the tits. " The ladies who were listening to the conversation placed their handkerchiefs to their faces and turned away. But the joke of Old Abe put us all in a good hu- mor. We then left the presence of the greatest and most just man who ever lived to fill the Presidential chair. :o: Where the President's Mind Wandered. An amusing, yet touching instance, of the President's pre-occupation of mind, occurred at one of his levees when he was shaking hands with a host of visitors pass- ing him' in a continuous stream. An intimate acquaint- ance received the usual conventional hand-shake and salutation, but perceiving that he was not recognized, kept his ground instead of moving on, and spoke again; when the President, roused to a dim consciousness that something unustial had happened, perceived who stood before him, and seizing his friend's hand, shook it again heartily, saying: " How do you do.' How do you do.-' Excuse me for not noticing you. I was thinking of a man down South." He afterwards privately acknowledged that the " man down South " was Sherman, then on his march to the sea. :o: 142 Lincoln's stories and speeches. Lincoln and the Preacher. An officer of the Government called one day at the White House and introduced a clerical friend. ' ' Mr. President, " said he, ' ' allow me to present to you my friend, the Rev. Mr F. , of . He has expressed a de- sire 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. , and desiring him to be seated took a seat himself._ Then his counte- nance, having assumed an air of patient waiting, he said: " I am now ready to hear what you have to say." ' ' Oh, bless you, sir, " said Mr. F. , "I have nothing special to say; I merely called to pay my respects 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 grasp- ing that of his visitor, "I am very glad to'see.you, in- deed. I thought you had come to preach to me! " -:o: Lincoln and Little " Tad." The day after the review of Burnside's division some photographers, says Mr. Carpenter, came up to the White House to make some stereoscopic studies for me of the President's office. They requested a dark closet in which to develop the pictures, and without a thought that I was infringing upon anybody's rights, I took them to an unoc- cupied room of which little ' ' Tad " had taken possession a few days before, and with the aid of a couple of the serv- ants bad fitted up a miniature theatre, with stage, cur- WHITE HOUSE INCIDENTS. I43 tains, orchestra, stalls, parquette and all. Knowing that the use required would interfere with none of his arrange- ments, I led the way to this apartment. Everything went on well, and one or two pictures had been taken, when suddenly there was an uproar. The op- erator came back to the office and said that "Tad" had taken great offense at the occupation of his room without his consent, and had locked the door, refusing all admis- sion. The chemicals had been taken inside, and there was no • way of getting at them, he having carried off the key. In the midst of this conversation ' ' Tad " burst in, in a fear- ful passion. He laid all the blame upon me — said that I had no right to use his room, and the men should not go in even to get their things. He had locked the door and they should not go there again — ' ' they had no business in his room!" Mr. Lincoln was sitting for a photograph, and was still in the chair. He said, very mildly, ' ' Tad, go and unlock the door. " Tad went off muttering into his mother's rpom, refusing to obey. I followed him into the passage, but no coaxing would pacify him. Upon my return to the Pres- ident T found him still patiently in the chair, from which be had not risen. He said: " Has not the boy opened the door .■' " I replied that we could do nothing with him -^he had gone off in a great pet. Mr. Lincoln's lips came together firmly, and then, suddenly rising, he strode across the passage with the air of one bent on punishment, and disappeared in the domestic apartments. Directly he re- turned with the key to the theatre, which he unlocked himself. "Tad," said he, half apologetically, " is a peculiar 144 Lincoln's stories and speeches. child. He was violently excited when I went to him. I said, ' Tad, do you know that you are making your father a great deal of trouble.?' He burst into tears, iristantly giving me up the key." ".o: A Touching Incident. After the funeral of his son, William Wallace Lincoln, in February, 1862, the President resumed his official du- ties, but mechanically, and with a terrible weight at his heart. The following Thursday he gave way to his feel- ings, and shut himself from all society. The second Thurs- day it was the same; he would see no one, and seemed a prey to the deepest melancholy. About this time the Rev. Francis Vinton , of Trinity, Church, New York, had occa- sion to spend a few days in Washington. An acquaint- ance of Mrs. Lincoln and of her sister, Mrs. Edwards, of Springfield, he was requested by them to come up and see the President. The setting apart of Thursday for the indulgence of his grief had gone on for several weeks, and Mrs. Lincoln be- gan to be seriously alarmed for the health of her husband, of which fact Dr. Vinton was apprised. Mr. Lincoln received him in the parlor, and an oppor- tunity was soon embraced by the clergyman to chide him for showing so rebellious a disposition to the decree of Providence. He told him plainly that the indulgence of such feelings, though natural, was sinful . It was un- worthy one who believed in the Christian religion. He had duties to the living greater than those of any other man, as the chosen father, and leader of the people, and he was unfitting himself for his responsibilities by /hus WHITE HOUSE INCIDENTS. 1 45 giving way to his grief. To mourn the departed as lost belonged to heathenism — not to Christianity. "Your son," said Dr. Vinton, "is alive in Paradise. Do you remember that passage in the Gospels: 'God is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live unto Him.?'" The President had listened as one in a stupor, until his ear caught the words: "Your son is alive." Starting from the sofa, he exclaimed, "Alive! alive! Surely you mock me." "No, sir, believe me," replied Dr. Vi;iton, "it is a most comfortiog doctrine of the church, founded upon the words of Christ Himself." Mr. Lincoln looked at him a moment, and then step- ping forward, he threw his arm around the clergyman's neck, and, laying his head upon his breast, sobbed aloud,^ "Alive.? alive.?" he repeated. "My dear sir," said Dr. Vinton, greatly moved, as he- twined his own arm around the weeping father, ' 'believe: this, for it is God's most precious truth. Seek not your son among the dead; he is not there; he lives to-day in: Paradise! Think of the full import of the words I have quoted. The Sadducees. when they questioned Jesus, had no other conception than that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were dead and buried. Mark the reply: "Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush when he called the Lord the God of Abraham, the God of ' Isaac, and the God of Jacob . For He is not the God. of the dead, but of the living, for all live unto Him! Did not the aged patriarch mourn his sons as dead? ;J'0- 146 Lincoln's stories and speeches. WHITE HOUSE INCIDENTS. 1 4/ seph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benja- min, also.' But Joseph and Simeon were both living though he believed it not. Indeed, Joseph being taken from him, was the eventUaL means of the preservation of the whole family. And so God has called your son into His upper kingdom — a kingdom and an existence as real, more real, than your own. It may be that he, too. like Joseph, has gone, in God's good providence, to be the salvation of his father's household. It is a part of the Lord's plan for the ultimate happiness of you and yours. Doubt it not. I have a sermon," continued Dr. Vin- ton, "upon this subject, which I think might interest you." Mr. Lincoln begged him to send it at an early day — thanking him repeatedly for his cheering and hopeful words. The sermon was sent, and read over and over by the President, who caused a copy to be made for his own private use before it was returned. -:o:- Lincoln Wipes the Tears from His Eyes and Tells a Story. A . W. Clark, member of Congress from Watertown, New York, relates the following interesting story: During the war a constituent came to me and stated that one of his sons was killed in a battle, and another died at Andersonville, while the third and only remaining son was sick at Harper's Ferry. These disasters had such effect on his wife that she' had become insane. He wanted to get this last and sick son discharged and take him home, hoping it would re-, 148 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. store his wife to reason." I went with him to President Lincoln and related the facts as well as I could, the father sitting by and weeping. The Presidfent, much af- fected, asked for the papers and wrote across them, ' 'Discharge this man . " Theft, wiping the tear from his cheek, he turned to the man at the door, and said, "Bring in that man," rather as if he felt bored, which cauSed me to ask why it Was so. He replied that it was a writing-master who had sp6nt a long time in copying his Emancipation Proclamation, had ornamented it with flourishes, and which made him think of an Irishman who said it took him an hour ta catch his old horse, and when he had caught him he was not Worth a darn!. -:o:- Comments of Mr. Lincoln on the Emancipation Proclamation. The final proclamation was signed on New Year's day, 1863. The President remarked to Mr. Colfax, the same evening, that the signature appeared somewhat tremu- lous and uneven. "Not," said he, "because of any un- certainty or hesitation on my part; but it was just after the public reception, and three hours' hand-shaking is not calculated to improve a man's chirography." Then changing his tone, he added: "The South had fair warn- ing^, that if they did not return to their duty, I should strike at this pillar of their strength. The promise must now be kept, and I shall never recall one word. " WHITE HOUSE INCIDNETS. 149 Lincoln Arguing against the Emancipation Pro. clamation that he may learn all About it. When Lincoln's judgment, which acted slowly, but which was almost as immovable as the eternal hills when settled, was grasping some subject of importance, the ar- guments against his own desires seemed uppermest in his mind, and, in conversing upon it, he would present those arguments to see if they could be rebutted. This is illustrated by the interview between himself and the Chicago delegation of clergymen, appointed to urge upon him the issue of a Proclamation of Emancipa- tion, which occurred September 13, 1862, more than a month after he had declared to the Cabinet his establish- ■ed purpose to take this step. He said to this committee: ' 'I do not want to issue a document that the whole world will see must necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's bull against the comet! " After drawing out their views upon the subject, he con- cluded the interview with these memorable words: "Do not misunderstand me, because I have mentioned these objections. They indicate the difficulties which have thus far prevented my action in some such way as you desire. I have not decided against a proclamation of liberty to the slaves, but hold the matter under advise- ment. And I can assure you that the subject is on my mind, by day and night, more than any other. What- ever shall appear to be God's will, Twill do! I trust that, in the freedom with which I have canvassed your views, I have not in any respect injured your feelings." ISO Lincoln's stories and speeches. Mr. Lincoln's Laugh. Mr. Lincoln's "laugh" stood by itself. The neigh of a wild horse on his native prairie is not more undisguised and hearty. A group of gentlemen, among whom was his old Springfield friend and associate, Hon. Isaac N. Arnold, were one day conversing in the passage near his office, while awaiting admission. A congressional dele- gation had proceded them, and presently an unmistakable voice was heard through the partition, in a burst of mirth. Mr. Arnold remarked, as the sound died away: "That laugh has been the President's life- preserver! " :o:- Lincoln and the Newspapers. On a certain occasion, the President was induced by a committee of gentlemen to examine a newly-invented "repeating" gun, the peculiarity of which was, that it pre- vented the escape of gas. After due inspection, he said: ' 'Well, I believe this really does what it is represented to do. Now, have any of you heard of any machine or in- vention for preventing the escape of 'gas' from news- paper establishments.' " :o; Lincoln's Bull-frog Story. Violent criticism, attacks and denunciations, coming either from radicals or conservatives, rarely ruffled the Pre.sident, if they reached his ears. It must have been in connection with something of this kind, that' he once told a friend this story: WHITE HOUSE INCIDENTS. 151 "Some years ago," said he, "a couple of emigrants, fresh from the Emerald Isle, seeking labor, were making their way toward the West. Coming suddenly one even- ing upon a pond of water, they were greeted with a grand chorus of frogs — a kind of music they had never before heard. 'B-a-u-m! B-a-u-m!' "Overcome with terror, they clutched their 'shilleluhs,' and crept cautiously forward, straining their eyes in every direction to catch a glimpse of the enemy; but he was-not to be found! "At last a happy idea seized the foremost one — he sprang to his companion and exclaimed, 'And sure, Jamie! it is my opinion it is nothing but a noise! ' " -•.o: Lincoln's Story of a Poodle Dog. A friend who was walking over from the White House to the War Department with Mr. Lincoln, repeated to him the story of a ' 'contraband" who had fallen into the hands of some good, pious people, and was being taught by them to read and pray. Going off by himself one day, he was overheard to com- mence a prayer by the introduction of himself as "Jim Williams — a berry good nigga' to wash windows; 'spec's you know me now.'' " After a hearty laugh at what he called this "direct way of putting the case, " Mr . Lincoln said: 'The story that suggests to me, has no resemblance to it, save in the 'washing windows' part. A lady in Phila- delphia had a pet poodle dog, which mysteriously disap- peared. Rewards were offered for him, and a great ado 152 Lincoln's stories and speeches. made without efiect. Some weeks passed, and all hope of the favorite's return had been given up, when a servant brought him in one day in the filthiest condition imagina- ble. The lady was overjoyed to see her pet again, but hor- riffed at his appearance. ' 'Where did you find him! " she exclaimed. ' 'Oh, " replied the man, very unconcernedly, ' 'a negro down the street had him tied to the end of a pole, swabbing windows." Lincoln's Speech to the Union League . The day following the adjournment at Baltimore, vari- ous political organizations call to pay their respects to the President. First came the convention committee, em- bracing one from each state represented — appointed to an- nounce to him, formally, the nomination. Next came the Ohio delegation, with Mentor's band, of Cincinnati. Fol- lowing these were the representatives of the National Union League, to whom he said, in concluding his brief response: "I do not allow myself to suppose that either the con- vention or the League have concluded to decide that I am either the greatest or the best man in America; but, rather they have concluded that it is not best to swap horses while crossing the river, and have further concluded that I am not so poor a horse, but that they might make a botch of it intrying to swap! " WHITE HOUSE INCIDENTS. 153 Ejecting a Cashiered Officer frum the White House. Among the callers at the White House one day was an officer who had been cashiered from the service. He had prepared an elaborate defence of himself, which he con- sumed much time in reading to the President. When he had finished, Mr. Lincoln replied, that even upon hisown statement of the case, the facts would not warrant execu- tive interference. Disappointed and considerably crest- fallen, the man withdrew. A few days afterwards he made a second attempt to al- ter the President's convictions, going over substantially the same ground, and occupying about the same space of time, but without accomplishing his end. The third time he succeeded in forcing himself into Mr. Lincoln's presence, who with great forbearance listened to another repetition of the case to its conclusion, but made no reply. Waiting for a moment, the man gathered from the expression of his countenance that his mind was un- convinced. Turning very abruptly, he said: "Well, Mr. President, I see you are fully determined not to do me justice." This was too aggravating, even for Mr. Lincoln. Man- ifesting, however, no more feeling than that indicated by a slight compression of the lips, he very quietly arose, laid down a package of papers he held in his hand, and then suddenly seizing the defunct officer by the coat -collar, he marched him forcibly to the door, saying, as he ejected him into the passage: ' 'Sir, I give you fair warning never to show yourself in this room again . I can bear censure, but not insult!" 154 Lincoln's stories and speeches. In a whining tone the man begged for his papers, which he had dropped. "Begone, sir,'' said the President, "your papers will be sent to you. I never wish to see your face again! " -:o:- Lincoln and the Wall Street Gold Gamblers. Mr. Carpenter, the artist, is responsible for the fol- lowing: The bill empowering the Secretary of the Treasury to sell the surplus gold had recently passed, and Mr. Chase was then in New York giving his attention personally to the experiment. Governor Curtin referred to this, saying to the President: "I see by the quotations that Chase's movement has already knocked gold down several per cent. " This gave occasion for the strongest expression I ever heard fall from the lips of Mr. Lincoln. Knotting his face in the intensity of his feeling, he said: ' 'Curtin, what do you think of those fellows in Wall Street who are gambling in gold at such a time as this.' " ' 'They are a set of sharks, " returned Curtin. "For my part, "continued the President, bringing his clinched hand down upon the table, ' 'I wish every one of them had his devilish head shot off!" How the Negroes Regarded "Massa Lincoln." In 1863, Colonel McKaye of New York, with Robert Dale Owen and one or two other gentlemen, were asso- ciated as a committee to investigate the condition of the WHITE HOUSE INCIDENTS. 15J freedmen on the coast of North CaroHna. Upon their return from Hilton Head they reported to the President, and in the course of the interview Col. McKaye related the following incident: He had been speaking of the ideas of power entertain- ed by these people. He said they had an idea of God, as the Almighty, and they had realized in their former condition the power of their masters. Up to the time of the arrival among them of the Union forces, they had no knowledge of any other power. Their masters fled upon the approach of our soldiers, and this gave the slaves a conception of a power greater than that exercised by them. This power they called "Massa Linkum. " Colonel McKaye said that their place of worship was a large building which they called "the praise house;" and the leader of the meeting, a venerable black man, was known as "the praise man." On a certain day,, when there was quite a large gathering of the people, considerable confusion was created by different persons attempting to tell who and what ' 'Massa Linkum" was. In the midst of the excitement the white-headed leader commanded silence. "Brederin," said he, "you don't know nosen' what you'se talkin' 'bout. Now, you just listen to me. Massa Linkum, he eberywhar. He know eberyting." Then, solemnly looking up, he added, — "He walk de earf like de Lord! " Colonel McKaye said that Mr. Lincoln seemed much affected by this account. He did not smile, as another man might have done, btit got up from his chair and walked 156 Lincoln's stories and speeches. in silence two or three times across the floor.. As he re- sumed his seat, he said very impressively: ' 'It is a momentous thing to be the instrument, under Providence, of the liberation of a race." One of Lincoln's Last Stories. One of the last stories heard from Mr. Lincoln w^as concerning John Tyler, for whom it was to be expected, as an old Henry Clay Whig, he would entertain no great respect. ' 'A year or two after Tyler's accession to the Presidency," said he, "contemplating an excursion in some direction, his son went to order a special train of cars. It so happened that the railroad superintendent was a very strong Whig . On Bob's making known his' errand, that official bluntly informed him that his road did not run any special trains for the President. "What!" said Bob, "did you not furnish a special train for the funeral of General Harrison.'' " "Yes," said the superintendent, stroking his whiskers; * 'and if you will only bring your father here in that shape you shall have the best train on the road! " WHITE HOUSE INCIDENTS. 1 5/ Lincoln's Habits in the White House. Mr. Lincoln's habits at the White House were as sim- ple as they were at his old home in Illinois. He never alluded to himself as "President, " or as occupying "the Presidency. His office he always designated as "the 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 morn- ing news at his gate. Friends cautioned him against exposing himself so openly in the midst of enemies; but he never heeded them. He frequently walked the streets at *■ night, entirely unprotected; and felt any check upon his free movements a great annoyance. He delighted to see his familiar Western friends; and he gave them al- ways a cordial welcome. He met them on the old foot- ing, and fell at once into the accustomed habits of talk and story-telling. An old acquaintance, with his wife, visited Washing- ton. Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln proposed to these friends a ride in the Presidential carriage. It should be 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, ac- cording to circumstances. When the Presidential party arrived at the hotel, to take in their friends^ they found the gentleman, over- 158 Lincoln's stories and speeches. come 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 at his 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. :o:- MRS. GEN. JOHN A LOGAN Lincoln's High Compliment to the Women of America. A Fair for the benefit of the soldiers, held at the Patent Office, in Washington, called out Mr. Lincoln as WHITE HOUSE INCTDENTS. 1 59 an interested visitor; and he was not permitted to retire without giving a word to those in attendance. "In this extraordinary war, ' said he, "extraordinary developments have manifested themselves, such as have not been seen in former wars; and among these manifestations nothing has been more remarkable than these fairs for the relief of suffering soldiers and their families. And the chief agents in these fairs are the women of America. I am not accustomed to the use of language of eulogy; I have never studied the art of paying compliments to women; but I must say that if all that has been said by orators and poets since . the creation of the world, in praise of women, were applied to the women of America, it would: not do them justice for their conduct during the war. I will close by saying, God bless the women of America !'' -:o: Lincoln in the Hour of Great Sorro"w. In February, 1862, Mr. Lincoln was visited by a severe affliction in the death of his beautiful son, Willie, and the extreme illness of his son Thomas, familiarly called "Tad." This was a new burden, and the visitation which, in his firm faith in Providence, he regarded as providential, was also inexplicable. A Christian lady from Massachusetts, who was officiating as nurse in one of the hospitals at the time, came to attend the sick chil- dren. She reports that Mr. Lincoln watched with her about the bedside of the sick ones, and that he often walked the room, saying sadly: "This is the hardest trial of my life; why is it ? Why is it .?" In the course of conversations with her, he questioned i6o Lincoln's stories and speeches. her concerning his situation. She told him that she was a widow, and that her husbad and two children were in heaven; and added that she saw the hand of God in it all, and that she had never loved Him so much before as she had since her affliction. "How is that brought about .?" inquired Mr. Lincoln. "Simply by trusting in God, and feeling that He does all things well," she replied. "Did you submit fully under the first loss .'" he asked, "No," she answered, "not wholly; but, as blow came upon blow, and all were taken, I could and did submit, and was very happy. " He responded: "I am glad to hear you say that. Your experience will help me to bear my affliction." WHITE HOUSE INCIDENTS. l6l On being assured that many Christians were praying fqr him on the morning of the funeral, he wiped away the tears that sprang in his eyes, and said: "I am glad to hear that. I want them to pray for me, I need their prayers. " As he was going out to the burial, the good lady ex- pressed her sympathy with him. He thanked her gently, and said: "I will try to go to God with my sorrows." A few days afterward she asked him if he could trust God. He replied: "I think I can, and will try. I wish I had that child- like faith you speak of, and I trust He will give it to me. '' And then he spoke of his. mother, whom so many years before he had committed to the dust among the wilds of Indiana. In this hour of his great trial the memory of her who had held him upon her bosom, and soothed his childish griefs, came back to him with tenderest recollec- tions. "I remember her prayers," said he, "and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life." -:c: A Praying President. After the second defeat of Bull Run, Mr . Lincoln ap- peared very much distressed about the number of killed and wounded, and said to a lady 'friend: "I have done the best I could. I have asked God to guide me, and now I must leave the event with him. " On another occasion, having been made acquainted with the fact that a great battle was in. progress at a dis- tant but important point, he came into, the room where'' 1 62 Lincoln's stories and speeches. this lady was engaged in nursing a member of the family, looking worn and haggard, and saying that he was so anxious that he could eat nothing. The possibility of de- feat depressed him greatly; but the lady told him he must trust, and that he could at least pray. "Yes," said he, and taking up a Bible, he started for his room. Could all the people of the nation have overheard the earnest petition that went up from that inner chamber as it reached the ears of the nurse, they would have fallen upon their knees with tearful and reverential sym- pathy. At one o'clock in the afternoon, a telegram reached him announcing a Union victory; and then he came di- rectly to the room, his face beaming with joy, saying: ' 'Good news ! Good news ! The victory is ours, and God is good." "Nothing like prayer," suggested the pious lady, who traced a direct connection between the event and the prayer which preceded it. "YeSi there is," he replied — "praise — prayer and praise. " The good lady who communicates these incidents, closes them with the words: "I do believe he was a true Christian, though he had very little confidence in him- self. -:o: Telling a Story and Pardoning a Soldier. General Fisk, attending the reception at the White House on one occasion saw, waiting in the ante-room, a poor old man from Tennessee. Sitting down beside him, WHITE HOUSE INCIDENTS. 1 63 he inquired his errand, and learned that he had been waiting three or four days to get an audience, and that on his seeing Mr. Lincoln probably depended the life of his son, who was under sentence of death for some mili- tary offense. General Fisk wrote his case iti outline on a card, and sent it in, with a special request that the President would see the man. In a moment the order came; and past senators, governors and generals, waiting impatiently, the old man went into the President's presence. He showed Mr. Lincoln his papers, and he, on taking them, said he would look into the case and give him the result on the following day. The old man, in an agony of apprehension, looked up into the President's sympathetic face, and actually cried out: ' 'To-morrow may be too late ! My son is under sen- tence of death ! The decision ought to be made now !" and the streaming tears told how much he was moved. "Come," said Mr. Lincoln, -'wait a bit, and I'll tell you a story;" and then he told the old man General Fisk's story about the swearing driver, as follows: Thei General had begun his military life as a Colonel, and, when he raised his regiment in Missouri, he pro- posed to his men that he should do all the swearing of the regiment. They assented; aijd for months no in- stance was known of the violation of the promise. The Colonel had a teamster named John Todd, who, as roads were not always the best, had some difficulty in com- manding his temper and his tongue. John happened to be driving a mule team through a series of mud-holes a. little worse than usual, when, unable to restrain himself 164 LINCOLN'S STORIES AMN SPEECHES. any longer, he burst forth into a volley of energetic oaths. The Colonel took notice of the offense, and brought Johns to an account. "John," said he, "didn't you promise to let me dp all the swearing of the regiment }" "Yes, 1 did. Colonel, " he replied, "but the fact was the swearing had to be done then or not at all, and you' weren't there to do it. " As he told the story, the old man forgot his boy, and both the President and his listener had a hearty laugh to- gether at its conclusion. Then he wrote a few words- which the old man read, and in which he found new oc- casion for tears; but the tears were tears of joy, for the: words saved the life of his son. -:o:- Bishop Turner's Reminiseences. Bishop H. M. Turner, of the African M E. Church, in the Northwestern Advocate, says: I well remember President Lincoln. My recollections of his form, size, visage, walk, the easy swing of his body, stern but pleasant countenan,c, eyellash and rapid wink, the forward bend of his person, when speaking,, the genial smile which lit up his face occasionally, re- moving the impression that he was a man of sad and for- ' lorn disposition, the prominent forehead somewhat re- ceding toward the top, and visibly wrinkled just above the eyebrows, the projecting nose, and disheveled hair — are vivid and distinct. There was nothing about him that was repulsive or frigorific, yet there was a dignity and. genial majesty that would make anyone feel when- brought in contact with him that he was in the presepce WHITE HOUSE INCIDENTS. 165 of no ordinary man. A little child might be wooed by the magic touch of his friendship, gentleness and the ten- derness of his nature; while a king or an emperor might feel that a peer was in his presence. He had none of the qualities of the dude, the assumptions of a cavalier, the display of the knight, nor the pretensions of an aristo- crat . If he ever had a suit of clothes that fitted him I never saw it. Yet I have seen him scores of times — walking the streets, riding in his carriage, speaking from the platform, delivering his inaugural on the east side of the capitol, in the executive mansion, inspecting the army in front of Petersburg with General Grant, and in the de- partment of war exchanging words with that lordly, •stern, and inflexible man of iron nerve, Edwin M. Stan- ton, his great Secretary of war. Late in the fall of 1862 a portly but venerable-looking colored gentleman from Poughkeepsie, N. Y., came to Washington and assuming to represent a large body of colored men who were anxious to enlist as soldiers in the army to defend their country and its flag, he delivered a most eloquent speech to a crowded house in my church, and requested me to accompany him in waiting upon the President and presenting the readiness of his constituents to bleed and die tor the country. After some delay we succeeded in reaching the President, and he delivered one of the most eloquent addresses to President Lincoln in the space of ten minutes I have ever heard since or be- fore. At the conclusion of his grandiloquent speech the President responded in a few words, thanking him for his visit, for his patriotic sentiments, and requested him to return home and get the names, streets, and numbers of this army of would-be colored soldiers and bring them to 1 66 Lincoln's stories and speeches. him, and he would call for them at his earliest con- venience . We left the White House together; he was a little chagrined and crestfallen, and disappeared from the city to return no more. The truth is, he represented no- body but himself. He thought that Mr. Lincoln would commission him a lieutenant or captain to drum up col- ored soldiers; but when the President failed to do so he had no further use for him. ' The first colored regiment which was raised and or- ganized under the direct auspices of the general govern- ment (I do not refer to those enlisted by General Butler in New Orleans or Governor Andrews in Massachusetts) was raised in Washington, D. C. The first two com- panies were enlisted in the basement of Israel Church; but the regiment was completed on Mason's Island, just across the Potomac from Washington City. All the com- missioned officers, being white, were appointed from the colonel down, and a white chaplain had been assigned to duty in the same regiment temporarily by the colonel in command. This writer, however, was the choice of the colored members of the regiment for the position of chap- lain, and, at their solicitation, I applied for the same. WHITE HOUSE INCIDENTS, 1 67 Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, and Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, and after- ward Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, were favorable; but the other cabinet officers were either unfavorable or in doubt as to the advisability of making a colored man a commissioned officer in any form; at least, I was so informed by Secretary Chase. When the question came up in the cabinet for final decision bgfore Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Stanton and Mr. Chase held that the colored soldiers should have their own spiritual director and guide, and that my labors in the organization of the regiment entitled me to the position. Messrs. Seward, Blair, Welles, and others of the cabinet thought it rather too early to risk public sentiment in commissioning a col- ored man to any position whatever. Mr. Lincoln sat with great patience and heard the discussion, but finally put a quietus to the question at issue by saying, ' 'Well, we have far graver matters for consideration than this," and, turning to the secretary of war, simply said, "Stan- torn issue his commission as chaplain. Now, gentlemen, let us proceed to business-" Mr. Chase sent for me the same afternoon to come to his residence, and, after con- gratulating me upon being a United States chaplain, and the first one of my race to receive a commission, gave a detailed narrative of the whole transaction, but pledged me to secresy. I do not think I am violating the con- tract in relating it at this remote period. Seward and Chase. The antagonism between the conservatives repre- sented in the cabinet by Seward and the radicals, rep- 1 68 Lincoln's stories and speeches. resented by Chase, was a source of much embarrassment to Mr. Lincoln. Finally the radicals appointed a com- mittee to demand'the dismissal of Seward. Before the committee arrived Mr. Seward, in order to relieve the President of embarrassment, tendered his resignation. In the course of the discussion with the committee Mr. Chase found his position so embarrassing and equivocal that he thought it wise to tender his resignation the next day. Mr. Lincoln refused to accept either, stating that ' 'the public interest does not admit of it. " When it was all over he said: "Now I can ride; I have got a pumpkin in each end of my bag." Later on he said: "I do not see how it could have been done better. I am sure it was right. If I had yielded to that storm, and dismissed Seward, the thing would have slumped over one way, and we should have been left with a scanty handful of sup- porters, " :o:- Mr. Lincoln's Remedy for Baldness. In 1864 Mr. Lincoln was greatly bothered by the well- meant but ill-advised efforts of certain good Northern men to bring about a termination of the war. An old gentleman from Massachusetts, very bland and entirely bald, was especially persistent and troublesome. Again and again he appeared before the President, and was got rid of by one and another ingenious expedient. One day when this angel of mercy had been boring Mr. Lincoln for half an hour to the interruption of important business, the President suddenly arose, went to a closet, and took out of it a large bottle. "Did you ever try this remedy for baldness ?" he asked, holding up the bottle before his WHITE HOUSE INCIDENTS. 1 69 astonished visitor. No; the, man was obHged to confess that he never had tried it. Mn Lincoln called, a servant, had the bottle wrapped up, and handed it to the bald philanthropist. ' 'There, " said he, ' 'go and rub some of that on your head. Persevere. They say it will make your hair grow. Come back in about three months and report." And almost before he knew it the good man was outside of the door with the package under his arm. In all the great emergencies of his closing years Mr. Lincoln's reliance upon Divine guidance and assistance was often extremely touching. ' 'I have been driven many times to my knees," he once remarked, "by the overwhelming conviction that I had nbwhere else to go . My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for that day. " (I70) WAR STORIES. Story of Andy Johnson and His Doubtful Interest in Prayers. Col. Moody. " the fighting Methodist parson," as he was called in Tennessee, while attending a conference in Philadelphia, met the President and related to him the following story, which we give as repeated by Mr. Lin- coln to a friend. 'He told me," said Lincoln, "this story of Andy Johnson and General Buel which interested me in- tensely: The Colonel happened to be in Nashvillathe day it was reported that Buel had decided to evacuate the city. The Rebels, strongly re^enforced, were said to be within two days' march of the capitol. Of course the city was greatly excited. Moody said he went in search of Johnson, at the edge of the evening, and found him at his office closeted with, two gentlemen, who were walking the floor with him, on^ [171] 172 Lincoln's stories and speeches. on each side. As he entered, they retired, leaving him alone with Johnson, who came up to him, manifesting in- tense feeling, and said: "Moody, we are sold out. Buel is a traitor. He is going to evacuate the city, and in forty-eight hours we will all be in the hands of the Rebels! " Then he commenced pacing the floor again, twisting his hands and chafing like a caged tiger, utterly insensible to his friend's entreaties to become calm. Suddenly he turned and said: " Moody, can you pray.' " ' ' That is my business, sir, as a minister of the gospel, returned the Colonel. ' ' Well, Moody, I wish you would pray, " said Johnson, and instantly both went down upon their knees, at oppo- site sides of the room. As the prayer waxed fervent Johnson began to respond in true Methodist style. Presently he crawled over on his hands and knees to Moody's side and put his arm over him, matiifesting the deepest emotion. Closing the prayer with a hearty "Amen " from each, they arose. Johnson took a long breath and said with empha- sis: ' ' Moody, I f pel better. " Shortly afterwards he asked: ' ' Will you stand by me.' " ' ' Certainly I will, " was the answer. "Well, Moody, I can depend upon you; you are one in a hundred thousand. " He then commenced pacing the floor again. Suddenly he wheeled, the current of his thought having changed, and said: WAR STORIES. I 73 " Oh! Moody, I don't want you to think I have become a religious man because I asked you to pray. I am sorry to say it, I am not, and never pretended to be, religious. No one knows this better than you, but. Moody, there is one thing about it — I do believe in Almighty God! and I believe also in the Bible, and I say, d n me if Nash- ville shall be surrendered!" And Nashville was not surrendered. :o:- A Soldier that Knew No Royalty. Captain Mix, the commander at one period of the President's body-guard, told this story to a friend: On their way to town one sultry morning, from the Soldiers' Home, they came upon a regiment marching in-* to the city. A ' 'stragler, " very heavily loaded with camp equipage, was accosted by the President with the ques- tion: •'My lad, what is that?" referring to the designation of his regiment. "It's a regiment," said: the soldier curtly, plodding on, his gaze bent steadily upon the ground. ' ' Yes, I see that, " responded the President, ' ' but I want to kno'w what regiment." ' instructions to their delegates to go for me. There are at least 1,200 Whigs in the county that took no part, and yet I would as soon stick my head in the fire as to at- tempt it. ' Besides, if any one should get the nomination by such extraordinary means, all harmony in the district would inevitably be lost. Honest Whigs (and very nearly all of them are honest), would not quietly abide such enor- mities. I repeat, such an attempt on Baker's part cannot be true. Write me at Springfield how the matter is. Don't show or speak of this letter. A. Lincoln." Mr. Morris did show the letter, and Mr. Lincoln always- thanked his stars that he did. -:o: Old Relics. The following is a copy of an autograph letter of Abra- ham Lincoln which was received by Capt. A. H. Par- ker, President of the Englewood Soldiers' Memorial As- sociation, from W. H. Herndon, former law partner of President Lincoln. MISCELLANEOUS. 26 1 SrsiNGFiELD, III., Oct. lo, i860. Dear William: I cannot give you details, but it is en- tirely certain that Pennsylvania and Indiana have gone Republican very largely. Penn. 25,000, & la. 5 to 10,- 000. Ohio of course is safe. Yours as ever, A. Lincoln, Accampanying the above is a leaf from Mr. Lincoln's boy copy-book. The two relics are explained in full by a letter from Mr. Herndon to Capt. Parker, of vi^hich the following is a copy: Springfield, III., Nov. 9, 1881. Mr. Parker — My Dear Sir: Enclosed is a genuine let- ' I I L ' [The original Fort Dearborn, as built in 1804.] ter from Lincoln, addressed to myself, dated the lothday of October, 1 860, a few days before Mr. Lincoln's elec. tion to the Presidency. The history of the letter is as follows: I was in Petersburg on the day the letter is dated, and in the evening, say at 7 o'clock, I was speaking to a large 262 Lincoln's stories speeches. audience in the court-house urging Lincoln's election . I had spoken about thirty minutes when a runner handed me a letter, and I opened it in dead silence, thinking pos- sibly that bad news had come to me, possibly Lincoln's defeat. However, the dead silence was soon broken by the reading of the letter, first to myself and then aloud, as loud as I could, and then there went up such yells, huz- zas, such noise, such banging and thumping as were never heard in that house of justice before. The joy of the crowd, the noise of the yells, etc. , were more eloquent than I was, and I got off the stand and quit my jabber in the presence of the general joy. When Lincoln wrote the letter he knew that he was elected to the Presidential chair. He must have been grateful to the people and happy. I can see his feelings in his handwriting; he trembled a little, was full of emo- tion, joy and happiness. I hate to part with this letter. It is the last one I have, and no money could get it. I willingly give it to you for the purposes it is given — namely: to the Soldiers' Memo- rial Association of Englewood, 111 . , and its uses, etc. , etc. To me there is a long history in the letter and its glorious recollections. Again, I send you a leaf of Mr. Lincoln's boy copy- book — a book in which Mr. Lincoln put down his arith- metical sums worked out. I was collecting the facts of Mr. Lincoln's life in 1865- 6 and went into Coles County, Illinois, to see his step- mother; found the motherly, good old lady, and took down the testimony, etc., as material of his life, etc- MISCELLANEOUS. 263 During her examination she let drop in her conversation the fact that Mr. Lincoln when a boy had two copybooks in which he set down the sums worked out, and wrote out in his literary one what seemed strong, beautiful or good. We, the Lincoln family and myself, commenced the search and found the arithmetical book, but not the other; it is gone, and gone forever. I willingly send you a leaf of said copybook for the uses and purposes above, and for no other . I say this of the letter and the leaf. I would not spare them under any other consideration. God bless the soldier and his friends. To keep the pieces, get two glasses and put the letter between them; have it framed, and the letter thus framed will last for ages hung on the wall. To keep the leaf and letter, get two glasses, say 6x7 inches for the latter, and 10x12 for the leaf — clean and clear glass like perfect window glass — put the paper and the leaf between the two glasses, hang up in the hall, and it will last for ages; keep a watch out that too much light does not exhaust the ink; dry it out or up, etc. Hurriedly your friend, W.' H. Hern*:on. How Lincoln Won a Case from his Partner — Laughable Toilet Ignorance. While Judge Logan, of Springfield, 111., was Lincoln's partner, two farmers, who had a misunderstanding respecting a horse trade, went to law. By mutual con- sent the partners in law became antagonists in this case On the day of the trial Mr. Logan, having bought a new 264 Lincoln's stories and speeches. shirt, open in the back, with a huge standing collar, dressed himself in extreme haste, and put on the shirt with the bosom at the back, a linen coat concealing the blunder. He dazed the jury with his knowledge of ' 'horse points" and as the day was sultry, took off his coat and summed up in his shirt-sleeves. Lincoln, sitting behind him, took in the situation, and when his turn came, remarked to the jury: "Gentlemen, Mr. Logan has been trying for over an hour to make you believe he knows more about a horse than these honest old farmers who are witnesses. He has quoted largely from his 'horse doctor, ' and now, gentlemen, I submit to you, (here he lifted Logan out of his chair, and turned him with his back to the jury and the crowd, at the same time flipping up the enormous standing collar) what dependence can you place in his horse knowledge when he has not sense enough to put on his shirt.?" The roars of laughter txiat greeted this exhibition, and the verdict that Lincoln got soon after, gave Logan a permanent prejudice against "bosom shirts." :o: MISCELLANEOUS. 265 Lincoln's Life as Written by Himself — The Whole Thing in a Nut Shell. The compiler of the "Dictionary of Congress" states that while preparing the work for publication in 1858, he sent to Mr. Lincoln the usual request for a sketch of his life, and received the following reply: Born February 12, 1809, in Hardin, County, Ken- tucky." "Education Defective." "Profession a Lawyer." "Have been a Captain of Volunteers in Black Hawk War." "Postmaster at a very small office." "Four times a member of the Illinois Legislature, and was a member of the Lower House of Congress. Yours, etc., "A. Lincoln." :o:- Lincoln as a Lover. A writer to the Springfield Republican gives the fol- lowing exceedingly interesting account of the early loves of Abraham Lincoln: The death of Mrs. Lincoln at the home of that sister 266 Lincoln's stories and speeches. where she was first met and courted by her future hus- band, closes the family life of the great President. She was not his first or his deepest love. That dis- tinction belongs to Ann Rutledge, whose father was the founder of New Salem, on the Sangamon, a village which is now deserted. Rutledge was one of the famous South Carolina fami- lies, and his daughter, four years younger than Lincoln, seems to have impressed the whole community as a love- ly and refined girl, unaffected, ' 'a blonde in complexion, with golden hair, cherry-red lips, and a bonny blue eye," says McNamara. McNamara was the lover who first won her heart. He went to New York to take West, his parents, but was de- tained some years in New York. -In the meantime Lin- coln pressed his suit, and the girl's parents doubted whether McNamara would ever come back; she gave her love to Lincoln, but insisted on waiting for a formal re- lease from McNamara before marriage. The waiting told upon her sensitive organism, her health declined, and she died of what wa^ called brain fever on August 25, 1835. This was the great grief of Lincoln's youth. His rea- son was unsettled and his friend, Bowlin Greene, had to take him off to a lonely log cabin and keep him until he recovered his sanity. Then was when he learned the poem beginning: "Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud.?" An old friend who asked him after his election to the Presidency if it' was true that he loved and courted Ann Rutledge, got this reply: "It is true — true; indeed I did. I have loved the name MISCELLANEOUS. 267- of Rutledge to this day. It was my first . I loved the woman dearly. She was a handsome girl; would have made a good, loving wife; was natural and quite intel- lectual, though not highly educated. I did honestly and truly love the girl, and think often, often of her now." McNamara returned soon after her death, lived near the little burying ground, and in 1 866 pointed out the grave of Ann Rutledge to Mr. Herndon. This affair had a marked effect upon Lincoln's life, and added to its somber tone ; but it probably had also a deeper meaning in pjirifying and ennobling his inner nature Mr. Lincoln, who by this time was a member of the I legislature, and about 27, next "paid attentions" to a Miss Owens, a smart young woman of some avoirdu- pois, who once told him that she thought he was ' 'lack- ing in the smaller attentions, those little links which made up the great chain of woman's happiness," because he dangled along by her side once when they were going up a hill, and allowed her friend, Mrs. Bowlin Greene, to "carry a big, fat child, and crossly disposed," up the hill. A still more untoward incident happened once at Mrs. Abie's, a sister of Miss Owens. Lincoln had sent word to Abie's that he was coming down to see Miss Owens. She, girl fashion, to test her lover, went off ' to Gra^ :268 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. ham's, " about a mile and a half. When Lincoln came and was so informed, he asked if Miss Owens did not know he was coming. Mrs. Able said no, but one of her enfantes terribles promptly replied: ' 'Yes, ma, she did, for I heard Sam tell her so. " "Lincoln sat awhile and then went about his busi- ness," says Lamon's account. Letters exist from Lin- coln to Miss Owens in 1836 and 1839, in one of which he says: "If you feel yourself in any degree bound to me, >I am now willing to release you, provided you wish it; while, on the other hand, I am willing and even anxious to bind you faster, if I can be convinced that it will, in any con- siderable degree, add to your happiness. Nothing would make me more miserable than to believe you miserable — nothing more happy than to know you were so. " This is the language of an honorable man, a cool lover, -and a practiced hand in the English language. Miss Owens lived to marry another man at her home in Ken- tucky, and have two sons in the rebel army. Lamon prints also a letter of Lincoln to Mrs . O. H. Browning, in 1838, reviewing this affair in terms, it must be confessed, brutally derogatory to the young wo- man's personal appearance and parts. Lamon speaks of its defective spelling, but there are only one or two misspelled words in it, and these, likely enough, by acci- dent. Lincoln was evidently mortified by his rejection -a.nd ignobly attempted to represent to Mrs. Browning (the wife of his new-found legislative friend), that the ob- ject of his affections had been unworthy of them. It was not two years (1839) before another Springfield MISCELLANEOUS. 269- matron, Mrs Ninian W. Edwards, had a Kentucky sister to live with her, Mary Todd, daughter of Robert S. Todd, of Lexipgton. Miss Todd was of distinguished family in both States, her mother had died young, and she had been educated by "a French lady." She had a keen sense of the ridiculous, was sharp, ambitious, high- tempered; according to Lamon, "high-bred, proud, bril- liant, witty, and with a will that bent . everyone else to her purpose, she took Lincoln captive the moment she considered it expedient to do so. She was ambitious to be the wife of a president, and was courted by Douglas until she dismissed him for his bad morals. She said of one of her mates who had mar- ried a wealthy old gentleman, ' 'I would rather marry a good man, a man of mind, with hope and bright pros- pects ahead for position, fame and power, than to marry all the horses, gold and bones in the world. " Lincoln and Miss Todd -became engaged, though a pretty sister of Edwards, came near shipwrecking this. match. Pretty girls must have been distressingly thick in those days, when Kentucky was sending her best blood into II- -270 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. linois. Lincoln felt the Edwards attachment so strongly that he begged to be released by Miss Todd (the Edwards girl married another man, for Lincoln never mentioned it to her), and he "ran off the track" again, to use the •expression by which he once described his attack of in- sanity. He was ' 'crazy as a loon" for nearly a year, and did not attend the session of the legislature of 1841-42, to "which he had been chosen. They had to keep knives and razors away from him. As he came out of it, the Edwards' advised Abe and Mary not to marry, as they were unfitted to each other, and probably in consequence of that advice they — went and married on "one or two hours' notice. " Lincoln said to Matheney, who made out the license, "Jim, I shall have to marry that girl," and he ' 'looked as if he was going to the slaughter, " and said he was "driven into it" by the Edwards family. But, per- haps, these expressions ought not to be taken too ser- iously. Lamon prints letters from Lincoln to Speed earlier in the year, indicating his embarrassing position, and his "great agony," as Lamon calls it. The "Shield's duel" was fought a month or two before the marriage, and was occasioned by Miss Todd's satiri- cal sketches in The Sangamon Journal. These sketches were dated from the ' 'Lost Township, " a humorous ex- pression of indefiniteness of locality which had a local point, and were written in vernacular and signed ' 'Re- becca." The la^t one was in verse and signed "Gath- leon," That Miss Todd was no green Western girl is evinced MISCELLANEOUS. 27 1 by the spirit of these sketches of local life, which are re- produced in "Lamon's Life of Lincoln." She teased Shields in them, and he demanded to know the author. Lincoln accepted the responsibility. ■.o:.- Didn't Know His Own House — How Mrs. Lin- coln Surprised Her Husband. A funny story is told of how Mrs, Lincoln made a lit- tle surprise for her husband. In the early days it was customary for lawyers to go from one county to another on horseback, a journey which often required several weeks. On returning from one of these jaunts, late one night, Mr. Lincoln dismount- ed from his horse at the familiar corner and then turned to go into the house, but stopped; a perfectly unknown structure was before him. Surprised, and thinking there must be some mistake, he went across the way and knocked at a neighbor's door. The family had retired and so caljed out: "Who's there.?" "Abe Lincoln," was the reply. "I am looking for my house. I thought it was across the way, but when I went away, a few weeks ago, there was only a one-story house there, and now there is two. I think I must be lost." The neighbors then explained that Mrs. Lincoln had added another story during his absence. And Mr. Lin- coln laughed and went to his remodeled house. :o: 272 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. Lincoln's Foster-Mother — Her Romantic Mar- riage to Thomas Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln was 7 or 8 years old when his father^ Thomas Lincoln, removed from Kentucky to Indiana,, where, in a year or two, his wife died. The year follow- ing her death, says a writer in the Christain Union, Mr. Lincoln returned to Elizabethtown to search out, if pos- sible, a former neighbor and friend, Mrs. Sally Johnston, whom, upon inquiry, he found still a widow, and tO' whom he at once made a proposal of marriage. On entering Mrs. Johnston's humble dwelling, Mr. Lin- coln asked if she remembered him. "Yes," said she, "I remember you very well, Tommy Lincoln. What has brought you back to old Ken- tucky.?'-' ' ' Well, " he said in answer, ' ' my wife, Nancy, is dead." "Why, you don't say so!" ' 'Yes, " said Mr. Lincoln, ' 'she died more than a year ago, and I have come back to Kentucky to look for an- other wife. Do you like me, Mrs. Johnston^" "Yes," replied Mrs. Johnston, "I like you Tommy- Lincoln. " "Do yolike me well enough to marry me.'" "Yes," she said, "I like you. Tommy Lincoln, and I like you well enough to marry you, but I can't marry you. now." "Why not.?" said he. ' 'Because I am in debt, and I could never think of bur- dening the man I marry with debt ; it would not be right. '" "What are those debts.'" said he. 274 Lincoln's stories and speeches. She told him of the sums, "Which," said she, "I have all down here in my account book. " On looking it over, he saw that her debts ranged from fifty cents to a dollar and a quarter, and amounted in the gross to something less than twelve dollars; not a very startling thing even in those days of small things. He succeeded in putting the little book into his coat pocket without attracting her attention, and went out, looked up the various parties, and paid off all the little sums according to the memorandum, and returned in the afternoon with the acknowledgments of payments in full. On his returning the account book to her, she exclaimed: "Why, Tommy Lincoln, have you gone and paid off all my debts.'" "Yes," he said, "and you will marry me now.'" "Yes, "said she, and they were married the next morn- ing at 9 o'clock. Mr. Haycraft, the narrator of the Story, was present at the ceremony. -:o: MISCELLANEOUS. 2/5 Little Lincoln Stories. An old Englishman who resided in Springiield, 111. , hearing the result of the Political Convention at Chicago, could not contain his astonishment. "What!" said he, "Abe Lincoln nominated for President of the United States.' Can it be possible! A man that buys a ten- cent beefsteak for his breakfast, and carries it home him- self!" Me. Lincoln being asked by a friend how he felt when the returns came in that insured his defeat, re- plied that "he felt, he supposed, very much like the stripling who had stumped his toe ; too badly, to laugh and too big to cry." A YOUNG man bred in Springfield speaks of a vision that has clung to his memory very vividly, of Mr . Lin- coln as he appeared in those days. His way to school led by the lawyer's door. On almost any fair summer morning, he could find Mr. Lincoln on the sidewalk, in front of his hous6, drawing a child back and forth, in a baby carriage. 276 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. In the old country church near the Lincoln place,- near Rockport, Indiana, is a pulpit which was made by Abe Lincoln and his father. There is a book case in the Evansville Custom House made by the same carpenters and taken there for preservation. Near where the old house stood is a dilapidated corn crib with a rail floor, the rails for which were split by young Lincoln. In South Starksboro, Addison County, Vt., says the Burlington Free Press, there are residing triplets, sons of Leonard Haskins, born May 24, 1 864, and named by President Lincoln. They have in their hand a letter from the martyr-President, and the names given were Abraham Lincoln, Gideon Welles and Simon Cameron.. They are the children of American parents. Mr. Lincoln never made his profession lucrative to^ himself. It was very difficult for him to charge a heavy fee to anybody, and still more difficult for him to charge his friends anything at all for his professional services. To a poor client, he was as apt to give money as to take it from him. He never encouraged the spirit of litiga- tion. Henry McHenry, one of his old clients, says that he went to Mr. Lincoln with a case to prosecute, and that Mr. Lincoln refused to have anything_ to do with it, because he was not strictly in the right . ' 'You can give the other party a great deallof trouble," said the lawyer, "and perhaps beat him, but you had better let the suit alone." In one of Lincoln's early speeches against slavery he said: "My distinguished friend, Stephen A. Douglas,, says, it is an insult to the emigrants to Kansas and Ne- MISCELLANEOUS. 2// braska to suppose they are not able to govern them- selves. We must not slur over an argument of this kind because it happens to tickle the ear. It must be met and answered. I admit that the emigrant to Kansas and Nebraska is competent to govern himself, but (the speak- er rising to his full height), T deny his right to govern any other persou without that person's consent" That touched the very marrow of the matter, and revealed the whole difference between Lincoln and Douglas. An old gentleman in Rockport, near the early home of the Lincoln's in Indiana, lives to tell of the last time he saw Lincoln. He was visiting the Lincoln homestead, and as he was coming away they found a trespassing cow hanging about the gate. > The cow had given the Lincolns much annoyance by entering their garden and committing depredations. Young Abe was dressed in a suit of jeans, without any coat, as it was summer time, and on his head he wore a broad-brimmed white straw hat, part of which was cracked and broken. Finding the cow standing hypocritically meek at the gate, young Abe leaped astride of her back, and, digging his bare heels into her sides, the astonished animal broke away down the road in a lumbering gallop. "The last I saw of Abe 2 78 Lincoln's stories and speeches. Lincoln," the old gentleman relates fondly, "he was swinging his hat, shouting at the top of his voice, gallop- ing down the road on that thunderstruck cow. " From the original manuscript of one of Mr. Lincoln's speeches, these words were transferred: "Twenty-two years ago, Judge Douglas and I first became acquaint- ed. We were both young then — he a trifle younger than L 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 nation, and is not unknown even in foreign lands. I affect no con- tempt for the high eminence he has reached. So reach- ed that the oppressed of my species might have shared with me in the elevation, I would rather stand on that eminence than wear the richest crown that ever pressed a monarch's brow. :o:- MISCELLANEOUS. 279 Lincoln's Last Story and Last Written Words and Conversation. The last story written by Mr. Lincoln was drawn out by a circumstance which occurred just before the inter- view with Messrs. Colfax and Ashmun, on the evening of the assassination. Marshal Lamon, of Washington, had called upon him with an application for the pardon of a soldier. After a brief hearing the President took the application, and, when about to write his name upon the back of it he looked up and said: ^ "Lamon, have you ever heard how the Patagonians eat oysters.' They open them and throw the shells out of the window until the pile gets higher than the house, and then they move;" adding: ■'I feel to-day like commencing a new pile of pardons, and I may as well begin it just here." At the subsequent interview with Messrs. Colfax and Ashmun, Mr. Lincoln was in high spirits. The uneasi- ness felt by his friends during his visit to Richmond was dwelt upon, when he sportively replied that ' 'he suppos- ed he should have been uneasy also, had any other man been President and gone there; but as it was he felt no apprehension of danger whatever." Turning to speaker Colfax, he said: "Sumner has the 'gavel' of the Confederate Congress, which he got at Richmoud, and intended giving it to the Secretary of War, but I insisted he must give it to you, and you tell him from me to hand it over." Mr. Ashmun, who was the presidingoificer of the Chi- cago Convention in 1 860, alluded to the ' -gavel" used on 2Sd ' Lincoln's stories and speeches. that occasion, sai^mg he had preserved it as a valuable memento. Mr. Ashmun then referred to a matter of business con- nected with a cotton claim, preferred by a client of his, and said that he desired to have a ' 'commission appoint- ed to examine and decide upon the merits of the case. Mr. Lincoln replied, with a considerable warmth of man- ner: "I have done with 'commissions.' I believe they are contrivances to cheat the Government out of every pound of cotton they can lay their hands on." Mr. Ashmun's face flushed, and he replied that he hoped the President meant no personal imputation. Mr. Lincoln saw that he had wounded his friend, and he instantly replied : "You do not understand me, Ashmun. I did not mean what you inferred. I'take it all back." Subsequently he said: "I apoligize to you, Ashmun." He then engaged to see Mr. Ashmun early the next morning, and, taking a card, he wrote: ' 'Allow Mr, Asmun and friend to come in at 9 A. M. to-morrow. A. Lincoln." These were his last written words. Turning to Mr. Colfax, he said: "You will accompany Mrs. Lincoln and me to the theater, I hope.?" Mr. Colfax pleaded other engagements — expecting to start on his Pacific trip the nexf ^jlliorning . The party passed out on the portico together, the President saying at the very last: MISCELLANfiOUS. 281 ' 'Colfax, don't fofrget to tell the people of the mining regions what I told you about the development When peace comes;" afld then shaking hands with both gentle- men, he followed Mrs. Lincoln into the carriage, leaning forward at the last moment, to say as fhey were driven off, "I will telegraph you, Colfax, at San Francisco," — passing thus forth for the last time from under that roof into the creeping shadows which were to settle before another dawn into a funeral pall upon the drph*ted heart of the nation. •.o:- Abraham Lincoln's Death — Walt Whitman's Vivid Description of the Scene at Ford's Theater. The day (April 14, 1865) seems to have been a pleas- ant one throughout the whole land— the moral atmo- sphere pleasant, too — the long storm, so dark, so fratri- cidal, full of blood and doubt and gloom, over and ended at last by the sunrise of such an absolute National vic- tory, and utter breaking down of secessionism — we al- most doubted our senses! Lee had capitulated beneath the apple tree at Appommatox. The other armies, the flanges of the revolt, swiftly followed. And could it really be, then.' Out of all the affairs of this world of woe and passion, of failure and disorder and dismay, was there really come the confirmed, un- erring sign of peace, like a shaft of pure light — of rightful rule — of, God.' But I must not dwell on assessories. The deed hast- ens. The popular afternoon paper, the little Evening Star, had scattered all over its third page, divided among 282 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES, the advertisements in a sensational manner in a hundred different places: ' 'The President and his lady will be at the theater this evening. " Lincoln was fond of the theater. I have myself seen him there several times. I remember thinking how fun- ny it was that he, in some respects the leading actor in greatest and stormiest drama known to real history's stage, through centuries, should sit there and be so com- pletely interested in those human jack-straws, moving about with their silly little gestures, foreign spirit, and flatulent text. So the day, as I say, was propitious . Early herb- age, early flowers, were out. I remember where I was stopping at the time, the season being advanced, there were many lilacs in full bloom. By one of those ca- prices that enter and give tinge to events without being a part at all of them, I find myself always reminded of the great tragedy of this day by the sight and odor of these blossoms. It never fails. On this occasion the theater was crowded, many ladies in rich and gay costumes, officers in their uniforms, many well-known citizens, young folks, the usual clusters of gas. lights, the usual magnetism of so many people, cheerfuU with perfumes, music of violins and flutes— and over all, that saturating, that vast, vague wonder. Victory, the Nation's victory, the triumph of the Union, filling the air, the thought, the sense, with exhiliration more than all perfumes. The President came betimes, and, with his wife, wit- nessed the play, from the large stage boxes of the second tier, two thrown into one, and profusely draped with the MISCELLANEOUS. 283; National flag. The acts and scenes of the piece^ — one of those singularly witless compositions which have at least the merit of giving entire relief to an audience engaged in mental action or business excitements and cares dur- ing the day, as it makes not the slightest call on either the moral, emotional, esthetic or spiritual nature^a piece ("Our American Cousin") in which, among other characters so called, a Yankee, certainly such a one as was never seen, or at least like it ever seen in North America, is introduced in England, with a varied fol-de- rol of talk, plot, scenery, and such phantasmagoria as. goes to- make up a modern popular drama — had progress- ed through perhaps a couple of its acts, when in the midst of this comedy, or tragedy, or non-such, or what- ever it'is to be called, and to offset it, or finish it out, as if in Nature's and the Great Muse's mockery of these poor mimies, comes interpolated that scene, not really or exactly to be described at all (for on the many hun- dreds who were there it seems to this hour to have left little but a passing blur, a dream, a blotch) — and yet , partially described as I now proceed to give it : There is a scene in the play representing the modern parlor, in which two unprecedented ladies are informed by the unprecedented and impossible Yankee that he is, not a man of fortune, and therefore undesirable for mar- riage catching purposes; after which, the comments be- ing finished, the dramatic trio make exit, leaving the- stage clear for a moment. There was a pause, a hush, as it were. At this period' came the death of Abraham Lincoln. Great as that was, with all it manifold train circling- around it, and stretching into the future for many a cen- 284 Lincoln's stories and speeches. stury, in the politics, history, art, etc. , of the I>Iew World in point of fact, the main thing, the actual murder, tran- spired with the quiet and simplicity of any commonest occurrence — the bursting of a bud or pod in the growth of vegetation, for instance. Through the general hum following the stage pause, "with the change of positions, etc., came the muffled sound of a pistol shot, which not one-hundredth part of the audience heard at the time — and yet a moment's hush — somehow, surely a vague, startled thrill — and then, through the ornamented, drapereied, starred, and striped space-way of the President's box, a sudden figure, a man, raises himself with hands and feet, stands a mo- ment on the railing, leaps below to the stage (a dfetance perhaps of 14 or 15 feet), falls out of position catching his boot-heel in the copious drapery (the American flag), lalls on one knee, quickly recovers himself, rises as if nothing had happened (he really sprains his ankle, but unfelt then) — and the figure. Booth, the murderer, ■dressed in plain, black broadcloth, bare-headed, with a full head of glossy, raven hair, and his eyes, like some mad animal's flashing with light and resolution, yet with a certain strange calmness, holds aloft in one hand a large knife — ^walks along not much back of the foot-lights — turns fully towards the audience his face of statuesque beauty, lit by those basilisk eyes, flashing with despera- tion, perhaps insanity — launches out in a firm and steady ^oice the words Sic Semper Tyrannis — and then walks with neither slow nor very rapid pace diagonally across to the back of the stage, and disappears. (Had not all this terrible scene — making the mimic MISCELLANEOUS. 285 ones preposterous — had it not all been rehearshed, in blank, by Booth, beforehand?) A moment's hush, incredulous — a scream — a cry of murder — Mrs . Lincoln leaning out of the box, with ashy cheeks and lips, with involuntary cry, pointing to the re- treating figure, "He has killed the President." And still a moment's strange, incredulous suspense — and then the deluge !^ — then that mixture of horror, noises, uncertainty — (the sound, somewhere back, of a horse's hoofs clattering with speed) the people burst through chaits and railings, and break them up— that noise adds to the queerness of the scene — there is extri- cable confusion and terror — women faint — quite feeble persons fall, and are trampled on — many cries of agony are heard — ^the broad stage suddenly fills to suffocation with a dense and motley crowd, like some horrible carni- val — the audience rush generally upon it — at least the strong men do — the actors and actresses are there in their play costumes and painted faces, with moral fright showing through the rouge — some trembling, some in tears — the screams and calls, confused talk — redoubled, trebled — two or three manage to pass up water from the stage to the President's bcfx, others try to clamber up, etc., etc, ' In the midst of all this the soldiers of the President's Guard, with others, suddenly drawn to the scene, burst in — some 200 altogether — they storm the house, through all the tiers, especially the upper ones — inflamed with fury, literally charging the audience with fixed bayonets, muskets and pistols, shouting "Clear out! clear out! you sons of b !" 286 Lincoln's stories and speeches. Such the wild scene, or a suggestion of it rather, in~ side the play house that night. Outside, too, in the atmosphere of shock and craze, crowds of people, filled with frenzy, ready to seize any outlet for it, came hear committing murder several times on innocent individuals. One such case was particularly exciting. The infuri- ated crowd, through some chance, got started against ■one man, either for words he uttered, or perhaps with- out any cause at all, arid were proceeding to hang him at once to a neighboring lamp-post, when he was rescued by a few heroic policemen, who placed him in their midst and fought their way slowly and amid great peril toward the station house. It was a fitting episode of the whole affair. The crowd rushing and eddying to and fro, the night, the yells, the pale faces, many frightened people trying in vain to extricate themselves, the attacked man, not yet freed from the jaws of death, looking like a corpse; the silent, resolute half-dozen policemen, with no weapons but their little clubs; yet stern and steady through all those eddying swarms; made indeed a fitting side scene to the grand tragedy of the murder. They gained the station house with the protected man, whom they placed in security for the night, and discharged him in the morn- ing. And in the midst of that night pandemonium of sense- less hate, infuriated soldiers, the audience and the crowd — the stage, and all its actors and actresses, its paint pots, spangles and gas-light — the life-blood from those veins, the best and sweetest of the land, drips slowly {Mr. Lincoln was removed trom the theater to this ad- jacent building where he soon passed away.] [287] 288 Lincoln's stories and speeches. down, and death's ooze already begins its little bubbles on the lips. Such, hurriedly sketched, were the accompaniments of the death of President Lincoln. So suddenly, and in murder and horror unsurpassed, he was taken from us. But his death was painless. LINCOLN'S FAVORITE POEM. Oh! Why Should the Spirit of Mortal be Proud? The evening of March 22nd, 1864, says F. B. Carpen- ter, was a most interesting one to me. I was with the President alone in his office for several hours. Busy with pen and papers when I went in, he presently threw them aside and commenced talking to me of Shakspeare, of whom he was very fond. Little "Tad," his son, coming in, he sent him to the library for a copy of the plays, and then read to me several of his favorite passages. Relaps- ing into a sadder strain, he laid the book aside, and lean- ing back in his chair, said: "There is a poem which has been a great favorite with me for years, which was first shown to me when a young man by a friend, and which I afterwards saw and cut from a newspaper and learned by heart. I would," he continued, ' 'give a great deal to know who wrote it, but I have never been able to ascertain. " Then, half-closing his eyes, be repeated the verses to me, as follows: Oh! why should the spirit of mortal be proud.? — Like a swift-fleeting meteor, a fast-flying cloud, A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave, H,e passeth from life to his rest in the grave. MISCELLANEOUS. 289 The leaves of the oak and the willow shall fade, Be scattered around, and together be laid; And the young and the old, and 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 husband, that mother and infant who blessed — 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 the memor_y of those who loved her and praised, Are alike from the minds of the living erased. The hand of the king, that the sceptre hath borne, The brow of the priest, that the mitre hath worn, The eye of the sage, and the heart of the brave. Are hidden and lost in the depths of the grave. The peasant, whose lot was to sow and to reap. The herdsman, who climbed 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 saint, who enjoyed the communion of heaven^ The sinner, who dared to remain unforgiven. The wise and the foolish, the guilty and just. Have quietly 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 been told: 290 ' LINCOLNS' STORIES AND SPEECHES. For we are the same our fathers have been; We see the same sights our fathers have seen; We drink the same stream, we view the same sun, And run the same course our fathers have run. The thoughts we are thinking, our fathers would 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. The lovedr — but the story we cannot unfold; They scorned — but the heart of the haughty is cold; They grieved — but no wail from their slumber will come; They joyed — but the tongue of their gladness is dumb. They died — ^^aye, they died — and we things that are now, That walk on the turf that lies o'er their brow, And make in their dwellings a transient abode. Meet the things that they met on ther pilgrimage road. Yea! hope and despondency, pleasure and pain, Are mingled together in sunshine and rain; And the smile and the tear, the song and the dirge. Still follow each other, like surge upon surge. • 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.' [This poem was written by Wm. Knox, a Scotchman.] LINCOLN'S SPEECHES, 1832—1863. CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED. LINCOLN'S FIRST POLITICAL SPEECH. Mr. Lincoln made his first political speech in iS^a, at the age of twenty-three, when he was a candidate for the Illinois Legislature. His opponent had wearied the audience by a long speech, leaving him but a short time in which to present his views. He condensed all he had to say into a few words, as follows: "Gentlemen, Fellow-Citizens: — I presume you know who I am. I am humble Abraham Lincoln. I have been solicited by my friends to become a candidate for the legislature. My politics can be briefly stated. I am in favor of the Internal Improvement 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. [291] 292 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. »*'wum "-i,.j;j.—j:, .-. ■.» ^V -fill j^ffi HI.. i-jy= i UONUMENT OF ABRAHAM lilNGOLN AT UNCOLiN PAIUCr SHOWING HIS HAND. 293 SHOWING HIS HAND. J Delivered at New Salem, 111., June 13, 1836, to the voters o£ Sangamon County, 111., after being called upon to "show his hand." Fellow Citizens: — The candidates are called upon, I see, to show their hands. Here is mine. I go for all sharing the privileges of government who assist in bear- ing its burdens. Consequently, I go for admitting all the whites to the right of suffrage who pay taxes or bear arms, by no means excluding the females. If elected, I shall consider the whole people of San- gamon County my constituents, as well those who oppose as those who support me. While acting as their Representative, I shall be gov- erned by their will on all subjects upon which I have the means of knowing what their will is, and upon all oth- ers I shall do what my judgment tells me will best ad- vance their interests. Whether elected or not, I go for distributing the pro- ceeds of the sales of the public lands to the several States, to enable our State, in common with others, to dig can- als and construct railroads without borrowing money and paying the interest on it. If alive on the first day in November, I shall vote for Hugh L. White for President. :o: 294 LINCOLN S STORIES AND SPEECHES. FORQUER'S LIGHTNING ROD IS STRUCK. Lincoln's opponent for the Legislature in 1836 was the Hon. George Forquer, of Springfield, 111., wno was celebrated for having "changed his coat" politically, and as having introduced the first and only lightning- rod in Springfield at this time. He said in a speech in Lincoln's pres- ence, "this young man would have to be taken down, and I am sorry the task devolves upon me;" and then proceeded to try and "take him down." Mr. Lincoln made a reply, and in closing, turned to the crowd and made these remarks: Fellow-Citizens: — It is for you, not for me, to say whether I am up or down. The gentleman has alluded to my being a young man; I am older in years than I am in the tricks and trades of politicians. I desire to live, and I desire place and distinction as a politician; but I would rather die now than, like the gentleman, live to see the day that I would have to erect a lightning rod to pro- tect a guilty conscience from an offended Godl :o: FREE INSTITUTIONS. 295 THE PERPETUITY OF OUR FREE INSTITUTIONS. Delivered before the Springfield, 111., Lyceum, in January, 1837, when 28 years of age. Coming, as he did upon this occasion, before a literary society, Mr. Lincoln's Websterian diction is more observable. Ladies and Gentlemen: — In the great journal of things happening under the sun, we, the American people, find our account running under date of the nineteenth cen- tury of the Christian era. We find ourselves in the peace- ful possession of the fairest portion of the earth as re- gards extent of territory, fertility of soil and salubrity of climate. We find ourselves under the government of a system of political institutions conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and religious liberty than any of which his- tory of former times tell us. We, when mounting the stage of existence, found our- selves the legal inheritors of these fundamental blessings. We toiled not in the acquisition or establishment of them; they are a legacy bequeathed to us by a once hardy, brave and patriotic, but now lamented and de- parted race of ancestors. Theirs was the task (and nobly they performed it) to possess themselves, and, through themselves, us, of this goodly land to uprear upon its hills and valleys a polit- ical edifice of liberty and equal rights; 'tis ours to trans- 296 LINCOLN STORIES AND SPEECHES. mit these — the former unprofaned by the foot of an in- truder, the latter undecayed by the lapse of time and un- torn by usurpation — to the generation that fate shall per- mit the world to know. This task, gratitude to our fath- ers, justice to ourselves, duty to posterity — all impera- tively require us faithfully to perform. How, then, shall we perform it? At what point shall we expect the approach of danger.? Shall we expect that BENT FRANKLIN. some trans-Atlantic military giant to step the bcean and crush us at a blow.' Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasures of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest, with a Bonapgirte for a commander, could not, by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the blue ridge, in a trial of 3 thousand years. At what point, then, is this approach of danger to be FREE INSTITUTIONS. 29/ expected? I answer, if ever it reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If de- struction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freeman, we must live through all time or die by suicide. I hope I am not over-wary; but, if I am not, there is even now something of ill-omen amongst us. I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country, the disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions in lieu of the sober judgment of courts, and the worse than savage mobs for the executive ministers of justice. This disposition is awfully fearful in any community, and that it now exists in ours, though grating to our feelings to admit it, it would be a violation of truth and an insult to deny. Accounts of outrages committed by mobs form the ev- ery day news of the times. They have pervaded the country from New England to Louisiana; they are neither peCuhar to the eternal snows of the former, nor the burn- ing sun of the latter. ' ' They are not the creatures of climate, neither are they confined to the slave-holding or non-slave-holding States. Alike they spring up among the pleasure-hunting masters of southern slaves and the order-loving citizens of the land of steady habits. Whatever, then, their cause may be, it is common to the whole country. Many great and good men, sufficiently qualified for any task they may undertake, may ever be found, whose ambition would aspire to nothing beyond a «eat in Con- gress, a gubernatorial or presidential chair; but such be- 298 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. long not to the family of the lion, or the tribe of the eagle. What! Think you these places would satisfy an Alex- ander, a Caesar or a Napoleon.? Never! Towering ge- nius disdains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored. It seeks no distinction in adding story to story upon the monuments of fame, erected to the memory of oth- ers. It denies that it is glory enough to serve under any chief. It scorns to tread in the footpaths of any prede- cessor, however illustrious. It thirsts and burns for dis- tinction, and, if possible, it will have it, whether at the expense of emancipating the slaves or enslaving free- men. Another reason which once was, but which to the same extent is now no more, has done much in maintaining our institutions thus far.^ I mean the powerful influence which the interesting scenes of the Revolution had upon the passions of the people, as distinguished from their judgment. But these histories are gone . They can be read no more forever. They were a fortress of strength. But what the invading foeman could never do, the silent ar- tillery of time has done— the levelling of the walls. They were a forest of giant oaks, but the all-resisting hurri- cane swept over them and left only here and there a lone trunk, despoiled of its verdue, shorn of its foliage, un- shading and unshaded, to murmur in a few more gentle breezes and to combat with its multiplied limbs a few more rude storms, then to sink and be no more. They were the pillars of the temple of liberty, and now that they have crumbled away, that temple must fall, unless GEORGE WASHINGTON. 399 GEORGE WASHINGTON, First President of tiie United States. 300' Lincoln's stories and speeches. we, the descendants, supply the places with pillars hewn from the same solid quarry, of sober reason. Passion has helped us> but can do so no more. It will in future be our enemy. Reason — cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason — must furnish all the materials for our support and de- fense. Let those materials be molded into general in- telligence, sound morality, apd in particulkr, a reverence for the constitution and the laws; and then our country shall continue to improve, and our nation, revering his name, and permitting no hostile foot to pass or desecrate his resting place, shall be that to hear the last trump that shall awaken our Washington. Upon these let the proud fabric of freedom rest as the rock of its basis, and as truly as has been said of the only greater institution, ' 'the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." :o: IN THE SUPREME COURT. 301 LINCOLN'S FIRST SPEECH IN THE SUPREME COURT. The case.being called, Mr. Lincoln appeared for appellant, and, ac- cording to Judge Treat, spoke as follows: Your Honor: — This is the first case I ever had in this court, and I have examined it with great care. As the court will perceive by looking at the abstract of the rec- ord, the only question in the case is one of authority. I have not been able to find any authority sustaining my side of the case, but I have found several cases directly in point on the other side. I will now give the citations and then submit the case. 302 LINCOLN S STORIES AND SPFECHES. EXCULPATING THE WHIGS. Being so much as is on record of a reply to Col . Dick Taylor, a Demo- crat, who had characterized the Whigs as being "pretentious lords," and very aristocratic, etc,, delivered, says Hon. Ninian W. Edwards, in 1840. Gentlemen: — While he (Col. Taylor) was making these charges against the Whigs riding in fine carriages, wearing ruffled shirts, kid gloves, massive gold watch chains, with large seals, and flourishing a heavy gold- headed cane, I (Lincoln) was a poor boy, hired on a flat- boat at eight dollars a month, and had only one pair of breeches, and they were buckskin — and if you know the nature of buckskin, when wet and dried by the sun, they shrink — and mine kept shrinking until they left several inches of my legs bare between the tops of my socks and the lower part of my breeches; and whilst I was growing taller they were growing shorter, and so much tighter, that they left a blue streak around my legs that can be seen to this day. If you call this aristocracy, I plead guilty to the charge. :o: NATIONAL BANK VS. SUB-TREASURY. 303 NATIONAL BANK vs. SUB-TREASURY. delivered in the Second Presbyterian Church, Springfield, Illinois, and published in the Sangamon Journal, March 6, 1840. The debaters on the question were Messrs. Logan, Baker, Browning and Lincoln, against Douglas, Calhoun, Lamborn and Thomas. Fellow-Gitizens: — It is peculiarly embarrassing to me to attempt a continuance of the discussion, on this eve- ning, which has been conducted in this hall on several preceding ones. It is so, because on each of these evenings there was a much fuller attendance than now, without any reason for it^ being so except the greater interest the commu- nity feel in the speaker who addressed them then than they do in him who addresses them now. I am, indeed, apprehensive that the few who have at- tended have done so more to spare me of mortification than in the hope of being interested in anything I may be able to say. This circumstance casts a damp upon my spirits which I am sure I shall be unable to overcome during the eve- ning. The subject heretofore and now to be discussed is the sub-treasury scheme of the present administration, as a means of collecting, safe-keeping, transferring and dis- bursing the revenues of the nation as contrasted with a national bank for the same purpose. Mr. Douglas has said that we (the Whigs) have not 304 LINCOLN S STORIES AND SPEECHES. dared to meet them (the Locos) in argument on this question. I protest against this assertion. ' I say we have again and again during this discussion "urged facts and argu- ments against the sub-treasury which they have neither dared to deny nor attempted to answer. But lest some may be led to believe that we really wish to avoid the question, I now propose, in my hum- ble way, to urge these arguments again, at the same time begging the audience to mark well the positions I shall take and the proof I shall offer to sustain them, and that they willjiot allow Mr. Douglas or his friends to escape the force of them by a round of groundless assertions that we dare not meet them in argument. First. It will injuriously affect the community by its operation on the circulating medium. Second. It will be a more expensive fiscal agent. Third. It will be a less secure depository for the pub- lit; money . Mr. Lamborn insists that the difference between the Van Buren party and the Whigs is, that although the former sometimes err in practice, they are always cor- rect in principle, whereas the latter are wrong in princi- ple; and the better to impress this proposition he uses a figurative expression in these words: ' 'The Democrats are vulnerable in the heel, but they are sound in the heart and head." The first branch of the figure: — that the Democrats are vulnerable in the heel — I admit is not merely figurative, but literally true. Who that looks for a moment at their Swartwouts, their Prices, their Harringtons,- and their hundreds of others scampering away with the public NATIONAL BANK VS. SUB-TREASURY. 305 money toTexas, to Europe, and to every spot on earth where a villian may hope to find refuge from justice, can at all doubt that they are most distressingly affected in their heels with a species of running itch. It seems this malady of the heels operates on the sound headed and honest hearted creatures very much like the cork leg in the comic song did on its owner, which when he had once got started on it, the more he tried to stop it the more it would run away. At the hazard of wearing this point threadbare, I will INDUSTRIAL EXPOSITION. relate an anecdote which is too strikingly in point to be- omitted: A witty Irish soldier was always boasting of his brav-. ery when no danger was near, who invariably retreated; without orders at the first charge of the engagement, be-, ing asked by the captain why he did so, replied, "Cap-, tain I have as brave a heart as Julius Csesar ever had, but somehow or other, when danger approaches, my cowardly legs will run away with it!" So with Mr. Lamborn's party. 3o6 Lincoln's stories and speeches. They take the public money into their own hands for the most laudable purpose that wise heads and willing hearts can dictate; but, before they can possibly get it out again, their rascally vulnerable heels will run away with them. Mr. Lamborn refers to' the late elections in the States, and from the result predicts that every State in the Union will vote for Mr. Van Buren at the next Presidential election. Address that argument to cowards and knaves; with the free and the brave it will affect nothing. It may be true; if it must, let it. Many free countries have lost their liberty, and ours may lose hers; "but if she shall, be it my proudest plume, not that I was the last to desert, but that I never deserted her. I know that the great volcano at Washington, aroused by the civil spirits that reign there, is belching forth the laws of polilical corruption in a current broad and deep, wrhich is sweeping with frightful velocity over the whole length and breadth of the land, bidding fair to leave un- scathed no green spot or living thing; while on its bosom are riding, like demons on the wave of hell, the imps of •that evil spirit fiendishly taunting all those who dare re- sist its destroying course with hopelessness of their ef- forts; and knowing this, I cannot deny that all may be swept away. Broken by it, I, too, may be; bow to it, I never will . The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought Bot to deter us from the support of a course we believe to be just. It shall not deter me. If ever I feel the soul within me elevate and expand tc those dimensions, not wholly unworthy of its Almighty NATIONAL BANK VS. SUB-TREASURY. 307 architect, it is when I contemplate the cause of my coun- try deserted by all the world beside, and I standing up boldly alone, hurling defiance at her victorious oppos- ers. Here, without contemplating the consequences", before heaven and in the face of the world, I swear eternal feal- ty to the just cause, as I deem it, of the land of my life, my liberty, and my love. And who that thinks with me will not fearlessly adept that oath that I take? Let none falter who thinks he is right, and we may succeed . But if after all we may fail, be it so; we shall still have the proud consolation of say- ing to our conscience, and to the departed shade of our' country's freedom, that the cause approved of our judg- ment and adored of our hearts in disaster, in chains, in torture, in death, we never faltered in defending. :o;— ^ [3o8] TEMPERANCE. 309 LINCOLN'S TEMPERANCE SPEECH. Originally Printed as "An Address by Abra. ham Lincoln, Esq." [Delivered before the Springfield Washingtonian Temperance Society, at the Second Presbyterian Church, on the 22nd day of February, 1842, Although the temperance cause has been in progress for nearly twenty years, it is apparent to all that it is just now being crowned with a degree of success hitherto unparalleled. The list of its friends is daily swelle'd by the additions of fifties, hundreds and thousands. The cause itself seems suddenly transformed from a cold, abstract theory to a living, breathing, active and powerful chieftain, go- ing forth "conquering and to conquer." The citadels of his great adversary are daily being stormed and disman- tled: his temples and his altars, where the rites of his idolatrous worship have long been performed, and where human sacrifices have long been wont to be made, are daily desecrated and deserted. The tramp of the con- queror's fame is sounding from hill td hill, from sea to sea, and from land to land, and calling millions to his standard at a blast. For this new and splendid success we heartily rejoice. That that success is so much greater now, than hereto- 3IO LINCOLN S STORIES AND SPEECHES. fore, is doubtless owing to rational causes; and if we would have it continue, we shall do well to inquire what those causes are. The warfare heretofore waged against the demon in- temperance has, somehow or other, been erroneous. Either the champions engaged or the tactics they adopt- ed have not been the most proper. These champions, for the most part, have been preachers, lawyers and hired agents; between these and the mass of mankind, there is a want of approachability, if the term be admiss- able, partial at least, fatal to their success. They are supposed to have no sympathy of feeling or interest with those very persons whom it is their object to convince and persuade. ^ And again, it is so easy and so common to ascribe motives to men of these classes other than those they profess to act upoii. The preacher, it is said, advocates temperance because he is a fanatic; and desires a union of the Church and State; the lawyer from his pride and vanity of hearing himself speak; and the hired agent for his salary. But when one who has long been known as a victim of intemperance bursts the fetters that^have bound him, and appears before his neighbors "clothed in his right mind," a redeemed specimen of long-lost humanity, and stands up with tears of joy trembling in his eyes to tell of the miseries once endured, now to be endured no more for- ever; of his once naked and starving children, now fed and clad comfortably; of a wife long weighed down with woe, weeping and a broken heart, now restored to health, happiness, and a renewed affection, and how (311) 312 Lincoln's stories and speeches. easily it is all done, once resolved to be done; how sim- ple his language; there is a logic and an eloquence in it that few with human feelings can resist. They cannot say that he desires a union with Church and State, for he is not a church member; they cannot say he is vain of hearing himself speak, for his whole de- meanor shows he would gladly avoid speaking at all; they cannot say he speaks for pay, for he receives none. Nor can his sincerity in any way be doubted, or his sympathy for those he would persuade to imitate his example be denied . In my judgment it is to the battles of this new class of champions that our late success is greatly, perhaps chief- ly, owing. But had the old school champions them- selves been of the most wise selecting.' Was their sys- tem of tactics the most judicious.' It seems to me it was not. Too much denunciation against dram-sellers and dram- drinkers was indulged in. This, I think, was both im- politic, and unjust: It was impolitic, because it is not much in the nature of man to be driven to any thing, still less to be driven about that which is exclusively his own business; and least of all, where such driving is to be submitted to at the expense of pecuniary interest, or burning appetite. When the dram-seller and drinker wereincessanlty told, hot in the accents of entreaty and persuasion, diffidently addressed by erring man to an erring brother, but in the thundering tones of anathema and denunciation, with which the lordly judge often groups together all the crimes of the felon's life and thrusts them in his face just TEMPEBANCE. 3I3 ere he passes sentence of death upon him, that they were the authors of all the vice and'misery and crime in the land; that they were the manufacturers and material of all the thieves and robbers and murderers that infest the earth; that their houses were the workshops of the devil, and that their persons should be shunned by all the good and virtuous as moral pestilences. I say, when they were told all this, and in this way, it is not wonderful that they were slow, very slow, to ac- knowledge the truth of such denunciations, and to join the ranks of their denouncers in a hue and cry against themselves. To have expected them to do otherwise than they did — to have expected them not to meet denunciation with denunciation, crimination with crimination, and anathe- ma with anathema — was to expect a reversal of human nature, which is. God's decree, and can never be reversed. When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted. It is an old and a true maxim, "that a drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall." So with men. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart; which, say what he will, is the great high road to his reason, and which, when once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing his judgment of the justice of your cause, if, indeed, that cause really be a jnst one. On the contrary, assume to dictate to his judgment, or to command his action, or to 3l4 LINCOLN S STORIES AND SPEECHES. mark him as one to be shunned and despised, and he will retreat within himsfelf, close all the avenues to his head and his heart, and though your cause be the naked truth itself, transformed to the heaviest lance, harder than steel, and sharper than steel can be made, and 'though you throw it with more than herculean force and precision, you shall be no more able to pierce him than to penetrate the hard shell of a tortoise with a rye straw. Such is man, and so must he be under- stood by those who would lead him, even to his own best interest. On this point the Washingtonians greatly excel the temperance advocates of former times. Those whom they desire to convince and persuade are their old friends and companions. They know they are not de. mons, not even the worst of men; they know that gen- erally they are kind, generous and charitable, even be- yond the example of their more staid and sober neigh- bors. They are practical philanthropists; and they glow with a generous and brotherly zeal, that mere theorizers are. incapable of feeling. Benevolence and charity possess their hearts entirely; and out of the abundance of their hearts their tongues give utterance: "Love through all their actions run, and all their words are mild;" in this spirit they speak and act, and in the same they are heard and regarded. And when such is the temper of the advovate, and such of the audience, no good dause can be unsuccessful. But I have said that denunciations against dram-sellers and dram-drinkers are unjust as well as impolitic. Let us see. TEMPERANCE. 315 I have not inquired at what period of time the use of intoxicating liquors commenced, nor is it important to know. It is sufficient that to all of us who now inhabit the world the practice of drinking them is just as old as the world itself — that is, we have seen the one just as long as we have seen the other. When all such of us have now reached the years of maturity first opened our eyes upon the stage of existence we found intoxicating liquors recognized by everybody, used by everybody, repudiated by nobody. It commonly en- tered into the first draught of the infant and the last of the dying man. From the sideboard of the parson down to the ragged pocket of the homeless loafer it was constantly found . Physicians prescribed it in this, that, and the other dis- ease; Government provided it for soldiers and sailors; and to have a rolling or raising, a husking or hoe-down any- where about without it was positively insufferable. So, too, it was everywhere a respectable article of man- ufacture and of merchandise. The making of it was re- garded as an honorable livelihood, and he who could make most was the most enterprising and respectable. Mannfactories of it were everywhere erected, in which all the earthly goods of their owners were invested. Wagons drew it from town to town, boats bore it from clime to clime, and the winds wafted it from nation to nation ; and merchants bought and sold it by wholesale and retail with precisely the same feelings on the part of the seller, buyer, and by-stander as are felt at the selling and buying of plows beef, bacon, or any other of the real necessaries of life. Universal public opinion not only tolerated but recognized and adopted its use. 3i6 Lincoln's stories and speeches. It is true that even then it was known and acknow- iedged that many were greatly injured by it; but none seemed to think that the injury arose from the use of a bad thing, but from the abuse of a very good thing. The victims of it were to be pitied and compassionated, just as are the heirs of consumption and other hereditary dis- eases. The faiUng was treated as a misfortune, and not as a crime. If then what I have been saying is true, is it wonderful that some should think and act now as all thought and acted twenty years ago ; and is it just to assail, condemn, •or despise them for doing so.' The universal sense of mankind, on any subject, is an argument, or at least an influence not easily overcome . The success of the argument in favor of the existence •of an overruling Providence mainly depends upon that sense; and men ought not, injustice, be denounced for yielding to it in any case, or giving it up slowly, especially when they are backed by interest, fixed habits, or burn- ing appetites. Another error, as it seems to me, into which the old reformers fell, was the position that all habitual drunk- •ards were utterly incorrigible/ and therefore must be turned adrift and damned without remedy, in order that the grace of temperance might abound, to the temperate then, and to all mandkind some hundreds of years there- after. There is in this something so repugnant to humanity, so uncharitable, so cold-blooded and feelingless, that it never did, nor never can, enlist the enthusiasm of a pop- ular cause. We could not love the man who taught it — TEMPERANCE. 3 17 we could not hear him with patience. The heart could not throw open its portals to it; the generous man could not adopt it : it could not mix with his blood. It looked so fiendishly selfish, so like throwing fathers and brothers overboard to lighten the boat for our security, that the noble minded shrank from the manifest, mean- ness of the thing: And besides this, the benefits of a reformation to be effected by such a system were too' re- mote in point of time to warmly engage many in jts- behalf. Few can be induced to labor exclusively for posterity, and none will do it enthusiastically. Posterity has done nothing for us; and theorize on it as we may, practically we shall do very little for it unless we are made to think we are, at the same time, doing something for ourselves. What an ignorance of human nature does it exhibit tO' ask or expect a whole community to rise up and labor for the temporal happiness of others, after themselves shall be consigned to the dust, a majority of which com- munity take no pains whatever to secure their own eter- nal welfare at no greater distant day. Great distance in either time or space has wonderful power to lull and ren- der quiescent the human mind. Pleasures to be enjoyed, or pains to be endured, after we shall be dead and gone, are but little regarded, even in our own cases, and much less in the cases of others. Still, in addition to this, there is something so ludicrous in promises of good or threats of evil a great way off, as to render the whole subject with which they are con- nected easily turned into ridicule. "Better lay down that spade you're stealing, Paddy — if you don't you'll pay for it at the day of jiudgmient. " "Be the powers, if ye'U 3i8 Lincoln's stories and speeches. ♦ credit me so long, I'll take another jist." By the Washingtonians this system of consigning the habitual drunkard to hopeless ruin is repudiated. They adopt a more enlarged philanthropy. They go for pres- sent as well as future good. They labor for all now liv- ing, as well as hereafter to live. They teach hope to all — despair to none. As applying to their cause, they deny the doctrine of unpardonable sin . As in Christi- anity it is taught, so in this they teach: "While the lamp holds out to burn, The vilest sinner may return." And, what is a matter of the most profound congratula- tions, they, by experiment upon experiment and ex- ample upon example, prove the maxim to be no less true in the one case than in the other. On every hand we behold' those who but yesterday were the chief of sinners, now the chief apostles of the cause. Drunken devils are cast put by ones, by sevens, by legions, and their un- fortunate victims, like the poor possessed who wa's re- deemed from his long and lonely wanderings in the tombs, are publishing to the ends of the, earth how great things have been done for thern. To these new champions and this new system of tac- tics our late success is mainly owing, and to them we must mainly look for the final consummation. The ball is now rolling gloriously on, and none are so able as they to increase its speed and its bulk, to add to its momen- tum and magnitude, even though unlearned in letters, for this task none are so well educated. To fit them for this work they have been taught in the true school. They have been in that gulf from which they would teach others the means of escape. They have passed tljat 320 LINCOLN S STORIES AND SPEHCHES. prison wall which others have long declared impassable, and who that has not shall dare to weigh* opinions with them as to the mode of passing ? But if it be true, as I have insisted, that those who have suffered by intemperance personally and have re- formed are the most powerful and efficient instruments to push the reformation to ultimate success, it does not fol- low that those who have not suffered have no part left them to perform,. Whether or not the world would be vastly benefited by a total and final banishment from it of all intoxicating drinks seems to me not now an open question. Three-fourths of mankind confess the affirma- tive with their tongues, and I be'lieve all the rest ac- knowledge it in their hearty. Ought any, then, to refuse their aid in doing what the good of the whole demands ? Shall he who cannot do much be for that reason excused if he do nothing ? "But," says one, "what good can I do by signing the pledge? I never drink, even without signing." This question has already been asked and answered more than a million of times. Let it be answered once more. For the man, suddenly or in any other way, to break off from the use of drams who has indulged in them for ,a long course of years, ' and until his appetite for them has grown ten or a hundred, fold stronger and more craving than any natural appetite can be, requires a most powerful moral effort. In such an undertaking he needs every moral support and influence that can possibly be brought to his aid and thrown around him. And not only so, but every moral prop should be taken from whatever argument might rise in his mind to lure him to his backsliding. When he casts his eyes around him he should be able to TEMPERANCE. 321 seje all that he respects, all that he admires, all that he loves, kindly and anxioysly pointing him onwaM, Eifid none beckoning him back to his former miserable "wal- lowing in the mire. " But it is said by some that men will think and act for themselves; that none will disuse spirits or any thing else because his neighbors do; and that moral influence is not that powerful engine contended for. Let us examine this. Let me ask the man who could maintain this p«jsi- tion most stiffly what compensation he will accept to g© to church some Sunday and sit during the sermon with his wife's bonnet upon his head .'' Not a trifle, I'll veur ture. And why not ? There would be nothing irreligi- ous in it, nothing immoral, nothing uncomfortable — then why not ? Is it not because there would be something egregiously unfashionable in it .■• Then it is the influence of fashion; and what is the influence of fashion but the influence that other people's actions have on our own ac- tions — the strong inclination each of us feels to do as we see all our neighbors do .-' Nor is the influence of fashion confined to any particular thing or class of things. It is. just as strong on one subject as another. Let us make it as unfashionable to withhold our names from the tem-- perance pledge as for husbands to wear their wives' bon™. nets to church, and instances will be just as rare in the.- one case as the other. "But," say some, "we are no drunkards, and we shall not acknowledge ourselves such by joining a reformed drunkard's society, whatever our influence might be." Surely no Christian will adhere to this objection. If they believe as they profess, that Omnipotence con- 322 Lincoln's stories and speeches. descended to take on Himself the form of sinful man, and as such to die an ignominious death for their sakes, surely they will not refuse submission to the infinitely lesser condescension for the temporal and perhaps eter- nal salvation of a large, erring, and unfortunate class of their fellow creatures. Nor is the condescension very gre'ciH;.' In my judgment such of us as have never fallen vidtiifis have been spared more from the absence of appe- tite than from any mental or moral superiority overthose' whiD "have. Indeed, I believe, if we take habitual drunk- ards as k' class, their heads and their hearts will bear an adVitttaLgeous comparison with those of any other class. There seems ever to have been a proneness in the bri'll-icLnt and warm-blooded to fall into this vice — the de- m6h' of intemperance ever seems to have delighted in sucking the blood of genius and generosity. What one of lis but can call to mind 'some relative more promising in youth than all his fellows who has fallen a sacrifice to his ira'pacity .-' He ever seems to have gone forth like the Egyptian angel of d,eath, commissioned to slay, if not the first" the fairest born of every family. Shall he now be arrested in his desolating career ? In that arrest all can give aid that will, and who shall be excused that can and will not ? Far around as human breath has ever blown, he keeps our fathers, our brothers, our sons, and our friends prostrate in the chains of moral death. To all the living everywhere we cry: , ' 'Come, sound the moral trump, that these may rise and stand up an exceeding great army." "Come from the four winds, O breath! and breathe upon these slain, that- they may live.' If the relative graiidf^ar of revolutions shall be estimated by the great amount o^ human misery they alleviate, and THE WAITING WIFE. 324 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. the small amount they inflict, then, indeed, will this be the grandest the world shall ever have seen. Of our political revolution of 1776 we are all justly proud . It has given us a degree of political freedom far exceeding that of ariy other nations of the earth. In it the world has found a solution of the long-mooted problem as to the capability of man to govern himself. In it was the germ which has vegetated, and still is tO' grow and expand into the universal liberty of mankind. But with all these glorious results, past, present, and to come, it had its evils too. It breathed forth famine, swam in blood, and rode in fire; and long, long after, the orphans' cry and the widows' wail continued to break the. sad silence that ensued. These were the price, the in- evitable price, paid for the blessings it bought. Turn now to the temperance revolution. In it we shall flnd a stronger bondage broken, a viler slavery manumitted, a greater tyrant deposed — in it, more' of want, supplied, more disease healed, more sorrow as- suaged. By it, no orphans starving, no widows weep- ing; by it, none wounded in feeling, none injured in in- terest. Even the dram-maker and dram- seller will have glided into other occupations so gradually as never to have felt the change, and will stand ready to join all others in the universal song of gladness. And what a noble ally this to the cause of political freedom; with such an aid, its march cannot fail to be on and on, till every son of earth shall drink in rich fruition the sorrow- qUenching draughts of perfect liberty ! Happy day, when, all appetities controlled, all passions subdued, all matter subjugated, mind, all-conquering mind, shall live and move, the monarch of the world ! Glorious con- TEMPERANCE. 325 summation ! Hail, fall of fury ! Reign of reason, all hail! And when the victory shall be complete —when there shall be neither a slave nor a drunkard on the earth — how proud the title of that Land, which may truly claim to be the birthplace and the cradle of both those revolutions that shall have ended iii that victory. How nobly dis- tinguished that people who shall have planted and nur- tured to maturity both the political and moral freedom of their species. This is the one hundred and tenth anniversary of the birthday of Washington. We are met to celebrate this ■day. Washington is the mightiest name of earth — long since mightiest in the cause of civil liberty, still mightiest in moral reformation. On that name a eulogy is expected. It cannot be. To add brightness to the sun or glory to the name of Washington is alike impossible. Let none at- tempt it. In solemn awe pronounce the name, and in its naked^ deathless splendor leave it shining on. 326 LINCOLNS' STORIES AND SPEECHES. A GREAT CONGRESSIONAL SPEECH. Abraham Lincoln on the Presidency and Gen. eral Politics. Deliveied in the House of Representatives, Washington, D. C, July 27, 1848. Mr. Speaker: — Our Democratic friends seem to be in great distress because they think our candidate for the Presidency don't suit us. Most of them can not find out that General Taylor has any principles at all, some, how- ever, have discovered that he has one, but that one is en- tirely wrong. This one principle is his position on the veto power. The gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Stanton), who has just taken his seat, indeed, has said there is very little if any difference on this question between General Taylor and all the Presidents; and he seems to think it sufficient detraction from General Taylor's position on it, that it has nothing new in it. But all others, whom I have heard speak, assail it furiously. A new member from Kentucky (Mr. Clarke), of very considerable ability, was in particular concern about it. He thought it altogether novel and unprecedented for a President, or a Presidential candidate, to think of ap- proving bills whose Constitutionality may not be entirely POLITICS. 327 clear to his own mind. He thinks the ark of our safety is gone, unless Presidents shall always veto such bills as, in their judgment, may be of doubtful Constitutionality. However clear Congress may be of their authority to pass any particular act, the gentleman from Kentucky thinks the President must veto if he has doubts about it. Now I have neither time nor inclination to argue with the gentleman on the veto power as an original question; but I wish to show that General Taylor, and not he, agrees with the earliest statesmen on this question. When the bill chartering the first Bank of the United States passed Congress, its Constitutionality was ques- tioned; Mr. Madison, then in the House of Representa- tives, as well as others, opposed it on that ground . Gen- eral Washington, as President, was called on to approve or reject it. He sought and obtained, on the Constitu- tional question, the separate written opinion of Jefferson, Hamilton and Edmund Randolph, they then being re- spectively Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, and Attorney General. Hamilton's opinion was for the power; while Randolph's and Jefferson's were both against it. Mr. Jefferson, after giving his opinion de- cidedly against the Constitutionality of that bill, closed his letter with the paragraph I now read: "It must be admitted, however, that unless the Presi- dent's mind, on a view of everything which is urged for and against this bill, is tolerably clear that it is unau- thorized by the Constitution, if the pro and the con hang so even as to balance his judgment, a just respect for thy wisdom of the Legislature would naturally decide the balance in favor of their opinion; it is chiefly for cases where 4;hey are clearly milled by error, ambition or int&r- 328' Lincoln's s.^jories and ■ speeches/, est, that the Constitution has placed a check in the nega- tive of the President. Thomas Jefferson. "February 15, 1791." Gen. Taylor's opinion, as expressed in his Allison let- ter, is as I now read: ' 'The power given by the veto is a high conservative power; but, in my opinion, should never be exercised, ex- cept in cases of clear violation of the Constitution, or manifest haste and want of consideration by Congress.'' It is here seen that, in Mr. Jefferson's opinion, if on the Constitutionality of any given bill, the President doubts, he is not to veto it, as the gentleman from Kentucky would have him to do, but is to defer to Congress and approve it. And if we compare the opinions of Jefferson and Taylor, as ex,pressed in these paragraphs, we shall find them more exactly alike than we can often find any t\yo expressions having aqy literal difference . None but interested fault-finders can discover any substantial varia- tion. THE NATIONAL ISSUE. But gentlemen on the other side are unanimously agreed that General Taylor has no other principle. They are in utter darkness as to his opinions on any of the questions of policy which occupy the public attention. But is there any doubt as to what he will do on the prom- inent questions, if elected .■' Not the least. It is not possible to know what he will, or would do in every im- aginable case; because many questions have passed away, and others doubtless will arise which none of us have yet thought of; but on the prominent questions of currency, tariff, internal improvements^ arfdWilmot pro- viso, General Taylor's course is at least as well defined as POLITICS. 329 is General Cass. Why, in their eagemiess to get at Gen- eral Taylcr, several Democratic members here have de- sired to know whether, in case of his election, a bank- rupt law is to be established. Can they tell us General Cass' opinion on this question ? (Some member an- swered: "He's against it.") Aye, how do you know he is ? Therr? is nothing about it in the platform, or else- where, thnt I have seen. If the gentleman knows any- thing which I do not, he can show it. But to return: General Taylor, in his Allisan letter, says: ' 'Upon the subject of the tariff, the currency, the im- provement of our great highways, rivers, lakes, and har- bors, the will of the people, as expressed through their Representatives in Congress, ought to be respected and carried out by the Executive." A PRESIDENCY FOR THE PEOPLE. Now, this is the whole matter — in substance it is this: The people say to General Taylor: ' 'If you are elected, shall we have a National Bank .'" He answers: "Your will, gentlemen, not mine." "What about the tariff .?" ' 'Say yourselves. " -'Shall our rivers and harbors be improved .''" ' 'Just as you please. If you desire a bank, an altera- tion of the, tariff, internal improvements, any or all, I will not hinder you. Send up your members to Con- gress from the various districts, with opinions according to your own, and if they are for these measures, or any of them, I shall have nothing to oppose; if they are not for them, I shall not, by any appliance whatever, attempt to dragoon them into their adoption. " 330 LINCOLNS STORIES AND SPEECHES. Now can there be any difficulty in understanding this ? To you, Democrats, it may not seem like principle; but surely you can not fail to perceive the position plainly enough. The distinction between it' and the position of your candidate is broad and obvious, and I admit you have a clear right to show it is wrong, if you can; but you have no right to pretend you cannot see it at all. We see it, and to us it appears like principle, and the best sort of principle at that — the principle of allo>ving the people to do as they please with their own business. My friend from Indiana (Mr. C. B. Smith) has aptly asked: "Are you willing to trust the people !" Some of of you answered, substantially: "We are willing to trust the people; but the President is as much the repre- sentative of the people as Congress." In a certain sense, and to a certain extent, he is the representative of the people. He is elected by them, as well as Congress is. But can he, in the nature of things, know the wants of the people as well as three hundred other men coming from all the various localities of the nation .■' If so, where is the propriety of having a Congress ? That the Constitution gives the President a negative on legislation all know; but that this negative should be so combined with platforms and other appliances as to enable him, and in fact, almost compel him, to take the whole of legislation into his own hands, is what we object to — is what General Taylor objects to — and is what constitutes the broad distinction between you and us. To thus trans- fer legislation is clearly to take it from those who under- stand with minuteness the interest of the people, and give it to one who does not and cannot so well under- stand it. POLITICS. 33,E I understand your idea, that if a Presidential candidate avow his opinion upon a given question, or rather upon all questions, and the people, with full knowledge of this^ elect him, they thereby distinctly approve all those opinions. This, though plausible, is a most pernicious deception. By means of it measures are adopted or re- jected, contrary to the wishes of the whole of one party, . and often nearly half of the other. The process is this Three, four, or -a half dozen questions are prominent, at a given time; the party selects its candidate, and betakes his position on each of these questions. On all but one of his positions have already been indorsed at former elections, and his party fully committed to them; but that one is new, and a large portion of them are against it. But what are they to do ? The whole are strung to- gether, and they must take all or reject all. They can not take what they like and leave the rest. What they are already committed to, being the majority, they shut their eyes and gulp the whole. Next election still an- other is introduced in the same way. If we rnn our eyes along the line of the past, we shall see that almost, if not quite, all the articles of the present Democratic creed have been at first forced upon the party in this very way. And just now, and just so, opposition to internal improvements is to be established if General Cass shall be elected. Almost half the Democrats here are for improvements, but they will vote for Cass, and if if he succeeds, their votes will have aided in closing the doors against improvements. Now, this is a process which we think is wrong. We prefer a candidate who, like General Taylor, will allow the p eople to have their own way regardless of his private opinion; and I should 332 Lincoln's stories and speeches. think the internal-improvement Democrats at least, ought to prefer Such a candidate. He would force nothing on them which they don't want, and he would allow them to have improvements, which their own candidate, if elected, will not. GEN TAYLOR AND THE WILMOT PROVISO. Mr. Speaker, I have said that General Taylor's position is as well defined as is that of General Cass. In saying this, I admit I do not certainly know what he would dG on the Wilmot Proviso. I am a Northern man, or rather a Western free State man, with a consituency I believe to be, and with personal feelings I know to be, against the extension of slavery. As such, and with what information I have, I hope, and believe. General Taylor, if elected, would not veto the proviso, but I do not know it. Yet, if I knew he would I still would vote for him. I should do so, because in my judgment his election alone can defeat General Cass; and because should slavery thereby go into the territory we now have, just so much will certainly happen by the election of Cass; and in addition, a course of policy leading to new w^ars, new acquisitions of territory, and still further ex- tension of slavery. One of the two is to be President- which is preferable .' But there is as much doubt about ot Cass on improve- ments as there is of Taylor on the proviso. I have no doubt of General Cass on this question, but I know the Democrats differ among themselves as to his position. My internal improvement colleague (Mr. Wentworth) stated on this floor the other day, that he was satisfied Cass was for improvements, because he had voted for all POLITICS. 33f3 the bills that he (Mr. W.) had. So far so good. But Mr. Polk vetoed some of these very bills; the Baltimore Convention passed a set of resolutions, among other things, approving these vetoes,,, and Cass..decla^es in his letter accepting the nomination, that he has carefully read these resolutions, and that' he adheres to them as firmly as he approves them cordially. In other words. General Cass voted for the bills, and thinks the Presi- dent did right to veto them; and his friends here are amiable enough to consider him as being on one side or the other, just as one or the other may correspond with their own respective inclinations. My colleague admits that the platform declares against the Constitutionality of a general system of improve- ^ ments, and that General Cass indorses the platforpi; but he still thinks General Cass is in favor of some sort of im- provements. Well, what are they.? Ashe is against general objects, those he is for must be particular and local. Now, this is taking the subject precisely by the wrong end . Particularity — expending the money of the whole people for an object which will benefit only a por- tion of them, is the greatest objection to improvements, and has been so held by General Jackson, Mr. Polk, and all others, I believe, till now . But now behold, the ob- jects most general, nearest free from this objection, are to be rejected, while those most liable to it are to be embraced. To return : I cannot help believing that General Cass, when he wrote his letter of acceptance, well understood he was to be claimed by the advocates of both sides of this question, and.that he then closed the doors against all further expressions of opinion, purpose- ly to retain the benefits of that double position. His 334 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. ■subsequent equivocation at Cleveland, to my mind, proves such to have been the case. PLATFORMS. One word more, and I shall have done with this branch tjf the subject . You Democrats, and your candidate, in the main are in favor of laying down, in advance, a plat- form — a set of party positions, as a unit; and then of en- forcing the people, by every sort of appliance, to ratify them, however unpalatable some of them may be. We, and our candidate, are in favor of making Presidential elections and the legislation of the country distinct mat- ters; so that the people can elect whom they please, and afterward legislate just as they please, without any hin- drance, save only so much as may guard against infrac- tions of the Constitution, undue haste, and want of con- sideration. The difference between us is clear as noon-day. That we are right we cannot doubt. We hold the true Re- publican position. In leaving the people's business in their hands, we cannot be wrong. We are willing, and ■even anxious, to go to the people on this issue. MR. clay's defeat AND DEMOCRATIC SYMPATHIES. But I' suppose I cannot reasonably hope to convince you that we have any principles. The most I can ex- pect is, to assure you that we think we have, and are quite contented with them. The other day, one of the gentlemen from Georgia (Mr. Iverson), an eloquent man, and a man of learning, •so far as I can judge, not being learned myself, came •down upon us astonishingly. He spoke in what the Bal- timore American calls the ' 'scathing and withering style. " POLITICS. 335 At the end of his second severe flash I was struck blind, ■ and found myself feeling with my fingers for an assurance of my continued physical existence. A little of the bone was left, and I gradually revived. He eulogized Mr. Clay in high and beautiful terms, and then declared that we had deserted all our principles, and had turned Henry Clay out, like an old horse, to root. This is terribly severe. It cannot be answered by argument; at least I cannot so answer it . ^ I merely wish to ask the gentleman if the Whigs are the only party he can think of who sometimes turn old horses out to root ! Is not a certain Martin Van Buren an old horse, which your party turned out tcf root ? and is he not rooting to your discomfort about now ? But in not nominating Mr. Clay, we deserted our principles, you say. Ah ! in what ? Tell us, ye men of principle, what principle we violated ? We say you did violate principle in discarding Van Buren, and we can tell you how. You violated the primary, the cardinal, the one great living principle of all Democratic representative government — the principle that, the representative is bound to carry out the known will of his constituents. A large majority of the Baltimore Convention of 1844 were, by their constituents, instructed to procure Van Buren's nomination if they could. In violation, in utter, glaring contempt of this, you rejected him — rejected him, as the gentleman from New York (Mr. Birdsall), the other day, expressly admitted, for availability — that . same ' 'general availability " which you charge on us, and daily chew over here, as something exceedingly odious and unprincipled. But the gentleman from Georgia (Mr, Iverson), gave 336 Lincoln's stories and speeches. us a second speech yesterday, all well considered and put down in writing, in which Van Buren was scathed and withered a "few" for his present position -and' . mpye- ments. I can not remember the gentleman's precise language, but I do remember he put Van Buren down, down, till he got him where he was finally to "sink" and "rot." Lincoln's description of himself as a military hero.. By the way, Mr. Speaker, did you know I am a mili- tary hero } Yes, sir, in the days of the Black Hawk war I fought, bled, and came aWay . Speaking of General Cass' careep, reminds me, of my own. I was not at Still- man's defeat, but I was about as near it as Cass to Hull's surrender; and like hini, I saw the place very soon after- ward. It is quite certain I, did not break my sword,, for I had none to break; but I bent a musket pretty badly on one occasion. If Cass broke his sword, the idea is, he broke it in desperation; I bent the musket by accident. If General Cass went in advance of me in picking: whortleberries, I guess I surpassed him in charges upon wild onions. If he saw any, live, fighting Indians, it was more than I did, but I had a good many bloody struggles with the mosquitos; and although I never fainted from loss of blood, I can truly say I was often very hungry. Mr. Speaker, if I should ever conclude to doff what- ever our Democratic friends may suppose there is of black-cockade Federalism about me, and, thereupon, they should take me up as their candidate for the Presi- dency, I protest they shall not make fun of me as they ki^ye of Geoeral Cafis,iby attempting to write me into ai military hero. POLITICS. 337 CASS ON THE WILMOT PROVISO. While I have General Cass in hand, I wish to, say a word about his political principles. As a specimen, ,1 take the record of his progress on the Wilmot Proviso. In the Washington Union, of March 2, 1847, there is, a report of the speech of General Cass, made the day be- fore in the Senate, on the Wilmot Proviso, during the de- livery of which Mr. Miller, of New Jersey, is reported to have interrupted him as follows, "to-wit: "Mr. Miller expressed his great surprise at the change in the sentiments of the Senator from Michigan, who had been regarded as the great champion of freedom in the Northwest, of which he was a distinguished ornament. Last year the Senator from Michigan was understood to be decidedly in favor of the Wilmost Proviso; and, as no reason had been sta:ted for the change, he (Mr. Miller), could not refrain from the expression of his extreme sur- prise." To this General Cass is reported to have replied as fol- lows, to-wit:. Mr. Cass said that the course of the Senator from New- Jersey was most extraordinary. Last year he (Mr. Cass}| should have voted for the proposition had it come up. But circumstances had altogether changed. The honor-, able Senator then read several passages from the remarks; given above, which he had committed to writing in order- to refute such a charge as that of the Senator from New Jersey . In the ' 'remarks above committed to writing, " is one numbered 4, as follows, to-wit : * '4th. Legislation would now be wholly imperative, 338 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. because-" no territory hereafter to be acquired can be gov- ered without an act of Congress providing for its govern- ment. And such an act, on its passage, would open the whole subject, and leave the Congress, called on to pass it, free to exercise its own discretion, entirely uncon- trolled by any declaration found in the statute book.' In Niles' Register, vol. 73, page 293, there is a letter of General Cass to A. O. P. Nicholson, of Nashville, Tennessee, dated December 25, 1847, from which the following are correct extracts: The Wilmot Proviso has been before the country some time . It has been repeatedly discussed in Congress, and by the public press. I am strongly impressed with the opinion that a great change has been going on in the public mind upon this subject — in my own as well as others; and that doubts are resolving themselves into con- victions, that the principle it involves should be kept out of the National Legislature, and left to the people of the Confederacy in their respective local governments. ' 'Briefly, then, I am opposed to the exercise of any jurisdiction by Congress over this matter; and I am in favor of leaving the people of any territory which may be hereafter acquired, the right to regulate it themselves, under the general principles of the Constitution. Be- cause, "I do not see in the Constitution any grant of the re- quisite power to Congress; and I am not disposed to ex- tend a doubtful precedent beyond its necessity — the es- tablishment of territorial governments when needed — leaving to the inhabitants all the rights compatible with the relations they bear to the Confederation. ' POLITICS. 339 AN OBEDIEtJT DEMOCRAT. These extracts show, in 1846, General Cass was for the Proviso at once; that, in March, 1847, he was still for it but not just then; and, that in December, 1847, against it altogether. This is a true index to the whole man. When the question was raised in 1 846, he was in a blus- tering hurry to take ground for it. He sought to be in advance, and to avoid the uninteresting position of. a mere follower; but soon he began to see a glimpse of the great Democratic ox-gad waving in his face, and to hear indistinctly a voice saying, "back, back, sir; back a lit- tle." He shakes his head and bats his eyes, and blun- ders back to his position of March, 1847; and still the gad waves and the voice grows more distinct, and sharper still — back, sir ! back, I say ! further back ! and back he goes to the position of December, 1847; at which the gad is still, and the voice soothingly says, ' 'So ! stand still at that." Have no fears, gentlemen of your candidate, he exact- ly suits you, and we congratulate you upon it. However much you may be distressed about our candidate you have all cause to be contented and happy with your own. If elected he may not maintain all, or even any of his positions previously taken; but he will be sure to do what- ever the party exigency, for the time being, may require; and that is f)recisely what you want. He and Van Buren are the same "manner of men;" and like Van Buren, he will never desert you till you first desert him. WONDERFUL PHYSICAL CAPACITIES OF GENERAL CASS. ButI have introduced General Cass' accounts here, chiefly to show the wonderful physical capacities of the 340 LINCOLNS STORIES AND SPEECHES. I man. They show that he not only did the labor of sev- eral men at the same time, but that he often did it at sev- eral, places many hundred miles apart, at the same time. And at eating, too, his capacities are shown to be quite as wonderful. From October, 1821, to May, 1822, he ate ten rations a day in Michigan, ten rations a day here in Washington, and near five dollars' worth a day be- sides, partly on the road between the two places. And then there is an important discovery in his ex- ample — the art of being paid for what one eats, instead of having to pay for it. Hereafter, if any nice man shall owe a bill which he can not pay in any other way, he can just board it out. Mr; Speaker, we have all heard of the animal standing in doubt between two stacks of hay, and starving to death; the like of that would never happen to General Cass. Place the stacks a thousand miles apart, he would stand stock-still, midway between them, and eat both at once; and the green grass along the liije would be apt to suffer some, too, at the same time. By all means, make him President, gentlemen. He will feed you bounteously — if — if there is any left after he shall have helped himself. But as General Taylor, is, par excellence, the hero of the Mexican war; and, as you Democrats say we Whigs have always opposed the war, you think it must be very awkward and embarrassing for us to go for General Taylor . THE MEXICAN WAR. The declaration that we have always opposed the war is true or false acco.ding as one may understand the term "opposing the war." If to say "the war was un- •GEN. TAVLORS ARMY NEAR POPOCATAPTL, IN MEXICO. [341] 342 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. necessarily and unconstitutionally commenced by the President, " be opposing the war, then the Whigs have very generally opposed it. Whenever they have spoken at all 4;hey have said this; and they have said it on what has appeared good reason to them: The marching of an army into the midst of a peaceful Mexican settlement, frightning the inhabitants away, leaving their growing crops and other property to destruction, to you may ap- pear a perfectly amiable, peaceful, unprovoking proced- ure; but it does not appear so to us. ^ So to call such an act, to us appears no other than a naked, impudent ab- surdity, and we speak of it accordingly. But if, when the war had begun, and, become the cause of the coun- try, the giving of our money and our blood, in com- mon with yours, was support of the war, then it is not true that we have always opposed the war. With few individual exceptions, you have constantly had our votes here for all the necessary supplies. And, more than this, you have had the services, the blood, and the lives of our political brethren in every trial and on every field. The beardless boy and the ma- ture man — the humble and the distinguished, you have had them. Through suffering and death, by disease, and in battle they have endured, and fought, and fallen with you. Clay and Webster each gave a son, never to be re- turned. From the State of my own residence, besides other worthy but less known Whig names, we sent Marshall, Morrison, Baker, and Hardin; they all fought, and one fell, and in the fall of that one, we lost our best Whig man. Nor were the Whigs few in number, or laggard in the day of danger. In that fearful, bloody, breathless POLITICS. 343 struggle at Buena Vista, where each man's hard task was to beat back five foes, or die himself, of the five high officers who perished, four were Whigs. In speaking of this, I mean no odious comparison be; tween the lion-hearted Whigs and Democrats who fought there. On other occasions, I doubt not the proportion was different. I wish to do justice to all. I think of all those brave men as Americans, in whose proud 'fame, as an American, I, too, have a share. Many of them, Whigs and Democrats, are my constituents and personal friends; and I thank them — more than thank them — one and all, for the high, imperishable honor they have con- ferred on our common State. AN IMPORTANT DISTINCTION. But the distinction between the cause of the President in beginning the war, and the cause of the country after it was begun, is a distinction which you can not perceive. To you, the President and the country seem to be all one. You are interested to see no distinction between them; and I venture to suggest that possibly your interest blinds you a little. We see the distinction, as we think, clearly enough; and our friends, who have fought in the war, have no difficulty in seeing it also . What those who have fallen would say, were they alive and here, of course we can never know; but with those who have returned there is no difficulty. Colonel Haskell and Major Gaines, members here, both fought in the war; and one of them underwent ex- traordinary perils and hardships ; still they, like all other Whigs here, vote on the record that the war was un- 344 LINCOLNIS STORIES AND SPEECHES. necessarily and unconstitutionally commenced by the President. And even General Taylor, himself, the noblest Roman of them all, has declared that, as a citizen, and particu- larly as a soldier, it is sufificient for him to know that his country is at war with a foreign nation, to do all in his power to bring it to a speedy and honorable termination, by the most vigorous and energetic operations, without inquiring about its justice, or anything else connected with it. Mr. ' Speaker, let our Derhocratic friends be comforted with the assurance that we are content with our position, content with our company, and content with our candi- date; apd that although they, in their gendrous sympa- thy, think we ought to be miserable, we really are not, and that they may dismiss the great ^.nxiety they have on our account. THE AGE IS NOT DEAD. 345 "THE AGE IS NOT DEAD." [Delivered in the Court House at Springfield, 111, in 1855, to only three persons. Mr. Herndon got out huge posters, announcing the event, employed a band to par- ade the streets and drum up a crowdj. and bells were rung, but only three persons were present. Mr. Lincoln was to have spoken on the slavery q_uestion.J Gentlemen: — This meeting is larger than I knew it would be, as I knew Herndon, (Lincoln's partner) and myself would come, but I did not know that any one else would be here, and yet another has come— you John Paine, (the Janitor. ) These are bad times, and seem out of joint. All seems dead, dead, dead; but the age is not yet dead; it liveth as sure as our Maker liveth. Under all this seeming want of life and motion, the world does move nevertheless. Be hopeful. And now let us adjourn and appeal to the people! THE BALLOT vs. THE BULLET. [Delivered to a delegation at Springfield, 111., that proposed to visit Kansas Territory in the physical defense of freedom, in 1856. Hon. W. H. Herndon was in this delegation. J Friends : — I agree with you in Providence. I believe in the providence of the most men, the largest purse, an,d 346 Lincoln's stories and speeches. the longest cannon. You are in the minority — in a sad minority; and you can't hope to succeed, reasoning from all human experience. You would rebel against the Gov- ernment, and redden your hands in the blood of your countrymen. If you are in the minority, as you are, you can't succeed. I say again and again, against the Gov- ernment, with a great majority of its best citizens back- ing it, and when th%y have the most men, the longest purse, and the biggest cannon you can't succeed. If you have the majority, as some say you have, you can suc- ceed with the ballot, throwing away the bullet . You can peaceably then redeem the Government, and preserve the liberties of mankind, through your votes and voice and moral influence. Let there be peace. In a democracy, where a major- ity rule by the ballot through the forms of law, these physicial rebellions and bloody resistances, are radically wrong; unconstitutional, and are treason. Better bear the ills you have than to fly to those you know not of. Our own Declaration of Independence says that govern- ments long established, for trival causes should not be resisted. Revolutionize through the ballot-box, and re- store the Government once more to the affections and hearts of men, by making it express, as it was intended to do, the highest spirit of justice and liberty. Your attempt, if there be such, to resist the laws of Kansas by force, is criminal and wicked; and all your feeble attempts will be follies, and end in bringing sor- row on your heads, and ruin the cause you would freely die to preserve. :o: LINCOLN "LINKED TO TRUTH. " [Spoken in the Library of the State House at Spring- field, Illinois, to a few friends who wanted the sentence, "A house divided against itself cannot stand," expunged from the great speech known now as the ' 'House Divided Against Itself Speech." Mr. Lincoln had submitted the manuscript for their criticism before the great speech was delivered.] . Friends: — I have thought about this matter a great deal, have weighed the question well froni all corners,, and am thoroughly convinced the time has come when it should be uttered; and if it must be that I must go down because of this speech, then let me go down linked to truth, die in the advocacy of what is right and just. This nation cannot live on injustice, "A house divided against itself cannot stand. " I say again and again ; the proposition is true and has been true for six thousand years, and I will deliver it as it is written. [This celebrated speech is given in full, commencing on the following page. Mr. Herndon told Mr. Lincoln privately that it was all true, but he doubted whether it was good policy to give it utterance at that time'. "That makes no difference," responded Mr. Lincoln. "It is the truth, and the na- tion is entitled to it." Then, alluding to a quotation which he had made from the Bible — "A house divided against itself cannot stand," he said that he wished to give an illustration familiar to all, ' 'that he . who runs may read. "] :o: ' — ' [347] CAPITOL AT SPRINGFIELD, ILL, LINCOLNS FIRST SPEECH IN THE SENA- TORIAL CAMPAIGN. ''The House Divided Against Itself Speech." (Delivered at Springfield, 111., June i6, 1858, before the Republican State Convention . It is known as one of Lincoln's greatest speeches.) [348] A HOUSE DIVIDED, ETC. 349 Gentlemen of the Convention: — "If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year, since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and confident promise of put- ting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not ceased, but has constantly augmented . In my opinion, it will not cease until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. '.'A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolv- ed — I do not expect the house to fall— but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new — North as well as South. "Have we no tendency to the latter condition.' "Let anyone who doubts, carefully contemplate that now almo.st complete legal combination — piece of ma- chinery, so to speak — compounded of the Nebraska doc- trine and the Dred Scott decision. Let him consider not only what work the machinery is adapted to do, and how well adapted; but also let him study the his- tory of its construction, and trace, if he can, or rather fail, if he can, to trace the evidence of design and concert of action among its chief architects, from the beginning. , 35° LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES A FEW IMPORTANT FACTS. ' 'The new year of 1 844 found slavery excluded from more than half the States by State Constitutions, and from most of the national territory by Congressional pro- hibition. Four days later, commenced the struggle which ended in repealing that Congressional prohibition. This opened all the national territory to slavery, and was the first point gained. "But, so far. Congress had acted; and an indorse- ment by the people, real or apparent, was indispensa- ble, to save the point already gained, and give chance for mort!. "This necessity had not been overlooked; but had been provided for, as well as might be, in the notable argu- ment of 's juatter sovereignty, ' otherwise called 'sacred right of self-government,' which latter phrase, though expressive of the only rightful basis of any government, was so perverted in this attempted use of it as to amount to just this: ' 'That if any one man choose to enslave another, no third man shall be allowed to object. That argujnent was incorporated into the Nebraska bill itself, in the lang- uage which follows: " 'It being the true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any territory or state, nor to exclude it therefrom ; but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States.' "Then opened the roar of loose declamation in favor of 'squatter sovereignty, ' and -sacred right of self-gov- A HOUSE DIVIDED, ETC. 35 1 eminent.' 'But,' saM opposition members, 'let us amend the bill so as to expressly declare that the people of the territory may exclude slavery.' 'Not we,' said the friends of the measure; and down they voted the amendment. ' 'While the Nebraska bill was passing through Con- gress, a law case involvijig the question of a negro's free- dom, by reason of his owner having voluntarily taken him first into a free state and then into a territory covered by the Congressional prohibition, and held him as a slave for a long time in each, was passing through the United States Circuit Court for the district of Missouri ; and both Nebraska bill and lawsuit were brought to a decision in the same month of May, 1854. The negro's name was 'Dred Scott,' which name now designates the decision fi- nally made in the case. "Before the then next pr6sidental election, the case came to, and was argued in the Supreme Court of the United States, but the decision of it was deferred until after the election. Still before the election, Mr. Trumbull, on the floor of the Senate, requested the leading advocate of the Nebraska bill to state his opinion whether the people of a territory can constitutionally exclude slavery from their limits; and the latter answer, s: -That is a question for the Supreme Court. ' I "The election came. Mr. Buchanan was elected, and the endorsement, such as it was, secured. That was the second point gained. The endorsement, however, fell short of a clear popular majority of nearly four hundred thousand votes, and so, perhaps, was not overwhelmingly 352 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. reliable and satisfactory. The outgoing President, in his last annual message, as' impressively as possible echoed back upon the people the weight and authority of the in- dorsement. The Supreme Court met again; did not an- nounce their decision, but ordered a re-argument. The presidential inauguration came, and still no decision of the court; but the incoming President in his inaugural ad- dress fervently exhorted the people to abide by the forth- coming decision, whatever it might be. Then, in a few days, came the decision. ' 'The reputed author of the Nebraska bill finds an early occasion to make a speech at this capital indorsing the D red Scott decision, and vehemently denouncing all opposition to it . The new President, too, seizes the early occasion of the Silliman letter to indorse and strongly construe that decision, and to express his as- tonishment that any different view had ever been en- tertained. VOTING IT UP OR DOWN. "At length a squabble sprang up between the Presi- dent and the author of the Nebraska bill, on the mere question of fact, whether the Lecompton Constitution was or was not, in any just sense, made by the people of Kansas; and in that quarrel the latter declares that all he wants is a fair vote for the people and that he cares not whether slavery be voted down or voted up. I do not understand his declaration that he cares not whether slavery be voted down or voted up to be intended by him other than an apt definition of the policy he would im- press upon'the pulic 'mind — the principle for which he A HOUSE DIVIDED, ETC. 353 declares he has suffered so much, and is ready to suffeir to the end. And well may , he cling to that princijjle." If he has any parental feelings, well may he cling to it. That principle is the only shred left of his original Ne- braska doctrine. "Under the Dred Scott decision squatter sovreignty squatted out of existence, tumbled down like temporary scaffolding — like the mould at the foundry, served through one blast and fell back into loose sand — helped to carry an election and then was kicked to the winds. His late joint struggle with the Republicans, against the Lecompton Constitution, involves nothing of the origin- al Nebraska doctrine. That struggle was made on a point — the right of a people to make their own consti- tution — upon which he and the Republicans have never differed. ' 'The several points cf the Dred Scott decision, in connection with Senator Douglas' care not policy, constitute the piece of machinery, in its present state of advancement. This was the third point gained . WORKIiJG POINTS. "The working points of that machinery are: • 'First, That no negro slave, imported as such from Africa, and no descendant of such slave, can ever be a citizen of any state, in the sense of that term as used in the Constitution of the United States. This point is made in order to deprive the negro, in every possible event, of the benefit of that provision of the United States Constitution, which declares that 'The citizens of 354 Lincoln's stories an^? speeches. each state shall be entitled to all the privileges aiwifimr munities of citizens in the several states,' "Secondly, That 'subject to the Constitution, of the United States,' neither Congress nor a territorial legis- lature can exclude slavery from any United States terri- tory. This point is made in order that indivinual men may fill up the territories with slaves, without danger of loosing them as property, q.nd thus to enhance the chances of permanency to the institutions through all the future. "Thitdly, That whether the holding the negro in ac- tual slavery in a free state, makes him free, as against the holder, the United States courts will not decide, but will leave to be decided by the courts of any slave state the negro may be forced into by the master. "This point is made, not to be pressed immediately,, but, if acquiesced in for a while, and apparently indors- ed by the people at an election, then to sustain the logi- cal conclusion that what Dred Scott's master might law- fully do with Dred Scott, in the free state of Illinois, every other master may lawfully do with any other one, or one thousand slaves, or in any other free state. "Auxiliary to all this,* and working hand in hand with it. the Nebraska doctrine, or what is left of it, is toedu- cate and mould public opinion, at least northern public opinion, not to care whether slavery is voted down or voted up. This shows exactly where we now are ; and partig-lly, also, whither we are tending. . .-I ■■■.'■ A STRING OF HISTORICAL FACTS. '•'ft will throw additional' light on the litter, to go' back and run the mind over the string of historical facts' A HOUSE DIVIDED, ETC. 355 already stated, Several things will now appear less dark and mysterious than they did when they were transpir- ing. The people were to be left 'perfectly free, ' subject only to the Constitution. What the Constitution had to do with it, outsiders could not then see. Plainly enough now, it was an ex- actly fitted niche, for the Dred Scott decision to after- ward come in, and declare the perfect freedom of tjie people to be just no freedom at all. Why was the amendment, expressly declaring the right of the people voted down.' Plain enough now; the adoption of it would have spoiled the niche for the Dred Scott deci- sion. Why was the court decision held up. Why even a senator's individual opinion withheld, till after the presidential election.' Plainly enough now; the speak- ing out then would have damaged the perfectly free ar- gument upon which the election was to be carried. Why the out-going President's felicitation on the indorse- ment.' Why the delay of are-argument.' Why the in- coming President's advance exhortation in favor of the decision.' These things look like the cautious patting and petting of a spirited horse preparatory to mounting , him, when it is dreaded that he may give the rider a fall . And why the hasty after-indorsement of the decision by the President and others.' _ 'iWe cannot absolutely know that all these exact adaptations are the result of preconcert. But when we see a lot of framed timbers, different portions of which we know have been gotten out at different times and places and by different workman — Stephen, Franklin, Roger and James, for instance — and when we see these 3S6 Lincoln's stories and speeches. timbers joined together, and see they exactly make the frame of a house or a mill, all the tenons and mortices exactly adapted, and all the lengths and proportions of the different pieces exactly adapted to their respective places, and not a piece too many or too few — not omit- ting even scaffolding — or, if a single piece be lacking, we see the place in the frame exactly fitted and prepared yet to bring such a piece in — in such a case, we find it im- possible not to believe that Stephen and Franklin and Roger and James all understood one another from the be- ginning and all worked upon a common plan or draft drawn up before the first blow was struck, POWER OF A STATE. "It should not be overlooked that, by the Nebraska bill, the people of a state as well as territory, were to be left 'perfectly free,' subject only to the Censtitution.' Why mention a state? They were legislating for territo- rifes, arid not for or about states. "Certainly the people of a state are or ought to be sub- ject to the Constitution of the United States; but why is mention of this lugged into this merely territorial law.?^ But why are the people of a territory and the people of a state therein lumped together, and their relation to the Constitution therein treated as being precisely the same.^ While the opinions of the court, by Chief Justice Taney, in the Dred Scott case, and the seperate opinions of all the concurring judges, expressly declare that the Consti- tution of the United States neither permits Congress nor a territorial legislature to exclude slavery from any Unit- ed States territory, they all omit to declare whether or A HOUSE DIVIDED, ETC. 357 not the same Constitution permits a state, or the people of a state, to exclude it. "Possibly, this is a mere omission; but who can be quite sure, if McLean or Curtis had sought to get into the opinion a declaration of unlimited power in the'people of a state to exclude slavery from their limits, just as Chase and Mace sought to get such declaration, in behalf of the people of a territory, into the Nebraska bill; I ask, who can be quite sure that it would not hgive been voted down in the one case as it has been in the other. "The nearest approach to the point of declaring the power of a state over slavery, is made by Judge Nelson. He approaches it more than once, using the precise idea and almost the language, too, of the Nebraska act. On one occasion his exact language is, 'except in cases where the power is restrained by the Constitution of the United States, the law of the state is supreme over the subject of slavery within its jurisdiction. In what cases the power of the states is so restrained by the United States Constitution, is left an open ques- tion, precisely as the same question as to the restraint on the power of the territories was left open in the Nebras- ka act. Put this and that together, and we have another nice little niche, which we may, ere long, see filled with another Supreme Court decision, declaring that the Con- stitution of the United States does not permit a state to «xclude slavery from its limits. And this may especially be expected if the doctrine of 'care not whether slavery be voted down or voted up,' shall gain upon the public mind sufficiently to give promise that such a decision can be maintained when made. 358 Lincoln's stories and speeches. "Such a decision is all that slavery now lacks of being alike lawful in all the states. Welcome or unwelcome ; such decision is probably coming, and will soon be up- on us, unless the power of the present political dynasty shall be met and overthrown. We shall lie down pleas- antly dreaming that the people of Missouri are on the very verge of making their state free, and we shall awake to the reality instead, that the Supreme Court has made Illinois a slave state. To meet and overthrow the power of that dynasty, is the work now before all those who would prevent that consumation. That is what we have to do. How can we best do iti* ' 'A LIVING DOG IS BETTER THAN A DEAD LION. " ' 'There are those who denounce us openly to their friends, and yet whisper us softly that Senator Douglas is the aptest instrument there is with which to effect that object. They wish us to infer all, from the fact that he now has a little quarrel with the present head of the dy- nasty; and that he has regularly voted with us on a single point, upon which he and we have never differed They remind us that he is a great man, and that the largest of us are very small ones. Let this be granted. But 'a living dog is better than a dead lion.' Judge Douglas, if net a dead lion, for this work, is at least a caged and toothless one. How can he oppose the advances of sla- very.' He don't care anything about it. His avowed mission is impressing the 'public heart', to care noth- ing about it. A leading Douglas democratic newspaper treating upon this subject thinks Douglas' superior talent will be needed to resist the revival of the African . A HOUSE DIVIDED, ETC. 359 slave trade. Does Douglas believe an effort to revive th'at trade is approaching? He has not said so. Does he really think so.' But if it is, how can he resist it.' For years he has labored to prove it a sacred right of white men to take negro slaves into the new territories. Can he possibly show that ft is less a sacred right to buy them where they can be bought the cheapest.' And un- questionably they can be bought cheaper in Africa than Virginia. He has done all in his power to reduce the whole question of slavery to one of a mere right of prop- erty: and as such, how can he oppose the foreign slave trade — how can he refuse that trade in that 'property' shall be 'perfectly free' — unless he does it as a protec- tion to the home production.' And as the home produc- ers will probably not ask the protection, he will be whol- ly without a ground of opposition. DOUGLAS IS NOT WITH US. "Senator Douglas holds, we know, that a man may rightfully be wiser to-day than he was yesterday — that he may rightfully change when he finds himself wrong. But can we, for that rcBSOn, run ahead; and infer that he will make any particular chapge of which he himself has given no intimation.' Can we safely base our actions upon any such vague reference.' Now, as ever, I wish not to misrepresent Judge Douglas' position, question his motives, or do aught that can be personally offensive to him. Whenever, if ever, he and we can come together on principle so that our 'cause may have assistance from his great ability, I hope to have interposed no adventi- tious obstacle. But clearly, he is not now with us — • he does not pretend to be — he does not pretend ever to be. •360 , uncoln's stories and speeches. but we shall not fail; the victory is sure. "Our cause, then, must be intrusted to and conducted by its own undoubted friends — those whose hands are free, whose hearts are in the work — who do care for the iresult. Two years ago the Republicans of the nation mustered over thirteen thousand strong. We did this unfier the single impulse of resistance to a common dan- ger, with every external circumstance against us. Of strange, discordant, and even hostile elements, we gath- ered from the four winds, and formed and fought the bat- tle through, under the constant hot fire of a diciplined, • - ■ proud and pampered enemy. Did we brave all then, to (alter now.' -now, when that same enemy is wavering, dissevered and belligerent.? The result is not doubtful. 'We shall not fail — if we stand firm, we shall not fail. Wise counsels may accelerate, or mistakes delay it, but, sooner or later, the victory is sure to come." :o: DEBATE WITH DOUGLAS, 36 1 ■Ct t> li- MR. LINCOLN'S DEBATE WITH DOUGLAS. His Celebrated Reply. Delivered at Chicago July io, 1858. My Fellow-Citizens: On yesterday evenings upon the occasion of the reception given to Senator Douglas, I was furnished with a seat very convenient for hearing him, and was otherwise very courteously treated by him and his friends, for which I thank him and thern. During the course of his remarks my name was men- tioned in such a way as, I suppose, renders it at least not improper that T should make some sort of reply to him. I shall not attempt to follow him in the precise order in which he addressed the assembled multitude upon that occasion, though I shall perhaps do so in the main. the alleged alliance. There was one question to which he called the atten- tion of the crowd, which I deem of somewhat less impor- tance — at least of propriety for me to dw^Lupon- — than the others, which he brought in near the close of his speech 362 Lincoln's stories and speeches. and which I think it would not be entirely proper for me to omit attending to, and yet if I- were not to give some attention to it now, I should probably forget it alto- gether. While I am upon this subject allow me to say that I do not intend to indulge in inconvenient modes sometimes adopted in pulbic speaking, of reading from documents; but I shall depart from that rule so far as to read a little ■ scrap from his speech, which notices this iirst topic of which I speak — that is, provided I can find it in the pa- per. [Examines the morning's paper and reads:] "I have made up my mind to appeal to the people against the combination against me ! the Republican lead- ers having formed an alliance, an unholy and unnatural alliance with a portion of unscrupulous federal office- holders. I intend to fight that allied army wherever I meet them. I know they deny the alliance, but yet these men who are trying to divide the Democratic party for the pur- pose of electing a Republican Senator in my place, are just as much the agents and tools of the supporters of Mr. Lincoln. Hence I shall deal with this allied army just as the Russians deal with the allies at Sebastopol — that is, the Russians did not stop to inquire when they fired a broadside, whether it hit an Englishman, a Frenchman or a Turk. Nor will I stop to inquire, nor shall I hesitate whether my blows shall hit these Republican leaders or their allies ^ho are holding the Federal offices and yet acting in con- pert with them. " DEBATE WITH DOUGLAS. 363 Well, now, gentlemen, is not that very alarming? Just think of it! right at the outset of his canvass, I, a poor, kind, amiable, intelligent gentleman, I am to be slain in this way. Why, my friends, the Judge is not only, as it turns out, not a dead lion, nor even a living one — he is. the rugged Russian Bear! [Laughter and applause.] But if they will haye it — for he says that we deny it — that there is any alliance, as he says there is — and I don't propose hanging very much upon this question of veracity — but if he will have it and there is such an alliance — that the admisistration men and we are allied, and we stand in the attitude ofEnglish, French and Turk, he occupying the position of the Russian, in that case, I beg that he will indulge us while we barely suggest to him that these allies tookSebastopol! [Great applause.] Gentlemen, only a few more words as to this alliance . For my part I have to say, that whether there be such an alliance, depends, so far as I know, of what may be a right definition of the term alliance. If for the Republican party to see the other great party to which they are op- posed divided among themselves, and not try to stop the division and rather be glad of it — if that is an alliance, I confess I am in; but if it is meant to be said that the Re- publicans formed an alliance going beyond that, by which there is contribution of money or sacrifice of principle on the one side or other, so far as the Republican party is concerned, if there be any such thing, I protest that I neither know anything of it, nor do I believe it. I will, however, say — as I think this branch of the ar- gument is lugged in — I would before I leave it state, for the benefit of those concerned, that one of those same 364 mkc'oln''s stories ad speeches. Buchanan men did once tell me of an argument that he made for his opiposition to Judge Douglas. He said that a friend of our Senator Douglas had been talking to him, and had among other things said to him: 'Why, you don't want to beat Douglas.'" "Yes," said he, "'I do want to beat him, and I will tell you why. I be- lieve his original Nebraska bill was right in the abstract, but it was wrong in the time it was.brought forward. It was wrong in the application to a Territory in regard to •which the question had been settled; it was tendered to the South when the South had not asked for it, but when they could not refuse it. ' 'And for this same reason he forced that question upon our party; it has sunk the best men all over the nation, •everywhere, and now when our President, struggling with the difficulty of this man's getting up, has reached the very hardest point to turn in the case, he deserts him, and I am for putting him where he will trouble us no more. " Now, gentfemen, that is not my argument at all. I have only been stating to you the argument of a Buchan- an man. You will judge if there is any force in it. WHAT IS POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY. Popular sovereignty! everlasting popular sovereignty! Let us for a moment inquire into the vast matter of pop- ular soverignty. What is popular sovereignty.? We rec- ollect that in an early period in the history of this strug- gle, there was another name for the same thing — Squat- ter Sovereignty. It w^s not ex9:Ct;ly Popular Sovereignty but Squatter Sovereignty. DEBATE WITH DOUGLAS. 365 What do those terms mean? What do those terms, mean when used now? And vast credit is taken by our friend, the Judge, in re- gard to his support of it, when he declares the last years ot his life have beeri and all the future years shall be de- voted to this matter of popular soverignty. What is it?' Why it is the sovereignty of the people! What was squat- ter sovereignty? I suppose if it had any significance at all it was the right of the people to govern themselves, to be sovereign in their own affairs while they had squatted THE squatter's HOME. on a Territory that did not belong to them, in the sense that a State belongs to the people who inhabit it — when it belonged to the nation — such right to govern them- selves was called "Squatter Sovereignty." Now I wish you to mark. What has become of that Squatter Sovereignty? What has become of it? Can you get anybody to tell you now that the people of a Territory have any authority to govern themselves in re- gard to this mooted question of slavery, before they form a State Constitution? No such thing at all, although there is a general run- ning fire, and although there ha^ibeen a hurrah made in every speech on that side, assuming that policy had giv- 366 Lincoln's STORIES and speeches. en the people of the Territory a right to govern them->. ■selves upon this question; yet the point is dodged. To- day it has been decided — no more than a year ago it had heen decided by the Supreme Court of the United States,, and is insisted upon to-day, that the people of a Terri-, tory have no right to exclude slavery from a Territory, and if any one man chooses to take slaves into a Terri- tory, all the rest of the people have no right to keep him ■out. This being so, and this decision being made one of the points that the Judge approved, and one in the approval of which he says he means to keep me down — put me -down I should not say, for I have never been up, he says he is in favor of it, and sticks to it, and expects to win his battle on that decision which says there is no such thing as Squatter Sovereignty, but that any man may take slaves into a 'Territory, aud all the men may be op- posed to it, and yet by reason of tjie Constitution they •cannot prohibit it. ,, When that is so, how much is left of this matter of Squatter Sovereignty, I should like to know.? [A voice — "It is all gone."] When we get back, we get to the point of the right of the people to make a Constitution. Kansas was settled, for example, in 1854. It was a Territory yet, without having formed a Constitution, in a very regular way, for three years. All this time negro slavery could be taken in by any few individuals, and by that decision of the Suprenje Court, . which the Judges approve, all the rest of the peo-, pie cannot keep it out ; but when they come to make a_ Constitution they may say they will not have slavery. DEBATE W I TH DOUGLAS. 36/ But it is there; they are obHged to tolerate it in ' some way, and all experience shows it will be so — for they will not take negro slaves and absolutely deprive the owners of them. All experience shows this to be so. All that space of time that runs from the beginning of the settlement of the Territory until there is sufficiency of people to make a State Constitution — all that portion of time Popular Sovereignty is given up. The seal is absolutely put down upon it by the Court decision, and Judge Douglas puts his own on the top of that, yet he is appealing to the people to give him vast credit for his devotion to popular sovereignty. [Applause.] Again, when we get to the question of the right of peo- ple to form a State Constitution as they please, to form with slavery or without slavery — if that is anything new, I confess I don't know it. Has there ever been a time when anybody said that any other than the people of a Territory itself should form a Constitution.? What is now in it that Douglas should have fought several years of his life, and pledge himself to fight all the remaining years of his life for.' Can Judge Douglas find anybody on earth that said anybody else should form a Constitution for a people.'' [A voice — "Yes."] Well, I should like you to name him — I should like to know who he was [same voice — "John Calhoun Mr. Lincoln — No, sir, I never heard of even John Cal- houn saying such a thing. He insisted on the same prin- ciple as Judge Douglas; but his mode of applying it in fact, was wrong.: It is enough for my purpose to ask this 368 Lincoln's stories and speeches. crowd, when ever a Republican said anything against it? They never said anything against it, but they have con- staintlys spoken for it ; and whosoever vHll undertake to examine the platform, and the speeches of responsible men of the party, and of irresponsible men, too, if you please, will be unable to find one word from anybody in the Republican ranks opposed to that Popular Soverign- ty which Judge Douglas thinks that he has invented. [Applause. J I suppose that Judge Douglas will claim in a little while that he is the inventor of the idea that the people* should govern themselves; that nobody ever thought of such a thing until he brought it forward. We do remember, that in the old Declaration of Independence, it is said that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Crea- tor with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, de- riving their just powers from the consent of the govern- ed." There is the origin of Popular Sovereignty. [Loud applause.] Who, then, shall come in at this day and say that he invented it? [After referring, in appropriate terms, to the credit claimed by Douglas for defeating the Lecompton policy, Mr. Lincoln proceeds.] I defy you to show a printed resolirtion passed in a Democratic meeting — I take it upon myself to , defy any man to shdW a printed resolution of a Democratic meet- ing, large or small, in favor of Judge Trumbull, or any DEBATE WITH DOUGLAS. 369 of the five to one Republicans who beat that bill. Every- thing must be for the Democrats. They did everything, and the five to the one that really did the thing, they snub over, and they do not seem to remember that they have an existence upon the face of the earth. A HOUSE DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF CANNOT STAND. THE OLD AND DIVIDED JERUSALEM WHICH FELL. Gentlemen, I fear that I shall become tedious. I leave this branch of the subject to take hold of another. I tak^ up that part of Judge Douglas' speech in which he respect- fully attended to me. Judge Douglas made two points upon my recent speech 370 Lincoln's siories and speeches. at Springfield. He says they are to be the issues of this campaign. The first one of theSe points he bases upon the language in a speech which I delivered at Springfield, which I believe I can quote correctly from memory. I said there that ' ' we are now far on in the fifth year when a policy was instituted for the avowed object, and with the confident promise of putting and end to slavery agitation ; under the operation or that policy that agitation had not only not ceased, but had constantly augmented. I be- lieve it will not cease until a crisis shall have been reach- ed and passed. A house divided against itself can not stand. I believe this government can not endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I am quot- ing from my speech — I do not expect the house to fall, but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will come all one thing or the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ulti- mate extinction, or its advocates will push it forward until it shall have become alike lawful in all ,the States, North as well as South. In this paragraph which I have quoted in your hearing, and to which I ask the attention of all. Judge Douglas thinks he discovered great political heresy. I want your attention particularly to what he has inferred from it. He says; Lam in favor of making all the States of the Union uniforiii. He draws this inference from the language I have quoted to you. He says that I am in favor of making war by the North upon the South for the extinction of slavery; that I am DEBATE WITH DOUGLAS. 371 also in favor of inviting, as he expresses it, the South to a war upon the North, for the purpose of nationalizing slav- ery. Now, it is singular enough, if you will carefully read the passage over, that I did not say that I was in f a- HALF SLAVE AND HALF FREE. vorof any such thing in it. I only said what I expected would take place. I made a prediction only — it may have been a foolish one perhaps. I did not even say that I desired that slav- 372 Lincoln's stories and speeches. ery should be put in course of ultimate extinction. I do^ say so, now, however, so there need be no longer any difficulty about that. It may be written down in the next speech. Gentlemen, Judge Douglas informed you that this speech of mine was probably carefully prepared. I ad- mit that it was. I am not master of language; I have- not a fine education; I am not capable of entering into a disquisition upon dialects, as I believe you call it; but I don't believe the language I employed bears any such con- struction as Judge Douglas puts upon it. But I don't care about a quibble in regard to words. I know what I meant, and I will not leave this crowd in doubt, if I can explain it to them, what I really meant in the use of that paragraph . I am not, in the first place, unaware that this govern- ment has endured eighty-two years half slave and half free. I know that, I am tolerably well acquainted with the history of the country, and I know that it has endur- ed eighty-two years half slave and half free. I believe — and that is what I meant to allude to here — I believe it has endured, because during all that time, until the in- troduction of the Nebraska bill, the public mind did rest all the time in the belief that slavery was in the course of ultimate extinction. That was what gave us the rest that we had during that j)eriod of eighty-two years; at least, so I believe. I have always hated slavery, I think, as much as any Abolition- ist. I have been an old line Whig. I have always hated it, but I have always been quiet about it until this new era of the introduction of the Nebraska bill began. I have always believed that everybody was against it, and that DEBATE WITH DOUGLAS. 373 it was in the course of ultimate extinction. [Pointing to Mr. Browning, who stood near by:] Browning thought so; the great mass of the nation have rested in the belief that slavery was in course of ultimate extinction. They had reason so to believe. The adoption of the Constitution and its attendant his- tory led the people to believe so; and that such was the (belief of the framers of the Constitution itself. Why did those old men, about the time of the adop- tion of the Constitution, decree that slavery should not ..go into the new territory, where it had not already gone.? Why declare that within twenty years the African slave trade, by which slaves are supplied, might be cut off by Congress.' Why were all these acts.' I might enumerate more of such acts; but enough. What were they but a clear indication that the framers 'Of the Constitution intended and expected the ultimate •extinction of that institution.' (Cheers.) And now when I say, as I said in this speech that Judge Douglas has quoted from, when I say that I think the opponents of slavery will resist the further spread of it, and place it were the public mind shall rest with the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction. I ■only meant to say, that they will place it where the foundation of this Government originally placed it. I have said a hundred times, I have no inclination to take it back that I believe there is no right, and ought to be no inclination of the people of the free States to enter into the slave States, and to interfere with the question of slavery at all. I have said that always. Judge Doug- Jas has heard me say it, if not quite a hundred times, at /least as good as a hundred times; and when it is said that 374 Lincoln's stories and speeches. I am in favor of interferiug with slavery where it existSy I know it is unwarranted by anything I have ever intend- ed, and, as I believe, by anything I have ever used lan- guage which could be fairly so constructed (as, however,. I believe I never have), I now correct it. So much, then, for the inference that Judge Douglas draws, that I am in favor of setting the sections at war with one another . I know that I never meant any such thing, and I believe that no fair mind can infer any such thing, from anything I have ever said. SELF-GOVERNMENT. Now in relation to his inference that I am in favor of a general consolidation of all the various institutions of the various States, I will attend to that for a little while, and try to inquire, if I can, how on earth it could be that any man could draw such an inference from anything I said. I have said, very many times, in Judge Douglas hear- ing, that no man believed more than I in the principle of self-government, from beginningto end. I have denied his use of that term applied properly. But for the thing itself, I deny that any man has gone ahead of me in his devotion to the principle, whatever he may have done in efficiency in advocating it. I think that I have said in your hearing — that I be- lieve each individual' is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with himself and the fruit of his labor, so far as it in no wise interferes with any other man's rights — [ap- plause] that each community, or a State, has a right to do exactly as it pleases with the concerns within that State that interfere with the right of no other State, and DEBATE WITH DOUGLAS. 375 that the General Government, upon principle, has no right to interfere with anything other than that general class of things that does concern the whole. I have said that at all times. I have said as illustrations, that I do not believe in the right of Illinois to interfere with the cranberry laws of Indiana, the oyster laws of Virginia, or the liquor laws of Maine. , I have said these things over ana over again, and I repeat them here as my sentiments. So much then as to my disposition, my wish, to have all the State Legislatures blotted out, and a uniformity of domestic regulations in all the States; by which I suppose it is meant, if we raise corn here, we must make sugar- cane too, and we must make those which grow North grow in the South. All this I suppose he understands, I am in favor of doing. Now so much for all this nonsense; for I must call it so. The Judge can have no issue with me on a question of established uniformity in the domestic regulations of the State. DRED SCOTT DECISION. A little now on the other point; the Dred Scott decis- ion. Another of the issues he says that is to be made with me, is upon his devotion to the Dred Scott decis- ion, and my opposition to it. I have expressed heretofore, and I now repeat my op- position to the Dred Scott decision, but I should be al- lowed to state the nature of that opposition, and I ask your indulgence while I do so. What is fairly iniplied by the term which Judge Douglas has used, ' 'resistance to the decision?" I do not resist it. If I wanted to take 376 Lincoln's stqr[es and speeches. Dred Scott from his master, I would be interfering with property, and thrft terrible difficulty that Judge Douglas speaks of, of interfering with property would arise. But I am doing no such thing as that, but all that I am doing is refusing to obey it as a political rule. If I were in Congress and a vote should come up on a question whether slavery should be prohibited in a new Territory, in spite of the Dred Scott decision, I would vote that it should. That is what I would do. Judge Douglas said last night, that before the decision he might advance his opinion, and it might be contrary to the decision when it was made; but after it was made he would abide by it until it was reversed. Just so! We let this property abide by the decision, but we will try to reverse that de- cision. (Loud applause.) We will try to put it where Judge Douglas will not ob- ject, for he says he will obey it until it is reversed. Somebody has to reverse that decision, since it was made, and we mean to reverse it, and we mean to do it peace- ably. What are the uses of decisions of courts.' They have two uses. As rules of property they have two uses. First ; they decide upon the question before the court. They decide in this case that Dred Scott is a slave. Nobody resists that. Not only that, but they say to everybody else, that persons standing just as Dred Scott stands, is as he is. That is, that when a question comes up upon another person, it will be so decided again un- less the court decides in another way, unless the court overrules its decision. (Renewed applause.) Well, we DEBATE WITH DOUGLAS. 377 mean to do what we can to have the court decide the other way. That is one thing we mean to try to do. The sacredness that Judge Douglas throws around this decision, is a degree of sacredness that has never been before thrown around any other decision. I have never heard of such a thing. Why, decisions n apparently con- trary to that decision, or good lawyers thought were con- trary to that decision, have been made by that very court before. It is the first of its kind; it is an astonish- er in legal history. It is a new wonder of the world, it is based on falsehoods in the main as to the facts; alle- gations of facts upon which it stands are not facts at all in many instances, and no decision made on any ques- tion; the first instance of a decision made under so many unfavorable circumstances; thus placed, has ever been held by the profession as law, and it has always needed "onfirmation before the lawyers regarded it as law. But judge Douglas would have it that all hands must take this extraordinary decision, made under these extraordin- ary circumstances, and give their vote in congress in ac- cori^nce with it, yield to it and obey it in every possible Sense, Circumstances alter cases. Do not gentlemen here re- member the case of that Supreme Court, twenty-five ol thirty years ago, deciding that a National Bank was Con- stitutional.'' I ask, if somebody does not remember that a National Bank was declared to be Constitutional? Such is the truth, whether it be remembered or not. The bank charter ran out, and a re-charter was granted. That re-charter was laid before General Jackson. It was urged upon him, when he d&niiBd-^lie constitu- tionality of the bank, that the Supreme Court had decid- 378 Lincoln's stories and speeches. edthat it was constitutional; and that General Jackson then said that the Supreme Court had no right to lay down a rule to govern a co-ordinate branch of the Gov- ernment, the members of which have sworn to support the Constitution; that each member had sworn to sup- port that Constitution as he understood it. I will venture here to say, that I have heard Judge Douglas say that he approved of General Jackson for that act. What has now become of all his tirade about sistence to the Supreme Court?" 're- THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDEiJCE. We were often; more than Qnce, at least; in the course ef Jiidge Douglas' speech last night, reminded that this Government was made for white men; that he believed DEBATE WITH DOUGLAS. 379. it was made for white men. Well that is putting it into a shape in which no one wants to deny it; but the Judge- then goes into his passion for drawing inferences that are not warranted. I protest, now and forever, against that counterfeit logic which presumes that because I did not want a negro woman for a slave, I do not necessarily want her for a wife. My understanding is that I need not have her for either; but as God made us separate, we can leave- one another alone, and do one another much good thereby. There are white men enough to marry all the white women, and enough black men to marry all the black, women, and in God's name let them be so married. The- Judge regales us with the terrible enormities that take place by the mixture of races; that the inferior race bears the superior down. Why, Judge, if you do not let themi get together in the Territories they won't mix there! A voice; "Three cheers for Lincoln." (The cheers were given with a hearty good will. Mr. L. — I should say at least that this is a self evident truth. Now, it happens that we meet together once every year some time about the Fourth of July, for some rea- son or other . These Fourth of July gatherings I sup- pose have their uses. If you will indulge me, I will state what 1 suppose to be some of them. A MIGHTY NATION. We are now a mighty nation; we are thirty; or about thirty millions of people, and we own and inhabit about one-fifteenth part of the dry land of the whole earth. 38o Lincoln's stories and speeches. We run our memory back over the pages of history for about eighty-two years, and we discover that we were then a very small people in point of numbers, vastly in- ferior to what we are now, with a vastly less extent of ■country, with vastly less of everything we deem desirable among men; we look upon the change as exceedingly ad- vantageous to us and to our prosterity, and we fix upon something that happened away back, as in some way or other being connected with this rise of prosperity. We find a race of men living in that day whom we ■claim as our fathers and grandfathers; they were iron men; they fought for the principle that they were con- tending for; and we understood that by what they then -did it has followed that the degree of prosperity which we ■ now enjoy has come to us. We hold this annual celebration to remind ourselves of all the good done in this process of time, of how it was done and who did it, and how we are historically con- nected with it; and we go from these meetings in better ihumor with ourselves; we feel more attached the one to the other, and" more firmly bound to the country we inhabit. In every way we are better men ift the age, and race, and country in which we live, for these celebrations. But after we have done all this, we have not yet reached the whole. There is something else connected with it. " We have, besides these; men descended by blood from ■our ancestors; those among us, perhaps half our people, who are not descendents at all of these men; they are men who have come from Europe; German, Irish, French and Scandinavian; men thatvhave come from Europe them- selves," or whose ancestors who have come hither and DEBATE WITH DOUGLAS. 381I settled here, finding themselves our equals in all things. If they look back through this history to trace their connection with those days of blood, they find they have none, they cannot carry themselves back into that glor- ious epoch and make themselves feel they are part of us; but when they look through that old Declaration of In- dependence, they find that those old men say that "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, " and then they feel that that moral senti- ment, taught on that day, evidences' their relation to. those men, that it is the father of all moral principle in them, and that they have a right to claim it as though they were the blood of the blood and flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote that Declaration [loud and long con- tinued applause], and so they were. That is the electric cord in that Declaration that links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men together, that will link those patriotic hearts as long as' the love of freedom exists in the minds of men throughout the world. (Applause. ) RUBBING OUT THE SENTIMENT OF LIBERTY. Now, sirs, for the purpose of squaring things with this idea of "don't care if slavery is voted up or voted down," for sustaining the Dred Scott decision, for holding that the Declaration of Independence did not mean anything at all, we have Judge Douglas^ giving his exposition of what the Declaration of Independence means and we have him saying that the pebple of America are equal to the people of England. According to his construction, you Germans are not connected with it. Now I ask you in all soberness, if all these things, if 382 Lincoln's stories and speeches. indulged in, if ratified, if confirmed and indorsed, if taught to our children and repeated to them, do not tend to rub out the sentiment of liberty in the country, and to trajis- iorm this Government into a government of some other form. These arguments that are made that the inferior race are to be treated with as much allowance as they are -capable of enjoying; that as much is to be done for thenj as ■'their condition will allow; what are these arguments? they are the arguments that Kings have made for enslav- ing the people in all ages of the world. You will find that all arguments in favor of King-craft Tvere of this class; they always bestrode the necks of the people, not that they wanted to do it. but because the [people were .better off for being ridden. That is their argument, and this argument of the Judge is the same old serpent that says: You work and I eat; ■you toil and I will enjoy the fruits of it. Turn it whatever way you will: whether it comes from the mouth of a King, an excuse for enslaving the people ■of his country, or from the mouth of men from one race as the reason for enslaving- the men of another race, it is -alltlje same old serpent, and I hold if that course of ■argumentation that is made for the purpose of convincing the public mind that we should not care about this, should be granted, it does not stop with the negro. I should like to know, if taking this old Declaration of Independence, which declares that all men are equal ■upon principle, you begin making exceptions to it, where you will stop.' If one man says it does not mean a ne- ■gro, why not another man say it does not mean some 'Other man! If that declaration is not the trnth, let us DEBATE WITH DOUGLAS. 383* get the statute book, in which we find it, and tear it out? If it is not true, let us tear it out! [cries of "no, no'"]; let us stick to it then; let us stand by it then. (Applause.) It may be argued that there are certain conditions that make necessities and impose them upon us, and to the extent that a necessity is imposed upon a man, he must submit to it. I think that was the condition in which we found ourselves when we established this Government. We have slaves among us; we could not get our Consti-, tution unless we permitted them to remain in slavery; we could not secure the good we did secure if we grasped for more: and having; by necessity, submitted to that much, it does not destroy the principle that is the charter of our liberties. Let that charter stand as our standard. LET us STAND FIRMLY BY EACH OTHER. My friend has said to me that I ani a poor hand to quote Scripture. I will try it again, however. It is said in one of the admonitions of our Lord: "As your Father in Heaven is perfect, be ye also perfect." The Savior, I suppose, did not expect that any human creature could be as perfect as the Father in Heaven; but He said: As your Father in Heaven is perfect, be ye also perfect. He set that up as a standard, arid he who did most toward reaching that standard, attained the highest de- 384 Lincoln's stories and speeches. gree of moral perfection. So I say in relation to the principle that all men are created equal, let it be as near- ly reached as we can. If we cannot give freedom to every creature, let us do nothing that will impose slavery upon any other creature. (Applause.) Let us then turn this Government back into the channel in which the OUR SAVIOR PERFORMING THE MIRACLE AT THE WED- DING IN CANA. framers of the Constitution originally placed it . Let us stand firmly by each other. If we do not do so we are turning in the contrary direction, that our friend Judge Douglas proposes; not intentionally; as working in the traces tends to make this one universal slave nation. He is one that runs in that direction, and as suclj I resist him. DEBATE WITH DOUGLAS. 38^ My friends, I have detained you about as long as I de- sire to- do, and I have only to say, let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man; this race and that race and the other race being inferior, and therefore they must be placed in an inferior position — discarding our standard that we have left us . Let us discard all these things, and unite as one people through- out this land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that all men are created equal. My friends, I could not, without launching off upon some new topic, which would detain you too. long, con- tinue to-night. I thank you for this most extensive , au- dience that you have furnished me to-night. I leave you, hoping that the lamp of liberty will burn in your bosoms until there shall no longer be a dbnbt that all men are created free and equal. ' 386 Lincoln's stories and speeches. DOUGLAS' SEVEN QUESTIONS. Lincoln's Position Defined on the Questions of the Day. [Delivered at Freeport, 111., July, 1858.] Ladies and Gentlemen: — On Saturday last. Judge Douglas and myself first met in public discussion. He spoke one hour, I an hour and a half, and he replied for half an hour. The order is now reversed. I am to speak an hour, he an hour and a half, and then I am to reply for half on hour. I propose to devote myself during the first hour to the scope of what was brought within the range of his half hour speech at Ottawa. Of course there was brought within the scope of that half-hour's speech something of his own opening speech. In the course of that opening argiiment, Judge Douglas propos- ed to nie seven different interrogatories. In my speech of an hour and a half, I attended to some other parts of his speech; and incidentally, as I thought, answered one of the interrogatories then. I then dis- tinctly intimated to him that I would answer the rest of his interrogatories on condition only that he should agree Douglas' questions answered. 38.7 to answer as many for me. He made no intimation at the time of the proposition, nor did he in his reply al- lude at all to that suggestion of mine. I do him no in- justice in saying that he occupied at least half of his re- ply in dealing with me as though I had refused to answer his interrogatories. I now propose that I will answer any of the interrogatories, upon condition that he will answer questions from me not exceeding the same num- ber, I give him an opportunity to respond. I now say that I will answer his interrogatories, whether he answers mine or not [applause]; and that after I have done so, I will propound mine to him. [Applause.] I have supposed myself, since the organization of the Republican party at Bloomington, in May, 1856, bound as a party man by the platform of the pa'rty, then and since. If in any interrogatories which I shall answer I go beyond the scope of what is in these platforms, it will be perceived that no one is responsible but my- self. Having said this much, I will take up the Judge's in- terrogatories as I find them printed in the Chicago Times, .and answer them seriatim. In order that there may be no mistake about it, I have copied the interrogatories in writing, and also my answers to them. The first one of these interrogatories is in these words: Q. I. "I desire to know whether Lincoln to-day stands, as he did in 1854, iji favor of the unconditional repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law.?" A. I do not now, nor never did, stand in favor of the •unconditional repeal of the Fugutive Slave Law. Q. 2. I desire him to answer whether he stands pledged to-day, as he did in 1854, against any more 388 Lincoln's stories and speeches. slave States into the Union, even if the people want them?" A. I do not now, nor never did, stand pledged against the admission of any more slave States into the Union. Q. 3. "I want to know whether he staijds pledged against thq admission of a new State in,to the Union with, such a Constitution as the people of that State may see- fit to make.?" A. I do not stand pledged against the admissiori' of a new State into the Union, with such a consti- tion as the people of that State may see fit to make. Q. 4. "I want to know whether he stands to-day pledged to the abolition of slavery in the District of Col- umbia. ' A. I do not stand to-day pledged to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. Q. 5. "I desire him to answer whether he stands- pledged to the prohibition of the slave-trade between the- different States.'" A. I do not stand pledged to the prohibition of the slave-trade between the different States. Q. 6. "I desire to know whether he stands pledged to prohibit slavery in all the Territories of the United States, North as well as South of the Missouri Compro- mise line.?" A. I am impliedly, if not expressedly, pledged) to a belief iu the right and duty of' Congress to prohibit slav- ery in the United States Territories. [Great applause . ] Q. 7. "I desire to know whether he is opposed to the acquisition of . any new territory unless slavery is. first prohibited therein.'" Douglas' questions answered. 389 A. I am not generally opposed to honest acquisition •of Territory; and, in any given case, I would or would not oppose such acquisition, accordingly as I might think such acquisition would or would not agitate the slavery ■question among ourselves. Now, my friends, it will be perceived upon an exami- nation of these questions and answers, that so far I have ■only answered that I was not pledged to this, that or the ■other . The Judge has not framed his interrogatories to ask me anything more than this, and I have answered in •strict accordance with his interrogatories, and have ans- wered truly that I am not pledged at all upon any of the ipoints to which I have answered. But I am not dis- posed to hang upon the exact form of his interrogatory. I am rather disposed to take up at least some of these ■questions, and state what I really think upon them. LINCOLN'S POSITION MORE FULLY DEFINED. As to the first one, in regard to the Fugitive Slave iLaw, I have never hesitated to say, and I do not now hesitate to say, that I think, under the Constitution of Tthe United States, the people of the Southern States are •entitled to a Congressional slave law. Having said that, I have nothing to say in regard to the existing Fugitive Slave Law, farther than that I think it should have been 'framed so as to be free from some of the objections that pertain to it, without lessening its efficiency. And inas- much as we are not now in agitation upon the general ■question of slavery. In regard to the other question, of whether I am pledged to the admission of any more slave States into .the Union, I state to you frankly that I would be exceed- 390 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. ingly sorry ever to be put in a position of having to pass upon that question. I should be exceedingly glad to know that there would never be another slave State admitted into the Union; but I must add, that if slavery shall be kept out of the Territories during the Territorial existence of any one given Territory, and then the people shall, having a fair chance and a clear field, when they come tO' adopt the Constitution, do such an extraordinary thing as to adopt the Constitution, uninfluenced by the actual presence of the institution among them, I see no alterna- tive if we own the country, but to admit them into the Union. [Applause.] The third interrogatory is answered by the answer to the second, it being, as I conceive, the same as the sec- ond. The fourth one is in regard to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. In relation to that I have my mind very distinctly made up. I should be exceed- ingly glad to see slavery abolished in the District of Col- umbia. I believe that Congress has Constitutional pow- er to abolish it. Yet as a member of Congress, I should not with my present views be in favor of endeavoring to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, unless it would be upofl these conditions. First, that the abolition should be gradual; second, that it should be on a vote of the majority of qualified voters of the District; and third,, that compensation should be made to unwilling owners. With these three conditions, I confess I would be exceed- ingly glad to see Congress abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, and in the language of Henry Clay, "sweep from our Capital that foul blot upon our Nation." In regard to the fifth interrogatory, I must say that as DOUGLAS' QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 39 1 to the question of abolition of the slave-trade between the different States, I can truly answer, as I have; that I am pledged to nothing about it. It is a subject to which I have not given that mature consideration that would make me feel authorized to state a position so as to hold myself entirely bound by it. In other words, that ques- tion has never been prominently enough before me to in- duce me to investigate whether we really have the Con- stitutional power to do it. I couid investigate if I had sufficient time to bring myself to a conclusion upon that subject; but I have not done so, and I say so frankly to you here, and to Judge Douglas . [ must say, however, that if I should be of the opinion that Congress does pos- sess the Constitutional power to abolish slave-trading among the different States, I should not still be in favor of that power unless upon some conservative principle as I conceive it, akin to what I have said in relation to the abolition of slavery in the District of Colum- bia. My answer as to whether I desire that slavery should be prohibited in all Territories of the United States, is full and explicit within itself, and cannot be made clearer by any comment of mine. So I suppose in regard to the question whether I am opposed to the acquisition of any more territory unless slavery is such that I could add nothing by way of illustration, or making myself better anderstood, than the answer, which I have placed in writ- ing. Now, in all this, the Judge has me, and he has me on the record. I suppose he had flattered himself that I was really entertaining one set of opinions for one place and another set for another place — that I was afraid to 392 lincol'ns stories akd speeches. say at one place /what I uttered at another. What I am saj5in|^-here I suppose I say to a vast audience in the State of Illinois, and I believe lam saying that which, ,if it would be offensive to any persons and render them cenemies to myself, would be offensive to persons in this audience. -:o: AT COOPER INSTITUTE. 393 LINCOLN'S GREAT COOPER INSTITUTE SPEECH. Delivered at Cooper Institute, New York City, February 27, 1860. [This speech, more than any other one, is supposed to have secured Lincoln the nomination for the Presiden- cy] Mr. President and Fellow-CitiZens of New York: — The facts with which I shall deal this evening are mainly old and faniiliar; nor is there anything new in the general use I shall make of them. If there shall be any novelty, it will be in the mode of presenting the facts, and the references , and observations following that presenta- tion. OUR FATHERS AND THE CONSTITUTION. In his speech last autumn at Columbus, Ohio, as reported in the New York Times, Senator Douglas said: ' 'Our fathers, when they framed the government un- der which we live, understood this question just as well and even better than we do now." I fvilly indoj-se this, and I adopt it as a text for this dis- course. I so adopt it because it furnishes a precise and agreed starting-point for a discussion between Republi- cans and that wing of Democracy headfed-by Senator Douglas. It simply leaves the inquiry: "What was the 394 LINCOLN S STORIES AND SPEECHES. understanding those fathers had of the question men- tioned? What is the frame of government under which we Hve? The answer must be: "The Constitution of the Uni- ted States." That Constitution consists of the original, framed in 1837 (and under which the present government first went into operation), and twelve subsequently framed amend- ments, the first ten of which were framed in 1789. Who were our fathers that framed the Constitution.^ I suppose the "thirty-nine" who signed the original in- strument may be fairly called our fathers who framed that part of our present government. It is almost exact- ly true to say they framed it, and it is altogether true to say they fairly represented the opinion and sentiment of the whole nation at that time. Their names being famil- iar to nearly all, and accessible to quite all, need not now be repeated. I take these "thirty-nine'' for the present, as oeing ' 'our fathers who framed the government under which we live." What is the question which, according to the text, those fathers understood just as well arid even better than we do now.' THE GREAT ISSUE. It is this: Does the proper division of local from Fed- eral authority, or anything in the Constitution, forbid our Federal Government to control us as to slavery in our Federal Territories.' Upon this Douglas holds the affirmative, and Republi- AT COOPER INSTITUTE. 395, cans th? negative. This affirmative and denial form an issue; and this issue — this question — is precisely what the text declares our fathers understood better than we. In 1784 — three years hefore the Constitution — the United States then owning the North-western Territory,, and no other — the Congress of the Confederation had be- fore them the question of prohibiting slavery in that Ter- ritory; and four of the ' 'thirty-nine" who afterward framed the Constitution were in that Congress, and voted on that question. Of these, Roger Sherman, Thomas Mifflin and Hugh Williamson voted for the prohibition — thus showing that, in their understanding, no line divided local from Federal authority, nor anything else, properly forbade the Fed- eral Government to control as to slavery in Federal ter- ritory. The other of the four — James McHenry — voted against the prohibition, showing that, for some cause, he thought it improper to vote for it. ORDINANCE OF 1 787. In 1 787, still before the Constitution, but while the convention was in session framing it and while the North- west Territory was the only territory owned by the Uni- ted States, the same question of prohibiting slavery in the territory again came before the Congress of the Confed- eration and three more of the "thirty-nine" who after- Ward signed the Constitution were in that Congress and voted on that question. They were: William Blount, William Few, and Abra- ham Baldwin, and they all voted for the prohibition — 396 Lincoln's' STORIES and speeches^ thus showing that, in their understanding, no line divid- ing local from Federal authority, nor anything else, prop- erly forbade the Federal Government to control as to slavery in Federal territory, This time the prohibition became a law, being a part of what is now known as the ordidahce of '87. The question of Federal coritrol of slavery in the ter- ritories seems not to have been directly before the con- verition which framed the original Constitution; and hence it is not recorded that the "thirty-nine," or any of them, while engaged on that instrument, expressed any opinion on that precise question. THE FIRST congress. In 1789, by the first Congress which sat under the Constitution, an act was passed to enforce the ordinance of '87, including the prohibition of slavery in the North- western Territory. The bill for this act was reported by •one of the "thirty-nine," Thomas Fitzsimmons, then a member of the House of Representatives from Penn- sylvania. It went through all its stages without a word of oppo- sition, and finally passed both branches without yeas or nays, which is equivalent to a unanimous passage. In this Congress there were sixteen • of the "thirty-nine" fathers who framed the original Constitution. They were: John Langdon, George Clymer, Richard Bassett, Nicholas Gilmad, William Few, George Read, Wm. S. Johnson, Abraham Baldwin, Pierce Butler, Roger Sherman, Rufus King, Daniel Carroll, Robert Morris, William Patterson, James Madison. Thomas Fitzsimmons AT COOPER INSTITUTE. 397 This shows that in their understanding no line divided local from Federal authority, nor anything in the Consti- tution properly forbade Congress to prohibit slavery m the Federal territory, else both their fidelity to cor- rect principle and their oath to support the Constitution would have constrained them to oppose the prohibi- tion. GEORGE WASHINGTON. Again, George Washington, another of the ' 'thirty- nine, " was then President of the United States, and, as such, approved and signed the bill, thus completing its validity as a law, and thus showing that in his understand- ing, no line dividing local from Federal authority, nor anything in the Constitution, forbade the Feder- al Government to control as to slavery in Federal terri- tory. * THE FIRST TER I TORIES. No great while after the adoption of the original Con- stitution, North Carolina ceded to the Federal Govern- ment the country now constituting the State of Tennes- see, and a few years later Georgia ceded that which now constitutes the States of Mississippi and Alabama. In both deeds of cession it was made a condition by the ceding States that the Federal Government should not prohibit slavery in the ceded country. Besides this, slav- ery was already in the ceded country. Under these cir- cumstances, Congress, on taking charge of these coun- tries, did not absolutely prohibit slavery within them. But they did interfere with it, take control of it, even there, to a certain extent. In 1798, Congress organised the territory of Mississ- '.'398 Lincoln's stories and speeches. ippi. In the act of organization they prohibited the bring- ing of slaves into the territories from any place without the United States, by fine, and giving freedom to slaves, so brought. - i This act passed both branches of Congress without yeas and nays. In that Congress were three of the '.'thir- ty-nine" who framed the original Constitution. They ■were John Langdon, George Read and Abraham Bald- win. They all, probably, voted for it. Certainly they would have placed their opposition to it upon the record, if, in their underst3,nding, any line dividing local from Federal authority, or anything in the Constitution properly for- bade the Federal Government to control as to slavery in Federal territory. * THE LOUISIANA COUNTRY. In 1803, the Federal Government purchased the Louis- iana country. Our former territorial acquisitions came •from certain of our own States; but this Louisiana coun- try was acquired from a foreign nation. In 1804, Con- gress gave a territorial organization to that part of it which now constitutes the State of Louisiana. New Or- leans, laying within that part, was an old and compar- atively large city. There were other considerable towns and settlements, and slavery was extensively and thoroughly intermingled with the people. Congress did not, in the territorial act, prohibit slavery; but they did interfere with it — take con- ti-ol of it — in a more marked and extensive way than they did in the case of Mississippi. The substance of the pro- vision therein made, in relation to slaves, was: AT COOPER INSTITUTE. 399 First: That no slaves .shouid be imported into the territory from' foreign parts. Second: That the slaves should be carried into it who had been imported into the United States since the first day of May, 1798. Third: That no slave should be carried into it, except by the owner, and for his own use as a settler; the pen- alty in all the cases being a fine upon the violator of the law, and freedom to the slave. This act, also, was passed without yeas .and nays. In the Congress which passed it there were two of the "thirty-nine." They were Abraham Baldvyin and Jona- than Dayton. As stated in the case of Mississippi, it is probable they both voted for it; they would not have allowed it to pass without recording their opposition to it, if, in their understanding, it violated either the line properly dividing local from Federal authority or any provision of the Constitution. THE MISSOURI QUESTION. In 1819-20 came, and passed, the Missouri question. Many votes were taken by yeas and nays, in both bran- ches of Congress, upon the various phases of the general question. Two of the "thirty-nine" — Rufus King and Charles Pinckney — were members of that Congress. Mr. King steadily voted for slavery prohibition and against all com- promises. By this Mr. King showed that in his under- «tanding, no line divided local from Federal authority, nor anything in the Constitution, was violated by Con- gress prohibiting slavery in Federal territory; while Mr. Pinckney, by his votes, showed that in his understand- 400 LINCOLN S STORIES AND SPEECHES. ing, there was some different re3.son for opposing such prohibition in the case. The cases I have mentioned are the only acts of the ' 'thirty-^nine, " or any of them upon the direct issue, which I have been able to discover. So enumerate the persons who thus acted, as being four in 1784, three in 1787, seventeen in 1789, three in 1798, two in 1804, and two in 1819-20, there would be thirty-one of them. Biit this wbuld be counting John Langdon, Roger Sherman, William Few, Rufus King, and George Read, each twice, and Abraham Baldwin four times. The true number of those of the "thirty-nine," whom I have shown to have acted upon the question, which, by the text, they understood better than we, is twenty-three, leaving sixteen not shown to have acted upon it in any way. Here, then, we have twenty-three of our "thirty-nine" fathers who framed the government under which we live, who have, upon their official responsibility and their cor- poral oaths, acted upon the very question which the text affirms they ' 'understood just as well, and even better than we do now; and twenty-one of them — a clear ma- jority of the whole "thirty-nine" — so acting upon it as tO' make them guilty of gross political impropriety and wil- ful perjury, if, in their understanding, any proper division between local and Federal authority, or anything in the Constitution they had made themselves and sworn to sup- port, forbade the Federal Government to control, as to slavery, the Federal territories. Thus the twenty-one AT COOPER INSTITUTE. 40I acted: and, as actions speak louder than words, so ac- tions under such responsibility speak still louder. Two of the twenty-three voted against Congressional prohibition of slavery in the Federal ■ territories, in the instances in which they acted upon the question. But for what reasons they so voted is not known They may have done so because they thought a proper division of local from Federal authority, or some provision or prin- cipal of the Constitution stood in the way; or they may, without any such question, have voted against the prohi- bition on what appeared t-o them to be sufficient grounds of inexpediency. No one who has sworn to support the Constitution can conscienciously vote for what he understands to be an un* constitutional measure however expedient he may think it; but one may and ought to vote against a measure which he deems constitutional, if, at the same time, he deems it inexpedient. It, therefore, would be unsafe to set down even the two who voted against the prohibition, as having done so because, in their understanding, any proper division of local from Federal authority, or anything in the Constitu-. tion, forbade the Federal Government to control, as to, slavery, in the territory. The remaining sixteen of the the ' 'thirty-nine, " so far as I have discovered, have left no record of .their under- . standing upon the direct question of Federal control of slavery in the Federal territories. But there is much re'a-'. son to believe that their understanding upon that ques-. tion would not have appeared different from that of their twenty-three compeers, had it been manifested at all. For the purpose of adhering rigidly to the text, I have 402 Lincoln's stories Aii^ip speeches. puFposely omitted whatever understanding may have been manifested, by any person, however distinguished, other than the "thirty-nine" fathers who framed the orig- inal Constitution; and, for the same reason I have also oniit- ted whatever understanding may have been manifested by any of the "thirty, nine," even on any other phase of the general question of slavery. If we should look into their acts and declarations on these other phases, as the foreign slave trade, and the morality and policy of slavery generally, it would appear to us that on the direct question of Federal control of slavery in Federal territories, the sixteen, if they had acted at all, would probably have acted just as the twenty-three did. Among that sixteen were several of the most noted anti-slavery men of those times — as Dr. Franklin, Alexander Hamil- ton, and Governor Morris — while there is not one now known to have been otherwise, unless it may have been John Rutledge, of South Carolina. SUMMARY Xhe sum of the whole is, that of our "thirty-nine" fathers who framed the original Constitution, twenty-one — a clear majority of the whole — certainly understood that no proper division of local from Federal authority, nor any pairt of the Constitution, forbade the Federal Governnjent !to control slavery in the Federal territories; wjiile alMiie rest probably had the same understanding. Such, unquestionably, was the understanding of our fathers who framed the original Constitution; and the, text affirms that they undei-stood the question better tlia,Q we. AT COOPER INSTITUTE. 403 AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION. But, SO far, I have been considering the understand- ing of the question manifested by the framers of the original Constitution. In and by the original instrument, a mode was provided for amending it ; and, as I have al- ready stated, the present frame of government under ■which we live consists of that original and twelve amend- atory articles framed and adopted since. Those who now insist that Federal control of slavery in Federal territories violates the Constitution, point us to the provisions which they suppose it thus violates ; and, as I understand, they all fix upon provisions in these amendatory articles, and not in the original instrument. The Supreme Court, in the Dred Scott case, plant them- selves upon the fifth amendment, which provides that "no person shall be deprived of property without due process of law;" while Senator Douglas and his peculiar adherents plant themselves upon the tenth amendment, providing that "the powers granted by the Constitu- tion are reserved to the States respectively and to the people." Now, it so happens that these amendments were fram- ed by the first Congress which sat under the Constitution — ^the identical Congress which passed the act already mentioned, enforcing the prohibition of slavery in the Northwestern Territory. Not Only was it the same Con- gress, but they were the identical same individual men who, at the same session, and at the same time within the session, had under consideration, and in progress toward maturity, these constitutional amendments and this act prohibiting slavery in all the territory the nation 404 LINCOLN S STORIES AND SPEECHES. then owned. The constitutional amendments were in- troduced before and passed after the act enforcing the ordinance of 1787, so that during the whole pendency of the act to enforce the ordinanace, the constitutional amendments were "also pending. That Congress, consisting of all the seventy-six mem- bers, including sixteen of the framers of the originaJ Constitution, as before stated, were pre-eminently our fathers who framed that part of the government under which we live which is now claimed as forbidding the Federal Government to control slavery in the Federal territories. Is it not a little presumptous in any one at this day to affirm that the two things which that Congress delib- erately framed, and carried to maturity at the same- time, are absolutely inconsistent with each other? And does not such affirmation, from the same mouth, that those who did the two things alleged to be inconsistent, understood whether they really were inconsistent better than we — better than he who affirms that they are in- consistent.? It is surely safe to assume that the ' 'thirty-nine'" framers of the original constitution, and the seventy-six members of the Congress which framed the amendments, thereto, taken together, do certainly include those who* may be fairly called our fathers who framed tjie govern- ment under which we live. And so assuming, I defy any man to show that any one of them ever in his whole life- declared that, in his understanding, any proper division of local from Federal authority, or any part of the Consti- tution, forbade the Federal Government to control as to slavery in the Federal territories. AT COOPER INSTIIUTE. 405 I GO A STEP FARTHER. I go a step farther. I defy any one to show that any Jiving man in the whole world ever did, prior to the be- ginning of the present century, (and I might almost say prior to the beginning of the last half of the present cen- tury, ) declare that, in his understanding, any proper div- ision of local from Federal authority, or any part of the Constitution, forbade the Federal Government to con- trol as to slavery in the Federal territories. To those who so now declare, I give, not only ' 'our fathers who framed the government under which we live," but with them all other living men within the cen- tury in which it was framed, among whom to search, and they shall not be able to find the evidence of a sin- gle man agreeing with them. LET THERE BE NO MISUNDERSTANDING. Now, and here, let me guard a little against being misunderstood. I do not mean to say we are bound to follow implicitly in whatever our fathers did. To do so would be to discard all the lights of current experiences — to reject all progress — all improvement. What I do say is, that if we would supplantthe opinions and policy of our fathers in any case, we should do so upon evi- dence so conclusive, and argument so clear, that even their great authority, fairly considered and weighed, can not stand; and most surely not in a case whereof we our- selves declare they understood the question better than we. If any man, at this day, sincerely believes that a proper division of local from Federal authority, or any part of the Constitution, forbids the Federal Government to 4o6 Lincoln's stories and speeches. control as to slavery in the Federal territories, he is right to say so, and to enforce his position by all truthful evi- dence and fair argument which he can. But he has no right to mislead others, who have less access to history and less lesiure to study it, into the false belief that "our fathers who framed the govern- ment under which we live," were of the same opinion — thus substituting falsehood and deception for truthful evidence and fair argument. If any man at this day sincerely believes "our fathers who framed the government under which we live," used and applied principles, in other cases, which ought to have led them to understand that a proper division of local from Federal authority, or some part of the Con- stitution, forbids the Federal Government to control slavery in the Federal territories, he is right to do so. But he should, at the same time, brave the responsi- bility of declaring that, in his opinion, he understands their principles better than they did themselves; and especially should he not shirk that responsibility by as- serting that they "understood the question just as well, and even better, than we do now. " But enough. Let all who believe that "our fathers- who framed the government under which we live, un- derstood this question just as well, and even better, than we do now," speak as they spoke, and act as they acted upon it. This is all Republicans ask — -all Repub- licans desire — in relation to slavery. As those fathers marked it, so let it be again marked, as an evil not to be extended, but to be tolerated and protected only because of and so far as its actual presence among us makes that toleration and protection a necessity. Let all the guar- AT COOPER INSTITUTE. 407 antees those fathers gave it be, not grudgingly, but fully and fairly- maintained. For this Republicans contend, and with this, so far as I know or believe, they will be content. A FEW WORDS FROM MR. LINCOLN TO THE SOUTHERN PEOPLE. And now, if they would listen — as I suppose they will not — I would address a few words to the Southern peo- ple. I would say to them: You consider yourselves a rea- sonable and just people, and I consider that in the gen- eral qualities of reason and justice you are not inferior to any other people. Still, when you speak of us Repub- licans you do so only to denounce us as reptiles, or, at the best, as no better than outlaws. You will grant a hearing to pirates or murderers, but nothing like it to "Black Republicans." In all your contentions with one another, each of you deems an unconditional condemna- tion of "Black Republicanism" as the first thing to be attended to. Indeed, such condemnation of us seems to be an indispensable prerequisite — license, so to speak ■ — among you, to be admitted or permitted to speak at all. Now, can you, or not, be prevailed upon to pause and to consider whether this is quite just to us, or even to yourselves.'' "BRING FORWARD YOUR CHARGES." Bring forward your charges and specifications, and then be patient long enough to hear us deny or justify. You say we are sectional. We deny it. That makes 4o8 Lincoln's stories and speeches. am issue; and the burden of proof is upon you. You produce your proof; and what is it? Why that our party has no existence in your section — ^gets no votee in your section. The fact is substantially true; but does it prove the issue. If it does, then, in case we should, without change of principle, begin to get votes in your section, we should thereby cease to be sectional. You can not escape this conclusion; and yet, are you willing to abide by it.? If you are, you will probably soop find that we have ceased to be sectional, for we shall get votes in your section this very year. You will then begin to discover as the truth plainly is, that your proof does not touch the issue. The fact that we get no votes in your section is a fact ot your making and not of ours. And if there be fault in that fact that fault is primarily yours, and remains so until you show that we repel you by some wrong princi- ple or practice. If we do repel you by any wrong principle or practice, the fault is ours; but this brings you to where you ought to have started — to a discussion of the right or wrong of pur principle. If our principle, put in practice, would wrong your section for the benefit of ours, or for any other object, then our principle, and we with it, are sectional, and are justly exposed and denounced as such. Meet us, then, on the question of whether our principle, put in practice would wrong your section; and so meet it as if it were possible that something may be said on our side. Do you accept the challenge.'' No.' Then you really believe the principle which ' 'our fathers, who framed the government under which we live," thought so clearly AT COOPER INSTITUTE. 409 right as to adopt it and indorse it again and again, upon their official oaths, is, in fact, so clearly wrong as to de- mand your condemnation without a moment's consider- ation. COULD WASHINGTON SPEAK, WHAT WOULD HE SAY? Some of you delight to flaunt in our faces the Warning against sectional parties given by Washington in his Farewell Address. Less than eight years before Wash- ington gave that warning, he had, as President of the United States, approved and signed an act of Congress enforcing the prohibition of slavery in the Northwestern Territory, which act embodied the policy of the govern- ment upon that subject, up to and the very moment he penned that warning; and about one year after he pen- ned it, he wrote Lafayette that he considered that pro- hibition a wise measure, expressing, in the same con- nection, his hope that we should some time have a Con- federacy of free States. Bearing this in mind, and seeing that sectionalism has since arisen on this same subject, is that warning a weapon in your hands against us, or in our hands against you.' Could Washington himself speak, would he cast the blame of that sectionilsm upon us, who sustain his policy, or upon you who repudiate it.? We respect that warning of Washingtori, and we commend it to you, to- gether with his example pointing to the right application of it. WHAT IS CONSERVATISM .' But you say you are conservative — eminently conser- vative — while we are revolutionary, destructive or some- 4IO i-INCOLN's STORIES AND SPEECHES. thing of the sort. What is conservatism ? It is not ad- herence to the old and tried, against the new and un- tried ? We stick to contend for the identical old policy, on the point of controversy, which was adopted by our fathers who framed the government under which we live ; while you with one accord reject, and scout, and spit upon that old policy, and insist upon subsituting something new. True, you disagree among yourselves as to what that substitute -shall be. You have considerable variety of new propositions and plans, but you are unanimous in rejecting and denouncing the old policy of the fathers. Some of you are for reviving the foreign slave trade; some for a congressional slave code for the territories; some for Congress forbidding the territories to prohibit slavery within their limits, some for maintaining slavery in the territories through the judiciary; some for the "gur-reat pur-rinciple" that >"if one man would enslave another, no third man should object," fantastically called "popular sovereignty;" but never a man among you in favor of Federal prohibition of slavery in Federal terri- tories, according to the practice of our fathers who framed the government under which we live. Not one of all your various plans can show a precedent or an advocate in the century within which our govern- ment originated. Consider, then, whether your claim of conservatism for yourselves, and your charge of destruc- tiveness against us, are based on the most clear and staple foundations. WE DENY IT. Again, you say we have made the slavery question more prominent than it formerly was. We deny it. We AT COOPER INSTITUTE. 4II admit that it is more prominent, but we .deny that we made it so . It was not we, but you, who discarded the old pohcy of the fathers. We resisted, and still resist, your innovation, and thence comes the greater promi- nence of the question. Would you have that question reduced to its former proportions .' Go back to that old policy. What has been will be again, under the same conditions. If you would have the peace of the old times, readopt the precepts and policy of the old lime^. You charge that we stir up insurrections among your slaves. We deny it; and what is your proof.' Harper's Ferry ! John Brown ! John Brown was no Republican; and you have failed to implicate a single Republican in his Harper's Ferry enterprise. If any member of our party is guilty in that matter, you know it or you do not know it. If you do know it you are inexcusable to not designate the man and prove the fact. If you do not know it, you are inexcusable to assert it, and especially to persist in the assertion after you have tried and failed to make the proof. You need not be told that persisting in a charge which one does not know to be true, is simply malicious slander. "WE DO NOT BELIEVE IT." Some of you admit that no Republican designedly- aided or encouraged the Harper's Ferry affair, but still insist that our doctrines and declarations necessarily lead to such results. We do not believe it. We know we hold to no doctrines, and make no declarations which, were not held to and made by our fathers who framed the government under which we live. You never dealt fairly by us in relation to this affair. When it occurred 412 Lincoln's stories and speeches. some important state elections were near at hand, and you were in evident glee with the belief that by charging the blame upon us you could get an advantage of us in those elections. The elections came, and your expecta- tions were not quite fulfilled. Every Republican man knew that, as to himself at leagt your charge was a slan- der, and he was not much inclined by it to cast his vote in your favor. Republican doctrines and declarations are accompanied with a^continual protest against any in- terference whatever with your slaves, or with you about your slaves. Surely this does not encourage them to revolt. True, we do, in common with our fathers who framed the gov- ernment under which we live, declare our belief that slavery is wrong; but the slaves do not hear us declare €ven this. For anything we say or do the slaves would scarcely know there was a Republican party. I believe they would not, in fact, generally know it but for your misrepresentations of us in their hearing. In your politi- cal contests among yourselves, each faction charges the other with sympathy with Black Republicanism; and then, to give point to the charge, defines Black Republi- canism to simply be insurrection, blood and thunder among the slaves. INSURRECTION rMPOSSIBLE. Slave insurrections are no more common now than they were before the Republican party was organized. What induced the Southampton insurrection, twenty-eight years ago, in which at least three times as many lives ■were lost as at Harper's Ferry .' You can scarcely stretch your very elastic fancy to the conclusion that South- AT COOPER INSTITUTE. 4 1 J ampton was got up by Black Republicanism . In the present state of things in the United States, I do not think a general or even a very extensive slave insurrec- tion is possible. The indispensable concert of action cannot be attained. The slaves have no means of rapid communication; nor can incendiary free men, black or white, supply it. The explosive materials are every- where in parcels; but there neither are, nor can be sup- plifed, the indispensable connecting trains. Much is said by Southern people about the affection of slaves for their masters and mistresses; and a part of it, at least, is true- A plot for an uprising could scarcely be devised and communicated to twenty individuals before some one of them, to save the life of a favorite master or mistress, would divulge it. This is the rule; and the slave revolution in Hayti was not an exception to it, but a case occurring under peculiar circumstances. The gun- powder plot of British history, though not connected with slaves, was more in point. In that case only about twenty were admitted to the secret; and yet one of them, in his anxiety to save a friend, betrayed the plot to that friend, and, by consequence, averted the calamity. Occasional poisonings from the kitchen, and open or stealthy assassinations in the field, and local revolts ex- tending to a score or so, will continue to occur as the natural results of slavery, but no general insurrection of slaves, as I think, can happen in this country for a long time. Whoever much fears, or much hopes, for such an event, will be alike disappointed. In the language of Mr . Jefferson, uttered many years ago, ' 'It is still in our power to direct the process of emancipation, and deportation peaceably, and in such 414 LINCOLN S STORIES AND SPEECHES. slow degrees, as that the evil will wear off insensibly; and their places be, pari passu, filled up by free white laborers. If, on the contrary, it is left to force itself on, human nature must shudder at the prospect held up." Mr. Jefferson did not mean to say, nor do I, that the power of emancipation is in the Federal Government. He spoke of Virginia; and as to the power of emancipa- tion, I speak of the slave-holding states only. The Federal Government, however, as we insist, has the power of restraining the extension of the institution — the power to insure that a slave insurrection shall never occur on any American soil which is uow free from slavery. JOHN BROWN. John Brown's effort was peculiar. It was not a slave insurrection. It was an attempt by white men to gel up a revolt among slaves, in which the slaves refused to par- ticipate. In fact, it was so absurd that the slaves, with all their ignorance, saw plainly enough it could not suc- ceed. That affair, in its philosophy, corresponds with the many attempts, related in history, at the assassina- tions of kings and emperors. An enthusiast broods over the oppressiori of a people till he fancies himself com- ■missioned by Heaven to liberate them. He ventures the attempt, which ends in little else than in his own execu- tion . Orsini's attempt on Louis Napoleon, and John Brown's attempt at Harper's Ferry, were, in their philosophy, precisely the same. The eagerness to cast blame on old England in the one case, and on new England -in the other, does not disprove the sameness of the two things. AT COOPER INSTITUTE. 415 And how much would it avail you if you could, by the use of John Brown, Helper's book, and the like, break up the Republican organization? Human action can be modified to some extent, but human nature cannot be changed. There is a judgment and a feeling against slavery in this nation, which cast at least a million and a half of votes! You cannot destroy that judgment and feeling — that sentiment — by breaking up the political organization which rallies around it. You can scarcely scatter and disperse an army which has been formed into order in the face of your heaviest fire; hut if you could, how much would you gain by forc- ing the sentiment which created it out of the peaceful channel of the ballot box into some other channel.' What would that other channel probably be.' Would the number of John Brown's be lessened or enlarged by the operation.' "RULE OR RUIN." But you will break up the Union, rather than submit to a denial of your constitutional rights. That has a somewhat reckless sound; but it would be palliated, if not fully justified, were we proposing, by the mere force of numbers, to deprive you of some right, plainly written down in the Constitution. But we are proposing no such thing. When you make these declarations, you have a specific and well understood allusion to an assumed Constitution- al right of yours, to take slaves into the Federal Terri- tories, and to hold them there as property. But no such right is specifically written in the Constitution. That instrument is literally silent about any such right. We, 4i6 Lincoln's stories and speeches. ,on the contrary, deny that such aright has any existence in the Constitution, even by implication. Your purpose, then, plainly stated, is, that you will destroy the government unless you be allowed to con- strue and enforce the Constitution as you please, on all points in dispute between you arid us. You will rule or ruin in all events. This, plainly stated, is your language to us. "NOT QUITE so." Perhaps you will say the Supreme Court has decided the disputed constitutional question in your favor. Not quite so. But, waiving the lawyers' distinction between dictum and decision, the court has decided the question for you in a sort of way. The court has substantially said it is your constitutional right to take slaves into the Federal territories, and to hold them there as property. When I say the decision was made in a sort of way, I mean it was made in a divided court, by a bare majority of the judges, and they not quite agreeing with one an- other in the reasons for making it; that it is so made as that its avowed supporters disagree with one another about its meaning; and that it was mainly based upon a, mistaken statement of fact — the statement in the opinion that ' 'the right of property in a slave is distinctly and expressly affirmed in the Constitution. " An inspection of the Constitution will show that the right of property in a slave is not distinctly and expressly affirmed in it. Bear in mind the judges do not pledge their judicial opinion that such right, is, implicitly affirm- ed in the Constitution; but they pledge their veracity AT COOPFR INSTIUUTE. 417 that it is distinctly and expressly affirmed there — -'disr- tinctly" — that is, not mingled with anything else — "ex- pressly"— that is, in words meaning just that, without the aid of any inference, and susceptible of no other meaning. If they had only pledged their judicial opinion, that such right is affirmed in the instrument by implication, it would be open to others to show that, neither the word "slave" nor "slavery" is to be found in the Constitu^ tion, nor the word ' 'property" even, in any connection with language alluding to the things slave or slavery, and that wherever, in that instrument, the slave is alluded to, he is called "a person," and wherever his master's legal right in relation to him is alluded to, it is spoken of as "service or labor due," as a "debt" payable in ser- vice or labor. Also, it would be open to show, by cotemporaneous his- tory, that this mode of alluding to slaves and slavery, instead of speaking of them, was employed on puirpose to exclude from the Constitution the idea that there could be property in man. To show all this is easy and certain. When the obvious mistake of the judges shall be brought to their notice, is it not reasonable to expect that they will withdraw the mistaken statement, and recon- sider the conclusion based upon it.? And then it is to be remembered that ' 'our fathers, who framed the government under which we live" — the men who made the Constitution — decided this same con- stitutional question in oiir favor, long ago— decided it without a division among themselves about the mesLtang of it after it was made, so far as any evidence is left, 41 8 Lincoln's stories and speeches. wittiout basing it upon any mistaken statements of facts. Under all these circumstances, do you really feel your- self justified to break up this government, unless such a court decision as yours ia shall be at once submitted to as a conclusive and final rule of political action? But you will not abide the election of . a Repub- lican President. In that supposed event, you say, you will destroy the Union; and then, you say, the great crime of having destroyed it will be upon us.' This is cool. A highwayman holds a pistol to my ear, and mutters through his teeth, "Stand and de- liver, or I shall kill yon, and then you will be a murderer." To be sure, what the robber demanded of me — my money — was my own, and I had a clear right to keep it; but it was no more my own than my vote is my own: and the threat of death to me, to extort my money and the threat of destruction to the Union, to ex- tort my vote, can scarcely be distinguished in prin- ciple. A FEW WORDS TO REPUBLICANS. A few words now to Republicans. It is exceedingly desirable that all parts of this great confederacy shall be at peace.'.and in harmony, one with another. Let us Republicans do our part to have it so. Even though much provoked, let us do nothing through passion and ill temper. Even though the Southern people will not so much as listen to us, let us calmly consider their de- mands, and yield, to them if, in our deliberate view of our AT COOPER INSTITUTE. 419 'duty, we possibly can. Judging by all they say and do, and by the subject and nature of their contro- versy with us, let us determine, if we can, what will satisfy them. Will they be satisfied if the territories be uncondition- ally surrendered to them.' We know they will not. In all their present complaints against us, the territories are scarcely mentioned. Invasions and insurrections are the rage now. Will it satisfy them if, in the future, we ha^^e nothing to do with invasions and insurrections.' We know it will not. We so know because we know we never had anything to do with invasions and insurrections ; and yet this total abstaining does not exempt us from the charge and the denunciation. The question recurs, what will satisfy' them.' Simply this: We must not only let them alone, but we must, somehow, convince them that we do let them alone. This we know by experience is no easy task. We have been so trjdng to convince them from the very beginning of our organization, but with no success. In all our platform and speeches, we have constantly protested our purpose to let them alone ; but this has had no tendency to con- vince them. Alike unavailing to convince them is the fact that they have never detected a man of us in any at- tempt to disturb them. These natural and apparently adequate means all fail- ing, what will convince them.' This, and this only: Cease to call slavery wrong, and join them in calling it right. And this must be done thoroughly — done in acts as well as words. Silence will not be tolerated — we must place ourselves avowedly with them. Douglas' new se- dition law must be enacted, and enforced, suppressing all declarations that slavery is wrong, whether made in 420 Lincoln's stories and speeches. politics, in presses, in pulpits, or in private. We must arrest and return their fugitive slaves with greedy pleaS". ure. We must pull down our Free State Constitutions. The whole atmosphere must be disinfected from all taint of opposition to slavery, before they will cease to believe that all their troubles proceed from us. I am quite aware they do not state their case precisely in 'this way. Most of them would probably say to us, ' 'Let us alone, do nothing to us, and say what you please about slavery. " But we do let them alone — have never disturbed them — so that,' after all, it is what we say which dissatisfies them. They will continue to accuse us of doing until we cease saying. I am also aware they have not, as yet, in terms, de^ manded the overthrow of our Free State Constitutions . Yet those constitutions declare the wrong of slavery with more solemn emphasis than do all other sayings against it; and when all other sayings shall have been silenced, the overthrow of these constitutions will be demanded, and nothing be left to resist the demand^ It is nothing- to the contrary that they do not demand the whole of this just now. Demanding what they do, and for the reason they do, they can voluntary stop nowhere short of this, consummation. Holding as they do, that slavery is mor- ally right and socially elevating, they can not cease to- demand a full national recognition of it, as a legal right and a social blessing. Nor can we justifiably withhold this on any ground, save our conviction that slavery is wrong. If slavery is. right, all words, acts, laws and constitutions against it,, are themselves wrong, and should be silenced and swept away. If it is right, we can not justly object to its na- AT COOPER INSTITUTE. 42 I tionality — its universality, if, it is wrong, they can not justly insist upon its extension — its enlargement. All they ask we could readily grant, if they thought slavery right ; all we ask they could readily grant, if they thought it wrong. Their thinking it right, and our thinking it wrong, is the precise fact upon which depends the whole contro- versy. Thinking it right, as they do, they are not to blame for desiring its full recognition, as being right; but thinking it wrong, as we do, can we yield to them.' Can we cast our votes with their view and against our own.' in view of our moral, social and political responsibility, can we do this.' Wxong as we may think slavery is, we can yet afford to let it alone where it is, because that much is due to the necessity arising from its actual presence in the nation; but can we, while our votes will prevent it, allow it to spread into the national territories, and to overrun us here in these free states.' If our sense of duty forbids this, then let us stand by our duty fearlessly and effectively. Let us be diverted by none of those sophistical contrivances wherewith we are so industriously plied and belabored — contrivances, such as groping for some middle ground between the right and the wrong, vain as the search for a man who should be neither a living man nor a dead man — such as Union appeals, beseeching true Union men to yield to disunionist, reversing the Divine rule, and calling, . not the sinners, but the righteous to repentance — such as invocations of Washington — imploring men to un- say what Washington said — and undo what Washing- ton did. 422 LINCOLN S STORIES AND SPEECHES. Neither let us be slandered from our duty by fal'se^ ac- cusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the government, nor of dungeons tO' ourselves . Let us have faith that right makes might;: and in that faith let us, to the end dare do our duty as we under- stand it. -:o:- LINCOLN'S RAIL SPLITTING SPEECH. [Delivered at the Republican State Convention in Decutur, 111. , May 9, i860. Mr. Lincoln had been carried bodily upon the stage, and soon "Old John Hanks" (a democrat) came into the midst of the assemb- lage bearing on his shoulders ' 'two small triangular heart rails" surmounted by a banner with this inscription: •'Two rails from a lot made by Abraham Lincoln and John Hanks, in the Sangamon bottom, in the year 1830." It is said that Lincoln blushed, but seemed to shake with inward laughter. Great were the shouts and calls for Lincoln.] Gentlemen: — I suppose j^ou want to know something; about those things (pointing to old John and the rails). Well, the truth is, John Hanks and I did make rails in the Sangamon bottom. I don't know whether we made those rails or not; the fact is I don't think they are a cred- it to the maker (laughing as he spoke), but I do -know" this; I made rails then, and I ihink I could make better ones than these now. -:o: FIRST TALK AFTER HIS NOMINATION. [The telegram was received in the Journal office at Springfield. Immediately everybody wanted to shake his hand; and so long as he was willing, they continued to congratulate him. J Gentlemen: (with a twinkle in his eye) you had bet- ter come up and shake my hand while you can; honors elevate some men, you know. * * * Well, gentle- men, there is a little woman at our house who is proba- bly more interested in this dispatch than I am; and if you will excuse me, I will take it up and let her see it. :o: FIRST SPEECH AFTER HIS NOMINATION. [To the Committee, Springfield, 111., May 19, i860.] Mr. ChA I RMAN AND GENTLEMEN OF THE CoMM I TTEE : I tender to you, and through you to the Republican National Convention, and all the people represented in it, my profoundest thanks for the high honor done me, which you now formally announce. Deeply and even painfully sensible of the great responsibility which I could wish had fallen upon some one of the far more em- inent men and experienced statesmen whose distinguish- ed names were before the convention, I shall by your leave consider more fully the resolutions of the Conven- tion 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. (423) 424 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. GOOD-BYE SPEECH AT SPRINGFIELD. [Delivered at Springfield, 111., Feb. ii, 1861, the day on which. Mr. Lincoln started for Washington. ] Friends: — No one who has never been placed in a like position can understand my feelings at this hour, nor the oppressive sadness I feel at this parting. More than a quarter of a century I have lived among you, and during 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 of earth were as- sumed. Here all my children were born, and here one of them lies buried. To you, dear friends, I owe all that I have, all that I am. All the strange checkered past seems to crowd now upon my mind. To-day I leave you. I go to assume a task more difficult than that which de- volved upon Washington. Unless the Great God who inspired him, shall be with and inspire 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 shall not forsrke us now. To Him I commend you all. Permit me to ask that, with equal sincerity and faith, you will invoke His wisdom and guidance forme. 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. :o:- AT INDEPENDENCE HALL, PHILA. The object of Lincoln's visit, Feb. i, 1861, to Inde- pendence Hall, was to assist in raising the national flag '• ::'li. 'i' ''' ■ ! Ill I- 426 Lincoln's stories and speeches. over the hall. Arrangements had been made for the per- formance of this ceremony, and Mr. Lincoln was escort- ed to the platform prepared for the purpose, and was in- vited, in a brief address, to raise the flag. He respond- ed in a patriotic speech, announcing his cheerful compli- ance with the request.] Ladies and Gentleman: — The future is in the hands of the people. It is on such an occasion as this we can reason together, reaffirm our devotion to the country and the principles of the Declaration of Independence. Let us make up our minds that whenever we do put a new star upon our banner, it shall be a fixed one, never to be dimmed by the horrors of war, but brightened by the contentment and prosperity of peace. Let us go on tO' extend the area of our usefulness, and add star upon star until their- light shall shine over five hundred millions of free and happy people. [Then he performed his part in the ceremony, amidst a thundering discharge of artillerjy. :o: LINCOLN'S SPEECH IN WASHINGTON. [Delivered Wednesday, Feb. 27, 1861, at his Hotel.] [On Wednesday, the 27th, the Mayor and Common Council of the city waited upon Mr. Lincoln and tender- ed him a welcome. He replied to them as follows:] Mr. Mayor: — I thank you, and through you the muni- cipal authorities of this city who accompany you, for this welcome. And as it is the first time in my hfe since the present phase of politics has presented itself in this coun- try, that I have said anything publicly within a region of country where the institution of slavery exists, I will take this occasion to say that I feel very much of the ill- IN WASHINGTON. 427 feelings .that has existed and still exists between the peo- ple in the sections from which I came and the people here, is dependent upon a misunderstanding of one an- other. I therefore avail myself of this opportunity to as- sure you, Mr Mayor, and all the gentlemen present, that I have not now, and never have had, any other than as kindly feelings towards you as the people of my own section. 1 have not now, and never have had, any dis- [UnilBD STATUS CAPITOL.] position to treat you in any respect otherwise than as my own neighbors. I have not now any purpose to with- hold from you any of the benefits of the Constitution, under any circumstances, that I would not feel myself con- strained to withhold from my own neighbors; and I hope, m a word, that when we shall become better acquainted and I say it with great confidence — we shall like each other the more. I thank you for the kindness of this re- ception. > a o G > t— I O z o >n . w w C/3 d w z O o > 01 a o H O z: 00 LINCOLN'S FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS. Delivered March 4, 1861, at Washington. Fellow-Citizens of the United States: — Incom- pliance with a custom as old as the government itself, I appear before you to address you briefly, and to take, in your presence, the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United States to be taken by the President before he enters on the execution of his office. POSITION STATED. I do not consider it necessary, at present, for me to discuss those, matters of administration about which there is no special anxiety or excitement. Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern states, , that, by the accession of a republican administration, their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered . There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed, and been open to their inspection. It is found Jn nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches, when I declare that "I have no purpose directly or indirectly, to inter- fere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists." I believe I have no lawful right to do so; and I have no inclination to do so. Those who nominated and elected me did so with the full knowledge that I had made this, and made many similar declarations, and hiad never [429] 430 LINCOLN S STORIES AND SPEECHES. recanted them. And more than this, they placed in the platform, for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves and to me, the clear and emphatic resolution which I now read: "Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the states, and especially the right of each state to order and control its own domestic institutions accord- ing to its own judgement exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend; and we denounce the law- less invasion by armed force of the soil of any state or territory, no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes. " I now reiterate these sentiments; and in doing so I only press upon the public attention the most conclusive evidence of which the case is susceptible, that the property, peace, and security of no section are to be in anywise endangered by the now incoming admin- istration. I add, too, that all the protection, which, consistently with the Constitution and the laws, can be given, will be given to all the states when lawfully demand- ed, for what 'ever cause, as cheerfully to one section as to another. There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugitives from service or labor. The clause I now read is as plainly written in the Constitution as any other of its provisions. ' 'No person held to service or labor in one state under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in conse- quence of any law or regulation therein; be discharged FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 43 1 Srom such service or labor, but shall be delivered up ori ■claim of the party to whom such service of labor may be due." It is scarcely questioned that this provision was in- tended by those who made it for the reclaiming of what we call fugitive slaves; and the intention of the lawgiver is the la>v. All members of Congress swear their support to the whole Constitution — to this provision as well as any other. To the proposition, then, that slaves whose cases come within the terms of this clause ' 'shall be delivered up. " their oaths are unanimous. Now, if they would make the effort in good temper, could they not, with nearly equal unanimity, frame and pass a law by means of which to keep good that unanimous oath.' There is some difference of opinion whether this clause should.be enforced by national or by state authority; but surely that difference is not a very material one. If the slave is to be surrendered, it can be but of little conse- quence to him or to others by which authority it is done; and should any one, in any case, be content that this oath shall go unkept on a mere substantial controversy as to how it shall be kept.'' Again, in any law upon this subject, ought not all the safeguards of liberty known in civilized and humane jur- isprudence to be introduced, so that a free man be not, in any case, surrendered as a slave.? And might it not be well at the same time to provide by law for the en- lorcement of that clause in the Constitution which guar- antees that "the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the sev- eral states? 432 LINCOLN S STORIES AND SPEECHES. » NO MENTAL RESERVATION. I take the official oath to-day with no mental reserva- tions, and with no purpose to construe the Constitutionv or laws by any hypercritical rules; and while I do not choose now td specify particular acts of Congress as prop- er to be enforced, I do sugg;est that it will be much safer for all, both in official and private stations, to con-form to- and abide by all those acts which stand unrepealed, than to violate any of them, trusting to find impunity in hav- ing them held to be unconstitutional. It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a President under our national Constitution. During that period fifteen different and very distinguished citizens have in successioa administered the ^executive branch of the government. 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 term of four years, under great and peculiar difficulties. "I HOLD THE UNION OF THESE STATES IS PERPETUAL." A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only- menaced, is now formidably attempted. I hold that in the contemplation of universal law and of the Constitu- tion, the Union of these states is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fund amental law of all national governments. It is safe to assert .that nO' government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute all the express provisions of our national Constitution, and the- Union will endure forever, it being impossible to destroy except by some action not provided for in the instrument, itself FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS. •' 433 Again, if the United States be not a government prop- er, but an association of states in the nature of 'a^ con- tract merely, can it, as a contract, be peaceably uhtnade by less than all the parties who made it? One pArty to a contract may violate it — break it, so to speak; biit does it not require all to lawfully rescind it? Descending from these general principles, we find the proposition that in legal contemplation the Union is perpetual, confirined by the history of the Union itself., The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Associa!tidn in 1774. It was matured and continued in the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was further matured,' and the faith of all the then thirteen states expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of the Confederation, in 1778; and, finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was to form a more perfect union. -But if the destruction of the Union by one or by part only of the states be lawfully possible, the Union is less perfect than, before, the Constitution having lost the vital elendfetit of perpetuity. It follows from these views that no state, upon its. own mere motion, can lawfully get out of the Union; that, resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void, and that acts of violence within any state or states; against the authority of the United Statek are ' in- surrectionary or revolutionary, according to (circum- stances* I therefore consider that, in view of the Cdristitiition and the laws, the Union is unbroken, and to the 'extent 434 Lincoln's stories and speeches. of my; ability, I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union shall be faithfully executed in all the states. Doing this, which I deem to be only a simple duty on my part, I shall perfectly perform it, so far as is practicable, unless my rightful masters, the American people, shall withhold the requisition, or in some authoritative manner direct the contrary. I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared purpose of the Union that it will consti- tutionally defend and maintain itself. In doing this there need be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall be none unless it is forced upon the na- tional authority. WHAT SHALL BE DONE.' The power 'confided to me will be used to hold, oc- cupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the government, and collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere . Where hostility to the United States shall be so great and so universal as to prevent competent resident citizens from /hiOlding federal offices, there will' be no attempt to force obnoxious strangers among the people that object. While strict legal right may exist of the government to enforce the exercise of these offices, the attempt to do so would be so irritating, and so nearly impracticable with- al, that I deem it best to forego for the time the uses of such of&ces. FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 435 "The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be fur- 'nished in all parts of the Union. "So far as possible, the people everywhere shall have that sense of perfect security which is most favorable to calm thought and reflection. "The course here indicated will be followed, unless current events and experience shall show a modification or change to be proper; and in every case and exigency my best discretion will be exercised according to the cir- cumstances actually existing, and with a view and hope of a peaceable solution of the national troubles, and the restoration of fraternal sympathies and affections. ' 'That there are persons in one section or another, who «eek to destroy the Uriion at all events, and are glad of any pretext to do it, I will neither affirm nor deny. But if there be such, I need address no word to' them. " A WORD TO THOSE WHO LOVE THE UNION. To those, however, who love the Union, may I not «peak, before entering upon so grave a matter as the de- struction of our national fabric, with all its benefits, its imemories and its hopes.' Would it not be well to ascer- tain why we do it.' Will you hazard so desperate a step, while any portion of the ills you fly from have no real existence.' Will you, while the certain ills you fly to are no greater than all the real ones you fly from.' Will you risk the commission of so fearful a mistake.' All profess to be content in the Union if all constitution- al rights can be maintained . Is it true, then, that any right, plainly written in the Constitution, has been de- nied? I think not. Happily the human mind is so con- stituted that no party can reach to the audacity of doing this. 436 Lincoln's stories and speeches. Think, if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly-written provision of the Constitution has ever been denied. If, by the mere force of numbers, a ma- jority should deprive a minority of any clearly-vvritten; constitutional right, it might, in a moral point of view, justify revolution; it certainly would, if such right wereai vital one. But such is' not our case. All the vital rights of minorities and of individuals are so plainly assured to them by affirmations and negations: guarantees and prohibitions in the Constitution, that con- troversies never arise concerning them. But no organic law can ever be framed with provision specifically , ap- plicable to every question which may occur in practical administration. No foresight can anticipate, nor any document of reasonable length contain, express provis- ions for all possible questions. Shall fugitives from la- bor be surrendered by national or by state authorities!^ The Constitution does not expressly say. Must Congress, protect slavery in the territories.' The Constitution does; not expressly say. ' From questions of this class, spring all our constitutional controversies, and we divide upon them into majorities and minorities. THE MAJORITIES VS. THE MINORITIES. If the minority did not acquiesce, the majority must, or the government must cease. There is no alternative for continuing the government acquiescence on the one- side or the other. If a minority in such a case will se- cede rather than acquiesce, they make a precedent, which, in time, will ruin and divide them, for a minority of their own will secede from them whenever a majority refuses to be controlled by such a minority. For instanee,^ why FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 437 not any portion of a new confedracy a year or two hence, arbitrarily secede again, precisely as portions of the pres- ent Union now claim to secede from it? All who cherish ■disunion sentiments are now being'educated to the exact temper of doing this. Is there such a perfect identity of interests among the States to compose a .new Union as to produce harmony only and prevent renewed secession.' Plainly, the central idea of secession is the essence of an- archy. A majority held in check by constitutional check limi- tation, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sov- •ereign of a free people. Whoever rejects it, does, of ne- cessity, fly to anarchy or despotism. Unanimity is im- possible; the rule of a minority, as a permanent arrange- ment, is wholly inadmissible. So that, rejecting the ma- jority principle, anarchy or despotism, in some form, is all that is left . I do not forget the position assumed by some that con- stitutional questions are to be decided by the Supreme Court, nor do I deny that such decisions must be binding in any case upon the parties to a suit, as to the object of that suit, while they are also entitled to a very high respect and consideration in all parallel cases by all other de- partments of the Government; and while it is obviously possible that such decision may be erroneous in any giv • ■en case, still the e's-il following it, being limited to that particular case, with the chance that it may be overrul- ■ed and never become a precedent for other cases, can bet- ter be borne than could the evils of a different prac- tice. At the same time the candid citizen must confess that, 438 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. if the policy of the government upon the vital question! affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by the decisions of thfe Supreme Court, the instant they are- made, as in ordinary litigation between parties in per- sonal action, the people will have ceased to be their own masters, unless having to that extent practically resigned their government into the hands of that eminent tribunal. Nor is there in this view any assault upon the court or the judges. It is a duty from which they may not shrink, to decide cases properly brought before them; and it is no fault ot theirs if others seek to turn their decisions to political purposes. One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought to be extended, white the other believes it is wrong and ought not to be extended; and this is the only substantial dispute; and the fugitive slave clause of the Constitution and the law for the suppres- sion of the foreign slave trade, are each as well enforced, . perhaps, as anj' law can ever be in a community where the moral sense of the people imperfectly supports the law itself. The great body of the people abide by the dry legal obligation in both cases, and a few break over in each. This, I think, cannot be perfectly cured, and it would be worse, in both cases, after the separation of the sections than before. The foreign slave trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived, with- out restriction in one section; while fugitive slaves, now only partially surrendered, wonld not be surrendered at all by the other. WE CANNOT SEPARATE. Physically speaking we cannot separate; we cannot re- move our respective sections from each other, nor build FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 439 an impassable wall between them. A husband and wife may be divorced, and go out of the presence and beyond the reach of each other, but the different parts of our country cannot do this. They can but remain face to fare, and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. Is it possible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory after separation than before.' Can aliens jnake treaties easier than friends can make laws.'' Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends.' Suppose you go to war, you cannot fight al- ways; and when, after much loss on both sides, and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical questions as to terms of intercourse are again upon you. ; THE PEOPLE. This country, with its institutions, belongs to the peo- ple who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitu- tional right of amending, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it. I cannot be ignorant of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of having the national Constitution amended. While I make no recommendation of amendment, I fully recog- nize the full authority of the people over the whole sub- ject, to be exercised in either of the modes prescribed in the instrument itself, and I should, under existing' cir- cumstances, favor rather than oppose a fair opportunity being afforded the people to act upon it. I will venture to add, that to me the convention mode seems preferable, in that it allows amendments to origin- ate with the people themselves, instead of only permit- 440 , LINCOLN S STORIES AND SPEECHES. ting them to take or reject propositions originated by others not especially chosen for the purpose, and which might not be precisely such as they would wish either to accept or refuse. I understand that a proposed amend- ment to, the Constitution (which amendment, however, I have not seen) has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of States, including that of persons held to service. To avoid misconstruction of what I have said, I depart from my purpose not to speak of par- ticular amendments, so far as to say that, holding such a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable. THE ULTIMATE JUSTICE OF THE PEOPLE. The chief magistrate derives all his authority from the people, and they have conferred none upon him to fix the terms for the separation of the States. The people, them- selves, also, can do this if they choose, but the executive, as such, has nothing to do with it. His duty is to ad- minister the present government as it came to his hands, and to transmit it unimpaired by him to his successor. Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ulti- mate justice of the people.' Is there any better or equal hope in the world.' In our present differences is either party without faith of being in the right.' If the Al- mighty Ruler of nations, with His eternal truth and jus- tice, be on your si'de of the North, or on yours of the South, that truth and that justice will surely prevail by the judgment of this great tribunal, the American people. By the frame of the government under which we live, this same people have wisely given their public servants FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 44I but little power for mischief, and have with equal wisdom provided for the return of that little to their own hands at very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the govern- ment in the short space of four years . MY COUNTRYMAN ONE AND ALL. My countrymen, one and' all, think calmly and well up- on this subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an object to hurry any of you, in hot haste, to a step which you would never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time; but no good can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now dissatisfied still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, the laws of your own framing under it; while the new admin- ' istration will have no immediate power, if it would, to change either. If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side in the dispute, there is still no single rea- son for precipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance upon Him who has nev- er yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust, in the best way, all our present difficulties. In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you . You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven td destroy the government; while I shall have the most sol- emn one to preserve, protect and defend it. 442 LINCOLN S STORIES AND SPEECHES. I am loth to close . We are not enemies, but friends,- We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic cords of memory, stretching frpm every battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, , will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. -:o:- THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. Issued by President Lincoln, January i, 1863, at Washington. Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing among other things, the fol- lowing, to-wit : "That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundreed and sixty- three, all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a state, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free, and the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such per- sons, or any of them, iii any efforts they may make for their actual freedom. ' 'That the Executive will on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the states and parts of states, if any, in which the people thereof respectively shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any state or the people thereof shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United . States, by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such state [443] 444 Lincoln's stories and speeches. shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such state, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States. "Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the au- thority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, bn the first day of January, in the year of our Lord •one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in ac- cordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the day first above mentioned, order and designate, as the states and parts of states wherein the people thereof respectively are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to-wit: "Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemine, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre Bonne, La- fourche, St. Marie, St. Martin and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia ^except the forty-eight counties designated as West Vir- ginia, and also the counties of Berkely, Accomac, North- ampton, Elizabeth City,. York, Princess Anne, and Nor- folk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued. ' 'And, by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION... 44 S slaves within said designated States and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Execu- tive Government of the United States, including themil~ itary and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons. ' 'And I hereby enjoin upon the people' so. declared to. be free, to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self. defense; and I recommend to them, that in all cases, when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.. "And I further declare and make known that such per- sons of suitable condition will be received into the armed service of the United States, to garrison forts, positions, stations and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service. "And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind,, and the gracious favor of the Almighty God. "In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my nanie, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. ' 'Done at the City of Washington, this first day of Jan- uary, in the year of our Lord one thdusand eight [L. S.J hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independ- dence of the United States the eighty-seventh. Abraham Lincoln. "By the President: "William H. Seward, Secretary of State." :o:- A FOURTH OF JULY SPEECH. Delivered at Washington, July, 1863, just after the victory at Vicksburg, Port Hudson, and other points. Fellow-Citizens: — I am very glad indeed to see you to-night, and yet I will not say I thank you for this call; but I do most sincerely thank Almighty God for the oc- casion on which you have called. How long ago is it ? eighty odd years since, on the Fourth of July, for the first time, in the history of the world, a nation, by its representatives, assembled and declared as a self-evident truth, "that all men are created equal." That was the birthday of the United States of America. Since then the Fourth of July has had several very popular recogni- tions. The two men most distinguished in the framing and support of the Declaration were Thomas Jefferson and John Adams^ — the one having penned it, and the other sustained it the most forcibly in debate — the only two of fifty-five who signed it. and were elected Presidents of the United States. Precisely fifty years after they put their hands to the paper, it pleased Almighty God to take both from this stage of action. This was indeed an ex- traordinary and remarkable event in our history. Another President five years after, was called from this stage of existence on the same day and month of the year, and now on this last Fourth of July, passed, when we have a gigantic rebellion, at the bottom of which is [446] FOURTH OF JULY SPEECH. 447 an effort to overthrow the principle that all men were -created equal, we have the surrender of a most powerful position and army on that very day . And not only so, but in a succession of battles in Pennsylvania, near to us, through three days so rapidly fought that they might be called one great battle, on the first, second and third of the month of July; and on the fourth the cohorts of those who opposed the Declaration that all men are cre- ated equal, "turned tail" and run. [Long continued cheers.] Gentlemen, this is a glorious theme, and the occasion for a speech, but I am not prepared to make one worthy ■of the occasion . I would like to speak in terms of praise due to the many brave officers and soldiers who have fought in the cause of the Union and liberties of the country from the beginning of the war. These are try- ing occasions; not only in success, but for the want of .success. I dislike to mention the name of one single •ofi&cer, lest I might do wrong to those I might forget. Recent events brings up glorious names, and particularly prominent ones; but these I will not mention. Having -said this much, I will now take the music. -:o:- LINCOLN'S SPEECH AT GETTYSBURG. Delivered at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery on the Gettysburg battle field, Nov. ig, 1863. Ladies and Gentlemen: — Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the propo- sition that all men are created equal. Now we are en- gaged 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 of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallowithis ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have conse- crated 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 remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that the Govern- ment of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth." [448] 'GOD BLESS THE WOMEN OF AMERICA. On March 16, 1864, at the close of a fair in Washing- ton, for the benefit of the sick and wounded soldiers of the army, President Lincoln was present, and in re- sponse to loud calls spoke as follows: Ladies and Gentleman : — I appear to say but a word. This extraordinary war in which we are engaged falls heavily upon all classes of people, but the most heavily upon the soldiers. For it has been said, all, that a man hath will be give for his life; and while all contribute of their substance, the soldier puts his life at siak«i't-(^nd often yields it up in his country's cause. The highest merit, then, is due to the soldier. In this extraordinary war, extraordinary developments have manifested themselves, such as have not been seeni in former wars; and among these manifestations nothing- has been more remarkable than these fairs for the relief of suffering soldiers and their families. And the chief agents in these fairs are the women of America. I am not accustomed to the use of language of eulogy;; I have never studied the art of paying compliments to. women ; but I must say, that if all that has been said by orators and poets since the creation of the world int praise of women were applied to the women of America,, it'would not do them justice fbr their conduct dirti«^thia war. I will close saying, God bless the women of America ! [449] SPEECH AFTER THE BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS. Delivered in response to a Serenade May 9, 1864, at the White House. Fellow-Citizens: — I am very much obliged to you for the compliment of this call, though I apprehend it is owing more to the good news received to-day from the army than to a desire to see me. I am, indeed, very grateful to the brave men who have been struggling with the enemy in the field, to their noble commanders who have directed them, and especially to our Maker. Our camtnanders are following Up their victories resolutely and successfully. I think without knowing the particu- lars of the plans of General Grant, that what has been ac- complished is of more importance than at first appears. I believe I know (and am especially grateful to know), tha;t General Grant has not been jostled in his purpose; that he has made all his points; and today he is on his line, as he purposed before he moved his armies. I will volunteer to say that I am very glad of what has hap- pened; but there is a great deal still to be done. While we are grateful to all the brave men and officers for the .events of the past two days, we should, above all, be ■very grateful to Almighty God, who gives u& victory. There is enough yet feefore us requiring allr loyal men ;and. patriots to perform their share of the labor and fol- low the example of the modest General at the head of oiir' armies, and sink all personal considerations for the sake bf the country. I commend you tp keep yourselves in thei same tranquil niood that is characteristic of that brafve and loyal man. I have said more than I expected when I came before you: Repeating my thanks for this call, I bid you good-bye. [450] SPEECH ON THE WAR. In June, 1 864, the President attended a fair at Phila- delphia, one of the largest that was held in all the coun- try. At a supper given to him there, the health of the President having been proposed as a toast, the President said in acknowledgment: Ladies and Gentleman: — I suppose that this toast is intended to open the way to me to say something. War at the .best is terrible, and this of ours in its magnitude and duration is one of the most terrible the world has ever known. It has deranged business totally in many places and perhaps in all. It has destroyed property, destroyed life, and ruined homes. It has produced a na- tional debt and a degree of taxation unprecedent in the history of this country. It has caused mourning among us until the heavens may almost be said to be hung in black. And yet it continues. It has had accompani- ments never before known in the history of the world. I mean the Sanitary and Christian Commissions, with their labors for the relief of the soldiers, and the Volun- teer Refreshment Saloons, understood better by .those who hear me than by myself — (a,pplause) — and these fairs, first begun at Chicago and next held in Boston, ■Cincinnati, and other cities. The motive and object that lie at the bottom of them is worthy of the most that we can do for the soldier who goes to fight the battles of his [45 1 J 452 Lincoln's stories and speeches. country. From the fair and tender hand of ^yomen is much, very much done for the soldier, continually re- minding him of the care and thought for him at home. The knowledge that he is not forgotten is grateful to his- heart. (Applause . ) Another view of these institutions- is worthy of thought. They are voluntary contributions, giving proof that the national resources are not at all ex- hausted, and that the national patriotism will sustain us through all. It is a pertinent question. When is the war to end ? I do not wish to name a day when it will end, lest the end should not come at the given time. We, accepted this war, and did not begin it. (Deafening ap- plause.) We accepted it for an object, and when that object is accomplished the war will end, and I hope toi God that it will never end until that object is accom- plished. (Great applause . ) We are going through with our task, so far as I am concerned, if it takes us three years longer. I have not been in the habit of making, predictions, but I am almost tempted now to hazard one. I will. It is, that Grant is this evening in a position, with Mead and Hancock, of Pennsylvania, whence he can never be dislodged by the enemy until Richmond is taken. If I shall discover that General Grant may be greatly facilitated in the capture of Richmond, by rapid- ly pouring to him a large number of armed men at the briefest notice; will you go.' (Cries of "Yes.") Will, you march on with him .' (Cries of "Yes, yes.) Then I shall call upon you when it is necessary. (Laughter andl iipplause.) LINCOLN'S SECOND INAUGURAL. Delivered March 4, 1865, at Washington. WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE, WITH CHARITY FOR ALL. Fellow-Countrymen: — At this second appearing' to take the oath of the Presidential oifice, there is less oc- casion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed very fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declara- tions have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the at- tention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. ' 'The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in re- gard to it is ventuted. , ' 'On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it; all sought to avoid it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, ■devoted altogether to save the Union without war, in- surgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it with- out war — seeking to dissolve the Union and divide the effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war; [453] 454 LINCOLNS STORIES AND SPEECHES. but one of them would make war rather than let the na- tion survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it p6rish; and the war caAe. "One eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union', but lo- calized in the southern part of it. These slaves consti- tuted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. ' To* strengthen, perpetuate and extend this interest, was the ■ object for which the insurgents would rend' the Union even by war, while the government claimed no right ta do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. "Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither an- ticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease . Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result Itess^ funda- mental and astounding. "Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem strange that any man should dare to ask a just God's as- sistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has his own purposes. 'Woe unto the world because of offense, for it must needs be that offenses come; but wo&to that man by whom the offense cometh. ' If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of these effenses, which in the providence of God must need's come, but which hav- ing continued through his appointed time. He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South SECOND INAUGURAL SPEECH. 435 this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in.a liv- ing God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may soon pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until the wealth piled by the bonds- man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with fhe lash shall be paid with another drawn with the sword; as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, 'The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. ' "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have born the battle and for his widow and orphans, to do all vvhich may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." :o:- SPEECH TO 14^0th INDIANA REGIMENT. Delivered at Washington, March 17, 1865. Governor Morton had made a brief speech, in which he congratulated his auditors on the speedy approaching end of the rebellion, and concluded by introducing Presi- dent Lincoln. The President addressed the assembly as follows: Fellow-Citizens: — It will be but a very few words that I shall undertake to say. I was born in Kentucky, 45^ lincqln's storws and spB'Eches. raised in Indiana, and lived in Illinois; and now I am here, where it is my business to care equally for the good people of all the States. I am glad to see an Indiana regiment on this day able to present the captured flag to the Governor of Indiana. I am not disposed, in saying this, to make a distinction , between the States, for all have done equally well. There are but few views or aspects of this great war upon which I have not said or written something where- by my own opinions might be known. But there is one — thejrecent attempt of our erring brethren, as they are sometimes called, to employ the negro to fight for them. I have never written nor made a speech on that subject, because that was their business, not mine, and if I had a wish upon the subject, I had not the power to intro- duce it, or make it effective. The great question with them was whether the negro, being put into the army, will fight for them. I do not know, and therefore cannot decide. They ought to know better than me. I have in my lifetime heard many arguments why the negroes ought to be slaves, but if they fight for those who would keep them in slavery, it will be a better argu- ment than any I have yet heard. He who will fight for that, ought to be a slave . They have concluded, at last to take one out of four of the slaves and put them in the army, and that one out of the four who will fi^ht to keep the others in slavery, ought to be a slave himself, unless he is killed in a fight . While I have often said that all men ought to be free, yet would I allow those colored persons to be slaves who want to be, and next to them those white people who argue in favor of making other people slaves. I am in favor of giving an appointment SPEECH TO SOLDIERS. 457 to such white men to try it on for these, slaves. I will say one thing in regard to the negroes being' employed to fight for them. I do know he cannot fight and stay at home and make bread, too . And as one is about as im- portant as the other to them, I don't care which they do. I am rather in favor of having them try them as soldiers. They lack one vote of doing that, and I wish I could send my vote over the river so that I might cast it in favor of allowing the negro to fight. But they can not figJht and work both. We must now see the bottom of the enemy's resources . They will stand out as long as they can, and if the negro will fight for them they must allow him to fight. They have drawn upon their last branch of resources, and we can now see the bottom. I am glad to see the end so near at hand. I have said now more than I intended, and will therefore bid you good- bye. PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S LAST SPEECH. A Carefully Worded, Wise and Memorable Production. Delivered Tuesday Evening, April ii, 1865, in response to a serenade at the White House. Fellow- Citizens: — We meet this evening not in sor- row, but in gladness of heart. The evacuation of Peters- burg and Richmond, and the surrender of the principal insurgent army, give hope of a righteous and speedy peace whose joyous expression cannot be restrained. In the midst of this, however. He from whom all blessings flow must not be forgotten . A call for a national thanksgiv- ing is being prepared, and will be duly promulgated. Nor must those whose harder part give us the cause of rejoicing be overlooked. Their honors must not be par- celed out with others. I myself was near the front, and had the high pleasure of transmitting much of the good news to you; but no part of the honor, for plan or execu- tion, is mine. To Gen. Grant, his skillful officers and brave men, all belongs. The gallant navy stood ready, but was not in reach to take active part. By these recent successes, the re-inauguration of the national authority, reconstruction, which has had a large share of thought from the first, is pressed much more closely upon our attention. It is fraught with great diffi- [458I HIS XAST SPEECH. 459 culty. Unlike the case of a war between independent nations, there is no authorized organs for us to treat with. No one man has authority to give up the rebellion for any other man. We simply must begin with and mould from disorganized and discordant elements. Nor is it a small additional embarrassment that we, the loyal people, diff- er among ourselves as to the mode, manner and means of reconstruction. As a general rule, I abstain from reading the reports of attacks apon myself, wishing not to be provoked by that to which I cannot properly offer an answer. In spite of this precaution, however, it comes to my knowledge that I am much censured from some supposed agency in setting up and seeking to sustain the new State Govern- ment of Louisiana. In this I have done just so much as, and no more than, the public knows. In the annual message of December, 1863, and accompanying procla- mation, I presented a plan of reconstruction (as the phrase goes,) which I promised, if adopted by any state, should be acceptable to, and sustained by, the Executive Gov- ernment of the nation. I distinctly stated that this was not the only plan' which might possibly be acceptable; and I also distinctly protested that the Executive claim- ed no right to say which or whether members should be admitted to seats in Congress from such States. This plan was, in advance, submitted to the then Cabinet, and distinctly approved by every member of it. One of them suggested that I should then, and in that connection, ap- ply the Emancipation Proclamation to the heretofore excepted parts of Virginia and Louisiana: that I should drop the suggestion about apprenticeship for freed peo- 460 Lincoln's stories and speeches. pie, and that I should omit the protest against my own power, in regard to the admission of members of Con- gress, but even he approved every part and parcel of the plan which has since been employed or touched by the actions of Louisiana. The new Constitution of Louisiana, declaring emanci- pation for the whole state, practically applies the procla- mation to the part jpreviously excepted. It does not adopt apprenticeship to freed people, and it is silent, as it could not well be otherwise, about the admission of members of Congress. So that, as it applies to Louisi- ana, every member of the Cabinet fully approved the plan. The message went to Congress, and I received many commendations of the plan, written and verbal; and not a single objection to it, from any professed emancipationist, came to my knowledge, until after the newsreached Washington that the people of Louisiana had begun to move in accordance with it. From about July, 1862, I had corresponded with different persons, supposed to be interested seeking a reconstruction of a State Government for Louisiana. When the message of 1863, with the plan before mentioned, reached New Or- leans, Gen. Banks wrote me he was confident that the people, with his military co-operation, would reconstruct substantially on that plan. I wrote him, and some of them, to try it. They tried it, and the result is known. Such only has been my agency in getting up the Louis- iana government. As to sustaining it, my promise is out, as before stated. But, as bad promises are better broken than kept, I shall treat this as a bad promise, and break it, whenever I shall be convinced that keeping it is adverse to the pub- HIS LAST SPEECH. 46 1 lie interest. But I have not yet been so convinced . I have been shown a letter on this subject, supposed to be an able one, in which the writer expresses regret that my mind has not seemed to be definitely fixed on the question whether the seceded States, so-called, are in the Union or out of it. It would, perhaps, add astonish- ment to his regret to learn that, since I have found pro~ fessed Union men endeavoring to make that question, I have purposely forborne any public expression upon it. As appears to me, that question has not been, nor yet is, a practically material one, and. that any discussion of it, while it thus remains practically immaterial, could have no effect other than the mischievous one of dividing our friends. As yet, whatever it may hereafter become, that ques- tion is bad, as the basis of a controversy, and good for nothing at all — a merely pernicious abstraction. We all agree that the seceded States, so-called, are out of their proper relation to the Union, and that the sole object of the Government, civil and military, in regard to those States, is to again get them into their proper practical relation. I believe it is not only possible, but in fact easier to do this without deciding, or even considering, whether these States have ever been out of the Union, than with it. Finding themselves safely at home, it would be utterly immaterial whether they had ever been abroad. Let us all join in doing the acts necessary to restoring the proper practical relations between these States and the Union, and each forever after innocently indulge his own opinion whether, in doing the acts, he brought the States from without into the Union, or only gave them proper assistance, they never having been out oi '* 462 Lincoln's stories and' speeches. The amount of constituency, so to speak, on which the new Louisiana government rests, would be more sat- isfactory to all if it contained fifty, thirty, or even twen- ty thousand, instead of only about twelve thousand, as it really does. It is also unsatisfactory to some that the election franchise is not given to the colored man. I would myself prefer that it were now conferred on the very intelligent and those who serve our cause as soldiers. Still the question is not whether the Louisiana govern- - ment, as it stands, is quite all that is desirable . The question is, "Will it be wiser to take it as it is, and help to improve it, or to reject and disperse it." Can Louisiana be brought into proper practical rela- tion with the Union sooner by sustaining or by discard- ing the new State government.? Some twelve thousand voters is- the heretefore slave State of Louisiana have sworn allegiance to the Union, assumed to be the rightful political power of the State, held elections, organized a State government, adopted a free State constitution, giving^the benefit of public schools equally to black and white, and empowering the Legis- lature to confer elective franchise upon the colored man. The Legislature has already voted to ratify the constitu- tional amendment passed by Congress, abolishing slav- ery throughout the nation. These twelve thousand per- sons are thus fully committed to the Union and to per- petual freedom in the States — committed t© the very things, and nearly all the things the nation wants — and they ask. the nation's recognition and its assistance to make good that committal. Now, if we reject and spurn them, we do our utmost to disorganize and disperse them. We, in effect, say to' HIS LAST SPEECH. 463 the white men, "you are worthless, or worse, we will neither help you, nor be helped by you." To the blacks we say, "This cup of liberty which these, your old mas- ters, hold to your lips, we will dash from you, and leave you to the chances of gathering the spilled and scattered contents in some vague and undefined when, where and how." If this course, discouraging and paralyzing both white and black, has any tendency to bring Louisiana in- to proper practical relations with the Union, I have, so far, been unable to perceive it. If on the contrary, we recognize and sustain the new government of Louisiana, the converse of all this is made true. We encourage the hearts and nerve the arms of the 12,000 to adhere to their work, and argue for it, and pros- elyte for it, fight for it, and feed it, and grow it, and ripten it to a complete success. The colored, man, too, seeing all united for him, is inspired with vigilance, and energy, and daring the same end. Grant that he desires elective franchise, will he not obtain it sooner by saving the al- ready advanced steps towards it, than by running back- ward over them.'' Concede that the new government of Louisiana is only as what it should be as the egg is to the fowl, we shall sooner have the fowl by hatching the egg than by smashing it. [Laughter.] Again, if we reject Louisiana, we also reject one vote in favor of the proposed amendment to the National Con- stitution. To meet this proposition, it has been argued that no more than three-fourths of those States, which have not attempted secession, are necessary to validly ratify the amendment. I do not commit myself against this, further than to say that such a ratification would be questionable, and sure to be persistently questioned, while 464 LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES. 1 ratification by three-fourths of all the States would be un- questioned and unquestionable. I repeat the question: "Can Louisiana be brought in- to proper practical relation with the Union sooner by sustaining or by discarding her new State Government?" What has been said of Louisiana will apply generally to other States. And yet so great peculiarities pertain to each State, and such important and sudden changes occur in the same State, and, withal, so new and unprecedented is the whole case, that no exclusive and inflexible plan can safely be prescribed as to details and collaterals. Such exclusive and inflexible plan would surely become a new entanglement. Important principles may, and must be inflexible. In the present situation, as the phrase goes, it may be my duty to make some new announcement to the people of the South. I am considering, and shall not fail to act, when satisfied that action will be proper. LINCOLN'S RELIGIOUS BELIEF. Abraham Lincoln, says David P. Thompson, had the good fortune to be trained by a godly mother and stfep- mother. The two books which made the most im- pression up6n his character were the Bible and Weerh's "Life of Washington." The former he read with such diligence that he knew it almost by heart, and the words of scripture became so much a part of his nature that he rarely made a speech or wrote a paper of any length without quoting its language or teachings . One of Mr. Lincoln's notable religious utterances was his reply to a deputation of colored people at Baltimore who presented him a Bible. He said: "In regard to the great book I have only to say it is the best gift which God has ever given man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book. But for this book we could not know right from wrong. All those things desirable to man are contained in it." Col. Rusling overheard the following conversation be- tween President Lincoln and Gen. Sickels, just after the victory of Gettysburg: The fact is, General, said the President, in the stress and pinch of the campaign there,, • I went to my room, and got down on my knees and' prayed Almighty God for victory at Gettysburg. I told! Him that this was His country, and the war was His war,, but that we really couldn't stand another Fredericksburg or Chancellorsville. And then and there I made a solerran vow with my Maker that if He would stand by you boys at Gettysburg, I would stand by Him. And He did, and I will ! And after this I felt that God Almighty had taken the whole thing into His own hands. Mr. Lincoln said, all this with great solepinity. [465] LINCOLN'S SAYINGS. — All that I am, all that I hope to be, I owe lo my angel mother. — God must like common people or He would not have made so many of them. — If all that has been said by orators and poets since the creation of the world in praise of women were ap- plied to the women of America, it would not do them full justice for their conduct during the war. * * * God bless the women of America. — That we here highly resolve that * * * this na- tion, under God, shall hfive 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. — This Government must be preserved in spite of the acts of any man or set of men. - — For thirty years I have been a temperance man, and I am too old to change. — ^This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. , — Let us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith, let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it. — Nowhere in the world is presented a Government of so much liberty and equality. — I am indeed very grateful to the brave men who have been struggling with the enemy in the field. [467] 468 Lincoln's stories and speeches. — Gold is good in its place; but living, brave and pa- triotic men are better than gold. — The people, when they rise in mass in behalf of the Union and the liberties of their country, truly may it be said: The gates of hell cannot prevail against them. — I have not willingly planted a thorn in any man's bosom. — The reasonable man has long since agreed that in- temperance is one of the greater, if not the greatest, of all evils' among mankind. — A house divided against itself cannot stand. I be- lieve this Government cannot endure permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dis- solved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other . Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it and place it where the pub- lic shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ulti- mate extinction, or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new. North as well as South. — Unless the great God * * * shall be with and aid me, I must fail; but if the same omniscient and al- mighty arm * * * shall guide and support me, I shall not fail; I shall succeed. — Come what will, I will keep my faith with friend and foe. — The purposes of the Almighty are perfect and must prevail, though \ve erring mortals may fail to accurately perceive them in advance. Lincoln's sayings, 469 — It is no pleasure to me to triumph over anyone. — I do not impugn the motives of anyone opposed to me. — I shall do my utmost that whoever is to hold the helm for the next voyage shall start with the best possible chance to save the ship. — I appeal to you again to constantly bear in mind that with you (the people) and not with politicians, not with presidents, not with office-seekers, but with you, is the question, shall the Union, and shall the liberties of the country be preserved to the latest generation. — So far as I have been able, so far as has came with- in my sphere, I have always acted as I believe was right and just, and have done all I could for the good of man- kind. — No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty — none less inclined to take or touch aught which they have not honestly earned. — With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and orphans; to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations . — I have never had a feeling politically that did jiot spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence. LINCOLNS TOMB AND MONUMENT, OAK RIDGE CEMETERY, [470] SPRINGFIELD, I LL. J -r ' t' BRONZE CORNER PIECES — SARCOPHAGUS AND MEMORIAL ROOM. [47'] LINCOLN ON LABOR AND CAPITAL. Ip one of his messages to Congress President Lincoln spoke of the true relations of labor and capital. To the language then used by him he added a few sentences in March, 1864, when he replied to a workingmen's asso- ciation that had made him an honorary member. The following is that part of the message bearing almost di- rectly on the subject, with its later addendum: "It is assumed that labor is available only in connec- tion with capital; that no one labors, unless somebody else, owning capital, somehow by the use of it induces him to labor. Now there is no such relation between labor and capital as assumed; nor is there any such thing as a free man being fixed for life in the condition of a hired laborer. Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Capi- tal has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and probably always' will be, a relation between labor and capital, producing mutual benefits. The error is in as- suming that the whole labor of the community exists within that relation. A large majority neither work for others nor have others work for them. A considerable number mingle" their own labor with capital, that is, they [472] LABOR AND CAPITAL. 473 labor with their own hands, and also buy or hire others to labor for them; but this is only a mixed and not a dis- tinct class . Property is the fruit of labor; property is desirable; it is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence it is a just encouragement to enterprise. ' 'Let not him that is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him work diligeutly and build one for himself; thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built. " -:o:- LINCOLN'S SADNESS. "Lincoln was, in his fixed quality," says Mr. Usher, ' 'a man of sadness. If he were looking out of a window alone, and you happened to be passing by and caught his eye, you would generally see in it an expression of distress. "He was one of the greatest men who ever lived. It is now many years since I was in his Cabinet, and some of the things that happened there have been for- gotten, and the whole of it is rather dreamy. But Lin- coln's extraordinary personality is still one of the most distinct things in my memory. He was as wise as a ser- pent. He had the skill of the greatest statesman in the world. Everything he handled came to success. No- body took up his work and brought it to the same per- fection. LINCOLN THE RAIL-SPLITTER, FROM A HITHERTO UNPUBLISED PICTURE. The picture of Abrahapi Lincoln given herewith has a State reputation in Indiana, it is called the "Justice" picture, from the name of its owner, James M. Justice. Mr Justice died at his home in Longsport, Ind., in 1889, (474) LINCOLN, THE RAIL-SPLITTER PORTRAIT. 475 and the portrait was left by will to his daughters, Mrs. A C. Patterson and Miss Maibelle Justice, who now reside in Chicago. Mr. Justice's death was sudden and he left no written record of the history of the picture. Itsprsent owners say it was painted in i860 and was carried as a banner through the campaign of that year. It is about 6xro feet and the figure of Lincoln is a little larger than life size. It was attached to a pole and not stretched. The name of the artist is supposed to be Chambers,* and. he is said to have been Lincoln's personal friend. James M. Justice first saw it during the war, when it was carried by a regiment of Indiana volunteers in which he had en- listed. The banner was hooted by the Southerners wher- ever they saw it. It was twice captured and recaptured. When recaptured it had a bullethole through the forehead and had been slashed by knives. It was captured a third, time, and Mr, Justce lost track of it for several years. He was determined to get it, however, and finally found it after the war in an old warehouse in Georgia among the effects of a man who had been killed in battle. Mr, Justice restored it, had it framed, and gave it the place of honor in his law office in Monticello, Ind. Later he .moved to Logansport, Ind., where the picture remained until recently . In Indiana the picture has been carried in many Republican campaigns, and the old soldiers know it well. It has been in the Justice family for twenty-six years. :o: LINCOLN'S AUTOGRAPH GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. ^ffWif ^^.fyO An%Mt ^^A**i//h-a^' egli^ir ct'STa uwy^^a-i/«o /9>w«^>&«w (476) LINCOLN S AUTOGRAPH GETTYSBURG ADURSS. 477 XtuZ*^ .£nj;iV u/'hexr -f^AtJg t>Ci'»v«cev ^■^■o'^, /f'^eX't' /^AiMi> cw (hA»^ £rufCC e^^iuut, ftfi>*'— ^^!Xr-c^ff^^u^r/C£>^ Jtir>tw»j^ /p mi. TEACHING THE DEAF TO SPEAK. The Teeth the Best Medium and the Audiphone the Best Instrument for Conveying Sounds to THE Deaf, and in Teaching the Partly Deaf and Dumb to Speak. Address Delivered by R. S. Rhodes, of Chicago, Before the Fourteenth Convention OF American Teachers of the Deaf, at Flint, Michigan. Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen: I would like to relate some of the causes which led to my presence with you to-day. About sixteen years ago I devised this instrument, the audiphone, which greatly assisted me in hearing, and discovered that many who had not learned to speak were not so deaf as myself. I reasoned that an instrument in the hands of one who had not learned to speak would ^ act -the same as when in the hands of one who had learned to speak, and that the mere fact of one not being able to speak would in no wise affect the action of the instrument. To ascertain if or not my simple reasoning was correct, I borrowed a deaf-mute, a boy about twelve years old, and took him to my farm. We arrived there in the evening, and during the evening I experimented to 17 1 8 THE AUDIPHONE. see if he could distinguish some of the vowel sounds. My •experiments in this direction were quite satisfactory. Early in the morning I provided him with an audiphone and took him by the hand for a walk about the farm. We soon came across a flock of turkeys. We approached closely, the boy with his audiphone adjusted to his teeth, and when the gobbler spoke in his peculiar voice, the boy was convulsed with laughter, and jumping for joy con- tinued to follow the fowl with his audiphone properly adjusted, and at every remark of the gobbler the boy was. delighted. I was myself delighted, and began to think my reasoning was correct. We next visited the barn. I led him into a stall beside a horse munching his oats, and to my delight he could hear the grinding of the horse's teeth when the audiphone was adjusted, and neither of us could without. In the stable yard was a cow lowing for its calf, which he plainly showed he could hear, and when I led him to the cow- barn where the calf was confined, he could hear it reply to the cow, and by signs showed that he understood their language, and that he knew the one was calling for the other. We then visited the pig-sty where the porkers, poked their noses near to us. He could hear them with, the audiphone adjusted, and enjoyed their talk, and understood that they wanted more to eat. I gav^e him' some corn to throw over to them, and he signed that that was what they wanted, and that now they were satisfied. He soon, howevep, broke away from me and pursued the gobbler and manifested more satisfaction in listening to its voice than to mine, and the vowel sounds as com- pared to it were of slight importance to him, and for the three days he was at my farm that poor turkey gobbler had but little rest.- HEARING THROUGH THE TEETH. 1 9 With these and other experiments I was satisfied that he could hear, and that there were many Hke him; so I look my grip and audiphones and visited most of the institutions for the deaf in this country. In all institu- tions I found many who could hear well, and presented the instrument with which this hearing could be improved and brought within the scope of the human voice. But at one institution I was astonished; I found a bright girl with perfect hearing being educated to the sign language. She could repeat words after me parrot-like, but had no knowledge of their value in sentences. I inquired why she was in the institution for the deaf, and by examining the records we learned she was the child of deaf-mute parents, and had been brought up by them in the country, and although her hearing was perfect, she had not heard spoken language enough to acquire it, and I was informed by the superintendent of the institution that she pre- ferred signs to speech. I was astonished that a child with no knowledge of the value of speech should be per- mitted to elect to be educated by signs instead of speech,, ind to be so educated in a state institution. This cir- cumstance convinced me more than ever that therd' was: a great work to be done in redeeming the partly deaf children from the slavery of silence, and I 'Was' more firmly resolved than' ever that I would devote the re- mainder of my life to this cause. I have had learned scientists tell me that I could not hear through my teeth. It would take more scieiitists than ever were born to convince mip th^t Ijdid hot hear /ly samted mother's and beloved father's dying voice with this instrument, when I could not have healrd it without. 20 THE AUDIPHONE. It would take more scientists than ever were born to convince me that I did not hear the voice of the Rev. James B. McClure, one who has been deaf to me for the last twenty years, and accompanied me on most of my visits to institutions spoken of above, and who has en- ccfuraged me, in my.labors for the deaf all these years, say,^ as I held his hand on his dying bed only Monday last, and took my final leave from him (and let me say, I know of no cause, but this that would have induced me to leave him then), "Goto Flint; do all the good you can. God bless your labors for the deaf! We shall never rneet again on earth. Meet me above. Good-by!" And, Mr. President, when I am laid at rest, it will be with gratitude to you and with greater resignation for the active part you have taken in the interest of these parily ■deaf children in having a section for aural work admitted ?to this national convention, for in this act you have con- itributed to placing this work on a firm foundation, which -'is sure to result in the greatest good to this class. You have heard our friendj, the inventoi: of the tele- phone, say that in his experiments for a device to im- prove the hearing of the deaf, (as he was not qualified by deafness,) he did not succeed, but invented the tele- phone instead, which has liiied his pocket with gold. From what I know of the gentleman, I believe he would willingly part with all the gold he has received for the tlse of this wonderful invention, had he succeeded in his .efforts in devising an instrument which would have ■emancipated even twenty per cent, of the deaf in the in- ;stitutiqns from the slavery of silence. I haVe often wished that he might have invented the audiphonfe and, HEARING THROUGH THE TEETH. 21 received as much benefit by its use as I, for then he would have used the gold he derives from the telephone in carrying the boon to the deaf; but when I consider that in wishing this I must wish him deaf, and as it would not be right for me to wish him this great affliction, there- fore since I am deaf, and I invented the audiphone, I would rather wish that I might have invented the tele- phone also; in which case I assure the deaf that I would have used my gold as freely in their behalf as would" he. [The speaker then explained the use of the audiometer in measuring the degree of hearing one may possess. Then, at his request, a gentleman from the audience, a superintendent of one of our large institutions, took a position about five feet from the speaker, and was asked to speak loud enough for Mr. Rhodes to hear when he did not have the audiphone in use, and by shouting at the top of his voice, Mr. Rhodes was able to hear only two or three " o " sounds, but could not distinguish a word. With the audiphone adjusted to his teeth, still looking away from the speaker, he was able to understand ordinary tones, and repeated sentences after him; and, when look- ing at him and using his eye and audiphone, the speaker lowering his voice nearly as much as possible and yet articulating, Mr. Rhodes distinctly heard every word and repeated sentences after him, thus showing the value of the audiphone and eye combined, although Mr. Rhodes had never received instructions in lip reading. The gentleman stated that he had tested Mr. Rhodes' hearing with the audiometer when he was at his institu- tion in 1 894, and found he possessed seven per cent, in his left ear and nothing in his right.] 22 THE AUDIPHONE. Gentlemen and ladies, now that I have demonstrated the value of the teeth and the audiphone as a means of conveying sounds to the deaf, I will read this paper which I have prepared. The " Hard-of.Hearing " Speechless Children in our Schools for the Deaf. Paper Read by R. S. Rhodes, of Chi- cago, AT THE Fourteenth Convention of American Teachers Of the Deaf, at Flint, Michigan. "In what manner can we best serve the interests of those pupils in our institutions, who have a good degree of hearing?" I find this question asked in the reports of the superinterident of one of our large institutions, issued June 30, 1894. I also find in this report a statement that of "384 children whose hearing was accurately tested, 60 had a record of hearing varying in degrees up to ten per cent.; 35 a record varying between ten and twenty per cent. ; 47 between twenty and thirty per cent.; 18 between thirty and forty per cent.; 7 between forty and fifty per cent.; and 16 of fifty per cent, and over" — in all, 183, or nearly fifty percent, of all chil- dren tested, are not totally deaf, but are simply hard-of- hearing people. In 1879, I visited many schools for the deaf in this country, and tested the hearing of many deaf children, and in 1880, I visited many institutions and schools in Europe, and have made accurate tests of the hearing of the deaf children wherever I have been; and I find that 23 24 THE AUDIPHONE. forty per cent, of the children in the institutions and schools throughout the world possess ten per cent, and over of hearing, and are capable of being educated to speak through the sense of hearing with mechanical: aid. This being the case, and this question being asked by the superintendents of several of our institutions^ showing a willingness on the part of the superintendents of these institutions to utilize this hearing and teach aurally to speak, well, then, may this convention pause to consider this question, affecting the interests of half of the children in the institutions represented by you gentle- men present. And let me say_ that it not only affects the interests of those children in these schools at the present day, but will affect the interests of those in all time to come, not only in this country, but other countries throughout the world. Most of you have up to> the present time ignored the fact that these children could hear, and have treated them as totally deaf chil- dren, and they have been graduated as such, and in most institutions in the world to-day are being graduated as such. Well, I say, may we consider ' ' in what manner we can best serve the interests of those children who have a good degree of hearing," and well may this con- vention give much of its time to this important question, and let us answer wisely. God has bestowed upon half the children whose welfare is in your charge ten per cent, and over of nature's own means of learn- ing to speak. This being known, shall we longer ignore the fact.'' We see adults on every hand, more deaf than many of the children in your schools, using HEARING THROUGH THE TEETH. 2$ mechanical aids to hearing, and enjoying the use of their own voices, and understanding others well. What they can do with mechanical aids, you can teach these chil- dren, with an equal degree of hearing, to do. Forty per cent, of the children in your schools hear better than I can. My degree of hearing in the left ear is about seven per cent., and nothing in the right, and I can hear with the audiphone, at conversational distances, almost per- fectly, and can hear my own voice, when speaking against it^ quite perfectly. You will allow that if the deaf can hear others and can hear themselves, there is no reason why they cannot be educated aurally,, if they have mental capacity. No, there is no reason why they cannot, but there is a reason, and a potent reason, why they are not, and that reason lies with you, the teachers of the deaf. But you cannot be wholly blamed for this, ber cause I allow that even with this instrument which I carry, you, with perfect hearing, find no improvement. But those with imperfect hearing will find great improve- ment. You hand the instrument to one who has never enjoyed the benefit of hearing, in learning articulation, and you find he answers you that he can hear but little, and you use his judgment and say that he cannot hear suffi- ciently with it to learn to speak, when you. should know that they who have never learned to speak know nothing of the value of sound, and are perfectly ignorant as to how well they should hear to enable them to learn. You know you are succeeding in some degree in teaching them to speak when they hear nothing; if, then, they may by any means acquire simply the vowel sounds of our lan- guage, by hearing them, what a great advantage would this be to them in learning to speak! And I assert that 26 THE AUDIPHONE. where a person enjoys one per cent, only of natural hearing, this instrument will improve his hearing to a degree that will enable him to acquire a knowledge aurally of the vowel sounds, and thus enable you to teach him to speak. Sixteen years ago when I visited the in- stitutions in this country and Europe, for the purpose of urging that the hearing be appealed to, and carried with me this device, and selected classes that could hear, and freely presented this instrument for their use, every child was being instructed as though it were totally deaf, and in some instances I was told that a slight degree of hear- ing rendered a child more difficult to teach by "our'' method. That may be very true, for some of these chil- dren possessed twenty or thirty or even fifty per cent, of hearing, and I should suppose that it would be natural for them in such cases to be at first inclined to listen, and it would be some trouble to overcome this inclina- tion. As for me, I believe that ten per cent, of nature's means,, ten per cent, of natural hearing power, is worth more in learning valuable speech than one hundred per cent, of substituted methods. I could teach to speak two languages to a bright student, with ten per cent, of hearing, before you could teach him to speak one with all methods ever used, without the hearing. Yes, ten per cent, of a sense that God has endowed us with is too valuable to throw away, and we have no right to ignore even one per cent., when we have a device which will improve it and make it valuable to us, as in this sense of hearing we certainly have. I am sure the audiphonewill improve thirty per cent. , and bring one per cent, within the scope of the human voice, and valuable speech may be taught. With the audiphone one may speak to HEARING THROUGH THE TEETH. 2/ ft dozen or two dozen, or three dozen, at one time; and the sounds that reach the listener with the audiphone, according to my judgment, are far more natural than those reaching the listener by any other instrument. Music itself is perfectly enjoyed with the audiphone, whereas, there is no other instrument that will reveal the harmonies of music in their perfection, and therefore, I say, it is the preferable instrument for teaching, but it is not the only instrument. Each child carries an instrument of value, which I be- lieve has never before been spoken of or used, and which I would like to explain to this convention. You may simply allow a deaf child to close his teeth firmly; this brings the upper jaw in tension, and when, his teeth are firmly closed, he may speak and hear his own voice more distinctly. You will not hear him so well, but he will hear himself better, and he may study in this manner, with his teeth firmly pressed together, until he can acquire the knowledge of every sound in the English language, and one must be exceedingly deaf — I would say totally deaf — if he cannot hear himself speak with his teeth firmly closed together. Now, you gentle- men of perfect hearing may try this; you will find it gives you no results, but do not decide at once that what I have said is not true. Let those who are deaf try it, and they will find that they can hear. Thus, the deaf have some advantages; it requires a deaf person to hear through his teeth. This may be one reason why some teachers decide that the audiphone is jiot of value to the deaf, simply because they of perfect hearing cannot hear with it. With the double audiphone you speak between the discs, and you get back to yourself the double power 28 THE AUDIPHONE. of your voice — tliat is, the deaf will get it back. One with perfect hearing will see no results, because the same result will be attained through the natural organ first, but one with defective hearing will receive the results. I would place the audiphone in the hands of each child with any degree of hearing remaining, and have him study his own voice at his seat, while speaking against it. He would have to study aloud, as it is his voice we wish to cultivate. It is more important that the child should hear himself speak than that it should hear others, and when the child comes to recite, its articulation of mispronounced words may be corrected. Very slow progress would be made if it was required to speak aloud only at recitations, and very hard work on the part of the teacher could be avoided by having the child study the sounds it produced at its seat, and while stlidying its lesson. I would advise that where many are being taught, the class should pass into a quiet recita- tion-room. It has been my experience in institutions I have visited that I have been able to teach classes of a dozen children to speak plainly thirty to one hundred words in two or three days, whether they have received previous instruction in articulation or not, and at this rate it would require but a very short time to give them a vocabulary that would be of practical value to them. I have, however, selected those possessing the most hear- ing, and that would be faster than the average could be taught; but all intelligent children, with five per cent, of hearing can be taught as valuable speech as I possess. My articulation may be defective, but I think you have been able to understand what I have said, and, poor as it is, I would not part with it for all the possessions any HEARING THROUGH THE TEETH. 29 one of you may have. And here, gentlemen, you are depriving half of the children in the institutions that you, teach of an articulation that might be as valuable ta them as mine is to me, or as yours is to you. I have known institutions where the teachers them-, selves have used this audiphone, and have taught chil- dren who could hear naturally better than themselves, and did not allow them to use it By what line of rea- soning they can justify this I do not know; or why they should deprive the innocent child of the blessings they appropriate to themselves. And these poor children, ignorant of the value of the slight degree of hearing God has conferred upon them, are sent to the schools for the deaf for instruction, and thousands are being sent forth from these institutions ignorant still of the great value the hearing they have would have been to them had it •been utilized in teaching them to speak. Teachers, will you continue to do this.' Will you continue to graduate this large class of hard-of-hearing children as children perfectly deaf.' If you do, you commit a grievous offense and an offense which will not be forgotten or forgiven. You will deprive fifty per cent, of the afflicted children given to your care of valuable speech and an education to articulate sounds. You deprive them of the enjoy- ment of God's most valuable gifts, speech and hearing. You in a great measure deprive them of the means of making a livelihood. The hard-of-hearing, speaking; person will succeed well in most callings. The responsi- bility for the present rests with you; in the future this, will all be done. Are you prepared to say, " We will not do it; we will leave it to the future; we will continue in our old methods," or will you rise equal to the occa- 30 THE AUDIPHONE. Tiion and deserve the blessings of future generations? As ioT me, I would rather be the inventor of this little device X hold in my hands, and the author of these few words I have addressed to you, knowing them to be true, and leel the satisfaction I feel in having devoted the past six- teen years of my life to this cause, than to be the in- ventor of any 'device that merely serves commercial pur- poses. Commerce may be benefited in a thousand ways, whereas an affliction may be alleviated in but few. A Vote of Thanks. On motion it was Resolved, That the thanks of this convention are due to Mr. R. S. Rhodes for his valuable paper. FOR THE DEAF. THE AUDIPHONE An instrament tbat Enables Deaf Persons to Hear Or< dlnary Conversation Readily ttarouKb tbe Mfdinm or tbe Teetb, and many of tbose Born Deaf and Dumb to Hear and Learn to Speak. INVENTED BY RICHARD S. RHODES, CHICAGO. Medal Awarded at the World's ColumMan Exj)0- sition, CMcago, The Audiphone is a new instrument made of a peculiar composi- tion, posessing the property of gathering the faintest sounds (some- what similar to a telephone diaphragm), and conveying theni to the auditory nerve, through the medium of the teeth. The external ear has nothing whatever to do in hearing with this wonderful instru- ment. Thousands are in use by those who would not do, without them for any consideration. It has enabled doctors and lawyers to resume practice, teachers to resume teaching, mothers to hear the voices of their children, thousands to hear their minister, attend concerts and theatres, and engage in general conversation. Music is heard per- fectly with it when without it not a note could be distinguished. It is convenient to carry and to use. Ordinary conversation can be heard with ease. In most cases deafness is not detected. Full instructions will be sent with each instrument. The Audi- phone is patented throughout the civilized world. Conversational, small size, - - - $3 oo Conversational, medium size, - - - 3 oo Concert size, - - - - - 5 oo The Audiphone will be sent to any address, on receipt of price, by RHODES & M'GLURE PUBLISHING CO., .&.g«aa.ti9 fox tlxe "^7*0x15., •a T77-a,s3aAxig±oxi St., aS£ZC.A.OO. ZXdXi. WEBSTER'S Unabridged Dictionary REPRINT EDITION. CLOTH, - - HALF MOROCCO, SHEEP, - - - - $1.50 - 1.75 - 2.00 Every School Child Should Have One of These Copies.- OVER I300 PACES. Beautiful Frontis- piece of the Flags of All Nations in Five Colors, Illustrated. THE BEST ON THE HARKET TO-DAY FOR THE nONEY. ADDRESS ALt. OKOERS TO Rhodes & McClure Publishing Co., 93 Washington Street, CHICAGO. DON'T SNORE, CO Z o m < m 2 H m o £3dONS AHNi AGENTS WANTED In every County to Sell our Books and to secure Advertisements for them. THEY ARE HANDSOME POPULAR INSTRUCTIVE ""AMUSING THIS IS ONE OF THEM SEE PARTIAL LIST ELSEWHERE IN THIS VOLUME THEY SELL WELL LIBERAL COMMISSIONS GIVEN For particulars, Address Rhodes s McClure Publishing Co. 93 WASHINGTON STREET ^— .C H IC AGO ;. N '^>>*^^>^