E 457 
 .8 
 147 
 1907 
 Copy 1 
 
 
 rUf 
 
 Lincoln 
 
 i 
 
 *~* 
 
 
 
 ** SHfcr** 
 
 r*r+' 
 
 Wfr 
 
 "IT 4* 
 
 ** 
 
 IMv', 
 
 rx 
 
Class fcA£7 
 BoofcjE 
 
 ' PRESENTED BY 
 
 Li. 
 
25 OEIsTTS. 
 
 A LECTURE 
 
 BY 
 
 ROBERT G. INGERSOLL. 
 
 Nothing is grander than to break chains from the bodies of men — nothing 
 nobler than to destroy the phantoms of the soul 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 C P. FARRELL, PUBLISHER, 
 
 1907 
 
Col. Robert G. IngersolTs 
 
 COMPLETE WORKS 
 
 Dresden Edition of 12 Handsome Octavo Volumes 
 
 Complete index to all the volumes and table of contents to each volume 
 
 THE only authorized and complete edition of Ingersoll's works. Published with 
 the authority and supervision of the family, from his manuscripts, notes and 
 literary memoranda. Tlfis edition of the writings of Robert G. Ingersoll justifies 
 its description as complete. Besides including all of the author's famous lectures, 
 addresses and orations already issued in pamphlet form, the volumes contain three 
 thousand pages of matter not hitherto published. Among his inedited writings, now 
 first appearing, may be mentioned the author's first lecture, entitled "Progress," 
 delivered in i860; the lectures on "Robert Burns," "The Great Infidels,' "My 
 Reviewers Reviewed; " an answer to the Rev. Lyman Abbott's article, ''Flaws in 
 Ingersollism," published in the North American Review ; an answer to Archdeacon 
 Farrar's article, "A Few Words on Colonel Ingersoll," published in the same 
 magazine; an answer to the Dean of St. Paul's article on " Cruelty ;" many new 
 pages on Divorce, after-dinner Speeches, Magazine articles on the Chinese Question; 
 essays on Art and Morality, "Three Philanthropists," " Is Avarice Triumphant?" 
 "Some Interrogation Points^ (on the Labor Question); Prefaces, Tributes, Frag- 
 ments, etc., etc. Among the numerous essays to be found in these volumes are those 
 on Professor Huxley, Ernest Renan, and Count Tolstoy. 
 
 The matter given precedence in the Dresden Edition, as might be foreseen, com- 
 prises the author's great lectures on the Bible and the Christian Religion and his 
 discussions with theologians, amateur and professional. Among his opponents 
 were the Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, Cardinal Manning, judge Jeremiah S. Black, 
 and the Rev. Henry M. Field, whose defences of their faith are given in full. It is 
 doubted that Colonel Ingersoll's Replies will be found in the published writings of 
 (hose authors. 
 
 The work is beautifully illustrated with photogravures, etchings, half-tones and 
 fac-similes, consisting of portraits of the author taken at various times, and other 
 matter pertinent to the works. The ia volumes contain over 7000 pages, printed in 
 large type, on finest of laid deckle-edge paper, wide margins, gilt tops, and bound 
 library style, in olive silk cloth Or half levant. Sold only in sets. 
 
 Price, cloth, $30.00; ; 
 
 Half-.evant, $60.00. 
 
 Send for circular, containing full description of the Dresden Edition, Ingersoll's 
 Miscellaneous Pamphlets, Portraits, Souvenir Spoons, Paper Weights, and anything 
 pertaining to Ingersoll, to C. P. Farrell, 117 East 21st Street, New Vork City, N. Y.. 
 U. S. A. 
 
 N. B. — Sole English Agents in Great Britain for the Dresden Edition, Ingerroll's 
 Complete Works: The Free-thought Publishing Co., Ltd., 2 Newcastle Street, 
 Farringdon Street, London, E. C, England. 
 
 COMMENTS 
 
 "Colonel Ingersoll writes with a rare and enviable brilliancy." 
 
 — Wm. E. Gladstow*. 
 "I envy the land that brings forth such glorious fruit as an Ingersoll." 
 
 — Bjornstjerne Bjornson. 
 "Col. Ingersoll is a wonderful man, his speech for half an hour was a revelation. 
 •'Royal Bob," as Garfield called him, was never in better feather, and how deep he 
 goes and how high he soars." — Walt Whitman. 
 
 " Col. Ingersol-l, the man whom above all others I should have wished and hoped 
 to meet if I had visited America during his lifetime." 
 
 — Algernon Chaklbs Swinburne. 
 
 " Col. Ingsrsoll, whose services for the promotion of the truth, I value most 
 sincerely." — Prof. Ernst Haeckel. 
 
 •' His was a great and beautiful spirit, he was a man — all man, from his crown to 
 his foot soles. My reverence for him was deep and genuine, I prized his affection 
 for me, and returned it with usury." — Mark Twain. 
 
\ \ 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 
 
 A LECTURE 
 
 2Y 
 
 Robert G: Ingersoll. 
 
 Nothing is grander than to break chains from the bodies of men — nothing 
 nobler than to destroy the phantoms c-f the soul. 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 C. P. FARRELL, PUBLISHER, 
 
 1907 
 
.PV7 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1894, by 
 
 ROBERT G. INGERSOLL 
 
 in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C, 
 
 3aSmO. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 
 
 i. 
 
 /^""\N the 1 2th of February, 1809, two babes were 
 ^" > ^ born — one in the woods of Kentucky, amid 
 the hardships and poverty of pioneers ; one in Eng- 
 land, surrounded by wealth and culture. One was 
 educated in the University of Nature, the other at 
 Cambridge. 
 
 One associated his name with the enfranchisement 
 of labor, with the emancipation of millions, with the 
 salvation of the Republic. He is known to us as 
 Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 The other broke the chains of superstition and 
 
 filled the world with intellectual light, and he is 
 
 known as Charles Darwin. 
 
 Nothing is grander than to break chains from the 
 
 (123) 
 
124 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 bodies of men — nothing nobler than to destroy the. 
 phantoms of the soul. 
 
 Because of these two men the nineteenth century 
 is illustrious. 
 
 A few men and women make a nation glorious — 
 Shakespeare made England immortal, Voltaire civil- 
 ized and humanized France ; Goethe, Schiller and 
 Humboldt lifted Germany into the light. Angelo, 
 Raphael, Galileo and Bruno crowned with fadeless 
 laurel the Italian brow, and now the most precious 
 treasure of the Great Republic is the memory of 
 Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 Every generation has its heroes, its iconoclasts, its 
 pioneers, its ideals. The people always have been 
 and still are divided, at least into classes — the many, 
 who with their backs to the sunrise worship the 
 past, and the few, who keep their faces toward the 
 dawn — the many, who are satisfied with the world 
 as it is ; the few, who labor and suffer for the future, 
 for those to be, and who seek to rescue the op- 
 pressed, to destroy the cruel distinctions of caste, 
 and to civilize mankind. 
 
 Yet it sometimes happens that the liberator of one 
 age becomes the oppressor of the next. His repu- 
 tation becomes so great — he is so revered and wor- 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, I 2 ^ 
 
 shiped — that his followers, in his name, attack the 
 hero who endeavors to take another step in advance. 
 
 The heroes of the Revolution, forgetting the jus- 
 tice for which they fought, put chains upon the limbs 
 of others, and in their names the lovers of liberty 
 were denounced as ingrates and traitors. 
 
 During the Revolution our fathers to justify their 
 rebellion dug down to the bed-rock of human rights 
 and planted their standard there. They declared 
 that all men were entitled to liberty and that govern- 
 ment derived its power from the consent of the 
 governed. But when victory came, the great prin- 
 ciples were forgotten and chains were put upon the 
 limbs of men. Both of the great political parties 
 were controlled by greed and selfishness. Both 
 were the defenders and protectors of slavery. For 
 nearly three-quarters of a century these parties had 
 control of the Republic. The principal object of 
 both parties was the protection of the infamous in- 
 stitution. Both were eager to secure the Southern 
 vote and both sacrificed principle and honor upon 
 the altar of success. 
 
 At last the Whig party died and the Republican 
 was born. This party was opposed to the further 
 extension of slavery. The Democratic party of the 
 
126 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 South wished to make the " divine institution " 
 national — while the Democrats of the North wanted 
 the question decided by each territory for itself. 
 
 Each of these parties had conservatives and ex- 
 tremists. The extremists of the Democratic party 
 were in the rear and wished to go back ; the ex- 
 tremists of the Republican party were in the front, 
 and wished to go forward. The extreme Democrat 
 was willing to destroy the Union for the sake of 
 slavery, and the extreme Republican was willing to 
 destroy the Union for the sake of liberty. 
 
 Neither party could succeed without the votes of 
 its extremists. 
 
 This was the condition in i858-6o. 
 
 When Lincoln was a child his parents removed 
 from Kentucky to Indiana. A few trees were felled 
 — a log hut open to the south, no floor, no window, 
 was built — a little land plowed and here the Lincolns 
 lived. Here the patient, thoughtful, silent, loving 
 mother died — died in the wide forest as a leaf dies, 
 leaving nothing to her son but the memory of her 
 love. 
 
 In a few years the family moved to Illinois. Lin- 
 coln then almost grown, clad in skins, with no woven 
 stitch upon his body — walking and driving the 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 12/ 
 
 cattle. Another farm was opened — a few acres 
 subdued and enough raised to keep the wolf from 
 the door. Lincoln quit the farm — went down the 
 Ohio and Mississippi as a hand on a flat-boat — ■ 
 afterward clerked in a country store — then in part- 
 nership with another bought the store — failed. 
 Nothing left but a few debts — learned the art of 
 surveying — made about half a living and paid some- 
 thing on the debts — read law — admitted to the bar 
 — tried a few small cases — nominated for the Legis- 
 lature and made a speech. 
 
 This speech was in favor of a tariff, not only for 
 revenue, but to encourage American manufacturers 
 and to protect American workingmen. Lincoln 
 knew then as well as we do now, that everything, 
 to the limits of the possible, that Americans use 
 should be produced by the energy, skill and in- 
 genuity of Americans. He knew that the more 
 industries we had, the greater variety of things we 
 made, the greater would be the development of the 
 American brain. And he knew that great men and 
 great women are the best things that a nation can 
 produce, — the finest crop a country can possibly 
 raise. 
 
 He knew that a nation that sells raw material will 
 
128 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 grow ignorant and poor, while the people who man- 
 ufacture will grow intelligent and rich. To dig, to 
 chop, to plow, requires more muscle than mind, more 
 strength than thought. 
 
 To invent, to manufacture, to take advantage of 
 the forces of nature — this requires thought, talent, 
 genius. This develops the brain and gives wings 
 to the imagination. 
 
 It is better for Americans to purchase from Amer- 
 icans, even if the things purchased cost more. 
 
 If we purchase a ton of steel rails from England 
 for twenty dollars, then we have the rails and Eng- 
 land the money. But if we buy a ton of steel rails 
 from an American for twenty-five dollars, then 
 America has both the rails and the money. 
 
 Judging from the present universal depression and 
 the recent elections, Lincoln, in his first speech, 
 stood on solid rock and was absolutely right. Lin- 
 coln was educated in the University of Nature — 
 educated by cloud and star — by field and winding 
 stream — by billowed plains and solemn forests — by 
 morning's birth and death of day — by storm and 
 night — by the ever eager Spring — by Summer's 
 wealth of leaf and vine and flower — the sad and 
 transient glories of the Autumn woods — and Win- 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 129 
 
 ter, builder of home and fireside, and whose storms 
 without, create the social warmth within. 
 
 He was perfectly acquainted with the political 
 questions of the day — heard them discussed at 
 taverns and country stores, at voting places and 
 courts and on the stump. He knew all the argu- 
 ments for and against, and no man of his time was 
 better equipped for intellectual conflict. He knew 
 the average mind — the thoughts of the people, the 
 hopes and prejudices of his fellow-men. He had 
 the power of accurate statement. He was logical, 
 candid and sincere. In addition, he had the " touch 
 of nature that makes the whole world kin." 
 
 In 1 858 he was a candidate for the Senate against 
 Stephen A. Douglas. 
 
 The extreme Democrats would not vote for Doug- 
 las, but the extreme Republicans did vote for Lin- 
 coln. Lincoln occupied the middle ground, and was 
 the compromise candidate of his own party. He 
 had lived for many years in the intellectual territory 
 of compromise — in a part of our country settled by 
 Northern and Southern men — where Northern and 
 Southern ideas met, and the ideas of the two sec- 
 tions were brought together and compared. 
 
 The sympathies of Lincoln, his ties of kindred, 
 
11,0 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 were with the South. His convictions, his sense of 
 justice, and his ideals, were with the North. He 
 knew the horrors of slavery, and he felt the un- 
 speakable ecstasies and glories of freedom. He had 
 the kindness, the gentleness, of true greatness, and 
 he could not have been a master ; he had the man- 
 hood and independence of true greatness, and he 
 could not have been a slave. He was just, and was 
 incapable of putting a burden upon others that he 
 himself would not willingly bear. 
 
 He was merciful and profound, and it was not 
 necessary for him to read the history of the world to 
 know that liberty and slavery could not live in the 
 same nation, or in the same brain. Lincoln was a 
 statesman. And there is this difference between a 
 politician and a statesman. A politician schemes 
 and works in every way to make the people do 
 something for him. A statesman wishes to do some- 
 thing for the people. With him place and power 
 are means to an end, and the end is the good of his 
 country. 
 
 In this campaign Lincoln demonstrated three things 
 — first, that he was the intellectual superior of his op- 
 ponent ; second, that he was right ; and third, that a 
 majority of the voters of Illinois were on his side. 
 
II. 
 
 IN i860 the Republic reached a crisis. The con- 
 flict between liberty and slavery could no longer 
 be delayed. For three-quarters of a century the 
 forces had been gathering for the battle. 
 
 After the Revolution, principle was sacrificed for 
 the sake of gain. The Constitution contradicted the 
 Declaration. Liberty as a principle was held in con- 
 tempt. Slavery took possession of the Government. 
 Slavery made the laws, corrupted courts, dominated 
 Presidents and demoralized the people. 
 
 I do not hold the South responsible for slavery 
 any more than I do the North. The fact is, that 
 individuals and nations act as they must. There is 
 no chance. Back of every event — of every hope, 
 prejudice, fancy and dream — of every opinion and 
 belief — of every vice and virtue — of every smile 
 and curse, is the efficient cause. The present mo- 
 ment is the child, and the necessary child, of all the 
 past. 
 
 Northern politicians wanted office, and so they 
 defended slavery ; Northern merchants wanted to 
 sell their goods to the South, and so they were the 
 
 enemies of freedom. The preacher wished to please 
 
 C13O 
 
I3 2 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 the people who paid his salary, and so he denounced 
 the slave for not being satisfied with the position in 
 which the good God had placed him. 
 
 The respectable, the rich, the prosperous, the 
 holders of and the seekers for office, held liberty in 
 contempt. They regarded the Constitution as far 
 more sacred than the rights of men. Candidates 
 for the presidency were applauded because they had 
 tried to make slave States of free territory, and the 
 highest court solemnly and ignorantly decided that 
 colored men and women had no ripdits. Men who 
 
 o 
 
 insisted that freedom was better than slavery, and 
 that mothers should not be robbed of their babes, 
 were hated, despised and mobbed. Mr. Douglas 
 voiced the feelings of millions when he declared that 
 he did not care whether slavery was voted up or 
 down. Upon this question the people, a majority 
 of them, were almost savages. Honor, manhood, 
 conscience, principle — all sacrificed for the sake of 
 gain or office. 
 
 From the heights of philosophy — standing above 
 the contending hosts, above the prejudices, the 
 sentimentalities of the day ■ — Lincoln was great 
 enough and brave enough and wise enough to utter 
 these prophetic words : 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 133 
 
 "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this 
 Government cannot permanently endure half slave and hali 
 free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved ; I do not ex- 
 pect the house to fall ; but I do expect it will cease to be 
 divided. It will become all the one thing or 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 further until it becomes alike lawful in all the States, old as 
 well as new, North as well as South." 
 
 This declaration was the standard around which 
 gathered the grandest political party the world has 
 ever seen, and this declaration made Lincoln the 
 leader of that vast host. 
 
 In this, the first great crisis, Lincoln uttered the 
 victorious truth that made him the foremost man in 
 the Republic. 
 
 The Republican party nominated him for the 
 presidency and the people decided at the polls that 
 a house divided against itself could not stand, and 
 that slavery had cursed soul and soil enough. 
 
 It is not a common thing to elect a really great 
 man to fill the highest official position. I do not say 
 that the great Presidents have been chosen by acci- 
 dent. Probably it would be better to say that they 
 were the favorites of a happy chance. 
 
 The average man is afraid of genius. He feels as 
 
134 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 an awkward man feels in the presence of a sleight- 
 of-hand performer. He admires and suspects. 
 Genius appears to carry too much sail — to lack 
 prudence, has too much courage. The ballast of 
 dullness inspires confidence. 
 
 By a happy chance Lincoln was nominated and 
 elected in spite of his fitness — and the patient, 
 gentle, just and loving man was called upon to bear 
 as great a burden as man has ever borne. 
 
 III. 
 
 r "PHEN came another crisis — the crisis of Seces- 
 sion and Civil war. 
 Again Lincoln spoke the deepest feeling and the 
 highest thought of the Nation. In his first message 
 he said : 
 
 " The central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy." 
 
 He also showed conclusively that the North and 
 South, in spite of secession, must remain face to 
 face — that physically they could not separate ■ — that 
 they must have more or less commerce, and that 
 this commerce must be carried on either between 
 the two sections as friends, or as aliens. 
 
 This situation and its consequences he pointed 
 out to absolute perfection in these words : 
 
ABRAHAM. LINCOLN. I3*> 
 
 " Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws ? 
 Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens than 
 laws among friends ? " 
 
 After having stated fully and fairly the philosophy 
 of the conflict, after having said enough to satisfy 
 any calm and thoughtful mind, he addressed himself 
 to the hearts of America. Probably there are few 
 finer passages in literature than the close of Lin- 
 coln's inaugural address : 
 
 " 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 chords of 
 memory stretching from every battlefield and patriotic grave to 
 every loving heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, 
 will swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as 
 surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. ' ' 
 
 These noble, these touching, these pathetic words, 
 were delivered in the presence of rebellion, in the 
 midst of spies and conspirators — surrounded by but 
 few friends, most of whom were unknown, and some 
 of whom were wavering in their fidelity — at a time 
 when secession was arrogant and organized, when 
 patriotism was silent, and when, to quote the ex- 
 pressive words of Lincoln himself, " Sinners were 
 calling the righteous to repentance." 
 
 When Lincoln became President, he was held in 
 
I36 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 contempt by the South — underrated by the North 
 and East — not appreciated even by his cabinet — 
 and yet he was not only one of the wisest, but one 
 of the shrewdest of mankind. Knowing that he had 
 the right to enforce the laws of the Union in all 
 parts of the United States and Territories — know- 
 ing, as he did, that the secessionists were in the 
 wrong, he also knew that they had sympathizers not 
 only in the North, but in other lands. 
 
 Consequently, he felt that it was of the utmost im- 
 portance that the South should fire the first shot, 
 should do some act that would solidify the North, 
 and gain for us the justification of the civilized world. 
 
 He proposed to give food to the soldiers at Sum- 
 ter. He asked the advice of all his cabinet on this 
 question, and all, with the exception of Montgomery 
 Blair, answered in the negative, giving their reasons 
 in writing. In spite of this, Lincoln took his own 
 course — endeavored to send the supplies, and while 
 thus engaged, doing his simple duty, the South 
 commenced actual hostilities and fired on the fort. 
 The course pursued by Lincoln was absolutely right, 
 and the act of the South to a great extent solidified 
 the North, and gained for the Republic the justifica- 
 tion of a great number of people in other lands. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 137 
 
 At that time Lincoln appreciated the scope and 
 consequences of the impending conflict. Above all 
 other thoughts in his mind was this : 
 
 "This conflict will settle the question, at least for 
 " centuries to come, whether man is capable of 
 " governing himself, and consequently is of greater 
 " importance to the free than to the enslaved." 
 
 He knew what depended on the issue and he said : 
 
 " We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last, 
 " best hope of earth." 
 
 IV. 
 
 T^HEN came a crisis in the North. It became 
 clearer and clearer to Lincoln's mind, day by 
 day, that the Rebellion was slavery, and that it was 
 necessary to keep the border States on the side of 
 the Union. For this purpose he proposed a scheme 
 of emancipation and colonization — a scheme by 
 which the owners of slaves should be paid the full 
 value of what they called their " property." 
 
 He knew that if the border States agreed to grad- 
 ual emancipation, and received compensation for 
 their slaves, they would be forever lost to the Con- 
 federacy, whether secession succeeded or not. It 
 was objected at the time, by some, that the scheme 
 
I38 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 was far too expensive ; but Lincoln, wiser than his 
 advisers — far wiser than his enemies — demon- 
 strated that from an economical point of view, his 
 course was best. 
 
 He proposed that $400 be paid for slaves, includ- 
 ing men, women and children. This was a larqe: 
 price, and yet he showed how much cheaper it was 
 to purchase than to carry on the war. 
 
 At that time, at the price mentioned, there were 
 about #75o,ooo worth of slaves in Delaware. The 
 cost of carrying on the war was at least two millions 
 of dollars a day, and for one-third of one day's ex- 
 penses, all the slaves in Delaware could be purchased. 
 He also showed that all the slaves in Delaware, 
 Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri could be bought, 
 at the same price, for less than the expense of carry- 
 ing on the war for eighty-seven days. 
 
 This was the wisest thing that could have been 
 proposed, and yet such was the madness of the 
 South, such the indignation of the North, that the 
 advice was unheeded. 
 
 Again, in July, 1862, he urged on the Representa- 
 tives of the border States a scheme of gradual com- 
 pensated emancipation ; but the Representatives 
 were too deaf to hear, too blind to see. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 1 39 
 
 Lincoln always hated slavery, and yet he felt the 
 obligations and duties of his position. In his first 
 message he assured the South that the laws, includ- 
 ing the most odious of all — the law for the return 
 of fugitive slaves — would be enforced. The South 
 would not hear. Afterward he proposed to pur- 
 chase the slaves of the border States, but the propo- 
 sition was hardly discussed — hardly heard. Events 
 came thick and fast ; theories gave way to facts, and 
 everything was left to force. 
 
 The extreme Democrat of the North was fearful 
 that slavery might be destroyed, that the Constitu- 
 tion might be broken, and that Lincoln, after all, 
 could not be trusted ; and at the same time the radi- 
 cal Republican feared that Lincoln loved the Union 
 more than he did liberty. 
 
 The fact is, that he tried to discharge the obliga- 
 tions of his great office, knowing from the first that 
 slavery must perish. The course pursued by Lin- 
 coln was so gentle, so kind and persistent, so wise 
 and logical, that millions of Northern Democrats 
 sprang to the defence, not only of the Union, but of 
 his administration. Lincoln refused to be led or 
 hurried by Fremont or Hunter, by Greeley or Sum- 
 ner. From first to last he was the real leader, and 
 he kept step with events. 
 
V. 
 
 /^"\N the 2 2d of July, 1862, Lincoln sent word to 
 ^^ the members of his cabinet that he wished to 
 see them. It so happened that Secretary Chase was 
 the first to arrive. He found Lincoln reading a 
 book. Looking up from the page, the President 
 said : " Chase, did you ever read this book ?" "What 
 book is it ?" asked Chase. "Artemus Ward," re- 
 plied Lincoln. " Let me read you this chapter, 
 entitled ' Wax Wurx in Albany! " And so he began 
 reading while the other members of the cabinet one 
 by one came in. At last Stanton told Mr. Lincoln 
 that he was in a great hurry, and if any business was 
 to be done he would like to do it at once. Where- 
 upon Mr. Lincoln laid down the open book, opened 
 a drawer, took out a paper and said : " Gentlemen, I 
 have called you together to notify you what I have 
 determined to do, I want no advice. Nothing can 
 change my mind." 
 
 He then read the Proclamation of Emancipation. 
 Chase thought there ought to be something about 
 God at the close, to which Lincoln replied : " Put it 
 
 in, it won't hurt it." It was also agreed that the 
 
 (uo) 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. I4I 
 
 President would wait for a victory in the field before 
 giving the Proclamation to the world. 
 
 The meeting was over, the members went their 
 way. Mr. Chase was the last to go, and as he went 
 through the door looked back and saw that Mr. Lin- 
 coln had taken up the book and was again engrossed 
 in the Wax Wurx at Albany. 
 
 This was on the 22d of July, 1862. On the 22d 
 of August of the same year — after Lincoln wrote 
 his celebrated letter to Horace Greeley, in which he 
 stated that his object was to save the Union ; that he 
 would save it with slavery if he could ; that if it was 
 necessary to destroy slavery in order to save the 
 Union, he would ; in other words, he would do what 
 was necessary to save the Union. 
 
 This letter disheartened, to a great degree, thou- 
 sands and millions of the friends of freedom. They 
 felt that Mr. Lincoln had not attained the moral 
 height upon which they supposed he stood. And 
 yet, when this letter was written, the Emancipation 
 Proclamation was in his hands, and had been for 
 thirty days, waiting only an opportunity to give it to 
 the world. 
 
 Some two weeks after the letter to Greeley, Lin- 
 coln was waited on by a committee of clergymen, 
 
142 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 and was by them informed that it was God's will that 
 he should issue a Proclamation of Emancipation. 
 He replied to them, in substance, that the day of 
 miracles had passed. He also mildly and kindly 
 suggested that if it were God's will this Proclamation 
 should be issued, certainly God would have made 
 known that will to him — to the person whose duty 
 it was to issue it. 
 
 On the 2 2d day of September, 1862, the most 
 glorious date in the history of the Republic, the 
 Proclamation of Emancipation was issued. 
 
 Lincoln had reached the generalization of all argu- 
 ment upon the question of slavery and freedom — a 
 generalization that never has been, and probably 
 never will be, excelled : 
 
 " In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the 
 free." 
 
 This is absolutely true. Liberty can be retained, 
 can be enjoyed, only by giving it to others. The 
 spendthrift saves, the miser is prodigal. In the realm 
 of Freedom, waste is husbandry. He who puts 
 chains upon the body of another shackles his own 
 soul. The moment the Proclamation was issued 
 the cause of the Republic became sacred. From 
 that moment the North fought for the human race. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 143 
 
 From that moment the North stood under the blue 
 and stars, the flag of Nature, sublime and free. 
 
 In 1 83 1, Lincoln went down the Mississippi on a 
 flat-boat. He received the extravagant salary of 
 ten dollars a month. When he reached New Or- 
 leans, he and some of his companions went about 
 the city. 
 
 Among other places, they visited a slave market, 
 where men and women were being sold at auction. 
 A young colored girl was on the block. Lincoln 
 heard the brutal words of the auctioneer — the savage 
 remarks of bidders. The scene filled his soul with 
 indignation and horror. 
 
 Turning to his companions, he said, " Boys, if I 
 ever get a chance to hit slavery, by God I'll hit it 
 hard ! " 
 
 The helpless girl, unconsciously, had planted in a 
 great heart the seeds of the Proclamation. 
 
 Thirty-one years afterward the chance came, the 
 oath was kept, and to four millions of slaves, of men, 
 women and children, was restored liberty, the jewel 
 of the soul. 
 
 In the history, in the fiction of the world, there is 
 nothing more intensely dramatic than this. 
 
 Lincoln held within his brain the grandest truths, 
 
144 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 and he held them as unconsciously, as easily, as 
 naturally, as a waveless pool holds within its stainless 
 breast a thousand stars. 
 
 In these two years we had traveled from the Or- 
 dinance of Secession to the Proclamation of Eman- 
 cipation. 
 
 VI. 
 
 "\ A 7"E were surrounded by enemies. Many of the 
 * so-called great in Europe and England were 
 
 against us. They hated the Republic, despised our 
 institutions, and sought in many ways to aid the 
 South. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone announced that Jefferson Davis had 
 made a nation, and that he did not believe the restor- 
 ation of the American Union by force attainable. 
 
 From the Vatican came words of encouragement 
 for the South. 
 
 It was declared that the North was fighting for 
 empire and the South for independence. 
 
 The Marquis of Salisbury said : " The people of 
 the South are the natural allies of England. The 
 North keeps an opposition shop in the same depart- 
 ment of trade as ourselves." 
 
 Not a very elevated sentiment — but English. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 145 
 
 Some of their statesmen declared that the subju- 
 gation of the South by the North would be a calamity 
 to the world. 
 
 Louis Napoleon was another enemy, and he en- 
 deavored to establish a monarchy in Mexico, to the 
 end that the great North might be destroyed. But 
 the patience, the uncommon common sense, the 
 statesmanship of Lincoln — in spite of foreign hate 
 and Northern division — triumphed over all. And 
 now we forgive all foes. Victory makes forgiveness 
 easy. 
 
 Lincoln was by nature a diplomat. He knew 
 the art of sailing against the wind. He had as 
 much shrewdness as is consistent with honesty. 
 He understood, not only the rights of individ- 
 uals, but of nations. In all his correspondence 
 with other governments he neither wrote nor 
 sanctioned a line which afterward was used to 
 tie his hands. In the use of perfect English he 
 easily rose above all his advisers and all his 
 fellows. 
 
 No one claims that Lincoln did all. He could 
 have done nothing without the generals in the field, 
 and the generals could have done nothing without 
 their armies. The praise is due to all — to the 
 
I46 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 private as much as to the officer ; to the lowest who 
 did his duty, as much as to the highest. 
 
 My heart goes out to the brave private as much 
 as to the leader of the host. 
 
 But Lincoln stood at the centre and with infinite 
 patience, with consummate skill, with the genius of 
 goodness, directed, cheered, consoled and conquered. 
 
 VII. 
 
 QL AVERY was the cause of the war, and slavery 
 ^ was the perpetual stumbling-block. As the war 
 went on, question after question arose — questions 
 that could not be answered by theories. Should we 
 hand back the slave to his master, when the master 
 was using his slave to destroy the Union ? If the 
 South was right, slaves were property, and by the 
 laws of war anything that might be used to the ad- 
 vantage of the enemy might be confiscated by us. 
 Events did not wait for discussion. General Butler 
 denominated the negro as " a contraband." Con- 
 gress provided that the property of the rebels might 
 be confiscated. 
 
 The extreme Democrats of the North regarded 
 the slave as more sacred than life. It was no harm 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 147 
 
 to kill the master — to burn his house, to ravage his 
 fields — but you must not free his slave. 
 
 If in war a nation has the right to take the prop- 
 erty of its citizens — of its friends — certainly it has 
 the right to take the property of those it has the 
 right to kill. 
 
 Lincoln was wise enough to know that war 
 is governed by the laws of war, and that dur- 
 ing the conflict constitutions are silent. All 
 that he could do he did in the interests of 
 peace. He offered to execute every law — in- 
 cluding the most infamous of all — to buy the 
 slaves in the border States — to establish grad- 
 ual, compensated emancipation ; but the South 
 would not hear. Then he confiscated the prop- 
 erty of rebels — treated the slaves as contraband 
 of war, used them to put down the Rebellion, 
 armed them and clothed them in the uniform 
 of the Republic — was in favor of making 
 them citizens and allowing them to stand on 
 an equality with their white brethren under the 
 flag of the Nation. During these years Lincoln 
 moved with events, and every step he took has 
 been justified by the considerate judgment of man- 
 kind. 
 
VIII. 
 
 I INCOLN not only watched the war, but kept his 
 *-^ hand on the political pulse. In 1863 a tide set 
 in against the administration. A Republican meet- 
 ing was to be held in Springfield, Illinois, and Lin- 
 coln wrote a letter to be read at this convention. 
 It was in his happiest vein. It was a perfect defence 
 of his administration, including the Proclamation of 
 Emancipation. Among other things he said : 
 
 1 ' But the proclamation, as law, either is valid or it is not 
 valid. If it is not valid it needs no retraction, but if it is valid 
 it cannot be retracted, any more than the dead can be brought 
 to life." 
 
 To the Northern Democrats who said they would 
 not fight for negroes, Lincoln replied : 
 
 "Some of them seem willing to fight for you — but no 
 matter." 
 
 Of negro soldiers : 
 
 " But negroes, like other people, act upon motives. Why 
 
 should they do anything for us if we will do nothing for them ? 
 
 If they stake their lives for us they must be prompted by the 
 
 strongest motive — even the promise of freedom. And the 
 
 promise, being made, must be kept." 
 
 (148) 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 1 49 
 
 There is one line in this letter that will give it 
 immortality : 
 
 "The Father of waters again goes unvexed to the sea." 
 
 This line is worthy of Shakespeare. 
 Another : 
 
 "Among free men there can be no successful appeal from the 
 ballot to the bullet." 
 
 He draws a comparison between the white men 
 against us and the black men for us : 
 
 "And then there will be some black men who can remember 
 that with silent tongue and clenched teeth and steady eye and 
 well-poised bayonet they have helped mankind on to this great 
 consummation ; while I fear there will be some white ones un- 
 able to forget that with malignant heart and deceitful speech 
 they strove to hinder it. ' ' 
 
 Under the influence of this letter, the love of coun- 
 try, of the Union, and above all, the love of liberty, 
 took possession of the heroic North. 
 
 There was the greatest moral exaltation ever 
 known. 
 
 The spirit of liberty took possession of the people. 
 The masses became sublime. 
 
 To fight for yourself is natural — to fight for others 
 is grand ; to fight for your country is noble — to 
 
150 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 fight for the human race — for the liberty of hand 
 and brain — is nobler still. 
 
 As a matter of fact, the defenders of slavery had 
 sown the seeds of their own defeat. They dug the 
 pit in which they fell. Clay and Webster and thou- 
 sands of others had by their eloquence made the 
 Union almost sacred. The Union was the very tree 
 of life, the source and stream and sea of liberty and 
 law. •+ 
 
 For the sake of slavery millions stood by the 
 Union, for the sake of liberty millions knelt at the 
 altar of the Union ; and this love of the Union 
 is what, at last, overwhelmed the Confederate 
 hosts. 
 
 It does not seem possible that only a few 
 years ago our Constitution, our laws, our Courts, 
 the Pulpit and the Press defended and upheld 
 the institution of slavery — that it was a crime to 
 feed the hungry — to give water to the lips of 
 thirst — shelter to a woman flying from the whip 
 and chain ! 
 
 The old flag still flies — the stars are there — the 
 stains have gone. 
 
IX. 
 
 T INCOLN always saw the end. He was unmoved 
 *-^ by the storms and currents of the times. He 
 advanced too rapidly for the conservative politicians, 
 too slowly for the radical enthusiasts. He occupied 
 the line of safety, and held by his personality — by 
 the force of his great character, by his charming 
 candor — the masses on his side. 
 
 The soldiers thought of him as a father. 
 
 All who had lost their sons in battle felt that they 
 had his sympathy — felt that his face was as sad as 
 theirs. They knew that Lincoln was actuated by 
 one motive, and that his energies were bent to the 
 attainment of one end — the salvation of the Re- 
 public. 
 
 They knew that he was kind, sincere and merci- 
 ful. They knew that in his veins there was no drop 
 of tyrants' blood. They knew that he used his 
 power to protect the innocent, to save reputation 
 and life — that he had the brain of a philosopher — 
 the heart of a mother. 
 
 During all the years of war, Lincoln stood the 
 
 embodiment of mercy, between discipline and death. 
 
 He pitied the imprisoned and condemned. He took 
 
 (151) 
 
I 52 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 the unfortunate in his arms, and was the friend even 
 of the convict. He knew temptation's strength — 
 the weakness of the will — and how in fury's sudden 
 flame the judgment drops the scales, and passion — 
 blind and deaf — usurps the throne. 
 
 One day a woman, accompanied by a Senator, 
 called on the President. The woman was the wife 
 of one of Mosby's men. Her husband had been 
 captured, tried and condemned to be shot. She 
 came to ask for the pardon of her husband. The 
 President heard her story and then asked what kind 
 of man her husband was. " Is he intemperate, does 
 he abuse the children and beat you ? " " No, no," 
 said the wife, " he is a good man, a good husband, 
 he loves me and he loves the children, and we can- 
 not live without him. The only trouble is that he 
 is a fool about politics — I live in the North, born 
 there, and if I get him home, he will do no more 
 fighting for the South." " Well," said Mr. Lincoln, 
 after examining the papers, " I will pardon your 
 husband and turn him over to you for safe keeping." 
 The poor woman, overcome with joy, sobbed as 
 though her heart would break. 
 
 " My dear woman," said Lincoln, " if I had known 
 how badly it was going to make you feel, I never 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 1 53 
 
 would have pardoned him." " You do not under- 
 stand me," she cried between her sobs. " You do 
 not understand me." " Yes, yes, I do," answered 
 the President, " and if you do not go away at once I 
 shall be crying with you.'* 
 
 On another occasion, a member of Congress, on 
 his way to see Lincoln, found in one of the ante- 
 rooms of the White House an old white-haired man, 
 sobbing — his wrinkled face wet with tears. The 
 old man told him that for several days he had tried 
 to see the President — that he wanted a pardon for 
 his son. The Congressman told the old man to 
 come with him and he would introduce him to Mr. 
 Lincoln. On being introduced, the old man said : 
 " Mr. Lincoln, my wife sent me to you. We had 
 three boys. They all joined your army. One of 
 'em has been killed, one's a fighting now, and one 
 of 'em, the youngest, has been tried for deserting 
 and he's going to be shot day after to-morrow. He 
 never deserted. He's wild, and he may have drunk 
 too much and wandered off, but he never deserted. 
 'Taint in the blood. He's his mother's favorite, and 
 if he's shot, I know she'll die." The President, 
 turning to his secretary, said : " Telegraph General 
 Butler to suspend the execution in the case of ■ 
 
154 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 [giving the name] until further orders from me, and 
 ask him to answer ." 
 
 The Congressman congratulated the old man on 
 his success — but the old man did not respond. He 
 was not satisfied. " Mr. President," he began, " I 
 can't take that news home. It won't satisfy his 
 mother. How do I know but what you'll give further 
 orders to-morrow ? " " My good man," said Mr. 
 Lincoln, " I have to do the best I can. The generals 
 are complaining because I pardon so many. They 
 say that my mercy destroys discipline. Now, when 
 you get home you tell his mother what you said to 
 me about my giving further orders, and then you tell 
 her that I said this : ' If your son lives until they get 
 further orders from me, that when he does die peo- 
 ple will say that old Methusaleh was a baby com- 
 pared to him.' " 
 
 The pardoning power is the only remnant of ab- 
 solute sovereignty that a President has. Through 
 all the years, Lincoln will be known as Lincoln the 
 loving, Lincoln the merciful. 
 
X. 
 
 T INCOLN had the keenest sense of humor, and 
 ^ always saw the laughable side even of disaster. 
 In his humor there was logic and the best of sense. 
 No matter how complicated the question, or how 
 embarrassing the situation, his humor furnished an 
 answer and a door of escape. 
 
 Vallandigham was a friend of the South, and did 
 what he could to sow the seeds of failure. In his 
 opinion everything, except rebellion, was unconsti- 
 tutional. 
 
 He was arrested, convicted by a court martial, and 
 sentenced to imprisonment. 
 
 There was doubt about the legality of the trial, 
 and thousands in the North denounced the whole 
 proceeding as tyrannical and infamous. At the same 
 time millions demanded that Vallandigham should 
 be punished. 
 
 Lincoln's humor came to the rescue. He disap- 
 proved of the findings of the court, changed the 
 punishment, and ordered that Mr. Vallandigham 
 should be sent to his friends in the South. 
 
 Those who regarded the act as unconstitutional 
 
 almost forgave it for the sake of its humor. 
 
 (155) 
 
i56 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Horace Greeley always had the idea that he was 
 greatly superior to Lincoln, because he lived in a 
 larger town, and for a long time insisted that the 
 people of the North and the people of the South 
 desired peace. He took it upon himself to lecture 
 Lincoln. Lincoln, with that wonderful sense of 
 humor, united with shrewdness and profound wisdom, 
 told Greeley that, if the South really wanted peace, 
 he (Lincoln) desired the same thing, and was doing 
 all he could to bring it about. Greeley insisted that 
 a commissioner should be appointed, with authority 
 to negotiate with the representatives of the Con- 
 federacy. This was Lincoln's opportunity. He 
 authorized Greeley to act as such commissioner. 
 The great editor felt that he was caught. For a 
 time he hesitated, but finally went, and found that 
 the Southern commissioners were willing to take 
 into consideration any offers of peace that Lincoln 
 might make, consistent with the independence of the 
 Confederacy. 
 
 The failure of Greeley was humiliating, and the 
 position in which he was left, absurd. 
 
 Again the humor of Lincoln had triumphed. 
 
 Lincoln, to satisfy a few fault-finders in the North, 
 went to Grant's headquarters and met some Con- 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 1 5/ 
 
 federate commissioners. He urged that it was hardly- 
 proper for him to negotiate with the representatives 
 of rebels in arms — that if the South wanted peace, 
 all they had to do was to stop fighting. One of the 
 commissioners cited as a precedent the fact that 
 Charles the First negotiated with rebels in arms. 
 To which Lincoln replied that Charles the First lost 
 his head. 
 
 The conference came to nothing, as Mr. Lincoln 
 expected. 
 
 The commissioners, one of them being Alexander 
 H. Stephens, who, when in good health, weighed 
 about ninety pounds, dined with the President and 
 Gen. Grant. After dinner, as they were leaving, 
 Stephens put on an English ulster, the tails of which 
 reached the ground, while the collar was somewhat 
 above the wearer's head. 
 
 As Stephens went out, Lincoln touched Grant and 
 said : " Grant, look at Stephens. Did you ever see 
 as little a nubbin with as much shuck ? " 
 
 Lincoln always tried to do things in the easiest 
 way. He did not waste his strength. He was not 
 particular about moving along straight lines. He 
 did not tunnel the mountains. He was willing to go 
 around, and reach the end desired as a river reaches 
 the sea. 
 
XI. 
 
 /^\NE of the most wonderful things ever done by 
 ^-^ Lincoln was the promotion of General Hooker. 
 After the battle of Fredericksburg, General Burnside 
 found great fault with Hooker, and wished to have 
 him removed from the Army of the Potomac. Lin- 
 coln disapproved of Burnside's order, and gave 
 Hooker the command. He then wrote Hooker this 
 memorable letter : 
 
 ' ' I have placed you at the head of the Army of the Poto- 
 mac. Of course I have done this upon what appears to me to 
 be sufficient reasons, and yet I think it best for you to know 
 that there are some things in regard to which I am not quite 
 satisfied with you. I believe you to be a brave and skillful 
 soldier — which, of course, I like. I also believe you do not 
 mix politics with your profession — in which you are right. 
 You have confidence — which is a valuable, if not an indispen- 
 sable, quality. You are ambitious, which, within reasonable 
 bounds, does good rather than harm ; but I think that during 
 General Burnside's command of the army you have taken 
 counsel of your ambition to thwart him as much as you could — 
 in which you did a great wrong to the country and to a most 
 meritorious and honorable brother officer. I have heard, in 
 such a way as to believe it, of your recently saying that both 
 the army and the Government needed a dictator. Of course it 
 
 was not for this, but in spite of it, that I have given you com- 
 
 (158) 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. l5o 
 
 mand. Only those generals who gain successes can set up 
 dictators. What I now ask of you is military successes, and I 
 will risk the dictatorship. The Government will support you 
 to the utmost of its ability, which is neither more nor less than 
 it has done and will do for all commanders. I much fear that 
 the spirit which you have aided to infuse into the army, of 
 criticising their commander and withholding confidence in him, 
 will now turn upon you. I shall assist you, so far as I can, to 
 put it down. Neither you, nor Napoleon, if he were alive, can 
 get any good out of an army while such a spirit prevails in it. 
 And now beware of rashness. Beware of rashness, but with 
 energy and sleepless vigilance go forward and give us victories." 
 
 This letter has, in my judgment, no parallel. The 
 mistaken magnanimity is almost equal to the 
 prophecy : 
 
 " I much fear that the spirit which you have aided to infuse 
 into the army, of criticising their command and withholding 
 confidence in him, will now turn upon you." 
 
 Chancellorsville was the fulfillment. 
 
 XII. 
 
 IV /\R. LINCOLN was a statesman. The great 
 stumbling-block — the great obstruction — in 
 Lincoln's way, and in the way of thousands, was the 
 old doctrine of States Rio-hts. 
 
 This doctrine was first established to protect 
 slavery. It was clung to to protect the inter-State 
 
l6o ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 slave trade. It became sacred in connection with 
 the Fugitive Slave Law, and it was finally used as 
 the corner-stone of Secession. 
 
 This doctrine was never appealed to in defence of 
 the right — always in support of the wrong. For 
 many years politicians upon both sides of this ques- 
 tion endeavored to express the exact relations ex- 
 isting between the- Federal Government and the 
 States, and I know of no one who succeeded, except 
 Lincoln. In his message of 1861, delivered on July 
 the 4th, the definition is given, and it is perfect : 
 
 "Whatever concerns the whole should be confided to the 
 whole — to the General Government. Whatever concerns only 
 the State should be left exclusively to the State." 
 
 When that definition is realized in practice, this 
 country becomes a Nation. Then we shall know 
 that the first allegiance of the citizen is not to his 
 State, but to the Republic, and that the first duty of 
 the Republic is to protect the citizen, not only when 
 in other lands, but at home, and that this duty can- 
 not be discharged by delegating it to the States. 
 
 Lincoln believed in the sovereignty of the people 
 — in the supremacy of the Nation — in the territorial 
 integrity of the Republic. 
 
XIII. 
 
 A GREAT actor can be known only when he has 
 '**• assumed the principal character in a great 
 drama. Possibly the greatest actors have never ap- 
 peared, and it may be that the greatest soldiers have 
 lived the lives of perfect peace. Lincoln assumed 
 the leading part in the greatest drama ever enacted 
 upon the stage of this continent. 
 
 His criticisms of military movements, his corre- 
 spondence with his generals and others on the con- 
 duct of the war, show that he was at all times master 
 of the situation — that he was a natural strategist, 
 that he appreciated the difficulties and advantages 
 of every kind, and that in " the still and mental " 
 field of war he stood the peer of any man beneath 
 the flag. 
 
 Had McClellan followed his advice, he would 
 have taken Richmond. 
 
 Had Hooker acted in accordance with his sugges- 
 tions, Chancellorsville would have been a victory for 
 the Nation. 
 
 Lincoln's political prophecies were all fulfilled. 
 
 We know now that he not only stood at the top, 
 but that he occupied the centre, from first to last, 
 
 (161) 
 
\£>2 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 and that he did this by reason of his intelligence, 
 his humor, his philosophy, his courage and his 
 patriotism. 
 
 In passion's storm he stood, unmoved, patient, just 
 and candid. In his brain there was no cloud, and in 
 his heart no hate. He longed to save the South as 
 well as North, to see the Nation one and free. 
 
 He lived until the end was known. 
 
 He lived until the Confederacy was dead — until 
 Lee surrendered, until Davis fled, until the doors of 
 Libby Prison were opened, until the Republic was 
 supreme. 
 
 He lived until Lincoln and Liberty were united 
 forever. 
 
 He lived to cross the desert — to reach the palms 
 of victory — to hear the murmured music of the wel- 
 come waves. 
 
 He lived until all loyal hearts were his — until the 
 history of his deeds made music in the souls of men 
 — until he knew that on Columbia's Calendar of 
 worth and fame his name stood first. 
 
 He lived until there remained nothing for him to 
 do as Qfreat as he had done. 
 
 What he did was worth living for, worth dying for. 
 
 He lived until he stood in the midst of universal 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 1 63 
 
 joy, beneath the outstretched wings of Peace — the 
 foremost man in all the world. 
 
 And then the horror came. Night fell on noon. 
 The Savior of the Republic, the breaker of chains, 
 the liberator of millions, he who had " assured free- 
 dom to the free," was dead. 
 
 Upon his brow Fame placed the immortal wreath, 
 and for the first time in the history of the world a 
 Nation bowed and wept. 
 
 The memory of Lincoln is the strongest, tenderest 
 tie that binds all hearts together now, and holds all 
 States beneath a Nation's flag. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN — strange mingling of 
 ** mirth and tears, of the tragic and grotesque, 
 of cap and crown, of Socrates and Democritus, of 
 ^Esop and Marcus Aurelius, of all that is gentle and 
 just, humorous and honest, merciful, wise, laughable, 
 lovable and divine, and all consecrated to the use of 
 man ; while through all, and over all, were an over- 
 whelming sense of obligation, of chivalric loyalty to 
 truth, and upon all, the shadow of the tragic end. 
 Nearly all the great historic characters are impos- 
 
164 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 sible monsters, disproportioned by flattery, or by 
 calumny deformed. We know nothing of their 
 peculiarities, or nothing but their peculiarities. 
 About these oaks there clings none of the earth of 
 humanity. 
 
 Washington is now only a steel engraving. About 
 the real man who lived and loved and hated and 
 schemed, we know but little. The glass through 
 which we look at him is of such high magnifying 
 power that the features are exceedingly indistinct. 
 
 Hundreds of people are now engaged in smooth- 
 ing out the lines of Lincoln's face — forcing all 
 features to the common mould — so that he may be 
 known, not as he really was, but, according to their 
 poor standard, as he should have been. 
 
 Lincoln was not a type. He stands alone — no 
 ancestors, no fellows, and no successors. 
 
 He had the advantage of living in a new country, 
 of social equality, of personal freedom, of seeing in 
 the horizon of his future the perpetual star of hope. 
 He preserved his individuality and his self-respect. 
 He knew and mingled with men of every kind ; 
 and, after all, men are the best books. He became 
 acquainted with the ambitions and hopes of the 
 heart, the means used to accomplish ends, the 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 105 
 
 springs of action and the seeds of thought. He was 
 familiar with nature, with actual things, with com- 
 mon facts. He loved and appreciated the poem of 
 the year, the drama of the seasons. 
 
 In a new country a man must possess at least 
 three virtues — honesty, courage and generosity. 
 In cultivated society, cultivation is often more im- 
 portant than soil. A well-executed counterfeit 
 passes more readily than a blurred genuine. It is 
 necessary only to observe the unwritten laws of 
 society — to be honest enough to keep out of prison, 
 and generous enough to subscribe in public — where 
 the subscription can be defended as an investment. 
 
 In a new country, character is essential ; in the 
 old, reputation is sufficient. In the new, they find 
 what a man really is ; in the old, he generally passes 
 for what he resembles. People separated only by 
 distance are much nearer together, than those divided 
 by the walls of caste. 
 
 It is no advantage to live in a great city, where 
 poverty degrades and failure brings despair. The 
 fields are lovelier than paved streets, and the great 
 forests than walls of brick. Oaks and elms are more 
 poetic than steeples and chimneys. 
 
 In the country is the idea of home. There you 
 
i66 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 see the rising and setting sun ; you become ac- 
 quainted with the stars and clouds. The constella- 
 tions are your friends. You hear the rain on the 
 roof and listen to the rhythmic sighing of the winds. 
 You are thrilled by the resurrection called Spring, 
 touched and saddened by Autumn — the grace and 
 poetry of death. Every field is a picture, a land- 
 scape ; every landscape a poem ; every flower a 
 tender thought, and every forest a fairy-land. In 
 the country you preserve your identity — your per- 
 sonality. There you are an aggregation of atoms, 
 but in the city you are only an atom of an aggrega- 
 tion. 
 
 In the country you keep your cheek close to the 
 breast of Nature. You are calmed and ennobled by 
 the space, the amplitude and scope of earth and sky 
 — by the constancy of the stars. 
 
 Lincoln never finished his education. To the 
 night of his death he was a pupil, a learner, an 
 inquirer, a seeker after knowledge. You have no 
 idea how many men are spoiled by what is called 
 education. For the most part, colleges are places 
 where pebbles are polished and diamonds are 
 dimmed. If Shakespeare had graduated at Oxford, 
 he might have been a quibbling attorney, or a hypo- 
 critical parson. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 1 67 
 
 Lincoln was a great lawyer. There is nothing 
 shrewder in this world than intelligent honesty. 
 Perfect candor is sword and shield. 
 
 He understood the nature of man. As a lawyer 
 he endeavored to get at the truth, at the very heart 
 of a case. He was not willing even to deceive him- 
 self. No matter what his interest said, what his 
 passion demanded, he was great enough to find the 
 truth and strong enough to pronounce judgment 
 against his own desires. 
 
 Lincoln was a many-sided man, acquainted with 
 smiles and tears, complex in brain, single in heart, 
 direct as light ; and his words, candid as mirrors, 
 gave the perfect image of his thought. He was 
 never afraid to ask — never too dignified to admit 
 that he did not know. No man had keener wit, or 
 kinder humor. 
 
 It may be that humor is the pilot of reason. 
 People without humor drift unconsciously into ab- 
 surdity. Humor sees the other side — stands in the 
 mind like a spectator, a good-natured critic, and 
 gives its opinion before judgment is reached. Humor 
 goes with good nature, and good nature is the 
 climate of reason. In anger, reason abdicates and 
 malice extinguishes the torch. Such was the humor 
 
1 68 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 of Lincoln that he could tell even unpleasant truths 
 as charmingly as most men can tell the things we 
 wish to hear. 
 
 He was not solemn. Solemnity is a mask worn 
 by ignorance and hypocrisy — it is the preface, pro- 
 logue, and index to the cunning or the stupid. 
 
 He was natural in his life and thought — ■ master 
 of the story-teller's art, in illustration apt, in applica- 
 tion perfect, liberal in speech, shocking Pharisees 
 and prudes, using any word that wit could disinfect. 
 
 He was a logician. His logic shed light. In its 
 presence the obscure became luminous, and the 
 most complex and intricate political and metaphysi- 
 cal knots seemed to untie themselves. Logic is the 
 necessary product of intelligence and sincerity. It 
 cannot be learned. It is the child of a clear head 
 and a good heart. 
 
 Lincoln was candid, and with candor often de- 
 ceived the deceitful. He had intellect without arro- 
 gance, genius without pride, and religion without 
 cant — that is to say, without bigotry and without 
 deceit. 
 
 He was an orator — clear, sincere, natural. He 
 did not pretend. He did not say what he thought 
 others thought, but what he thought. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 169 
 
 If you wish to be sublime you must be natural — 
 you must keep close to the grass. You must sit by 
 the fireside of the heart ; above the clouds it is too 
 cold. You must be simple in your speech ; too 
 much polish suggests insincerity. 
 
 The great orator idealizes the real, transfigures the 
 common, makes even the inanimate throb and thrill, 
 fills the gallery of the imagination with statues and 
 pictures perfect in form and color, brings to light the 
 gold hoarded by memory the miser, shows the glit- 
 tering coin to the spendthrift hope, enriches the 
 brain, ennobles the heart, and quickens the con- 
 science. Between his lips words bud and blossom. 
 
 If you wish to know the difference between an 
 orator and an elocutionist — between what is felt and 
 what is said — between what the heart and brain can 
 do together and what the brain can do alone — read 
 Lincoln's wondrous speech at Gettysburg, and then 
 the oration of Edward Everett. 
 
 The speech of Lincoln will never be forgotten. 
 It will live until languages are dead and lips are 
 dust. The oration of Everett will never be read. 
 
 The elocutionists believe in the virtue of voice, 
 the sublimity of syntax, the majesty of long sen- 
 tences, and the genius of gesture. 
 
17° ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 The orator loves the real, the simple, the natural. 
 He places the thought above all. He knows that 
 the greatest ideas should be expressed in the short- 
 est words — that the greatest statues need the least 
 drapery. 
 
 Lincoln was an immense personality — firm but not 
 obstinate. Obstinacy is egotism — firmness, heroism. 
 He influenced others without effort, unconsciously ; 
 and they submitted to him as men submit to nature 
 — unconsciously. He was severe with himself, and 
 for that reason lenient with others. 
 
 He appeared to apologize for being kinder than 
 his fellows. 
 
 He did merciful things as stealthily as others com- 
 mitted crimes. 
 
 Almost ashamed of tenderness, he said and did the 
 noblest words and deeds with that charming con- 
 fusion, that awkwardness, that is the perfect grace of 
 modesty. 
 
 As a noble man, wishing to pay a small debt to a 
 poor neighbor, reluctantly offers a hundred-dollar 
 bill and asks for change, fearing that he may be sus- 
 pected either of making a display of wealth or a pre- 
 tence of payment, so Lincoln hesitated to show his 
 wealth of goodness, even to the best he knew. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. I/ 1 
 
 A great man stooping, not wishing to make his 
 fellows feel that they were small or mean. 
 
 By his candor, by his kindness, by his perfect 
 freedom from restraint, by saying what he thought, 
 and saying it absolutely in his own way, he made it 
 not only possible, but popular, to be natural. He 
 was the enemy of mock solemnity, of the stupidly 
 respectable, of the cold and formal. 
 
 He wore no official robes either on his body or his 
 soul. He never pretended to be more or less, or 
 other, or different, from what he really was. 
 
 He had the unconscious naturalness of Nature's 
 self. 
 
 He built upon the rock. The foundation was se- 
 cure and broad. The structure was a pyramid, 
 narrowing as it rose. Through days and nights of 
 sorrow, through years of grief and pain, with un- 
 swerving purpose, " with malice towards none, with 
 charity for all," with infinite patience, with unclouded 
 vision, he hoped and toiled. Stone after stone was 
 laid, until at last the Proclamation found its place. 
 On that the Goddess stands. 
 
 He knew others, because perfectly acquainted 
 with himself. He cared nothing for place, but every- 
 thing for principle ; little for money, but every- 
 
I 72 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 thing ibr independence. Where no principle was 
 involved, easily swayed — willing to go slowly, if in 
 the right direction — sometimes willing to stop ; but 
 he would not go back, and he would not go wrong. 
 
 He was willing to wait. He knew that the event 
 was not waiting, and that fate was not the fool of 
 chance. He knew that slavery had defenders, but 
 no defence, and that they who attack the right must 
 wound themselves. 
 
 He was neither tyrant nor slave. He neither 
 knelt nor scorned. 
 
 With him, men were neither great nor small — 
 they were right or wrong. 
 
 Through manners, clothes, titles, rags and race he 
 saw the real— that which is. Beyond accident, 
 policy, compromise and war he saw the end. 
 
 He was patient as Destiny, whose undecipherable 
 hieroglyphs were so deeply graven on his sad and 
 tragic face. 
 
 Nothing discloses real character like the use of 
 power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most 
 people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know 
 what a man really is, give him power. This is the 
 supreme test. It is the glory of Lincoln that, having 
 almost absolute power, he never abused it, except 
 on the side of mercy. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 1 73 
 
 Wealth could not purchase, power could not awe, 
 this divine, this loving man. 
 
 He knew no fear except the fear of doing wrong. 
 Hating slavery, pitying the master — seeking to 
 conquer, not persons, but prejudices — he was the 
 embodiment of the self-denial, the courage, the hope 
 and the nobility of a Nation. 
 
 He spoke not to inflame, not to upbraid, but to 
 convince. 
 
 He raised his hands, not to strike, but in bene- 
 diction. 
 
 He longed to pardon. 
 
 He loved to see the pearls of joy on the cheeks of 
 a wife whose husband he had rescued from death. 
 
 Lincoln was the grandest figure of the fiercest 
 civil war. He is the gentlest memory of our 
 world. 
 
Writings of Col. Robert G. Ingersoll. 
 
 A NEW AND COMPLETE EDITION OF 
 
 Col. Robert G. Ingersoll's 
 
 WORKS. 
 
 Known as the DRESDEN EDITION, in twelve octavo vol- 
 umes handsomely ilhistrated, with photogravures, etchings, 
 facsimiles and half-tones. Published with the authority 
 and supervision of the family from his manu- 
 scripts, notes, and literary memoratida. 
 
 COMPLETE INDEX TO ALL THE VOLUMES AND TABLE OF 
 CONTENTS TO EACH VOLUME. 
 
 The Only Authorized and Complete Edition of 
 Colonel Ingersoll's Works. 
 
 THIS Edition of the writings of Robert G. Ingersoll justifies its de- 
 scription as "complete." Besides including all of Col. Ingersoll's 
 famous lectures, addresses and orations already issued in book or 
 pamphlet form, the volumes contain some thousands of pages of 
 matter not hitherto published. Among his inedited writings, now 
 first appearing, may be mentioned the author's first lecture, entitled 
 " Progress," delivered in i860 ; the lectures on "Robert Burns," 
 "The Great Infidels," "My Reviewers Reviewed ;" an answer to 
 the Rev. Lyman Abbott's article, " Flaws in Ingersollism," published 
 in the North American Review ; an answer to Archdeacon Farrar's 
 article, "A Few Words on Colonel Ingersoll," published in the same 
 magazine ; an answer to the Dean of St. Paul's article on " Cruelty; " 
 many new pages on Divorce, after-dinner Speeches, Magazine articles 
 on the Chinese Question ; essays on Art and Morality, "Three Phil- 
 anthropists," "Is Avarice Triumphant?" "Some Interrogation 
 Points" (on the Labor Question); Prefaces, Tributes, Fragments, 
 etc., etc. 
 
 The whole of one volume is devoted to Interviews, which cover a 
 multitude of subjects, and indeed leave hardly any topic of interest 
 untouched. The earlier Interviews dealt largely with Colonel Inger- 
 soll's clerical critics and with theological subjects ; but the scope of 
 inquiry was gradually expanded to include political, economic and 
 social questions, until at length his opinion came to be solicited on 
 whatever might be uppermost for the time in the public mind, whether 
 it were an election, a race problem, finance, woman suffrage, marriage 
 and divorce, Socialism, Labor, Prohibition, protection or free trade. 
 The press discovered that he had valuable ideas on art, music, the 
 drama, literature, oratory, and allied subjects ; and what he had to 
 say about them occupies many hundreds of pages. 
 
 From his ability in other fields it may be judged how illuminating 
 were Colonel Ingersoll's expositions of the law, how complete his 
 mastery of the details of a case, how convincing his arguments, and 
 
g. C. P. Farrell, Publisher, New York. 
 
 how effective his addresses to court and jury. The Legal Volum« 
 contains his noted speeches in the Star Route Trials, in the Davis 
 Will Case, in the Munn Trial (from which his universally quoted 
 Temperance Speech is taken)* and his last public address, delivered 
 in the Russell Will Case before Vice-Chancellor Grey at Camden, 
 New Jersey. 
 
 The Patriotic and Political addresses of Colonel Ingersoll ire here 
 for the first time gathered between covers. They contain utterances 
 from which the fires of patriotism will be ever fed or renewed, and 
 discuss issues that will appear in every campaign while the Nation 
 remains a Republic. Some of them — the Decoration Day Orations, 
 the Soldiers' Reunion Address, the Vision of War — are classics. 
 The Campaign Speeches are models of argument, appeal — and ridi- 
 cule. Colonel Ingersoll's political deliverances as a whole disclose 
 the softening influence of time and thought on a great mind from the 
 " nine o'clock in the morning" to the afternoon oflife. 
 
 The matter given precedence in the Dresden Edition as might be 
 foreseen, comprises the author's great lectures on the Bible and the 
 Christian Religion and his discussions with theologians, amateur and 
 professional. Among his opponents were the Rt. Hon. W. E. 
 Gladstone, Cardinal Manning, Judge Jeremiah S. Black, and the 
 Rev. Henry M. Field, whose defences of their faith are given in full. 
 It is doubted that Colonel Ingersoll's Replies will be found in the 
 published writings of those authors. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 There are fifteen Pictures and two fac-simile reproductions of Colonel 
 Ingersoll's manuscript. As a frontispiece for Volume I. a photograv- 
 ure of the author has been prepared from a photograph taken in 1890. 
 This faces a picture, on the engraved title page, of the Birthplace of 
 Robert G. Ingersoll at Dresden, New York. 
 
 In Volume II. is an etched engraving of Attorney-General Ingersoll 
 of Illinois, showing the Author as he appeared in 1868, when holding 
 the office indicated. 
 
 Volume III. contains the well-known standing portrait of 1890. a 
 photogravure. In the same binding is a manuscript fac-simile of the 
 poem, "The Birthplace of Burns," written in the Burns cottage at 
 Ayr, August 19. 1878. 
 
 The photogravure frontispiece of the fourth volume is from 1897, a 
 profile, taken when the hand of time was feeling for the tardy furrows 
 in cheek and brow. 
 
 In Volume V. we again have the orator represented in his prime, 
 (1877) standing at ease with left hand pocketed. This is a fine half- 
 tone, and there is another in profile taken in 1884. 
 
 The favorite 1876 picture, in which the artist returns to the photo- 
 gravure process, ornaments the sixth division — the book of Dis- 
 cussions. 
 
 Volume VII. presents the interior of " Chatham Street Theatre, 
 where Robert G. Ingersoll was Baptized in 1836" — a view that is full 
 of interest considering the infant's subsequent career. 
 
 " With daughter's babes upon his knees, the white hair mingling 
 with the gold," the Author is shown in the photogravure preceding 
 the title page of Volume VIII., the only group in the series. The 
 picture fulfills the words. 
 
 Ingersoll with mustache and imperial, and wearing the epaulets 
 of his colonelcy, is brought before us in unaccustomed guise by the 
 photogravure frontispiece of Vol. IX. The picture was taken in 1862, 
 when he was commanding officer of the Eleventh Illinois Cavalry. 
 
Catalogue of Robert G. IngersoWs Works. 3 
 
 Again in age the iconoclast and builder looks out from the initial 
 page of the succeeding volume — No. X. — wherein appear his ex- 
 positions of the law. It is an 1897 portrait, in photogravure. 
 
 For the illustration of Vol. XI. the publisher has secured two views, 
 north and west, of Walston, at Dobbs Ferry-on-Hudson. Here in 
 summer lived the great humanitarian, and here he received that last 
 visitor, who came that we might have in the closing volume the final 
 pictures, " After Death" and the Urn that holds the ashes while the 
 heart preserves the memory of Robert G. Ingersoll. 
 
 A letter written July 20, 1899, 1S reproduced in fac-simile. It was 
 the writer's last, and dealt with Cuban and Philippine affairs. 
 
 Every photogravure portrait is printed by hand on Japanese vellum 
 paper. 
 
 Colonel Ingersoll's admirers will derive pleasure and information 
 from the many notes, consisting for the most part of newspaper re- 
 ports, attached to the public addresses, descriptive of the occasions 
 when they were delivered and of the enthusiasm with which they 
 were received. Some of those occasions — as the convention where 
 was made the stirring speech nominating James G. Blaine for the 
 Presidency, and the meeting where Henry Ward Beecher introduced 
 Ingersoll as the most brilliant speaker of the English language on 
 the globe — have become historic, and their story is here fittingly 
 preserved. The notes are frequent and copious, and, bringing the 
 reader as they do into the immediate presence of the events they 
 record, are of the highest importance and value. 
 
 Notice is attracted to the full Contents and elaborate Index of this 
 edition. These useful adjuncts have been prepared not only at the 
 expense of that labor and time necessary to all such compilations, but 
 with an intelligent appreciation of the needs of those who would con- 
 sult the writings of this Author. The Index is not the " hack-work " 
 of a professional indexer satisfied to jot down proper names and t© 
 note their recurrence with volume and page. Here matter explana- 
 tory of each reference is given where its importance warrants, and 
 the reader may find that for which he seeks without opening any other 
 volume than the one containing it. Our Index embraces the titles of 
 lectures, speeches, interviews and discussions, with their contents, 
 the principal words of such titles being likewise ended in alphabetical 
 order, with references to heads under which the subject is treated 
 at length. Approaching the fullness of a concordance, the compila- 
 tion is complete without being cryptic, and is in fact what it has been 
 said every index should be to the searcher — " a guide, philosopher 
 and friend." The character of the contents is shown by specimen 
 pages in this Circular. 
 
 The twelve volumes contain nearly seven thousand pages, printed 
 in large type, on finest of laid rag paper, wide margins, gilt top, 
 uncut edges, and bound library style, in olive silk cloth, (Colonel 
 Ingersoll's favorite color), gold back titles. Packed in a neat 
 wooden box, ready for shipment. 
 
 8®* SOLD ONLY IN SETS. 3 ®! 
 
Gems of Eloquence and Beauty from 
 the Immortal IngersolL 
 
 A VISION OF WART" 
 
 m\ DMITTED by all to be the mast marvelous piece of patriotic word painting 
 L\ that ever issued from the lips of man. Printed on 15 leaves, (10 r Hi,) 13 
 il of which are exqusitely illustrated in colors by the well-known artist, 
 Mr. Harry A. Ogden, whose reputation is unequaled in work of this description . 
 Mr. Ogden was employed by the Government to illustrate the celebrated work on 
 the Historical Uniforms of the U. 8. Army, and is at present on the staff of 
 Harper's, Scribner's, and the Century Magazines. The title page is embellished 
 by two handsome portraits of Col. Ingersoll,— one as the soldier, taken in 1862, 
 as Colonel of the 11th Illinois Cavalry, and the other as the lawyer and orator in 
 1877. The leaves are fastened together by ribbons in the national colors. Every 
 patriot— every lover of liberty should possess this incomparable production. 
 
 Price, postpaid, $1 .OO. 
 LIFE* A Prose Poem by Col. Robert G. Ingersoll. 
 
 This world-famous Monograph is without its peer in literature. It is a gem 
 withour a flaw. . 
 
 The engraver's and printer's art have blended strength and beauty in their 
 work, faithfully producing the dual portrait, and entwining a wild rose border 
 about it and the text, making altogether an exquisite work of art, suitable for 
 elegant frame, for parlor, easel or mantel. 
 
 Printed and lithographed in color and signed in autograph fac-simile on 
 heavy card board, size 1% x 16 inches. 
 
 Sent by mail, carefully wrapped, on receipt of price, 50c. 
 "LO VE* f A Prose Poem by Col. Robert G. Ingersoll. 
 
 Printed upon heavy card paper, with a photograph of the author and his 
 grandchildren and a handsome bunch of flowers in colors. To the selection is 
 appended a fac-simile of the signature of Colonel Inoersoll, Liberals will 
 ■?ant this picture for framing. It is the work of an artist at photograph and color 
 minting, and the effect is striking and beautiful. Size, 12 x 16. Price, 50 cts. 
 
 THE CREED OF SCIENCE. 
 
 Generally called " IVIY RELIGION." Printed on heavy enameled 
 card, illustrated. A companion piece to LIKE. Price, 50 cts. 
 
 The Declaration of the Free 
 
 Col. Ingersoll's last Poem. Same size and style, illustrated. Price, 50c. 
 
 Every Liberal ought to have these four framed and hanging on his parlor 
 walls. They are magnificent expressions of Freethought, and will be silent mis- 
 sionaries, yet always teaching. They are printed in such a handsome manner as 
 to ornament any place. 
 
 SPECIAL TO PRIVATE BUYERS. 
 
 In order that these wonderful gems from the master mind of the nineteenth 
 century mav find a place on the wails or tables of every patriotic, liberty-loving 
 American, I have concluded to make a cut-rate on the five prints, viz.;— Vision 
 of War— Love— Life— The Creed of Science— Declaration of the Free— so 
 as to come within the reach of all. They can be had for the paltry sum of $1.50, 
 express paid when sent to one address. Liberals desiring to get them by the 
 hundred, will be given a very low figure. These prices can be had only by ap- 
 plying direct to the publisher. Remember you are getting $3.00 worth for $1.50 
 
 Address, C. P. FARRELL, 117 East 21st St., N. Y. City. 
 
A. Grand Book : as interesting and entertaining as any novet . 
 
 INGERSOLL'S 
 
 Intefviews on la Image 
 
 These Interviews were called out in answer to a series of 
 theological discourses by Mr. Talmage. Three of them were 
 originally given to a reporter of the daily press, but were after- 
 wards revised and enlarged and three others added. The three 
 newspaper reports being immediately pirated by so-called enter- 
 prising but unprincipled publishers, were put upon the market in 
 flimsy paper covers and heralded as the genuine " Ingersoll In- 
 terviews." It is sufficient to say that in no other shape than the 
 present complete volume are these " Interviews " to be had in 
 their accurate and authorized entirety. 
 
 As to the subject-matter it is essentially polemical, although 
 not bitterly so. The foolish as well as serious phases of theo- 
 logical ignorance and assumption are exposed to merited ridicule, 
 and the weapons of good-natured wit and sarcasm are employed 
 to laugh and shame religious superstition and arrogance out of 
 court. In the " Talmagian Catechism " especially, which sums 
 up the six interviews, are shafts of wit and satire as keen and 
 polished as ever sped from human brain. They go straight to the 
 mark, and remind one of Voltaire's pointed though not poisoned 
 "UTews aimed at the priestly pretensions of his day. In the 
 ot3«j*w- «"-d oqore serious statements and arguments, the facts and 
 ngures are splendidly marshalled and bear down with resistless 
 ~yrm upon die theological foe, breaking his ranks and scattering 
 his forces like chaff before a gale. 
 
 There is not in literature another such book. It is a free- 
 bought library in itself, and especially timely just now when 
 bibles and creeds are being overhauled and "revision and divis- 
 ion are in the air." No collection of Mr. Ingersoll's books is 
 complete that does not include this in some respects his most 
 remarkable work. 
 
 A handsome 8°, 443 pages, gilt top, beveled edges, good paper, 
 bold type, $2.00. From same plates, plain cloth, $1.25. Paper, 
 50c. Sent post-paid upon receipt of price. 
 
 C P. FARRELL, Publisher, New York. 
 
WORKS OK 
 
 Col. Robert G. Ingersoll 
 
 All books marked with a star are mailable as 
 second-class matter. 
 
 *Abraham Lincoln. A Lecture. With Century portrait of the martyr 
 President 25 cents. 
 
 *AbOUt the Holy Bible. A Lecture 25cents. 
 
 A Few Reasons for Doubting the Inspiration of 
 
 the Bible. From manuscript notes found among Col. Ingersoll's papers.. ..10c. 
 
 A Thanksgiving Sermon. Book contains also a tribute to 
 
 HENRY WARD BEECHER. "I thank," says Ingersoll, " the heroes, the 
 apostles of reason, the disciples of truth, the soldiers of freedom— the heroes 
 who held high the holy torch and filled the world with light.' ' 25 cents. 
 
 ress before the New York Unitarian Club. 
 
 In "Ingersoll to the Clergy." 25 cents. 
 
 *feMaSpheiTiy. Argument in the Trial of C. B. Reynolds, at Morristown, 
 N.J Cloth, 50 cents; paper, 25 cents. 
 
 Bible Idolatry, (Tract) 3 cents. 
 
 Bible not a Mora! Guide, (Tract.) scents. 
 
 Brooklyn Divines (To the.) in "ingersoll to the clergy."..26c 
 
 Ot*eed Of Science. Printed on heavy enameled card; illustrated. L 
 companion piece to Life 50 cents. 
 
 ^Christian Religion (The.) A Discussion between Col. Ingersoll 
 and Judge Jeremiah S. Black of Pennsylvania Cloth, 50 cents ; paper, 25 cte. 
 
 ^Crimes Against Criminals. A Speech delivered before the 
 New York State Bar Association 16 cents. 
 
 Declaration of Independence and Vision of War.— 
 
 Centennial Oration, and the famous passage from Colonel Ingersoll's cpeech at 
 the Soldiers' Reunion, at Indianapolis in 1876, called ' ' A Vision of War.". ..10c. 
 
 Declaration Of the Free. Colonel Ingersoll's last poem. Onboard, 
 handsomely illustrated, size 12>4 x 16, (for mantel, wall or easel.) 50 cents. 
 
 * Devil (The.) A lecture, (1899.) "If the Devil should die, would God 
 
 make another? 1 ' 25 cents. 
 
 * ^SSayS and Criticisms. Contents: Why am I an Agnostic? 
 
 cJuxley and Agnosticism; Ernest Renan; Count Tolstoy and the Kreutzer 
 Honata Cloth, 50 cents ; paper, 25 cents. 
 
 * Foundations Of Faith. This lecture contains Colonel Ingersoll's 
 
 lamous " Creed of Science."..... 25 cents. 
 
 Freethought: Is it Destructive or Constructive? 
 
 A Symposium by Col. Robert G. Ingersoll and the other famous Freethinkers o 
 this country, England, and Canada. A most successful effort to analyze th 
 philosophy and tendency of Freethought 25 cent* 
 
 v^aith that Surely Wanes. This is coionei ingersoll's commen. 
 
 Mryon the Fast Day Proclamation of Governor Rollins of New Hampshire, 
 Which caused a wide discussion on the vanishing belief and influence of 
 Sbnstianity. (Trect.) «~» 4 -%pts 
 
C. P. Farrell, Publisher, New York. 
 
 *Field-2ngerSOn DiSCUSSion. From the North American R* 
 view Cloth, 50 cents ; paper, 25 cents 
 
 Gods and other Lectures (The.) comprising the Gods, Hum 
 
 boldt, Thomas Paine, Individuality, Heretics and Heresies. 253 pages. Cloth, 
 $1.00; paper 50 cents, 
 
 Ghosts and other Lectures (The.) including the Ghosts, 
 
 Liberty of Man, Woman and Child; The Declaration of Independence, About 
 Farming in Illinois, Speech Nominating James G. Blaine for Presidency in 
 1876, the Grant Banquet, A Tribute to Rev. Alex. Clark, A Vision of War, and 
 a Tribute to Ebon C. Ingersoll. 252 pages. Cloth. $1.00 ; paper 50 cents. 
 
 God in the Constitution 
 
 Also in "Ingersoll to the Clergy." 25 cents. 
 
 Gold Speech- Delivered in the McKinley Campaign of 1896. Only a few 
 left .„. 
 
 * Great Ingersoll Controversy (The.) containing the Fa- 
 
 mous Christmas Sermon, by Col. R. G. Ingersoll, the indignant protests 
 thereby evoked from ministers of various denominations, and Colonel Iiiger- 
 soil's replies to the same 25 cents. 
 
 HOW tO Reform Mankind* An address delivered before the Mil- 
 itant Church, at the Columbia Theatre, Chicago, April 12, 1896, (with por- 
 trait.) 25 cents. 
 
 Hard Times and the Way Out. oniyafewieft iscents. 
 
 * IngerSOll as He IS. The truth about the Life, Works, and Character 
 
 ofCol. R. G. Ingersoll, with a refutation of the baseless and false calumnies, 
 libels, and slanders invented and circulated by the clergy of the United States 
 and elsewnere. The work covers the career of Colonel Ingersoll in War, Pol- 
 itics, and Private and Public Life. It disproves all the statements con- 
 tained in the slanders of his clerical vilifiers. The Third Edition is supplied 
 with an appendix of 46 pages containing a refutation and disproof of the cler- 
 ical and other falsehoods inspired by religious malice which have appeared 
 since the previous edition was printed; together with the testimony of his fellow 
 townsmen of Peoria and of his army comrades as to Colonel Ingersoll's charac- 
 ter as a citizen and his bearing as a soldier. This work, giving date of Colonei 
 Ingersoll's birth and death, with many incidents in his career, affords more 
 biographical matter than is elsewhere to be obtained. It is fully indexed, en- 
 abling the inquirer to turn at once to any subject or the name of any person 
 mentioned in either the body of the book or the appendix. Compiled with the 
 approval and assistance of the family of Colonel Ingersoll. 196 pages. Cloth, 
 50 cents ; paper 25 cents 
 
 Indianapolis Clergymen (To the.) in "ingersoll to the 
 
 Clergy." 
 
 *!ngersoll-Gladstone Controversy, wm. e. Gladstones 
 
 article and Colonel Ingersoll's Reply. From the North American Review. 
 Cloth, 50 cents; paper 25 cents. 
 
 IngerSOll Catechised. An interview, (Tract) ..Scents. 
 
 IngerSOll On McGlynn. An interview, (Tract) Scents. 
 
 IngerSOll SoUVenir SpOOn. Heavy sterling silver. Most artistic 
 spoon in the market, only $2.00. Orange spoons, $2.50; sugar spoons, $3 00; 
 gilt bowl 50cts. extra. 
 
 IngerSOll Paper Weights. Glass weight. 2x4 inches, containing 
 Photograph of Col. R. G. Ingersoll. Sent by mail or express prepaid for 50 cts. 
 
 * Interviews On Talmage. Being six interviews with the Famous 
 
 Orator on Six Sermons by the Rev. T. DeWitt lalmage of Brooklyn, to which is 
 added a Talmagian Catechism. 474 pages " paper, 50 cents. 
 
 * IngerSOll tO the Clergy. His Answers to their Questions and 
 . Criticisms. Replies to the Indianapolis and Brooklyn Ministers. Address be - 
 
 fore the Unitarian Club, Address on Thomas Paine, and a paper on God in the 
 Constitution 25 cents 
 
Catalogue of Robert G. IngersoWs Works. 
 
 IngerSOll the Man. The Great Orator as he was known to those *&• 
 lived near to hirn. By Clarence S. Brown, Colonel Ingersoll's legal associate. 
 (Tract.) Scents. 
 
 *Is Suicide a Sin ? Colonel Ingersoll's Famous Letters and Replied 
 from eminent men, with "Great Suicides of History" and Schopenhauer's 
 Essay 25 cents. 
 
 Lay Sermon on the Labor Question scents. 
 
 * Liberty in Literature. Testimonial to Walt Whitman. An ad- 
 
 dress delivered in Philadelphia, Oct. 21, 1890, with portrait of Whitman. 
 Containing also Colonel Ingersoll's address at the Funeral of Walt Whitman, 
 March30, 1892 Cloth, 50 cents; paper, 25 cents. 
 
 * Liberty for Man, Woman and Child. Has a fine photo- 
 
 engraving of the Colonel and both his grandchildren, Eva and Robert ; also the 
 TRIBUTE TO HIS BROTHER 25cents. 
 
 Limitations Of Toleration. A Discussion betweeen Col. R. G. 
 Ingersoll, the Hon. Frederick R. Coudert, and Ex-Gov. Stewart L. Woodford, 
 before the Nineteenth Century Club 10 cents. 
 
 Lectures in One Volume. Contents: The Gods; Humboldt; In- 
 dividuality ; Thomas Paine ; Heretics and Heresies ; The Ghosts ; The Liberty 
 of Man, Woman and Child; The Centennial Oration, or Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, July 4, 1876. What I Know About Farming in Illinois ; Speech at 
 . Cincinnati in 1876, nominating James G. Blaine for the Presidency; The Past 
 "52 Rises Before Me, or a Vision of War, an extract from a Speech made at the 
 •£ Soldiers' and Sailors' Reunion at Indianapolis, Ind., Sept. 21, 1876 ; A Tribute 
 ^ to Ebon C. Ingersoll ; The Grant Banquet; Crimes Against Criminals ; Tribute 
 /"*< to the Rev. Alexander Clark ; Some Mistakes of Moses ; What Must we do to 
 ^> be Saved ? Blasphemy, Argument in the trial of C. B. Reynolds ; Six Interviews 
 .. with Robert G. Ingersoll on Six Sermons by the Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D., 
 ;$ to which are added a Talmagian Catechism and four Prefaces. Containing a 
 ^ fine steel engraving, with autograph fac-simile of the author. This volume has 
 had the greatest popularity, is beautifully bound in half morocco, mottled 
 edges, 1431 pages, good paper, large type. Octavo, half morocco, $5.00 ; cloth, 
 $3.50; sheep $5.00 
 
 Life. A Prose-Poem. This world-famous monograph is without its peer in 
 literature. It is a gem without a flaw The engraver's and printer's art have 
 blended strength and beauty in their work, faithfully producing the dual por- 
 trait, and entwining a wild-rose border about it and the text, making alto- 
 gether au exquisite work of art, suitable for elegant frame, for parlor, easel or 
 mantel. This elegant panel is printed and lithographed in color, and signed in 
 autograph fac-simile on heavy card board, size 12j^ x 16 inches. Price 50 cts. 
 
 Lithograph Of R. G. Ingersoll. 22x28 inches, heavy plate 
 paper. Life size head and bust ; tinted back ground 60 cents. 
 
 Look Backward and a Prophecy (A.) By r g. ingersoii. 
 
 Being the article he wrote for the Twentv-fifth Anniversary Number of the 
 Truth Seeker, (1898.) A most brilliant review of the religious changes of the 
 past quarter of a century. (Tract.) 3 cents. 
 
 Love. Colonel Ingersoll's beautiful words on Love. Printed on heavy enam- 
 eled jard, illustrated in colors and portraits, companion piece to Life, for fram- 
 ing; 50 cents. 
 
 *Myth and Miracle. A Lecture 25cents. 
 
 '""Mistakes Of MoseS (Some.) Contents: Some Mistakes ol 
 Moses. Free Schools, The Politicians, Man and Woman, The Pentateuch, Mon- 
 day, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. He Made the Stars Also, Friday, Satur- 
 lay, Let us* Make Man, Sunday, The Necessity for a Good Memory, The 
 harden, the Fall, Dampness, Bacchus and Babel, Faith ir> Filth, The Hebrews, 
 The Plagues, The Flight, Confess and Avoid, T "spireci Slavery, Marriage, 
 War, Religious Liberty, Conclusion. 270 pages 25 cents. 
 
 Orthodoxy. One of Colonel Ingersoll's greatest lectures..... 10 cent* 
 
 Opening Speech to the Jury: in the suit of the b. & m. Te\ 
 
 •> Co. t«. W. U. Tel Co., 1886 15 oents. 
 
C. P. Far r ell, Publisher, New York. 
 Proceedings at Civil Rights Meeting in Washing- 
 
 ton, D. C. Being Speeches of Col. Robert G. Ingersol) and Frederick Douglass 
 protesting against the decision of the Supreme Court that the Civil Rights Act 
 is unconstitutional..... 1U cents. 
 
 Prose-PoemS and Selections. Revised and greatly enlarged. 
 A handsome quarto, containing over 400 pages. Full tree-calf, highest possible 
 finish. $9.00; full turkey morocco, gilt, exquisitely fine, $7.50; half morocco, 
 gilt edges, $5.00 ; half calf, mottled edges, library style, $4.50. In cloth, bev- 
 eled boards, gilt edges, containing steel engraving with autograph fac-simile 
 of the author ....$2.50 
 
 A Cheaper Edition from Same Plates, good paper, wide 
 
 margins, cloth $1.50 
 
 Patriotic Speeches: Reunion Address and Decora- 
 
 TioN Day Oration. His address delivered at Elmwood, 111., September 5, 
 1895, at the reunion of his old regiment, the Eleventh Illinois Cavalry — also his 
 famous Oration delivered on Decoration Day 1883, before the Grand Army of 
 the Republic, at the Academy of Music, New York. These two classics are 
 published in book form for the first time from revised manuscript, and are the 
 only authorized and correct reprints. It also contains a handsome half-tone 
 portrait of the Colonel and his little grandson, Robert G. Ingersoll-Brown. 
 Printed on good paper, large type, wide margins, in one volume. Cloth 50 
 cents. Paper 25 cents 
 
 Photographs Of CoL Robt. G. IngerSOll. Perfect in pose) 
 Happy in expression! Faultless in finish I These Pictures almost speak to 
 you audibly. You have-»only to imagine the musical, sympathetic voice, the 
 fme flashing eye, the glowing countenance, and the whole animated, pulsating 
 form, to see and hear the living man and orator before you. The panel size, 
 in full length portraiture, is particularly suited for framing, and is commended 
 to all the Colonel's admirers as the one eminently fitted for parlor, library or 
 drawing-room. Prices: Panel, 54 figure standing 18 x 24 in., §5.00. Panel, full 
 figure, sitting in chair, 18x24 in., $5.00. Imperial, 7^x13 in., $1.50. Cabinet, 
 4x6 in 50 cents. 
 
 The Latest Portraits of CoSonel Ingersoll, taken by 
 
 Hollinger, in March, 1897, are without doubt the most wonderful examples of 
 art-photography ever produced. On account of the great skill and infinite de- 
 tail required to work these examples up to this exquisite degree of perfection 
 they naturally are expensive. Every admirer of this great man who can afford 
 to should secure one of them. The large size % face or full profile, 24x30 in., 
 $25.00. The small size % face or full profile, 11 x 14 in.... $5.00 
 
 *I\Ome Or Reason. Discussion between Cardinal Manning and Colonel 
 Ingersoll, to which are added the Articles discussing the Question " Is Divorce 
 Wrong? " by Cardinal Gibbons, Bishop Henry C. Potter, and Colonel Ingersoll. 
 Cloth 50 cents. Paper 25 cents. 
 
 ^Superstition. A Lecture. (1899) 25 cents. 
 
 *ShakeSpeare. "An Intellectual ocean, whose waves touched all the 
 shores of thought." A lecture with likeness of Shakespeare from the Kessel- 
 stadt death mask. Cloth 50 cents. Paper. 25 cents. 
 
 *Some ReaSOnS Why. A Lecture. Contents: Some Reasons Why. 
 Duties to God. Inspiration. God's Experiment with the Jews. Civilized 
 Countries. A comparison of Books. The New Testament. Christ's Mission. 
 Eternal Pain 25 cents. 
 
 Stage and Pulpit. An interview with Colonel Ingersoll upon their 
 Comparative Merit. (Tract.) 3 cents. 
 
 The Oath Question. (Tract.) 3 cents. 
 
 The Truth. A Lecture 25 cents. 
 
 I ruth of History. Comments on the assertion by an evangelist that 
 Colonel Ingersol] had become a Christian, had admitted that Thomas Paiue 
 recanted, and that his own children had joined t ho church. (Tract.) i cents. 
 
Catalogue of Robert G. IngersolVs Works, 
 
 TllOmaS Paine's Vindication. A Reply to the New York Ob "erz- 
 er' s attack upon the Author- Hero of the Revolution. A little pamphlet which 
 every admirer of Thomas Paine should have by him for reference.- 15 cents. 
 
 Tribute to His Brother, Ebon C. Sngersoll. intnepam- 
 
 phlet, "Liberty of Man, Woman and Child." 25 cents. 
 
 Tribute tO ROSCOe ConkHng. Printed by the State of New York, 
 on heavy plate paper, wide margins, fine steel engraving with autograph fac- 
 simile of Mr. Conkling. Bound in black cloth, giltsides ; now out of print and 
 very valuable 50 cents. 
 
 Voltaire. A Lecture. With Portrait of the great French Philosopher and 
 Poet. "Voltaire was the greatest man of his century, and did more to free th& 
 human race than any other of the sons of men" 26 cents. 
 
 Vision Of War C/W Magnificently illustrated with thirteen colored 
 lithograph plates, by H. A. Ogden. One of the finest bursts of oratory, one of 
 the subfimest pieces of word painting, one of the noblest prose-poems in all 
 of Ingersoll's works and in all literature, is this " Vision of War.' ' Thousands 
 have read it and been moved to tears or enthusiasm. There is nothing like it 
 in the world ; for effectiveness it has no mate. The power of this masterpiece 
 has been greatly augmented, perhaps doubled by the pictures which have 
 been made to illustrate it by Mr. H. A. Ogden and printed with the text of the 
 "Vision." The pictures are colored lithographs, printed upon heavy paper, 
 about ten by twelve inches in size. Of these plates there are thirteen, with two 
 additional leaves upon which the whole of the "Vision" is printed for con- 
 secutive reading. One page shows the author in uniform as colonel of the 
 Eleventh Illinois Cavalry in 18(32, and again in 1877, when he was at his prime. 
 The artist was chosen by Colonel Ingersoll's publisher for this task because of 
 his facilities for gaining access to the necessary material for the illustration of 
 war scenes, and because of his attainments in this special field. The picture* 
 were seen and approved by Colonel Ingersoll before his death. Next to the 
 beauty of the collection is its cheapness. The whole of the vision, with its 
 grand and pathetic passages, is effectively pictured by the artist. For a gift 
 nothing can surpass in beauty and appropriateness these illuminated plates. 
 The cost of all is not above the worth of each. Sent postpaid, complete $1.00 
 
 Why 1 Am an AgnOStiC. A Lecture 25cents. 
 
 *What Must We Do tO Be Saved ? A Lecture. Analyzes m 
 
 so-called gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and devotes a chapter. 
 
 each to the Catholics, Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians, Evangelical 
 
 Alliance, and answers the question of the Christians as to what he proposes 
 
 *tead of Christianity, the religion of sword and flame 25 cents. 
 
 'Which Way. This lecture is a consideration of the difference between the 
 natural and supernatural with some reasons why the former is the better way 
 to go 25 cents. 
 
 What Is Religion ? Colonel Tngersoll's^last public address, delivered 
 at the meeting of Tne Free Religious Association in Boston on June 2, 1899..10 cts. 
 
 **"&?} Hooks are setit by express or mail prepaid* upon 
 receipt of prices named. 
 
 Colonel Ingeraoll's Noto to the Public 
 
 !J wish to notify the public that all books and pamphlets purporting to contain my lee- 
 cures, and not containing the imprint of Mr. O. P. Fabsbll as publisher, are spurious, 
 grossly inaccurate, filled with mistakes, horribly printed, and outrageously unjust to me. 
 The publishers of all such are simply literary thieves and pirates, and are obtaining money 
 from the public under false pretences. These wretches have published one leoture undi-r 
 four titles, and several others under two or three. I take this course to warn the pnblii- 
 that these publications are fraudulent , the only correct editions being those published by 
 Mr. O. P. Fabbell. 
 
 R. G Ingersoll. 
 
New Photographs of 
 
 Col. Robt. G. Ingersoll. 
 
 Just Taken ! 
 
 PERFECT IN POSE! 
 
 HAPPY IN EXPRESSION! 
 
 FAULTLESS IN FINISH I 
 
 THESE Pictures almost speak to you audibly. You 
 have only to imagine the musical, sympathetic 
 voice, the fine flashing eye, the glowing countenance, 
 and the whole animated, pulsating form, to see and 
 hear the living man and orator before you. 
 
 All who want to see Col. Ingersoll as he is and 
 stands to-day, will get this photo. The panel size, in 
 full length portraiture, is particularly suited for framing, 
 and is commended to all the Colonel's admirers as the 
 one eminently fitted for parlor, library or drawing-room. 
 
 PRICES; 
 
 Panel, - 18 x 24 in. - $7-50 
 
 Imperial, - 7^ x 13 in. - - 3.00 
 
 Cabinet, - 4 x 6 in. - .50 
 
 Sent to any address, by mail or express, prepaid. 
 
 C. P. PARRELL, Publisher, 
 
 1 1 7 East 2 1 st St., New York. 
 
R "^."S.'W ^DITIOR. TOST Fv3BLASS&D \ 
 
 % gbort ^istorj; of the Bible: 
 
 Being an account of the formation and development of the Canon, by 
 
 BRONSON C. KEELER. 
 
 Price, Cloth, 75 cents. Paper, 50 cents. Postage paid. 
 
 This Book should be read by every Clergyman, Layman, Scholar and Liberal. 
 
 Everybody knows that the contents of the Bible were voted upon bv different 
 councils of the church ; that books were included in the early centuries which 
 are no longer regarded as a part of the sacred scriptures ; that many of the 
 books now in the Bible were tor centuries not a part of it ; and that bishops, and 
 synods, and councils labored long- to agree upon what books should be con- 
 sidered canonical and what should not be. But the general knowledge has been 
 indefinite. Few people are aware, for example, that the book of Revelation 
 was for 1500 years rejected by the Eastern branch of the Christian church, and 
 was voted into the Bible by that branch at a council held in Jerusalem in 1672. 
 The aim of Mr. Keeler's book is to go over this entire ground from the beginning 
 of the Christian era to the present time, and to furnish all the facts concerning 
 the formation and development of the Bible canon, giving briefly but succinctly 
 the views of each bishop and the action of every council having anv influence 
 on the contents of the sacred volume. Mr. Keel'er does not deal in opinions. He 
 simply states facts, and gives a reference for each fact to the early Christian 
 fathers and other recognized authorities ; and it is believed that his book 
 (Snows much light on a hitherto obscured department of religious history. 
 
 "I have read Mr. Keeler's book with great pleasure and profit. He gives, in 
 my opinion, a clear and intelligent account of the growth of the bible. He 
 shows why books were received as inspired, and why thev were rejected. He 
 does not deal in opinions, but in facts ; and for the correctness of his facts, he 
 refers to the highest authorities. He has shown exactly who the Christian 
 fathers were, and the weight that their evidence is entitled to. The first cen- 
 turies of Christianity are filled with shadow ; most histories of that period 
 simply tell us what did not happen, and even the statements of what did not 
 happen are contradictory. The falsehoods do not agree. Mr. Keeler must have 
 spent a great deal of time in the examination of a vast number of volumes, and 
 the amount of information contained in his book could not be collected in years. 
 Every minister, every college professor, and every man who reallv wishes to 
 know' something about the origin and growth of the bible, should read this 
 
 book."— R. G. INGEKSOLL. 
 
 To C. P. Farkell, Esq.— Often have T wished that some writer, who had a 
 learned head and a lucid pen, would give us a brief yet comprehensive account 
 of the Books of the Bible — how we came by them — when the world first got 
 them— and what were the qualities, characters and pretensions of those who 
 first imposed them up^n credulous and superstitious believers. Often have I 
 wished that if such a book were written, some publisher, having the ear of the 
 Free Thought world, would issue it. Great was mv surprise and pleasure when 
 I saw at Washington, Bronson Keeler's "Short History of the Bible" we have, 
 and the marvellous number of suppressed Scriptures'— all Christian, all curi- 
 ous, all instructive— most of them wiser, all equally authentic, and all believed 
 to be equally divine bv those who had better means of judging them than we 
 have. All who are Christian — all who think they ought to be— and all who 
 are not— should read Mr. Keeler's " Short," masterly and wise book.— GEORGE 
 
 \COB Holyoake, London, England. 
 
 The Neva York Sun, (Sunday, Oct. 9, 1881, in a review occupying four and one- 
 quarter columns) : "On what questionable ground some writings were admitted 
 and others excluded from the Christian scriptures is briefly and effectively set 
 forth in a monograph entitled l A Short History of the Bible,' by Bronson C. 
 Keeler. The writer of this striking essay has not drawn his materials from the 
 German rationalists, but bases his assertions on the statements of Christian his- 
 torians and commentators, especially on the writings of the Christian fathers 
 and the ecclesiastical history of Rusebius, and, among modern works, on 
 Milman's 'History of Latin Christianity.' and the disquisitions of \Y, 
 Davidson, Lange and Schaff. We trust that no one who has been led bv the 
 appearance of the revised version to ponder the origin and historv of the sacred 
 writings Will fail to examine for himself Mr. Keeler's admirable monograph." 
 
 Address C. P. FARRELL, Publisher, New York. 
 
«TviL»t Dut, JKI &\7V ISdltloxii 
 
 Prose -Poenis and selections, 
 
 BY 
 
 ROBERT G. MGERSOLL. 
 
 Sixth Edition, Revised and greatly Enlarged. A Handsome Quart*, 
 containing over 400 pages. 
 
 THIS is, beyond question, the most elegant volume in Liberal literature. It* 
 mechanical finish is worthy of its intrinsic excellence. No expense has 
 been spared to make if the thing of beauty it is. The type is large and 
 clear, the paper heavy, highly calendered and richly tinted, the presa 
 work faultless, and the binding as perfect as the best materials and skill can 
 make it. The book is in every way an artistic triumph. 
 
 As to the contents, it is enough to say that they include some of the choicest 
 utterances of the greatest writer on the topics treated that has ever lived. 
 
 You will have in this book of selections many bright samples of his lofty 
 thought, his matchless eloquence, his wonderful imagery, and his epigrammatic 
 and poetic power. 
 
 The book is designed for, and will be accepted by, admiring friends as a rare 
 personal souvenir To help it serve this purpose, a fine steel portrait, with au- 
 tograph fac-simile, has been prepared especially for it. In the more elegant 
 styles of binding it is eminently suited for presentation purposes, for any seasoa 
 or occasion. ^ 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Oration delivered on Decora • 
 tion Day, 1882, before the 
 Grand Army of the Repub- 
 lic, at the Academy of 
 Music, N. Y., 
 
 A Tribute to Ebon C. Inger- 
 soll, 
 
 A Vision of War. 
 
 At a Child's Grave, 
 
 Benefits for Injuries, 
 
 We Build, 
 
 The Unpardonable Sin, 
 
 The Olive Branch, 
 
 Free WU1, 
 
 The King of Death, 
 
 The Wise Man, 
 
 Bruno, 
 
 The Real Bible, 
 
 Benedict Spinoza, 
 
 The First Doubt. 
 
 The Infinite Horror, 
 
 Nature, 
 
 A Tribute to the Rev. Alex- Night and Morning, 
 
 ander Clark, 
 The Grant Banquet, 
 Apostrophe to Liberty, 
 A Tribute to John G. Mills, 
 The Warp and Woof, 
 The Cemetery, 
 Originality, 
 Then and Now, 
 Voltaire, 
 Lazarus. 
 
 What is Worship ? 
 Humboldt, 
 Ood Silent, 
 Alcohol, 
 Auguste Comte, 
 The Infidel, 
 Napoleon, 
 The Republic, 
 Dawn of the New Day, 
 Reformers, 
 The Garden of Eden. 
 Thomas Paine, 
 The Age of Faith, 
 Origin of Religion, 
 
 The Conflict, 
 
 Death of the Aged, 
 
 The Charity of Extravagance 
 
 Woman, 
 
 The Sacred Myths, 
 
 Ins^'ration, 
 
 Religious Liberty of the Bible. 
 
 The Laugh of a child, 
 
 The Christian Night, 
 
 Mv Choice, 
 
 Why? 
 
 Imagination, 
 
 Science, 
 
 If Death Ends All, 
 
 Here and There, 
 
 How Long? 
 
 Liberty, 
 
 Jehovah and Brahma, 
 
 The Free Soul, 
 
 Life, 
 
 Tribute to Henry Ward 
 
 The Sacred Leaves, 
 
 Origin and Destiny. 
 
 What is Poetry ? 
 
 My Position, 
 
 Good and Bad, 
 
 The Miiaculous Book, 
 
 Orthodox Dotage, 
 
 The Abc.itionists, 
 
 P^vidence, 
 
 The Man Christ, 
 
 The Divine Salutation, 
 
 At the Grave of Benjamin W. 
 
 Parker, 
 Fashion and Beauty. 
 Apostrophe to Science, 
 Elizur Wright. 
 The Imagination, 
 No Respecter of Persons, 
 Abraham Lincoln, 
 The Meaning of Law, 
 What is Blasphemy? 
 Some Reasons, 
 Selections, 
 Love, 
 
 The Birthplace of Burns, 
 Mrs. Ida Whiting Knowles, 
 Art and Morality, 
 Tributr to Roscoe Conklin, 
 Tribute to Rich'd H. Whiting. 
 Mrs. Mary H. Fiske, 
 Horace Seaver, 
 The Music of Wagner, 
 Leaves of Grass, 
 Vivisection, 
 
 Beecher, 
 Tribute to Courtn. .Ct Palmer The Republic of Mediocrity, 
 The Brain, A Tribute to Walt Whitma Bi 
 
 In Cloth, beveied boards, gilt edges, - - $2.50 
 
 In Half Morocco, gilt edges, - - 5.00 
 
 !n Half Calf, mottled edges, library style, - 4-.50 
 
 In Full Turkey Morocco, gilt, exquisitely fine, 7.50 
 
 In Full Tree-Calf, highest possible finish, - 9.00 
 
 »>•-«. to any address, by express, prepaid, or mail, post free, on receipt of pric* 
 99- A oheaper edition from same plates, good paper, wide margins, cloth, $1.50."®* 
 
 C. P . FARE LL, 117JE. 21 st Street, New York 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 ~$ ' ^ 
 
 At 012 025 087 5 1 
 
 
 * 
 
 ^ < 
 
 ' I* 
 
 
 
 gr