If Lincoln had been born in old England or in New England, if he had been educated at a university, if he had spent his childhood and youth in luxury and under refining influences, he might have been a greater orator, statesman, and politician than he was, but a nature and a mind like his required the discipline and conditions which he passed through to attain their full development. It is an interesting subject of speculation, concerning other self-taught men as well as Lincoln; but, as a rule, the most powerful minds and the most influential characters have been without the training of the schools, and by contact with gentler and refining influences Lincoln might have acquired polish at the cost of his rugged greatness, his quaint habits of thought and odd but effective phrases, the homely illustrations, and the shrewd faculty of appealing to the simple every-day experience of the people to convince them of the force of his facts and the soundness of his reasoning. His logic was always as clear as his candor. He never failed to state the argument of his adversary as fairly and as forcefully as his own. His power of analysis was extraordinary. He used the simplest words in the language, but they strengthened every case he stated, and no fact, or anecdote, or argument ever lost force or effect from his style of presentation. It has frequently been asserted--and his speeches, state papers, and private correspondence are sufficient proof--that he could state a proposition more clearly and forcibly than any man of his time; yet his language was that of "the plain people," as he used to call them. This faculty was doubtless due to his early experience among the illiterate classes on the frontier, and certain errors of grammar and construction which are familiar to all who have lived among that portion of the population frequently occurred in his compositions. At one time during his early days as a speaker he adopted the flamboyant redundancy of style that is still popular in the South and certain parts of the West, and often used many of the familiar tricks of emotional orators; but his own common sense and the advice of Judge Logan, his law partner, soon corrected this fault, and he studied a simpler style which was much more effective. If he had been less gifted in language he would have been quite as clear in statement, quite as persuasive in his presentation of an argument, because he aimed not to excite admiration, but to be understood. His earnestness was not intended to excite the emotions, but to appeal to the reasoning powers of the persons addressed, and his knowledge of human nature taught him how the mind of the average man worked. At the same time he could reach the most accomplished scholar and the most thoughtful philosopher. For example, his letters in explanation of his delay in proclaiming freedom to the slaves, especially that addressed to Mr. Greeley in 1863, are masterpieces of clear and forcible writing.