Abraham Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life, Volume 2 (of 2)Herndon, William Henry
History
Abraham Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life, Volume 2 (of 2)
Herndon, William Henry
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
All the follies and wrong Mr. Lincoln ever fell into or committed sprang
out of these weak points: the want of intuitive judgment; the lack of
quick, sagacious knowledge of the play and meaning of men's features as
written on the face; the want of the sense of propriety of things; his
tenderness and mercy; and lastly, his unsuspecting nature. He was deeply
and sincerely honest himself, and assumed that others were so. He never
suspected men; and hence in dealing with them he was easily imposed
upon.
All the wise and good things Mr. Lincoln ever did sprang out of his
great reason, his conscience, his understanding, his heart, his love of
the truth, the right, and the good. I am speaking now of his particular
and individual faculties and qualities, not of their combination or
the result of any combinations. Run out these qualities and faculties
abstractly, and see what they produce. For instance, a tender heart, a
strong reason, a broad under standing, an exalted conscience, a love
of the true and the good must, proportioned reasonably and applied
practically, produce a man of great power and great humanity.
As illustrative of a combination in Mr. Lincoln's organization, it may
be said that his eloquence lay in the strength of his logical faculty,
his supreme power of reasoning, his great understanding, and his love
of principle; in his clear and accurate vision; in his cool and masterly
statement of principles around which the issues gather; and in the
statement of those issues and the grouping of the facts that are to
carry conviction to the minds of men of every grade of intelligence. He
was so clear that he could not be misunderstood or long misrepresented.
He stood square and bolt upright to his convictions, and anyone who
listened to him would be convinced that he formed his thoughts
and utterances by them. His mind was not exactly a wide, broad,
generalizing, and comprehensive mind, nor yet a versatile, quick, and
subtle one, bounding here and there as emergencies demanded; but it was
deep, enduring, strong, like a majestic machine running in deep iron
grooves with heavy flanges on its wheels.
Mr. Lincoln himself was a very sensitive man, and hence, in dealing
with others, he avoided wounding their hearts or puncturing their
sensibility. He was unusually considerate of the feelings of other
men, regardless of their rank, condition, or station. At first sight he
struck one with his plainness, simplicity of manner, sincerity, candor,
and truthfulness. He had no double interests and no overwhelming dignity
with which to chill the air around his visitor. He was always easy of
approach and thoroughly democratic. He seemed to throw a charm around
every man who ever met him. To be in his presence was a pleasure, and
no man ever left his company with injured feelings unless most richly
deserved.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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