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
one when he sought to enforce his statement. It sometimes came with
a quick jerk, as if throwing off electric sparks into combustible
material. He never sawed the air nor rent space into tatters and rags
as some orators do. He never acted for stage effect. He was cool,
considerate, reflective--in time self-possessed and self-reliant.
His style was clear, terse, and compact. In argument he was logical,
demonstrative, and fair. He was careless of his dress, and his clothes,
instead of fitting neatly as did the garments of Douglas on the latter's
well-rounded form, hung loosely on his giant frame. As he moved along
in his speech he became freer and less uneasy in his movements; to
that extent he was graceful. He had a perfect naturalness, a strong
individuality; and to that extent he was dignified. He despised glitter,
show, set forms, and shams. He spoke with effectiveness and to move the
judgment as well as the emotions of men. There was a world of meaning
and emphasis in the long, bony finger of his right hand as he dotted
the ideas on the minds of his hearers. Sometimes, to express joy or
pleasure, he would raise both hands at an angle of about fifty degrees,
the palms upward, as if desirous of embracing the spirit of that which
he loved. If the sentiment was one of detestation--denunciation of
slavery, for example--both arms, thrown upward and fists clenched, swept
through the air, and he expressed an execration that was truly sublime.
This was one of his most effective gestures, and signified most vividly
a fixed determination to drag down the object of his hatred and trample
it in the dust. He always stood squarely on his feet, toe even with toe;
that is, he never put one foot before the other. He neither touched nor
leaned on anything for support. He made but few changes in his positions
and attitudes. He never ranted, never walked backward and forward on
the platform. To ease his arms he frequently caught hold, with his left
hand, of the lapel of his coat, keeping his thumb upright and leaving
his right hand free to gesticulate. The designer of the monument
recently erected in Chicago has happily caught him in just this
attitude. As he proceeded with his speech the exercise of his vocal
organs altered somewhat the tone of his voice. It lost in a measure its
former acute and shrilling pitch, and mellowed into a more harmonious
and pleasant sound. His form expanded, and, notwithstanding the sunken
breast, he rose up a splendid and imposing figure. In his defence of
the Declaration of Independence--his greatest inspiration--he was
tremendous in the directness of his utterances; he rose to impassioned
eloquence, unsurpassed by Patrick Henry, Mirabeau, or Vergniaud, as his
soul was inspired with the thought of human right and Divine justice.*
His little gray eyes flashed in a face aglow with the fire of his
profound thoughts; and his uneasy movements and diffident manner sunk
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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