The inner life of Abraham Lincoln : $b Six months at the White HouseCarpenter, F. B. (Francis Bicknell)
History
The inner life of Abraham Lincoln : $b Six months at the White House
Carpenter, F. B. (Francis Bicknell)
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Anecdotes; Presidents -- United States -- Anecdotes
“Take another illustration in the combination of his faculties
and qualities. Mr. Lincoln’s eloquence lay, 1st, in the strength
of his logical faculty, his supreme power of reasoning, his great
understanding, and his love of principle; 2d, in his clear, exact, and
very accurate vision; 3d, in his cool and masterly statement of his
principles, around which the issues gather; in the statement of those
issues, and the grouping of the facts that are to carry conviction,
aided by his logic, to the minds of men of every grade of intelligence.
He was so clear that he could not be misunderstood nor misrepresented.
He stood square and bolt upright to his convictions, and formed by
them his thoughts and utterances. Mr. Lincoln’s mind was not a wide,
deep, broad, generalizing, and comprehensive mind, nor versatile quick,
bounding here and there, as emergencies demanded it. His mind was deep,
enduring, and strong, running in deep iron grooves, with flanges on its
wheels. His mind was not keen, sharp, and subtile; it was deep, exact,
and strong.
“Whatever of life, vigor, force, and power of eloquence the whole of
the above qualities, or a wise combination will give; whatever there
is in a fair, manly, honest, and impartial administration of justice,
under law, to all men at all times,--through these qualities and
capabilities given, never deviating; whatever there is in a strong
will in the right, governed by tenderness and mercy; whatever there
is in toil and a sublime patience; whatever there is in particular
faculties, or a wise combination of them,--not forgetting his weak
points,--working wisely, sagaciously, and honestly, openly and
fairly;--I say, whatever there is in these, or a combination of them,
that Mr. Lincoln is justly entitled to in all the walks of life. These
limit, bound, and define him as statesman, orator, as an executive of
the nation, as a man of humanity, a good man, and a gentleman. These
limit, bound, and define him every way, in all the ways and walks of
life. He is under his law and his nature, and he never can get out of
it.
“This man, this long, bony, wiry, sad man, floated into our county in
1831, in a frail canoe, down the north fork of the Sangamon River,
friendless, pennyless, powerless, and alone,--begging for work in this
city,--ragged, struggling for the common necessaries of life. This man,
this peculiar man, left us in 1861, the President of the United States,
backed by friends and power, by fame, and all human force; and it is
well to inquire _how_.
“To sum up, let us say, here is a sensitive, diffident, unobtrusive,
natural-made gentleman. His mind was strong and deep, sincere and
honest, patient and enduring; having no vices, and having only
negative defects, with many positive virtues. His is a strong, honest,
sagacious, manly, noble life. He stands in the foremost rank of men
in all ages,--their equal,--one of the best types of this Christian
civilization.”
LXXX.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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