Abraham Lincoln : his life, sayings and speeches

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ABRAHAM LINCOLN

HIS LIFE, SAYINGS AND SPEECHES

In 1859 a friend of Lincoln wrote, asking for some bio-
graphical particulars. The following is the exact letter
Lincoln wrote in answer. It is extremely interesting, as he
outlines his life down to the point where he became a figure
of national importance. This letter is given in place of the
regular historical sketch:

I WAS born February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Ken-
tucky. My parents were both born in Virginia, of
undistinguished families, second families, perhaps I
should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was
of a family of the name of Hanks. . . . My paternal
grandfather, Abraham Lincoln, emigrated from Rocking-
ham County Va., to Kentucky about 1781 or 1782, where,
a year or two later, he was killed by the Indians, not in
battle, but by stealth, when he was laboring to open a
farm in the forest.

My father (Thomas Lincoln) at the death of his father
was but six years of age. By the early death of his
father, and the very narrow circumstances of his mother,
he was, even in childhood, a wandering, laboring boy, and
grew up literally without education. He never did more
in the way of writing than bunglingly to write his own
name. He removed from Kentucky to what is now Spen-
cer County, Indiana, in my eighth year. It was a wild
region, with many bears and other animals still in the
woods.

There were some schools, so called, but no qualifica-
tion was ever required of a teacher beyond readin', writin'
and cipherin' to the rule of three. If a straggler sup-
posed to understand Latin happened to sojourn in the
neighborhood he was looked upon as a wizard.

Of course, when I came of age I did not know much.
Still, somehow, I could read, write and cipher to the rule
of three. But that was all. The little advance I now
have upon this store of education I have picked up from
time to time under the pressure of necessity.

I was raised to farm work till I was twenty-two. At
twenty-one I came to Illinois, Macon County. Then I got
to New Salem, wThere I remained a year as a sort of clerk
in a store. Then came the Black Hawk war; and I was
elected Captain of a volunteer company, a success that
gave me more pleasure than any I have had since. I went
the campaign, was elated, ran for the Legislature the same
year (1832), and was beaten the only time I ever have
been beaten by the people. The next, and three succeed-
ing biennial elections, I was elected to the Legislature.
I was not a candidate afterward. During the legislative
period I had studied law and removed to Springfield to
practice it. In 1846 I was elected to the lower house of
Congress. Was not a candidate for re-election. From
1849 t° JS54, inclusive, practiced law more assiduously
than ever before. Always a Whig in politics, and gen-
erally on the Whig electoral tickets, making active can-
vasses. I was losing interest in politics when the repeal
of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again.

If any personal description of me is thought desirable,
it may be said that I am in height six feet four inches,
nearly; lean in flesh, weighing on an average one hundred
and eighty pounds; dark complexion, with coarse black
hair and gray eyes. No other marks or brands recollect-
ed.

A. LINCOLN.

Closing Words of the Inaugural Speech

Delivered at Washington. March 4, 1861.

"My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well
upon this whole subject. Nothing valuable can be lost
by taking time.

If there be any object to hurry any of you, in hot
haste, to a step which you would never take deliberately,
that object will be frustrated by taking time — but no good
object can be frustrated by it.

Such of you as are now dissatisfied still have the old
Constitution unimpared, and on the sensitive point, the
laws of your own framing under it, while the new admin-
istration will have no immediate power, if it would, to
change either.

If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied,
hold the right side of the dispute, there is still no single
reason for precipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism,
Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never
yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to ad-
just, in the best way, all our present difficulties.

In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen,
and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war.
The government will not assail you.

You can have no conflict without being yourself the
aggressors. You have no oath registered in Heaven to
destroy the government, while I shall have the most
solemn one to "preserve, protect and defend" it.

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 bond of affection.

The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every
battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and
hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the
chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they
will be, by the better angels of our nature.

Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation

At the eomuiencernent of the war, the President had
been repeatedly and strongly urged to liberate the slaves.
He declared the paramount object is to save the Nation and
mot either to save or destroy slavery. On New Year's day
1863 the President issued a preliminary proclamation which
provided that any state that choose to return to the Union,
its slaves were not to be set at liberty by the final procla-
mation.

"And by virtue of the power and for the purpose
aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as
slaves within said designated States and parts of States
are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the execut-
ive government of the United States, including the mili-
tary and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and
maintain the freedom of said persons.

And I hereby enjoin the people so declared to be free,
to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-
defence, and I recommend to them that in all cases, when
allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.

And I further declare and make known that such per-
sons of suitable condition will be received into the armed
service of the United States to garrison forts, positions,
stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts
in said service.

And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of
justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military
neccessity, invoke the considerate judgement of mankind
and the gracious favor of Almighty God.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my name,
and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this first day

of January, in the year of our Lord one thou-

(L. S. ) sand eight hundred sixty three, and of the

Independence of the United States the eighty

seventh.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President :

William W. Seward,
[Closing paragraphs] Secretary of State.

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

Delivered at the dedication of the Cemetery at Gettysburg, Nov-
ember 19, 1863.

It seems incredible at this day that Lincoln's Gettysburg
speech proved a disappointment, not only to Lincoln, but to
many who heard it. On the return trip to Washington, he
said: "That speech fell on the audience like a wet blanket.
I ought to have prepared it with more care.'' He, himself,
failed to appreciate the sublime sentiment of the few words
he had hastily scribbled that morning with a lead pencil on
a pad in the railway carriage. Time has proved them equal
to the sayings of any man who ever wrote his mother tongue.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought
forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty
and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created,
equal.

Now we are engaged in a great Civil War; testing
whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so
dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great
battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a por-
tion of that field, as a final resting place for those who
here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is
altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate — we can-
not consecrate — we cannot hallow this ground. The
brave men living and dead who struggled here, have
consecrated it, far beyond our poor power to add or detract.
The world will little note, nor long remember what we
say here; but it can never forget what they did here. It
is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the
unfinished work which they who fought here have thus
far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here
dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that
from these honored dead we take increased devotion to
that cause for which they gave the last full measure of
devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead
shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God,
shall have a new birth of freedom— and that government
of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not
perish from the earth.

Lincoln's Yarns and Stories.

Mr. Lincoln remarked to a Senator who took him to
task for always answering a question by a story :

"They say I tell a great many stories; I reckon I do,
but I have found in the course of a long experience that
common people, take them as they run, are more easily
informed through the medium of a broad illustration
than in any other way, and as to what the hypercritical
few may think, I don't care."

Grant's Whiskey.

A committee once waited on the President and urged
the removal of General Grant on the ground that he
drank too much whiskey.

"By the way gentlemen," rejoined Mr. Lincoln,
"can any of you tell me where Gen. Grant procures his
whiskey ? Because if I can find out I will send every
general in the field a barrel of it."

What he would do with Jeff Davis

When, after the war, Lincoln was asked what he
was going to do with Jeff Davis, he replied:

"A boy bought a coon which, after the novelty wore
off, became a nuisance. One day he sat down completely
fagged out. A man passing asked the matter.

" 'Oh," was the reply, 'the coon is such a trouble to
me."

« « 'Why don't you get rid of him ? said the man.

" 'Hush,' said the boy, 'don't you see he is gnawing
his rope off ? I'm going to let him do it, and then I'll go
home and tell the folks that he got away from me.' "

Freedom from Vices.

Some one complimented the President on having uo
vices, neither drinking or smoking.

"That is a doubtful compliment," answered Lincoln.
"I remember once when sitting on a stage in Illinois,
and a man next to me offered me a cigar. I told him I
had no vices- He said nothing, but smoked for some
time and then grunted out: "It's my experience that
folks who have no vices have few virtues."

Too Much Tail.

Gen. Grant told the following story :

" Just after receiving my commission as lieutenant-
general, the President said to me :

" 'At one time there was a great war among the
animals and one side had a great difficulty in getting a
commander. Finally they found a monkey named Joko,
who said that he thought he could command their army
if his tail could be made a little longer. So they got
more tail and spliced it on.

11 'He looked at it admiringly and then he thought
he ought to have still a little more. This was added,
and again he called for more. This splicing process was
repeated many times, until they had coiled Joko's tail
around the room. He continued to call for more and they
continued to wind the additional tail around him until
its weight broke him down.

" 'I saw the point and replied: 'Mr. President, I will
not call for more assistance unless I find it impossible to
do with what I already have.' "

Mercy For a Soldier.

An old man whose son had been court-martialed in
Gen. Butler's army and sentenced to be shot visited the
White House. A cloud of sorrow came over the Presi-
dent's face as he replied.

11 I am sorry to say I can do nothing for you. Lis-
ten to this telegram : 'President Lincoln, I pray you not
to interfere with the court-martial of the army. You will
destroy all discipline among our soldiers. B. F. Butler.' "

Mr. Lincoln watched the old man's grief, and then
exclaimed: "By jingo! Butler or no Butler, here goes!"

Then he wrote : "Job Smith is not to be shot until
further orders from me. A. Lincoln.

"Why" said the old man, "I thought it was to be a
pardon."

Mr. Lincoln smiled: "Well, my old friend, if your
son never looks on death until further orders come from
me to shoot him, he will live to be a great deal older than
Methuselah."

His "Glass Hack"

President Lincoln had not been in the White House
very long before Mrs. Lincoln became seized with the idea
that a fine new barouche was about the proper thing for
"the first lady in the land." The President did not care
particularly about it one way or the other, and told his
wife to order whatever she wanted.

Lincoln forgot all about the new vehicle, and was
overcome with astonishment one afternoon when, having
acceded to Mrs. Lincon's desire to go driving, he found
a beautiful barouche standing in front of the door of the
White House.

His wife watched him with an amused smile, but the
only remark he made was, "Well, Mary, that's about the
slickest 'glass hack' in town, isn't it?"

It will please the Little Woman.

Lincoln had been in the telegraph office at Spring-
field during the casting of the first and second ballots in
the Republican National Convention at Chicago, and
then left and went over to the office of the State Journal,
where he was sitting conversing with friends while the
third ballot was being taken.

In a few moments came across the wires the an-
nouncement of the result. The superintendent of the
telegraph company wrote on a scrap of paper: "Mr. Lin-
coln, you are nominated on the third ballot," and a boy
ran with the message to Lincoln.

He looked at it in silence, amid the shouts of those
around him; then rising and putting it in his pocket, he
said quietly: ' "There's a little woman down at our house
would like to hear this; I'll go dowm and tell her."

His Passes to Richmond not Honored.

A man called upon the President and solicited a pass
for Richmond. "Well," said the President, "I wTould
be very happy to oblige, if my passes were respected;
but the fact is, sir, I have, within the past two years,
given passes to two hundred and fifty thousand men to
go to Richmond, and not one has got there yet.

The applicant quietly and respectfully withdrew on
his tiptoes.

His Financial Standing.

A New York firm applied to Abraham Lincoln, some
years before he became President, for information as to
the financial standing of one of his neighbors. Mr. Lin-
coln replied:

"I am well acquainted with Mr. , and

know his circumstances. First of all, he has a wife and
baby, together they ought to be worth $50,000 to any
man. Secondly, he has an office in which there is a table
worth $r-50 and three chairs worth, say, $1.00. Last of
all, there is in one corner a large rat hole, which will
bear looking into. Respectfully,

A Lincoln.

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