The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1864-12-02

you have not been too flattering in
your estimate. Certainly, i have had
a most wonderful success for man Of
my limited education.
That suggests, Mr.. Lincoln, an in
quiry which has several times been
upon my lips during this conversation.
/ want very much to know how you
got this unusual power of putting
things. 1t must have been matter
OF education. No man has it by ma
ture alone. What has your education
been 2
"Well, as to education the newspa-
pers are correct. / never went to
school more than six months in my
life ; but, as you say, this must be a
product of culture in some form. i
have been putting the question you
ask mo to myself while you have been
talking. / can say this, that among
my earliest recollections, l remember
how, when a mere child, / used to get
irritated when anybody talked to me
in way l could not understand. 1
don't think / ever got angry at any
thing else in my life. But that always
disturbed my temper, and has ever
since. l can remember going to my
little bedroom after hearing the neigh
bors talk of an evening with my faith
err, and spending no small part of the
night in walking up and down, and
trying to make out what was the exact
meaning of some of their, to me, dark
sayings | could not sleep, though l
often tried to, when ] got on such o
hunt after an idea, until had caught
it; and when l thought 1 had got it,
/ was not satisfied until had repeated
it over and over, until | had put it in
language plain enough, as l thought,
for any boy 1 knew to comprehend.
This was n kind of passion with me,
and it has stuck by me, for | am never
easy now, when / am handling a
thought, till 1 have bounded it north,
and bounded it south, and bounded it
east, and bounded it west Perhaps
that accounts for the characteristic you
observe in my speeches, though I new
er put the two things together before"
"Mr. Lincoln, thank you for this
1t is the most splendid educational
fact 1 ever happened upon. This is
genius, with all its impulsive, inspir-
} ing, dominating power over the mind
Of its possessor, developed by educa-
J ton into talent, with its uniformity
its permanence, and its disciplined
strength, always ready always avail
able, never capricious-the highest
possession of the intellect. But, let
me ask, did you not have law educa-
ton? How did you prepare for your
profession ?"
ooh, yes 1 read law, as the
phrase is; that is, became lawyers
clerk in Springfield, and copied tedi-
GUS documents, and picked up what /
could of law in the intervals of other
work. But your question reminds me
OF bit of education / had, which /
am bound in honesty to mention. In
the course of my law-reading 1 con-
stantly came upon the word demon
strate. thought, at first, that l I'M
derstood its meaning, but soon became
satisfied that / did not I said to my
self What do | do when / demon
strate more than .when reason or
prose? How does demonstration diff
fer from any other proof 2 consult
ed Webster's Dictionary. That told
of certain proof proof beyond the
possibility Of doubt :; but 1 could form
no idea what sort of proof that was. l
thought a great many things were
proved beyond possibility of doubt,
without recourse to any such extraor-
binary process of reasoning as I I'M
derstood demonstration to be. l con-
suited all the dictionaries and books
of reference l could find, but with no
better results. You might as well
have defined blue to blind man. At
last / said, Lincoln, you can never
make a lawyer if you do not under
stand what demonstrate means and
I left my situation in Springfield, went
home to my fathers house and staid
there until / could give any PROPOSE
ton in the six books of Euclid at sight.
then found out what demonstrate
means, and went back to my law
studies"
/ could not refrain from saying, in
my admiration at such q development
of character and genius combined.
Mr. Lincoln, your success is no longer
marvel 1t is the legitimate result
of adequate causes. You deserve it
all, and a great deal more. If you