The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1864-12-02
Mr.. Lincoln and His Education.
some OF the Secrets Of the Presidents Pop
ularity.

The official and public documents
and speeches of President Lincoln are
often homely and even clumsy in style /;
they have been criticised for their lack
of dignity and elevation but they are
understood by the whole people-and
their logic, not cast in the moulds OF
the schools, runs in the channels of
popular thought. This is one secret
of his strong hold on the people For,
say what his enemies may about his
denomination by shoddy and party
wire-pullers, no president ever had a
stronger hold on the confidence of the
masses. His personal integrity has
much to do with this, doubtless-for
the accusation is yet to be made that
he has used his great power to enrich
himself or to give relative or friend the
opportunity to plumber the treasury
but quite as great an element of his
popularity is his vital sympathy with
the people, of whom he feels himself
to be one and in whose style he thinks
and speaks,
Rev. John p. Gulliver of Norwich,
ct, writes in The Independent an ac-
count of an interview with Mr. Lincoln
in 1860, before the nomination of the
latter for the presidency. Mr.. Gull
yer complimented him on the success
of an address he had just delivered at
Norwich =
'Ah that reminds me, said he, 'of
most extraordinary circumstance
which occurred in New Haven the 9TH
err day. They told me that the pro-
fessor of rhetoric in Yale college,
very learned man, isn't hep Yes, sir,
and fine critic, too well, / sup
pose SO ; he ought to be, at any rate
they told me that he came to hear
me and took notes of my speech, and
gave a lecture on it to his class the
next day and, not satisfied with that,
he followed me up to Meriden the next
evening, and heard me again for the
same purpose. Now, if this is SO, it is
to my mind very extraordinary. /
have been sufficiently astonished at my
success in the West. 1t has been most
unexpected. But / had no thought of
any marked success at the East, and
least of all that / should draw out such
concentrations from literary and
learned men. Now he continued, i
should like very much to know what it
was in my speech which you thought
so remarkable, and what you suppose
interested my friend, the professor, 80
much. The clearness of your state
ment Mr.. Lincoln the unanswerable
style of your reasoning, and especially
your illustrations, which were romance
and fun and pathos and logic all well
ded together That story about the
snakes, for example, which set the
hands and feet of your democratic
hearers in such vigorous motion, was
at once queer and comical and tragic
and argumentatiye. 1t broke through
all the barriers Of a mans previous
opinions and prejudices, at crash,
and blew up the very citadel of his
false theories, before he could know
what hurt him
Can you remember any other illus
trations, said he, 'of this popularity of
my style? gave him others Of the
same sort, occupying some half hour in
the critique. when he said, i am much
obliged to you for this. | have been
wishing for long time to find some
one who would make this analysis for
me. 1t throws light on subject
which has been dark to me. l can UNI