The weekly union record., 1864-10-15
IFrom the New York independently
a TALK WITH ABRAHAM LINCQLE
BY REV. JoHx ?. CULVER.

At tine When thousands Of honest. earnest
ueu are il painful doubt concerning TIE fitness
Of cur President 10 resune bis ofice for another
term. every incident which ctn throw light on
his character has peculiar interest for the
pabiic. II has been well said. that We uever
know q man Thoroughly til We can see him al
his ease Certain il is, that there are momeatS
when we seem able 10 see irt0 a man and
through him. thought I once had sGch an
opportunity With Nj Lincoln.
Ii vas iGSt after bis controversy with Doug
las. and some months before the meeting Of the
Chicago Convention OF 1860, that Mr Lincoln
came to Norwich to make ! political speech
Il was in substance the famous speech delivered
il New \ oFk, commencing with the noble
words There IS bat one political question
before the people Of this eouutry, which is this.
Is Slarerg rlgkt or IS Il icrCng p and ending
with the yet nobler words, "Gentleuen, il has
been said Of the worlds history, hitherto, that
might makes right; il is Tor Us and for our
times TO reverse the maxim. ard 10 show that
rigit makes might =
The next morning met Tin ST The railroad
station, where be was conversiug with ocr
mayor. every few minutes looking up the track
and iaquiriug. bal. impaiieu;ly aad half quizzi-
callv. Where's that wagon of yours? Why
don't the wagon come aloag?" On being in
irodaced to him, be fixed his eye upon me. and
said, Il have seen you before, sir - Il think
not,' | replied; "you must mistake ne for
. some other person" No don't; saw vou
at the Town Hall, last evening is it posi-
ble, Mr.. Lincoln, that you could observe indi
yiduals so closely iu such crowd? ?" oh.
yes" be replied, laughing. That IS MY way.
don't forget faces. Were you not there"
Il was, sir; and was VII paid fyr go;ag.r
adding, somewhat in the vein Of pleasantly he
had ared, Il consider j. one Of tie most
extraordinary speeches ever heard
As we entered the cars he beckoued me to
take seat with him, and said, in & most
agreeably frank way. Were you sincere in
what you said about my speech just now :"
Il meant every word Of il, Mr.. Lincoln. Why,
an old dyed-in-the-wool Democrat who sat
near me, applauded you repeatedly; and, when
rallied upon his conversion to sound principles,
answered, 4 don't believe word be says, but
| cant help clappiug him, he is so pat That
| call the triumph OF oratory,
when You convince man against his viii,
Though he Is .: the same opinion still
Indeed. sir. learned more Of the noble art Of
public speaking last evening than | could from
a whole course Of lectures on Rhetoric
"Ah, that reminds me- said he. "of a nest
extraordinary circumstance which occurred in
New Haven. the other day. They told me
that the professor of rhetoric in Yale College
"a very learned man. isn't he ?"-"Yes. sir.
and fine critic, too" We'll, | suppose so /;
be ought to be, at any rate-they told me that
be came to hear NE aud took notes Of my
speech, and gave a lecture on it to his class the
next day; and, not satisfied with that be fol-
lowed me up to Meriden the next evening. and
heard HE again for the same purpose. Now.
il this is so, il is to nv mind very extraordinary.
| have been sufficiently astoushed at my sue
cess 10 the West. Ii has been mos, unexpected.
( But ! had no thought Of any marked success
at the East, and least OF all that shonld draw
out such concentrations from literary aud
learned men. Now he continued, u should
like very much to know what it was ia my
speech which you thought so remarkable. aud
what YOU suppose interested my friend, the
professor, so much ?" The cearneSs of your
statements. Mr.. Lincoln the unanswerabie
style of your reasoning. and especially your
Illustrations, which were romance and palhos
and fun and logc all welded together. That
story about the snakes, for example which set
the hands and feet Of your democratic hearers
10 such vigorous motion, was at once queer and
comical and tragic and argumenlative. 1t
broke through al the barriers Of a mans pre-
yions opinions and preiadices, at crash. and
blew up the very citadel o. his false theories,
before be could know what had hurt him. -
. Can you remember any other illustrations, -
said he, 'of this peculiarity of my style?' /
gave him others Of the same sort. occupying
some halfhour in the critique, whea he said
4 ~ ! a 49,
been wishing for long time to find some one
who would make this analysis for me- 1t
throws light ou a subject which has been dark
to ME. | can understand very readily, how
such power as you have ascribed 10 me will
account for the effect which seems 10 be pro
duced by my speeches. ! hope you have not
been too iattering in your estimate. Certainly,
| have bad a most wonderful success, for a
man Of my limited education"
That suggests Mr. Lincoln, an inquiry
which has several times been upon my lips,
during this conversation. | want very much
to know how vou gat this unusual power Of
puttng things 1t must have been a matter
Of education No man has it By nature alone
+ What has your education been?'
We'll, as to education the newspapers are
correct-I never went to school more than six
months in my life. But as you say, this must
be product of culture in some form, have
been putting the question you ask ne TO NY
self, while you have been talking. | can say
this, that, among my earliest recollections. l
remember how. when a mere child, l used to
get irritated when any body talked TO ME in
way could not understand | don't think
ever got angry al anything else in my life.
But that always disturbed my temper. and has
ever since. l can remember going 10 my little
bedroom after hearing the neighbors talk OF an
evening with my father, aud spending no small
part OF the night 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 often tried to- when l got
on such hunt after an idea. until hai caught
it; and when thought had got it, was not
satisfied until had repeated il over and over,
until had put it in language plain enough, as
| thought. FOR any boy knew to comprehend.
This was kind Of passion with me, and Ii has
stuck by me, for am never easy now, when l
an handling q thought. till l have bounded it
north and bounded it south and bounded il
east and bounded it west. Perhaps that
accounts for the characteristic you observe in