The Iowa transcript. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1858-1866, 1864-11-24
President LincOIn's Education.

PreSkdPnt LInCOIN'a Education.
Rev. John T.. GulIiver several months
ago wrote fo- the "Inaependsnt' an
account Of a "talk had with Abraham
Lincoln" had IN the cars beiweAn Nor.
weh and New York, JUST before the
delivery Of his fanIaus speech in the
latter city, in the spring OF lsGe. The
following statement then givenfto Mr
Gulliyer, Of Mr. Lincoln's early educa-
,ion, r. deserving Of wide spread circu-
lation. Mr. Ga!hver said:
SThat suggests, Mr. Lincoln, an in
quirv which has seycraHtirnes bAen NJ.
on my lips, during this conversation. l
want to know how you got this nnusa
al power Of putting thinss.' 1t must,
have been a matter Of edaca'ion. No
man has il bv nature alone. What has
your education been -
"Wei'. asto education. the newspa-
pers ere correct-T never went TO schoo!
nnre than six months in my life. Bu'
~ vnu say, tbs mass he product Of
Of culture in some form. l have been
ru''ing The question vou ask me, to N.Y.
sclf, whi- ,oa have been talking. !
can say this, 'ia', aaoa, M earliest
recollections. rememher how when
mere child, I used y get irli,Atea when
apy body talked to-main in way | cnuli
not understand don't think / ever
got angry u. afsfi.iit. else IN my life
But that always disturbed my temper,
and has c,et since | can remembei
gong 10 my little bel room, after hear
ing the neighhars talk nf an eyeEin.
with my father. a"a spending no small
part Of he ,,i2'a walking up aud d4wii
and ,ryin. To make on, wha, was the
enact meaning Of some Of their, to me
dark sayings Icot,l not sleep, Though
huut after an idea. aatii hal caught i,
Snd Whe,, i;,na.su had got it, | was
not satisfied until | had rsprated'i
over and o.er, un,il I,had ~. it ia Ian
gaagr plain en- ugh tor any boy knew
lew To comprehend. This was a kind
Of pass on Sith me, AMI il has stuck TO
11ie. isl | am n.~et easy nov when |
am handling a thought, TIL have
bounded it north and b iundcd It sansh
and bounded 1t east and bounded il
west. Perhaps that accounts for the
vo,, observe in my speech
est-shough | ne vcr pu, ,he two things
together bG.9rn
III. Laeo1a, THANH: ,.oq for ,his. L
is The ans, s.lrnlid e.:acattsMai fact |
ever happened upon, This is genius
with ali i,s-unp.l>iae, inspiring, domin
aling power over the mind of its pos
sesser, developed BY education into
talent, with its anH9rta'fy, its perna
nence, and i,s'dieiplipe9 strength 81
wa. .s ready, always available, never
capricious-th highast possession Of
the human intellect. Eut let me ask.
did yon not have aiaw siyeation? How
did you prepare for your prtessicn? HI
sOl, yes read law as the phrase
is. I became lawyers clerk IN Spring
field, and e.p;ea tedious documents.
and, picked up what could st!aw ia
the intervals of other work. But your
question reminds me of tit Of eanaa
ton | had, which I am bound il homes
IL to mention In the course of my law
reading | constantly came upon the
word ic,aoastru.s I thought, at frst
that | understood its n.eaning, but soon
became satisfied that | did not, !
said to myself, What 10 40 when l
demonstrate more than when rcasot
or prose llew docs demonstrations dif
fer frolu any other proof 2 | coEsaltca
Ncbs,e.'s Dictionary. The. told Of
certain rr of, 'proet heyaad the pas>i
iliiy Of .douh' ! .s~t I could firm 20
idea wha. scst q proof ,ha. was. !
thought great many things were lrox.
ai,beyond possibility Of doubt with
out recourse 10 any such extraordinary
process III reasoning as / understood
.demonst.at.an' TO BE. ] consulted all
dictionaries and books of reference
that cas.ld :tiuti, bu. with no better
result. Nuu might As well have defined
It,lae 70 . ,b,Ea man. At last said
| Lincoln, You can Ha~er ,nake = lawyer
/ il YOU 10 no, understand what demon
stratc means and | left my situation
ia Springfield, went home to my fathers
house, aal i ai,l there till could civ,
any proposition 10 The six books OF En
clid at s,s..t. il then found ont wha
demonstrate means and then wen
back to my,.aw studies"
/ could no, refrain ,f,om saying, i