The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-01-02
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
The characteristics of his Life as Seen
by his Law Partner.

William H. Herndon, for twenty years the law
partner of Mr.. lincoln, delivered lecture re-
Gently on the life and characteristics OF the late
President at Springfield, Illinois After giving
q history of Mr. Lincoln's life and description
OF his personal looks, Mr.. Herndon said:-
''Mr Llncoln's perceptions were slow, cold,
precise and exact Everything came TO him in
its precise shape and color. To some men the
world of matter and of man comes ornamented
with beauty, lite, and action, and hence more or
less false and inexact. No lurking illusion or
other error false in itself and clad for the mo-
ment in robes of splendor ever passed unde-
tected or unchallenged over the threshold of his
mind-that point that divides vision from the
realm and home Of thought. He had keen sus-
capabilities 10 the hints and suggestions of ma
ture which always put him in mind OF something
known or unknown. Hence his power and te-
nacities of what is called association of ideas
must have been great. His memory was tena-
Cious and strong. His susceptibility to all sug-
gestions and hints enabled him at will to call
up readily the associated and classified fact and
IDEA.
t.Mr. Lincoln read less and thought more than
any man in his sphere in America. No man in
this audience can put his finger on any great
book written in the last or present century that
he 1ead When young he read the Bible, and
when of age he read Shakespeare. This latter
book was scarcely ever out OF his mind. Mr..
Lincoln is acknowledged to have been great
man; but the question is what made him great I!
L repeat LuaJ uG Ttdu jess uuQ uOIG Ludu
| any man of his standing in America, If not in
| the world. He possessed originality and power
OF thought In an eminent degree. He was eau
tious cool, concentrated, with continuity of re-
| tecton; was patient and enduring. These are
| some of the grounds of his wonderful success
He was most emphatically q remorseless
| analyZer of facts things, and principles. When
all these processes had been well and thoroughly
| gone through, he could form an opinion and
express it. but no sooner. All opponents dreaded
| him in his originality OF idea, condensation,
| definition, and force OF expression; and woe be
/ to the man who hugged to his bosom a secret
| error if Mr.. Lincoln got on the chase of il. l
no nook or corner of space in which he
| say woe to him. Time could hide the error IN
| would not detect and expose it. We may affirm
| here IN order to convey general idea, that Mr..
| Lincoln was a sell-reliant man.
| "Mr. Lincoln's mind was slow, angular, and
| ponderous, rather than quick and finely dis
eliminating; and in time his great powers of
| reason on cause and effect, on creation and re-
| latlon, on substance and on truth, would form a
| proposition, an opinion, wisely and well-that
no human being can deny. When his mind
could not grasp premises from which to argue,
| he was weaker than child, because he had
| none of the childs intuitions-the souls quick
| bright flash over scattered and unarranged
] facts. / have watched men closely in reference
to their approaches to Mr.. Lincoln, Those who
| approached him on his Judgment side
treated him tenderly-sometimes respectfully
but always as a weakminded man2 This class o
men take the judgment as the standard of thC
mind. have seen anotner class approach mn
on his reason side, and they always crouche(
low down and truckled, as much as to say
great" "grand" ''omnipotent." Both thes
classes were correct. One took Judgment as tn
standard OF the man. and the other took reason
| Yet both classes we're wrong in this-they Sllnl
out OF view one side OF Mr.. Lincoln. A thir
class knew him well, and always treated hin
with human respect; not that awe and reyerenc
| with which we regard the Supreme Being; no
that supercillous haughtiness which greatnes
shows TO llttleness. These three classes Of me
are in this room tonight. Each will please t
! examine Itself, and then judge OF what say.