The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1866-11-07
Abraham Lincoln.

Tic IcW OAA ANNHJ1tAoff WI hS %OtA
ments upon the late President;
The central figure In this era Of
American history Is Abraham Lin
coin. The most familiar and the
most beloved form TO our people il
that long, lank, sad faced, nngainly
man who hoated into Sangamon
County, Illinois, in canoe, and thirty
years later went out of that county
President elect of the United States
This generation writes his name be-
side George Washington's; posterity
will write IL above all American
names. There is no European name
of this era that shines with one-half
the lnstre. Aft
No face is so familiar to the whole
nation as that thin, melancholy, care
worn visage-those sad eyes that
looked like deep wells of sorrow,
those shaggy brows crowned with
mass of black tangled hair piled up
at random" | find his photograph
on every parIor table; policemen say
that his Autograph hangs up among
pugiKsts and race horses on the walls
of Five Points drinking dens. Sew
ard exnressed the estimate of one
class al the community when he said,
"MrF Lincoln Is the best man | ever
knew" the estimate of the other
class was given by one of Tanniany's
unwashed Democracy, when he ex-
claimed after reading the bulletin of
the assassination, well, Uncle Abe
toas bully old fellow after all. . '''"
Liacol4's pbyaqle--which was ias
remarkable as his mind-has been
attempted by scores of artists; but, to
our fancy, no one has SO successfully
reproduced it as our old neighbor, Mr..
II. Ii. Carpenter. In his picture Of
the First Reading Of the Emancipa-
ton Proclamation, the portrait of
the President is we'll nigh perfect.
The portraits of the Cabinet are fine;
but they are, after all, mere accesso-
ries to the central figure, and, alas
some of those characters in the group
are already passing into the penunlbrG
of q melancholy eclipse. ~ eA
But Mr.. Carpenter has done q
higher service yet 10 Lincoln's mem
DRY than to portray his face. He has
POI trpyed the inner man as we'll. Ia
his little volume entitled six Months
at the White House with Abraham
Lincoln" No work that has yet APP
peared has given us such an interior
view Of the great Liberator; Ii il even
better, book than if ii had been writ
ten by more eminent author. It is
just an honest, homely photograph of
the plain, unvarnished, child hearted
republican who united ia himself the
shaggy integrity of Oliver Cromwell
TO the gentle tenderness of Florence
Nightingale. 1t presents TO us Lin
coin as be was, no more, no less
Paint me as 4 am, said Cromwell
TO Sir Peter Lely, the artist, or /
will not give you shilling. y Mr..
Carpenter knew that Mr.. Lincoln
could afford an equally truthful por-
traiture of his daily lite, his unpre-
meditated talk, and even his pithy
pleasantries; so he has written il all
down as faithfully as sunbeam paints
daguerreotype. A
AS we lay down this most entertain
ing volume, we are more than ever
persuaded that Abraham Lincoln is,
thus far. tho most remarkable native
.outgr0wth Of our American soil
Washington was born in o British
colony, and had some of the traits of
the colonial aristooracy. Webster re.
ceived the polish Of classic and of for
eign culture, But Lincoln is through
out the type man Of our shrewd, prac-
tioal, self. helpful Western democracy.
Lincoln,s head was as noble as his
heart. In him common sense did the
work 0fgenius. Napoleon test of abil-
ity was a ample one, who did all
that?' We apply this test to our late
beloved President, aud ask. who in
modern days achieved more than A bra
ham LincolnY Who has done mighty
life-work better than he? The man
who rose from log-cahin Ia the Pres.
idential chair, who made the Coorer
Institute address and tbs Gettvsbure
funeral Grafton, rho uttered that sec
ond Inaugural with, its sublime and
tender pathos, who led vast Repnb.
lie through its wilderness of conflict
and COMMISSIONS with patience thai
never gave way, faith that never ial.
tered, and a sagacity that never com.
mitted q serious error, was q man who
has no superior in all our American
annals. We do not claim for him |,
profound philosophical mind. We d,
not claim for him . brilliant genius
But we do claim that when the Al
mighty, made Abraham Lincolp 70
our great national crisis, He did No
make mistake. .ss3 slllyaa.
Alasi what a havoc in country
hopes that assassin's bullet wrought
Booths pistol did a more deyilis
work than Lees whole army. Whe
viii we ever get beyond the shade
of that bereavement? Some time ag
we wentthrough the White House 1
Washington and it was as sorrowtr
to us as cemetery. We looked j
upon that reception-room where W
saw Lincoln's tall form for the la,
time at q tarnsiAo.A;al lnr.o.. A W.