The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-01-03
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"A Pen.PIcture OF abraham lincoln.
The Hon. w. 81. Herndon, of Spring
field, Illinois, who was fortwenty years
the law partner of Abraham Lincoln,
recently gave a lecture on the life and
character of his illustrious companion,
prefacing 1t with the following re-
marlxable personal description: tlit Il
! abraham Lincoln was about six
feet four inches high, and when he left
the city was fifty-one years old, having
good health and no gray hairs, or but
few in his head. he was thin,' wiry,
sinewey, raw-boned; thin through the
breast to the back, and narrow across
the shoulders; standing, he leaned for
ward-was what may be called stoop-
shouldered, inclining to the consump-
tive by build. His usual weight was
about one hundred and sixty pounds,
His organization-rather his structure
and function-worked slowly. bis
his heart to the extremities of his frame,
and his nerve force had to travel through
dry ground long distance before his
muscles were obedient to his Will. His
structure was loose and leathery; his
body was shrunk and shrtyeled, hav-
ing dark skin, dark hair, looking woe,
struck. The whole man, body and
mind, worked slowly, creakingly, as If
it needed oiling. Physically, he was a
very powerful man, lifting with ease
four to six hundred pounds.
His mind was like his body-5it work
ed slowly but strongly. When he walk
ed, he moved cautiously but hrmiy,
his long arms, and hands on them like
giants hands, swung down by his side.
| lie walked with even tread; the inner
sides of his feet were parallel. BE put
the whole foot fiat down on the ground
at once, not landing on the heel; he
likewise lifted his foot all at once, not
rising from the toes, and hence had no
spring to his walk. He had the econo-
Imy OF fall and, lift of foot, though he
had no spring or apparent ease of mo-
tion in his tread. He walked undula-
| tory, up and down, catching and pock-
citing tire, weariness and pain all up
land down his person, preventing them
I from locating. The first opinion OF a
closely, was that his walk implied
shrewdness, cunning, tricky man;
hut his walk was the walk of caution
and firmness. In sitting down on a
common chair he was no taller than or
binary men. His legs and arms were
abnormally, pnnaturally long, and IN
undue proportion to the balance OF his
BODY. 1t was Only when he stood up
that he loomed above other men.
Mr.. Lincoln's head was long and tail
| from the base of the brain and from the
eyebrows-the perspective faculties.
| His head ran backward, his forehead
\ rising as it ran back at low angle,
ike f6layIs and unlike Webster's, al
most perpendicular. The size of the
hat, measured on the hatter's block,
| was 71S, his head being from ear to ear
6x inches, and from the front to the
| back OF the brain 8 inches. H Thus meas
ured it was not below the medium size.
His forehead was marrow but highi his
hair was dark, almost black, and lay
floating where his fingers or the wind
LEFT it piled up at random. His cheek
bones were high, sharp and prominent.
His eyebrows heavy and jptting out !
his Jaws were long, spp-curved and
heavy; his nose was large, long and
blunt; having the tip glowing in red,
his chin was long, sharp and up-cury7
ed; his eyebrows cropped out like a
huge rock on the brow OF a hill; his face
was long, sallow, cadayerons, shrunk,
shriveled, wrinkled. and dry, having
there and there hair on the surface; his
Large and ran out almost at right an
giles from his head, caused by heavy
hats, and partly by naturei his
lower lip was thick, hanging and utl-
der-curved, while his chin reached for
the lip np-curvedi his neck was neat
and trim, his neslQ DelnE Wen DhIhuCeu
on 10; there was the lone mole on
the right cheek and Adams apple on
the throat. ...,..s
Thus stood, walked, acted and looked
Abraham Lincoln. He was not n pret-
ty man by any means, nor was. he an
ugly. one. BE was a homely man, care
| less of his looks, plain looking and
plain acting. He had no pomp, dis
play or dignity-so called. Heappear-
ed simple in his carriage and bearing.
He was sad looking man; his melan-
choly dripped from him as he walked.
His apparent gloom impressed his
friends and created n sympathy for him
I-one means of his great success. He
was gloomy abstracted and Joyous,
rather humorous by turns. do NOT
| think he knew what real Joy was for
more than twenty-three years. Mr..
| Lincoln sometimes walked our streets
i tcheeriIy, good hnmoredly perhaps Joy
/ ously, and then 1t was, ON meeting q
friend, he cried stHow d'y,n clasping
one OF his, friends hands in both ofhis,
| giving q good hearty soul welcome.
l. Sometimes he might be seen vending
I his way to his Office, to the COURTROOM
or the railroad depot, with his baggage
looking like rail in broad cloth. p OF 9
winters morning he might be seer
j stalking and sitting towards the mar.