The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1866-02-03
. WHOLE No. 1872
! Remarkable Description of Abrabar.
Lincoln. sl5I.T

Ii
law partner of Abrahsm Lincoln. recent
4 y gave lecture on the life and character of
hls lilustrions companion prefaei6g Il with
the following remarkable personal de-
4scfiption:
Abraham Lincoln was about six feet
four inches high, aud when he left the CITY
vas fifty one years old, having good health,
land no gray hair, or but few, in his head.
He was thin, wiry, sinewy, raw-boned, thin
s through the breast to the back, and narrow
across the shoulders; standing. he leaned
s forward-was what may be called stooD.
shouideped, inciiai0g to the oonsumutixe
% ouiid. His usual weight vas about one
hundred and sixty pounds. His .organi-
zauon--rsther his structure and functions
worked slowly. His blood had to run a
long distance from his heart to the extrsu,.
ltles OF his frame, and lis nerve force Lad
to travel through dry ground long dis
lance before his muscles were obedent to-
MS will. His structure was loose and leath-
cry; his body was shrunk and shriyeIed,
having dalk skin, dark hair, looking woe.
struck. The Whole man body and mind work
ed sl9wl :, creakingly, as if it needed oiling,
Physically, he was a very powerful man,
lifting with eass fur hundred or
six hundred pounds.
His mind was like his body-it worked
slowly, but strongly. When he walked he
moved cautiously but firmly, his long arms
aud hands on them like giants hands,
swung down by his side. He walked with
even tread; the inner sides of his feet were
parallel lie pat The whole foot fiat down
on the ground a. once, not landing on the
heel; he likewise lifted his foot all at once,
uol rising from the toes, and hence no
. 6 n inc ia IA = IL 4 IL,
OF fall and JIft of foot. though he had no
spring or apparent ease of motion in his
tread. He walked undulatory, up and
down, catching and pocketing tire, wsari-
ness, and pain all up and down his person,
preventing them from locating. The first
opinion OF stranger or man who did
not observe closely, was that his walk i'm
piled shrewdness, cunning, tricky man;
but his walk was the walk of caution and
irmness. In sitting down in a common
chair he was no taller than an ordinary man.
His legs and arms were abnormally, unnat-
ura!ly long, and in undue proportion to the
rest OF his body. It was only when he
stood up that he doomed above other men.
"Mr. Lnco,n's head was loag and tall
from the base of the brain and from the eye
brows-the preceptve faculties His head
ran backward, his forehead rising as It ran
osokat allow angle, like Clay 3, and unlike
4 NebstePs almost perpendicular. The size
] of the hat, measured on the hatter's block,
was Il, his head being from ear to ear 81
J inches, and from the front to the back of the
brain inches. Thus measured it was not
below The medium SIZE His forehead was
narrow but high; his hair was dark, almost
. back, and lay floating where his fingers or
the wind left it, piled up at random. His
cheek bones veiy high, sharp, and promi-
nent; his eyebrows heavy and Jutting out;
his jaws were long. up. curved, and heavy;
his nose was large, long and blunt, having
, the tip glowing in red. and little awry to-
ward the right eye; his chin was long,
sharp, andu curved; his eyebrows crop
ped out like huge rock on the brow of a
bill; his face was long, shallow, cadaverous,
shruuk, shrivelled, wrinkled aud dry, bav-
, ing here and there, hair on the surface;
his cheeks were leathery; his ears were
large and ran out almost at right angles
from his head, caused by heavy hats, and
= partly by nature; his lower lip was thick,
/ hanging, and undercurVed, while his chin
reached for the lip up curved; his neck was
f neat and trim, his head being we'll balanced
on it; there was the lower mole on the right
# cheek, and Adams apple on the throat.
''Thus stood, walked, acted, and looked
L Abraham Lincoln. He was not pretty
man by any means, nor was he an ugly one.
He was a homely man, careless of his looks,
: plain looking and plain acting. He bad no
a pomP, display or dignity, So called. He
: appeared simple in his carriage and bearing.
j He was a sad looking man; his melancholy
dripded from him as he walked. His Ap-
e parent gloom impressed his friends and Gre
o ated a sympathy for him-One means of
D his great success. He was gloomy, alb
e stracted, and joyous, rather humorous by
turns. Mr.. Lincoln some times walked
2 our streets cheerily, good humoredly, per-
ha1s joyously. and then it was on meeting
a friend he cried, How d'y." clasping one
Of his friends hands in both of his, giving 3
good, hearty soul welcome.
"Sometimes lie might be seen vending
his way to his Office, to the court room, or
{. railroad depot, with bis baggage, looking
, like a rail 10 broadcloth. OF a winters
morning he might be seen stalking and tilt
Y ing it to the market house, basket on arm,
his old gray shawl wrapped around his neck
his little Willie OF Tad running along All his
heels. asking thousand little quick Dues
tons, which mis- father heard not-not then
even knowing that little Willie or Tad was
t there, so distracted was the father. When
he thus met friend, he said that something
put bim II mind of story which he heard
in Indiana, and tell it be would, and there
was no alternative but to listen.
Thus, / say, stood, and walked, and
looked this singular man. He vas old but
when that gray eye and face, and every
feature we're lii up by the inward soul in
fires OF emotion, then it was that all thess
apparently ugly features sprapg into organs
OF beauty, or sunk themselves In q sea of
Inspiration that sometimes flooded the face. %
God requires US to do good and, to be
good. because goodness is the only element