The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1866-06-06
A Picture Of Lincoln.

!
a lecture on the life and character of his il
lustrious companion, prefacing it with til
following remarkable personal description
Abraham Lincoln was about six. fee
four inches high, and when he left the cit
was fifty-One years old, having good healt
and no gray hairs, or but few in his head
lie was thin, wiry, sinewy, rawboned, thil
through the breast to the back, and rlarro,
across the shoulders; standing, he leane
forward; was what may be called stoop
shouldered, inclined to the consumptive b
build. His usual weight was about on
hundred and sixty pounds. His organiza
tion-rather his structure and function
worked slowly. His blood had to run
long distance from his heart to the extrem
tiles of his frame, and his nerve force hao
to travel through dry ground long dis
tance before his mucles were obedient t,
his will His structure was loose and leath
ergy; his body was shrunk and shriveled
having dark skin, dark hair, lookin.
woe-struck. The whole man, bod,
and mind, worked slowly, creakingly, as i
it needed oiling. Physically, he was yer,
pOwerIu1 n,"r, l;f.;ne with case from fou
to six hundred pounds. 80
Ellis mind was like his body; it worked
slowly but strongly. When he walked h,
moved cautiously but firmly; his long arms
and hands on them like giants hands
swung down by his side. lie walked with
even tread: the inner side of his feet were
parallelcd. He put the whole foot ha
down on the ground at once, not landing
on the heel; he likewise lifted his foot al
at once, not rising from the toes, and hence
had no spring to his walk. He had the
economy of fall and lift of foot, though he
had no spring or apparent ease ofmotion in
his tread. lie walked undulatory, up and
down, catching and pocketing tire, weari
ness, and pain all up and down his person.
preventing them from locating. The first
opinion of a stranger, or man who did not
observe closely, was that his walk implied
shrewdness, cunning, a tricky man
but his walk was the walk of caution
and frmness. In sitting down on a com
mon chair he was no taller than ordinary
men. His legs and arms were abnormally
unnaturally long, and in undue proportion
to the balance Of his body. 1t was only
when he stood up that he loomed up above
other men.
"Mr. Lincolns head was long and tall
from the base of the brain and from the
eycbrows-the perspective faculties. His
head ran backward, his forehead rising as
it ran backward at Il low angle, like Clay's,
and unlike Webster's, almost pcrpendicu-
lar. The size of the hat measured on the
hatter's block, was seven and half, his
head being from ear to ear, six and Il hall
inches, and from the front to the back OF
the brain eight inches. Thus measured il
was not below the medium size. His fore
head was narrow but high, 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 jutting out his jaws were long. up
curved, and heavy; his nose was large,
red, and a little awry toward the right eye
his chin was long, sharp, and up-curved ;
his eyebrows cropped out like huge rock
on the brow of IL hill his face was long,
sallow, cadaverous, shrunk, shriveled
wrinkled and dry, having here and there d
hair on the surface; his cheeks were leath.
cry his ears were large and ran out at
right angles from his head, caused by heavy
hats, and partly by nature his lower lip
was thick, hanging, and under-curved ; his
neck was neat and trim, his head being
well-balanced on it; there was the love mole
on the right cheek and Adams apple on
the throat. Thus stood, walked, acted,
and looked Abraham Lincoln. He was
not pretty man, by any means, nor was
he an ugly one. lie was homely man,
careless of his looks, plain looking and
plain acting. He had no pomp, display,
or dignity-so-called. He appeared simple
in his carriage and bearing. lie was sad
looking man his melancholy dripped from
him as he walked. His apparent gloom
impressed his friends and created SYM
pathy for him-one means of his success.
He was gloomy, distracted, and joyous,
humorous by turns. l do not think he
knew what real JOY was for more than %
years. Mr.. Lincoln sometimes walked our
streets cheerily, good humoredly, perhaps
joyously, and then it was on meeting a
friend, he cried, .Howdy,' clasping one of
his friends hand in both of his, giving q
good, hearty soul welcome. Sometimes he
might be seen vending his way to his Off
ce, to tho court room, or to the railroad de-
pot, with his baggage, looking like rail
in broadcloath. Of a winters morning he
might be seen stalking and sitting it to-
ward the market house, basket on arm, his
old grey shawl wrapped around his neck,
his little Willie or Tad running at his
heels, asking thousand little quick ques-
tions, which his father heard not-not even
knowing that little Willie or Tad was there,
so distracted was the father. When he
thus met a friend he said that something
put him in mind of story which he heard
in Indiana, and tell it he would, and there
was no alternative but tolisten. Thus,
say, stood and walked and looked this
singular man."