The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1866-02-15
A RE EMARKABLE DEsCRIPTION OF
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

lprefacing u With The tollowingromark-
able personal description:
| Abraham Lincoln was about six feet
four inches high, and when he left the
city was ffty.one years old, having
good health, and no gray hairs, or but
few, in his head lie was thin, wiry,
=. sinewy, raw bOned, thin through tho
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. Ills organization7-rath- :
or his structure and function-w work cd
slowly. His blood had to run long
distance from his heart TO the extrcmi-
ties Of his frame, and bis nerve force
had to travel through dry ground a
long distance before bis muscles were
obcdicnt to his will. His structure
was loose and leathery; his body was
shrunll and shriyeIed, having dark
skin, dark hair, looking woe struck
The whole man, body and mind, work
cd slowly, creakingly, as if it needed
oiling. Physically, he was very pow
erful man, lifting with ease four hun
dFed or six hundred polnds.
His mind was like his body4-it
worked slowly, but strongly. When
he walked he move cautiously but firm
| Iy, his long arms, and hands on them
like giants hands, swung down by his
side. He walked with even tread the
inner sides Of his feet were parallel
He put the whole foot fat down upon
the ground at once, not landing on tho
heel; he likewise lifted his foot all at
once, not raising from the toes, and
hence had no spring in his walk. lie
had the economy Of fall and iift Of foot,
though he had no spring or apparent
ease Of motion TO his tread. lie walk :
ed unduIatoiy, up and down, catching
and pocketihg tire wcarincss and paIn,
oil up and down bis person, prevent
ing them from locating. The FIST
opinion of a stranger, or a man who
did not observe closely, was that his
walk implied shrewdncss, cunning,
tricky man; but his walk was the walk
Of caution and irinaess, In sitting
down in a c5mm}a chair, be was no
taller than ordinary men His legs
and arms abnoT1naliy, unhaeuralIy
long, and in undue proportion to the
rest Of his body: IT vas only when he
stood up hut he loonred above other
men. .... ..+ ag
Mr.. Lincoln's head was Iong and tall
from the base Of Che brain and from tho
eyebrows-the precepNvei fhchltics.--
HIS head ran backward, his. forehead
rising as it ran back at a low angle,
like Clay's and unlike Webs.or's al
most perpendicular. The s;zs Of tho
hat measured on the hatter's block,
was u, his head being, from ear to ear
,Gi inches, anl from lhe front to the
back of the brain, s inches. Thus
measured it WAS not below the inedi-
UNI size. Ills forehead was morrow,
but high; his hair was dark, almost
black, and lay floating whore his fin
gers or the wind left it, piled up at
random; his ckeek bones very high,
sharp and prominent; his eyebrows
heavy and jutting out; his jaws wcre
long, up-curved, and heavy; his nose
was large, long, and blunt, having the
tip glowing in red, and a little awry
toward the right eye; his chin was
long sharp, and up-curved; his eye
brows cropped OF like huge rock on
the brow OF hill; his face was long,
sallow, cadayerous, shrlnk, shrieeled,
wrinkled, and dry, having, here and
there, hair on the surface; his cheeks
were leathery; his ears were large and
ran out almost at right angles from
his heal, caused BY heavy hats. and
partly by nature; his lower lip was
thick, hanging, and under curved,
while his chin reached from the lip up
curved; his neck was neat and trim,
his head being well balanced on it;
there was the lower mole on the right
cheek, and Adams apple on the
throat. a.t
Thus stood, walked, acted, and look
ed Abraham Lincoln. He was not a
pretty man by any means, nor was he
an ugly one. He was homeiy map,
careless of his looks, plain looking and
plain acting. He had no pvmp, dis
play, or dignity, so,ealled. He ap-
peared simple in his carriage and bear
ing. He was a sad-looking man; his
melancholy dropped from him as ho
walked. His apparent gloom Impress
ed his friends and created a sympa-
thy for him--one meaRs Of his great sue
cess. He was gloomy, distracted, and
Joyous, rather humorous by turns. l
do not think he knew what real JOY
was for more than twenty-three years.
Mr.. Lincoln sometimes walked our
streets cherriy good-humoredly, per-
haps ioyously, and then it was on meet
ing friend he cried, "How dy," clasp
| ing one of his friends hands in both of
his, giving q good, hearty soul-wcl-
come .I....
Sometimes he might be seen wend-
ing his wayto his Office, to the court
room, or railroad depot, with his bag
gage, looking like raft in broad cloth.
Of a winters morning he might be
seen stalking and sitting to the mar
ket-house, basket on arm, his old gray
shawl wrapped around his neck, his
little Willie or Tad running along at
his heels, asking thousand littlo
quick questions, which his father heard
not-not then even knowing that lit
tie Willie or Tad was there, so absIrac-
ted was the father When he thus
met a friend, he said that something
nut him ia mind of story which ho