The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1867-03-07

bOlemn man III Opflnkuelu' he hhiSpt
have ielt thar all these graiulntlons
were such as the Aztccs spent upon the
beautiful captive who was to be sacri-
feed in the te0cdllls
As lawyer, be was a close student
of those cases that interested him
Slow tC take them into his mind, puss'
ing in their consideration from stage
10 stage, and il he found beneath an
embodied principle, his heart grew in
to the work of developing it. He ire
quenlly sat up all night preparing some
favorite argument and never failed TO
present it 80 perspicuously that dull
intellects grew appreciative and shrewo
ones absorbed. Some of his legal ar
guments are described as having been
classical. Yet, beneath all tie drudg'
cry of his craft, be was ut soul poll
tician rather than an attorney. Every
legal study carried him beyond itself
to the mysteries of public infrmlty
"Hc sat" says Mr.. Herndon. Choking
through brief to the construction OF
society and the moral government OF d
God" Now and then he shut himself
up all night, and lay on his office foor
in his careless garments, revolving
some problem set by a village cI'ert
that had expanded TO a great human
principle. AT these times he seemed
to be q dreamer reasoning. Again
he drove miles over the pralrles
with his lips close shut, wrinkling'
softly humming, and returned late
at night strangely white and exhaust
ed.
Before bis great public call came he
had passed the world through his 81.
lent thought, as If it had been legal
case 10 be stated and argued.
"Did he ever quarrel, Mr.. Hern'
don p
"Seldom, friend but sometimes
Once saw him lncensed at a Judge
for giving an unfair decision 1t was
terrible spectacle AS he was granc
in his good nature, so he was grand II
his rage. At another time saw two
men come to blows in his presence; h'
picked them up separately and tosse'
them apart like a couple of kittens =
He was the strongest man | ever knew
and has been known to lift a man o
his own weight and throw him over
worm fence. Once, in Springfield TN
Irish voters medtated taking posses
sion of the polls. News came dow
the street that they wonld permit no
body to vote but. those of their owl
party. Mr. Lincoln seized an axe
handle from hardware store an
went to open way to the ballot oo'
His appearance inundated them an
, we had neither threats nor collision
all that day. He was never SICK du
ring the whole Of our long acqnaln
8 ance; being a man of slow Circulation
r and Of most regular habits, capable
! subsisting upon a morsel, he was wll
D and indurated beyond the best OF OF
n Western men, and even with Booth
# bullet in his brain be lived ten hour
His life, in general, was smooth al
a unrufled. He had no preluolc
;, against any class, preferring the Tic
b mans to any of the foreign elemer
u yet tolerating-as | ( (Herndon)' )'neV
could-even the Irish.
IS "Did he ever drink ?"
is "Only in Indiana, when he to-
u whisky as ague medicine. Alter
J. nomination for the Presidency it W
suggested to him that the Visllll
y Committee would require some hosI
e, tality. "Very weIl!' he said, "al
r. food that is proper l authorize to
r purchased"
r. r. "tBut these gentlemen will eSp(
y, ID some liquors.
E al can't permit 10 strangers wha
to do not do myself, No liquors, Bill
os there the tavern
v. OF miscellaneous books Mr. l.
ee coins favorites were Shakespeare a
,i- Pope. He never read Byron, and
OF cotemporary american poets pref
id red the patriotic selections chiefly
ne Milton he knew by heart, and wa
e. good literary reader of the Bible,
n. friends were selected with regard
ey their sincerity chiefly; he loved
S. clioues. and those who knew him b
re were younger than he. He was G.
ed tious in friendships, no hero worsh
of per, and for Mr. Douglas, his m
th prominent antagonist. had much
,se admiration than repul-on Doug
of was uneasily arrogant IN LlncoI
IN. presence; the latter, never sensll
,er nor furried, so grew by his imI
no turbsbllitv that when he reached
rn. H White House, Mr.. Douglas was less
nv prised than anybody else. The gr
Tho Senatorial campaign, in which Il
yly figured together, is remembered
ar. every Springfelder. Douglas, v
,re his powerful voice and facilc enel
went into it under full steam.
Mr.. coin began lucidly and cautiously
10 When they came out OF it Doul
erv was worn down with rage and hoa
re-. ness, and Lincoln was tresher than
,et. er. He prepared all the speecht
uch his campaign by silent meditation,
he ting or lying alone, studying the
hat on the ceiling. The best evidenc
- his superiority IN debate is the
.ont that the Republicans circulated
tive sets of speeches as a campaign d
len. ment in 1860, and Mr.. Doug
f II friends refused TO do so.
The most remarkable episode
ng. Herndon's s conversation-which
at a repeating by memory, only-reIat
7ent Mr.. Lincoln's Presid, ntial aspirat
. ~ T. ao.,,,on with most neODle |