Litchfield enquirer., 1871-04-13
'. ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
.alUam1Rft11qAE
BY HAWTHORNE.

--.~>-~~.@~-~~e-@es-- BY HAWTHORNE. .ssgs. .is : ssa sssssE, ss :,,,s qsm sas yea 4aQ - o ss sit ys 70 9ts After his rsturn home from Washington. iss6a ssew HaWthorne sent to me, during the month baAasSOa .oo0f May an article for the Aavgc Monthly. which he entitled "Chiefy about War aA ' slfatterap The paper, excellenty well done S" ssis.as of course contained person saa1 Ssase description of President Lincoln, which thought, considered as . portrait of a z sssssss 5sds man; and drawn by Hawthorne # ss gsessTlwoald notbe wise or tasteful to print The eissssolce of an editor, dear Jack is disagree. saso sitifable one sometimes, and the case of Flaw ~s~~-~~~~-therne on Lincoln disturbed me little. s7ai After reading the manuscript wrote to sLsthes authors and asked his permission to v O Homit his description cf the Presidents per- Y BT ksonal Sppeafance. AS usual, for he was sssa ,sthe kndest and sweetest of contributors wa ssosst the noht good. and the most amen ss- sSsss able man to advice ever knew. he con- E s-s sented to my proposal and allowed me to " print the article with the alterations. If
 you turn to the paper (you will find 1t in hs aqnbsE ass for Ja 1892 you will u, oo sss sSse5 4hese were written by Hawthorne himself. s'~a@ee+"i Hs complied with my request without g
 mnrmnr. but he always thought was
 Ss s1d ss' d ss mind, the only parts of the article worth As1=s lss publishing. "What terrible thing," he =e r s: complained. 'it is to try to let off little
 
 : l-. i5g aworld." President Lincoln is dead, and -'~sszs Vs as Hawthorne once wrote to me, "Upon my honor. it seems to me the passage -sszp omitted has an historical value, I will read E9E s7t to you. verbatim, what advised my friend, - both on his own account and theP Presidents not to print nine years ago. Hawthorne
 and his party had gone into the Presi. tdent's room, annexed, as he says, as su-
 pernumaries to deputation from Massa-
 chusetts whip factory. with present of Q -.e.. splendid whip to the Chief Magistrate:-e 8 + ''By and by there was a little stir on the
 staircase and in the passage-way, and in = 1ounged tall, loose -jointed figure, of an exaggerated Yankee port and demeanor,
 whom (as being about the homeliest man eyer saw, yet by no means repulsive or dis
 agreeable, it was impossible not to recog.
 nize as Uncle Abe"
 EE-G f s'Unouestionaby, western man though
 he be and Kentuckian by birth. President
 Lincoln is the essential representative of
 ali Yankees and the veritable specimen,
 physically, of what the world seems deter. -z-.3 mined to regard as our characteristic qual- ities It is the strangest and yet the fit. ~ test thing in the tumble of human vicis. -t situdes, that he, out of SO many millions,
 unlocked. for, unselected by any intelligi- z1 ble process that could be based upon hs a~c genuine qualities unknown to those who
 chose him, and unsuspected of what en-
 dowments may adapt him for his tremen-
 dous responsibility, should have found the
 way open to fling his lank personality into s the chair of state-where, I presume, it
 was his first impulse to throw his legs on
 the council table, and tell the cabinet minis- ters story. There is no describing his ., ls lengthy awkwardness, nor the uncouthness - of his movement; and yet it seemed as if
 had been in the habit of seeing him dai-
 ly, and had shaken hands with him thou B sand times in some village street; so true to - the aspect of the pattern American, though
 with certain extravaganza which, possi. ss .bly, exaggerated much further by the de. ' lighted eagerness with which I took it in.
 If put to guess his calling and livelihood,
 should have taken him for country
 schoolmaster soon as anything else.
 He was dressed in a rusty black frock coat
 and pantaloons, unbrushed. and worn so
 faithfully that the suit had adapted itself
 to the curves and angularites of his figure, and had grown to be an outer skin of the
 man. He had shabby slippers on his feet.
 His hair was black still unmixed with
 gray, stiff, somewhat bushy. and had ap- ~ parently been acquainted with neither
 brush or comb that morning, after tue dis
 arrangement of the pillow; and to nightcap. Uncle Abe probably knows noth- .F- ing of such effeminacies. His complex. ~--f ion is dark and sallow, betokening, fear 4 & an insalubrious atmosphere around the White House; he has thick black eyebrows end an impending brow; his nose is large
 and the lines about his mouth are very strongly defined. 'sTRe whole physiognamy is as coarse a one as you would meet anywhere in the -- ts length and breadthof the States; but withal, it is redeemed, illuminated, softened, and frightened, by kindly though serious look out of his eyes. and an expression of homely sagacity, that seem- cd weighted with rich results of village ex- peEience. A great deal of native sense; no bookish cultivation; no refinement; honest at heart, and thoroughly so, and, yet in some sort sy-at least, endowed with Q sort of tact and wisdom that are akin to Z craft and would impel him, think, to take an antagonist in flank, rather than to make bull-run at him right in front. But on the whole, liked this sallow, queer,
 ssgaci0us visage. with the homely human
 sympathies that warmed it, and. for my small share in the matter, would as lief
 have Uncle Abe for Q ruler as any man -5 whom it would have been practicable to
 put in his place.
 Immediately on his entrance the Pres
 ident accosted one member of Congress,
 who had us in charge, and. with com
 ical twist of his face made some iocular
 remark about the length of his breakfast.
 He then greeted us all round, not waiting
 for mn introduction, but shaking and
 sQueexIng everybody's hand with the ut-
 most cordiality, whether the individuals ara name vas announced to him or not. His manner towards us was wholly without
 pretense, but yet had Q kind of natural dig
 nifty. quite sufficient to keep the forward
 est of ns from clapping him on the shoul-
 &sr and asking for Q story. mutual ac-|
 qaaintance being established, our leader
 look tho whip out of his case, and began
 He xead the address of presentation. The
 vhip vas an exceedingly long one, its han
 dle wrought in ivory. (by some artist in the
 Uassachusetts State Prison, I believe and