The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1883-01-31
INGEKsOLL ON LINCOLN.
His Introduction to q Lecture on Lawyer
Lincoln by the Crier of the Court"


Lincoln by the Crier OF the Court"
The following is Colonel Robert G.. Inger-
soils introduction to lecture delivered
last Sunday night in Washington by Mr..
Kidd, who was once Crier of a Court in
which Abraham Lincoln often practiced
law:
I'VE are to hear this evening g lecture
about Abraham Lincoln. Not about Lin
coin the President, the preserver of q Nation
not about Lincoln the statesman or the lib
orator, but about Lincoln the lawyer-some-
| thing about him as be really was before he
fell heir TO agony and fame-somethiDg
about his peculiarities, his habits. his
thoughts and common words-that is to say,
his daily life.
Nearly all the characters of history are
impossible monsters. We know nothing
about their peculiarities, or nothing but
| their peculiarties. Washington is only a
steel engraving. About the roots of these
| oaks there clings none of the earth of hu-
manity. Lincoln had the advantage of llv-
ing in new country, of social equality, OF
seeing in the horizon of his future the per
petual star of hope. He saw and mingled
with men Of all kinds: and. after all men
are books. He became acquainted with ma
ture-with things; he lived and appreciated
the poem of the year.
1T is no advantage to live in city. The
fields are better than paved streets. and the
great forests than walls of brick. Oaks and
elms are more poetic than the stacks and
chimneys of factories. In the country is
the idea of home. There you see the rising
and setting sun; you become acquainted
with the stars and clouds, you hear the rain
upon the roof, and listen to the signing OF
the wind. Every field is picture, land
scape; every landscape is poem and every
forest is fairy land.
"You have no idea how many men are
spoiled by what Is called education For
the most part Colleges are places where
bricks are polished and diamonds spoiled.
If Shakespeare had graduated at Oxford be
might have become quibbling attorney or
q hypocritical psrson.
Lincoln was a many-sided man. He was
acquainted with smiles as well as tears. He
was never afraid to ask. He was not to
dignified to admit that he did not know.
lie was not solemn. Solemnity, as a rule,
is a mask; hiding the features of ignorance,
and whenever a man is too dignified to ask
he ceases to learn. Lincoln was a combina-
ton OF wisdom and shrewdness. He was q
| logician. Logic is the necessary product of
| intelligence and honesty. 1t can not be
learned; it csn not be taught 1t is the
child of good head and good heart. He
had intellect without arrogance, genius
without pride, and religion without cant
that is TO say, humanity without hypocrisy.
He was an orator-that is to say, he was
natural. He never pretended. He did not
say what he thought others thought, but
what he thought.
at you wish to be sublime, you must keep
close to the grass You must sit by the fire.
side of human experience, of human emo
ton. Above the clouds il is too cold. Too
much polish suggests insinceIity. IL you
wish to know the difference between an
orator and a speaker, between what is felt
aud what is said, read Lincoln's immortal
words at Gettysburg, and then read the
speech of Edward Everett. The one gath
cred flowers from his heart, the other words
| from his brain. The words of Lincoln will
never be forgotten. The speech of Everett
will never be read. The elocutionists be-
lieve in the virtue of voice. the sublimIty of
syntax, the majesty OF long sentences and
the genius of gesture. Great ideas should
be expressed in the shortest words. The
greatest statutes should have the least
drapery.
Nothing discloses real character like the
use of power. 1t is easy for the weak to be
gentle. Most people can bear adversely, but
if you wish to know what man really is,
give him power. This is the supreme test.
1t is the glory of Lincoln that, having almost
absolute power, he never abused it, except
on the side of mercy. He would never turn
man out of even the smallest Office, and
leave a stain upon his name without having
given him full and ample hearing. He loved
to pardon. He loved to see the tears of Joy
upon the cheeks of wife whose husband
he had rescued from death.
HE will be known through all the years
as Lincoln the Great, Lincoln the Gentle
Lincoln the Just"