The Republican journal., 1885-06-25
"reminiscences of Lincoln,


| We can not have too many glimpses of the
man who of all men in our history may perhaps
be called especially a Providential man. When
| Washington was called to command the Revo-
| lutionary army he was already known by distin-
! gushed service, and he was afterwards made
President because of the greatest of public SER
vices and of the universal affection and conf
dence of the country. But when Lincoln was
elected President. on the eve of the greatest of
civil controversies, his capacity for the tremen-
dous trust had been unproved and that at such
a time such man should have appeared at the
head of the nation equal to the issue, and able
wisely to WELD the enormous authority that the
occasion demanded, and should prove to be in
every way the man of all men for the emer
gency, is in the highest sense of the word Pro-
vldenta
In every story. however insi gntcant, which
is told of him, those who remember him per-
>onally recall the impression that he made He
was absolutely sincere. He never played a part.
And therefore whatever he said and did was
marked by his strong individuality. a cores
pondent in North Carolina says:
81 heard Mr.. Linculn's last two speeches.
One, eXtemporaneous. on Monday evening.
April 10, from the historic middle front window
in the second story of the White House. He
had just returned from City Point, and the
people throngng around the White House
| would have speech. For good while he did
not appear, and seemed reluctant to speak
| without manuscript lest at that critical junct
ure some injurious impression should be made
by an accidental word or sentence.
"However, the crowd persisted to call till he
appeared. 1t was my first sight of the man.
lie seemed somewhat younger and more Off
hand and vigorous than should have expect
ed. His bright, knowing. somewhat humorous
| look reminded me of well-practced country
| physician who had read men through till he un-
derstood them well. There was the humorous
| kindness of a good-natured doctor who had
seen his patients through a most awful siege of
sickness, till they were now fairly ard fully
convaleScent, and who was disposed to let the
| past, whatever it had cost him or them, go by
| for the time, and have "a little cheerful congrat-
| uation. His gestures and expression of coun-
| tenance had something of the harmless satsfac
| tlon of young politician at a ratification meet
| ing after his first election to the Legislature.
| He was happy and glad to see others happy,
| and willing TO accept the congratulations of his
| friends for his own part in the general victory.
| His last speech, on Wednesday, April T..
| 1860 was read from separate Sheets by a tlar
| ing light, as he stood at the same window. He
| wore glasses, and as the successive pages We're
! read passed them to Il friend who stood near.
| 1t was perhaps eight O'Clock in the evening:
Mrs. Lincoln and several lady friends stood at Il
| side window. There was some talking and dl-
version during the reading. The reading was in
| reading tone, but business-like and good, and
| the paper not long 1t was intended to show
| the disposition of the administration toward
| the seeded States, and foreshadow the prin-
| cipes proposed for reconstruction. His man
ner was unpretentouS but dgnitied. manly,
! kindly and vigorous
| The same friendly observer sends other Lin
| colniana:
"'That rent said Il soldier in the hospital at
| City Point, pointing up to the torn tissue paper
| an establishment which, believe, the ladies
| of the Christian commission had fixed on the
| ceiling above-'that was torn by Mr.. Lincon's
| hat as he passed through here on his way from
| Richmond, and shook hands with every man,
| loyal or rebel, in the whole hospital He stood,
| like Saul, above the people from the shoulders
| upward, and his hat made havoc with decora-
| tion> overhead. Stepping outside and seeing an
axe by log. his old rai-spliter spirit came
| over him. In moment his long arms were
putting home that axe toward the heart of the
| fallen tree. The boys in blue gathered those
| chips to take home Is mementoes of the back
| woodSman who became President and the
| emancipation of a race"
| An old soldier al the Soldiers Home near
| Washington said, "lIe used to walk all about in
| these paths and he was very kind and familiar
| with us ALL"
To IA poor woman who desired his signature
| to Il paper, he said My name will do YOU no
| more good than pigs tracks i'll the mt:d."
| soldier stopped him in the road, against
| the Columbia Hospital, and presented some let
| ters, desiring furlough. He obtained it.
In the Senatorial contest between Mr.. Lin
| coin and Mr. Douglas. when they spoke in
| Freeport. Illinois, Mr.. Douglas appeared in an
| elegant barouche drawn by four white horses.
and was received with great applause. But
| when Mr. Lincoln came up in ''prarie schoon-
| er," viz, an old-fashioned canyas-covered pio-
| neer wagon, the enthusiasm of the vast throng
| was unbounded.
| When travelling about the quiet country
| m is lea Inn Ms ut
| the tavern or boarding-house where he stopped,
| after tea to get a candle and go to his room and
read awhile. He was not a Ioafer
AT "a political meeting in a grove. Il long
| shambling figure was seen sitting on the fence
and whiting thoughtfully, clothed in the
slightest of summer attire After Others had
| spoken, "Lincon. Lincoln." was called, and
the whittier pocketng his knife, and slipping
| from the fence, made a characteristic speech.
| This was before his great prominence.
AT the same place, when 4 lady who enter
| tained him and some others at dinner made
| some apology, he said he guessed that ii was
better than they would have got at home, any
| how.
lean progress, in which he did not speak of pc
| troeum, Mr.. Lincoln said, they came out,
| ''Iou did not strike ile.'"
| The sheets and the clothes stained with the
| blood of Lincoln were literally torn in strips
| as Antony said of Caesar, and preserved rs me-
| mentoes. The assassination of Caesar and Of
| VIM. OF Orange were brought Nividly 10 the
minds of those who were in Washington.
| Only day or Two before the assassination,
| the Morning Chronicle. the Washington organ
| of the administration, said that 4 single life was
| seldom Indispensable to Il country, but that Just
| then that of Abraham Lincoln seemed to be 80.
| 1t seemed to be 50 indeed. Yet he served his
country by his death AS by his life. Not only
| did his death al once prevent what might have
| been the dangerous consequences of a frenzy
| nj ,4Su N lis a.
| tant of truths, that no man, however great and
| able and patriotic and devoted and beloved, is
| indispensable to the welfare of the country.
| There are extreme eNigencies in which the nat
| ural cry is, 'Oh, for an hour OF Dundee But
in the great development of liberty no one man
| is essential As Charles Sumner said in the be-
ginning of his euIogy upon Lincoln, In the
| Providence of God there are no accidents =
Editors Easy Chair, in Harper. Magazine
| for July