Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-04-19
LINCOLN AS Az ORATOR..
His Unusual Power OF Putting Things"
How He Acquired 1t.

How He Acquired 1t.
More interesting, however, than the ex.
periences of those who listened to him are the
comments of Lincoln himself on the methods
by which he acquired his powers as an orator.
A clergyman who was among his auditors on
one of these occasions has recorded the follow
ing as among his statements In a converse
ton he held with him in q railroad car:
a'Ah! that reminds me- he said, of most
extraordinary circumstance which occurred
in New Haven the other day. They told me
that the professor of rhetoric in Yale college
"a very learned man, isn't he? Yes, sir.
and very fine critic too Well, suppose
SO; he ought to be at any rate-they told me
that he came to hear ME, and took notes OF
my speech, and gave a lecture on it to his
class the next day; and, not satisfied with
that he followed me up TO Merlden the next
evening, and heard me again for the same
purpose Now, if this is SO, it is to my mind
very extraordinary. have been sufficiently
astonished at my success in the west. 1t has
been most unexpected. But had no thought
of any marked success at the east and, least
of all. that / should draw out such COM
mendations from literary and learned men?
"'That suggests, Mr.. Lincoln, an inquiry
which has several times been upon my lips
during this conversation. l want very much
to know how you got this unusual power or
aputting things 1t must have been mat
ter of education. No man has it by nature
alone. What has your education been?
"sWen. as to education, the newspapers
are correct-I never went to school more
than six months in my life. But. as you say,
this must be a product of culture IN some
form l have been putting the question you
! ask me to myself while you have been talk
ing. say this, that among my earliest rec
elections, / remember how, when mere
child, fused to get irritated when anybody
talked to me in way could not under
stand. | don't think 1 ever got angry at
anything else in my life. But that always
disturbed my temper, and has ever since
can remember going to my little bedroom,
after hearing the neighbors talk OF an even
ing with my father, and spending no small
part of the night walking up and down, and
trying to make out what was the exact mean
ing of some of their, to me, dark sayings.
could not sleep, though often tried to, when
l got on such a hunt after an idea, until
l had caught it; and when l thought
/ had got it, l was not satisfied until
/ had repeated it over and over until had
put it in language plain enough, as thought,
for any boy knew to comprehend. his
was kind Of passion with me, and it has
stuck by me, for l am never easy now, when
am handling a thought. till have bounded
il north and bounded it south and bounded 1t
east and bounded it west. Perhaps that ac-
counts for the characteristic you observe In
nly speeches, though l never put the two
things together before. The Rev. J. P.
Gulliver in n Y Independent, Sept. 1, 1864.
1t must be borne in mind that the report of
the foregoing conversation was not written
until more than four years after it took place.
While the main facts and ideas are doubtless
given with reasonable fidelity, anything like
verbal accuracy in recording Mr. Lncoln's
rhraseology is not 70 be presumed.-The Gen.
fury.