Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1893-10-05
REMlNySNcEScE or LINCOLN
His U~ngainIiness, His Humor and his
Forbearance for towards.


His UngainIiness, His Humor and his
Forbearance for towards.
mo; he wasn't handsome. Ard
yet there was nothing unpleasant,
nothing you wouldn't quickly like,
id Lincoln's looks. He was swar-
thy as an Indian, with shock of
why. jet black h-ir, W hich fell in
all directionsand defed 20 mbs and
hrushes.to the deal. y His eye
brows carried out the shaggy ef-
feet, while his bright, keen eyes
were gray.
"Lincoin's personal courage had
no limit. He was afraid Of moth.
ing on earth. He received. l know,
as many as half a dozen letters
every week threatening assassina-
ton. He never Needed them and
seldom referred to them. He went
about as freq as Grover Cleveland
does now. He would get into the
saddle and canter, out to the
soldiers home, six miles, and a
assassin could have picked him off
with a rifle at every step of the
way Lincoln never appeared to
have the slightest fear of it. Stan~
ton used to get scared and put
guards around Lincoln, but the
latter only laughed at it.
"He had a great laugh-a high,
musical tenor-and when he had
listened to or told a story which
particularly pleased him he would
walk up and down the room, with
one hand on the small of his back
and the other rubbing his hair in
all directions, and make things
ring with laughter.
Lincoln had great fame as a
storyteller, and yet the truth isn't
half told. First and last, he told
/. thousands and thousands Of stories.
He was a wellspring an anecdote.
Yet, under all his hnmor and all
, his laughter he was tender, sensi-
tive, romantic, ofttimes sad, He
ppeared hard and practical, and
yet no man ever lived who needed
and craved sympathy more than
! Lincoln. He was strongly social
in his nature, and liked people
! rather than places. Like all men
, OF the highest courage, fearing no.
body, be hated none He would
oppose a man to tie death, but
would never hate him,
"While Lincoln was fearless in
his own nature. he had the keenes1
4 ~forbearance for the timidity Of
others. He would never consent
to shoot a soldier for cowardice,
He called them 'leg cases.
i "'No one need ever expect me
to sanction the shooting of a maj
for running away in a battle,' be
said to me once. 4 won't do it. A
man can't help being a coward
any more than he could help a
humpback, ii he was born with
one.' Then, turning to me again,
he said: voorhees,, were You ever
scared!"
II confessed that | had sons
little experience that way.
$50 have L. said Lincoln.
laughing, 'and [ just know what il
, means. And in any contest O,
controversy which arises between
the head and the heels, l never
knew the heels to get anything but
the best of it. No, sir; they needn'l
send any leg cases to me at all. III
never order a man shat for any
, such ofense.'
:, "Once, when [ was up to the
!, White House to see him abou'
: something, he turned to me with
pathetic look of anxious pain ane
+ said: voorhees,, doesn't it seen
strange that l should be here-I
q a man who couldn't cut a chicken
head off, with blood running al
-around meg
4 He was fond Of certain homely
old-fashioned poems, as if ther
was a sort of relationship and con
sistency between him and tn
,rpoems, and would frequently re
d peat verses 0 fthem in an abstracte
Ii sort OF way, as if they soothe
,e him. One, [ remember, was thu
a old poem which begins: ooh, VIII
should the spirit of mortal b
,r proud?' "-Senator Voorhees,. j
Kansas City Times.