Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1893-08-25
LINCOLN AS VOORHEES, KNEW
HIM
"Reminiscences of Him as Lawyer and
President.

DaBiel W. Voorhees, the, tall syc;s-
more of the Wabash" who. WIS as en-
tireiE opposed to Abra dam Lincoln as
could well be in his political cause, bars
givemi 1t correspondent of the Kansas
City Times some Of tie best remin-
iscenceS of the great president that
have" been printed. He said: Lincoln
was one of the first men knew after
l began to practice law. AT that time
lawyers travelled Il circuit. I was then
as now in Indiana. While Lincoln was
in IlliraOis, but our respective circuits,
going to the state line in each instance,
joined, and our business frequently took
us into each others baliwickS. Lincoln
was very kind to and conSider:rte of
me-I WAS green, untried. and Il much
younger man than he-and T can recall
many favor he did me.
He was a strong lawyer and singu-
larly successful. AS a politician
never met his equal He was ShreWd,
indomitable, enterprising, and with q
courage which never tiinched. l look
on him as the best and most sagaciouS
politician in a high, big way who ever
set foot in the White House What
we cali big politicians are, general
lY speaking, a dWarfed and mindless
generation compared to Abe Lincoln.
He gave you an impression of great
ness. every moment. He never did and
by nature couldn't conceive Of doing
mean little thing. [ saw him rs a
lawyer, and l was in congress while
he was in the white house. l knew him
intimately and under varying condi-
5ionS. | have seen him surrounded by
Il state Of affairs which would have
overborne any other man / ever met
And yet | never saw Lincoln fall short
OF fail to fulfill every necessity the
moment it arOse. He answered every
requirement of every hour in his great
life, and rose to meet every emergency
with an ease which spoke of unlimited
powed in reserve. He was a great
mana great American.
LincOln'S personal courage had no
limit. He was afraid Of nothing on
earth. He received, / know, as many
as half a dozen letters every week
threatening assassination. He never
them. He went about as freely as
Grover Cleveland does now. He would
get into the saddle and canter out to
the soldiers home, six miles, and an
assassin could have picked him off with
a rifle at every step of the way. Lin
coin never appeared to have the
slightest fear of it. Stanton used to get
scared and put guards around Lin
coin, but the latter only laughed at it.
He had 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 has great fame as story
teller; and yet the truth isn't half
told. First and last, he told thousands
and thousands of stories. He was
welI-spring of anecdote. Yet under all
this humor and all this laughter, he
was tender, sensitive, romantic, oft
times sad. He appeared 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 high
est courage, fearing nobody, he hated
none. He would oppose a man to the
death, but he would never hate him.
While Lincoln was fearless in his
own nature, he had the keenest for
bearance for the timidity of others. He
would never consent to shoot soldier
for cowardice. He called them ''leg
cases." mo one need ever expect nae
to sanction the shooting Of man for
running away in a battle" he said to
me once; 81 won't do 1t. A man can't
help being coward any more than he
could help humpback, If he were bern
with one" Then turning to me again,