The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-11-10

Ingersoll on Lincoln,

Ender the singular caption of "Motley and
Monarch" Colonel Robert G. Ingerson wrote
genuine 'prose poem" on Abraham Lincoln.
who is summed up and photographed in
single paragraph. thus:
Strange mingling of mirth ana tears, of the
tragic and groesque, of cap and crown of Socrates
and Rabelais, of Fsop and Marcus Aurelius, of all
that is gentle and Just, humorous and honest,
all consecraied to the use OF man: while, through
all and over all, an overwhelming sense OF obliga-
tion, OF chivarous loyalty 10 truth, and upon all
the shadow OF the tragic end.
And here are some more of the diamonds
cleaning incidentally in Colonel IngersolPs
superb cluster:
Nearly all the great historic characters are i'm
posslDle monsters dlspropo rtioned by ffattery or
by calumny deformed. We know nothing of their
pecuIiarites, or nothing but their peculiarities.
, Washington is now only steel engraving
About the real man. who lived and loved and
hated and schemed, we know but little. 4
hundreds OF people are now engaged in smoothing
out the lines of Lncolns face-forcing all features
TO the common mold-so that he may be known
not he really was, but, according TO their poor
standard, as he should have been.
Lincoln never finished his education. To the
night of his death he pupil, a learner an in
quirer, a seeker after knowledge. You have no
IDEA now many men are spoiled by what is called
where pebbles are polished and diamonds are
dimmed If Shakespeare had graduated at Oxford
ne might have been a quibbling attorney or hypo-
Nothing discloses real character like the use of
power II is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most
people can bear adversely. But ii you wish 10 know
what man really is give him power. He never
abused it, except on the side of mercy.
he was as patient as destiny whose undecipher-
aoie hlerogiyphlcs were SO deeply craven on his
SAD, tragic face.
Lincoln the grandest figure OF the fiercest
civil war lie Is the gentlest memory Of our world.
But why has so little been written about
the real life of Lincoln? The query is not
paradoxlcal. We have many able works
written by famed authors, and monographs
about the great wartime President, but
they deal almost exclusively with his
career. Where incidents in his life's his
tory are mentioned they seem to be incl
dentals, sidelights thrown on to the dra-
matte and tragic events in his career to add
to their living interest and intensity The
magazines of the country have explored
the whole world for subjects; biographers
have expended their literary energies in
preserving for posterity the names and
inner-life histories of other men less noted
and famous in the land, but with one
noted exception American literature has
no ''life history OF Lincoln. All others
have been mere records of his public
career. Why this is so who can tell? No
character in American history is so re-
sourceful of study. Washington we call
the Father of his Country, though what
we know of his LIES history is deficient in
those points OF interest-human interest
which bring Lincoln so close to the hearts
of the people.
Until the present time no magazine in
the country has thought of writing about
Lincoln in this way, /. e.. his life instead
of his career. The contradistinction is not
subtle. 1t must be obvious to the intelli
gent thinker who pauses to consider. Nc
Clure, the pioneer of popular magazine
publishers, has opened the ewes of the
reading public to the singular deficiency
in our literature of American worthless
ana famous men, and in the Novembe
number of his magazine appear the initial
chapters of a carefully prepared life of
Lincoln. Ii one may be permitted to Judge
from this first installment, the work will.
when finished and issued in book form
take its place among the classics of Ameri-
can literature.
Lincoln is not great only as National
character in our history; his name is pro-
nounced by every civilized tongue and will
be preserved for the future in the records
OF the age side by side with those of Wash
lngton, Wellington, Napoleon, Gladstone.
Bismarck and scores of others whose ca.
reers have made history.
The life of Lincoln, as Mcclure intends
publishing it, will not be rival to the great
work OF Nicolay ana Hay. Theirs was
Abraham Lincoln, a History" This is to
be Abraham Lincoln, the Man" The work
will contain many heretofore unpublished
portraits of the famous statesman and
President. An unusual method is to be
pursued in preparing this life of Lincoln.
The incidents OF his childhood youth,
early manhood and after life will be
gathered from the telling" by persons
now living who knew him personally and