The herald., 1895-07-02
SKETCHES FROM THE LIFE OF LINCOLN

! sea of inspiration that often flooded his
| face Sometimes 1t appeared as If Lincoln s
| soul was fresh from it's Creator.
His Perceptive Faculties.
! have asked the friends and foes of Mr..
Lincoln alike what they thought of his
perceptions. Ono gentleman of unques-
toned ability and free from nll partiality
or prejudice said, ''Mr Lincolns percep-
tions were slow, little perverted, If not
somewhat distorted and diseased" If the
meaning of this is that Mr.. Lincoln saw
things from a peculiar angie of his being,
and from this was susceptible to natures
impulses and that he so expressed him.
self, then have no objection to what is
said. Otherwise dissent Mr.. Lincolns
perceptions were slow, cold, clear and ex-
act Everything came to him in its pro-
ciso shape and color. To some men the
world of matter and of man comes orna.
mented with beauty, life and action, and
hence moro or less false and inexact. No
lurking illusion or other error, false in it.
self and clad for tho moment in robes Of
splendor, ever passed undetected or un-
challenged over the threshold of his mind
that point which divides vision from tho
realm and home of thought. Names to
him were nothing, and titles naught, as
sumption always standing back abashed
at his cold, intellectual glare. Neither his
perceptions nor intellectual vision was
perverted, distorted or diseased. He saw
all things through perfect mental lens.
There was no diffraction or refraction
there. He was not iInpulsive fanciful or
imaginative, but cold, calm and precise.
He threw his whole mental light around
the object, and after a time substance and
quality stood apart, form and color took
their appropriate places, and all was clear
and exact in his. mind. His fault, if any,
was that he saw things less than they real
ly were-less beautiful and more frigid.
He crushed the unreal, the inexact, the
hollow and the sham. He saw things in
rigidity rather than in vital action. He
saw what no man could dispute but he
failed to see what might have been seen.
The truth about Mr. Lincoln is that he
read less and thought more than any man
in his sphere in America No man can
put his finger on any great book written
in the last or present century that he read
thoroughly. When young, he read the
Bible, and when of age he read Shake
speare; but, though he often quoted from
both he never read either one through.
He is acknowledged now to have been a
great man, but the question is what made
him great. repeat that he read less and
thought more than any man of his stand
ing in America, IL not in the world. He
possessed originality and power of thought
in an eminent degree Besides his well
established reputation for caution he was
concentrated in his thoughts and had
great continuity of reflection. In every
thing he was patient and enduring. These
are some of the grounds of his wonderful
success.
His Reasoning Powers.
Not only were nature, man and principles
suggestive to Mr.. Lincoln, not only had he
accurate and exact perceptions, but he was
causative. His mind, apparently with an
automatic movement, ran back behind
facts, principles and all things to their
origin and first cause-to that point where
forces act at once as effect and cause He
would stop in the street and analyze q ma
chine. He would wbittle thing to
point and then count the numberless in
clined planes and their pitch making the
point. Mastering and defining this, he
would then cut that point back and get a
broad transverse section of his pine stick
and peel and define that. Clocks, omni
buses, language, paddle wheels and idioms
never escaped his observation and analysis.
Before he could form an idea Of anything,
before he would express his opinion on a
subject, he must know its origin and his
tory in substance and quality, in magni-
tude and gravity IIo must know it in
side and outside, upside and down side.
He searched and comprehended his own
mind and nature thoroughly, as I have
often heard him say. He must apalyze
sensation, an idea and run back in its
history to Its origin and purpose. he was
remorseless in his analysis of facts and
principles. When all these exhaustive
processes had been gone through with, he
sooner. He had no faith and no respect
for say sos" como though they might
from tradition or authority. Thus every
thing had to run through the crucible and
bo tested by tho fires of his analytic mind,
and when at last he did speak his utter
ances rang out with the clear and keen
ring of gold upon tho counters of tho un-
derstanding. He reasoned logically
through analogy and comparison. All op
ponents dreaded his originality of idea,
his condensation, definition and forco of
expression, and woe be to the man who
hugged to his bosom secret error if Lin
coin got on tho chase Of it. I repeat woe
to him! Time could hide tho error in no
nook or corner of space in which he would
not detect and expose it.
Long Enough.
Stephen A. Douglas and Mr.. Lovejoy