The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-09-19
WHOLE NO.. 3O2.


III 1899. Whitney describes him as "sit-
rlnG alone III ono corner Of tn" room re-
mote from any one else wrapped in alb
straction and gloom. II was a sad but in
teresting study for me, and | watched
hlm for some time. II appeared as if he
were pursuing in his mind some sad
euhjCct through various Sinuositios, and
his face would assume at times the
deepest phases OF seeming pain, but no
relief came from this dark and despair
ing melancholy till he was reused by
the breaking up of court, when he
emerged from his cave Of gloom and
came back, like one awakened from
sleep, to the world in which he lived
again. As carly as 1897 Robert l..
Wilson, who was his colleague in the
Legislature, tcStifies that Lincoln admit
ted TO him that. although he appeared
to enjoy life rapturously, still he was
the victim of extreme melancholy, and
that II" was SO overcome at times by
deprc ssion of spirits he never dared carry
4 poCkctlinifc.
To physicians he was something of a
physiological puzzle, John T. Stuart in
.
elective, so that the pores of his skin
oftcntimcs performed the function of
the bowels; that his liver operated alb
normally and failed to sccrote bile, and
that these things themselves were suffi-
clcnt i'll his opinion to produce the deep
est mental depression and melancholy.
Mr.. Hcrndon attributed Lincolns
melancholy among other things to the
death of Anne Rutlcdge, believing that
hls grief at her untimely death was so
intense it cast perpetual shadow over
his mental horizon. Another believed it
arose from his domestic environments
that his family relations were far from
pleasant and that that unhappy feature
OF ms life was a constant menace to his
peace and perfect cquipoise of spirits.
although married, " says one, "he
was not mated, So that if we see him
come into his office in the morning eat
ing cheese and bologna sausages philo-
sophically, what can we expect but some
periods of sadness and gloom? Emerson,
whom yon and hold III high esteem,
had pie for breakfast all his married
life, and in my opinion that is what
Cl'N''''t HIS Hl'HlblN lilt rest OF ms lie
after 20 years of age"
But with the benefit of all the obscr-
vatlOn aud reasoning on the subject it is
doubtful if any definite cause can be as
signed for this peculiar vein in Mr.. Lin
coin 'Smoral makeup Icannot but think
it must have been an inherited trait,
but whether it came directly to him
from his parents, whose lives We're spent
III the loneliness and isolation of an un-
settled country, or whether it was the
reproduction of the moody and sensitive
ancestral line can never be determined.
We can only conclude that it was part
Of the character of the man and no more
to he shaken off than he could part
with his brains.
The unique character of Abraham
Lincoln and the rcactionaly epoch in
which he lived elevated him uncon-
sciously and it seemed at times almost
unwillingly to the very pinnacle Of hu
man greatness, cntwincd his name and
memory with the tenacity Of pate1nal
affection about the hearts of the people
There is in all history no life which il
lustratCS moro forcibly than does his the
truth Of the proposition that while
| truly great man wins our admiration
and arouses our enthusiasm by his pre-
eminent qualities, he elicits our love
only by his weaknesses, for the latter
drag him down from his lofty pedestal
and make him one of ourselves " OF
course there were some contradictions
in his life, but they We're never very
glaring, and viewing it as a whole ut
this distance the incongruities disappear
and it stretches out before us one con
tinued, uninterrupted story. The bard
Of Avon sung:
The web of our life is of a mingled yarn,
Good and i'll together. Our virtues would be
proud
If our faults whipped them not, and our crimes
Would despair If they were not cherished by
our virtues.
Real worth on excellence of character
consists therefore not in the absence of
/ weaknesses and the baser traits Of our
nature, lut in the degree in which they
are redeemed by the virtues and graces
Of life. Thus we are to conclude that if
/ Lincoln, when he was member Of the
early legislature Of Illinois, undertook
/ by jumping out of the window to shirk
/ his duty and thus throw on the backs of
other men responsibilities which his
own shoulders should have borne he re
+ deemed himself later III life by an inn
measurable service TO his country III the
hour Of her need. If he for time dis
appointed the lady whom he had solemn
ly promised to lead to the hymeaeal
altar, he atoned for the offense later by
a marriage to her followed by over 20
years of patient submission to the matri-
monial yoke. If for the accomplishment
of his own personal ends he sought
through the use of his own money to in
fiuencc the conduct of another man by
Offering to bear his expenses as a dele
gate to the convention which nominated
him for president, the dark features Of
the picture fade away when we recall
the $500 which a committee gave him
to be used for political purposes and of
which he returned unused $3.50. rs, the
missing % cents having been expended
for horse feed, observing that he never
yet had learned how to use another
mans money If in the excess and inn
petuosity of youth he questioned the in
spiration of the Bible or in moments of
rashness fathercd sleptical notions of
Christianity, we should not forget that