The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-03-21
LINCOLN AND HERNDON.
THE TRUTH ABOUT THE GREAT
VAR president.

Birth - Hts Father or Puritan Descent
social Standing In sprinEneid-vn n
WIZ = Drag and n stumbling Block
Seven years after Lincoln's assastinAtio
there was published . large book described b
its author as IAN authentic biography" c
Abraham Lincoln. Tho writer was Ward II
Lamon. q lawyer transplnntod by Lincoli
from the Illinois prairies to Washington l.
become by tho Presidents nomination an i'm
portint Government Official. There had bee,
earlier biographies, more or less lucomplet
and unsatisfactory, but Lannon's was Jh
6rst compilation pretending to give tho genesi
and progress of the man MP to the time whel
his name began TO To known beyond tho limit
Of Illinois. II was along terribly ~realisti,
lines. The downright. rnvarnishcd tale o
the obscure. miserable almost hopeless-hoy
hood: tho doubtful, struggling transition pc
Rod to manhood. and especially the mar
ringo and domestic relations Of Lincoln, wa
choking 10 those who had idealized the mur
derod President al q martyr.
The story contained nothing that might moi
have been reasonably expected concerning
this.man OF the new West; nevertheless. 1,
was.geperally felt that Lamon had told more
than was needed or wanted; not that any.
thing essentially1ow or mean or hidden lad
been discovered, but only that Il was all SO
wretchedly human and merely natural, so
different from the preoonoeived MOTTO Is of the
idolators, that thoy would fain have shut out
the: now Lincoln and chung in oomplacent iR-
norance 10 the ideal rs originally formed. 1t
WAS hard to admit that he was but a man
after all.
Twenty years later William a.. Herndon's
life OF. Lincoln appeared. Although somewhat
modified In tone. Il was along the same lines
Of oxasperating. ILL considered realism. The
two biographies arc almost identical in their
facts and conclusions. though Herndon's Is
as much q character study rs a recitation Of
events. It 10 easily discernible without his
was prepared In cooperation with Herndon. and
largely from data collected by tho latter,
which explains their otherwise singular par.
allelism. The declared purpose of both was
TO present Lincoln TO the world exactly as he
was known to thomas he walked, talked.
lounged. told stories. looked. and dressed,
down to the poise of his ears. the trend of his
nose, and tho blueness of his shinbones. Tho
cir ~,ulation of his blood Is not beneath notice.
In this struggle for realism everything is laid
bare and rutnlessly dissected. The result is q
heterogeneous medley of tho serious and the
comic, tho Rrotesque. and even the terrible.
that as q whole strikes one rs more offensive
than pleasing. Notwithstanding tho undeniable
Nh'uO VI O kIcob paEL VI IL ou cAhLllulDR
this oueer mass the reader cannot refrain from
spoculations upon the motives of the authors.
But. whatever they were. and however much
We may dislike portions OF 1t. their work can
not DO ignored.
Herndon awaited himself keenly Of his spe-
cial opportunities for the acquisition Of every
oort of knowledge of Lincoln. whose associate
and law partner he was for many years. He
appears 10 have been an attentive. ev, n watch-
full, observer of Lincoln's movements from the
moment he became o parsonage Of consequence.
Subsequently he devoted much time. labor, and
expense to the collection of Information relat-
ing TO Q still earlier period of Lincoln's life.
Hsrndon's style. like some of his facts and
.fancies. is quaint and often int resting. though
not always Pleasing. From a study of his
book I conceive this author to have been a
perhaps superstitious and.credulous.
man of many isms, q sort of cranS with an
underlying stratum of rock.rIbbed prejudices.
Nevertheless. I gather that within his mental
limits and environment he was an honest, good
that no delved laboriously and wrote
faithfully. conscientiously setting down every
cleaned which struck him as important
or tnteresting-too mach. indeed. and often
discrimination.
While It 10 highly probable that this book
will In some particulars DO accepted as an au-
thodty on Lincoln's early life and manners, 1
DO not think Herndon had a penetrating mind
or made the most Of his materials. what:he
1tates.as O positive fact may ba relied upon. but
bis speculations have little value. 1t is not un-
likely that some things he saw and heard were
misunderstood; others were mieinterpreted.
For instance. he says that Lincoln in his am
bition was polite and reserved. even crafty.
we then TO believe that Herndon was the |
only man 10 fathom this deep. willy nature?
the .only man to whom Lincoln fully disclosed
He 10 often GlarinRIy inconsistent in
his conclusions.
Tho ill-iudRed pertinhcity with which he
dwells upon every detail of Lincoln's love af-
Iairs. events having no significant features
from the experiences OF hundreds of
rural SWANS. holding them up to the derision of
.ho curious. is clearly an improperly. And the
lccount OF the final courtship and marriage.
with his fallauious view Of tho rela-
lions Of the husband and wife afterward. is in
'ven worse taste; 1t is uncalled for by any ap-
parent necessity. literary or otherwise. for It
caches 10 lesson and conveys no useful in
Besides being repugnant to the
ceilings Of everybody who reveres the memory
II Lincoln. IL lays the author open to the
,hArgo of malice toward o woman. Next to
lis nl-founded hypothesis that Lincoln was al
Ways and only q scheminR. calcula ting. selfish
and an migrate to those who abetted
i'm. Herndon's story of this marriage and
characterization of the wife are the most dis.
asteful and offensive. and incompatible with
be probabilities.
He tells rs. that this was wholly 4 mar.
tagO of convenience. contriyed . by friend,:
hat Lincoln entered upon the pursuit of Miss
odd from the motive that her social leader
hip would bring 70 his political support innu.
noes otherwise beyond his reach; and when
n closer view he would have retreated Tho
ound himself entanglsd by q promise he would
OF break. This has been disproved by the
ainute and laborious Investigations OF Miss Tar
ell. Equally ambitious and selfish. unerri-nKly
his coming greatness. Herndon
ays that she deliberately threw her wiles
round this unsophistica tod man. and In spite
Z his forebodtngs compelled him to marry her.
his view also turns out to DO equally false.
At Herndon tbereupon jumps 10 tho conclu-
ION that their married life was unhappy. that
ho was an unlovinG and unloved wife, he a
isappointsd and chagrined man. making the
est Of q bad bargain. In evidence hs cites
10 Judge and coterie of lawyers with whom
lincoln associated continuously six months out
{ eyery:year as holding a like conviction. be-
they observed that Lincoln preferred to