The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-02-18
.na,ber Life of Lincoln.

since the events which are chronicled.
Thus. during the last ten or fifteen years,
we have witnessed the appearance OF nu-
merous biographies. histories, and volumes
Of Renaissance. which have to do with the
great struggle between the North and
South. Men whose names became house
hold words during that struggle have con-
tributed their recollections; those who
stood near TO such men have written
theirs; and careful and painstaking writ
ers have slrted evidence, gathered docu-
ments. and combined their masses Of col
lected facts with the creative impulse of
the true historian, which brings all these
scattered bits of history into correlation
and gives us a picture of living men as
they appeared to their contemporaries and
as they must appear to those who, coming
after them. can judge dspassionately oil
their influence and worth.
Nicolay and Hays Abraham Lincoln"
was the first really important biograrsy Of
this great American; Norman Eapgood's.
which appeared not long ago. gives the
purely human side of the President as no
other work has done; and the latest ad-
dition TO this department of American lit
erature is THE Life of Abraham Lincoln,
by Ida NJ. Tarbell which, as a serial. has
attracted much attention, and is now pub
lished in two handsome volumes, fully IL
Illustrated. The book contains much ma
terial not published in serial form.
A great deal OF the matter found in this
book has been published in Mr.. Hapgood's
work, but while the latter author attempted
TO give only the view Of the President
which personal friend might have had,
Miss Tarbell deals also with his public life,
his influence on his time, and the docu-
ments, kilograms, and letters showing his
attitude toward various public affairs. This
book is the third in a sort of historical
series, the second of which was Hamin
Garlanj's Life Of Grant" and the two are
worthy companions. Anyone who wishes
to possess a complete set. of biographies OF
the great men of the war era should have
both of these books.
But though Lincoln as President is por-
trayed carefully and well in Miss Tarbell's
book, il is always the personality of the
man himself which we see. He is never
an impersonal force. the embodiment OF an
idea; never the mere product of his en-
vironment, the mouthpiece of great
he is thoroughly human. and because his
humanity was ruled by impulses in accord
with the highest thought and feeling Of his
time. Never. for one moment, does he
seem TO have been wholly under the in
fiuence OF any man or woman. He is sub
iect to all the common impulses, tempta-
tions and necessities of common men; but
the man is always greater than his fate.
This impression Miss Tarbell has conveyed
so subtly that il may not be generally
recognized; but a careful examination of
her work will show that she has proved
that point beyond question, whether ipten-
tionaliy or not. One OF his old neighbors.
Captain John Lamar, heard this expressed
in the homely country fashion, when Lin
coin was only boy Lamar and his father
were riding 10 mill one day. and saw young
Abe sitting M q fence reading 70 sBfentiy
.hat &c osd not notice their approach. The
elder man turned to his son, and said:
John, look at fhat bog yondcf, and marx my
words, he viii make smart nan on Of himself
Tha, was one OF the folk-Shrases which
cannot be bettered by any rhetorican. In
thai day and place, the boy could not hope
10 ''be educated to have advantages" he
must make a man Of himself" work upon
his own character as a blacksmith ham
he wished TO be. II was a long process in
Lincoln's case. but II was done. He made
his own character, and II was that which
caused him to be the force that he was In
the world. That he was President may
have been an accident. That he was Abra-
ham Lincoln. the clear headed. Just, keen
witted. great-hearted man, was not an ac-
cident. As old Lamar said, he made
smart man o. himself" The rest Of it was
fate and the laws of the universe.
A hundred anecdotes are told in the early
part OF this history showing the boys de-
termination to improve every opportunity.
his simple ambitions and purposes. He was
honest. he was philosophical, he was ready
TO help everyone, whether his help was
needed in a case Of distressing poverty OF a
country merrymaking. As one old ac-
quaIntance said, he was the learned boy
among unlearned folks" and though he
was sometimes laughed at for his expla-
nations OF natural phenomena, and his
taste for reading and essay writing, he
seems not TO have been affected by any
thing of the sort. He laid the foundation
OF his power over mems minds in those
early years. Everyone who knew Lincoln
has noted his ability to reduce the most
abstruse questions TO simple propositions.
illustrated by homely anecdotes; his facul-
ty OF clearing away all mists e sophistry
and doubt and discussing matter in
plain, everyday English. He said of him
self once:
never went to school more tlsn six months in
my life, but ] can say this; tat among my
earliest recollections l remember TOW, when
mere child ! used TO get irritated when anybody
talked 10 me in & way l could not understand
do not think j ever got sngry at anything else
in ms life; but that always disturbed my temper
laur Fefna I liuerfT m
little bedroom, after hearing the neigl.Dors talk
a. an evening with my father. and spending no
small part Of the night walking up and down
and trying 20 make out what was the exact mean
ing Ct some Of their, to me, dark savings.
! could not sleep, although tried TO. when
got such hunt Tor an idea, until i lad
caught it; and when ] thought l had got it,
was no; satisicd until / had repeated il over and
over; until ! had put It in language plain
enough. as / thought, for any boy | knew TO
comprehend. This was kind Of passion with
me, and it has stuck my me; for am never
easy now, when ] an handling thought. until
have bounded it north and bounded II south, and
bounded it cast and bounded it west.
At this time. too. he seems to have
known in a balf-conscious way the strength
that was in him, undeveloped as yet He
said to q fellow-clerk, when he was less
than twenty-five years Of age, that he had
talked with great men. and did not see how
they differed from others OF course, the
great men" with whom he had had an
opportunity 10 talk at that time could not
have been very large specimens. but the
remark shows his utter lack of conventional
bamperings of all sorts. When one con-
siders that he had been to school less than
a year in his life, had read only the books
that came in his way. and that when
decided to study grammar (by himselfl
there was only one 10 be had, and that
was six miles away, this small statement
hennmns signihcanf either OF q praai con-