The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-02-18
this whimsicality cropped out in his daily
life One concerns a FORMAL address:

Though so short. it was prepared with psins.1k-
irs attention. lie carried 4 vh-n i was finished
TO a Springfield friend, Dr. Newton Bateman, the
State Superintendent II Education. for correction.
Mr.. Sohoomasicr' he said, here is my Letter
Of acceptance. ! not very strong on grammar
and | wish you to see il it is all right
wouldn't Ike 10 have any mistakes in ii.
The doctor took the Ms. and after reading ii,
said:
'.There Is only one change ! should sugg,s', Mr..
Lincoln. you have written, II shall be NY care
TO not violate or disregard it in any rsri, You
should have written not to violate Never split
an infnitiye, is the rule
Mr.. Lincoln took the manuscript. regarding il
momeu; with puzzled air, $50 y5I think
better put those two little fellows end to cni,
do your he said as he made the change.
And here is another:
1t was frequent custom with Lincoln, that
of carrying his children on his shoulders. lie
rarely went down street that he did not have one
OF his younger boys mounted lis shoulder,
while another hung 10 the tail of his long coat
The antics Of the bors with their father. and the
species Of tyranny they exercised him, are
still subjects OF talk in Springfield. Mr.. ROLAND
Diler. who a neighbor Of Nr. Lincoln, tells
of the stories. lie was called 10 the door
one day by hearing great noise OF children cry
ing aud there was Mr. Lincoln s,riding by with
the hoys. both OF whom were wailing aloud
why. Mr.. Lincoln. what's the matter with the
boysy'' he asked.
''Just what's the matter with the whole
world" Lincoln replied. I've got three walnu;s
and each wants ivo.''
Lincoln's public life during the war has
been so thoroughly reviewed in books and
mazagine articles that little can be said
OF IL which is not already familiar to the
public This book, however, contains a
great many letters. kilograms. and other
documents never before given to the pub
lie. An interesting scrap OF information
is given in connection with the signing OF
the Emancipation Proclamation. and al
though it is not new. 1t may be worth
quoting here:
Mr.. Lnccn dipred his pen in the ink and then.
holding il q moment above the paper. seemed 10
hesitate. Looking around. he said:
Il never, in my life. fclt certain that l
doing right, than DO in signing this paper.
But have been receiving calls and shaking hands
since O'Clock this morning. till my aim is stiff
and numb. Nov. this signature is one that will
bc closely examined and IL they find my hand
trembled. they will say 'hc had some conpunc-
tions' But. any way. il is going to be DONE.
So saying, hc slowly and carefully wrote mis-
name al the bottom OF the proclamation.
Perhaps the strongest chapter in the
book is the last. which tells of the effect
produced by LiDcolns assassination. The
dramatic. tragic story Of the funeral
march from Washington to Springfield has
never been so well told. 4 part of it is as
follows:
Imposing, solemn. and sincere as MAS this series
OF municipal demonstrations over the bier Of
Lincoln. there was another feature Of the funeral
march which showed more wildly the afectiona;e
reverence in which the whole people held the
President. This the outpouring at villages.
country crossroads and farms to salute, as it
passed the train bearing his remains. From
Washington Springfield the train entered
scarcely town that the bells were not iollins.
the minute guns firing, the stations draped. and
all the spaces beside tie track crowded with peo-
pie with uncovered heads. At many points arches
were erected the track: at Others the bridges
were mreathed from end to end in Grape and ever
greens aud flags. And this was not in the towns
alone; every farmhouse by which the train pass
&C became for the time funeral honse. the p!ow
was left in the furrow. Grape was on the door, the
neiehbors gathered. and those who watched
from the train it few by could see groups Of
weeping women, OF men with uncovered heads,
sometimes minister among them. his arms raised
in prayer. Night did not hinder them. Great bon
fires were built in lonely country sides around
which the farmers waited patiently to salute
their dead. At the towns the length OF the tram
was lit by blazing torches Storm. as well as
darkness was UNDECIDED. Much of the journey
was made through the rain. in fact but the Peo-
pie seemed to have forgotten ali things but that
Abraham Lincoln the man they loved and trusted,
was passing by for the last time.
1t was o'clock on the morning OF May that
the iunera! train entered the town where. four
years and two months before, Abraham Lincoln
had hidden his friends farewell. as he left them TO
go to Washington. Nearly all Of those who. on
that dreary February morning, had listened 10
his solemn farewell words were present in the
Nav sunshine 10 receive him. Their hearts had
been heavy as he departed, they were broken now,
for he more than great leader. an honored
martyr TO the men OF Springfield lie was their
neighbor ard friend and helper, and as they oofe
his coffin TO the State HOUSE. in the centre OF tue
CITY, their minds were busy, not with the great
ness and honor that had come 10 him and TO them
through him, but with the scenes OF more than
a quarter OF a century in which he had always
been a conspicuous figure.
Every corner Of the street suggested that past
Here was the Office in which he had first studied
law; here. draped in mourning, the one before
which his name still hung. Here was the house
where he had lived, the church he had attended,
the store in which he had been accustomed TO tell
stories and to discuss politics His name was writ.
ten everywhere, even on the walls of the Hall OF
in the State House. where they
placed his coffin, for here be had spoken again
and again.
The frst and inevitable result Of the emotion.
which swept over the earth at Lincoln's death,
was 20 enroll him among martyrs and heroes Men
forgot that they had despised him. jeered at him,
doubted him. They forgot his mistakes. forgot
his plodding caution, forgot his homeiy ways
They now with the vision which an awful
and sudden disaster often gives, the simple, no
bic outlines OIL which he had worked. They real
i.ed how completely be had sunk every partisan
and personal consideration. every non-esscntial,
in the tasks which he had set FOR himself-to pre-
vent the extension OF slavery. 10 save the Union.
They realized how. while they had forgotten every
thing in disputes over this man this measure.
this event. he had only the two great OBJ
jects Of the struggle. They saw how slowly, but
surely, he had educated them TO feel the vital i'm
portance Of these objects. had resolved their par
tisan welfare into a moral struggle The wisdom
Of his words. the sincerity Of his acts. the stead
fastness OF his life clear 20 them al last. With
this realization came feeling that he was more
= 49, Nf...s 90
raised up by God for special work. and they
LAID then the foundation of the Lincoln myth
which still entlfslls many minds
The real Lincoln. the great Lincoln is not. how
ever. this prophet and martyr He Is the simple,
steady, resolute, unselfsh whose supreme
ambition to find out the truth Of the questions
which confronted him in life. and whose high
est satisfaction was in following the Truth he
discovered. lie not endowed by nature with
The vision Of seer. His power Of getting at the
truth Of things he had won by incessant mental
sfort From his boybood he would understand.
though he must walk the floor all night with his
problem. Nor had nature made him saint His
ofty moral courage in the civil war was the logi-
cal result OF lifelong fidelity TO his own con-
science. From his boyhood he would keep faith
with that which his mind told him was true.
though he lost friend and place by it.
Perhaps this attitude on the part Of
biogrs pher would hardly be possible at
any other time than the present. One
Uttu CDIN W lOOh bIth Ohti Aht bio6in-
phies of Washington. OF the kings Of Eng
land, Of Frederick the Great. of any hero
Of any people, to see how rare a thing, in
past generations. was the desire TO pre-
sent a man exactly as he was. not as his
friends or his enemies wished him to APP
pear. The reader OF history today desires
above all things to see 4 realistic, truth
full portrayal OF the real man, whether
saint or sinner, or las generally happens)
a mixture of both. Miss Tarbell has given
us this. There has been no other life of
Lincoln which, without attempt at IDEAL
ization, still gives SO vivid an impression