Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1906-02-15

4 subtle something which no biograpa-
er's pen has ever described, which
4 no student of his character has fully
i comprehended Col. Mcclure says
.3"Of all the public men ! have met,
he was the most difficult to analyze.
4 One might have seen him every day
/ during his Presidential term without
lever reaching the distinctive qualities
which animated and guided him. He
i was a stranger to deceit, incapable OF
descending, seemed to be the freest
and frankest of conversationaiists,
/ and vet none understood him even Tea-
sonably well, and none but Lincoln,
ever thoroughly understood Lincoln. s
And no man was better fitted, by close
association, than Col. Mcclure to rem
/ der such an opinion. Mr.. Lincoln was
no ordinary man, and the rules by
which we explain ordinary men, will
not answer to explain him. He was
special man, raised up for a special
mission. It is not too much to sup
pose therefore, that he was specially
endowed for the task which he was Sc
llected to perform But there are some
features of his life, some elements OF
his character, which lie open for our
study and which serve in some meas
lure to explain the man.
1. Note the physical conditions OF
his birth and early life. His native
state was Kentucky, and Kentucky has
been called physically the Greece OF
/ America. 1t has furnished the coun-
try with many great men, great in in
Etellect and great in stature. During
the civil war, a measurement was
made of the heads and bodies of the
soldiers from different sections OF the
country. and it was found that Ken
lucky soldiers were larger in bone and
/ brain. than those from any other sec
! ton of the country. Abraham Lincoln
was a Kentuckian, and partook OF the
mental and physical qualities of the
/ Kentucky breed For the burdens
/ that were to be laid upon him there
| was given him an iron frame, for the
problems he was to solve, he was en-
| dowed with a brain of extraordinary
capacity. The conditions of his early
/ life, favored the strong development
of both body and brain. He grew
great in the school of endurance. The
necessity of labor in splitting rails
taught him tenacity and patience IN
/ splitting the knotty problems OF states
manship He was driven in upon his
! own resources, which always lavors
/ the development of greatness. Lin
coin had neither local position, nor
| educational advantages, nor the op-
/ portunities which wealth affords, nor
any of the helps which belong to the
/ favored classes. His sole dependence
was his own energy, his only hope OF
| advancement, his ability to climb the
steeps of fortune unassisted. He mas
ttered the difficulties of his early sit
uation with only his brain and his
ambition to assist him. And by that
| discipline, he was being unconsciously
schooled for the profound difficulties
Eof state which were to be laid upon
I him in his later life.
Beyond this, was his Identification
with the great people whose president
/ he was to be. He was one OF them IN
the common experience of,toil and pow
erty. His great sympathies with hum
| bic people, especially with those who
were oppressed and wronged, were
the gentle echoes of a heart, that had
/ felt its own burdens. So deep and
strong were his sympathies that Sec
/ retary Stanton said his face was liv-
! ing page on which the full history OF
the nations sorrows was written. Fred
1 Douglas said that he was the only
man of distinction he ever met who
did not remind him, by word or man
ner, of his color.
3. Before Abraham Lincoln's sight
there arose a vision to which, like
i one of old, he was not disobedients
That vision was the destruction OF the
slave system Into his nature was
woven noble and active scorn for
/ slavery. His sense of justice was so
high that the plight of the negro ap-
Ipealed to him nightly. He saw no
/ creature made purposely to rule an
other without the others consent.
He believed that the constitution IN
sured liberty for all men without re-
spect to color. That vision was ever
4 before him, the vision of shackels
/ broken from a down-trodden race, the
4 vision of freedom for all beneath the
.E:lag Of the free. That vision was be-
fore him from the day that he was
old enough to appreciate the wrong OF
slavery. till the day that his great
hand appended his name to the pro
clamation which freed the slaves. the
lEllld0c1pdAlU1l GIUCtdlAdtaOH, 90 ~ 111N9
been. said, was not sudden growth.
sBIt was not an accident. It was evol-
we'd from the nature of the man: Some
j one has taken the Proclamation and
i deftly arranged its words so that they
II form an accurate profile oil Abraham
lLincoln's face The picture is perfect
\ and not a letter is wanting That ex-
actly illustrates the fact. The man
and the liberty which he proclaimed!
arg one and inseparable. Il we could
Ihave seen into the soul Of the man
8 I'VE should have found that the Eman-
: cipation Proclamation was but q tran
script Of that which was most deer
and vital in him. Once, when ne was
III New Orleans, whittier he had taken
boatload of produce for his employ
er. he sauntered into the slaye-mart
where he saw the black men ana WON
j en- sold under the hammer Of the auc
tioneer, parents sent in one direction
and children In another The scene
, issfirrod thn hlo0d Cf Lincoln He