Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1906-02-12

observation.
He WAS a many-sided man and one
who presented striking Npntrasts lie
was the most humorous being / ever
met and also one of the most serious.
His humor was of the impromptu and
contagious kind that takes possession of
all parts of the person as well as all the
parts of speech. As a master of drollery
he surpassed all of his contemporaries in
Illinois, and yet his solemnity as q pub
lic speaker and a political and moral in
structor was like that of an Old Testa-
ment prophet. He was the only public
speaker ] have ever known thus douhly
gifted, whose powers of mirth did not
submerge or even impair his powers of
gravity. "lle combined within himself" 4"
says Mr.. Henry G. Whitney, "the
strangely diverse roles of head of the
State in the agony of civil war. and also
that Of the court jester and was SUI
premely. eminent in both characters"
This sounds like a paradox, but IL is
quite true. The Lincoln who fought
Douglas on the stump In 1853 took all
Of his jocose as well as his serious traits
TO Washington in 1861 Yet he knew
his own intellectual powers. lie knew
that he could move masses Of men; and
he felt the burden of duty upon him TO
use those gifts for high and noble ends
There was also vein of melancholy in
his makeup, which was habitual TO him
In repose. I saw him many times when
his face wore a look of sorrow that was
painful TO behold Yet five minutes later
he would be reminded of n little story
by a remark made by somebdy else, and
would convulse a whole room full of
people with laughter by telling Il.
How are we to account for these won
derful turns "from grave 20 gay, from
lively 10 severep Well. he was not the
only person thus doubly endowed. We
learn from Morley's Life Of Gladstone
that the latter at the height of his ca
reer was not averse to dancing a iiq,
and that he could sing comic song with
effect. We know, too, that the same
genius that gave MS Macbeth. aud Lear
and Hamlet, gave us Falstaff, and Touch
stone. aud Dogberry. Shakespeare was
the superior Of sophooles in tragedy and
of Aristophanes in comedy. lincoln did
not have the gift of poetry, but within
the rauge Of prose his power of expires
sion was akin TO that OF Shakespeare I
chahced TO open the other day his Cooper
printed speeches that l did not hear him
deliver IN person. As ] read the con-
cluding pages of that speech the conflict
of opinion that preceded the conflict of
arms then sweeping upon the country
like an approaching solar eclipse, seemed
prehgured like o chapter of the Book of
Fate. Here again he was Old Testament
prophet, before whom Horace Greeley
bowed his head, saying that he had never
listened to a greater speech, although he
had heard several of Webster's best
The subject Of human slavery, which
formed the principal theme Of Mr. Lin
coins speeches, has touched many lips
with eloquence and lighted many hearts
with fire. / listened TO most of the great
antislavery orators of the last half CEN
tury, including Wendell Phillips. Owen
Loveioy, and Henry Ward Beocher, but
must say that Abraham Lincoln, who
was not classed as an sntislayery ora.
tor. or even an anti-slavery man. before
he ISSUED the Emancipation proclama.
ton, made a stronger anti.slavery i'm.
preston upon me than any of them.
The reason why he was not reokoned
by the anti-slavery men in 1858 "a one
| of themselves was that he made the
I
struction of slavery, his chief concern
But he held then, as he did later, that
the Union must be preserved consistently
with the Constitution and with the rule
of the majority. Preserving Il by in.
fringing these was, IN his view, an agree
ment to destroy IL.
Mr.. lincoln quickly gained the conf.
denco of strangers, and, IL they were
/ d. D. II. al -.
found myself strongly drawn 10 him from
the first, and this feeling remains 10 ms
now as a. priceless possession James
Russell Lowell said that he counted il a
great gain 10 have lived az the same tim,
with Abraham lincoln. How mucl
greater the gain TO have felt the subtl,
influence Of his presence This persona
quality, whose influence / saw growing
and widening among the people of iii
nois from day to day during that great
campaign, eventually penetrated to al
the Northern States. and after his doatI
to all the southern States. Il was thi,
magical personality that commanded al
loyal hearts. IL was this leadership that
upheld confidence in the dark hours oi
the war and sent back to the Whit,
House the sublime rcimins
"Me are coming. Father Abraham. thre,
hundred thousand more"
Could any other man then living hay,
grappled the affections and confidence o.
The plain people and held them steadfas
and unwayering as did this homcly gian
of tho prairiesi lie was himself ono o.
, the plain people What was IN his min,
and heart was In theirs He spok,
straight into their bosoms lie trans
lated the weightiest political and socia
problems this country has ever dealt will
into language that an could understand
Nobody was SO humble, nobody So high
that he could not draw new lessons am,
new inspiration from Abraham Iincoh
during that great crisis
, Looking back upon the whole anti
slavery conflict. is il not cause for won
der that the man who finally led the ma
! tion through the Red Sea and gave M
own life al the very entrance of m,
promised land. was born in slave state
of the most humble parents. in crushin,
poverty. and IN the depths of Ignorance
and had reached the age of fifty befor,
he was much knoWn outside of his owi
Statey Was there ever such unpromisin,
material from which 10 fashion the de
struyer Of American slavery
Nn,r 1r1nrr .tt.af s.....I