The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1909-02-11

duIhor YeflleS her statement by refer
J ances and foot notes. But in the march
of events, in the nations historic prog
. ress, as in mans life, there is always
the body of fact to be buried and left
to the healing of time, and this book
; resurrects not only facts but all the
minute detail surrounding that pivotal
: episode in our history, which, like GER
/; tain tragedies of the French Revolution,
are almost too acuteIy painful to re-
quire bald repetition
The author of ''The Death Of Lin
COIN leaves nothing of this distressfu
climax uneXposed, unhandled Undoubt-
eddy, Wilkes Booth believed in himself.
The creature of eXcitable impulses
usually has faith in his moment of emo
tiOnal action. The extracts from his
diary manifest the same disconnected
ness, eXcltability and lack of pOise evil
denced in his letters. A CLEAN of mser-
able doubt visited him when he wrote:
God cannot pardon mel have done
" lOliS. 4 CG Vail SNt IlO "lOil2. lie
capture and death Of Booth are wildly
described and concerning the Identified
ton of Booths body, Miss Laughlin
bases her statements upon information
given her by the Booth and Ford fam
lilies. She prints, also. the testimony of
various eye-witnesses, who claim to
have held intercourse with Wilkes Booth
afterward in Canada, but does not CON-
ment upon, nor attempt their vertical
ton.
Certainly to accept Abraham Lincoln
as national type is to admit the neceS-
sity of a more liberal national policy.
AS frontiersman of Illinois, he has
said Of himself, in personal sketch of his
own life: 1T was a wild region, with
wild animals still in the woods. There
grew up. There were some schools,
so called, but no qualification was ever
required of teacher beyond readin',
writin' and cipherin' to the rule of three.
If straggler supposed to understand
Latin happened to sojourn in the neigh
borhood he was looked upon as a wizard.
There was absolutely nothing to excite
ambition and education"
Yet, as a woodsman, hired by other
men to work with his hands, Lincoln
was an insatiate lover of books and Sc
Gu ed the few he could, and it is known
that he was an early student of Shake
speare. Writing of Lincoln's position
among his neighbors in Illinois, James
Morgan, in Lincoln, the Boy and Man. 5"
tells how, when a wagon was stalled in
the narrow street of Salem, he was the
first to go to the drivers aid. If a
widow were in need of irewood he cut
it for her If he found mistake in
change across his counter he did not
sleep until he had corrected the error.
All relied upon the honesty of Honest
Abe, and men grew early to respect
him for his strength of character as well
as strength Of body.
Lincoln was SO when he took his seat
in Congress, and the time was well
chosen. Mr. Morgan points out thai
the eloquence of Webster and the
philosophy of Calhoun were then com
petitive, and among the noted men
nearest Lincoln We're Cass, Corwin,
Houston, Jefferson Davis, Hannibal
Hamlin, Horace Greeley, and, above all
John Quincy Adams. At the start Lin
coins gift for dominating men mark ed
him from the crowd, and he early at
tracted the attention of Daniel Webster.
Yet the author admits that Lincoln s
nomination to the Presidency remains
one of the mysteries of politics. When,
however it was announced, the name
was received with such an uproar as
never had been heard in national IN
yention.
But a wholly different picture is given
of his inaugural day. Like his youth,
love and marriage, his Inauguration was
Swallowed by foreboding and the augury
of fatality.
Abraham Lincoln had always been
pronounced an uncommonly ugly man.
This is forgotten when one looks into
the eyes of his portrait, eyes of pro
found melancholy, the eyes of the seer
which had prophesied, foreseen anc
endured, eyes which could not be amaz
ed at any wreckage man might work
His face tells the story of his life; it is
the rugged face of profound, uncom
planning struggle, of endless endeavor
1t has been said that those who follow
closely the philosophy of Lincoln's life
must be impressed with the equal seren
ity of his temperament, in adversely o.
victory. No man could have borne de
feat more nobly, none could have en-
dured triumph more sorrowfully
The stories of his personality, told b,
eye witnesses, are too numerous evel
to begin upon, but this slight incident
related by Ednah Dean Proctor in tn,
National Magazine, is touch of init
mate impression.
"He was in the Red ROOM" sh