The National tribune., 1909-04-15

ume and that, gathered kert and there,
taking few words from ore and few
from another with which to build his
great speech. Besides this immense
amount of labor, the preface pointed
out the wonderful accuracy of every
detail the swift, unerring directness of
his logic, his argument complete and
fuil, and, above all, the language in
Which he had clothed his great ideas,
the plain language of the common peo-
pie, entirely without stiffness or pre-
tense, but captivating by its freshness
and originality and convincing by the
ciearness of its reasoning
A characteristic account of Lincoln's
speech, and one of the many thousand
similar accounts, is that of the we'll
known journalist, Noah Brooks, who, in
his life of Lincoln, says:
When Lincoln rose to speak I was
greatly disappointed. He was tall-oh,
how tall and so angular and awkward
that l had, for an instant, feeling of
pity for so ungainly a man. His clothes
were black and ill-fitting, badly wrin-
kled, as if they had been jammed care
lessly into a small trunk His bushy
head, with the stiff, black hair thrown
back, was balanced on a long and lean
head-stalk, and when he raised his
hands In an opening gesture l noticed
that they were Very large. He began
in low tone of voice. as if he were
used to speaking out of doors and was
afraid of speaking too loud. He said
Mr.. Cheefman,' instead of Mr.. Chair
man., and employed many other words
with an old-fashioned pronunciation. l
said to myself: old fellow, you won't
do; it's all very well for the wild West,
but this will never go down in New
York But pretty soon he began to get
into his subject; he Strengthened up,
made regular and graceful gestures, his
face lighted as with an inward fire; the
whole man was transfigured. I forgot
his clothes, his personal appearance
and his individual peculiarities Pres
emily, forgetting myself, 1 was on my
feet with the rest, yelling like wild
Indian, cheering this wonderful man.
In the close parts of his argument you
could hear the gentle sizzling of the gas
burners. When he reached climax
the thunders of applause were terrific.
1t was great speech. When 1 came
out of the hall, my face glowing with
excitement and my frame all a-quiver,
friend. with his eyes aglow. asked me
what 1 thought of Abe Lincoln, the rail-
splitter. ! said: He's the greatest man
since ST Paul And I think SO YETI
Becomes a National Character.
Altho Mr.. Lincoln's name had been
constantly in the newspapers of the
country for the past two years, and his
reputation as an orator and politician |
well established in the West. the people |
of the East, and especially New Eng |
land, only half believed what they
heard and read, for they could not COM
prehend how man of such lowly par
entage and meager education could
possibly possess the power and intellect |
attributed to Mr.. Lincoln. They knew, |
of course, that he had issued with flying |
colors from the Lincoln-Douglas de-
bates, and that his name had been |
coupled with the great Stewards in both |
friendly and unfriendly comment. Still, |
not until he actually appeared before |
them and they listened to his wonder |
full Cooper Institute speech were they |
really convinced
But from the date of that speech, |
Feb. 81, 1860, when the awkward, seri- |
ous-looking man in his ill-fitting clothes |
appeared before that critical New York |
audience, Lincoln's reputation, hereto
fore sectional, became National. From |
the comparatively unknown Illinois cir |
cult lawyer and politician his became |
one of the great names of the country, |
and he took his place by the side of |
Seward, Douglas and the other ac- |
knowledged leaders of the people from |
this time on, force not to be ignored |
by enemy or friend.
The next morning after the Cooper |
Institute speech Lincoln, who had made |
engagements to speak in several of the |
cities and larger towns of New England, |
left New York for this purpose. Every |
where he appeared before the. same |
cultured, critical audiences which had |
greeted him in the Metropolis, and |
everywhere met with the same enthu- t
siastic reception, leaving the same |
marked impression. These severely |
bookish people, who had ever before |
their eyes the polished Sumner as /
model, and who laid so much stress |
upon college education, were COM
pletely fascinated by Lincoln's fresh |
and unusual manner of expressing him. |
self, SO different from anything they |
had ever listened to before, but which |
they were compelled to admit equaled |
in force and style any examples of ora |
tory given in their college textbooks |
And as no people in the world can be |
more enthusiastic when really aroused
than so-called cold New England au-
dience, so now they instantly accorded
to Lincoln that generous recognition to
which his wonderful gifts and powers
entitled him.