The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1909-02-17
By James A. Edgerton
Copyright. 1909, by the
American Press Association

his tired eyes and the sadness would
be smoothed from his furrowed face.
Many men have left their testimony
Of Lincoln's narrative gift. It is well
that we let a few of these speak here.
General Lew Wallace, the famous
author Of "Ben-Hur," said Of Lin.
coins conversational power:
II have never heard anything that
approached it. The logic, the wit, the
pertinent anecdote poured out in an
%unceasing stream"
Schuyler Colfax, speaker Of the
house and later vice president, one
night visited the president when i'm
portant news was expected from An
tietam. He remarked as he went in
that no news had come. He went out
and returned at 3 in the morning, and
there was still no news.
schuyler, what does It all mean?"
said Lincoln YEARLY. "Are we not on
Gods side? We have thought that we
WERE" Then, with a gesture Of de-
spair, he added, II would gladly ex-
change places tonight with any dead
soldier boy on the battlefield"
The next morning Colfax went to
the capitol and asked several repre-
sentatives If they had any news Of
the battle.
NO." was the reply, "but we have
seen Lincoln, and he seems to be feel
Ing 80 good and told so many stories
that everything must be all right"
In recounting this story Robert O..
Ogden, lecturer and philanthropist,
said it illustrated the wonderful
power Of President Lincoln in the
dark days of the war cloaking his
real feelings in order that the country
might not suffer from depression"
Frank B. Carpenter, who spent six
months in the White House painting
the famous picture Of the reading of
the emancipation proclamation, said
this Of the popular view that some of
the Lincoln stories were broad:
Mr.. Lincoln, I am convinced, has been
greatly wronged in this respect. Every
foul mouthed man in the country rave
currency to the slime and filth Of his own
imagination by attributing 1t to the presi-
dent. 1t is but simple justice to his men,
Dry that I should state that during the
entire period of my stay in Washington,
after witnessing his intercourse with
nearly all classes Of men, " I can
not recollect to have heard him relate a
circumstance to any one Of them that
would have been out of place uttered in
a lady's drawing room.
DR.. Stone, Lincoln's family physi-
clan, said the president was "the
purest hearted man with whom I ever
came in contact"
William II. Seward pronounced him
1.-THE best man" he had known.
Judge Bates, his attorney general,
said: "Mr. Lincoln comes very near
being a perfect man, according to my
ideal Of manhood" OF the presiden-
tial story telling Judge Bates re-
marked: 1.-THE character of the presi-
dents mind is such that his thought
habitually takes on this form Of illus
t%ration, by which the point he wishes
to enforce is invariably brought home
with a strength and clearness i'm
possible in hours of abstract argu-
ment."
The meekest Of modern men was not
the first who taught in parable. The
power of his stories is shown by the
fact that they have passed into the
folklore of the race.
The narrative faculty was not the
only n in which Mr.. Lincoln excelled.
As a phrasemaker and as a humorist
n wit he ranks high. Many Of his