The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1909-04-23
LINCoLN's PERSONALITY.
Tall and Lean in Figure, Kindly in All
His Relations, but Firm.

o subject for the caricaturist and good tar
get for villifcation. He was called al
= "Orang Outang," and nothing that coult
be thought of in the vindictiveness of tn,
exciting campaign following his nomina
. ton was omitted from the list.
tary of war during part of the Lincoln
0 administration. who knew the president
e most intimately, gave an, excellent de
scription of him in an address in New
Haven a few months before that great
editors death. He said: "Mr. Lincoln
was very tall man, six feet and four
inches. His complexion was dark, his
of lean, spare habit, | should suppose he
must have weighed about $50 pounds. He
was man of fine fiber, and thus brain
of superior power was contained in a
small, but rather elongated skull Hora-
ito Seymour once spoke of him as man
who wore "a number hat and number
IA boot His movements were rather an
gular but never awkward, and he was
never burdened with that frequent curse of
unfortunate genius, the dreadful oppres-
sion of petty self-conseiousness. 1t was a
most remarkable character, that of Abra-
ham Lincoln He had the most compre-
hensive, the most judicous mind, he was
| the least faulty in his conclusions of any
man have ever known. He never stepped
too soon and he never stepped too late.
another remarkable quality was his
personal kindness. He was kind at heart;
not from mere politeness. | never heard
him say an unkind word about anybody.
Now and then he would laugh at some
thing jocese or satrcal that somebody
had said, but it was always pleasant hui
NOR ! noticed his sweetness of nature
particularly with his little. son, child
at that time about six or eight years old:
who used to roam the departments and
whom everybody called Tad He had
| ly. The president frequently held the boy
on his knee when receiving reports from
important officials of the government. He
was good to everybody
Mr. Dana took his little girl over to
see the New Years reception at the White
House and she occupied an inconspicuous
corner until the reception was over. She
took her in his arms, kissed her and talked
to her. Mr.. Dana. relating the story. said
"She will never forget it if she lives to
be a thousand years old.
There is curious disagreement among
those who saw Mr. Lincoln frequently, as
to the color of his eyes. Ward Lamont,
most intimate friend, said "his eyes
were gray, with the hveliest twinkle,
when ne a; was telling a story Other per
Nohoi iiioiibo dSlcc lHdl JHc eyes were
gray, but Mr.. Dana and a great many
other friends said the eyes were black |
His lustrous and melancholy black eyes"
are frequently referred to by writers who |
apparently knew him and observed him
carefully. His photograph, taken not |
long before his assassination, and the one
that is most familiarly known would in
dictate that his eyes were gray. If some
woman lad written description of Mr..
/ il hnp
this matter right
Paul Wayland Bartlett. the sculptor,
who is well known in Hartford in connec-
ton with his work on the north side of
the capitol, in the past few years wrote
an article for one Of the magazines on
Lincoln as an Artists model, in which he
pointed out that he was man who had
what artists call ''fine lines The statue
by st. Gaudens, reprints of which are
very common, emphasizes this statement
1t is said that when Rodin the great
French sculptor, first saw cast of Lin
coins hand he exclaimed that it was "the
most beautiful hand he had ever seem
not knowing at the time whose hand was
After all that has been said to IDEAL
re Lincoln the fact remains that the
lverage person on seeing him for the
irst time would call him a "mortal
lonely man., although his opinion might
'hange after acquaintance. His personal
appearance, however, was entirely over
by his personal traits of kind
less. humor and his thorough mastery of
whatever subject he was obliged to inter
st himself While practicing law it is t
aid that he gave up several weeks to the
mastery of Euclid. for the purpose of
moving how to demonstrated He new
r found an opposing lawyer quite so
trong as he supposed he was, because he
ad in his own mind argued both sides !;
said that of the hundreds of cases he
ried before the Illinois courts he won
very one that he ought to have won.
His universal kindness to people of all J.
ralks of life was one of the finest of his !
rats and the people soon began to know :
!, and during the war he had abundant
ccasion to apply this kindness. In his
NV practice his fees were VIGOROUSLY
mall, many of them ranging from 81 to \
300, although he never appeared in court Q
,r less than SO. In 1860 his practice in :
LIMOS, although he was leading lawyer,
id not net him more than $4,000 to 49,
10. He believed that a lawyer, like a y
octor or minister. should respond to ev-
" call whether there was any money in {
or not.
The sense of humor and his adept illus
'ations from his personal experiences on \
le frontier made him a most comfortable
an to himself and a decidedly uncom-
'rtable one to those who did not have s.
Nv sense of humor. like Secretary Stan a
m, for instance. who fumed and fretted o
,out the stiffness of story telling and
1 apparent lack of dignity of the presi- a
mt. In fact, he was an unusually digni-
I'd man, calm, collected, and while in +
lie White House and in the departments Y
lring the war, knowing well that the
embers of his cabinet were at odds with \,
m, he kept an even balance and when "
e proper time came settled things in y
net sort of way and was the chief after ~
|. Hundreds of stories are accredited e
him that he probably never heard of Ia
1t there are hundreds that are genuine. :
ne incident only. is quoted here, and it
ows a fine sense of fun, and a good =
nse of friendliness besides.
A friend had written to him at G.
'ringfield inquiring about the financial G.
anding of a brother lawyer IN that city d
is reply was: ''He has wife and two al
ildren, which ought to be worth $500,
D to any man, table in his office worth A
obably $50, two or three chairs about h,
each, and rat hole in the corner that A
II bear looking into OF course that
ieved his brother lawyer from any
ancial pressure Just at that time. II
Mr.. Lincoln's life in what were in his dr.
nth frontier sections. had made him =
nliar with horses and he was a good
lge of them and an excellent horseman.
ling exceedingly well. although he did
{ make an impressive figure on horse r,
ok, on account of his height.
/ axrfr ~