Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-09-08

ham Lincoln are Of chief interest. He
assisted in reporting the inauguration
ceremonies, and first saw Mr.. Lincoln
on the floor of the house the afternoon
president-elect's arrival in Washing
ton; he was presented to him: "'You
are not a member, said he, kindly, OBJ
serving my extreme youth. No, sir
answered. only hope to be- He
said, I hope you will not be disappoint-
ed and passed on" On the morning
of March the young man was direct
ed to see Col. Ward II. Lamon for the
inaugural address, he went to Wizards
hotel, and passing through "the big
corridor Of the second floor, spliced
with little dark stairways," he saw
through a half-opened door Mr.. Lin
coin himself pacing to and fro, appar-
emily reading a manuscript" The
young reporter went straight on, and
as Mr.. Lincoln turned and saw him.
"he extended his hand, calling my
you?' I told him my errand and di-
lemma, showing him the brief memo
randum. why, said he, you have
come to the right shop. Lamon is in
the next room. will introduce you to
him, and he will fix you all right No
sooner said than done, and supplied
with the press copy of the inaugural
address. gratefully and gleefully took
my leave"
tion are thus described: "Mr. Lin
coin was tall and ungainly, wearing a
black suit, a black tie beneath a turn
down collar, and black silk hat He
carried a gold or silver headed walk
ing cane. AS we came out into the
open and upon the temporary stand,
where there was a table containing a
Bible, pitcher and a glass Of water,
he drew from his breast pocket the
manuscript 1 had seen him reading at
| the hotel, laid this before him, placing
the cane upon 1t as paper weight, re-
| moved from their leather case his
steel trimmed spectacles, and raised his
hand-he was exceedingly deliberate
and composed-to remove his hat
AS he did so lifted my hand to re-
ceive 1t; but Judge Douglas, who stood
at my side, reached over my arm, took
| the hat and held it during the delivery
Of the inaugural address, which fol-
lowed.
His elf-possession was perfect.
Dignity herself could not have been
more unexcited. His voice was a little
higher pitched, but resonant, reaching
the outer fringes Of the vast crowd in
| front, his expression serious to the
n tinn n
humor.
Notwithstanding the campaign pic
lures showing Lincoln as boor, was
prepared to expect much. Judge Doug
las had said to me, upon his return to
Washington after the famous cam
paign in 1858 for the Illinois senator
ship, from which the Little Giant had
come off victor. He is the greatest
debator have ever met, either here or
anywhere else.'
HE delivered that inaugural ad-
dress as If he had been delivering in
augural addresses all his life. To me
1t meant war"
Mr.. Watterson goes on to say: The
next three months I saw and heard Mr..
Lincoln often in public, and on several
occasions was thrown with him in pri-
vate companies. He looked the picture
of health. Serenity, however, not lev
| ity, was the prevailing mood with him.
To me he, seemed a wholly resolute
man. There was in his habitual kind
ness a most unfailing and a very firm
note. l do not believe that at any
turning he hoped for a reconciliation
| between the leaders of the north and
south. He had carefully measured the
forces for combat and made up his
mind both as to his duty and the sit
uation.
1T will be remembered that Mr.
Lincoln was but So years of age. His
practical knowledge Of national affairs
had been limited to a single term in
congress. His nomination and elec-
tion to the presidency were regarded
as accidental-he was an untutored, a
very homely and awkward child Of for
| tune. Seward and Chase, Fessenden
and Trumbull, Simon Cameron and
Zachariah Chandler were each in his
way, the accepted authorities Of the
time. There was not member Of his
cabinet who did not consider himself
a bigger man than his master Even
so keen an observer as Seward wholly
missed the dominating features of the
chief he had reluctantly come to serve
until he got his answer In that queer
letter of April /, 1861, which, as by a
flash of lightning, revealed the truth
knees, never to rise again. Somehow
had a great impression Of Mr.. Lin
coin from the first, and during the four
succeeding years Of war, although l
was serving on the opposite side, this
never left me.
mo man can read the documentary
history of Abraham Lincoln's admins
tration, especially his letters and state
papers, and doubt that he was among
the really great men who have lived In
| the world"
OF johnson Mr.. Watterson says: ut
is hard to write either justly or wisely
of Andrew Johnson. I knew him inti-
mately as far back as I can remember
to within a few years Of his death. On
three occasions 1 saw him cry. l new
er saw him laugh.
He was by nature a deeply serious
and sympathetic man, yet he seemed to
have an extreme aversion to people OF
education and breeding. He was in
corruptible, but easily deceived. He
had fixed opinions, but in his temper
often went to excesses, and was both
ungenerous and unjust.
He was a fighter pure and simple,
| indefatigable and tactless. Nothing In
our political annals shows such tenac-
| ity, such sustained vitality and cour-
age, and such resources, as the six
years struggle after he had quit the
White House and returned to Tennes-
see. His single aim was to go back in
to the senate of the United States. At
last he succeeded. He reappeared q
senator in time to deliver a philippe
against Gen. Grant, whom he savagely
hated. Then he went home to die"
Of much interest are his observa-
tions on Gen. Grant, whom he declined
to visit when he was president; though
grateful to him for what he did at
Appomattox and after" he felt that as
a newspaper man II must not tie my