Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-02-09

Nicolay and Hay. the most authentic
biographers of Abraham Lincoln, have
taken assiduous pains to as
far as possible the impression as to
his utter lack Of physical comelinesS.
Nicolay said of the great war presl-
dents personal appearance: President
Lincoln was of unusua stature. & feet
4 inches. and OF spare but muscular
build: he had been in youth remark
ably strong and skilfui in the athletic
games of the frontier. where. how
ever. his popularity and recognized i'm
partially oftener made him an umpire
than a champion. He had regular and
prepossessing features. prominent
cheek bones. deep set eyes. and bushy
black hair turning to gray at the time
OF his DEATH"
AS a young man scarcely more than
a boy, recently emancipated from the
cloisters of an eastern college, saw him
for the first time in 1859. this descrlp-
ton seems in a little highly
colored The tall. gaunt figure was
somewhat round shouldered and bent.
lessening the great tatur the face
not regular in outline though bold and
salient in features with a crag-like
forehead. The mouth large with rather
thin lips and sunken checks with their
lean. strong jaw certainly did not COM
plete an ensemble which may be called
good looking in it's conventional
meaning. But the Eyes were magnlfl-
cent and would have redeemed Il much
palmer face. Large. bluish-gray in col
or. deep set Under the cliff-like brows.
and centered with q piercing light.
their tradition was magical. especially
when he smiled. A scrawny neck, all
sinew: large, bony hands and big feet
We're accented by great carelessness of
attire. a habit from which Mr.. Lincoln
in fha 1a.rS nf hic nnrhrraA uva1 ness
was never graduated.
On the occasion referred to the man,
whose rising fame was beginning to
make the west clamorous and the east
equally inquisitive. was CARRIED in a
style that would have made a New
York macaroni sniff. Large, baggy
trousers that did not come we'll down
owe the instep, an alpaca coat. rather
short %slecved. with nankeen waistcoat
n a wilted collar exposing the brown
corded neck. certainly did not alleviate
what st crude glance was an ungain-
ly exterior. How in later conversation,
In which the writer took "A very humble
part, Mr.. Lincoln slipped easily into a
TRANSPORTATION which stripped from
him everything of the commonplace.
was like the effect OF IN enchanter's
wand. This cid not SO much appear
at that time in his platform talk as
in the familiar touch-and-go converse
ton with a group Of friends, when the
individuality of the man cleaned at SO
many facets n prisms. 1t is impos-
sible to recall details of what was said
on an occasion more than u half CEN
fury since. but the impression left
was intensely vivid.
1t was at an independence day fes-
tival at an Illinois town in 1859 that
the writer first saw "Old Abe as the
man encased in that homely chrystalis
destined soon to burst into immortal
fame was generally known to the peo-
pie of the state. Hon. Owen Lovejoy,
the representative from tho
district and an intimate friend of Mr.
Lincoln, had been scheduled as the ora
tor. But impending lness prevented
and Mr.. Lovcjoy had persuaded his
good natured friend to take his place
a change which was moSe than vel
coined. Mr.. Lovejoy's brother hae
been killed and his printing press de-
stroyed the year before at an 'sEgyp-
tran town by ar angry "pro-sievery'
mob. The natural radicalism Of tenn.
permanent and CONJUNCTION inherent il
. Mr.. Lovejoy's mental habit had beer
embittered into gall by this politica
crime. and some of the more pruden'
republicans had dreaded a Hrebrant
touch in his Fourth of July talk. Whel
1t was known that MIR. Lincoln wa:
coming, he feeling OF satisfaction wa.
something like 4 relief. for the repub
licanisnl of that day was tentative ant
believed in making haste slowly. Lin
coins wonderful public debate will
the little giant the year before ha,
set him in the limelight, as one who