Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-02-08
Copyright, 1911, for the New York Globe.
by Ferdinand c.. Iglehart, Author and
Student of Lncoln's Life.)

~ 49, " NAN
by Ferdinand c. %Iglehart. Author and
Student Of IAncoln's Life.)
Lincoln was a giant whose feet were
on earth, but whose head was crowned
will stars. In a period OF really great
men such AS national tragedies usually
produce. surrounded by a cabinet OF
distinguished characters. he stood head
and shoulders above them all, seeing
farther down into the centuries and
to be seen of them.
All the departments OF Lincoln's
mind were developed in colossal pro-
portion. His perceptions were keen.
his conceptions strong: the scales with
were evenly balanced n true; his
memory was marvellous and his inn
agination, with it's wings and witchery,
would have distinguished him in any
field of literature. art. or discovery.
Lincoln was self educated. He was
enriched with poverty and honored
with o~bscurity. In the midst OF one of
the most complex periods in the history
OF the world he was a supple child OF
nature, close to the ground. with an
ear to the forest stream, an eye to the
wild flower, and a Keen vision of the
stars. Without schools. or libraries,
or society, he vas trained in the wider
university of nature and solitude
which contributed so much to the de-
velopment Of the creative faculty so
necessary In a great ruler or reformer.
| He was wise enough. however, to place
university bred men at the head OF
most of the Departments of his adlninis-
tration.
Lincoln was a master OF oratory. His
debates with Judge Douglas and his
Cooper Union speech did much to make
him president. His address at Gcttys-
of an envelope. will be read and de-
claimed by school children in every
tongue 1000 years from now.
Lincoln's letter from the executive
; mansion to Mrs. BiXby. of Boston. while
one OF the tenderest specimens OF pa
thos on record. is preserved in the or
iginal, 1t is said. by the london His
torical society as a sample OF the best
English composition known. He says:
Il have been shown, in the files of
the war department. a statement of the
adjutant general of Massachusetts that
you are the mother of five sons who
have died gloriously on the field Of
battle. l feel now weak and fruitless
must be any word Of mine which shall
attempt to beguile you from the grief
of a loss so overwhelming. But l cam
no refrain from rendering you the con-
ISOLATION that may be found in the
thanks of the republic they died to
save. I pry that our Heavenly Father
may assuage the anguish of your be-
reavement and leave you only the cher
ished memory OF the loved and lost,
and the solemn pride that must be
yours TO have laid so costly a sacrifice
upon the altar of freedom"
Wit and pathos were side by side in
him. and We're made out of the same
material. He was the funniest and
saddest man the nation ever had.
lincoln's Story On His Own Suffering.
Once 1 asked my friend. Gen. Lew
Il WdIldCG, TO tell me a new story a hn1lf
Lincoln. and he said:
Il went over to the White House to
see the president, who was Commissioning
from a spell of intiammatory rheu-
over the table in front of his chair.
l said: How are you today, Mr.. Presi-
den" He replied: i Will answer YOUR
question with this story:
Out in Illinois, a neighbor farmer
bought a lanter jawed. sway backed,
rack of bones. He pridcd himself on
building up horses, and told a friend
to come back in two months and see
his fine, fat animal. AT the time speci-
fed the friend came ovcr and asked
about the horse. The farmer, replied:
He is getting along finely. I've got
him fat as far as the legs Casting
his eyes down to his own limbs, suol-
len to almost twice their natural size.
the president told me. with a merry
twinkle in his eye, that he had an
swered my question as to his health
If his intellect was a mountain. Lin
coins heart was a deep, boundless sea.
The greatest hearted men are the
greatest men. The ancient mariner
love for the water snakes which
brought the showers of life to the dead
crew on the deck suggests Lincoln's
love for the lower tribes.
I asked an intimate friend of Lin
coins early manhood to tell me a Lin
coin story which never had beer
printed in the books or magazines, and
he related this incident:
one moonlight night, when walking
With Lincoln in the country. we met in
the road a litter of striped pigs that
had lost their mother. We helped then.
to find her. And he said to me: y
never see one of these little creatures
that l do not think of my first net
When six years of age a neighbor gave
me a little pig. The only ]
had on was a little tow shirt my
mother wove, fastened at the neck with
a wooden button my father had made
In the front of this garment / wrappe
my pig n brought him nome 1t took
me a week to teach him to eat. Mean
while 1 carried him back to his mothc,
for his meals. He was my constan,
companion. We played many game:
together. I can see his little face now
peeping around the side of the cabin a:
we played hide and seek. | carried him
everywhere till he go too big, and the,
made him carry me, which he did 81
happily everywhere-to the ploughet
helped to find the nuts. One day fathe,
said: We're going to kill the hog to.
day. | said: What hog?' He said
yours 1 answered.: Would YOU kil