The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1916-04-20
1.-THE REAL LINCOLN"
By Anna c. Ancrum, John Kennedy chapter, Camden

thought it might ruin his political
career. He was accused Of being an
infidel, if not an aetheist, and he
never denied it, and said he could
and would prove all he had written
and would die before he would de-
ny it. A letter written by his wife
confirms the above testimony as to
his attitude of hostility toward re-
ligion."
The vulgarity of Lincoln's jokes
and stories is we'll known and one of
his historians says he was the foulest
mouthed raconteur in the country.
Don Piatt says none of his stories
would bear printing, and Lamon, the
historian, adds that he was not re-
strained by any company or occasion.
When he went to Gettysburg battle
field to make his celebrated address
he asked for and had sung a ribald
song, "Was ever so sublime thing
ushered in by the ridiculous?" asked
Rhodes. He wrote satire, called
'The First Chronicle Of Reuben al
so some verses which Lincoln him
self circulated, and which Lamon
said were too indecent to be tran
scribed to his book. Lamon was his
close friend and testified that not
even the high position of president
changed him in any way. His clown
ishness and lack of dignity was pro-
verbal, and some of us can remem-
Der the silly joke he perpetrated
when the Marquis of Harrington, a
distinguished Frenchman, was pre-
sented to him at white\ house re-
ception. His salutation was "AA! the
Marquis of Harrington. rhymes with
Mrs. Partington!" 1t is not hard to
imagine what the foreigner. thought
of the backwoods wit of the head of
a great nation.
Lincoln Lacked Courage.
In forming an estimate of what
constitute a great man one surely
would not leave out personal cour-
age, yet Lincoln has been called
great without this essential, if we
are to accept the testimony of those
who tell of his stealthy midnight en-
tree into Washington day or two
before his Inauguration; accompanied
by his lifelong friend, Lamon, heavily
armed. Lamon expressly declares
that Lincoln's fear, of violence was
without the slightest foundation.
Horace Greedy likened him to a
hunted fugitive" Ida Tarbell says
that on Inauguration day he not only
had p1atoons of soldiers at the street
corners, but had groups of riflemen
on the housetops and artillery at
given points. She says he entered the
capital through a board tunnel. with
so or 60 soldiers under the platform.
Lamon and Vice President Hamlin
record that he was bitterly ashamed
ever afterwards of his fright, and
Hon. Henry L. Dawes says he never
altogether lost the look with which
he met the curious and not very kind
ly gaze of the house of representa-
tives on the first morning after what
they deemed ''his pusillanimous
creep" into Washington. When Bal
timore had stopped the Massachu-
sets soldiers and Maryland troops
from going into Washington and the
capital seemed at the mercy of the
South, Miss Tarbell and others give
curious account of Lincoln's panic
and quote him as saying, ".Why don't
they come, oh! why don't they come!
begin to believe there is no North
and the Seventh regiment is myth.
Russell wrote to the London Times,
after the defeat at Bull Run, that
Lincoln sat listening in fear and
trembling for the sound of the enc
my's cannon B. F. Butler says:
"A careful reading Of that descrip-
ton would almost lead one to infer
that Lincoln was in state of abject
fear" in which opinion I most heart
lily agree with him!
Was Without Dignity.
When Charles Francis Adams Wis
tied the president to get his instruc-
tions before he left as minister to
England, he declares himself to have
been half amused, half mortified,
and altogether shocked" at Lincoln's
behavior, and his Inconsistencies Of
the gravity of the crisis. Charles H.
Dana says that ''the lack of respect
for the president in all parties is un-
concealed, and he wrote Adams, min
lister to England, that Lincoln had no
admirer. and did not act, talk or feel