The Washington herald., 1916-02-12
Lincoln Man of the People.

Comparing Lincoln the man Of the common
people, with Washington, Essentially an aristo-
crat," L. S. Nadal, an author of note who served
in the American diplomatic service in the 7os,
writes in the current number of the Outlook:
In the older society the feeling of the upper
class was OF marked separation from the COM
mon people. The feeling of that class was,
sciously unconsciousy, that it was the business
of the poor to be unhappy great man of the
old time could not altogether escape this feeling
There had been plenty OF good and kind rulers in
the past but their feeling in regard to the common
people could not be the same as if they had
themselves been of that class. Lincoln, the
other hand, was Of that class. In him VIC have
great man unlike the good rulers Of the past not
a Haroun al-Raschid mixing with his people, or an
Alfred burning the cakes, but the real thing The
fact that he from that class, that he belonged
to it not only by birth and experience but by ma
ture flor birth would not have been sufficient il
If had not been that in his heart and his profound
sympathies he Democrat to the core), was
an important element of his fame.
OF course it is l.ncoln's power Of sympathy
that attracts men. But that would not OF itself
have been enough. What endcars Lincoln cspc-
cially to men is the union of sympathy with faith
and great strength 1t is very unusual to find
these qualities united. In the list Of English and
American worthless | can think OF but one other
who was like him in this respect mean Dr.. John
son. Scott had this union of qualities, although in
la less degree; and | have sometimes had a fancy
if there be not certain temerity in tho sugges-
ton. that you might descry some such association
OF characteristics in the vast and vague personality
that lies remote and in shadow behind the wr-
tngs Of Shakespeare. But in Loncoln and Johnson
it is clear and marked and it is the reason Of their
great power of winning affection. Men wish to at
tach themselves to such characters. The thought
Of each is, "He would have been my friend"
The peculiar character Of Lincoln's genius also
was in part the OF his power Of winning our
affection. No great public man has had such
strong human intuitions. Certainly no man in our
history is his equal in that respect
1t appears from the recent life OF Hay that it
took Lincoln's Secretaries year or more to find
out that their chief a great man. and that they
found it out before other people did In talking
with people who knew Lincoln before the war,
most Of whom gone, it has always been
notion OF him was extravagant They may have
had some jealousy of him, may have felt some
thing Of pique and vcxation that they had not been
clever enough to find out all this for themselves,
but that what they thought. OF course they
were too prudent to say that, but you could see
it in their faces The devotion Of the people OF
this country to Lincoln is, however not merely a
matter of opinion. He has got hold of their hearts
as other American did, not even Wash
ngton, and he has held them for fifty years, and
there is indication that this sentiment is on the
yane