The Yale expositor., 1919-02-06

statesmanship and in his frailties. Human in bis
love for story telling and relaxation, and Intense
ly filed with the humanity that will not knowing
ly do unknd unjust act
1t is not that he was perfection in any of the
walks of life In which fate turned his steps, for
there were better lawyers in his time there were
even better story teers than Lincoln; surely 1t
would not be difficult TO name better military Off
GERS than Lincoln was, more learned men and
greater orators than he. But Lincoln was man
of the people and Americans like that kind Of man,
writes Joseph jackson in the Philadelphia Public
Ledger.
They hoard every scrap of writing that the
man ever wrote. His walking sticks, his dllapi-
dated old law books, his broken-dOwn bookcase,
everything that once belonged to him or in which
he had set his name, is treasured.
Not long ago in New York they sold at auction
a slip of paper which he showed that, good
politician as he was thought to be, he a poor
hand at guessing results of presidential cleo
ton. Yet this slip of paper brought $1,025 and
Lincoln had not even signed it, but II was known
TO have been written by him.
1t might be mentioned here that Lincoln proved
himself to be very poor prophet, and overesti-
mated the strength of General Mcclellan, his po-
litical opponent in the election of 1864 Accord
ing to Lincoln's estimate he felt sure of the New
England states and few others, totaling 100
votes in the electoral college, and he set down as
1.-The supposed Copperhead vote" the states of
New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey. Delaware,
Maryland Missouri, Kentucky and Illinois, and
their ia votes he believed would be cast for Gen
eral Mcclellan. AS a matter of fact, however only
New Jersey, Delaware and Kentucky went against
him, and he carried the election by a vote of
212 to %.
There for Lincoln's belief that
the states he had set down as "Copperhead"
would go against him. The drafts of men had
been resisted i'm less energetic form In
many of these commemorative, notably New York
and Illinois, and the large number of sympathz-
ers there might easily lead to his conclusion But
what he had not taken into the fullest account
was that the majority of men i'm the North were
loyal to the Union, regardless of politics or their
natural sympathies and they stood by Lincoln to
the end.
Was Real self-Msde Man. 4
If anyone were asked TO name the most iIlus-i
tr1ous example Of what we have called the self
faade man In America there would instantly occur
the name Of Lincoln In country OF self-made
men he stands in high relief. There is no one To
take place beside him. for not only did he over
come every natural difficulty placed i'm his way In
his determination to achieve an education and
they were numerous, but along with IL always
went that equally strong determination not TO
achieve success by any unfair means
He admitted that his education was detective"
and that weak word for II. Many men
with great deal more have been failures And
Lincoln had every opportunity of becoming fail
urc. but he realized his educational weaknesses
and strove to remove them That he did remove
them seems to be testified 10 by many writer's
At one tme-probably II Is to be seen there vet
there exhibited In one OF the colleges at