The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1920-02-24
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
A NEW INSIDE VIEW


came the Greatest Man Of His Time
and One of the Few Great Men
Of All Time.
By Judge R. M. Wannamaker of the
Supreme Court Of Ohio.
A distinguished and successful
business man once said to me:
"Iwas born to condition would
not accept. / changed it."
The spirit of these last three words
manned the Mayfower, wrote the De-
claration of independence, made
America and our great Americans.
It was peculiarly the ruling spirit
of Abraham Lincoln.
Born in Kentucky cabin that was
doorless, fioorless and windowless,
truly he was Humility's child, but
he became Humanity's man, how?
How did he become the leading
lawyer of his bar, the party leader of
his state, the orator of his people and
the statesman Of his age?
Herndon, his law partner for more
than 16 years, knew him most IN
timately and wrote of him:
"His conscience, his heart and all
the faculties and qualities of his
mind bowed submissively to the
oespotism of his reason. He lived
and acted from the standard of rea-
son-that throne Of logic, home OF
principle, the realm of piety in man.
It is from this point Mr.. Lincoln must
be viewed"
Thousands of volumes have been
written, tens of thousands of speech
es have been made on the "outslde' OF
Lincoln. As yet very little has been
written or spoken about the inside
of Lincoln.
God Almighty seems to have ex-
hausted all natures resources on the
inside equipment of Lincoln. There
was little left for ouside finish.
The story of how Lincoln de-
veloped his mental and moral forces,
and how he modified, and utilized
them in action, should be of peculiar
interest to all Americans, young
and old. Let Lincoln himself tell
this story as he did in 1860, before
his nomination to the presidency.
The more pertinent part is as fol-
lows:
81 could not sleep although l tried
to, when l got on such a hunt for
an idea, until l had caught it; and
when l thought l had got it, / was
not satisfied until / had repeated 1t
over and over again, until | had put
over and over again, until | had put it
in language plain enough as | thought
This was kind of passion with me,
and it has stuck by me; for l am
never easy now whens | am handling
a thought, until l have bounded it
north, bounded it south, bounded it
east and bounded it west"
Lincoln was a student in school but
six months, according to his own
statement. but he was a student out
of school all the rest of his life.
He was his own teacher-his own
pupil. What teacher. What a pupil.
What results. This brief interview
furnishes to the student, young and
old, his four great commandments to
knowledge and reason:
Commandment l.. Hunted for an
idea until ! had caught it. " The pas
sion of the hunter that pursues the
game until captured
Commandment 2. Repeated it
over and over again." Study it.
Assimilate ito utilize it.
Commandment 3. ''Put it in langu-
age plain enough for any boy I knew
to comprehend Simplicity ana
strength of speech. He got it chiefly
from the Bible, Bunyan's Pilgrims
Progress, Aesop, De Foe, the diction-
ary.
Lincoln avoided superlatives and
pollvsylables, and used the simple
short word-the concrete noun hitch
ed to an active verb. See Gettys-
burg speech.
Commandment i. Bounded 1t
north, bounded it south, bounded it
east. bounded it west" This sounds
like lesson in geography. 1t is the
language Of the surveyor. Lincoln
became a surveyor at %, and as ne