Evening star., 1922-02-12
BY JOHN ID. ANDERSON.

By JOHN ID. ANDERSON.
Shakespeare 300 years ago
but his words had no APP
plication to the case OF
Abraham Lincoln. That Lincoln was
the product of both attained great
ness and Of having greatness thrust
upon him by reason of his attain
ments describes in few words two
facts which go some way at least to-
ward making his life little better
understood. The fact that the pc
riod of his greatest fame-the presi-
Dental period-was SO very brief
must always remain the sad back :
ground to this great mans life. 1t
covered but little more than five
years. from the date of. his election,
in 1850. to the date of his death, in
April. 1865. Before that we have
what Drinkwdter chooses to. .sgA his
fifty famelsss years. As amatter
Of fact, this must be reduced some
what. for Lincoln was known far be-
yond the borders of Illinois before
Lincoln. unlike most men who en-
brace professional career. had SEEM
ingly permitted nearly thirty years
of his life to slip away before he
reached the decision to become law
yer His first years of manhood were
quite aimless. He was at forty no
farther along in his legal attain
nf
the bar in the middle west Of those
days. Perhaps he was not so far
along as most of them. And his ham
dicaps seemed much greater. He did
not possess deep learning, nor was
he looked upon as a profound stu
dent. He certainly lacked the social
sraces. At times he had shown an
Indifference to the law. and certain
it is that politics interested him far
more.
X 4 y 4
IN comparison with his fellows,
however, Lincoln, away back be-
fore he was licensed to appear in
court. revealed a trait which few
others possessed. 1t had been noticed
and commented upon by his associ-
ates. 1t was thing which singled
him out In later life and contrasted
him from most men. This was the
heaven-sent gift of clear thinking
and clear expression of his thoughts.
These were his chief assets and did
more for him than would have been
done by both a university training
and social distinction. Joseph H.
Choate has said that brains. COM
mon sense, force of character. tenac-
ity of purpose. ready wit and the
power of speech did the rest for Lin
coin and supplied all the deficiencies
of learning"
Another thing which helped Lincoln,
and helped him nightly, was his
grasp in all political matters. Tao
tically there have been few more gift
ed politicians than he time and again
proved himself. This aptitude for
public life had displayed itself early
in his case, and 1t grew with training
and experience as the years went on
and he came more seasoned by prac-
tice..
After becoming a lawyer he, was
more Quickly active in matters of a
nublfc character than to most would
have seemed possible. At only thirty
aeyen he had been elected to Con-
xress, He was advancing despite his
many handicaps, but he must advance
RAPIDLY II at all. His term OF two
years at Washington gave him the
right to hope that he might soon
afterwsrd be appointed commissioner
of the land office. and later the way
had been opened for appointment. had
he so willed, to the governorship OF
Oregon.
All during the middle and late fif-
ties there were numerous occasions
when Lincoln saw, his opportunity to
take political steps forward Some of
them were long steps. The hrst
chance Of statewide size showed it,
sslf early in 1856. Before that winter
had gone the entire state Of Illinois
seemed to desire the formation of q
new political party. 1t did not have
its inception in the desire to supplant
stephen A. Douglas in the United
States Senate. It was larger in Its
purpose than that, although 1t was
becoming apparent that Senator
Douglas course was not one best cal
cuIated to insure his retention. at
washington. The movement toward
xAse- formation. Of new party first
l. .l 4EsaS - ~