The New York herald., 1922-11-05


for the next fifty years will be that he will
be overdone, overexplained, overexploited;
made great deal too much of; gather
about himself a rather mythical aureole."
No other country could have produced Lin
coin, and his lowly origin and tragic death
have canonized him, so that biographers
are always adding to our knowledge
The Real Lincoln" by Jesse weik tells
us the story of Honest Abe until he left
Springfield. His Talk With Lincoln" is a
letter by James NJ Stradling, written in
1868. and the title ''Lincoln's Last Day." by
John w. Starr, is self-explanatory.
Lovers of Lincoln owe a great debt to
Mr.. Weik. 1t was his insistence that
caused William Herndon to write that life
which has been the basis of all subsequent
biographies. Mr.. Weik colaborated with
Herndon for four years in gathering mate
rial, and says: MY researches were both
continuous and painstaking; nor did 1
think of desisting until l had interviewed
or communicated with almost every person
or talked with Lincoln" Although Weik
helped make Herndons book complete, his
own later efforts bear the same relation
ship TO his chiefs that Matt Henson's
story bears to Pearys own narrative of the
conquest of the Pole. Mr.. Wek fell heir
to Mr.. Herndon's vast store of material
and uses it with an impressive gesture.
but he adds nothing essentially new. His
account of Lincoln's antecedents is inferior
to Miss Tarbelrs. He weighs evidence as
best he can, but his book is essentially
gossip and hearsay. without the vitality
which animated Mr.. Herndons pages. He
points out a weakness which Lincoln
shared with President Grant: of placing
too much confidence in those who were
not worthy.
Sergeant Standings letter is so vivid
that il seems to have been written yester-
day. Apart from the sidelight on Lincoln.
1t furnishes picture of the typical soldier
While his experience was still fresh in his
mind, Jim" Stradling wrote it to Justice
John X Gilbert of Helicong. Pa his for
mer employer. Both were of Quaker stock,
and he uses thee" and thou" When
Stradling sought to rejoin his regiment
after a furiough a captain refused him
passage and he naively thought he could
walk right in on the President at the
White House to straighten the matter out.
He was on the point of turning back when
he saw how crowded the anteroom was.
The guard was amused by his simplicity
and asked Senator Wade to take him to
fs,.s. hol
talking with Gen. Hooker, and he said to
Wade: Senator. We have had the head of
the army here a few minutes ago and
learned from him all he cared to tell. Now
we have here the tail of the army. so let
us get from him how the rank and file
feel about matters. | mean no reflection
on you, Sergeant. when 1 say the tail of
the army" When Strading felt at ease,
he gave the President a frank exposition
of the soldier viewpoint. On leaving, Mr..
Stradiing said to the guard, You need not
call me 'greeny' any more, for I have
learned more to-day than many people
iearn in fifty years" He carried away
with him an impression of the Presidents
melancholy Leigh Mitchell Hodges wrote
a brief introduction to this letter, and
Lord Charnwood contributed a preface
"Lincoln's Last Day" by John w. Starr.
is extremely erudite. The author has Sc
cured a few new grains of wheat by sitting
many bushels of chaff. The publishers as
sert that Mr.. Starr consulted over fourteen
hundred books and pamphlets and eight
hundred magazine articles. in addition to
his own collection Of Nncofniana, the larg-