The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1929-01-25

tiers, turning the innumerable pages Of
old, yellowing newspapers and travel
ing over the continent on many a.
fruitless. as well as fruitful, journey.
Scarcely had he begun. when he was
appalled, at the discovery of how i'm
adequately the work had been done
before. Myth after myth faded out
before his searchlight. Thus, quite
early. he said to the writer that II
%he were asked to speak on Lincoln
he would decline. II do not know just
now what think Of Lincoln"
AS he proceeded the task grew In
magnitude until, at times, he felt so
utterly discouraged that he half
wished to abandon 1t. Instead of hav-
ing before him the not too iabori-
! Gus mission of new interpretation
he found himself confronted with the
necessity Of subjecting himself to the
hardships of pioneering for facts and
he grimly buckled down to his job
One day he half seriously told JUS
tice Holmes. neighbor at Beverly
farms. that should he hear of the tind-
ing in the woods OF haggard old
man, dead from exhaustion. he would
know that 1t was a friend of his who
had been foolish enough to attempt,
Life of Lincoln"
One instance of the painstaking Ia
Dor which Beveridge gave to his
monumental task is that wherein he
obtained his information about Lin
coins career as q member Of the iii ;.
nOis Legislature. Other hingraphn
have hurried over this Flu
because the only first-hand i
tion ON 1t is contained In tln
Iative reports which are inclul
several huge volumes. printed IN y.
type and having no index. What Ben
eridge did was to go to Springfield.
4 dig out these dust-covered volumes
and with the aid of a magnifying
glass go over them all. The result
was, instead of a few hasty para
graphs such as other biographers
have written about Lincoln the lSgis.
lator, Beveridge's study dev0tes 1877
pages to this period which had vital
Importance in shaping the character
and later career of Lincoln. Another
wrote and rewrote the chapters of his
books. not once, nor twice. but many
times. One OF them was rewritten Is
times before he was satisfied with it
SAT this point the pen of the writer
stopped. leaving the chapter in its
first draft" Such is the statement
made at the end of the chapter on
"The Great Debate" in the second
volume of Beveridge's Lincoln. AT
Mr.. Beverages elbow were the vol
umes Of the Debates and Schurz's
autobiography, open at the pages
whence he had taken the last quota.
tons or references. On the table, near
his. hand. we're the heaps of notes
prepared for the chapter extracts
from letters. newspapers, proceedings
Of conventions and legislatures, and
photostats of the more important
manuscripts he had found in public
and private collection" For Death
had stayed the hand Of the great biog.
rapher of a great man. In April, 1927
Albert J. Beveridge died suddenly in
the prime of his life with his story
half told. Barton. another noted Lin
coin biograph E, has well said of Bev-
eridge's Lincoln" 1T ends like Schu-
bert's Unfinished Symphony" .'Thisl
is one of the greatest tragedies in
literary history" says Bowers. VIII
pays this final tribute to Beverage,
However. we may rejoice in u
realization that he has done for q
first fifty years (of Lincoln's life) TIL
which has never been done before. ad
no other could do so well. He has,
raised in his Marshall and Lincoln a
monument to himself which will OUT
last marble and before which future
generations will pay homage to his
genius as an interpreter of the Amer
lean spirit"