Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-08-14
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
THE LINCOLN LEGEND. BY Roy p.
Basler. Boston: Houghton Mifiin Co.
Margaret Cermond.

THE LINCOLN LEGEND. BY Roy p.
Basler. Boston: Houghton Mifhin Co.
"It is difiicult now to comprehend the
wave of hero-worship which swept over
the country after Lincoln's assassina-
ton" The sentence Is not very good as
the curtain raiser Of q book which the
author, in his preface, declares Is not
intended to "debunk" Abraham Lincoln,
but to show how fictionists poets, dram
atists and biographers have created out
of folklore and emotionaliSm q hero of
NEUROLOGICAL grandeur.
The separation of any man from his
greatness or from the circumstances
which lifted him out Of obScurity into q
position of renown Is not an easy task.
Running afoul Of the line is q common
weakness of practically all writer's who
have undertaken to present such men
as individuals of the common race, plain
specimens Of elemental human nature.
It is true that fortune smiles favorably
upon q few Of the sons of earth who
through no merit of their own are ac-
corded a degree of fame but the capac-
ity for leadership happens to be an in
separable unit of the composite rudi-
ments of character peculiar to the in
dividual and not an occasion produced
accident.
Vivisecting the characters of the men
whose leadership founded and preserved
the Nation has become the fashion in
the past few years of q number OF writer's
who perhaps believe sincerely that by
stripping these heroes of the myths and
fairy tales with which tradition has mag
nified their glory they are fulfilling an
imperative duty to the race. A more
than generous circulation has been ac-
corded these literary products. and they
have most certainly done no damage.
But the question is, have they actually
accomplished any particular good? Ira
ditiOn is one OF the mainSpringS OF man.
kinds struggle toward the ideal. Belief
in the folk tales and in the emotional
tributes of hero worShipers bent upon
endowing mortalS with immortal perfec.
ton was long ago abandoned, but tradi.
ton is a treasured inheritance, and so
long as man survives the ideals and the
monsters of its making will live. Lead
ership creates its own halo. The endur.
ance of that halo is the infallible meas
ure of the quality of the leadership that
produced it.
On the hypothesis that during the
seventy years since his assassination,
Abraham Lincoln, the man, has been oo-
scured by the mountain Of myths, hero
legends and folklore that has grown up
about him." Mr.. Basler undertakes to
sift these legends, trace them to their
source and dislodge them from the char
acter to which they have chung tenacious
ly despite countless efforts to convince
the world of their fallacy.
The work is not a biography, but an
undoubtedly sincere effort to define the
true character of the man apart from
the circumstances and conditions which
called him TO leadership at a time when
the Nation was facing the most critical
problem in its history. For the accom-
plishment of this purpose the author
has employed the method Of culling from
the several thousand volumes of fiction
biography. poetry and drama the eulogies
and tributes of the so-called hero-wor-
shippers and placing against these the
criticisms and the judgments OF those
who feared the power and those who dis
believed and hated the principles of Lin
coin. Between these two Mr.. BaSler has
given his own Interpretation of char
acter and motives.
Following a survey Of the mass Of
literature concerning Lincoln is q chap
ter devoted to the efforts of those who
sought to clothe him with divinity and
the vilificationS Of those who attempted
not only to destroy the idol. but to de-
fame the man. his ancestry, his wife
and his supporters. Another section Of
the book deals comprehensively with the
folkloke and fiction that has filtered into
the biographies, novels and plays pur-
porting to reveal the true greatness Of
the man.
One of the most interesting phases OF
this authors presentation is his survey
Of the famous sculptures and paintings
of Lincoln and RS Interpretation of the
success or failurd of the artists to give
expression to the Intangible spiritual
quality that is necessarily the basis Of
inspiration. He works rather hard over
the distinction between beauty and ugli-
ness. but his efforts leave one with the
feeling that he has not yet learned that
indeScribable beauty oftentimes obscures
the most homely of faces and the most
angular and awkward Of physical forms.
The book is interesting as an addition
to the already overwhelming mass of Lin
colniana, but it contains little to recom-
mend it is a work of incalculable value.
Myths and legends have grown up about
the heroes of all nations. They have
made no great man greater, but rather
has the truly superior man survived in
spite of them. 1t may be true that
Abraham Lincoln is greatest hero-myth
of American history but seventy years
of survival is not altogether convincing
proof that hero worship and not actual
valuation of character Is the yardstick
by which greatness Of leadership is
measured.
No feeling of sectionalism or political
prejudice has been written into this
judgment Of THE Lincoln Legend" The
reviewer was born and has always lived
below the Mason and Dixon line.