Evening star., 1949-03-13
Reviewing I he New Books

Lincoln Scholars
WiHPrize Work
OfHeIen NicoIoy
LINCOLN's SECRETARY. A
Biography of John G. Nicolay.
BY Helen Nicolay. Iongmans,
Green G. Co.; So
Reviewed by
MARY McGRORY.
In her girlhood. the secretary of
Lincoln's secretary and now the
biographer of Lincoln's biogra-
pher, Helen Nicolay has in the
intervening years become famous
in her own right as the author Of
some 20 books, many of them for
children, on biographical and his
torical subjects. But at the age
of SO, she reverts to the self
effacing role of her youth and
writes with fllial respect and re-
serve of her father. John G. Nico-
lay, who for five critical years
stood at Lincoln's elbow and with
John Hay wrote the monumental
10-volume biography Of the Great
Emancipator.
In the spirit of her father. who
steadfastly resisted all pressure to
exploit his association with Lin
coin through any intimate per-
sonality SKETCH" Miss Nicolay
eschews all interpretative COM
ment and writes with simple OBJ
jectivity of her revered parent.
Her decision to let him speak for
himself-mainly through hitherto
correspondence and
wise one. since the
German born Mr. Nicolay. sue
cessful Illinois newspaper editor
before he became Lincoln's official
secretary, always considered him.
self primarily a journalist and
expressed himself with consider
able vigor and shrewdness.
Shabby White House.
The chief charm Of the book, in
fact. lies in his letters to his pa
tient fiancee, Miss Therena Bates.
He complains of being lonely on
dull Capital holidays. He de-
scribes the tension and strain of
the Civil War as it was reflected
from day to day at the White
House. He also gives picture of
the Executive Mansion which
might have been written yester-
day. "' What an ill-kept and
dirty concern it really is from top
to bottom. I wonder how much
longer a great Nation, as ours is,
will compel its ruler to live in
such a small and dilapidated old
shanty. and in such shabby-gen-
teel style"
While Miss Nicolay presumes no
more on the family relationship
with Lincoln than her father did.
the figure of Lincoln looms large
and clear in the book. The infor-
NAL glimpses Of him which reveal
his unfailing humanity, his ex-
quisite courtesy, his bracing humor
the superhuman bur-
dens he carried show that he was
a hero to his secretary. He worked
through piles Of documents with
the patient industry Of a laborer
saving wood: he walked alone
and unarmed to the War Depart
ment at night: he persistently
granted clemency in court-martial
cases. on the grounds that he did
not believe it would make a man
any better to shoot him."
Valuable Anecdotes.
Largely anecdotal, the book will
doubtless be combed avidly by
Lincoln scholars. They will find
chapter on "Forgeries and Mis-
and also a valuable
account of the painstaking col
of Nicolay and Hay,
whose boast it was that they never
wrote a fact without sustaining
evidence. During the Is intensive
years spent in its composition, Miss
Nicolay, who was born in Paris
during her fathers consulship
there, frequently took her fathers
dictation at the desk he had used
at the White House. A longtime
resident of Washington, she wrote
this study of her father at the
same desk. To say that she is as
meticulous q scholar as he is per-
haps the highest praise as she
would want.