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2 Abraham Lincoln—The Man and “Patriot INCOLN’S clear and elegant style in speech and writing is not surpassed by any other American writer of prose. This style, which is the wonder of many, is the result of a decided liter ary instinct and genius developed by long and careful study. When Lin coln began to take an interest in poli tics and to make public speeches, he I decided to study English grammer. There was on ly one book on the subject in the community, and Lincoln walked six miles to obtain it. He gave ev ery moment of his spare time to the study until he had absolutely mastered the contents of the book. “Well,” said he, “if that’s what they call science. I think 1 will go at another.” He, then, mastered the subject of geometry which taught him to reason clearly and correctly. If writing paper was scarce in his day, he prac ticed trimming his expressions to save space and carefully studied to find the exact word he need ed before putting it down on such precious ma terial. In this way his style became pithy and pointed and he could say more in ten minutes at Gettysburg than Edward Everett could say in two hours. If he heard or read a phrase or an expres sion he did not understand, he kept revolving it in his mind till he was able to express it in his own words. Being asked, on one occasion, how he ac quired his wonderful style, he said: “I can remem ber, as a child, going io my little room after hear ing the neighbors talk of an evening w T ith my father and spending no small part of the night in walking up and down trying to make out what was the exact meaning of some of their, to me, dark sayings. I could not sleep, although I tried, when I got on such a hunt for an idea, until I caught it, and when I thought I had got it I was not satisfied until I had repeated it over and over and had put it in language plain enough, as I thought, for any body I knew to comprehend. This was a kind of passion with me and it has stuck by me, for I am never easy now when I am handling a thought until I have bounded it north and bounded it south and bounded it east and bounded it west.’’ It will be remembered that Demosthenes acquired his style by transcribing Thucydides’ History nine times; and that Henry Clay became proficient in. the use of words by reading thoroughly a portion of some historical or scientific work and then closing the book and expressing in his own words the substance he had read. In all l.is reading Lincoln made long extracts with his “turkey buzzard pen and briar root ink.” While the early schools which Lincoln attended taught nothing further on the subject of language than to spell, Lincoln had learned the uses of words and how to put them together and he wrote many compositions on such subjects as “Cruelty to Animals,” “The Horrors of War,’’ and “Temper ance,” etc. In 1831, Abraham Lincoln, then twenty-two years old, a mere farm laborer and shabbily dressed, was cast ashore, a fragment of human driftwood at the thriving little village of New Salem, Sangamon county, Illinois. Possibly nothing is more neces sary to the success of any man than the ability to win the confidence, respect and friendship of peo ple. It is interesting to note the qualities and hab its which first made Lincoln prominent and influen tial in this rural village and started him on his great career, in which step by step he advanced for thirty years, mounting upon his difficulties as upon stepping stones till, as many believe, a divine power took him by the hand and led him to the most exalted position in all the world and placed in his hands the destiny of this great republic. > On election day in New Salem, being asked if he could write he replied,-“I can make a few rabbit tracks.’’ Thus, as a clerk of the election, the “stranded stranger” performed his first public du- ARTICLE n. Th« Golden Ajje for March 14, 1907. ties. The burning question of the day with the people of New Salem was the navigation of the 'Sangamon River. Lincoln, with his experience in such matters, attracted great attention by his ef forts in piloting a boat up this small stream. He had previously won the unbounded admiration of one Denton Offutt, a native of New Salem, by his successful maneuvers in floating a flat boat belong ing to Offutt over a mill dam in the Sangamon river, where it had stuck fast. Offutt declared that he would build a steamboat to run on the Sanga mon river and provide it with runners for the ice and rollers for the shoals, and with “Abe Lincoln in command, she would have to go.” Lincoln al ways imagined that there was nothing pertaining to the navigation of rivers by steamboats and flat boats that he did not know. He even invented and had patented a device for lifting boats over shoals by means of air bags fastened to the bottom of the boats. While waiting for something further to “turn up” in New Salem Lincoln employed his time in get ting acquainted with the rural population. He was a man of great physical strength. It is said that he could easily carry six hundred pounds or lift a barrel of whiskey and drink from the bung, not, however, because he liked the whiskey. This great strength, which he never used to oppress any one, soon made him a hero in New Salem. A certain “bully,” Jack Armstrong, a leader of a notorious band of ruffians, endeavored to throw Lincoln in a wrestling match by using an unfair advantage. Lincoln seized him by the throat and shook him like a child. Henceforth New Salem declared that a man who could not only read and write, but also manage a “bully,” was worthy of any honor they could confer. Lincoln’s popularity was further increased by his peaceable disposition and his friendliness and “neighborliness.” He assisted every 7 man whose wagon had stuck in the mud and visited the widows and the orphans in their afflictions and cut their wood for them. He could not see suffering in man or best, without an effort to relieve it. He was at home with all and possessed a peculiar power of entering into the thoughts, interests and feelings of others. He was human in the best sense of that fine word. His witticism, droll sayings and inim itable story telling made him popular with all classes. He was greatly admired because he had a greater fund of information than any of his un couth neighbors. As a result of the confidence thus imposed in him he became the peacemaker of the community, a judge at the horse races, a second at the duels, which he usually managed to avert with out bloodshed, though preserving the “honor” of all concerned, and the arbiter of all disputed ques tions in literature, science, woodcraft, etc. Lincoln became postmaster of the village and it is said that he carried the letters in his hat. As postmaster his business was to write all the out going letters for his neighbors and to read all those coming in. Later he “set up in store busi ness” with a dissolute partner. Lincoln spent most of his time entertaining his customers with droll stories or lying on his back with his feet up a tree and reading by the hour, “grinding around with the shade.” After the business had duly “winked out,” he set to work to learn surveying and applied himself so diligently that in six weeks he was able to accept a position as assistant sur veyor of Sangamon county. His work in this of fice was remarkably well done. No small degree of Lincoln’s popularity in New Salem was due to his honesty. The failure of his “store business’’ left his firm badly in debt and his partners fled the realm. Lincoln, however, re mained and shouldered his load of debt manfully. His horse and surveying instruments were seized by the sheriff; but Lincoln never lacked friends in New Salem and some well-to-do farmers, Messrs. Short and Green, came to his rescue. When the Black Hawk War came on Lincoln was By Mark Bolding. elected captain of a volunteer company composed of ruffians and sent from New Salem. “A suc cess,” he says, “which gave me more pleasure than any I have had since.” In this war Lincoln went out as captain and returned as private. He seems to have won no other distinction than that of protecting, at the risk of his own life, a poor old Indian who had strayed into the camp. When Lincoln had been in New Salem little more than a year so popular had he become that he determined to enter the race for the legislature. He issued a circular, setting forth his view’s and advocating the improvement of the Sangamon river, education and a national bank and concluding with these words: “But if the good people, in their wisdom, shall see fit to keep me in the ‘background, I have become too familiar with disappointments to be very much chagrined.” Being unknown gen erally by the people of the county Lincoln was de feated in this race, the only time he was ever de feated by the people. How strong v’as the attachment and confidence his genial and upright character had inspired among those who knew him best is shown by the fact that in the New Salem district, of two hundred and eighty votes cast, he received all but three. At the next election for representative in the legis lature, Lincoln led the ticket and continued to rep resent Sangamon county as long as he would con sent k> be a candidate. It is said that at his first election he did not have money to buy suitable clothes in which to appear in the legislature. Shortly before his election to the legislature, Lincoln had become deeply attached to a beautiful and intelligent young woman, Atm Rutledge, and they became engaged to be married. Love seemed to have a happy effect on Lincoln. Inspired by a hope more bright and beautiful than any dream he had ever had, he worked and studied as never be fore, and seemed thirsting for such honors as would render him worthy of Ann Rutledge. But when the golden days of Autumn came, in 1832, Ann was stricken with brain fever and soon passed away. Machines of finest workmanship are most easily thrown out of repair, while crude and simple con trivances withstand any amount of ill-usage. Over come by grief, Lincoln’s great mind was unbal anced, and he became temporarily insane, piteous ly moaning and raving, “I can never be reconciled to have the snow, rains and storms to beat upon her grave.’’ Lincoln’s friends, and especially Bowlin Green, came to his aid, carried him to their own homes, and kept strict watch over him day and night, until his reason was restored. These sorrows of their neighbor greatly touched the hearts of the people of New Salem, and as he went about among them, thin, haggard and gloomy, his popularity daily in creased. and he became more and more the idol of the community. During the years that Lincoln spent in New Sa lem, and until he moved to Springfield to begin the practice of law, he appeared to be entirely in different to money-making further than was neces sary for a meager support. Day and night he was intently reading every book and newspaper that he could obtain, including Chitty and Blackstone, and was profoundly studying human nature, men and events. There is nothing in his career of several terms in the legislature worthy of special notice farther than that he became proficient in the art of “log rolling,” recorded a protest against the spread of slavery, and was a leader in unsound financial leg islation which overwhelmed the state in debt. But Lincoln was studying men and measures. No young man in his college course ever studied more diligently, or acquired more information than Lin coln in New Salem and in the legislature. Lincoln finally moved to Springfield to take up the prac tice of law, and was sent to Congress one term, but did not distinguish himself in that budy.