Newspapers / The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, … / Feb. 21, 1909, edition 1 / Page 19
Part of The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
7 ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND HIS CENTENNIAL CHABLOTTE DAILY 10BSEBVER, FEBRUABY 21, 1909. Written for 'The Observer. Several years ago a journalist, speculating on th amount of litera ture, biographies and sketches that bad ben prepared for the public on th different Presidents, gave a hi Individual estimate an excess Incom parable to the first President. If the writer la etui living enJ should feel called upon to make an- other statement on the am subject, hie over-balance would moit surely fall toward another name in the procidentia! row. With the exception of the number lex biographies recently prepared, there has never' been so much eatd of Abraham Lincoln, eves including th eulogies appearing Just after hie as sassination, as there Is being said In the current issues alone of the va rious periodicals. The magazines have vied with one another in pro ducing something before unknown In he life and character of the great man Those who have failed In the at tempt to produce true human inter est stories have woven Into their re citals Action with the tiniest thread of truth till one feels like saying, with the small boy, "Thay lz a He out summers." In a one-roomed log cabin In Har din county. Kentucky, on Feb. 12th, 1100. Abraham Lincoln was born. The gloom and melancholy of his beautiful though unfortunate mother had made its Imprint on the baby countenance before his birth and at an early age he evidenoed those normally dissimilar characteristics that one so often finds In the children of sorrow. Denied the love and the name of a real father, yet blessed with a tenderer aflectton of his moth er than that she felt for her other children, Lincoln's outlook ori the v aj in a measure brighter than oth ers of his class- At an age too early for the fame predestined boy to remember, Tom Lincoln, his stepfather, with his mother, left the home of ihis birth Rock Spring farm and moved to an other Kentucky farm that lay be tween Knob creek and Rolling fork. Here the young mind first began to receive Impressions, and here, too, environment, that mighty molder of Ideals, began Its shaping of the career of the melancholy boy. Life to the Llncolns at this time consisted of toll unceasing In that esw and beautiful country- of pov erty, sordid and grim, and yet to the son of Nancy Hanks there was on Joy counterbalancing the gloom of his unfortunate lot one memory that the latter years encircled with a halo the love of the tail dark wom an with the wistful longing look in her deep-set gray eyea In his after years of greatness, the President would look across the vista of years Into the bare cabin and see again th woman; hear her read the two books, the most precious of her treasures, and his eyes would dim ai he remembered the earnestness and pathos of the gentle volee that had inspired his greatness. Though there were few schools in the section wiher the Llncolns had tskeo up their abode. Nancy Hanks Lincoln Insisted that her son and daughter be educated. Her shiftless easy-going husband eould Just write his name, and though she was con sidered educated for her time and station, her knowledge of the rudi mentary elements of the v language was limited. It must be admitted, though, that her native ability far ex ceeded her acquired stock of learn ing, epd had she lived at a more re cent time, would most probably have been able to 'match well her wit against the brains of the modernly brilliant. Abraham Lincoln and his sister oc casionally attended school, but the sessions were short and far between and the school budding so far distant that many miles had to be trudged before reaching it. There was a kindly priest, and later a Baptist minister, whose fortune It was to teach to read and write the boy who wau destined to serve his country as its highest officer. When he was 8 yesrs old, his step father decided that he would move hla family from Kentucky farther West. Tom Lincoln had heard of the wonderful fertility of the soil and the scarcity of laborers In .Illlnola, and expecting to find a perfect El dorado, he set out on a tour of in spection. When he returned, it was for his wife and children and their cant supply of clothes 2nd Sous furnishings. There was no wagon in which to carry the earthly possessions of the little family Into the new coun try. On two borrowed horses, one of which Mrs. Lincoln snd her daugh ter rode, while Abe and Mr. Lincoln walked beside the other that carried their entire stoek of house furnish ings, the four turned their faces to ward another State. i The time of their Betting out was a crisp autumn day. The landscape was gorgeous In Its gala attire. As familiar scenes faded with each stage ef the Journey and with them all re- minders, so. also did the gloom of the past Ufa vanish, like magic, from the tired countenance f Nancy Lincoln. The past was the past the future a blight, and beautiful country of for getfulnesa, and she would soon begin life anew. Soon after their destination had been reached, Tom Lincoln began the wicvuvi mi livui 1 1 m . u ... been finished before his wife sickened and died. The boy Lincoln helped with hts own hands to shape the wooden bot In which they placed his another, gad his hands too helped dig the gra-r !nf which they buried her. With bit young rntnd for the first In Its ewfal realities and suffering as enrjr one) of his aensitlve nature is capable of suffering, he sought con solation In the promises of the here after, His mother had spoken In an understanding way of the Immortality f the soul and In Imagination the son delighted to follow her la ' the splrR realm. Ever afterward ha was accustomed to speak ef Nancy Hanks as tha "angel mother.". ? - Many historians contend thtt there was always tha shadowy and power ful personality of the dead woman Iesdlng. grinding and tnflusnclng the man's Ufa. Whether therg wai ar was net, Is a matter of speculation, but there Is I the undisputed truth of the wonder i ful Impressions that her teachings ,&ad already made on one so young, j There were principles inculcated In (to the young brain that expanded i with the years; there was an ener getic germ of Insatiable desire "to be" and 'to do" that none but the ambttfous hands of Nancy Hanks had implanted. There was also one sentence of the mother's that never for one moment escaped the boy's memory it was the history of his heritage. "Tou have as good Virginia blood in your vein as had Qeorge Washington," she had said, "and you must stuJy and make something of yourself and some day be a great man." Before his mother had been dead a year. Tom Lincoln, hla stepfather, went back to Kentucky on a visit, leaving his sister and himself behind. His stay was a short one and when he returned it was to bring with him a wife and stepmother for his or phans. If tha Lincoln children had any horror of the woman who had so soon taken their mother's place. It was soon dispelled, for she proved a real mother to them In every sense of the word and they loved her very tenderly. Besides her cheerful, af fectionate nature she had brought In to her new home more household comforts than the little family had ever before been accustomed to. Be fore her coming Abe Lincoln had climbed each night, by means of pegs stuck In the log-chinks, to the tiny loft of the cabin and there slept on a bed of leaves- When the fearful storms came, the wind and rain would beat upon him, making his surroundings even more deplorable. All thia the kind hands of Sarah Bush, the stepmother, changed. The chinks and roof of the cabin were mended and Abe was given a com fortable bed with plenty of warm covering. Still better for the lonely melan choly boy, he was given a place in the warm heart of the newcomer. Under her Influence his very nature changed and developed on different lines. Love, the revealer, had with it intuitive powers laid bare the heart of the stepson, and she set out with an unbroken resolve to handle the delicate nature in a way to pre serve, rather than make gross, the tender organism. Of course there were still melan choly, dreamy days in the life of the boy, but these were supplemented with days of work and the happy companionship and cheer of a bright and practical woman. ' If tha stepmother felt any jealous pangs of the "angel mother" of whom she had so much, she never gave any evidence of it and none were ever so unjust as to accuse her of such, but rather have recorded to her memory that she nurtured rather than uprooted the seeds the other woman had Implanted Into the hearts of her children. Nancy Hank's legacy to her son ran one of melancholy and brooding dreams of greatness, and the capable directing mind and hands of the step mother made real the possibility of fulfilment, in that she always en couraged and never discouraged. We are- told that Sarah Bush was mother wise rather than bookwlse and that from her the fast developing boy learned honor, peraerverance, cheerfulness and bravery in sur mounting the tides of misfortune. Mlsa Proctor, one of the Lincoln his torians, says of the life of the boy, af ter the coming of the second mother: 'Tor eleven years, hla life was as sunny and cheerful as she. at least, could make it When her mission was. ended and he went into the world at last to begin that notable future of greatness and goodness, It would be difficult to say, fairly, whoae son he most was " It it not guess work to say that in the years ef his fame, the Influence of the two women stood out so clear ly defined and separate that none were ever at a loss to distinguish be tween the Impressions of the pioneer woman Nancy Hanks, In his sensa tlvc. abstracted, melancholy brood ing characteristics and those of Barah Bvsh in his forceful, cheery, patient snd hopeful manners. In one sense of the word then, at least, Lincoln van not the eon of one, but two women. The yeara bridging the boyhood and manhood of the youth embraced the proverbial day of toil and nights of study with only an open wood fire for a lamp. From one lowly occupa tion to another he shifted until final ly he began that gradual climb that ended with the opening vista of the future revealing him a man of no or dti.sry Intellect nearlng the goal of hla highest ambition. With manhood came the warming of his tender heart towarda those of the opposite sex. There is the record of three love af fairs in the Ufa of Lincoln. Mabel Potter Daggert says of them: "There was a wild-rose slip of a girl In a slatted blue sunbonnet with whom he walked the lanes of hla homespun days. There wr a clever cultured woman, whoae brilliant in tellect lighted his ascending way in the Illinois. Legislature. And tfiere was ths belle of the gay social set at Springfield who fluttered across his pathway" as it led to Washington. One he loved, on hs tried to and one he married. These were the wom en that h courted. They loved Lincoln- To there ths greatest American was far nearer than a lofty figure on a high pedestal. They beard hla heart-beats." I;, ltl , en flatbost, Lincoln float ed down tha Sangamon river to a small town. New Salem, near Spring field. Ilk X few days after arriving In the town he was hired- as tiers: in the villaga store ' From all account tha young man's appeeranc at that" time was anything but prepossessing. Ha Is said to have been tall, lank and tin. rstnJy, His M - shoes were rough brosTWsoraeWm" frotfseTt-irgr of flax and both too tight and too short - . . His first place of honor among ths village folk was his appointment to captain of the local militia. ; He gain ed in social position as he thrashed the? bwlly of the town, became post, master, argued cases before the local justice of the peace and , finally ran lor the Legislature-: .? - - .The most important man of New Salem, social! and financially, was James Rutledg. a frontiersman who several-years prerloas to that time had moved from South Carolina to Il linois. As keeper of tha Tillage tar raw Lincoln became - Intimately ac- , qualnted with him while a boarder In Ala house. The tavern keepers daughter has been described as a very beautiful and attractive girl and engaged to one John McNeill, reck oned a rich man among the New Salem people, since he possessed 112, 000. Shortly after Lincoln's coming to New Salem John McNeill went back to his old home In New York State to visit hia relatives. For a while the letters came regularly to his llancee left behind, but suddenly they ceased. After some weeks had elapsed and still no letter came. Ann Kutledce Igrew fearful. The neighbors began to talk of desertion and a look of des pair gradually crept into her bright face. To the postofflce she continued to go and in a pathetic, pleading tone asked of Postmaster Lincoln: "Isn't there a letter to-day?" And he Would silently shake his head. The pity of a woman in distress appealed to the hart of the great man and it wasn't long before his sympathy was diag nosed as something nearer and dear er. When the many other admirers of Ann Rutledge were at her feet, in the days before she was nanceed to John McNeill, Lincoln had stood at a dis tance and dared to admire, but his lack of self-contldence, his deprecia tion of his own ability In competi tion kept him from joining the throng. But at last, when an oppor tunity presented itself for him to of fer sympathy, he was by no tneans low In availing himself of It. The hurt inflicted by the unfaithful Mc Neill eased in the friendship that grew between Ann Rutledge and the vil lage postmaster. The two became al most inseparable Lincoln confided his ambitions to her. helped her with her domestic duties and taught her grammar. Finally, after having been absent from New Salem for some week's, from the Illinois capital where he had served as a member of the Legislature Lincoln returned unex pectedly. Ann greeted him more cor dially than before and scrutinizing her happy face, he realized that she at last loved him. A few nights afterward, he accom panied her to a "quilting" and while the others of the party kept up a perfect din of noise with their gay chatter, hed rew nearer to her and in a whispered voice told her that he loved her. The pretty face grew red In confusion, the head drooped and the needle fell from the nervous fingers of Ann Rutledjte. "But I'm promised; promised still to him'' was her whispered reply. "Him! He's forfeited all right," the young man insisted, and he added, "Anyhow, you no longer love him." The girl wrote one last letter to McNeill, breaking her engagement When no answer came to It, she gave her heart Into the keeping of the man she had learned to love so ten derly. And her second love was dearer and more satisfying than the first had been, for it had grown out of her respect and appreciation of the great man's character. Some historians say that Lincoln was never sure of the whole heart of Ann Rutledge and that of Itself made him love the more desperately. But that statement Is utterly false,, and there is no reason to believe that the girl ever looked with anything save horror to the possible return of John McNeill and his claiming her for his wife. Shortly after Lincoln became en gaged he left New Salem for Spring field to begin the study of law and when those studies would he com pleted, he and Ann Rutledge had planned to be married. "Then sweet heart." he had said au they dlscunsed tne euDjeet. naming on uoa s iooi stool shall keep us apart." Through the summer that followed he went often to New Salem to visit his sweetheart. His last visit before her Illness was on July 16th, when he had coma from Springfield to spend her birthday with her. Soon after his return she was taken des perately ill of fever. One day In Aug ust, as she lay ill and the doctors had given no hope of her recovery, ths father sent a messenger to Abraham Lincoln. The lover answered the summons immediately, riding all night on horseback that he might reach her bedside before it was too late. Travel stained and weary, he reached the home In the morning. All the family left the bedchamber of the sick wom an that the two might spent those last precious moments alone. When Lincoln at last left the room, there was imprinted on his countenance the scar of that anguish that had ravished his soul the grief-driven furrows furrows that time refused to obliter ate, and In his heart everlastingly pic tured was one face, one form, one name Ann Rutledge. On August 26th the young woman died. Lincoln stood by the open grave as they lowered her precioas form and when the clods with their dismal thump fell on the coffin, he sobbed In awful agony, "my heart la buried there." For days he would neither eat nor sleep, but roamed aimlessly about. In sane with grief. When the winter storms came, and the wind and rain beat upon the little mound in the cemetery, his sufferings were keeneat. "I cannot bear It! I cannot bear AtV he moaned, "that the rain . and the storm shall beat on her grave.'' There were tlmea when his grief raged wild est and his friends watched htm lest be end his own life: When Ann Rutledge had been bur led two montha John McNeill, ths supposed faithless lover, returned bringing with him his mother, sisters and brothers. An illness had befallen him on his way borne; his fstber's death Just after reaching there had corsplred with other things to delay hla return. He was soon told of Ann's death and wept bitterly with those that had loved her. Time, however, healed his wound and he afterwards married, but it Is said that when an old man his voice choked with emo tion whenever the name of his former sweetheart was mentioned. Ths tempestuous grief of Lincoln lulled Into a heartache of which he waa never rid. Hs again took his place in ths business world and mingled freely with old and new friends, but hs was aver sfterwardt itrJtHo"Tertsdv'e Tnehrrae-helywai of which no mortal could divert him. In. explanation of his peculiar conduct, he ones said to a friend In after years: "Even though to others. I seem to be enjoying life rapturously, yet when I am alone, I am so much overcome by mental depression that at times I dare not carry even my poeketknlfe." . in New Salem there was a woman who admired Lincoln greatly on ac count of his sterling qualities. She was Mrs. Bennett Able, originally from Kentucky and a woman of wealth and high social position. On ons occasion when Mrs. Able was making prepara tions for a visit bom, she said Joking ly to the youmr man; "I'll bring my sister back for you to marry." and Lincoln responded. "All right." When I Mrs. Abe returned, the sister accom- I and was much impressed with the cleverness of the brilliant girl. He soon found himself so Interested In her that he was giving her his un divided attention Suddenly, one day, he realized that the woman had every right to believe that his attentions might mean mar riage. Wishing above all things else to oe rignt in his dealings with an mankind, especially woman, he felt in honor bound to propose to her. Had Mary Owene believed that Lin coln loved her with his whole heart, shi would have undoubtedly said, "yes," but hia courtship had lacked the order and enthusiasm that char acterized that of a man really and truly In love. Mrs. Daggett says: "She kept the young man waiting in such blind uncertainty that she al most made him lover her as he him self afterwards admitted. He only felt that way, however, when It became plain to his astonished sense that the lady was not overcome with the honor of his proposal. While he con sidered himself really in danger of ac ceptance he was writing from Spring field in this vein: "Friend Mary: I am often think ing what we said of your coming to live at Springfield. I am afraid you would not be satisfied. What I hav said I will positively a$lde by, provid ed you wish it. My opinion is that you had better not do it. Tou have not been accustomed to hardship, and It may be more severe than you Imag ine. I know you are capable of think ing correctly upon any subject, and If you deliberate maturely on thia before you dtolde, then I am willing to abide by your decision. " 'Yours, etc., " LINCOLN-' " Mrs. Daggett also records a state ment of Lincoln's made shortly after the recorded letter was written, In which one sees jtill more clearly how the young man felt about his probable marriage. He wrote of his love affair to a friend: "Through life, I have been In no bondage, real or imaginary, from the thraldom of which I so much desired to be free; I now spend my time in planning how I might procrastinate the evil day for a time, which I really dreaded as much as, perhaps, more than, an Irishman does the halter." The next love affair in which Lin coln became entangled had not the ending of his second. It was during his early political campaign in Spring field that he met Mary Todd, the sister of Mrs. Nlnlan Edwards, and the gay belle of the exclusive social set In which the Edwardses moved. Strange as It may seem, she, too, as Mary Owens, and himself was a Kentuck tan born. Lincoln became attracted by her bright manners and soon Join ed the large throng of her admlrera Mrs. Edwards, seeing that her sister preferred the ungainly, penniless law yer to her other suitors, gave a timely word of warning in regard to ths dif ference In their rearing and social position. Stephen Douglas, another young politician of the town, laid siege to Mary Todd's heart. As the emancipator in later years out rivaled him in the political campaign when they ran against each other for President, so also did he stand first in the young woman's affection. A historian records the amusing in cident of Mr. Douglas having accom panied his sweetheart to the home of a friend in the country. When he waa about to return he teaalngly ask ed, "Now, Mary, 1 am going back to Springfield, what message shall I bear to Lincoln?" The message she bade him carry was, "Tell him I long to rest in Abraham's bosom." In the course of time she and Mr. Lincoln became engaged. But Ann Rutledge still held sway over hts heart and In the daily realization of such he felt that he must break his en gagement with Mary Todd. At length he told her that he couldn't marry her as he didn't lov her as he should. The gay girl burst Into tears and the tender heart of the man was so moved at her grief that he took her Into his arms and kissed her, not mentioning again the purpose of his visit. On the night of January 1st, 1141. the time set for the nuptials, when the wedding supper had been pre pared and the guests had assembled, the bridegroom was tardy. For two hours Miss Todd sat nervously await ing his srrtval. But no Lincoln ap peared! The guests dispersed and the friend who had gone In search of him found him at daybreak almost Insane. The memory of Ann Rutledge had again overtaken him Just as his wed ding vows were about to be said and had threatened to overthrow his reason. After a few months the brain storm subsided and he became once more his normal self In relating his trouble to a friend at the time, he said: "I am the most miserable man living. If what f feel were equally distributed to the whole human family there would not be one cheerful face on earth." Later he wrote another friend: "Since the fatal 1st of January. 1841. It seems to me that I would have been entirely happy but for tha never-abr.ent idea that there Is one still unhappy, whom I have contributed to make so. That kills my soul." Wlen some months had elapsed, a mutual friend of Lincoln and Mary Todd brought about a reconciliation and the two were very quietly mar ried soon after. It was said that the expression on the bridegroom's face when the vows were being ssld was anything but a happy one and the stories related ef his peculiar conduct Just preceding the ceremony Indicate that bo felt he was doing his duty rather than his pleasure. The young couple were too poor to own a house or even go to housekeeping. Thev boarded with a widow of Springfield until after their first son. Robert Todd Lincoln, was born. Mrs. Lincoln was very ambitious, politically, for her husband and it was with keen satisfaction that four years after their marriage she sew him de feat In a congressional race so popu lar a man as Peter Cartwrlght. After having served one term in Congress Lincoln returned to Springfield and r;araa Txtie- of . hta.ficoXes, slon. Twelve years Ister. from Chicago, where the national Republican con vention was being held came to him the message that hs had received the nomlnstlon for President ef ths Unit ad States. When his friends thronged about him. offering congratulations, hs withdrew front them, explaining that hs must carry ths dispatch to a llttlie woman down at his house who would be Interested to hear about It. Ths advent of the Llncolns into the White House occurred on year later. Tbelr Ufa there was destined to be anything but a happy ons. The war cloud threatened and the Southern aristocracy that had formed so con spicuous a part In the social life of the governmental centre returned to their Southern homes. Another order succeeded them and the new regime differed radically from the old Both Mr. and Mrs Lincoln were ridiculed in everything they did or undertook to do. In the midst of their social unrest their second son, Willie Lin coln, died. Their home thereafter waa considered a place of mourning and no social functions took place for several years. When the war cloud burst the fam ily was In anything but an enviable position, with Mr. Lincoln at tne neaa of the Federal government and Mrs Lincoln's two sisters' husbands In the Confederate army. The dreadful responsibility of being war President bore down upon him, making his nights sleepless and his days days of gloom. The national heartache cut deeper furrows on the countenance of this "man of sorrows'' and the nation's need of him, alone served to keep hi physical being stimulated to withstand the exhaus tive strain. At the War Department In Wash ington, friends and relatives were allowed to call end make Inquiries concerning the campaign and also pre sent petitions for special favors. Be side this Lincoln set aside two hours each out of two days In every week in which persons might call and seek the same help of him. His broad humanity is vividly pic tured In a story that Mr. Oppennelm tells In the February Designer of a girl who took advantage of the offered privilege and plead for the life of her sweetheart. The agitated countenance. as the writer describes mat or tne young woman, appealed to the Presi dent before she had made known to him her mission. As she sobbed out that she had come to beg for the life of Robert Miller, condemned to be shot for sleeping at his post, Lincoln's face took on that expression that al ways characterized its tenderness when he beheld one in distress. "That'll bad," he replied. "How much time is left?" "They are going to kill him to-morrow," was the answer "Is he your brother?" the President further questioned. "No." "Then you love him?" "Tes yes " After a prolonged silence Lincoln spoke again. His voice was as gentle as a woman's. Visions of the past were submerging him. In fancy, he saw another woman one that he had loved long ago Ann Rutledge, a sweet, pure girl who had died of typhoid fever. Yes, he waa sure she would have pleaded for hla life had it ever been necessary. "You want me to save his life?" he continued. "You must," was the pathetic reply. "I can't," ha answered her, almost in a groan. The undaunted girl continued to plead her cause and when the Presi dent had learned that the boy had served on picket duty the night pre vious to his turn for a friend and without sleep for forty-eight hours, had fallen ssleep on his duty night ss he stood, he determined to at least Investigate his case. With the young woman hs left the White House for the headquarters of the sentenced soldier's regiment. As he walked along he kept up a con tinual conversation. He was very happy; the war was nearly ended and already he felt his load lightening. At length he laughed and said: "I had a dream last night. I think It's a good sign. I think that Sherman Is going to heat Johnston and then i no more fighting. I'll tell you about it I mean the dream: I found my self In a singular and Indescribable vessel, moving with great rapidity to ward a dark and indefinite shore. And I was vary happy. I have never been so happy In my life And to-day Is Good Friday, and It's four yeara to day since the fall of Sumter." After a pause of some length, he continued: "But a little while ago I had a curious dream a bad dream. It was after a very anxious day; I was sur rounded by a dea'h-llk stillness; sud deenly it was broken by a sound as if s multitude were weeping. But I couldn't see them. I went wander ing from room to room; everything was familiar, everything visible only I couldn't see where the sobbing came from. I became puzzled more and more even alarmed, and then I came to the East Room. And right in the centre lay a corpse surrounded by soldiers, and the room waa full of mourners. 'Who Is dead?' I asked the guard. The President,' answered one of them: 'he was killed by an assassin.' And all burst out grosnlng and woke me." It was not many days after Lincoln pardoned the young soldier that one of his dreams came true. The inde scribable happiness that he expe rienced in those April days and about which he commented to so many of his friends, he attributed In part to the fast closing hostilities. His wife, however, seemed to consider It sn III omen and Intimated her fears to Lin coln thus: "I have seen you this way only once before; it Just before our dear Willie died." On April 18th, 1S3, Good Friday, he Invited Oeneral and Mrs. Orant to go with him to Ford's Theatre to witness a performance of "Our Amer ican Cousin." During one of the acts Wilkes Booth, a member of the theat rical troupe, walked out on the por tion of "the stags nearest the Presi dent's box and fired toward him. In flicting a mortal wound. He was Im mediately removed to a house close by and died the following day. In ths many summaries and retro spections of Lincoln's life and charac ter, historians have attributed to him more personalities than any other mortal man was ever possessor of. "Tenderness and sympathy are the chief constituents to a nature that had malice toward none and charity for all," says George Lemmon In his article. 'The Feminine Element In Lincoln." appearing in the March De lineator. Of the theme under discus sion the writer says: "The obeervstlon was made by .Colartdgf tbjat '9, rflljivthrown to the surface of human affairs ever succeed ed 1n simultaneously gaining distinc tion and affection unless he possessed something of sn epicene nature that rs to say, a mixture ef masculine and feminine quellti.' Abraham Lincoln notably incarnated this blending of the sex-vslse of the rsee, and In this unique amalgam - may be discovered the roots of that marvelous person ality that astounded ths nation as he rose to ths demands cf ths successive crises of hts tern pest ions administra tion, the rarest master of men who was over lifted br cbanc or design Into the sest ef th nighty. "It was bis veiled yet strenuous masculinity that made htm ths mus- icular conqueror of hia youthful com ; panions, the witty champion of the hustings, the unchallenged leader of . the Illinois bar. the equal and by far cleaner methods in practical poll tlca of Weed and Cameron; the tn , structor In statecraft of Seward and Adam. the forecaster with a pre science uncanny of the military strategy of Grant and other leading campaigners snd an absolutely in comparable statesman In moulding and fanhl'nlng the antagonistic fac tions In House. Senate and Cabinet and among the Council of War Gov ernors. Here was an all-around mas culinity which usually quickly won all hearts and which even compelled the finally whole-hearted homage of such egotists as Chase and such autocrats as Stanton. "But there was immeasurable fem ininity in him, also, and It waa this permeating womanliness that made him the mystic, pondering hl dreams, heeding, even coming to Took for pre monitions, ready to Investigate the spiritualistic fads of hla day, ami. more than all, it was this that made him the ereat heart who could see neither bird, beast nor man suffer while he had It In his power to re- ; lleve. It was the woman in Lincoln that sent him back to lift the mud mired sow from her plight, that ten derly returned the fallen fledgling to Its nest in the White House grounds; that wrote the pardoning autograph to the appeals of so many of the boys of the Blue armies that martinets de spaired of discipline. It was the woman in him that told him that the wives and mothers and daughters who prayed at morning, noon and night with windows opened toward the South, and who scanned every war bulletin with that indescribable dread which only the motherhood of armies know, were as worthy of his and the nation's praise as the bravest of those who sped to bullets and swung sabers in the combat, and hia ear was ever open to their petition. "It wss the marvelous amalga mating of these differing sex charac teristics In him that made him such a surprisingly acute student and inter preter of the great poetry of the ages. That he was such a master, especially of Shakespeare and Burns, was one of the surprises of all who came to know him intimately In Washington and is something that even to this day is but little grasped by many of his srdent admirers. Yet he so dug to the roots and grasped the core thoughts of many poems, so imper sonated their pathos as to amass all who were privileged to sit with him when such moods were stirring, and not the least astounded were the great tragedians of the period whom he welcomed to lie White House and with whom he talked with marvelous Insight concerning their art and its greatest tasks. To this blending of sex-temperament in him must be as scrlbed his capacity to understand the heart of the South and Its problems aa seen by both masters and slaves. It was this that freed him from that spltefulness and acerbity so rife In much of the abolition oratory before the war and In the war-fevered rant tngs of the years of the contest. In Intense detestation In the traffle in human flesh he waa surpassed not even by Garrison or John Brown. Never, from that first sight of actual slavery, when he beheld an unfortunate New Orleans negress on the auctlon-Dlock, had he felt other than horror for this Iniquity, constitutionally entrenched In the nation's life, but he knew be neath much skin that was black, even as beneath much akin that waswhite. there rioted all the passions of the beast. Slavery did not make all whites fiends, nor all blacks sngels. He realised aa few abolitionists In the North stopped to realize, that senti ment needed to be held strongly In leash lest msnumiselon work worse Ills than It cured. He knew the Southern whites, and he waa aware that, while Harriet Beecher 8towe might be justified In painting Legree to arouse a lethargic North, the actual truth waa that all slaveholders were not Legreea nor all slaves Uncle Tom." In portraying the mother-spirit of Lincoln Mr. Lemmon says: "It Is the mother who, better than the father, knows how to dull the edge of ani mosities and Jealousies among antago' nlstlo children of the same family. It was tha mother-spirit in Lincoln which gave him eyes to see and heart to feel for the whole distempered family of the Bouth; which made him slow to wrath, swift with mercy, ready with expedients and which, through him. would have reknit the Union by far different methods of reconstruct tlon, had not fate robbed the South of her best and most Intelligently sympathetic friend In the hour of her greatest need. "Lincoln has been Ingenuously com pared to most of the great men of the world Caesar, Napoleon, Henry of Navarre. William the Silent, Moges. Luther. Cromwell, Washington. Wil berforce and Bright, but all these lack the unique blending of the sexes we find In him. There is but one charac- j ter, and that confessedly the most unique that history has known, to whom the ali-aroumdseas of Lincoln may be compared. There need be no hesitancy In making this comparison, for there can be no Intimation In It that any of His divine characteristics found counterpart in America's great commoner, yet in the fulness and representativeness of actual humanity which ennobled the race In Jesus Lin coln gives better illustration, possibly, than any other of whom we have record. "Lincoln, the common people heard snd followed gladly. He knew their vocabulary, yet the elect minds who came into closest relations with him discovered that which aroused their homage. He was not a woman a man, yet women accorded him their un bounded trust and admiration, dis cerning in him an extraordinary in terpreter of their feelings and sor rows. Above all. he kept himself so young and so Interested himself in ting monument will be erected In th every child that cam within his C0Urt house square of the villag of reach, that he met the greatest test of Hodgenville within a few miles of the the epicene childhood. The children Lincoln farm, by the State of Ken loved him and forgot tha President tuc)iv. Th sculptor. Adoplh Alexaa In th friend, th man in the bit of a der weiomsn. was a student of Saint Joyous romp he remained unto the gaudna. and is recognized aa on of '."iL, . . ...,....;.. , ... LUj leaders In his profession. The ah wiv iniiuntsisDio tKraiiw wt uin- . coins ure the majority of author pay. May 10th. There has been for have used th Presidents mental iomt tlm a preposition under dls--greatness as a dim and shadowy ; cueeion that suggests th reetk of background against which they stood i Memorial and Potomac Bridge at those predominant characteristics of , Washington that will connset that gentleness, honesty and a thousand cjty with Arlington. Near the end of other virtues a smaller number have this bridge It has also been suggested" denied th existence of such a thing tnfcf mother mewerial b erected.. In ss mental greatness in hi make-up. i Chicago Lincoln's snemory will mot The February Review of Reviews con-1 probably be further perperurated br u'n dfens of his mental super-' miUkm dollar auditorium bearing his rarity Baa qutrm uuo wnuri n&vinfj said f him this: "One is that which sets him forth f of ber Immortal dead and Europe re st a great, sad-eyed, emancipator; a" echoes hi fame, - man sf sorrows and acquainted with i grief; an almost supernatural being i who walked with firm but hopeless tread In the wv marked out by & ; cruel destiny. The other ticket marks our war-time President as a droll : humorist, with little Intellect and less ! good taste, but with a queer intuitive) I perception which atood him Instead of both education and brains. The defense reads: "He was the emancipator; and na ture and circumstances combined to paint his mind In sombre hues. Ho waa the humorist as well, and but for the friction-saving oil of his kindly ; wit. he could never have endured th I strain of those fearful years in ths presidency. But with It all and Ulu- minating all was a keen. Incisive, forceful brain. I do not question Lin : coin's moral greatness. I do not ; undervalue his broad humanity, his ; utter unselfishness, his elemental pa ; tlence. But had these qualities not i been guided by a great and oddly ! penetrating intellect . . our ns tlonai temple would be the poorer for the figure of one of la greatest heroes, , But. while libraries have bean filled 1 with praises of moral supremacy, lit tle tius been written and leas ready concerning his mental greatness." Admitting that Lincoln lct his head during fionewall Jackson's raid, th writer offers further explanation: "For the rest he showed himself a master! The skill with which hs divined the proper strategy of the war won as marked aa the patience with; which he tried general after general till he found at last the man who could do the work. Lincoln saw that th wai was strategically a war of con quest, to be settled only by sharp of fensive operations and steady grinding pressure In which the superior weight of the North would be sure to tell- . It was Llncons initiative that started the opening of the Mississippi which cut the Confederacy In two. These are the facts which, seem lo me to mark Lincoln as av really great war President; as a man who, though not a soldier, had a pretty fair understanding of the soldier's trade. And to get that understand lng In the moments snatched from political duties sufficient to wear out the average man, and with no personal experience worth mentioning argue an intellect of the highest type." Of the three charges against Lin coln's mental superiority: ignorance of financial matters; poor judgment of men and failure at th vary first to unit all the Union armies under one field-commander, th author of th magazine sketch answers ths first two satisfactorily. Of th last charge, &tr .havtnor ,1m IftmA that (hiiM mrmm n young Napoleon In th Union army to discover, he says: - "We had m number of men who proved themselves good generals; but we had none who stood out so clearly from the common run as to warrant either haste or Irregularity In raising him to the chief command. Whott Lincoln found th right man to ex ercise that command, it waa conferred without delay and without reserva tion. Qrant was found early and supported heartily." Tha first real literature prepared concerning Lincoln was in 1S(0, when a young newspaper man William Dean Howells, less known then to th reading world than at present, wrote a campaign life of the Republican presidential candidate. The first Lincoln biography of any real value waa prepared and publish ed shortly after hia assassination by Dr. John O. Holland, tha author of "Katrine." k! The most complete official biog raphy of the emancipator Is th ten- volume history compiled by his secre taries, Messrs. Nlcolay and Hay. These gentlemen began their work be fore the President's death and It is said that he encouraged and aide! them In a material way, having turn ed over precious documents to them for their use. Th history completed represented over twenty years' labor on the part of Its authors. The man uscript was sold to the Century maga slne for 150,000. From th large edi tion, several years ago Mr. Nloholay culled the most Important statistical accounts and episodes and named bis condensed work "A Short History of Abraham Lincoln." Before Ida M. Tarbell began her "Life of Abraham Lincoln," she an nounced through the pages of a wide- : ly read magazine that she would be glad to have any person who knew Lincoln personally, to communicate with her. Thousands answered bar. advertisement and the result waa very satisfactory to the author and. interesting to the readers of her book. It has been said that there are only two hooks of fiction in which Lincoln ' appeared as a character. These are. "The Crisis," by Winston Church!!. aiii "The Voice of the People," by El len Glasgow. There have, however, been numbers of tributes paid htm by the poets, as the "Emancipation, Orcup," by John Oreenleaf Whittler. Commemoration Ode," by James Ruseell Lowell, - Captain. O My Cap tain," by Walt Whitman, and "AH Quiet Along the Potomac," by Ethel L. Beers The centenary of Abraham Lin coln's birth, on February ISth of the present year, was observed with all the pomp and ceremony due th mem ory of the great man. North and South combined in the commemora tion, forgetting that Lincoln marked the period when they were enemies .. . I . V .. lauict loan I MCUB. The memorial exercises on Lincoln have not ended with the celebration of February 12th. At least fourteen -States have accepted th day as a yearlv legal holiday and many more in tha future will also adopt it aa such One of th recent magazine says of the Lincoln statu which i to be unveiled In May, "Lincoln's n- tlve State Is by no means indifferent to the fame of her greatest son. A fit- iiiiut mm 09 unveuvu oa juexnonst ggyia America resound with th prais
The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Feb. 21, 1909, edition 1
19
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75