How American history would dwindle if that name were taken out of it!
Washington was great. Grant was great. Lee was great. Many others have
been and are great in all the walks of life. But Lincoln, who came out of
the lowly heart of the people, will come back nearer to that heart than
any other man probably that the nation has known. There have been men of
war and there have been men of peace, but there has been no such man of
peace in war as Lincoln.
Why is it we never tire of thinking of Mr. Lincoln personally, nor of
speaking of him and his deeds? Is it not because “he was indeed one
of the most unique figures in history, and one of the most remarkable
surprises of the age?” What has he been called by those who knew him
best? “The greatest of patriots, the wisest of rulers, the ablest of men.”
What led to his greatness and caused him to hold such an extraordinary
sway over the people during the most tumultuous of times, when seven
states had seceded and the rebellion was well under way at his
inauguration, and when a bloody and fiercely contested war was fought
during his administration? I will let one more competent than myself
answer. Bishop Fowler, of the First M. E. Church of New York, said:
“What, then, were the elements of Lincoln’s greatness? To
begin with, ‘he was not made out of any fool mud,’ and then
he thoroughly understood himself and knew how to handle his
resources. His moral sense was the first important trait of
his character, his reason the second, and the third was his
wonderful ‘common-sense,’ the most uncommon thing found even
among the great.
“These are the three fixed points on which his character hung.
Without the first he had been a villain. Without the second, a
fool. Without the third, a dreamer. With them all he made up
himself--Abraham Lincoln.”
It is wonderful how many stories President Lincoln told, and still more
wonderful how many stories are told of him. The late Senator Voorhees,
of Indiana, said that Lincoln had more stories than any other man he
had ever met. He had a story for every occasion, and he illustrated
everything by anecdote. Some of the best stories current to-day
originated with Lincoln and hundreds of his best stories have never been
published. Senator Voorhees had preserved a number which he expected to
use in lectures which he was preparing at the time he died. He had hoped
to live long enough after his retirement from public life to write a book
on his personal recollections of the martyred President, among which
would have been included many stories.
The late David Davis, of Illinois, before whose court Lincoln practiced
so often, once said that there were but three men in the world who
thoroughly understood Abraham Lincoln--himself, Leonard Swett, of
Chicago, and Daniel W. Voorhees. All these three men are dead.
In gathering material for this work the editor has exercised due care
in accepting only such stories as bore the impress of truth. It is his
hope that this little volume will be eagerly welcomed in every home which
venerates the name of Abraham Lincoln, and that it will be an inspiration
to every boy of the land who, in looking to Lincoln for an ideal, should
ever remember that
Honor and shame from no condition rise;
Act well your part; there all the honor lies.