The Lincoln apotheosis is much more satisfactory than the Napoleon
apotheosis. Lincoln is not only our own, but a greater, purer, sweeter,
really stronger man than Napoleon. It is a good thing to bring out
the little-known portraits of Lincoln. What a marvelous face! It is
full of strength--with just enough of the big child in it to kindle
love and sympathy. Has anyone ever noticed the way in which Lincoln’s
face is cast on the lines of the North American Indian? We have never
heard that Lincoln had Indian blood in him; but take any of his good,
beardless portraits, with front or nearly front view; add to it a shock
of straight hair parted in the middle and falling down, either straight
or in two braids, on the shoulders; add a feather to it; clothe the body
in a blanket and let it take an Indian stoop; and no one would question
that the man was an aborigine. The face has the gravity of the Indian
countenance, but not the impassiveness that we read about; but Indian
faces, after all, are seldom impassive. The face of Lincoln, who was
not an Indian, has more of the aborigine in it than of that other great
President, Benito Juarez, who was an Indian.