Abraham Lincoln is assuredly one of the marvels of history. No land
but America has produced his like. This destined chief of a nation in
its most perilous hour was the son of a thriftless and wandering
settler. He had a strong and eminently fair understanding, with great
powers of patient thought, which he cultivated by the study of Euclid.
In all his views there was the simplicity of his character. Both as an
advocate and as a politician he was "Honest Abe." As an advocate he
would throw up his brief when he knew that his case was bad. He said
himself that he had not controlled events, but had been guided by
them. To know how to be guided by events, however, if it is not
imperial genius, is practical wisdom. Lincoln's goodness of heart, his
sense of duty, his unselfishness, his freedom from vanity, his long
suffering, his simplicity, were never disturbed either by power or by
opposition. To the charge of levity no man could be less open. Though
he trusted in Providence, care for the public and sorrow for the
public calamities filled his heart and sat visibly upon his brow. His
State papers are excellent, not only as public documents, but as
compositions, and are distinguished by their depth of human feeling
and tenderness, from those of other statesmen. He spoke always from
his own heart to the heart of the people. His brief funeral oration
over the graves of those who had fallen in the war is one of the gems
of the language.