An eminent member of the Illinois bar, one who has been closely
identified with the legal history of Illinois for nearly sixty years,
and who is perhaps the best living authority on the history of the
State, writes:
That portion of the biography of Mr. Lincoln that appears in
the November number of McCLURE'S MAGAZINE I have read with
very great interest. It contains much that has not been
printed in any other life of Lincoln. Especially interesting
is the account given of pioneer life of that people among whom
Mr. Lincoln had his birth and his early education. It was a
strange and singular people, and their history abounds in
much that is akin to romance and peculiar to a life in the
wilderness. It was a life that had a wonderful attractiveness
for all that loved an adventurous life. The story of their
lives in the wilderness has a charm that nothing else in
Western history possesses. It is to be regretted that there
are writers that represent the early pioneers of the West to
have been an ignorant and rude people. Nothing can be further
from the truth. Undoubtedly there were some dull persons among
them. There are in all communities. But a vast majority of the
early pioneers of the West were of average intelligence
with the people they left back in the States from which
they emigrated. And why should they not have been? They were
educated among them, and had all the advantages of those by
whom they were surrounded. But in some respects they were much
above the average of those among whom they dwelt in the older
communities east of the Alleghany Mountains. The country
into which they were about to go was known to be crowded
with dangers. It was a wilderness, full of savage beasts and
inhabited by still more savage men--the Indians. It is evident
that but few other than the brave and most daring, would
venture upon a life in such a wilderness. The timid and less
resolute remained in the security of an older civilization.
The lives of these early pioneers abounded in brave deeds,
and were often full of startling adventures. The women of that
period were as brave and heroic as were the men--if not more
so. It is doubtless true Mr. Lincoln's mother was one of that
splendid type of heroic pioneer women. He was brave and good
because his mother was brave and good. She has since become
distinguished among American women because her child, born in
a lowly cabin in the midst of a wild Western forest, has since
been recognized as the greatest man of the century--if not of
all centuries. It was fortunate for our common country that
Mr. Lincoln was born among that pioneer people and had his
early education among them. It was a simple school, and the
course of studies limited; but the lessons he learned in that
school in the forest were grand and good. Everything around
and about him was just as it came from the hands of the
Creator. It was good, and it was beautiful. It developed
both the head and the heart. It produced the best type of
manhood--both physical and mental. It was in that school he
learned lessons of heroism, courage, and of daring for the
right. It was there he learned lessons of patriotism in its
highest and best sense; and it was there he learned to love
his fellow-man. It was in the practice of those lessons his
life became such a benediction to the American nation.
The story of that people among whom Mr. Lincoln spent his
early life will always have a fascination for the American
people; and it is a matter of congratulation so much of it has
been gathered up and put into form to be preserved.
The portraits the work contains give a very good idea of that
pioneer race of men and women. The one given of Mr. Lincoln's
step-mother is a splendid type of a pioneer woman. A touching
contribution are the brief lines of which a facsimile is
printed:
"Abraham Lincoln
his hand and pen
he will be good but
God knows When."
These words--simple as they are--will touch the heart of the
American people through all the years of our national history.
It was "his hand and pen" that wrote many beautiful thoughts.
It was his "hand and pen" that wrote those kindest of all
words, "With malice towards none, with charity for all." It
was his "hand and pen" that traced the lines of that wonderful
Gettysburg speech; and it was his "hand and pen" that wrote
the famous proclamation that gave liberty to a race of slaves.
It was then God knew he was "good."
If the remainder of the work shall be of the same character as
that now printed, it will be both an instructive and valuable
contribution to American biography.
There is so much in Mr. Medill's editorial in the Chicago "Tribune,"
and he is entitled to speak with such authority, that we print it
complete herewith.
Mr. Medill says: