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Ingersoll On Lincoln

Ingersoll On Lincoln image
Parent Issue
Day
16
Month
February
Year
1883
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

The following is Col. Kopert li. Ingersoll's introduction to a lecture, delivered a Wasliington by Mr. Kidd, who was once crier of a court in whieh Abrahana Lincoln of ten practiced law: "We are to hear this evening a lecture about Abraham Lincoln. Not about Lincoln the president, the preserver of a nation; nor about Lincoln the statesnian or the liberator, but about Lincoln the lawyer- somcthing about liim as he really was before he feil heir to agony and fame- something about his peculiarities, his habits, his thoughts and common that is tosay, his daily life."Nearly all the character ot history are impossible monsters. We know nothing about their peculiarities, or nothing but their peculiarities. Washington is only a steel engraving. About the roots of these oaks there clings none of the earth of humanity. Lincoln had the advantage of living n a new country, of social equality, of seeing in the horizon of his future the perpetual star of hope. He saw and niingled with men of all kinds: and, after all, men are books. He became acquaintcd with nature- with things; helived and appreciated the poem of the vear. "It is no advanUgo to live in a city. The fields are better than paved streets, . and the great forests than walls oí brick. üaks and elms are more poetie than the stacks and chimneys of faetones. In the country is the idea of home. There you see the rising and setting sun; you become acquainted with the stars and clouds; you hear the rain upon the roof, and listen to the sighing of the wind. Every field is a picture, a landscape; every landscape is a poem, and everr forest is a fairy land. "You have no idea of how many men are spoiled by what is called 'education.' For the most part colloges are places whero bricks are polished and diamonds spoiled. If Shakespeare liad graduated at Oxford he might have become a quibbling attorney or a hypocritical parson. "Lincoln was a many-sided man. He was aequainted with smiles, as well as tears. He was never afraid to ask. He was not too dignified to admit that hc did not know. He was not solemn. Solemnity, as a rule, Is a inask, hiding the features of ignorance, and whenever a man is too dignified to ask he ceases to learn. Lincoln was a combiuation of wisdom and shrewdness. He was a logician. Logic is the necessary product of iutelligence and honesty. lt cannot be learned; it cannot be tanght. It is the good ehild of .a good head and a good heart. He had intellect without arrogance, genius without j)ride, and religión without cant - that is to say, humanity without hypoorisy. He was aa orator - that is to say, he was natural. He never pretended. He did not say what he thought others thought, but what he thought. "If you wish to be sublime, you must keep close to the grass. You must sit by the tiresidc of human expenence, of human emotion. Above the clouds it is too cold. Too much polish suggests insineerity. If you wish to know the difference between an orator and a speaker, between what is feit and what is said, read Lincoln's immortal words at Gettysburg, and then resul the speech of Edwarcf Everett. The onc gathered llowers from his heart, the other words from his brain. The words of Lincoln will never be forgotten. The speech of Everett will never be read. The elocutionists believe the virtue of voice, the sublimity of syntax, the majesty of long sentences and the genius of gesture. Great ideas should be expressed in the shortest words. The greatest statues shonld have the least drapery. "líothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity; but if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test. It is the glory of Lincoln that, haring almost absolute power, he never abused it except on the side of mercy. He would never turn a man out of even the smallest oflice, and leave a stain upon his name, without having given him nill and ampie hearing. He loved to pardon. He loved to see the tears of joy upon the cheeks of a wife whose husband he had rescued from death. "He will be known through all the years as Lincoln the. Great, Lincoln th Gentle, Lincoln the Just."