Of The People, Lincoln Was Never Above Them

"Horace Greeley once said ; I doubt whether man, womas or cliild, -white or black, bond or free, virtuous or viclous, ever accosted or reaclied forti] a hand tn Abraham Lincoln and Uetected in in-; oountenance or nianner amy repugaance or shrlnklng irom the proffered contact, any assumptlon oí superiority, or betrayal of di-dain.' 'Frederick Doiiglas, tlie orator and pa-triot, is credited wit.lv eaylog ; 'Mr. Lincoln is tlie only vliita man with wh'om I have ever talkeil, or in whoee preseuce I hare ever been, -vlio UiU net coasciously or unconsciously betray to mO th,a.t hO recognized my eolor.' "Geoi's-c Itancroft, the historian, alluding to this characteristic, whlch was never so coinspicuously maniiested as duriiig tlie darker days oí the war, beautü'ully illustratea it in tliese memorable words : 'As a cliild, on a dark niglit, ou a ruigged Nvay, catehing hold of tliO hand off 4ts lather lor guidance and .support, Lincoln clung fapt to the hand oí the peopto and moved calmly through the gloom.' "