ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Taken at Springfield in 1861. One of the very best.
BEST
Lincoln Stories
TERSELY TOLD.
BY
J. E. GALLAHER.
CHICAGO:
James E. Gallaher & Co.
36, 184 Dearborn St.
Copyright, 1898,
By
James E. Gallaher.
PREFACE.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
How American history would dwindle ifthat name were taken out of it! Washingtonwas great. Grant was great. Leewas great. Many others have been andare great in all the walks of life. ButLincoln, who came out of the lowly heartof the people, will come back nearer tothat heart than any other man probablythat the nation has known. There havebeen men of war and there have been menof peace, but there has been no such manof peace in war as Lincoln.
Why is it we never tire of thinking ofMr. Lincoln personally, nor of speakingof him and his deeds? Is it not because“he was indeed one of the most uniquefigures in history, and one of the most remarkablesurprises of the age?” Whathas he been called by those who knew himbest? “The greatest of patriots, the wisestof rulers, the ablest of men.”
What led to his greatness and causedhim to hold such an extraordinary swayover the people during the most tumultuousof times, when seven states hadseceded and the rebellion was well underway at his inauguration, and when abloody and fiercely contested war was[viii]fought during his administration? I willlet one more competent than myselfanswer. Bishop Fowler, of the First M.E. Church of New York, said:
“What, then, were the elements of Lincoln’sgreatness? To begin with, ‘he wasnot made out of any fool mud,’ and thenhe thoroughly understood himself andknew how to handle his resources. Hismoral sense was the first important traitof his character, his reason the second, andthe third was his wonderful ‘common-sense,’the most uncommon thing foundeven among the great.
“These are the three fixed points on whichhis character hung. Without the first hehad been a villain. Without the second, afool. Without the third, a dreamer. Withthem all he made up himself—AbrahamLincoln.”
It is wonderful how many stories PresidentLincoln told, and still more wonderfulhow many stories are told of him.The late Senator Voorhees, of Indiana,said that Lincoln had more stories thanany other man he had ever met. He hada story for every occasion, and he illustratedeverything by anecdote. Some ofthe best stories current to-day originatedwith Lincoln and hundreds of his beststories have never been published. SenatorVoorhees had preserved a numberwhich he expected to use in lectureswhich he was preparing at the time hedied. He had hoped to live long enoughafter his retirement from public life towrite a book on his personal recollections[ix]of the martyred President, among whi