CHAPTER XXIV.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN stands before the world as one of the most remarkable characters in modern history, such an one as America alone could produce. In no other country could a boy, born in the lowest walks of life, oppressed by seemingly hopeless poverty and without any external advantages save those which nature furnished, aspire to so lofty a career. And even here it is still a marvel that the ragged, ignorant and uncouth backwoods boy may yet become President.

From his earliest boyhood Lincoln's intellectual growth was regular and vigorous. His adverse surroundings only served to stimulate him to increased effort. He had the heart of a pioneer and was not afraid to forsake the paths which had been trodden by his ancestors to strike out into roads which were as dangerous as they were unknown.

His boldness in ignoring precedent, and his confidence in his own ability to overcome the difficulties with which he was surrounded, had their origin in the hardships and privations of his early life. The barren farm and the gloomy woods were hard training schools, but they were thorough and effective, and his whole life showed their influence. Had he been brought up under more favorable surroundings, his

character could never have developed the peculiar traits which made his career possible. The strength of the oak was in his frame, and the brightness and originality of Nature in her simplicity and purity were in his mind.

In his daily life he frequently showed a lack of culture, but his rudeness was like the rough bark of the oak which proclaims, while it conceals, the solid timber within. The very ruggedness of his character was rendered attractive by the nobility of his nature and kindliness of his disposition.

One remarkable feature of his life is that he was always in advance of his surroundings. His mind was so sensitive and vigorous that, while he did not despise the circumstances by which he was surrounded, he was filled with a discontent which was continually urging him onward to increased exertions. Of this feeling he seldom spoke, but there is abundant evidence of its presence throughout the whole of his earlier life.

The constant tendency of his environment was to bind him down to a dull, plodding life. If he had been content to remain the creature of circumstance his name would have been unknown to the world. Even before he was old enough to recognize the presence of aspirations he had a vague consciousness that the life he was living was not the best attainable. As this consciousness developed into a fixed ambition, evidences of its power and influence multiplied.

In school he was the leading scholar in his classes and easily outranked those whose advantages were far superior to his own.

An illustration of his intellectual superiority over

his associates is given by a lady who was a former schoolmate of his.

"One evening," says she, "Abe and I were sitting on the banks of the Ohio; I said to him that the sun was going down. He replied: "That's not so; it doesn't really go down; it seems so. The earth turns from west to east and the revolution of the earth carries us under; we do the sinking as you call it. The sun, as to us, is comparatively still; the sun's sinking is only an appearance.' I replied, 'Abe, what a fool you are!' I know now that I was the fool, not Lincoln. I am now thoroughly satisfied that Abe knew the general laws of astronomy and the movements of the heavenly bodies. He was better read then than the world knows or is likely to know exactly. He was the learned boy among us unlearned folks."

His family and associates were easily content with their humble station and had little ambition to rise in the world. They were satisfied to toil unceasingly if they could thereby win their scanty fare and humble raiment. For more they cared not. But young Lincoln was of different mould. He was not content to live for the present alone, but worked and thought and planned for the future. While others slept he studied.

He was moved by vague and restless aspirations, to what end he hardly knew; but, like a drowning man, he grasped at every straw hoping that in some way he might lift himself a little above the dead level of his surroundings. From boyhood the purpose was strong within him to excel his companions and if possible to make himself distinguished.

This ambition manifested itself, perhaps unconsciously, in his every-day life. He gloried in his physical prowess and never rested until he was recognized as the champion of the neighborhood. But the hand that could fell his rival to the ground with a single blow and bury an ax deeper in a tree-trunk than any one else could also hold the pen. His ambition looked forward to literary distinction, and his rude compositions, which passed for poetry, were the marvel of the neighborhood.

It was not until he came in contact with one of the leading lawyers of the day, that his aspirations took definite shape. Then was placed clearly before him an object which he persistently endeavored to attain. It was a long step from Lincoln the ragged, awkward, backwoods boy to Lincoln the lawyer, yet he was convinced of his ability to take it. Henceforth, he was dominated by a fixed and persistent purpose.

When he had no money to buy books he borrowed them. When he was compelled to labor during the day he studied far into the night by the flickering light of a fire. His purpose never faltered, although oppressed by discouragements and financial failure. At New Salem he was recognized as the most learned man in the community, and when he moved into the more cultured society of Springfield it did not take him long to rise to its level, and even to become an intellectual leader.

As a technical lawyer he did not gain a wide reputation. He recognized the law as the business by which he must support himself, but his tastes ran in other and diverse channels.

In his legal associations he was brought into con

tact with many bright, keen minds, and from them he gained a stimulus to his own mental powers. The morality of the bar was not irreproachable, but Lincoln never lent himself to those practices which, although of questionable character, were yet common among his fellow-barristers. Others might know

ingly defend a guilty man, but he would never do so. It mattered not how large the fee offered, he scorned to do or defend or in any way to countenance a dishonorable deed.

In legal learning he was excelled by many of his associates, but in correctness of judgment, fertility of resources and skill in the conduct of a case he had few equals, perhaps no superiors.

Yet as a lawyer alone he would never have gained an extensive or a lasting reputation.

Much of the success of his after career, however, was due to the training which his legal experiences gave. His quick insight into character and motives, his unerring judgment and the rapidity with which he arrived at right conclusions are all directly traceable to this period of his life.

In politics he was a born leader, standing not only before the rank and file of his party, but far above them as well. He led the advance not as a trained woodsman, who tracks the pathless forests by means of landmarks which others have located, but rather like a mariner, who sets out upon an unknown sea, trusting the unerring compass to guide his course.

In the sparse backwoods settlements in his boyhood the political fever was not wont to run high. His father was a Democrat, but not an ardent one; hence, when a biography of Henry Clay fell into the