Isaac N. Arnold

“ The ruggedness of a rude age and a very imperfect education was never entirely obliterated, but he became a very intelligent and well informed man, and with the roughness of his early years there was blended a homely integrity, simplicity, and honesty, apparent in all the events of his life. He was the most magnanimous of men, always just to those who injured or sought to injure him; and if he ever did an injustice, no one was so ready to make reparation. ”

“ Lincoln's was plain, clear, and simple, as legible as that of Washington, but, unlike Washington's, it was without ornament. He was in one sense "the truest gentleman that ever lived." Awkward, sometimes unconventional, be was always just, unselfish, brave, and true; to the weak and to his inferiors, always considerate, gentle, and respectful. ”

“ Not orthodox, not a man of creeds, he was a man of simple trust in God, living in the consciousness of the presence of the great Creator, and one whose heart was ever open to the impressions of the unseen world. He was one whom no sectarian could claim as a partisan, yet one whom every true Christian could recognize as a brother. ”

“ Senators and members of Congress were received in the order of their arrival. Sometimes there would be a crowd of senators and members of Congress waiting their turn. While thus waiting, the loud ringing laugh of Mr. Lincoln--in which he would be joined by those inside, but which was rather provoking to those outside--would be heard by the waiting and impatient crowd. Here, day after day, often from early morning to late at night, Lincoln sat, listened, talked, and decided. He was patient, just, considerate, and hopeful. The people came to him as to a father. ”

“ The people seemed to feel instinctively how thoroughly he trusted them, and they revered and trusted him in turn. He was ever loyal to them, and they to him. Some have doubted whether he would have had this confident faith, if it had been his fortune to live in great cities and become familiar with the vicious and criminal classes as there exhibited. There is often seen in history an instinctive sagacity in the popular appreciation of character. The people never misunderstood, nor were they ever in the least suspicious of Lincoln. ”

“ They had known him at his home, and at the courts in Illinois, with a frame of iron and nerves of steel; as a man who hardly knew what illness was, ever genial and sparkling with frolic and fun, nearly always cheery and bright. Now, as the months of the war went slowly on, they saw the wrinkles on his face and forehead deepen into furrows, the laugh of old days was less frequent, and it did not seem to come from the heart. Anxiety, responsibility, care, thought, disasters, defeats, the injustice of friends, wore upon his giant frame, and his nerves of steel became at times irritable. ”

“ His patriotism, his integrity, his purity, his moderation, will contribute largely to make the American people patriotic, honest, and upright. He was brought by many qualities in such close sympathy with the masses of the people, that it is not extravagant to say that the national character will be more influenced by him than by any other man in our history. Greater in some things than Washington, he had far more in common with the people than the founder of the republic, and his influence will be greater. ”

“ It is very strange that any reader of Lincoln's speeches and writings should have the hardihood to charge him with a want of religious feeling. No more reverent Christian than he ever sat in the executive chair, not excepting Washington. ”

“ Lincoln replied: "I have never united myself to any church, because I found difficulty in giving my assent, without mental reservation, to the long and complicated statements of Christian doctrine which characterize their articles of belief and confessions of faith. ”

“ When the unbeliever shall convince the people that this man, whose whole life was straightforward, truthful, clear, and honest, was a sham and a hypocrite, then, but not before, may he make the world doubt his Christianity. ”

“ In a letter written January 12th, 1851, when his father was dangerously ill, he says: "I sincerely hope father may yet recover his health, but at all events tell him to remember to call upon and confide in our great and good and merciful Maker, who will not turn any from Him in any extremity. He notes the fall of a sparrow, and numbers the hairs of our heads. He will not forget the dying man who puts his trust in Him... ”

“ But it was always clear to the listener that the story was told for its wit and not for its vulgarity. "To the pure all things are pure," and Lincoln was a man of purity of thought as well as of life. [6]
It will interest those who did not see him at the White House, and who have come on the stage since his death, to know something of his life and habits while he lived in the Executive Mansion. At Springfield, his home was a small, modest, comfortable wooden cottage, such as is found everywhere in the villages of our country. ”

“ He sympathized thoroughly with the poem, "A Man's a Man for a' That." He was very fond of simple ballads, of simple, old-fashioned, sad, and plantive music. He loved to hear Scotch ballads sung, and negro melodies, and camp-meeting hymns. Holmes's poem of "The Last Leaf" was with him a great favorite. He recited and read works of poetry and eloquence with great simplicity, but with much expression and effect. When visiting the army, or on a journey on a steamer or by rail, as well as when at home, he would take up his copy of Shakespeare and would often read aloud to his companions. ”

“ Deming, member of Congress from Connecticut. See hie Eulogy of Lincoln, p. 42.↑ Carpenter, in his "Six Months at the White House," pp. 80-81, says: "It is but simple justice to his (Lincoln's) memory, that I should state that during the entire period of my stay in Washington, after witnessing his intercourse with all classes of men, ...I cannot recollect to have heard him relate a circumstance to any of them which would have been out of place in a lady's drawing-room." Dr. Stone, his family physician, said: "Lincoln is the purest-hearted man with whom I ever came in contact." ”