Lincolns Inaugurals, Addresses and Letters | Page 8

in the main of responses to serenades, a form of address
which Lincoln cordially detested and in which as a rule he achieved
only a moderate degree of success. The cares of his great office made
such cruel demands upon his time and strength that he declined many
requests to speak in public, and whenever he did appear he confined his
remarks within the smallest possible limits. Furthermore, Lincoln was
not a reader speaker and rarely did himself justice without careful
preparation. Writers on Lincoln have failed to note the severe criticisms
upon Lincoln's impromptu remarks that appeared in the opposition
press and in the English newspapers. Even as late as 1863 newspaper
writers not opposed to him did not hesitate to refer to the plainness of
the President's public speaking.
The Messages to Congress are distinguished from most documents of
that class by their frequent purple patches. To the enumeration of dry
facts furnished by the various departments they add an elevation and
breadth of thought of the first order.
In a class by themselves are the various proclamations, some of them of
a purely formal character, such as those announcing blockades, others
of a distinctly literary character, like the announcements of fasts and
feasts. Midway between these two classes is the most important of all,
the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, which, with the
exception of the concluding sentence, is entirely free from ornament.
Perhaps Lincoln felt here, as with the Debates, that the occasion was
too serious, not only for jesting but even for attempting the mere graces
of language.
Finally, mention should be made of the letters and telegrams written by
President Lincoln. Although many letters have been preserved from
earlier times, none make special claims to attention outside of the

information that they furnish. But during the last four years of his life
Lincoln wrote some of the most beautiful letters that have ever been
composed. One of these, the letter to Mrs. Bixby, has been given a
place on the walls of one of the Oxford colleges, as a model of noble
English. The Conkling letter and the letter to Horace Greeley are
among the most important statements of Lincoln's policy and are really
short political tracts.
The First Inaugural can be traced through the Cooper Union Address
and the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, the Peoria Speech, and the speeches
of 1854 to the seed of 1832, the plain, logical, direct statement of
principles of Lincoln's first address to the public. The development of
the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural, those supreme
expressions of Lincoln's feelings, is not, in the main, to be traced
through complete speeches, but it must be sought for in isolated
passages, when he left logic for the moment and gave himself up to the
passing emotion. The real seed of the majestic simplicity of those
addresses is perhaps to be found in those rhetorical speeches of an early
period, so lacking apparently in the qualities that we love and admire.
In writing, as in so many other things, we reap not what we sow, but its
fruition. The effect may seem very remotely related to the cause, but he
would be a fool who would deny the relation between them.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
The complete works of Abraham Lincoln have been compiled and
edited by his biographers, John G. Nicolay and John Hay (two vols.,
Century Company). Their life of Lincoln in ten volumes (Century
Company) is the standard authority. There is also an excellent
condensation in one volume. Other biographies are by W. H. Herndon,
Lincoln's law partner (two vols., Putnam); by Miss Ida Tarbell (two
vols., McClure); by John T. Morse, Jr., in the American Statesmen
Series (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.); and by Norman Hapgood
(Macmillan).
Among the many tributes to Lincoln, are the essays by James Russell

Lowell, Carl Schurz, the address by Emerson; and poems by Stedman,
Bryant, Holmes, Stoddard, Gilder, and Whitman, and the noble lines in
Lowell's Commemoration Ode.
The student of Lincoln's writings should be familiar with the history of
the United States, and should consult the standard histories for
explanation of the references to events in the long struggle which
culminated in the Civil War.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
LIFE OF LINCOLN. CONTEMPORARY CONTEMPORARY
BIOGRAPHY. AMERICAN HISTORY.
1809. Lincoln born, 1809. Gladstone, 1809. Madison President. Feb. 12.
Darwin, Tennyson, Poe, Holmes born.
1813. Douglas born.
1816. Family moved 1816. Indiana admitted to Indiana. as a state.
1818. Mother died. 1818. Illinois admitted as a state.
1819. Father married Sarah Johnston.
1820. Missouri Compromise.
1821. Missouri admitted as a state.
1822. Grant born.
1829. Jackson President.
1830. Family moved 1830. Douglas moved 1830. Speeches of Hayne
to Illinois. to New York. and Webster.
1831. Settled in 1831. Publication of New Salem. The Liberatur.

1832. Enlisted in