Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 June 1887 — Lincoln on the Stamp. [ARTICLE]

Lincoln on the Stamp.

Mr. Lincoln’s appearance on the stump is thus vividly sketched by an old friend, the Rev. Dr. Geo. C. Noyes, of Chicago: “Mr. Lincoln in repose ■was a very different man in personal appearance from Mr. Lincoln on the platform or on the stump, when his whole nature was roused by his masterful interest in the subject of his discourse. In the former case he was, as he has often been described, a man of awkward and ungainly appearance, and exceedingly homely countenance. In the latter case, he was a man of magnificent presence and remarkably impressive manner. The writer retains to this day a very vivid impression of his appearance in both these characters, and both on the same day. It was in Jacksonville, in the summer of 1858, and during the great contest with Mr. Douglas, when the prize contended for was a seat in the United Stases Senate. The day was warm, the streets were dusty, and filled with great crowds of people. When Mr. Lincoln arrived on the train from Springfield, he was met by an immense procession of people on horseback, in carriages, in wagons and vehicles of every description, and on foot, who escorted him through the principal streets to his hotel. The enthusiasm of the multitude was great; but Mr. Lincoln’s extremely homely face wore an expression of sadness. He rode in a carriage near the head of the procession, looking dust begrimmed and worn and weary; and though he frequently lifted his hat in recognition of the cheers of the crowds lining the streets, I saw no smile on his face, and he seemed to take no pleasure in the demonstration of enthusiasm which his presence called forth. His clothes were very ill-fitting, and his long arms and hands protruded far through his coat sleeves, giving him a peculiarly uncouth appearance. Though I had often seen him before, and had heard him in court always with delight in his clearness and cogency of statement, his illuminating humor, and his conspicuous fairness and candor—yet 1 had never before seen him when he appeared so homely; and I thought him about the ugliest man I had ever seen. There was nothing in his looks or manner that was propossessing. Such he appeared as he rode in the procession on the forenoon of that warm summer day. His appearance was not different in the afternoon of that day, when, in the public square, he first stood before the great multitude who had assembled there to hear him. His powers were aroused gradually as he went on with his speech. There was much play of humor. ‘Judge Douglas has,’ he said, ‘one great advantage of me in this contest. When he stands before his admiring friends, who gather in great numbers to hear him, they can easily see, with half an eye, all kinds of fat offices sprouting out of his fat and jocund face, and, indeed, from every part of his plump and wellrounded body. His appearance is, therefore, irresistibly attractive. His friends expect him to be President, and they expect their reward. But when I stand before the people, not the sharpest vision is able to detect in my lean and lank person, or in my sunken and hollow cheeks, the faintest sign or promise of an office. lam not a candidate for the Presidency, and hence there is no beauty in me that men should desire me.’ The crowd were convulsed with laughter at this sally. As the speech went on, the speaker, though often impressing his points with apposite and laughter-pro-voking stories, grew more and more earnest. He showed that the Government was founded in the interest of freedom, not slavery. He traced the steady aggressions of the slave power step by step, until he came to declare and to dwell upon the fact of the irrepressible conflict between the two. Then, as he went on to show with wonderful eloquence of speech and manner, that the country must and would ultimately become, not all slave, but all free, he was transfigured before his audience. His homely countenance fairly g’owed with the splendor of his prophetic speech; and his body, no longer awkward and ungainly, but mastered and swayed by his thought, be came an obedient and graceful instrument of eloquent expression. The whole man seemed to speak. He seemed like some grand Hebrew prophet, whose face was glorified by the bright visions of a better day which he saw and dec'ared.”— From Browne’s "Every-Day Life of Abraham Lincoln.”