Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 February 1910 — His First Sight of Lincoln. [ARTICLE]

His First Sight of Lincoln.

An Interesting sheaf of reminiscences could be collected under the general heading, “First Glimpses of Lincoln.” The first sight of a great man is likely to be recalled as more vivid and more significant than any other, except possibly the last. A gentleman whose friendship •with Lincoln dated from 1852, and lasted till the very day of his death, describes as fol-

lows ths beginning of their acquaintance: I had been Invited to make a speech in the old State House in Springfield. 111. Five minbtes before I stepped on the platform the committee asked me to change my subject.—the Maine temperance law, —as they wished for some reason to defer it to another occasion. Under the spur of the moment, therefore, I made a patriotic address. Alfter I had finished, the audience called vociferously for “Lincoln! Lincoln!" He rose to respond, and I shall never _ forget his appearance. Before the meeting he had been consulting some law books in the basement of the building, and the janitor, whom he had requested to call hkn, forgot his duty, and at the last moment rushed in and cried out to Mr. Lincoln that the speaking was going on. * Lincoln ■ turned out the light and grabbed the first coat he touched, which proved to be that of the janitor himself, who was -a short man. Lincoln, on the contrary, was a very tall man. On this occasion he wore, as usual, a faded red woolen shirt,- buttoned neither at the neck nor at the wristbands. There was a space of eight or ten inches between the top of his trousers and the lower edge of the coat, and his trousers were rolled up at the bottom, so that there was a space of nearly a foot of bare leg between them and the tops of his stockings. He had one suspender, and the sleeves of the coat reached little more than to his elbows. His hair looked as if it had never been brushed or combed since he came from the woods of Kentucky. He began to speak. His subject was law, its design, its essence, its mission, its power. He spoke in a low, thin voice. I had heard Beecher, Gough, Phillips, Chapin, Starr King and Webster, but I had never before heard anything like this speech of Lincoln’s. Nor dlfi I ever see an audience so sicorched and kindled—so held breathless! His. speech lasted twenty minutes, and for fine logic and the most touching pathos, I have never heard Its equal. When he got through he touched me on the shoulder and said, “Come home with me.” We talked all night, so oblivious of time that when light came I looked out of the window and asked if there was a fire. Mr. Lincoln replied, “It !»■ sunrise.”