A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave,
He passeth from life to his rest in the grave.

"The leaves of the oak and the willow shall fade,
Be scattered around, and together be laid;
And the young and the old, and the low and the high,
Shall moulder to dust and together shall lie."


I never read this beautiful poem, so full of the true philosophy of
life, so suggestive of the rich promises of the hereafter, that I do not
think of the great president. He first found it in the columns of a
newspaper, cut it out, carried it in his pocket, and treasured it in his
memory for many years without knowing who was its author.

It would be pleasant to trace the years spent by Mr. Lincoln in the
State Legislature, and to revert to some of the speeches and occasional
addresses belonging to those years, which, in the light of his
subsequent history, are strangely significant. In the early period of
his legislative career he became acquainted with Stephen A. Douglas,
while the latter was a school-teacher at Winchester. Douglas was a man
of extraordinary powers, and one of the readiest of the American
debaters of his time. As the years went on he became actively interested
in politics, and at length assumed the leadership of the Democrats in
Illinois, while Lincoln became the standard-bearer of the Whigs. When
party platforms were promulgated, upon the eve of important contests,
these two statesmen, by the unanimous consent of their supporters, were
selected to debate the merits of their respective political creeds
before the people. A series of joint discussions was arranged to take
place in the various important towns of the State. The assemblages were