His famous debates with Senator Douglas, the "Little Giant," spread
his reputation from one end of the country to the other, and at their
close there was no question as to Lincoln's position in the North, or
on the vital question of the day.

The spirit of forbearance he carried with him to the White House,
"with malice toward none, with charity for all." This was the spirit
that carried him through the four awful years of the war. The martyr's
crown hovered over him from the outset. The martyr's spirit was always
his. The burden of the war always rested on his shoulders. The
fathers, sons and brothers, the honored dead of Gettysburg, of
Antietam, all lay upon his mighty heart.

He never forgot his home friends, and when occasionally one dropped in
on him, the door was always open. They frequently had tea in the good
old-fashioned way, and then Lincoln listened to the news of the
village, old stories were retold, new ones told, and the old
friendships cemented by new bonds.

Then came the end, swift and sudden, and gloom settled upon the
country; for in spite of ancestry, self-education, ungainly figure,
ill-fitting clothes, the soul of the man had conquered even the
stubborn South, while the cold-blooded North was stricken to the
heart. The noblest one of all had been taken.




THE RACE QUESTION IN AMERICA