CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

INDEX




ABRAHAM LINCOLN


CHAPTER I

BOYHOOD OF LINCOLN

The subject of this memoir is revered by multitudes of his countrymen
as the preserver of their commonwealth. This reverence has grown with
the lapse of time and the accumulation of evidence. It is blended with
a peculiar affection, seldom bestowed upon the memory of statesmen. It
is shared to-day by many who remember with no less affection how their
own fathers fought against him. He died with every circumstance of
tragedy, yet it is not the accident of his death but the purpose of his
life that is remembered.

Readers of history in another country cannot doubt that the praise so
given is rightly given; yet any bare record of the American Civil War
may leave them wondering why it has been so unquestioningly accorded.
The position and task of the American President in that crisis cannot
be understood from those of other historic rulers or historic leaders
of a people; and it may seem as if, after that tremendous conflict in
which there was no lack of heroes, some perverse whim had made men