THE LINCOLN FAMILY.


When one becomes interested in a boy, one is almost certain to ask,
Whose son is he? And when we study the character of a great man, it is
natural and right that we should be interested in his family. Where did
he come from? who were his parents? where did they come from? These
questions will engage our attention in this chapter.

But it is well to be on our guard at the outset against the
fascinations of any theory of heredity. Every thoughtful observer knows
something of the seductions of this subject either from experience or
from observation. In every subject of research there is danger of
claiming too much in order to magnify the theory. This is emphatically
true of this theory. Its devotees note the hits but not the misses. "It
took five generations of cultured clergymen to produce an Emerson."
Undoubtedly; but what of the sixth and seventh generations? "Darwin's
greatness came from his father and grandfather." Very true; but are
there no more Darwins?

If Abraham Lincoln got his remarkable character from parents or
grandparents, from whom did he get his physical stature? His father was
a little above medium height, being five feet ten and one-half inches.
His mother was a little less than medium height, being five feet five
inches. Their son was a giant, being no less than six feet four inches.
It is not safe to account too closely for his physical, mental, or
moral greatness by his descent. The fact is that there are too many
unexplored remainders in the factors of heredity to make it possible to
apply the laws definitely.