literary permanence apart from their biographical interest, the poetic
exaltation of the Gettysburg Address, these higher qualities of genius,
beyond the endowment of any native wit, came to Lincoln in some part
from the reading of books. It is important to note that he followed
Franklin's advice to read much but not too many books; the list of
books mentioned in the biographical records of Lincoln is not long. But
he went over those half dozen plays "frequently." We should remember,
too, that he based his ideals upon the Bible and his style upon the
King James Version. His writings abound in Biblical phrases.

We are accustomed to regard Lincoln as a thinker. His right arm in the
saddest duty of his life, General Grant, was a man of deeds; as Lincoln
said of him, he was a "copious worker and fighter, but a very meager
writer and telegrapher." In his "Memoirs," Grant makes a modest
confession about his reading:

"There is a fine library connected with the Academy [West Point] from
which cadets can get books to read in their quarters. I devoted more
time to these than to books relating to the course of studies. Much of
the time, I am sorry to say, was devoted to novels, but not those of a
trashy sort. I read all of Bulwer's then published, Cooper's,
Marryat's, Scott's, Washington Irving's works, Lever's, and many others
that I do not now remember."

Grant was not a shining light in his school days, nor indeed in his
life until the Civil War, and at first sight he is not a striking
example of a great man influenced by books. Yet who can deny that the
fruit of that early reading is to be found in his "Memoirs," in which a
man of action, unused to writing, and called upon to narrate great
events, discovers an easy adequate style? There is a dangerous kind of