one time he belonged to the "Sons of Temperance" in Springfield, and in his early manhood frequently made temperance speeches. In his habits he was a strict temperance man.

And he was a remarkably clean man in his conversation. He endured some risqué stories on account of their wit. Once a young man came to the office, and he undertook to tell a broad story that had no wit in it. He told it simply because it was broad. Lincoln took him by the nape of his neck and ordered him out of the office, saying: Young man, never come here with such a story. If there had been any real wit in it you might have been pardoned."

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Lincoln did not seem to have any pleasures common to men of the world. He was not a great eater nor a drinker. The nearest approach I ever knew him to make toward entertainment or pleasure was after he was nominated at Chicago. He used to play barn ball there nearly every day-throwing a ball up against a brick building and trying to catch it. I often used to play with him. That is the nearest approach to pleasure I ever saw him make.

In literature he seemed to prefer Shakespeare and Burns. He could recite whole passages from Shakespeare, notably from "Hamlet," with wonderful effect. He was very fond of the drama. In "Hamlet," he claimed that the passage commencing: "Oh! my offence is rank,” etc., was better than the soliloquy. He said that the great beauty of Shakespeare was the power and majesty of the lines, and argued that even an indifferent actor could hold an audience by the power of the text itself. Lincoln was what you would call an odd, a singular A large part of his time was spent in study and

man.

thought. He was a very deep and close thinker, and a genuine logician.

In regard to religious matters he did not talk to Herndon on those subjects. Herndon one day intimated to me that he did not know what Lincoln believed. All the talk in Herndon's book about Lincoln's religious belief is clap-trap. Whatever he may have believed in early days, he did not talk with Herndon on the subject of religion during the time I was there. He rarely attended church; he spent Sunday at home, quietly. Mrs. Lincoln attended the Presbyterian church, and the children were brought up in that faith.

This is what Mr. Lincoln said to me on the subject of religion, the nearest approach he ever made to talking on the subject: One day he stopped his work and said to me, suddenly, “John, it depends a great deal on how you state a case. When Daniel Webster stated a case, it was half argument. Now," said he, "you take the subject of predestination; you state it one way, and you cannot make much of it; you state it another, and it seems quite reasonable."

Lincoln always manifested interest in everybody with whom he associated. When you first met him and studied him he impressed you with being a very sad man and a very kind man. He struck you as being a man who would go out of his way to serve you. There was about him a sense of self-abnegation. Lincoln impressed me as a man who had arrived at a point in Christianity without going to church that others struggle to attain, but do not reach, by going. I never in all my life associated with a man who seemed so ready to serve another. He was a very modest man in his demeanor, and yet gave you an impression of strong individuality. In his freedom of

intercourse with people he would seem to put himself on par with everybody; and yet there was within him a sort of reserved power, a quiet dignity which prevented people from presuming on him, notwithstanding he had thrown down the social bars. A person of less individu

ality would have been trifled with.

In money matters he was economical and thrifty, because he did not seem to have much desire to spend money on himself. He did not smoke, chew or drink; and a suit of clothes would last him a long time because he was not restless in his manner.

In regard to his attire I used to wonder why he did not appear to be "dressed up"; for when I looked at him a second time I would see that he was as well dressed as the average lawyer, wearing a plain broadcloth suit, a high hat, and fine boots. But his angularity and individuality were so pronounced that the clothes seemed to lose their character, as it were.

Lincoln displayed great eagerness to learn on all subjects from everybody. When he was introduced to persons his general method was to entertain them by telling them a story, or else cross-question them along the line of their work, and soon draw from them about all the information they had.

As a lawyer, in his opening speech before the jury, he Iwould cut all the "dead wood" out of the case. The client would sometimes become alarmed, thinking that Lincoln had given away so much of the case that he would not have anything left. After he had shuffled off the unnecessary surplusage he would get down to "hard pan," and state the case so clearly that it would soon be apparent he had enough left to win the case with. In making such concessions he would so establish his

position in fairness and honesty that the lawyer on the opposite side would scarcely have the heart to oppose what he contended for.

He would not undertake a case unless it was a good one. If it was a poor case he would almost invariably advise the client to settle it the best way he could. When a case had been misrepresented to him and he afterward discovered the fact in court, he would throw it up then and there. One of the great secrets of his success was the reputation he had of being a thoroughly honest lawyer. Long before he became President he was known by the sobriquet of "Honest Old Abe." He had become such a synonym for honesty that everybody was willing to yield assent to nearly every proposition he advanced, either in or out of court.

Lincoln's manner of speaking was very deliberate. His voice was frequently pitched on a high key. His argument was logical, and his emphasis was in harmony with the points he made.

In regard to the assassination, it is a singular fact that the President when Booth fired at him, and Booth when he was shot by Corbett, were both wounded in the same place, over the right ear. But while in Lincoln the nerve of sensation was affected and he was unconscious, in Booth the nerve of motion was affected but the nerve of sensation was not; while the President was unconscious and suffered no pain, in the case of the assassin he suffered excruciating agony up to the time of his death. It seemed to be a case of poetical justice.

BROOKLYN, N. Y.

MR. LINCOLN AT THE COOPER INSTITUTE.

A CRITICAL VIEW.

BY HENRY M. FIELD, D.D.,

EDITOR OF THE "EVANGELIST."

I NEVER SAW Abraham Lincoln but two or three times in my life. But I did see him on his first appearance before an Eastern audience, when he gave an address which was lauded to the skies afterward, though it produced no great impression at the time. It was not till his debates with Douglas that Lincoln was heard of in the East. He had been in Congress once, but did not make a ripple; nor was he very widely known even in the West. From 1842 to 1847 I lived in St. Louis (perhaps a hundred miles from Springfield), and I never heard his But Douglas had a national reputation, and a man who could stand up before the Little Giant, and give him blow for blow, was no ordinary antagonist, and the people of the East were curious to know what manner of man he might be.

name.

To gratify this curiosity he was invited to New York to give a lecture in Cooper Institute on the political questions before the country. It was a dark and rainy night, and the hall was but half filled. The late Maunsell B. Field was on the platform, and beckoned me to join him, apparently in fear that there would be a beggarly appear