Montalembert said that "a social constitution which produced a Lincoln and
others like him is a good tree whose sure fruit leaves nothing to envy in
the product of any monarchy or aristocracy." Lincoln was not, we want to
believe, a freak, a sport of nature, but the "sure fruit" that should not
only leave nothing to envy in others, but leave nothing to question in the
soundness of a democracy that gives evidence of its spirit in remembering
Abraham Lincoln more tenderly, more affectionately, more reverentially
than any one else in its history. It is less to his praise but more
accurate, I think, that, as his biographer put it: "His day and generation
uttered itself through him." He expressed their ugliest forms and their
most beautiful developments.
None the less is it remarkable that not only should the virility and
nobility of the frontier have been exhibited in him, but that the
consummate skill and character known to the world's centres of culture
should have had, in his speech and intellectual attitude and grasp, a new
example.
Pages:
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416