" [Footnote: "Lincoln, Complete Works," ed. by Nicolay
and Hay, 2:227.] Two years later he made near there an address so
irresistible in its eloquence that the reporters forgot why they were
there and failed to take notes. So there are but fragments preserved of
what is known as "the lost speech."
The minor anecdotes of his life that are treasured and the stories which
he is said to have told would fill a volume--perhaps volumes. They all
tell of a genius who through adversity became resourceful, who through the
neighborly exchanges of a village learned a sympathy as wide as humanity,
and who with an infinite patience and kindliness and good sense dealt with
a divided people.
The world outside the valley at first thought him a buffoon because it
heard only the echo of the hoarse laughter after his stories. They found
when he spoke in Cooper Union that he had a mind that would have sat
unembarrassed and luminous in the company of the men of the age of
Pericles. But he had a sense of humor that, had he been there, would have
saved Socrates from the hyssop.
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