Chapter V: Honesty in Politics (4)

The two years at Cambridge were an auspicious beginning for the intellectual life. There my mother took special courses at Radcliffe until my birth increased her responsibilities, and there my father began his study of Abraham Lincoln. It was his plan at first to write a set of monographs on Lincoln and his Cabinet, but an investigation of the material revealed possibilities for more ambitious work, and gradually the great scheme matured of which _Lincoln, Master of Men_, and this book are merely parts, the whole to have been a cycle of books treating Lincoln’s character from all angles. Having set himself this monumental task of reconstructing a personality, my father decided to find a quiet spot where he might settle down to work and where his family could grow up. He finally discovered in the village of East Foxboro, twenty-two miles south of Boston, a hundred-year-old house surrounded by more than one hundred acres of land that suited him and my mother, and there they moved in the fall of 1897. It was in this place that Ruth and Miriam were born and that my father passed the last eighteen years of his life in the happy realization of the dreams of his youth.

Though absorbed in his chosen work, he somehow found time to foster other interests, just as in the New York days. From the very first, he was a guiding voice in the town councils. He gained the confidence of the people by his absolute straightforwardness and their support by his sound judgment. Only once did he consent to hold office, but he never withheld his assistance, serving on many committees and doing all manner of valuable work. He might as well have been a town official, for usually, when there was constructive work to be done, the selectmen came to him for guidance. People seemed instinctively to turn to him for assistance. Shortly after he moved to East Foxboro, the inhabitants asked him if he would be their leader in a legislative fight for independence from Foxboro. For years they had nursed their grievances and waited for a Moses to lead them out of bondage. They complained, very justly, that they had been paying taxes and asking in vain for their share of the appropriations. The streets were in bad condition, the schoolhouse falling to decay, and on every hand were evidences of a very palpable wrong. Somewhere, somehow Mr. Rothschild had got a remarkably sound knowledge of law. He drew up a petition of separation and led the fight against the parent town, in the legislature. The facts of the case were plainly in favor of the petition, and it would have been granted, had not the member from Foxboro log-rolled long before the bill came up. Although defeated in his effort to make East Foxboro a separate town, Mr. Rothschild virtually won a victory, for ever since that time the village has enjoyed fair treatment from the parent town.

A number of years later East Foxboro called upon Mr. Rothschild to go before the state authorities to procure a water district charter. He drew up the charter and saw to its enactment, thus saving the district several thousand dollars in attorneys’ fees. And, what is more, his charter embodied such improvements that it has since been the model for new water districts in Massachusetts.

Nor were Mr. Rothschild’s public services confined to his own community. He was instrumental in procuring the passage of a law that compels every town in Massachusetts to employ the services of a superintendent of schools. He was also one of those who tried, with partial success, to get the State to compel the railroads to burn crude oil in their locomotives and thus put an end to the forest fires caused by flying coal sparks.

Save for such public services to his community and to the State, my father devoted most of his time to his study of Abraham Lincoln. It is true that he was vice-president of the Lincoln Fellowship, a director of the Free Religious Association, a member of the Anti-Imperialist League, of the Massachusetts Peace Society, and of the Massachusetts Reform Club, but none of these organizations claimed much of his time.

In 1901 he was a delegate to the Anti-Imperialist Convention at Indianapolis, but barring this and occasional short business or pleasure trips, he spent his time quietly at “Brook Farm” educating his family; entertaining his friends; farming a little; helping those who turned to him for advice from all sides; and carrying on his work. In 1906 this study bore its first fruit in the volume _Lincoln, Master of Men_.

His premature death at the age of fifty-three prevented him from quite completing _Honest Abe_. Had he finished this book, however, he would merely have taken Lincoln a little further in his political career and added to proof that already amply sustains his thesis.

It is given to few to meet death so exquisitely as he did,--alone, without suffering, in the presence only of Nature. On the morning of September 29, 1915, after a game of tennis with my mother, he went down to the lake alone for a plunge. He was missed some hours later, and a search discovered him dead in the water--a victim of heart failure caused by the icy shock.

His life was a candle that, burning with an unusually generous and beautiful flame, consumed itself before the appointed hour.

* * * * *

One of my father’s friends used to say, “The real thing never looks the part.” Like most epigrams his is too inclusive. My father, for example, did most thoroughly look the part. Literary admirers who met him in the flesh were not disillusioned and those other persons who came in casual contact with him rarely hesitated to class him as a student,--though beyond that point opinions diverged. Some set him down for a physician, others for a lawyer, still others as a college professor, and a few of the keenest for what he really was,--a man of letters. His physical traits, clothes, and manner were--contrary to his friend’s epigram--true indices to his personality and occupation.

A trifle below the medium stature, my father had a distinction of air that many a taller man might have envied. That dignity--courtly at times--was due to a subtle blending of distinct characteristics. To say that he owed it to his well-built, muscular figure, or to his erect carriage, would be palpably inaccurate. Such a description might fit many a substantial bourgeois, whereas Alonzo Rothschild, despite his plain tastes, was far more the patrician. One would have had to imagine him with another head and other hands to consider him bourgeois. Such long, white, blue-veined hands belong to the proverbial gentleman; such delicate skin is an attribute of gentle birth; such a head is seen only on those who do the world’s thinking. Admirably moulded, it put one in mind of a well-built house,--good in its lines and roomy inside. The broad, dome-like forehead--exaggerated by partial baldness--and the full, gray-brown beard were almost unmistakable indications of the scholar. Yet quite as distinctly were the silkiness of his black hair, the well-set, finely cut features, the sparse eyebrows, and the curling nostrils, marks of the aristocrat. But it was the kindliness and swift intelligence of his hazel eyes that gave his face its mobility of expression. Passions and moods played across it as freely as the lights and shadows of the sky are reflected on the surface of a summer meadow.

As his appearance bespoke, my father was physically and nervously of delicate fiber. His sense of touch, for example, was hypersensitive, and it was amusing, at table, to see how gingerly he handled hot plates. He was, however, in no sense unmanly and too often suffered acutely in silence. In fact he could much better bear suffering himself than witness it in others. Not infrequently when some member of the family was in pain, he became similarly afflicted through sheer sympathy.

Sometimes his constitutional intensity manifested itself in quite a different manner. Ordinarily mild-tempered and patient, he was capable of a withering wrath. Relentless, and concentrating in itself all his physical and intellectual forces, it could flare up without warning, or wait years for an opportune moment, and then sweep upon the chosen enemy like a rain of fire. Crushing as the effect of such an outburst was upon its victim, it was hardly less disastrous in its physical reaction upon himself.

Irritability and violence of temper constituted in his case the enemy that every man carries within himself. It is evident that he recognized his cardinal fault, for he kept a little card perched on his inkstand bearing this proverb in his own handwriting: “Mensch ärger dich nicht.”

Usually people so highly organized are difficult to live with, but my father was a striking exception. Save for such occasional outbursts as have already been alluded to, he was of a sunny disposition and most considerate in his personal relationships. Those whose duty it was to minister to his comfort and physical well-being found him easy to please. He was austerely plain in matters of dress and neither knew nor cared what he ate. Indeed, when mentally absorbed, he forgot his meals, and it is said that while he was editing _The Jewelers’ Weekly_ he ate lunch only if one of his friends came and dragged him out. Even had he been more exacting and given freer rein to his moods, his personal charm would have been sufficient counterbalance. His resonant voice, buoyancy, and ready sympathy would alone have made him a pleasant companion. Then, too, he had an almost magical influence over all who came within his range of acquaintance, stimulating the best that they had in them, and bringing it to the surface.

His interest in humanity was not limited by age or sex. He had a great tenderness for children and a power over their affections that was but another phase of his diverse nature. He made a capital playmate, as his own children well remember, and the serious concerns of the grown-up world never so shackled him that he could not shake them off for a romp, or a song, to invent a new game or to play some old favorite. Like many other men who have done big things, he never entirely lost a certain boyishness that cropped out occasionally in whimsical little pranks. One of these is so superior to the general run of practical jokes that it bears narrating.

It was in _The Jewelers’ Weekly_ days. He was returning to New York from a trip to Albany and some friends had accompanied him to the train. While they were waiting, my father accidentally dropped a half-dollar and one of the young ladies, picking it up, vowed that she would keep it as a remembrance. My father pleaded with mock concern that he needed it to complete his fare, but she, disbelieving him, clung to it the more firmly. She was correct in her assumption that he had plenty of money with him, but on the train he decided that the fifty cents should earn him some fun and not be a total loss.

On arriving in New York, he went to his printer and had him strike off a mock newspaper clipping which narrated how a young man, giving his name as Alonzo Rothschild, had been ejected from the Chicago Limited because he lacked part of the fare; how he maintained that it had been stolen from him by a Miss L---- of Albany, and how he was last seen trudging toward New York.

Not only was the young lady contrite over her playful theft, but she was enraged at the newspaper that would print such a story about her, and for a long time she begged my father to divulge the name so that she might bring suit.

This story well illustrates the exuberant, playful humor that brightened his whole life and that made our dinner table more famous for puns, jokes, and repartee than for good cheer of the other sort. But there is another anecdote of this period which throws more light on his character.

One day a gentleman who knew the family was walking through Mount Morris Park, in New York, when he noticed a bareheaded young man seated on a park bench and absorbed in a book. Approaching along the path he was surprised to recognize my father, and on reaching the bench he was still more astonished to see that his forehead swarmed with mosquitoes.

“Didn’t expect to see you here, Lon,” he sang out. My father started at the unexpected sound of the voice as if he had been shot, and looked up. “Why, hello, Sid, I’m just studying,” he said. “It looks more as if you were mosquito farming,” his friend replied. “Why don’t you brush them off?” “Oh, I want them there,” my father answered. “I don’t concentrate the way I ought to and I’m learning how.”

The discipline must have been effectual, for while interruptions annoyed him exceedingly, the mere presence of people in the study while he worked never disturbed him. For years my youngest sister spent her mornings on the rug beside his desk, and while she cut out paper dolls and crooned to herself, he wrote.

My father was capable, not only of great concentration, but also of unity of purpose. Gifted with a variety of talents and innumerable opportunities to exercise them, he remained--save for unavoidable digressions--a one-job man. He consistently refused tempting offers to address audiences, to undertake other literary labors, or to go into politics, and always with the same answer, that he had a task to do and must not stop until he had finished. He could have made himself a prominent figure in the public eye, but he found greater satisfaction in quietly doing work of permanent value.

Singleness of purpose and concentration were only two of the several qualities that made Alonzo Rothschild a man of strength. What had been willful stubbornness in his childhood crystallized, later in life, into dogged persistence. How great a factor it was in his successes may be judged from his own words. Once in speaking of his past life he said, “I have never really wanted a thing without getting it.”

In addition to this driving force he had the gift of silence. Not that he was what is known as a man of few words, nor that he was loath to express definite opinions, but he knew how to keep his own counsels. He rarely discussed a plan until its success was assured, and concerning his literary work, he was almost secretive. This reticence in discussing himself was due somewhat to discreetness, somewhat to good taste, but largely to his doctrine of work and to his constitutional objectivity. He believed that the world’s interest should focus on the work, not on the author. He despised the man whose personality was more discussed than his work and seemed to have little sympathy for him who made his pen a vehicle for expression of self. In this prejudice one can read the influence of Addison, and others of the classical school,--the masters whom he followed in forming his style.

Almost equal to his admiration for literature that definitely “gets somewhere” was his impatience with leisurely, descriptive, digressive writing, however charming its meanderings might be. The full measure of his scorn, however, was reserved for “precious” writers such as Walter Pater, whose involved, mannered style and somewhat luscious thought were peculiarly offensive to one who prized virility, lightness of touch, and lucid directness, as he did.

Between his literary work and his fine business instinct there was a connecting bond. He applied to research the methods of a highly trained business expert. The results can best be described by quoting his own words: “I can,” he said, “go into my study and at a moment’s notice lay my hand on the references covering any point in Lincoln’s life.”

Such a complete mastery of the subject bespeaks a laborious thoroughness that one associates with such names as Stradivari; a striving for perfection suggestive of the days of hand-made things. With the care of a master cabinet-maker choosing his woods, he collected facts, subjecting them to the same searching scrutiny to which the cabinet-maker subjects the woods in a hunt for hidden flaws. Then having tested his materials, he put them together--fitting, readjusting, and polishing, with all the care of the cabinet-maker--until he had done a work that would stand for all time. He wrote with a deliberateness that might seem laughable to those unacquainted with the art of authorship, never permitting a sentence to stand until every word rang true even though it were to take hours in the writing. Like Ben Jonson he realized that, “Who casts to write a living line must sweat.” It may seem a trivial matter, but none the less it is significant of the spirit in which he worked, that the printers who set up _Lincoln, Master of Men_, found the manuscript one of the most faultless that they had ever handled.

The grasp of detail here exemplified, supplemented by clearness of judgment, originality, and foresight, constituted a rare intellectual fitness. It is not uncommon to find a man of constructive ability or one who is a good administrator, but the two qualities are rarely found together. Where they are associated, one has a man equipped for high service. With such an endowment of all-round effectiveness, Alonzo Rothschild could have attained leadership in any one of many fields of human endeavor.

There were lines, however, along which my father was little developed. His tastes in music and art were plain, not to say plebeian. Nor was he of a deeply poetic or metaphysical cast of mind. The older he grew, the more he centered his attention upon international, ethical, and social questions, and the less upon abstract metaphysical inquiries. A Jew by birth, he early settled down to agnosticism, though never quite contentedly. As a young man he had been strongly attracted by Theosophy, but finding nothing substantial on which to base a belief he sadly gave it up and lapsed back into agnosticism. Still all through his life Theosophy flitted before his eyes as an unattained desire and he often expressed the wish that he could accept its beautiful philosophy. That he had a strong religious instinct is further testified by his own words about sacred music. He writes: “Irreligious as I am, sacred music when well played on the organ has a powerful influence on me. It makes me feel sometimes as if I were inspired--as if I could seize my pen and write something worth reading.”

Though too much a man of the world to be a poet in the strict meaning of the word, he was one in the larger sense of magnificence of conceptions, elevated thoughts, and high purposes.

It is interesting in this connection to consider what influence his almost lifelong study of Abraham Lincoln may have had on his character. It would seem that in his great simplicity, he must have been directly influenced by Lincoln. Like him, he considered himself a plain man, and he contented himself with a plain man’s share of the world’s luxuries. He rarely rode in a parlor-car and could satisfy his hunger as contentedly at a dairy lunch as in a hotel dining-room. He cared nothing for the appearance of things.

The last eighteen years of his life he spent in a plain old farmhouse. There was nothing about its exterior to distinguish it from thousands of other New England farmhouses, but once inside, the visitor found himself in “a city of books.” In other respects he found the house as unpretentious inside as it appeared from without. It lacked no comforts or conveniences, but there was no studied attempt at decoration. It was quite evidently the home of a man who valued only the genuine things of life.

And yet, with all its simplicity, that house was a Mecca toward which turned many feet. All sorts of people came there, knowing that none ever went away without being enriched. For one it was new inspiration; for another the solution of some vexing problem, or perhaps a fresh grasp on his whole life. They knew that the man who dwelt there was never too busy or too weary to help his fellow men, and they came like tired children for comfort or for help. They knew him to be a man of warm sympathies, a brave man, an honest man, and a man strong enough to help shoulder their burdens. How many realized as they sat there, quietly talking with him, smiling with him, laughing with him, that this man who seemed so like themselves was--in the language of one grateful old lady--a “prince of men” in whom were all the elements of true greatness.

JOHN ROTHSCHILD.

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, _April, 1917_.

A LIST OF BOOKS CITED

WITH THE CORRESPONDING ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE NOTES

_Archer’s Ethical Obligations_: Ethical Obligations of the Lawyer.
By Gleason Leonard Archer. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 1910.

_Arnold_: The Life of Abraham Lincoln. By Isaac N. Arnold. Seventh
Edition. Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co. 1896.

_Atkinson_: The Boyhood of Lincoln. By Eleanor Atkinson. New York:
The McClure Company. 1908.

* * * * *

_Banks_: The Lincoln Legion. The Story of Its Founder and
Forerunners. By Rev. Louis Albert Banks, D.D. Illustrated with
Drawings by Arthur I. Keller and Photographs. New York: The Mershon
Company. 1903.

_Barrett, New_: Abraham Lincoln and His Presidency. By Joseph H.
Barrett, LL.D. Illustrated. In Two Volumes. Cincinnati: The Robert
Clarke Company. 1904.

_Barrett_: Life of Abraham Lincoln. Presenting his early history,
political career, and speeches in and out of Congress. By Joseph H.
Barrett. Cincinnati: Moore, Wilstach & Baldwin. 1865.

_Bartlett_: The Life and Public Services of Abraham Lincoln. With a
Portrait on Steel. To which is added a biographical sketch of Hon.
Hannibal Hamlin. By D. W. Bartlett. New York: H. Dayton. 1860.

_Bateman_: Abraham Lincoln; an address. By Newton Bateman.
Galesburg, Ill.: Cadmus Club Publications. 1899.

_Binney_: The Life of Horace Binney, with selections from his
letters. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company. 1903.

_Binns_: Abraham Lincoln. By Henry Bryan Binns. London: J. M. Dent
& Co. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. 1907.

_Boyden_: Echoes from Hospital and White House. A Record of Mrs.
Rebecca R. Pomroy’s Experience in War-Times. By Anna L. Boyden.
Boston: D. Lothrop & Co. 1884.

_Brady_: Washington and Lincoln. A comparison, a contrast, and a
consequence. An address delivered on June 18, 1904, at Valley
Forge, Penna. before the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the
Revolution: to commemorate the abandonment of the camp by the
continental army in 1778. By Cyrus Townsend Brady. Philadelphia:
Sons of the Revolution, Pennsylvania Society Publications. 1904.

_Brockett_: The Life and Times of Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth
President of the United States. By L. P. Brockett, M.D.
Philadelphia: Bradley & Co. 1865.

_Brooks_: Abraham Lincoln and the Downfall of American Slavery. By
Noah Brooks. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons. 1896.

_Brougham’s Works_: Works of Henry Peter Brougham, First Baron
Brougham and Vaux. Seven volumes. Edinburgh: Adam and Charles
Black. 1872.

_Browne_: The Every-day Life of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln’s life and
character portrayed by those who knew him. Prepared and arranged by
Francis F. Browne. St. Louis: William G. Hills. 1896.

_Browne’s Lincoln and Men_: Abraham Lincoln and the Men of his
Time. By Robert H. Browne, M.D. Two volumes. Cincinnati: Jennings &
Pye. New York: Eaton & Mains. 1901.

* * * * *

_Campbell’s Reports_: Reports of cases determined at nisi prius in
the courts of King’s Bench and Common Pleas, and on Circuit. Four
Volumes. By John, Baron Campbell. New York: Riley. 1810-1816.

_Carpenter_: The Inner Life of Abraham Lincoln. Six Months at the
White House. By F. B. Carpenter. New York: Hurd & Houghton. 1867.

_Caton_: Miscellanies. By John Dean Caton. Boston: Houghton, Osgood
& Co. 1880.

_Chiniquy_: Fifty years in the Church of Rome. By Father Chiniquy,
the apostle of temperance in Canada. 3d Edition. Chicago: Craig &
Barlow. 1886.

_Chittenden_: Recollections of President Lincoln and his
Administration. By L. E. Chittenden, his Register of the Treasury.
New York: Harper & Bros. 1891.

_Clarke_: James Freeman Clarke. Autobiography, Diary, and
Correspondence. Edited by Edward Everett Hale. Boston and New York:
Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1891.

_Coffin_: Abraham Lincoln. By Charles Carleton Coffin. New York:
Harper & Bros. 1893.

_Curtis’s Lincoln_: The True Abraham Lincoln. By William Eleroy
Curtis. Philadelphia and London: J. B. Lippincott Co. 1904.

* * * * *

_Davidson_: A Complete History of Illinois from 1673 to 1873. By
Alexander Davidson and Bernard Stuvé. Springfield: Illinois Journal
Co. 1874.

_Debates_: Political Debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A.
Douglas, in the Celebrated Campaign of 1858 in Illinois. Including
the preceding speeches of each at Chicago, Springfield, etc. Also
the Two Great Speeches of Abraham Lincoln in Ohio in 1859.
Cleveland: O. S. Hubbell & Co. 1895.

_Dodge_: Abraham Lincoln, the evolution of his literary style. By
Daniel Kilham Dodge. Champaign, Ill.: University of Illinois. 1900.

_Douglass_: Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. Written by
himself. His early life as a slave, his escape from bondage, and
his complete history to the present time. With an introduction by
Mr. George L. Ruffin of Boston. Hartford, Conn.: Park Publishing
Co. 1881.

* * * * *

_Edmonds_: Facts and Falsehoods concerning the war on the South,
1861-1865. By George Edmonds. Memphis, Tenn.: Taylor & Co. 1904.

* * * * *

_Flower_: Edwin McMasters Stanton, the Autocrat of the Rebellion,
Emancipation, and Reconstruction. By Frank Abial Flower. Akron,
Ohio: The Saalfield Publishing Co. 1905.

_French_: Abraham Lincoln, the Liberator. A biographical sketch. By
Charles Wallace French. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. 1891.

* * * * *

_Gallaher_: Best Lincoln Stories, tersely told. By J. E. Gallaher.
Chicago: James E. Gallaher & Co. 1898.

_Gillespie_: Recollections of early Illinois and her noted men.
Read before the Chicago Historical Society, March 16, 1880. By Hon.
Joseph Gillespie, Judge of Circuit Court of Madison County
District. Chicago: Fergus Printing Co. 1880.

_Greeley_: Greeley on Lincoln. With Mr. Greeley’s Letters to
Charles A. Dana and a Lady Friend. To which are added reminiscences
of Horace Greeley. Edited by Joel Benton. New York: The Baker &
Taylor Co. 1893.

_Gridley_: The Story of Abraham Lincoln, or the Journey from the
Log Cabin to the White House. By Eleanor Gridley, Secretary of the
Lincoln Log Cabin Association. Copyright, 1902, by Eleanor Gridley.

_Gridley’s Defense_: Lincoln’s Defense of Duff Armstrong. The story
of the trial and the celebrated almanac. By J. N. Gridley. Reprint
from the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society: April,
1910.

* * * * *

_Hamlin_: The Life and Times of Hannibal Hamlin. By his grandson,
Charles Eugene Hamlin. Cambridge: The Riverside Press. 1899.

_Hanaford_: Abraham Lincoln: His Life and Public Services. By Mrs.
P. A. Hanaford. Boston: B. B. Russell & Co. 1865.

_Hapgood_: Abraham Lincoln, the Man of the People. By Norman
Hapgood. New York: The Macmillan Company. 1899.

_Hart’s Sketch_: A Biographical Sketch of Abraham Lincoln. By
Charles Henry Hart. Reprinted from the introduction to
Bibliographia Lincolniana. Albany: Munsell. 1870.

_Haynie_: The Captains and the Kings. Anecdotes and biographical
notes on contemporary celebrities. By Henry Haynie. New York:
Frederick A. Stokes Co. 1904.

_Herndon_: Abraham Lincoln. The True Story of a Great Life. By
William H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik. With an introduction by
Horace White. Illustrated. In Two Volumes. New York: D. Appleton &
Co. 1896.

_Hill_: Lincoln, The Lawyer. By Frederick Trevor Hill. New York:
The Century Company. 1906.

_Hilliard’s Memoir_: Politics and Pen Pictures at home and abroad.
By Henry Washington Hilliard. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons. 1892.

_Hitchcock_: Nancy Hanks. The Story of Abraham Lincoln’s Mother. By
Caroline Hanks Hitchcock. New York: Doubleday & McClure Co. 1899.

_Hobson_: Footprints of Abraham Lincoln. Presenting Many
Interesting Facts, Reminiscences, and Illustrations Never Before
Published. By J. T. Hobson, D.D., LL.B., author of “The Lincoln
Year Book.” Dayton, Ohio: The Otterbein Press. 1909.

_Holland_: The Life of Abraham Lincoln. By J. G. Holland.
Springfield, Mass.: Gurdon Bill. 1866.

_Howells_: Lives and Speeches of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal
Hamlin. By W. D. Howells and John L. Hayes. Columbus, O.: Follett,
Foster & Co. 1860.

* * * * *

_Irelan_: The Republic; or A History of the United States of
America in The Administrations, From the Monarchic Colonial Days to
the Present Times. By John Robert Irelan, M.D. In Eighteen Volumes.
Chicago: Fairbanks and Palmer Publishing Co. 1888.

* * * * *

_Jayne_: Abraham Lincoln. Personal Reminiscences of the martyred
President. An address delivered by William Jayne to the Grand Army
Hall and Memorial Association, February 12, 1900. Chicago: The
Grand Army Hall and Memorial Assn. 1908.

_Jennings_: Abraham Lincoln, The Greatest American. By Janet
Jennings. Dedicated to the plain people of the Nation he saved--To
the University of Wisconsin that honors his memory. Copyright,
1909, by Janet Jennings. Madison, Wis.

_Jones_: Lincoln, Stanton, and Grant. Historical Sketches. By Major
Evan Rowland Jones. London: Frederick Warne & Co. 1875.

* * * * *

_Keckley_: Behind the Scenes. By Elizabeth Keckley, formerly a
slave, but more recently modiste, and friend of Mrs. Abraham
Lincoln. Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White
House. New York: G. W. Carleton & Co. 1868.

_Ketcham_: The Life of Abraham Lincoln. By Henry Ketcham. New York:
A. L. Burt Co. 1901.

_Koerner_: Memoirs. Life sketches written at the suggestion of his
children. By Gustav Philipp Koerner. Edited by Thomas J. McCormack.
2 Volumes. Cedar Rapids, Iowa: The Torch Press. 1909.

* * * * *

_Lamon_: The Life of Abraham Lincoln; from his Birth to his
Inauguration as President. By Ward H. Lamon. Boston: James R.
Osgood & Co. 1872.

_Lamon’s Recollections_: Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, 1847-65.
By Ward Hill Lamon. Edited by Dorothy Lamon. Chicago: A. C. McClurg
& Co. 1895.

_Larwood’s Humor of Law_: Humor of the Law. Forensic anecdotes. By
Jacob Larwood [pseudonym for L. R. Sadler]. London: Chatto &
Windus. 1903.

_Leland_: Abraham Lincoln and the Abolition of Slavery in the
United States. By Charles Godfrey Leland. New York: Merrill &
Baker. 1879.

_Lewis’s Great American Lawyers_: Great American Lawyers. A history
of the legal profession in America. (University Edition.) Eight
volumes. Edited by William Draper Lewis. Philadelphia: The John C.
Winston Co. 1907-1909.

_Liber Scriptorum_: The First Book of the Authors’ Club. Liber
Scriptorum. New York: Published by the Authors’ Club. 1893.

_Lincoln and Douglas_: Abraham Lincoln. A Paper Read before The
Royal Historical Society, London, June 16, 1881. By Hon. Isaac N.
Arnold, F.R.H.S. Stephen A. Douglas: An Eulogy Delivered before the
Chicago University, July 3, 1861. By Hon. James W. Sheahan.
Chicago: Fergus Printing Co. 1881.

_Lincolnics_: Familiar Sayings of Abraham Lincoln. Collected and
Edited by Henry Llewellyn Williams. New York and London: G. P.
Putnam’s Sons. 1906.

_Ludlow_: President Lincoln, Self-Pourtrayed. By John Malcolm
Ludlow. Published for the benefit of the British Foreign Freedmen’s
Aid Society. London: Alfred W. Bennett; Alexander Strahan;
Hamilton, Adams & Co. 1866.

* * * * *

_McCulloch_: Men and Measures of Half a Century. Sketches and
Comments. By Hugh McCulloch. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
1889.

_MacChesney_: Abraham Lincoln. The Tribute of a Century, 1809-1909.
Commemorative of the Lincoln Centenary and containing the principal
speeches made in connection therewith. Edited by Nathan William
MacChesney. Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co. 1910.

_McClure’s Stories_: Abraham Lincoln’s Stories and Speeches. Edited
by J. B. McClure, A.M. Chicago: Rhodes & McClure Publishing Co.
1899.

_McClure’s Yarns_: “Abe” Lincoln’s Yarns and Stories. A complete
collection of the funny and witty anecdotes that made Lincoln
famous as America’s Greatest Story Teller. With introduction and
anecdotes by Colonel Alexander K. McClure of the Philadelphia
Times, a personal friend and adviser of the Story-Telling
President. The Story of Lincoln’s Life told by himself in his
stories. Wit and Humor of the War, the Courts, the Backwoods, and
the White House. Copyright by Henry Neil, 1901.

Magruder’s Marshall: John Marshall. By Allan B. Magruder. Boston:
Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1899.

_Markens_: President Lincoln and the Jews. By Isaac Markens. New
York: Printed for the Author. 1909.

_Master_: Lincoln, Master of Men. A Study in Character. By Alonzo
Rothschild. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin Company. 1906.

_Merrick’s Narrative_: Old Times on the Upper Mississippi. The
Recollections of a Steam-Boat Pilot from 1854 to 1863. By George
Byron Merrick. Cleveland, Ohio: The Arthur H. Clark Co. 1909.

_Morgan_: Abraham Lincoln, The Boy and the Man. By James Morgan.
New York: The Macmillan Company. 1908.

_Morgan’s Henry_: The True Patrick Henry. By George Morgan.
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co. 1907.

_Morse_: Abraham Lincoln. By John T. Morse, Jr. Two volumes. Boston
and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1896.

* * * * *

_Newton_: Lincoln and Herndon. By Joseph Fort Newton. Cedar Rapids,
Iowa: The Torch Press. 1910.

_Nicolay_: A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln. Condensed from Nicolay
and Hay’s Abraham Lincoln. By John G. Nicolay. New York: The
Century Company. 1904.

_Nicolay’s Boys’ Life_: The Boys’ Life of Abraham Lincoln. By Helen
Nicolay. New York: The Century Company. 1906.

_Nicolay & Hay_: Abraham Lincoln, A History. By John G. Nicolay and
John Hay. Ten Volumes. New York: The Century Company. 1890.

* * * * *

_Oldroyd_: The Lincoln Memorial. Album-Immortelles. Original Life
Pictures, with autographs, from the hands and hearts of eminent
Americans and Europeans, contemporaries of the great martyr to
liberty, Abraham Lincoln. Together with extracts from his
speeches, letters, and sayings. Collected and edited by Osborn H.
Oldroyd. With an introduction by Matthew Simpson, D.D., LL.D., and
a sketch of the patriot’s life by Hon. Isaac N. Arnold. Chicago:
Gem Publishing House. 1883.

_Onstot_: Pioneers of Menard and Mason Counties. Made up of
personal reminiscences of an early life in Menard County, which we
gathered in a Salem life from 1830 to 1840, and a Petersburg life
from 1840 to 1850, including personal reminiscences of Abraham
Lincoln and Peter Cartright. By T. G. Onstot. Forest City,
Illinois: T. G. Onstot. 1902.

* * * * *

_Parkinson’s Tour in America_: A tour in America, in 1798, 1799,
and 1800. Exhibiting sketches of society and manners, and a
particular account of the American system of agriculture. By
Richard Parkinson. London: J. Harding. 1805.

_Paul_: Massachusetts’ practice with reference to proceedings
before masters and auditors, and their reports. Boston: Little,
Brown & Co. 1909.

_Phillips’s, Men who knew_: Abraham Lincoln, by some men who knew
him. Being personal recollections of Judge Owen T. Reeves, Hon.
Jas. S. Ewing, Col. Richard P. Morgan, Judge Franklin Blades, John
W. Bunn. With introduction by Hon. Isaac N. Phillips. Bloomington,
Ill.: Pantagraph Printing and Stationery Co. 1910.

_Pratt_: Lincoln in Story. The Life of the Martyr-President told in
Authenticated Anecdotes. Edited by Silas G. Pratt. Illustrated. New
York: D. Appleton & Co. 1901.

* * * * *

_Ram_: A treatise on facts as subjects of inquiry by a jury. Fourth
American Edition. Edited by John Townshend, and additional notes by
Charles F. Beach, Jr. Also appendix. New York: Baker, Voorhis & Co.
1890.

_Raymond_: The Life and Public Services of Abraham Lincoln,
Sixteenth President of the United States, together with his State
Papers. By Henry J. Raymond. To which are added anecdotes and
personal reminiscences of President Lincoln. By Frank B. Carpenter.
New York: Derby & Miller. 1865.

_Rice_: Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln. By distinguished men of
his time. Collected and edited by Allen Thorndike Rice. New York:
The North American Review. 1888.

_Salkeld’s Reports_: Reports in French and English, containing
cases heard and determined in the court of King’s Bench, during the
time that Sir Robert Foster, Sir Robert Hyde, and Sir John Kelyng
were chief Justices there, as also of certain cases in other courts
at Westminster during that time. 2d Edition. Two Volumes.
Translated into English by Mr. Serjeant Salkeld and others. London:
Browne. 1722.

_Schurz_: The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz. Three Volumes. New
York: The McClure Company. 1907-1908.

_Schurz’s Essay_: Abraham Lincoln. An Essay. By Carl Schurz. Boston
and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1892.

_Scripps_: Tribune Tracts No. 6. Life of Abraham Lincoln. Entered
according to act of Congress in the year 1860 by Horace Greeley and
Company in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United
States for the Southern District of New York.

_Selby_: Stories and Speeches of Abraham Lincoln. Including stories
of Lincoln’s early life, stories of Lincoln as a lawyer,
Presidential incidents, stories of the war, etc., etc. Lincoln’s
Letters and Great Speeches Chronologically arranged; with
Biographical Sketch by Paul Selby (Associate Editor of the
Encyclopedia of Illinois). Fully Illustrated. Chicago: Thompson &
Thomas. 1900.

_Sheppard_: Great Americans of History: Abraham Lincoln. A
Character Sketch. By Robert Dickinson Sheppard, D.D. With
supplementary essay, by G. Mercer Adam. Together with Anecdotes,
Characteristics, and Chronology. Milwaukee: H. G. Campbell
Publishing Co. 1903.

_Speed_: Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln and Notes of a Visit to
California. Two Lectures by Joshua F. Speed. With a sketch of his
Life. Louisville: John P. Morton & Co. 1884.

_Stephens_: Recollections of Alexander H. Stephens. His Diary, kept
when a prisoner at Fort Warren, Boston Harbor, 1865; giving
incidents and reflections on his prison life and some letters and
reminiscences. Edited, with a biographical study, by Myrta Lockett
Avary. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co. 1910.

_Stevens’s Black Hawk_: The Black Hawk War, including a review of
Black Hawk’s life. Chicago: Stevens. 1903.

_Stoddard_: Abraham Lincoln. The True Story of a Great Life. By
William O. Stoddard, one of President Lincoln’s Private
Secretaries during the War of the Rebellion. New York: Fords,
Howard & Hulbert. 1896.

_Stovall_: Robert Toombs. Statesman, Speaker, Soldier, Sage. By
Pleasant A. Stovall. New York: Cassell Publishing Co. 1892.

_Stowe_: Men of Our Times, or Leading Patriots of the Day. Being a
narrative of the lives and deeds of Statesmen, Generals, and
Orators. By Harriet Beecher Stowe. Hartford: Hartford Publishing
Co. 1868.

_Sumner_: The Promises of the Declaration of Independence. Eulogy
on Abraham Lincoln, delivered by Charles Sumner before the
municipal authorities of the City of Boston, June 1, 1865. Boston:
Farwell & Co., Printers to the City. 1865.

* * * * *

_Tarbell’s Early Life_: The Early Life of Abraham Lincoln.
Containing many unpublished documents and unpublished reminiscences
of Lincoln’s early friends. By Ida M. Tarbell, assisted by J. McCan
Davis. New York: S. S. McClure. 1896.

_Tarbell_: The Life of Abraham Lincoln. Drawn from original sources
and containing many speeches, letters, and telegrams hitherto
unpublished. Two Volumes. By Ida M. Tarbell. New York: The
Doubleday & McClure Co. 1900.

_Thayer_: The Pioneer Boy and How He Became President. By William
M. Thayer. Boston: Walker, Wise & Company. 1864.

_Trevelyan’s Fox_: The Early History of Charles James Fox. By Sir
George Otto Trevelyan. New York: Harper & Bros. 1880.

* * * * *

_Ward_: Abraham Lincoln. Tributes from his associates.
Reminiscences of soldiers, statesmen, and citizens. With
introduction by The Rev. William Hayes Ward, D.D. New York: Thomas
Y. Crowell & Co. 1895.

_Whipple_: The Story-Life of Lincoln. A Biography composed of Five
Hundred True Stories, told by Abraham Lincoln and his friends,
selected from all authentic sources, and fitted together in order,
forming His Complete Life History. By Wayne Whipple. Memorial
Edition. Issued to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of Lincoln’s
Birth. Copyright, 1908, by Wayne Whipple.

_White_: Abraham Lincoln in 1854. An address delivered before the
Illinois State Historical Society. By Horace White. January 30,
1908. Illinois State Historical Society Publication.

_White, Money and Banking_: Money and Banking, illustrated by
American history. By Horace White. Boston: Ginn & Co. 1896.

_Whitney_: Life on the Circuit with Lincoln. With Sketches of
Generals Grant, Sherman, and McClellan, Judge Davis, Leonard Swett,
and other contemporaries. By Henry C. Whitney. Boston: Estes &
Lauriat. 1892.

_Whitney’s Life_: Life of Lincoln. By Henry C. Whitney. Edited by
Marion Mills Miller, Litt.D. Two Volumes: Vol. I., Lincoln, The
Citizen; Vol. II., Lincoln, The President. New York: The Baker &
Taylor Company. 1908.

_Williams_: The Burden Bearer, an Epic of Lincoln. By Francis
Williams. Philadelphia: Jacobs & Co. 1908.

_Wilson’s Washington_: George Washington. By Woodrow Wilson.
Illustrated by Howard Pyle. New York: Harper & Bros. 1905.

_Works_: Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln. Edited by John G.
Nicolay and John Hay. With a General Introduction by Richard Watson
Gilder, and Special Articles by Other Eminent Persons. New and
Enlarged Edition. Twelve Volumes. New York: Francis D. Tandy
Company. 1905.

NOTES

The author would have wished to acknowledge his indebtedness to the many admirers of Abraham Lincoln who so cheerfully and readily replied to his inquiries. The responsiveness of all to whom he applied for information and particularly the eagerness with which collectors entrusted precious pamphlets and scrap-books to him were a constant source of gratification and encouragement.

In the following notes there are frequent references to secondary authorities. They are given, not to authenticate what has been said on direct authority, but for the convenience of readers and the service of students. The reader may find one book more available than another; and the student, who may wish to collate all that has been published on a subject, will have at hand an adequate bibliography.