ory. Stephen A. Douglas! Abraham Lincoln! As they stood side
by side and looked out upon "the sea of upturned faces"--it was
indeed a picture to live in the memory of all who witnessed it.
The one stood for the old ordering of things, in an emphatic sense
for the Government as established by the fathers--with all its
compromises. The other, recognizing equally with his opponent the
binding force of Constitutional obligation, yet looking, away from
present surroundings, "felt the inspiration of the coming of the
grander day." As has been well said, "The one faced the past; the
other, the future."

The name of Lincoln is now a household word. But little can be
written of him that is not already known to the world. Nothing
that can be uttered or withheld can add to, or detract from, his
imperishable fame. But it must be remembered that his great
opportunity and fame came after the stirring events separated from
us by the passing of fifty years. It is not the Lincoln of history,
but Lincoln the country lawyer, the debater, the candidate of
his party for political office, with whom we have now to do. Born
in Kentucky, much of his early life was spent in Indiana, and
all his professional and public life up to his election to the
Presidency, in Illinois. His early opportunities for study,
like those of Douglas, were meagre indeed. Neither had had the
advantage of the thorough training of the schools. Of both it
might truly have been said, "They knew men rather than books." From
his log-cabin home upon the Sangamon, Mr. Lincoln had in his early
manhood volunteered, and was made captain of his company, in what was
so well known to the early settlers of Illinois as the Black
Hawk War. Later on, he was surveyor of his county, and three times
a member of the State Legislature. At the time of the debates with
Senator Douglas, Mr. Lincoln had for many years been a resident of
Springfield, and a recognized leader of the bar. As an advocate,
he had probably no superior in the State. During the days of
the Whig party he was an earnest exponent of its principles, and
an able champion of its candidates. As such, he had in successive
contests eloquently presented the claims of Harrison, Clay, Taylor,
and Scott to the Presidency. In 1846, he was elected a Representative
in Congress, and upon his retirement he resumed the active practice
of his profession. Upon the dissolution of the Whig party, he cast
in his fortunes