to his personal charm. By all
accounts he was big, awkward, ill-clad, shy--yet his sterling honor,
his unselfish nature, his heart of the true gentleman, inspired
respect and confidence. Men might laugh at his first appearance, but
they were not long in recognizing the real superiority of his nature.

Such was Abraham Lincoln at twenty-six, when the tragic death of Ann
Rutledge made all that he had attained, all that he had planned, seem
fruitless and empty. He was too sincere and just, too brave a man, to
allow a great sorrow permanently to interfere with his activities.
He rallied his forces, and returned to his law, his surveying,
his politics. He brought to his work a new power, that insight and
patience which only a great sorrow can give.

(_Begun in the November number 1895; to be continued_)

LINCOLN'S BEARD--THE LETTER OF MRS. BILLINGS REFERRED TO ON
PAGE 217.

DELPHOS, KANSAS, _December 6, 1895_.
MISS TARBELL:

In reply to your letter of recent date inquiring about the
incident of my childhood and connected with Mr. Lincoln, I
would say that at the time of his first nomination to the
Presidency I was a child of eleven years, living with my
parents in Chautauqua County, N.Y.

My father was an ardent Republican, and possessed of a
profound admiration for the character of the grand man who
was the choice of his party. We younger children accepted his
opinions with unquestioning faith, and listened with great
delight to the anecdotes of his life current at that time, and
were particularly interested in reading of the difficulties he
encountered in getting an education; so much did it appeal to
our childish imaginations that _we_ were firmly persuaded that
if we could only study our lessons prone before the glow and
cheer of an open fire in a great fireplace, _we_ too might
rise to heights which now we could never attain. My father
brought to us, one day, a large poster, and my mind still
holds a recollection of its crude, coarse work and glaring
colors. About the edges were grouped in unadorned and
exaggerated ugliness the pictures of our former Presidents,
and in the midst of them were the faces of "Lincoln and
Hamlin," surrounded by way of a frame with a rail fence.
We are all familiar with the strong and rugged face of Mr.
Lincoln, the deep lines about the mouth, and the eyes have
much