ty
over those who have. Indeed, I believe, if we take habitual drunkards
as a class, that their heads and their hearts will bear an advantageous
comparison with those of any other class." It proved, at a later day,
very lucky for America that the virtuous Lincoln, who did not drink
strong drink--nor, it is sad to say, smoke, nor, which is all to the
good, chew--did feel like that about drunkenness; But there was great
and loud wrath. "It's a shame," said one, "that he should be permitted
to abuse us so in the house of the Lord." It is certain that in this
sort of way he did himself a good deal of injury as an aspiring
politician. It is also the fact that he continued none the less
persistently in a missionary work conceived in a spirit none the less
Christian because it shocked many pious people.

3. _Marriage_.

The private life of Lincoln continued, and for many years increasingly,
to be equally marked by indiscriminate sociability and brooding
loneliness. Comfort and the various influences which may be associated
with the old-fashioned American word "elegance" seem never to enter
into it. What is more, little can be discerned of positive happiness
in the background of his life, as the freakish elasticity of his youth
disappeared and, after a certain measure of marked success, the further
objects of his ambition though not dropped became unlikely of
attainment and seemed, we may guess, of doubtful value. All along he
was being moulded for endurance rather than for enjoyment.

Nor, though his children evidently brought him happiness, does what we
know of his domesticities and dearest affections weaken this general
impression. When he married he had gone through a saddening
experience. He started on manhood with a sound and chivalrous outlook
on women in general, and a nervous terror of actual women when he met
them. In New Salem days he absented himself from meals for the whole
time that some ladies were staying at his boarding house. His clothes
and his lack of upbringing must have weighed with him, besides his
natural disposition. None the less, of course he fell in love. Miss
Ann Rutledge, the daughter of a store and tavern keeper from Kentucky
with whom Lincoln was boarding in 1833, has been described as of
exquisite beauty; some say this is over-stated, but speak strongly of
her grace and charm. A lady who knew her gives these curiously
collocated particulars: "Miss Rutledge had auburn hair, bl