reigner, whose knowledge of the courts was more
perfect than that of the English language, said, 'He seems to me one
grand _gentilhomme_ in disguise.'" Mr. Hay adds that Lincoln's
simplicity of manner "was marked in his total lack of consideration of
what was due his exalted station. He had an almost morbid dread of what
he called 'a scene'--that is, a demonstration of applause, such as
always greeted his appearance in public. The first sign of a cheer
sobered him; he appeared sad and oppressed, suspended conversation, and
looked out into vacancy; and when it was over, resumed the conversation
just where it was interrupted, with an obvious feeling of relief....
Speaking of an early acquaintance who was an applicant for an office
which he thought him hardly qualified to fill, the President said,
'Well, now, I never thought M---- had any more than average ability,
when we were young men together; really I did not.' [A pause.] 'But,
then, I suppose he thought just the same about me; he had reason to,
and--here I am!'"

General Carl Schurz says: "In the White House, as in his simple home in
Springfield, Mr. Lincoln was the same plain, unaffected, unpretentious
citizen. He won the admiration and affection of even the most
punctilious of the foreign diplomats by the tenderness of his nature and
the touching simplicity of his demeanor.... He was, in mind and heart,
the very highest type of development of a plain man. He was a born
leader of men, and the qualities that made him a leader were of the
plain, common-sense type.... Lincoln had one great advantage over all
the chief statesmen of his day. He had a thorough knowledge of the plain
people. He knew their habits, their modes of thought, their unfailing
sense of justice and right. He relied upon the popular feeling, in great
measure, for his guidance."

Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe said of the qualities which Lincoln exhibited
in the White House: "Lincoln is a strong man, but his strength is of a
peculiar kind; it is not aggressive so much as passive; and among
passive things, it is like the strength not so much of a stone buttress
as of a wire cable. It is strength swaying to every influence, yielding
on this side and on that, to popular needs, yet tenaciously and
inflexibly bound to carry its great end.... Slow and careful in coming
to resolutions, willing to talk with every person who has anything to
show on any side of a disputed subject, long in weighing and pondering,