ppointing.
Perhaps his strangely sensitive mind felt too powerfully the fatefulness
of the moment and reacted with a sort of lightness that did not really
represent the real man. Be that as it may, he was never less convincing
than at that time. Nor were people impressed by his bearing. Often he
appeared awkward, too much in appearance the country lawyer. He acted as
a man who was ill at ease and he spoke as a man who had nothing to say.
Gloom darkened the North as a consequence of these unfortunate speeches,
for they expressed an optimism which we cannot believe he really felt,
and which hurt him in the estimation of the country. "There is no
crisis but an artificial one," was one of his ill-timed assurances, and
another, "There is nothing going wrong.... There is nothing that really
hurts any one." Of his supporters some were discouraged; others were
exasperated; and an able but angry partisan even went so far as to write
in a private letter, "Lincoln is a Simple Susan."

The fourth of March arrived, and with it the end of Lincoln's
blundering. One good omen for the success of the new Administration was
the presence of Douglas on the inaugural platform. He had accepted fate,
deeply as it wounded him, and had come out of the shattered party of
evasion on the side of his section. For the purpose of showing his
support of the administration at this critical time, he had taken a
place on the stand where Lincoln was to speak. By one of those curious
little dramatic touches with which chance loves to embroider history,
the presence of Douglas became a gracious detail in the memory of the
day. Lincoln, worn and awkward, continued to hold his hat in his hand.
Douglas, with the tact born of social experience, stepped forward and
took it from him without--exposing Lincoln's embarrassment.

The inaugural address which Lincoln now pronounced had little similarity
to those unfortunate utterances which he had made on the journey to
Washington. The cloud that had been over him, whatever it was, had
lifted. Lincoln was ready for his great labor. The inaugural contained
three main propositions. Lincoln pledged himself not to interfere
directly or indirectly with slavery in the States where it then existed;
he promised to support the enforcement of the fugitive slave law; and he
declared he would maintain the Union. "No State," said he, "upon its own
mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union.... To the extent of my
ability I shall