h the
people of Illinois and of the West had conceived of him, and which
they had imparted to their colleagues, that they also might justify
themselves to their constituents at home, was not rash, though they
did not begin to know the riches of his worth.

A plain man of the people, an extraordinary fortune attended him. He
offered no shining qualities at the first encounter; he did not offend
by superiority. He had a face and manner which disarmed suspicion,
which inspired confidence, which confirmed good will. He was a man
without vices. He had a strong sense of duty, which it was very easy
for him to obey. Then he had what farmers call a long head; was
excellent in working out the sum for himself; in arguing his case and
convincing you fairly and firmly. Then it turned out that he was a
great worker; had prodigious faculty of performance; worked easily. A
good worker is so rare; everybody has some disabling quality. In a
host of young men that start together and promise so many brilliant
leaders for the next age, each fails on trial; one by bad health, one
by conceit, or by love of pleasure, or lethargy, or an ugly
temper,--each has some disqualifying fault that throws him out of the
career. But this man was sound to the core, cheerful, persistent, all
right for labor, and liked nothing so well.

Then he had a vast good nature, which made him tolerant and accessible
to all; fair minded, leaning to the claim of the petitioner; affable,
and not sensible to the affliction which the innumerable visits paid
to him when President would have brought to any one else. And how this
good nature became a noble humanity, in many a tragic case which the
events of the war brought to him, every one will remember; and with
what increasing tenderness he dealt when a whole race was thrown on
his compassion. The poor negro said of him, on an impressive occasion,
"Massa Linkum am ebery-where." Then his broad good humor, running
easily into jocular talk, in which he delighted and in which he
excelled, was a rich gift to this wise man. It enabled him to keep his
secret; to meet every kind of man and every rank in society; to take
off the edge of the severest decisions; to mask his own purpose and
sound his companion; and to catch with true instinct the temper of
every company he addressed. And, more than all, it is to a man of
severe labor, in anxious and exhausting crises, the natural
restorative, good as sleep, and is the protection of