The Chemawa American, March 01, 1916, Page 18, Image 18

THE CHEM AW A
A M E R IC A N
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“ Lincoln was w onderful in his m anagem ent of the Civil W ar and had
trem endous influence on the history of his tim e. If he had not died he
would have been able, th ro u g h the force of th e public opinion w hich was
back of him , to reu n ite the co u n try , and the hideous record of recon­
struction would not have been w ritten . All the historical docum ents
have established beyond peradventure th a t the plan of re u n itin g the
country w hich A ndrew Johnson attem pted to carry out was L in co ln ’s
plan, and the public opinion w hich was not back of Johnson would
have supported Lincoln, and he alone would have been able to control the
revengeful radicalism w hich took his plan away from Johnson and d e ­
stroyed it and substituted a different policy.
T he last man now living who was in close contact w ith Lincoln is
H orace W hite, for a long tim e editor of the New Y ork E vening Post.
H e m akes his residence in New Y ork, where, at a green old age, he is
possessed of all his faculties. H e was w ith Lincoln when th è la tte r
w ent on his fam ous jo in t debate with D ouglas. It is, too, an in te re st­
ing fact th a t th e late Robert R. H itt, of Illinois, some tim e A ssistant
S ecretary ot S tate, as a sh o rth an d rep o rter chronicled these debates of
Lincoln and Douglas. I nhappily, there are no papers of Stephen A
Douglas e x ta n t. If they had been preserved they would probably be
a m ine of historical inform ation concerning Lincoln. T hey m ight have
told ot that early rivalry between him and L incoln for the hand of Mary
lo d d , who rejected Douglas to m arry L incoln.
Of Mr. L in co ln ’s wife th ere has been a good deal w ritten and m uch
said. She was a woman of high education ano undoubted charm , She
wrote easily and well, had alw ays been accustom ed to social life and liked
to observe its form s. H er husband knew little of forms and generally
refused to follow them . W hatever he was, P resident Lincoln was not
coventional. H e stands out, a figure all bv him self, w ith o u t prototype
and w ithout im ita to rs.”
1 here are m any people living who rem em ber Mr. Lincoln d istin ctly ,
and some of them recently contributed a few random m em ories w hich
show the brig h ter side of the m an. T h e au th o r, Mrs. Jennie G ould L in ­
coln, who gave an in terestin g story of an early episode, was one of these.
E v ery th in g p ertain in g to the war President is of interest to Mrs. Lincoln
for she not only believes that som ew here back in K e n tu c k y ’s early years
the family of her husband and th a t of President Lincoln was connected,
but also she met him as a girl under unusual circum stances.
My father was Jud g e G eorge G ould, presiding ju d g e of the C ourt of
A ppeals of New Y o rk ,” said Mrs. Lincoln. “ O ur hom e was at T roy.
My uncle, David T hom as Yail, was president of w hat was then the
H udson River R ailroad, now the New Y ork C entral. As the P resid en t­
elect was to pass our way on his jo u rn ey to be in au g u rated at W ashing-