The great men of the various eras and nations are
comprehensible, at least upon broad lines. The traits to which each owes
his peculiar power can be pretty well agreed upon; the capacity of each
can be tolerably well expressed in a formula; each can be intelligibly
described in fairly distinct phrases; and whether this be in the spirit
of admiration or of condemnation will, in all cases which admit of
doubt, be largely a question of the personal sympathies of the observer.
But Lincoln stands apart in striking solitude,--an enigma to all men.
The world eagerly asks of each person who endeavors to write or speak of
him: What illumination have you for us? Have you solved the mystery? Can
you explain this man? The task has been essayed many times; it will be
essayed many times more; it never has been, and probably it never will
be entirely achieved. Each biographer, each writer or speaker, makes his
little contribution to the study, and must be content to regard it
merely as a contribution. For myself, having drawn the picture of the
man as I see him, though knowing well that I am far from seeing him all,
and still farther from seeing inwardly through him, yet I know that I
cannot help it by additional comments. Very much more than is the case
with other men, Lincoln means different things to different persons, and
the aspect which he presents depends to an unusual degree upon the moral
and mental individuality of the observer.
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