Lincoln, the unknown

96 • LINCOLN THE UNKNOWNform. As usual, he was immaculately attired and faultlesslygroomed.Mary Lincoln was already in the audience. Before leaving thehouse that morning she had vigorously brushed Lincoln's coat,had laid out a fresh collar and carefully ironed his best tie. Shewas anxious to have him appear to advantage. But the day washot, and Lincoln knew the air in the hall would be oppressive.So he strode onto the platform without a coat, without a vest,without a collar, without a tie. His long, brown, skinny neckrose out of the shirt that hung loosely on his gaunt frame. Hishair was disordered, his boots rusty and unkempt. One singleknitted "gallis" held up his short, ill-fitting trousers.At the first sight of him, Mary Lincoln flushed with angerand embarrassment. She could have wept in her disappointmentand despair.No one dreamed of it at the time, but we know now thatthis homely man, whose wife was ashamed of him, was startingout that hot October afternoon on a career that was to give hima place among the immortals.That afternoon, he made the first great speech of his life. Ifall the addresses that he had made previously were collected andplaced in one book, and those that he made from that afternoonon were placed in another volume, you could hardly believethat the same man was the author of them all. It was anew Lincoln speaking that day—a Lincoln stirred to thedepths by a mighty wrong, a Lincoln pleading for an oppressedrace, a Lincoln touched and moved and lifted up by moralgrandeur.He reviewed the history of slavery, and gave five fiery reasonsfor hating it.But with lofty tolerance, he declared: "I have no prejudiceagainst the Southern people. They are just what we would bein their situation. If slavery did not now exist among them, theywould not introduce it. If it did now exist among us, we shouldnot instantly give it up."When Southern people tell us they are no more responsiblefor the origin of slavery than we are, I acknowledge the fact.When it is said that the institution exists, and that it is verydifficult to get rid of it in any satisfactory way, I can understandand appreciate the saying. I surely will not blame themfor not doing what I should not know how to do myself. If all