Lincoln, the unknown

LINCOLN THE UNKNOWN• 103by declaring that the statement "A house divided against itselfcannot stand" was the truth of all human experience."It has been true," said Lincoln, "for six thousand years. AndI want some universally known figure, expressed in a simplelanguage, that will arouse men to the peril of the times. Thetime has come when this truth should be uttered, and I am determinedneither to change nor modify my assertion. I am willing,if necessary, to perish with it. If it is decreed that I shouldgo down because of this speech, then let me go down linked tothe truth. Let me die in the advocacy of what is just and right."The first of the great debates was held on the twenty-first dayof August in the little farming town of Ottawa, seventy-fivemiles out of Chicago. Crowds began arriving the night before.Soon the hotels, private houses, and livery-stables were filledto capacity; and for a mile up and down the valley camp-firesblazed on bluffs and bottom-lands as if the town were surroundedby an invading army.Before daybreak the tide set in again; and the sun rose thatmorning over the Illinois prairies to look down on country roadsfilled with buggies and wagons, with pedestrians, and with menand women on horseback. The day was hot, the weather hadbeen dry for weeks. Huge clouds of dust arose and drifted overthe corn-fields and meadows.At noon a special train of seventeen cars arrived from Chicago;seats were packed, aisles jammed, and eager passengersrode on the roofs.Every town within forty miles had brought its band. Drumsrolled, horns tooted, there was the tramp, tramp of paradingmilitia. Quack doctors gave free snake-shows and sold their painkillers.Jugglers and contortionists performed in front of saloons.Beggars and scarlet women plied their trades.Firecrackers exploded,cannon boomed, horses shied and ran away.In some towns, the renowned Douglas was driven through thestreets in a fine carriage drawn by six white horses. A mightyhurrah arose. The cheering was continuous.Lincoln's supporters, to show their contempt for this displayand elegance, drove their candidate through the street on a decrepitold hay-rack drawn by a team of white mules. Behind himcame another hay-rack filled with thirty-two girls. Each girlbore the name of a State, and above them rose a huge motto: