Lincoln, the unknown

112 •LINCOLN THE UNKNOWNthe operator burst down the stairway, crying: "Mr. Lincoln, youare nominated! You are nominated!"Lincoln's lower lip trembled slightly, his face flushed. For afew seconds he stopped breathing.It was the most dramatic moment of his life.After nineteen years of desolating defeats, he had been suddenlywhirled to the dizzy heights of victory.Men rushed up and down the streets shouting the news. Themayor ordered the firing of a hundred guns.Scores of old friends flocked about Lincoln, half laughing,half crying, shaking his hands, tossing their hats into the air,yelling in mad excitement."Excuse me, boys," he pleaded; "there is a little woman downon Eighth Street who will want to hear this."And away he dashed, his coat-tails sailing behind him.The streets of Springfield were rosy all that night with thelight of bonfires fed by tar-barrels and rail fences, and thesaloons never closed their doors.It wasn't long before half of the nation was singing:"Old Abe Lincoln came out of the wilderness,Out of the wilderness, out of the wilderness;Old Abe Lincoln came out of the wilderness,Down in Illinois."