but the Legislature elected Douglas. Yet the real outcome was a national prominence which brought him the Republican nomination for the Presidency over William H. Seward, in 1860, and his election. So far as possible Lincoln's great career as President has been divided into three parts which afford stories of the civil side of his administration, stories of his visits to the front, and stories relating peculiarly to the events of the war. Obviously the line cannot be drawn sharply; but the general plan will, it is believed, be found convenient as affording illuminating suggestions regarding the various phases of the momentous period from Lincoln's first election to his death, April 15, 1865.

Abraham Lincoln was a man of steel nerves, clear mental grasp, stanch convictions, and adamantine will, though withal a man of the gentlest and kindliest character; and his forbearance and patience were almost infinite. He was the genius of common sense. His steps forward were always well timed, and some one said that he was never oppressed with that curse of genius, the self-consciousness of petty things. He had the faculty of picking out the essentials of a question and allowing the non-essentials to take care of themselves.

His stories illustrate these characteristics to a

tion serves to accentuate atience, his tactfulness and atriotism and wisdom, his o the highest ideals, it will derstanding of one of the e world's unfolding drama. e to the many lovers and In, to authors of standard us chroniclers, from whom en gathered.

LINCOLN'S OWN STORIES

WHEN

I

EARLIER YEARS

HEN the Lincoln family moved from Indiana to Illinois in the spring of 1830 they had, among their few possessions, a small pet dog. The little animal fell behind one day and was not missed until the party had crossed a swollen, ice-filled stream, when he made his presence on the opposite bank known by whines and yelps. Lincoln's father, anxious to go forward, decided not to recross the river with oxen and wagons, but the boy Abraham could not endure the idea of abandoning even a dog. Pulling off shoes and socks, he waded across the stream and triumphantly returned with the shivering animal under his arm. Said Lincoln afterward, "His frantic leaps of joy and other evidences of a dog's gratitude amply repaid me for all the exposure I had undergone."