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Show LINCOLN DISCIPLINED HIMSELF. You havo used the word "demonstrate," "demon-strate," but did It ever occur to you how much the word meaii3? When 'Abraham Lincoln was gaining his education by tho slow-process of reading read-ing and thinking for lilmself, he came to the word "demonstrate," to comprehend com-prehend which we have his own statement, state-ment, he worked until he had mastered master-ed six books In Euclid. We are told by his biographer that It was no brilliant student who devoted devot-ed himself to acquiring tho rudiments of education, but a patient, painstaking painstak-ing and somewhat plodding boy, for Lincoln's mind matured very slowly. Indeed, ho did not show any signs of promise until he was about 18, and even in the prime of his life his intellectual in-tellectual processes were far from quick. His mind, he remarked, was like a piece of steel very hard to scratch, but almost Impossible to free of any mark once made upon it. Those v,ho have had the benefit-of good Instruction In-struction and understand proper methods meth-ods of study. can scarcely conceive the difficulties under which such a boy would labor In acquiring knowledge without assistance. A severer discipline discip-line can hardly be imagined. His slowness and lack of guldanco had, however, the advantage of making mak-ing Lincoln thorough. Ho never was pure that he knew anything unless he understood It perfectly. There never was a man more familiar famil-iar with the pains and woes of mental men-tal drudgery than Lincoln, and It required re-quired real courage to keep him at his task, for he was not fond of study for Its own sake. Neither was he naturally natural-ly thorough or methodical. On the contrary he was Inclined to disorderly habits and slipshod methods, some of which ho novcr outgrew, and at first he attempted to clip corners and find short cuts to learning, quite as often and as hopefully as other boys have done. Indeed, It was only through repeated failure that he learned that It was Impossible for him to acquire anything except at the price of good, hard work. Even when he began to study law he had a fleeting hope that his knack of spcechmaking would relieve re-lieve him from the drudgery of the profession, only to confess, before many years had passed, that any one who relied on such an exemption was a "failure In advance." Americans are said to admire smartness, smart-ness, sharpness, and showy trait3-of mind, but these qualities were all conspicuously con-spicuously lacking in Lincoln. He could, upon occasion, make a bright reply re-ply or a neat retort, but as a rule ho required time and careful preparation to appear at advantage, and he was often painfully slow in making up his mind. Perfoctly aware of these limitations, limi-tations, he concentrated all his efforts upon discovering the real issue or point in any subject and mastering that to the exclusion of details, and of this training came one of the most pitiless analyzers of facts, one of the soundest logicians, and one of the keenest trailers of truth that the world has ever known. This was not, however, how-ever, solely, or even largely, the rosult of his application to books. He had neither the tastes nor the opportunities opportuni-ties of a book worm. He preferred the company of his fellow-men, and from them he learned far more than he did from any printed page. He was not, however, what Is generally known as a student of human nature. Probably it never occurred to him to dissect and examine critically tho minds and characters char-acters of his acquaintances and friends. Nevertheless he was a close and accurate observer, and by mixing freely with all sorts and conditions of men hi; acquired a remarkable knowledge knowl-edge of humanity. In the discussions at the country store at Salem, and at other local forums, he discovered that the man of moderate attainments, who was truthful and sincere, often had his mental superiors at a decided disadvantage, and early in his career he schooled himself against exaggeration exaggera-tion and overstatement of every kind. To present facts clearly, concisely, and effectively, without taking undue advantage of them, is no mean accomplishment. accom-plishment. It requires not only ability abil-ity and courage, but tact and character, and In Lincoln's hand it became both a shield of defense and a weapon of attack. He. neither deceived himself nor allowed others to deceive him, and he honestly and fairly looked on all sides of every quostion before making up his mind. Ths not only rendered him sure of his own ground and tolerant toler-ant of the opinions of others, but gave him a knowledgo of his adversary's resources which was Invaluable In tlmo of need. As a result, we have his own statement that in all his experience as a lawyer he was never once surprised sur-prised by the strength of an opponent's oppo-nent's case and frequently found It much weaker than he feared. In like manner, during the contest over slavery, slav-ery, he so thoroughly mastered the arguments ar-guments of those who differed from him that he was often able to turn them to his own advantage, forcing his great rival Douglas to confess that ho had given him more trouble than all tho Abolitionists together. |