PAGE.
Preface[7]
Lincoln’s Great Strength as a Boy[11]
Was Proud of His Strength[11]
Lincoln a Powerful Wrestler[12]
Lincoln Split 400 Rails for a Yard of Jeans[12]
Lincoln as a Verse Writer[14]
Lincoln’s Quick Wit in Helping a Girl to Spell a Word[15]
Lincoln as a Notion Peddler[15]
Lincoln Saved From Drowning[16]
Lincoln’s Youthful Eloquence[18]
One of Lincoln’s Songs[19]
Lincoln’s First Political Speech[20]
How Lincoln Became Known as “Honest Abe”[21]
Lincoln Was an “Obliging” Man[22]
How Lincoln Paid a Large Debt[23]
His First Sight of Slavery[23]
Lincoln and Jeff Davis in the Black Hawk War[24]
Lincoln’s Glowing Tribute to His Mother[25]
What Lincoln’s Step-Mother Said of Him[26]
Lincoln’s First Love[26]
The Duel Lincoln Didn’t Fight[28]
Lincoln as a Dancer[29]
Lincoln’s Courtship and Marriage[29]
Lincoln’s Personal Appearance[31]
Lincoln’s Mother[32]
Lincoln’s Melancholia[34]
Lincoln’s Height[36]
How Lincoln Became a Lawyer[36]
Lincoln as a Lawyer[37]
Lincoln’s Conscientiousness in Taking Cases[38]
The Jury Understood[39]
Lincoln’s Honesty with a Lady Client[39]
Lincoln Wins a Celebrated Case[40]
Lincoln’s “Selfishness”[41]
Lincoln Removes a License on Theatres[42]
How Lincoln Got the Worst of a Horse Trade[43]
Lincoln Helped Him to Win[44]
Lincoln Settles a Quarrel Without Going to Law[46]
A Lincoln Story About Little Dan Webster’s Soiled Hands[47]
Lincoln’s Long Limbs Drive a Man Out of His Berth[48]
Lincoln’s Joke on Douglas[49]
Lincoln Shrewdly Traps Douglas[50]
Lincoln’s Fairness in Debate[52]
Lincoln Asked His Friend’s Help for the United States Senate[54]
Making Lincoln Presentable[55]
Evidence of Lincoln’s Religious Belief[56]
Lincoln a Temperance Man[57]
Lincoln’s Famous Gettysburg Address[57]
The Gettysburg Address[59]
Lincoln as a Ruler[60]
Lincoln’s Real Object in Conducting the War[61]
Lincoln Asked for Some of Grant’s Whisky[62]
Lincoln Believed Himself Ugly[62]
Lincoln’s Kindness to a Disabled Soldier[63]
A Sample of Lincoln’s Statesmanship[64]
Two Good Stories[65]
Lincoln Raises a Warning Voice Against the Concentration of Great Wealth[65]
Lincoln and the Dying Soldier Boy[66]
The Dandy, the Bugs and the President[67]
Lincoln Upheld the Hands of Gen. Grant[68]
Why Lincoln Told Stories[69]
Lincoln Rewards a Man For Kindness Thirty Years After the Occurrence[70]
Lincoln a Merciful Man[71]
Lincoln’s Humorous Advice to a Distinguished Bachelor[72]
How Lincoln Answered a Delicate Question[73]
Lincoln Illustrates a Case Humorously[74]
Why Lincoln Mistook a Driver to be an Episcopalian[74]
A Clergyman Who Talked But Little[75]
How Lincoln Received a Jackknife as a Present[75]
The Best Car For His Corpse[76]
His Title Did Not Help Any[77]
One of Lincoln’s Autographs[77]
Lincoln’s Substitute[77]
Lincoln’s Estimate of the Financial Standing of a Neighbor[78]
Lincoln’s Query Puzzled the Man[78]
Lincoln’s Inauguration[79]
John Sherman’s First Meeting with Lincoln[80]
Lincoln and the Sentinel[81]
Origin of “With Malice Toward None,” Etc.[82]
His Good Memory of Names[82]
Lincoln’s Grief Over the Defeat of the Union Army[83]
Three Stories of Lincoln by Senator Palmer[84]
His Famous Second Inaugural Address[87]
Lincoln Said Even a Rebel Could be Saved[88]
Washington and Lincoln Compared[89]
Lincoln Remembered Him[91]
Why Lincoln Pardoned Them[92]
The Lincoln Portraits[96]
Lincoln’s Faith in Providence[97]
Lincoln’s Last Words[99]
A Chicagoan Who Saw Lincoln Shot[101]
Martyred Lincoln’s Blood[104]
A Strange Coincidence in the Lives of Lincoln and His Slayer[105]
Where is the Original Emancipation Proclamation[106]
Mr. Griffiths on Lincoln[107]
A Famous Chicago Lawyer’s Views[107]
Lincoln Was Plain but Great[109]
Lincoln’s Specific Life Work[110]
The Proposed Purchase of the Slaves[111]
Senator Thurston’s Speech[112]
Lincoln Analyzed[116]
The Religion of the Presidents[121]

BEST LINCOLN STORIES TERSELY TOLD.

LINCOLN’S GREAT STRENGTH AS A BOY.

The strength Lincoln displayed when he was ten years old is remarkable. At that age he was almost constantly using an axe in chopping and splitting wood and he used it with great skill, sinking it deeper into the wood than any other person. He cut the elm and linn brush used for feeding the stock, drove the team, handled the old shovel-plow, wielded the sickle, threshed wheat with a flail, fanned and cleaned it with a sheet and performed other labor that few men of to-day could do so well. He wielded the axe from the age of ten till he was twenty-three. As he grew older he became one of the strongest and most popular “hands” in the vicinity and his services were in great demand. He was employed as a “hand” by his neighbors at 25 cents a day, which money was paid to his father.

WAS PROUD OF HIS STRENGTH.

Mr. Lincoln was a remarkably strong man; he was strong as well as tall. He was in the habit of measuring his height with other tall men,—he did this even in the White House. In 1859 he visited the Wisconsin State Fair at Milwaukee and was led around by the then Governor Hoyt. They entered a tent where a “strong man” was performing with huge iron balls. His feats amazed and interested Lincoln. The governor told him to go up on the platform and be introduced to the athlete, by whose exhibition of skill he was so fascinated. He did so, and after the formal introduction he remarked to the “strong man,” who was short of stature: “Why, I could lick salt off the top of your hat.”