The White House
August 29, 1863
Glancing through a Greek history, I found something Euripides said in one of his plays:
Slavery, that thing of evil, by its nature evil,
forcing submission from man to what no man should yield to.
To set men free—that is the greatest goal any man could achieve.
But slavery is part of our issue. This is essentially a people’s contest. On the side of the Union is a struggle for maintaining in the world that form and substance of government whose leading object is to elevate the condition of men; to lift artificial weights from all shoulders; to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all; to afford all an unfettered start and a fair chance in the race of life.
Tuesday
I like to forget East Salem’s juvenility, sparring, boxing, wrestling. Pranks could be alarmingly stupid. There was Ike and his pony. He was fool enough to try to ride his piebald through a bonfire of shavings and cornstalks—to settle a bet. He raced across a field toward the blaze; just as he reached it, the pony bucked and pitched Ike into the fire. The onlookers stomped and roared and whistled. I was angry and took Ike to Dr. Samuel’s office, where the doctor shaved his head and salved his scorched face and hands.