“That Reminds me of a Story…” 1

Lincoln loved to tell this story about himself and Jefferson Davis. ‘“I think Jefferson will succeed,” said one Quaker woman. “Why does thee think so?” asked the second. “Because Jefferson is a praying man.” “And so is Abraham a praying man,” said the second. “Yes,” said the first, “but the Lord will think Abraham is joking.”'

How others saw Lincoln 13

"I think well of the President. He has a face like a Hoosier Michelangelo so awful ugly it becomes beautiful with its strange mouth, its deep-cut crisscross lines and its doughnut  complexion. I do not dwell on the  supposed failures of his government. He has shown an almost supernatural tact in keeping the ship afloat at all. I more and more rely on his idiomatic Western genius."

- Walt Whitman

How others saw Lincoln 12

'Lincoln's strength is of a peculiar kind; it is not aggressive so much as it is passive, and among passive things it is like the strength not so much of a stone buttress, as of a wire cable. It is strength swaying to every influence, yielding on this side and on that to popular needs, yet tenaciously and inflexibly bound to carry its great end; and probably by no other kind of strength could our national ship have been drawn safely thus far during the tossings and tempests which beset her way. Surrounded by all sorts of conflicting claims, by traitors, by half-hearted, timid conservatives, he has listened to all, weighed the words of all, waited, observed, yielded now here and now there, but in the main kept one inflexible, honest purpose, and drawn the national ship through.' 

- Harriet Beecher Stowe

How others saw Lincoln 11

'The world has seen and wondered at the greatest sign and marvel of our day, to-wit, a plain working man of the people, with no more culture, instruction or education than any such working man may obtain for himself, called on to conduct the passage of a great people through a crisis involving the destinies of the whole world... '

- Harriet Beecher Stowe

How others saw Lincoln 10

Charles Dana, Assistant Secretary of War, once told the president that his young daughter wanted to be introduced to the President. Lincoln walked over, took up the girl, kissed her and talked to her. The scene seemed remarkable to Dana because important men of high office usually lack natural and easy grace in handling a child. With Lincoln Dana noticed the child felt easy. 
Without knowing it Lincoln had passed an acid test!

How others saw Lincoln 9

In 1858 when Stephen Douglas, the powerful leader of the Democratic Party in the Senate, ran for re-election against Lincoln – victoriously, as it turned out – he knew he was up against a formidable opponent. ‘Every one of his stories seems like a whack upon my back,’ said Douglas. ‘… Nothing else – not any of his arguments or any of his replies to my questions –disturbs me. But when he begins to tell a story, I feel that I am to be overmatched.’

How others saw Lincoln 8

In 1861 the British minister to the United States, Lord Richard Lyons, dismissed the newly inaugurated Lincoln as 'a rough farmer' who displayed 'an ignorance of everything but Illinois village politics.'