Early
in January 1861, a Colonel Alex McClure received a telegram from
President-elect Lincoln, asking him (McClure) to visit him at Springfield.
Colonel
McClure described his disappointment at first sight of Lincoln with these words:
“I went directly from the depot to Lincoln's house and rang the bell, which was
answered by Lincoln himself opening the door. I doubt whether I wholly
concealed my disappointment at meeting him.
Tall, gaunt, ungainly, ill-clad, with a homeliness of manner that was
unique in itself, I confess that my heart sank within me as I remembered that
this was the man chosen by a great nation to become its ruler in the gravest
period of its history.
“I
remember his dress as if it were but yesterday - snuff-colored and slouch
pantaloons, open black vest, held by a few brass buttons; evening dress-coat,
with tightly fitting sleeves to exaggerate his long, bony arms, and all
supplemented by an awkwardness that was uncommon among men of intelligence.
Such was the picture I met in the person of Abraham Lincoln.”
Before
McClure left that meeting he was impressed, as so many others who initially
dismissed this gangly, uncouth-looking trial lawyer from the middle of nowhere,
by how earnest and intelligent - and maybe even wise? – he actually was.
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