Abraham Lincoln: a History — Volume 01 eBook

a candidate for Governor of Illinois in 1826, he was only fifty-one, and yet he considered it necessary in his published addresses to refer to the charge that he was too old for the place, and, while admitting the fact that he was no longer young, to urge in extenuation that there are some old things,—­like old whisky, old bacon, and old friends,—­ which are not without their merits.  Even so late as 1848, we find a remarkable letter from Mr.

Lincoln, who was then in Congress, bearing upon the same point.  His partner, William H. Herndon, had written him a letter, complaining that the old men in Sangamon County were unwilling to let the young ones have any opportunity to distinguish themselves.  To this Lincoln answered in his usual tone of grave kindness:  “The subject of your letter is exceedingly painful to me; and I cannot but think there is some mistake in your impression of the motives of the old men.  I suppose I am now one of the old men, and I declare on my veracity, which I think is good with you, that nothing could afford me more satisfaction than to learn that you and others of my young friends at home were doing battle in the contest and endearing themselves to the people and taking a stand far above any I have ever been able to reach in their admiration.  I cannot conceive that other old men feel differently.  Of course, I cannot demonstrate what I say; but I was young once, and I am sure I was never ungenerously thrust back.”  The man who thus counseled petulant youth with the experienced calmness of age was thirty-nine years old.  A state of society where one could at that age call himself or be called by others an old man, is proved by that fact alone to be one of wearing hardships and early decay of the vital powers.  The survivors of the pioneers stoutly insist upon the contrary view.  “It was a glorious life,” says one old patriarch; “men would fight for the love of it, and then shake hands and be friends; there is nothing like it now.”  Another says, “I never enjoy my breakfast now as I used to, when I got up and ran down a deer before I could have anything to eat.”  But they see the past through a rosy mist of memory, transfigured by the eternal magic of youth.  The sober fact is that the life was a hard one, with few rational pleasures, few wholesome appliances.  The strong ones lived, and some even attained great length of years; but to the many age came early and was full of infirmity and pain.  If we could go back to what our fore-fathers endured in clearing the Western wilderness, we could then better appreciate our obligations to them.  It is detracting from the honor which is their due to say that their lives had much of happiness or comfort, or were in any respect preferable to our own.

CHAPTER IV

NEW SALEM