Only melting and hammering can shape and temper steel for fine use.  Only struggle and suffering can give a man the qualities that enable him to render large service to humanity.  Lincoln was born in a log cabin.  He split rails, and conned a few books by the firelight in the evening.  He became a backwoods lawyer with apparently no advantages or encouraging prospects.  But all the while he had his visions, which ever became nobler; and the adversities he knew but gave him the deeper sympathy for others and the wider and steadier outlook on human problems.  Thus when the supreme need arose, Lincoln was ready—­harsh-visaged nature had done its work of moulding and preparing a man.

  When Nature wants to drill a man
  And thrill a man,
  And skill a man,
  When Nature wants to mould a man
  To play the noblest part;
  When she yearns with all her heart
  To create so great and bold a man
  That all the world shall praise—­
  Watch her method, watch her ways! 
  How she ruthlessly perfects
  Whom she royally elects;
  How she hammers him and hurts him
  And with mighty blows converts him
  Into trial shapes of clay which only Nature understands—­
  While his tortured heart is crying and he lifts beseeching hands!—­
  How she bends, but never breaks,
  When his good she undertakes.... 
  How she uses whom she chooses
  And with every purpose fuses him,
  By every art induces him
  To try his splendor out—­
  Nature knows what she’s about.

  When Nature wants to take a man
  And shake a man
  And wake a man;
  When Nature wants to make a man
  To do the Future’s will;
  When she tries with all her skill
  And she yearns with all her soul
  To create him large and whole.... 
  With what cunning she prepares him! 
  How she goads and never spares him,
  How she whets him and she frets him
  And in poverty begets him.... 
  How she often disappoints
  Whom she sacredly anoints,
  With what wisdom she will hide him,
  Never minding what betide him
  Though his genius sob with slighting and his pride may not forget! 
  Bids him struggle harder yet. 
  Makes him lonely
  So that only
  God’s high messages shall reach him
  So that she may surely teach him
  What the Hierarchy planned. 
  Though he may not understand
  Gives him passions to command—­
  How remorselessly she spurs him,
  With terrific ardor stirs him
  When she poignantly prefers him!

  When Nature wants to name a man
  And fame a man
  And tame a man;
  When Nature wants to shame a man
  To do his heavenly best.... 
  When she tries the highest test
  That her reckoning may bring—­
  When she wants a god or king!—­
  How she reins him and restrains him
  So his body scarce contains him
  While she fires him
  And inspires him!