Francis B. Carpenter, Six Months at the White House

There is a lesson in such simple incidents,abounding as they did in the life of the late President,--which should not be lost upon the young men of this country. The Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States,with almost unlimited power in his hands,--the meekness and simplicity with which Mr. Lincoln bore the honors of that high position, is a spectacle for all time. How paltry do conceit and vain glory appear in the majesty of such an example.

“Nothing was more marked in Mr. Lincoln's personal demeanor,” writes one who knew him well,¹ “than his utter unconsciousness of his position. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to find another man who would not, upon a sudden transfer from the obscurity of private life in a country town to the dignities and duties of the Presidency, feel it incumbent upon him to assume something of the manner and tone befitting that position. Mr. Lincoln never seemed to be aware that his place or his business were essentially different from those in which he had always been engaged. He brought to every question — the loftiest and most imposing — the same patient inquiry into details, the same eager longing to know and to do exactly what was just and right, and the same working-day, plodding, laborious devotion, which characterized his management of a client's case at his law office in Springfield. He had duties to perform ”