e one or the other. Douglas, as I have said, had
the disadvantage of riding an ebb tide. But Lincoln encountered a
disadvantage in riding a flood tide, which was flowing too fast for a
man so conservative and so honest as he was. Thus there was not a little
equivocation on both sides foreign to the nature of the two. Both wanted
to be frank. Both thought they were being frank. But each was a little
afraid of his own logic; each was a little afraid of his own following;
and hence there was considerable hair splitting, involving accusations
that did not accuse and denials that did not deny. They were
politicians, these two, as well as statesmen; they were politicians, and
what they did not know about political campaigning was hardly worth
knowing. Reverently, I take off my hat to both of them; and I turn down
the page; I close the book and lay it on its shelf, with the inward
ejaculation, "There were giants in those days."

I am not undertaking to deliver an oral biography of Abraham Lincoln,
and shall pass over the events which quickly led up to his nomination
and election to the presidency in 1860.

I met the newly elected president the afternoon of the day in the early
morning of which he had arrived in Washington. It was a Saturday, I
think. He came to the capitol under Mr. Seward's escort, and, among the
rest, I was presented to him. His appearance did not impress me as
fantastically as it had impressed Colonel McClure. I was more familiar
with the Western type than Colonel McClure, and, whilst Mr. Lincoln was
certainly not an Adonis, even after prairie ideals, there was about him
a dignity that commanded respect.

I met him again the forenoon of the 4th of March in his apartment at
Willard's Hotel as he was preparing to start to his inauguration, and
was touched by his unaffected kindness; for I came with a matter
requiring his immediate attention. He was entirely self-possessed; no
trace of nervousness; and very obliging. I accompanied the cortege that
passed from the senate chamber to the east portico of the capitol, and,
as Mr. Lincoln removed his hat to face the vast multitude in front and
below, I extended my hand to receive it, but Judge Douglas, just beside
me, reached over my outstretched arm and took the hat, holding it
throughout the delivery of the inaugural address. I stood near enough to
the speaker's elbow not to obstruct any gestures he might make, though
he made but few; and then it was that I bega