Lincoln: His Own Words

[Eva Elisabeth]

I second Gene, great choice!

(04-15-2016 09:21 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  I have always liked that fragment on Niagara Falls. As Eva posted in the trivia thread it was on this 1848 trip that Lincoln got his idea for a patent. Lincoln made a second trip to Niagara Falls in the summer of 1857.

I, too. And it shows how little Herndon understood Abraham Lincoln's sense of humor, while the latter was probably just tired of Herndon's "entertainment":

Herndon wrote (many years later): “It happened that, some time after, I went to New York and also returned by way of Niagara Falls. In the office, a few days after my return, I was endeavoring to entertain my partner with an account of my trip, and among other things described the Falls. In the attempt I indulged in a good deal of imagery. As I warmed up with the subject my descriptive powers expanded accordingly. The mad rush of water, the roar, the rapids, and the rainbow furnished me with an abundance of material for a stirring and impressive picture. The recollection of the gigantic and awe-inspiring scene stimulated my exuberant powers to the highest pitch. After well-nigh exhausting myself in the effort I turned to Lincoln for his opinion. 'What,' I inquired, 'made the deepest impression on you when you stood in the presence of the great natural wonder?' I shall never forget his answer, because it in a very characteristic way illustrates how he looked at everything. 'The thing that struck me most forcibly when I saw the Falls,' he responded, 'was, where in the world did all that water come from?' He had no eye for the magnificence and grandeur of the scene, for the rapids, the mist, the angry waters, and the roar of the whirlpool, but his mind, working in its accustomed channel, heedless of beauty or awe, followed irresistibly back to the first cause. It was in this light he viewed every question. However great the verbal foliage that concealed the nakedness of a good idea Lincoln stripped it all down till he could see clear the way between cause and effect."

Just doesn't match this:
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/linc...w=fulltext