Lincoln Biography in the Century
By Editor
WITH its November number the Century Magazine began the publication of the authoritative biography of Abraham Lincoln, with a history of the times in which he lived. It is written by two gentlemen who were his private secretaries, “one of whom and generally both were on duty at Mr. Lincoln’s side every day from 1860 to 1865;” “both stood beside him at his two inaugurations; one saw him die.” All his manuscripts and private papers have been put into their hands. It is evident therefore that this must be the only real life-like history of our illustrious Lincoln. We have had the pleasure of reading the first installment, and it was indeed a treat. At the age of twenty-two Abraham Lincoln made a trip with a flat boat to New Orleans and saw for the first time the cruelties of slavery. As related in the honest and homely language of one of his companions on the trip: “Negroes chained, maltreated, whipped, and scourged; Lincoln saw it; his heart bled; said nothing much, was silent, looked bad. I can say, knowing it, that it was on this trip that he formed his opinions of slavery. It run its iron in him then and there, May, 1831. I have heard him say so often.” In anticipation of the demand, 250,000 copies of this number of the Century have been printed.