630 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



Lincoln during his earliest and latest campaigns. They found, for in- 

 stance, that Mr. Lincoln was spending too much time writing letters, and 

 they chipped in and hired a man for something like $2,000 a year, so 

 that Mr. Lincoln could be free to work on his speeches. Mr. Lincoln, 

 whenever he had a speech to deliver, would write it out and then ar- 

 range for a certain group of friends to meet him in a certain office, read 

 it to them and ask for their criticisms. Mr. Bunn recalls the speech in 

 which occurred the famous passage, "a house divided against itself can- 

 not stand." Every man around that room condemned it and told him 

 he must not deliver that speech in that manner, that it would mean his 

 defeat; but Lincoln stood up and said, "Friends, I am going to deliver 

 that speech; Douglas may defeat me for the senate, but Douglas will 

 never be president." Lincoln didn't say that he wasn't going to be presi- 

 dent; he said, "Douglas will never be president." Mr. Bunn got to his 

 feet, pounded his cane on the floor, and said, "What are you going to 

 do with a man like that!" It was like talking to a seer, a man who could 

 look far into the future — "What are you going to do with a man like 

 that!" And that little group of people, living and working with Mr. Lin- 

 coln during his early days, saw him gradually rise higher, higher and 

 higher, until he became the colossal figure of the nineteenth century 

 which he now occupies in human history. Think what a thrilling experi- 

 ence that was for that little community. 



At the time that Mr. Lincoln had been elected president and was 

 going to leave Springfield for Washington, an incident of interest oc- 

 curred. News had been spread around that he was going out a half hour 

 before the regular time. Mr. Bunn went over to see Abraham Lincoln 

 and told him not to do it, that the whole country was going to tuni out 

 to bid him good-bye, and it would break their hearts if he did not wait 

 for them. The general of the arm^ in charge of the special train was 

 afraid of an assassination, but Mr. Lincoln said, "I will leave on schedule 

 time, Mr. Bunn." The next morning Mr. Bunn went down twenty min- 

 utes ahead of time, and just as he approached the depot the train was 

 pulling out of the station, and soon disappeared from view. Presently, 

 however, the train was seen to be backing slowly up to the depot. The 

 newly-elected president had reversed the order given by the general of 

 the United States army and had commanded that the train return. In 

 a few choice sentences Mr. Lincoln bade farewell to his fellow citizens, 

 and today those few words are engraved beneath the statue of Lincoln 

 at the state capitol in Springfield. 



In the capitol building at Springfield, in the room used by the house 

 of representatives, on one side is the picture of Lincoln, and on the other 

 a picture of Douglas. One picture is framed just as elegantly as the 

 other. It seems that they thought just as much of one as they did of 

 the other. As I gazed at those two pictures, the thought was impressed 

 upon my mind that it took a Douglas to make a Lincoln! If it hadn't 

 been for that cross-fire; if it hiadn't been for that man Douglas, America 

 would not have had a Lincoln! And another thing occurred to me, how 

 a man may not only reflect the changing and developing opinion, but he 

 may lead public opinion. Lincoln had been almost a failure, with all of 

 his capacity and ability; he had been defeated for congress; he had been 



