Hoyt—Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln. 1309 
than had been dreamed of in all the past, a thing of destiny; 
qualities, too, that made him so impressionable by others, so 
sensitive in soul, that he almost never failed to judge rightly 
the men with whom he had to do, and enabled him to draw 
into the service of his country so great a galaxy of men of 
genius, devotion, and heroic virtue. 
Morally, Mr. Lincoln was nothing less than an embodiment 
of virtue, truth, and justice. Those who knew him best be¬ 
lieved him incapable of wilful wrong. He so loved truth that 
he was ever in earnest search of it, and anxious to make it 
known; and it was the cherishing of a profound love of justice, 
and his exalted aims and aspirations that made him ever ready, 
even glad, to do and die for his country. 
As for the will, he was resolution itself—never halting or 
hesitating in his course. Because he felt himself right, and 
knew the right must win, there Was fixedness of purpose. He 
never just hoped for a final victory; he saw it coming, and, 
though deeply sad over the dreadful fate of so many martyrs, 
yet, after all, whenever the future of the Republic was referred 
to, his noble face was illumined. It was this high assurance 
of a determined soul that made it easy for him to say to me, 
one dark morning, when I had gone to the White House, with 
anxious sympathy, because great armies of Confederate troops 
had boldly crowded into Pennsylvania and were threatening 
both Harrisburg and Philadelphia, “Hever mind, Dr. Hoyt, 
you may be sure we’ll trot them out of there very soon and 
make them glad to get home again.” 
It was this fixedness of purpose and his unfailing confidence 
that enabled him to preserve his calmness, so that he was rarely 
disturbed in spirit and never really agitated. His face and 
voice and daily life were ever giving expression to an unwav¬ 
ering trust in God. 
And thus it is that we are amply justified in pronouncing 
Abraham Lincoln one of the very noblest and grandest of men 
in all human history. 
Washington, D. C. 
