In his own career his intelligence
has been the handmaid of his will; and the balance between those
faculties, so finely exemplified in Abraham Lincoln, has been destroyed
by sheer exuberance of moral energy. But although his intelligence is
merely the servant of his will, it is at least the willing and competent
servant of a single-minded master. If it has not been leavened by the
rigorous routine of its work, neither has it been cheapened; and the
service has constantly been growing better worth while. During the
course of his public career, his original integrity of character
has been intensified by the stress of his labors, his achievements,
his experiences, and his exhortations. An individuality such as
his--wrought with so much consistent purpose out of much variety of
experience--brings with it an intellectual economy of its own and a
sincere and useful sort of intellectual enlightenment. He may be figured
as a Thor wielding with power and effect a sledge-hammer in the cause of
national righteousness; and the sympathetic observer, who is not stunned
by the noise of the hammer, may occasionally be rewarded by the sight of
something more illuminating than a piece of rebellious metal beaten into
shape.
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