I have as one of the items on my “bucket list” to visit as many
Presidential libraries as I can. This week I visited the home of
Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois.
The myth of Lincoln has long overshadowed the man. Like Washington,
Lincoln’s image has been on our currency and preserved in so many large
statues that we have long ago lost sight of the man and what he was. We
have to peel back the mystique to see the details of genius that made
that led to his enshrinement in our national story. For me it was a
walk through his modest home at 8th and Jackson Streets that made him
come alive.
I always like to visit the homes of famous people.
It helps me visualize a bit of how they lived and the environment in
which they did some of their great work. They become more than a name
and a far off image. They become someone interesting. You realize a bit
of how they went through their days when you walk through their private
space.
Lincoln’s is a modest home. A two story frame house big
enough for a family of five and a servant. It’s design is typical for
its day. Small rooms, stiff furniture and nothing modern. No plumbing
and by our standards not much in the way of convenience. But compared
with the log cabin of Lincoln’s youth it was a mansion.
In a
corner of the front upstairs bedroom sits a desk on which Lincoln wrote
his famous “house divided” speech. Lincoln’s words were his sword. Not
since Thomas Jefferson put pen to paper did a leader spell out the
meaning of America as did Lincoln. You have to wonder about the path of
the words Lincoln wrote. They led him to the one document by which he
is best remembered–the Gettysburg Address. More about that one next
time.
