To the Editor,

In 1859, Abraham Lincoln described himself as nearly 6’4” tall, weighing around 180 pounds, with dark skin, coarse black hair and grey eyes. Surely everyone in America could identify a picture of him. The outside of him.

Getting this country through the American Civil War with all the states staying in one Union together tended to bring out more of the sadness that all the books about his life tell about. But there was an escape from sadness Lincoln used that also picked up the spirits of his listeners. He loved to tell funny stories.

His friend Robert Wilson described how Lincoln’s “countenance would brighten up” when he was telling or hearing a good story. Lively conservation was his best medicine. His eyes would begin to sparkle followed soon with a great big laugh.

Artist Alban Jasper Conant saw Lincoln as stiff when he began to paint his picture. As they began to talk, Conant saw “that his frequent smile was peculiarly attractive.” Carl Sandburg’s biography of Lincoln says he was not “an affiliated churchman.”

The Lord says in 1 Samuel 16:7 that He looks not at our outside appearance but at our heart. One can always hope God finds such people’s heart in good order.

Mary C. Albertson

Albany, Kentucky