![]() ![]() ![]() He passeth from life to his rest in the grave. Like a swift-fleeting meteor, a fast-flying cloudĪ flash of the lightning, a break of the wave Oh! why should the spirit of mortal be proud? Knox’s main goal seemed to have been to remind his readers of the certainty of death and the vanity of life. The poem, “Mortality,” is a dreary litany of human hopelessness in fourteen ever-more gloomy verses. First, countless informants independently testified that, although Lincoln was fond of well-known poets such as Robert Burns and Lord Byron, his favorite poem was by the little-known Scottish poet William Knox (1789-1825). I’ve been working my way through this hefty volume for some time now, but two things especially struck me as I read this New Year’s Eve. Compiled and edited by scholars almost a century and a half later, it is a collection of more than eight hundred pages of written and oral reminiscences from more than two hundred and fifty friends, relatives, neighbors, and associates who claimed to know Lincoln well. ![]() Herndon’s Informants embodies the fruit of that labor. He spent much of the next two years tracking down individuals who had known Lincoln personally. To prevent this crime against history, he set out to write a biography of his friend and partner that would set the record straight. In the aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination, Herndon became convinced that the country was transforming the late president into a mythical figure bearing no resemblance to the man he had worked alongside for nearly two decades. Herndon, Lincoln’s long-time law partner in Springfield, Illinois. The “Herndon” in the title refers to William H. I spent this morning in a coffee shop with a book titled Herndon’s Informants. Actually, I have no idea how Abraham Lincoln observed New Year’s Eve, but I do have a strong suspicion about what passed through his mind as one year gave way to the next. ![]()
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