The Illuminating Wit Of Our 16th President
By DONALD DeMARCO
Washington and Lincoln stand as America’s most prominent heroes. Therefore, writes journalist George H. Smyth Jr., “Our nation has most rightly and fittingly made the birthdays of these, her illustrious sons, legal holidays, to inspire us to a purer, nobler, holier manhood.”
These words, once echoed by many, no longer seem right and fitting. The birthdays of these two illustrious presidents have been absorbed into Presidents’ Day, which in turn, has been overshadowed by using February as an opportunity to advertise car sales. Removing the spotlight from Washington and Lincoln is a grave misfortune at a time when both political greatness and unswerving patriotism are either disputed or are no longer in fashion.
Washington and Lincoln are now rendered virtually anonymous, their distinctive contributions to America overshadowed by a number of presidents who were decidedly mediocre.
I want to take this opportunity to celebrate the illuminating wit of Abraham Lincoln. Wit may be contrasted with humor. Lincoln’s wit rose above the pedestrian notion of humor. It had a moral point to it. It included humor, but illuminated a moral issue in a way that was both disarming as well as revealing. In addition, Lincoln possessed a ready wit which he could summon in an impromptu fashion. These abilities made him a formidable debater.
Lincoln’s wit was abundantly evident in his debates against slavery advocate Sen. Stephen A. Douglas, one of the most skillful debaters at that time in Congress. Douglas had great respect for Lincoln and did not take his debating skills lightly. “I shall have my hands full,” he told a Philadelphia journalist. “He is the strong man of his party — full of wit, facts, dates, and the best stump-speaker, with his droll ways and dry jokes, in the West. He is as honest as he is shrewd; and if I beat him, my victory will be hard won.”
Douglas did not enter the debates with Lincoln — there were seven of them — overconfident.
In one exchange, Lincoln said that the argument that Douglas puts forth in defense of slavery is “as thin as the homeopathic soup that is made by boiling the shadow of a pigeon that had been starved to death.”
On another occasion Lincoln drew from his youthful experiences along the Sangamon River.
He made reference to an old steamboat on that river whose boiler was so weak that when it blew the whistle, the paddle could not turn, and when the paddle turned, there was not enough force to blow the whistle. He related this image to “My friend Douglas . . . for it is evident that when he talks he can’t think, and when he thinks, he can’t talk.”
Throughout the debates, Douglas frequently made reference to Lincoln’s lowly station in life. In one of his speeches, he told his audience that the first time he met Lincoln, he was across the counter in a general store where his adversary was selling whiskey. Knowing that there were many temperate people among his listeners, Douglas padded his point by asserting, “And an excellent bartender he was, too.”
Lincoln would not be outshone. When the laughter finally died down, Lincoln, a teetotaler, rose to the occasion. It was a perfect opportunity for exercising his ready wit. “What Mr. Douglas says is quite true. I did keep a general store and sold cotton and candies and cigars and sometimes whiskey, and I particularly remember Mr. Douglas, as he was a very good customer. Many a time I have been on the one side of the counter and sold whiskey to Mr. Douglas on the other side. But now there’s a difference between us: I’ve left my side of the counter, but he sticks to his as tenaciously as ever.”
Douglas had been forewarned; now it was time for him to sample some rich humble pie.
Lincoln also respected the old adage that brevity is the soul of wit. Concerning slavery, he said, “Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.” On psychology, he stated that “character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” On the subject of theology, he had this to say: “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side, my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”
On marriage, he quipped, “Marriage is neither Heaven nor Hell; it is simply Purgatory.” About personal development, he advised, “You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.” Finally, about his own life, he told us, “I pass my life in preventing the storm from blowing down the tent, and I drive the pegs as fast as they are pulled up.”
Wit is the felicitous combination of humor and insight. The humor disarms, while the insight enlightens. Lincoln possessed wit in this sense to an extraordinary degree. It served him well both as a human being and as a political leader.
We often depict our sixteenth president in a somewhat stereotypical way. He is the tall, lanky figure with a stovepipe hat atop a furrowed countenance, partly obscured by poorly groomed facial hair. He is, of course, far more than that, though he could laugh at himself: “There are no bad pictures; that’s how your face looks sometimes.” He certainly had cause to worry. Yet, by virtue of his brilliant mind and an illuminating wit, he was able to endure, and even transcend the various trials that came his way.
During the month of February, his birth month, we should pay special tribute to this great human being, pathfinder, and incomparable patriot.
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(Dr. Donald DeMarco is a professor emeritus of St. Jerome’s University and an adjunct professor at Holy Apostles College and Seminary. He is a regular columnist for the St. Austin Review. His latest book, Apostles of the Culture of Life, is posted on amazon.com. His forthcoming book, How to Navigate Through Life, is in production and is soon to be released.)