IN the 17 years since the first edition of this book appeared, a continuous stream of new material relating more or less directly to Abraham Lincoln has been ?owing to the public. In the years 1908 and 1909 this stream swelled to river pro portions, fed by the interest in the centenary of his birth. One splendid fact outranks all others in this wealth of fresh contributions Our new knowledge leaves us the Lincoln we had at the beginning; the man revealed not only to this country but to the world by the tragedy of April, 1865, has not been materially changed by fifty years' study. His pre eminence holds in spite of an increasing knowledge of points at which he failed. We know him better, but we reverence and love him no less. He is to-day our national touch-stone as well as the source to which liberal statesmen of all lands look for the most perfect understanding and expression of the spirit and aims of Bemoe racy.