It was printed in full in
four of the leading daily papers of the city, and immediately
reprinted in pamphlet form. From New York Mr. Lincoln made a tour
of speech-making through several of the New England States, where
he was given a hearty welcome, and listened to with an eagerness
that showed a marked result at the spring elections. The interest
of the working-men who heard these addresses was equaled, perhaps
excelled, by the pleased surprise of college professors and men
of letters when they found that the style and method of this
self-taught popular Western orator would stand the test of their
most searching professional criticism.
One other audience he had during this trip, if we may trust
report, which, while neither as learned as the college
professors, nor perhaps as critical as the factory-men, was quite
as hard to please, and the winning of whose approval shows
another side of this great and many-sided man. A teacher in a
Sunday-school in the Five Points district of New York, at that
time one of the worst parts of the city, has told how, one
morning, a tall, thin, unusual-looking man entered and sat
quietly listening to the exercises. His face showed such genuine
interest that he was asked if he would like to speak to the
children. Accepting the invitation with evident pleasure, he
stepped forward and began a simple address that quickly charmed
the roomful of youngsters into silence.
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