He had no model.

He was a man of strong convictions, and what Carlyle would have called an _earnest_ man.

He abounded in anecdote.

He illustrated everything he was talking about by an anecdote, always exceedingly apt and pointed; and socially he always kept his company in a roar of laughter." Alluding to his first speech in Congress--on some post-office question of no special interest--Lincoln wrote to his friend Herndon that his principal object was to "get the hang of the House"; adding that he "found speaking here and elsewhere about the same thing.

I was about as badly scared as when I spoke in court, but no more so." Lincoln's mental power, as well as his self-confidence, developed rapidly under the responsibilities of his new position.