for Lincoln had the raw material of both these characters very largely in his composition, though political and practical problems so over-laid them that they show only faintly in his later portraits.  This picture, therefore, is valuable evidence as to his natural traits.

    Was it not taken at an earlier date than you indicate as
    probable in your letter?  I should think that it must have
    been.

    I am very sincerely yours,

    JOHN T. MORSE, JR.

Dr. Hale also draws attention to the resemblance of the early portrait to Emerson: 

    ROXBURY, MASSACHUSETTS,

    October 28, 1895.

My dear Mr. McClure:—­I think you will be interested to know that in showing the early portrait of Lincoln to two young people of intelligence, each of them asked if it were not a portrait of Waldo Emerson.  If you will compare the likeness with that of Emerson in Appleton’s “Cyclopedia of Biography,” I think you will like to print copies of the two likenesses side by side.

    Yours truly,

    EDWARD E. HALE.

Mr. T.H.  Bartlett, the eminent sculptor, who has for many years collected portraits of Lincoln, and has made a scientific study of Lincoln’s physiognomy, contributes this: 

The first interest of the early portrait to me is that it shows Lincoln, even at that age, as a new man.  It may to many suggest certain other heads, but a short study of it establishes its distinctive originality in every respect.  It’s priceless, every way, and copies of it ought to be in the gladsome possession of every lover of Lincoln.  Handsome is not enough—­it’s great—­not only of a great man, but the first picture representing the only new physiognomy of which we have any correct knowledge contributed by the New World to the ethnographic consideration of mankind.

    Very sincerely,

    T.H.  BARTLETT.

An eminent member of the Illinois bar, one who has been closely identified with the legal history of Illinois for nearly sixty years, and who is perhaps the best living authority on the history of the State, writes: 

That portion of the biography of Mr. Lincoln that appears in the November number of McCLURE’S MAGAZINE I have read with very great interest.  It contains much that has not been printed in any other life of Lincoln.  Especially interesting is the account given of pioneer life of that people among whom Mr. Lincoln had his birth and his early education.  It was a strange and singular people, and their history abounds in much that is akin to romance and peculiar to a life in the wilderness.  It was a life that had a wonderful attractiveness for all that loved an adventurous life.  The story of their lives in the wilderness has a charm that nothing else in Western history possesses.  It is to be regretted that there are writers that represent