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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: "universal joyous evergreen of life."
It would be a mistake to suppose that he cared only for humorous
reading. Occasionally he read a scientific book with great
interest, but his duties left him little time for such
indulgences. Few men knew the Bible more thoroughly than he did,
and his speeches are full of scriptural quotations. The poem
beginning "Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?" was one
of his favorites, and Dr. Holmes's "Last Leaf" was another.
Shakespere was his constant delight. A copy of Shakespere's works
was even to be found in the busy Executive Office, from which
most books were banished. The President not only liked to read
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