These were not many, it is true, but they included
"The Bible," "Aesop's Fables," "Pilgrim's Progress," "Robinson
Crusoe," and, a little later, Burns and Shakespeare. Better food
than this for the mind of a boy has never been found. Then he
came to the history of his own country since the Declaration of
Independence and mastered it. "I am tolerably well acquainted
with the history of the country," he remarked in his Chicago
speech of 1858; and in the Cooper Union speech of 1860 he
exhibited a familiarity with the theory and history of the
Constitution which amazed the young lawyers who prepared an
annotated edition of the address. "He has wit, facts, dates,"
said Douglas, in extenuation of his own disinclination to enter
upon the famous joint debates, and, when Douglas returned to
Washington after the debates were over, he confessed to the young
Henry Watterson that "he is the greatest debater I have ever met,
either here or anywhere else." Douglas had won the senatorship
and could afford to be generous, but he knew well enough that his
opponent's facts and dates had been unanswerable.
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