In February 1959, Carl Sandburg gave an address on the occasion of Abraham Lincoln s 150th birthday before the Joint Session of Congress. The Lincoln biographer spoke of the nation s 16th president as a man who is both steel and velvet, who is as hard as rock and soft as drifting fog, who holds in his heart and mind the paradox of a terrible storm and peace unspeakable and perfect. This short work is part of Applewood s American Roots, series, tactile mementos of American passions by some of America s most famous writers and thinkers."