I leave to other and abler pens the proper estimate of ABRAHAM LINCOLN as a ruler and statesman,-- his work and place in history. Favored during the year 1864 with several months of personal intercourse with him, I shall attempt in these pages to write the story of that association; not for any value which the record will have in itself, but for the glimpses it may afford of the person and character of the man,-- every detail of whose life is now invested with enduring interest for the American people.