Anyone attending Mr. Lincoln’s Office, a dramatized presentation of Abraham Lincoln’s life at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History Sunday, wishing to hear about the politics of Lincoln’s time were probably a little disappointed.

Those wanting, however, to learn a little about the man Abraham Lincoln and what he was like in private, and what drove him into public office, were no doubt quite pleased with the one-man production performed by Peter Holland.

That is because Holland, taking on the persona of the 16th president of the United States, gave an intimate picture of the man credited with saving the United States and freeing black people held in slavery in much of the nation.

Holland’s portrait of Lincoln was that of a man who loved a good yarn, who was quick with a laugh and prone to wistful recollections of his youthful days. And he was a man who, at times, felt overwhelmed by the forces of history swirling around him, yet dogged in his determination to bring the practice of slavery to an end.

Holland’s portrayal was of an Abraham Lincoln who had just penned, but not yet delivered, the Gettysburg address. The setting was simple — a chair and a small table, which made up Lincoln’s private office.

While he apologized for the informality of the setting, Holland, speaking as Lincoln, reminded those attending that he was simply a “temporary occupant” of the White House.

The character Lincoln spoke enthusiastically of his childhood, growing up in the wilderness of Springfield, Ill., where he was first handed an ax at the age of 8. From that time until his early adult years, he told the audience he spent much of his waking time with the cutting tool in his hand, chopping wood, splitting rails, putting the ax down for the occasional harvest work on the farm and to attend classes in a one-room school house.

Lincoln told the audience he acquired some basic academic skills — “I could read, I could write, I could do a little arithmetic, and that was all,” before leaving home at age 21, moving to New Salem, Ill. There he worked as a store clerk, then served in the military without seeing any combat, and worked to continue his education on his own during that period.

“In 1832 I ran for the (state) legislature,” he said, losing his first bid for public office. He told his audience Sunday he ran successfully four times after that, then left politics to practice law in Springfield. “In 1846 I was elected to the lower house of Congress for one term,” before returning to practice law.

His life in politics may have ended then, Lincoln said, except for a move to repeal the Missouri Compromise. That agreement, worked out in 1820, limited the number of states which could be admitted to the union in which the owning of slaves was legal.

“The repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me as never before,” Lincoln said.

In a letter to his friend, Joshua Speed, Lincoln expressed his vehement opposition to slavery, an institution which Speed condoned. Lincoln showed in that letter a hallmark of his ability to oppose a position while maintaining a close friendship with his opposition, as he did with Speed.

After sending his missive to Speed, Lincoln gave a series of public speeches attacking slavery.

“As I would not be a slave, I would not be a master,” Lincoln told those gathered Sunday. “This expresses my ideal of democracy.”

He re-entered politics with a bid for the U.S. Senate, an election he lost to Steven Douglas before winning the presidency over Douglas and two other candidates in 1860.

During his address Sunday, Lincoln strayed from humorous stories that brought laughter to quite moments of melancholy reflection. Once, when showing an old faded picture of his son, Edward, who died in 1850, he broke down and wept for a few moments.

He also expressed a deep sense of depression at leaving Springfield for Washington, D.C., after he won the presidency. Lincoln said he had lived there for 25 years, buried one son there, and was now leaving without knowing when, or even if, he would ever return, “with a task greater than that which rested on Washington,” facing him.

Shortly after he came to office South Carolina rebels fired on Fort Sumter and the Civil War began.

Lincoln, who said he did not believe a nation which allowed slaves in some states but not in others could survive, said much of the South’s war efforts could not have been successful without the presence of slaves in their communities. Thus, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which by presidential decree freed the slaves in all territories held by the Confederate government.

“I never in my life felt I was doing right (more) than when I signed this paper,” Lincoln told the audience.

Show based on research

Holland, a professional actor living in Meadows of Dan, Va., developed the Lincoln show based on several years of research, primarily from Lincoln’s personal writings and those works of people who personally knew Lincoln.

He has been doing the show for about four years, he said, including performances at Mount Airy High School, Surry Central Middle School and Surry Central High School.

“The kids love seeing Mr. Lincoln,” he said. “I get a great response. They love seeing him up close, asking questions.”

He also does the show for adults, as he did Sunday in Mount Airy, and last September in Myrtle Beach for a meeting of social studies teachers. While the show is available year round, he said it is in highest demand in February, when Lincoln’s birth is celebrated.

Holland’s theatre company, Once Upon A Blue Ridge, specializes in developing original plays for schools and threatres throughout this region of the country, and performs a series of plays for youth each summer.

John Peters is the Editor for The Mount Airy News. He can be reached at 719-1931.