Happy Birthday Abraham Lincoln. He was known as a wonderful speaker and story teller. Like all good speakers, he spent a great deal of time preparing for his speeches.
Mr. Lincoln thought his speeches out on his feet walking in the streets: he penned them in small scraps — sentences, & paragraphs, depositing them in his hat for safety. When fully finished, he would recopy, and could always repeat easily by heart — so well thoughted, shotted, and matured were they.
–William H. Herndon lecture, January 24, 1866
That quotation, by the way, comes from an interesting website describing Lincoln as a speaker.
