Lincoln’s face is familiar to people all around the world， at least his face when he was wearing a beard. But he didn’t wear a beard until later in his life. When he started out as a judge and then a lawyer， he had two nicknames. The first was Honest Abe. And there are many stories of his honesty both as a child and as he went on throughout all of his life. His second nickname was Homely① Abe. He was not good looking. Then something happened in 1860. That year Abe Lincoln was the Republican Party nominee②， the man the recently formed Republican Party chose a candidate③ for President of the United States.
Just a few weeks before the presidential election， Lincoln received a short letter. It was from a girl who lived in New York State. Her name was Grace Bedell. Grace wrote to Lincoln about his homely face， but in a polite way. This was over a hundred and fifty years ago， so Grace didn’t use modern English grammar in her letter. But she did write a very interesting letter. Here are some parts of it：
“I am a little girl only eleven years old， but I want you should be the President of the United States very much so I hope you won’t think me very bold to write such a great man as you are…”
And then Grace went on，“I have got four brothers and part of them will vote for you anyway， and if you will let your whiskers④ grow， I will try to get the rest of them to vote for you. You would look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husbands to vote for you， and then you would be the President…”
Lincoln took Grace Bedell’s advice， and over the next two weeks he did not shave. By election day on November sixth of 1860， he already had enough whiskers to make a short beard. And he did get elected. Maybe his new beard had something to do with that. And he did wear the beard for the rest of his life.
① homelyadj. 朴实无华的，（人或容貌）不好看的
② nomineen. 被提名人
③ candidaten. 候选人，候补者
④ whiskern. 连鬓胡子，小胡子
林肯的胡子
全世界的人们都非常熟悉林肯的那张脸孔，至少是熟悉他那留着大胡子的脸。然而他的胡子却是在后来的日子里才留起来的。当他开始当法官而后来又成为了律师的时候，他拥有两个绰号。其一是诚实正直的亚伯。有许多关于林肯小时候和他以后一生中的诚实的故事。其二是其貌不扬的亚伯。因为他长得不好看。但是在1860年发生了一件事。那一年亚伯·林肯成了共和党的被提名者，即新近成立的共和党选出作为美国总统的候选人。
就在总统选举前的几个星期内，林肯收到了一封短信。那封信是来自纽约州的一个小姑娘。她叫格雷丝·伯戴尔。她之所以写信给林肯，就是关于他那其貌不扬的脸，然而却信写得很有礼貌。由于这件事情发生在150年前，因此格雷丝在信中没有使用现代英语语法。但是她的信写得非常有趣。下面就是那封信的部分内容：
“我是一个11岁的小姑娘，可是我非常想让您成为美国总统，所以我希望您不要认为我给您这样一个伟大的人写信是很卤莽的行为……”
然后格雷丝接着写道：“我有四个哥哥，无论如何都会有几个要投您的票，而且如果您让您的胡子长起来的话，我就设法让另外几个也投您的票。因为这样您会好看得多，因为您太瘦了。所有的夫人都喜欢胡子，而且她们也会缠着自己的丈夫投您的票，这样您就能当上总统了……”
后来林肯果然听从了格雷丝·伯戴尔的话，在随后的两个星期内他都没有再刮胡子。到1860年11月6日的选举日，他的胡子已经长得可以成为很短的络腮胡子了。而且他确实被选上了。或许这与他新留的胡子有着某种联系吧。在以后的人生旅程中他也一直都留着络腮胡子。