Best Lincoln stories, tersely toldGallaher, J. E. (James Ernst)
History
Best Lincoln stories, tersely told
Gallaher, J. E. (James Ernst)
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Anecdotes
The strength Lincoln displayed when he was ten years old is remarkable.
At that age he was almost constantly using an axe in chopping and
splitting wood and he used it with great skill, sinking it deeper into
the wood than any other person. He cut the elm and linn brush used for
feeding the stock, drove the team, handled the old shovel-plow, wielded
the sickle, threshed wheat with a flail, fanned and cleaned it with a
sheet and performed other labor that few men of to-day could do so well.
He wielded the axe from the age of ten till he was twenty-three. As he
grew older he became one of the strongest and most popular “hands” in
the vicinity and his services were in great demand. He was employed as a
“hand” by his neighbors at 25 cents a day, which money was paid to his
father.
WAS PROUD OF HIS STRENGTH.
Mr. Lincoln was a remarkably strong man; he was strong as well as tall.
He was in the habit of measuring his height with other tall men,--he did
this even in the White House. In 1859 he visited the Wisconsin State
Fair at Milwaukee and was led around by the then Governor Hoyt. They
entered a tent where a “strong man” was performing with huge iron balls.
His feats amazed and interested Lincoln. The governor told him to go up
on the platform and be introduced to the athlete, by whose exhibition of
skill he was so fascinated. He did so, and after the formal introduction
he remarked to the “strong man,” who was short of stature: “Why, I could
lick salt off the top of your hat.”
LINCOLN A POWERFUL WRESTLER.
While a clerk in a general store at New Salem, Ill., Lincoln gained the
reputation of being a skillful and powerful wrestler. Near New Salem
was a settlement known as Clary’s Grove, in which lived an organization
known as “Clary’s Grove Boys.” They were rude in their manners and rough
and boastful in their ways, being what would to-day be called “a set of
rowdies.”
The leader of this organization, and the strongest of the lot, was a
young man named Armstrong. It had been said that Lincoln could easily
outdo any one of the Clary Grove boys in anything and the report
naturally touched the pride of the Armstrong youth. He felt compelled to
prove the truth or falsity of such a story, and accordingly a wrestling
match was arranged between Lincoln and himself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account