Lincoln's yarns and stories : $b A complete collection of the funny and witty anecdotes that made Lincoln famous as America's greatest story tellerMcClure, Alexander K. (Alexander Kelly)
History
Lincoln's yarns and stories : $b A complete collection of the funny and witty anecdotes that made Lincoln famous as America's greatest story teller
McClure, Alexander K. (Alexander Kelly)
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Anecdotes
JEFF DAVIS AND CHARLES THE FIRST.
Jefferson Davis insisted on being recognized by his official title as
commander or President in the regular negotiation with the Government.
This Mr. Lincoln would not consent to.
Mr. Hunter thereupon referred to the correspondence between King Charles
the First and his Parliament as a precedent for a negotiation between
a constitutional ruler and rebels. Mr. Lincoln’s face then wore that
indescribable expression which generally preceded his hardest hits, and
he remarked: “Upon questions of history, I must refer you to Mr. Seward,
for he is posted in such things, and I don’t profess to be; but my only
distinct recollection of the matter is, that Charles lost his head.”
LOVED SOLDIERS’ HUMOR.
Lincoln loved anything that savored of wit or humor among the soldiers.
He used to relate two stories to show, he said, that neither death nor
danger could quench the grim humor of the American soldier:
“A soldier of the Army of the Potomac was being carried to the rear of
battle with both legs shot off, who, seeing a pie-woman, called out,
‘Say, old lady, are them pies sewed or pegged?’
“And there was another one of the soldiers at the battle of
Chancellorsville, whose regiment, waiting to be called into the fight,
was taking coffee. The hero of the story put to his lips a crockery
mug which he had carried with care through several campaigns. A stray
bullet, just missing the tinker’s head, dashed the mug into fragments
and left only the handle on his finger. Turning his head in that
direction, he scowled, ‘Johnny, you can’t do that again!’”
BAD TIME FOR A BARBECUE.
Captain T. W. S. Kidd of Springfield was the crier of the court in the
days when Mr. Lincoln used to ride the circuit.
“I was younger than he,” says Captain Kidd, “but he had a sort of
admiration for me, and never failed to get me into his stories. I was a
story-teller myself in those days, and he used to laugh very heartily at
some of the stories I told him.
“Now and then he got me into a good deal of trouble. I was a Democrat,
and was in politics more or less. A good many of our Democratic voters
at that time were Irishmen. They came to Illinois in the days of the
old canal, and did their honest share in making that piece of internal
improvement an accomplished fact.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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