The Life of Abraham Lincoln, from His Birth to His Inauguration as PresidentLamon, Ward Hill
History
The Life of Abraham Lincoln, from His Birth to His Inauguration as President
Lamon, Ward Hill
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
Lost Townships, Sept. 8,1842. Dear Mr. Printer,--I was a-standin' at the
spring yesterday a-washin' out butter, when I seed Jim Snooks a-ridin'
up towards the house for very life like, when, jist as I was a wonderin'
what on airth was the matter with him, he stops suddenly, and ses he,
"Aunt'Becca, here's somethin' for you;" and with that he hands out your
letter. Well, you see I steps out towards him, not thinkin' that I had
both hands full of butter; and seein' I couldn't take the letter, you
know, without greasin' it, I ses, "Jim, jist you open it, and read it
for me." Well, Jim opens it, and reads it; and would you believe it,
Mr. Editor? I was so completely dumfounded, and turned into stone, that
there I stood in the sun, a-workin' the butter, and it a-runnin' on the
ground, while he read the letter, that I never thunk what I was about
till the hull on't run melted on the ground, and was lost. Now, sir,
it's not for the butter, nor the price of the butter, but, the Lord have
massy on us, I wouldn't have sich another fright for a whole firkin of
it. Why, when I found out that it was the man what Jeff seed down to
the fair that had demanded the author of my letters, threatnin' to
take personal satisfaction of the writer, I was so skart that I tho't I
should quill-wheel right where I was.
You say that Mr. S. is offended at being compared to cat's fur, and
is as mad as a March hare (that ain't far), because I told about the
squeezin'. Now, I want you to tell Mr. S, that, rather than fight, I'll
make any apology; and, if he wants personal satisfaction, let him only
come here, and he may squeeze my hand as hard as I squeeze the butter,
and, if that ain't personal satisfaction, I can only say that he is the
fust man that was not satisfied with squeezin' my hand. If this should
not answer, there is one thing more that I would do rather than get a
lickin'. I have all along expected to die a widow; but, as Mr. S.
is rather good-looking than otherwise, I must say I don't care if
we compromise the matter by--really, Mr. Printer, I can't help
blushin'--but I--it must come out--I--but widowed modesty--well, if I
must, I must--wouldn't he--maybe sorter, let the old grudge drap if I
was to consent to be--be--h-i-s w-i-f-e? I know he's a fightin' man, and
would rather fight than eat; but isn't marryin' better than fightin',
though it does sometimes run into it? And I don't think, upon the whole,
that I'd be sich a bad match neither: I'm not over sixty, and am just
four feet three in my bare feet, and not much more round the girth; and
for color, I wouldn't turn my back to nary gal in the Lost Townships.
But, after all, maybe I'm countin' my chickins before they' re hatched,
and dreamin' of matrimonial bliss when the only alternative reserved for
me may be a lickin'. Jeff tells me the way these fire-eaters do is to
give the challenged party choice of weapons, &c., which bein' the case,
I'll tell you in confidence that I never fights with any thing but
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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