The Lincoln Story Book: A Judicious Collection of the Best Stories and Anecdotes of the Great President, Many Appearing Here for the First Time in Book Form
History
The Lincoln Story Book: A Judicious Collection of the Best Stories and Anecdotes of the Great President, Many Appearing Here for the First Time in Book Form
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Anecdotes
"No, not at all, except through Adam. But," reading the epitaph, "'X.,
an honest man, and a lawyer.' Why, how did they come to bury those
_two_ men in one grave?'"] but a principal event was in connection with
his postmastership. It was in 1833. After renouncing the position, he
removed to Springfield to take up the study of the law. An agent from
the Post-office Department called on him to settle his accounts;
through some oversight he had been left undisturbed for some years. He
was living with a Mr. Henry, who kept a store, anterior to his lodging
in Mr. Speed's double-bedded room. As he was poverty-stricken and had
been so since quitting home. Mr. Henry, hearing that a matter of
fifteen or twenty dollars was due the government, was about to loan it,
when Lincoln, not at all disquieted, excused himself to the man from
headquarters to go over to his boarding-house. Usually when a debtor
thus eclipses himself the official expects to learn he is a defaulter
and has "taken French leave," as was said on the border. But the
ex-postmaster immediately came over, and, producing an old blue woolen
sock, such as field-hands wore, poured out coin, copper and silver, to
the exact amount of the debit. Much as the poor adventurer needed cash
in the interval, the temptation had not even struck him to use the
trust--the government funds. He said to partner Herndon he had promised
his mother never to use another's money.
* * * * *
IF ALL FAILED, HE COULD GO BACK TO THE OLD TRADE!
The Illinois Republican State Convention of 1860 met at Decatur, in a
_wigwam_ built for the purpose, a type of that noted in the Lincoln
annals as at Chicago. A special welcome was given to Abraham Lincoln as
a "distinguished citizen of Illinois, and one she will ever be
delighted to honor." The session was suddenly interrupted by the
chairman saying: "There is an old Democrat outside who has something to
present to the convention."
The present was two old fence-rails, carried on the shoulder of an
elderly man, recognized by Lincoln as his cousin John Hanks, and by the
Sangamon folks as an old settler in the Bottoms. The rails were
explained by a banner reading:
"Two rails from a lot made by Abraham Lincoln and John Hanks, in the
Sangamon Bottom, in the year 1830."
Thunderous cheers for "the rail-splitter" resounded, for this slur on
the statesman had recoiled on aspersers and was used as a title of
honor. The call for confirmation of the assertion led Lincoln to rise,
and blushing--so recorded--said:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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