Part 1

BEST Lincoln Stories TERSELY TOLD.

BY J. E. GALLAHER.

CHICAGO: JAMES E. GALLAHER & CO. 36, 184 Dearborn St.

Copyright, 1898, By James E. Gallaher.

PREFACE.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

How American history would dwindle if that name were taken out of it! Washington was great. Grant was great. Lee was great. Many others have been and are great in all the walks of life. But Lincoln, who came out of the lowly heart of the people, will come back nearer to that heart than any other man probably that the nation has known. There have been men of war and there have been men of peace, but there has been no such man of peace in war as Lincoln.

Why is it we never tire of thinking of Mr. Lincoln personally, nor of speaking of him and his deeds? Is it not because “he was indeed one of the most unique figures in history, and one of the most remarkable surprises of the age?” What has he been called by those who knew him best? “The greatest of patriots, the wisest of rulers, the ablest of men.”

What led to his greatness and caused him to hold such an extraordinary sway over the people during the most tumultuous of times, when seven states had seceded and the rebellion was well under way at his inauguration, and when a bloody and fiercely contested war was fought during his administration? I will let one more competent than myself answer. Bishop Fowler, of the First M. E. Church of New York, said:

“What, then, were the elements of Lincoln’s greatness? To begin with, ‘he was not made out of any fool mud,’ and then he thoroughly understood himself and knew how to handle his resources. His moral sense was the first important trait of his character, his reason the second, and the third was his wonderful ‘common-sense,’ the most uncommon thing found even among the great.

“These are the three fixed points on which his character hung. Without the first he had been a villain. Without the second, a fool. Without the third, a dreamer. With them all he made up himself--Abraham Lincoln.”

It is wonderful how many stories President Lincoln told, and still more wonderful how many stories are told of him. The late Senator Voorhees, of Indiana, said that Lincoln had more stories than any other man he had ever met. He had a story for every occasion, and he illustrated everything by anecdote. Some of the best stories current to-day originated with Lincoln and hundreds of his best stories have never been published. Senator Voorhees had preserved a number which he expected to use in lectures which he was preparing at the time he died. He had hoped to live long enough after his retirement from public life to write a book on his personal recollections of the martyred President, among which would have been included many stories.

The late David Davis, of Illinois, before whose court Lincoln practiced so often, once said that there were but three men in the world who thoroughly understood Abraham Lincoln--himself, Leonard Swett, of Chicago, and Daniel W. Voorhees. All these three men are dead.

In gathering material for this work the editor has exercised due care in accepting only such stories as bore the impress of truth. It is his hope that this little volume will be eagerly welcomed in every home which venerates the name of Abraham Lincoln, and that it will be an inspiration to every boy of the land who, in looking to Lincoln for an ideal, should ever remember that

Honor and shame from no condition rise; Act well your part; there all the honor lies.

J. E. GALLAHER.

CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Preface 7

Lincoln’s Great Strength as a Boy 11

Was Proud of His Strength 11

Lincoln a Powerful Wrestler 12

Lincoln Split 400 Rails for a Yard of Jeans 12

Lincoln as a Verse Writer 14

Lincoln’s Quick Wit in Helping a Girl to Spell a Word 15

Lincoln as a Notion Peddler 15

Lincoln Saved From Drowning 16

Lincoln’s Youthful Eloquence 18

One of Lincoln’s Songs 19

Lincoln’s First Political Speech 20

How Lincoln Became Known as “Honest Abe” 21

Lincoln Was an “Obliging” Man 22

How Lincoln Paid a Large Debt 23

His First Sight of Slavery 23

Lincoln and Jeff Davis in the Black Hawk War 24

Lincoln’s Glowing Tribute to His Mother 25

What Lincoln’s Step-Mother Said of Him 26

Lincoln’s First Love 26

The Duel Lincoln Didn’t Fight 28

Lincoln as a Dancer 29

Lincoln’s Courtship and Marriage 29

Lincoln’s Personal Appearance 31

Lincoln’s Mother 32

Lincoln’s Melancholia 34

Lincoln’s Height 36

How Lincoln Became a Lawyer 36

Lincoln as a Lawyer 37

Lincoln’s Conscientiousness in Taking Cases 38

The Jury Understood 39

Lincoln’s Honesty with a Lady Client 39

Lincoln Wins a Celebrated Case 40

Lincoln’s “Selfishness” 41

Lincoln Removes a License on Theatres 42

How Lincoln Got the Worst of a Horse Trade 43

Lincoln Helped Him to Win 44

Lincoln Settles a Quarrel Without Going to Law 46

A Lincoln Story About Little Dan Webster’s Soiled Hands 47

Lincoln’s Long Limbs Drive a Man Out of His Berth 48

Lincoln’s Joke on Douglas 49

Lincoln Shrewdly Traps Douglas 50

Lincoln’s Fairness in Debate 52

Lincoln Asked His Friend’s Help for the United States Senate 54

Making Lincoln Presentable 55

Evidence of Lincoln’s Religious Belief 56

Lincoln a Temperance Man 57

Lincoln’s Famous Gettysburg Address 57

The Gettysburg Address 59

Lincoln as a Ruler 60

Lincoln’s Real Object in Conducting the War 61

Lincoln Asked for Some of Grant’s Whisky 62

Lincoln Believed Himself Ugly 62

Lincoln’s Kindness to a Disabled Soldier 63

A Sample of Lincoln’s Statesmanship 64

Two Good Stories 65

Lincoln Raises a Warning Voice Against the Concentration of Great Wealth 65

Lincoln and the Dying Soldier Boy 66

The Dandy, the Bugs and the President 67

Lincoln Upheld the Hands of Gen. Grant 68

Why Lincoln Told Stories 69

Lincoln Rewards a Man For Kindness Thirty Years After the Occurrence 70

Lincoln a Merciful Man 71

Lincoln’s Humorous Advice to a Distinguished Bachelor 72

How Lincoln Answered a Delicate Question 73

Lincoln Illustrates a Case Humorously 74

Why Lincoln Mistook a Driver to be an Episcopalian 74

A Clergyman Who Talked But Little 75

How Lincoln Received a Jackknife as a Present 75

The Best Car For His Corpse 76

His Title Did Not Help Any 77

One of Lincoln’s Autographs 77

Lincoln’s Substitute 77

Lincoln’s Estimate of the Financial Standing of a Neighbor 78

Lincoln’s Query Puzzled the Man 78

Lincoln’s Inauguration 79

John Sherman’s First Meeting with Lincoln 80

Lincoln and the Sentinel 81

Origin of “With Malice Toward None,” Etc. 82

His Good Memory of Names 82

Lincoln’s Grief Over the Defeat of the Union Army 83

Three Stories of Lincoln by Senator Palmer 84

His Famous Second Inaugural Address 87

Lincoln Said Even a Rebel Could be Saved 88

Washington and Lincoln Compared 89

Lincoln Remembered Him 91

Why Lincoln Pardoned Them 92

The Lincoln Portraits 96

Lincoln’s Faith in Providence 97

Lincoln’s Last Words 99

A Chicagoan Who Saw Lincoln Shot 101

Martyred Lincoln’s Blood 104

A Strange Coincidence in the Lives of Lincoln and His Slayer 105

Where is the Original Emancipation Proclamation 106

Mr. Griffiths on Lincoln 107

A Famous Chicago Lawyer’s Views 107

Lincoln Was Plain but Great 109

Lincoln’s Specific Life Work 110

The Proposed Purchase of the Slaves 111

Senator Thurston’s Speech 112

Lincoln Analyzed 116

The Religion of the Presidents 121

BEST LINCOLN STORIES TERSELY TOLD.

LINCOLN’S GREAT STRENGTH AS A BOY.

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.

It was a great day in the village of New Salem and Clary’s Grove. The match was held on the ground in front of the store in which Lincoln had been clerking. There was much betting on the result, the odds being against Lincoln. Hardly, however, had the two wrestlers taken hold of each other before the Armstrong youth found that he had “met a foe worthy his steel.” The two wrestled long and hard, each doing his utmost to throw the other but to no avail. Both kept their feet; neither could throw the other. The Armstrong youth being convinced that he could not throw Lincoln, tried a “foul.” This resort to dishonest means to gain an advantage inflamed Lincoln with indignation, and he immediately caught young Armstrong by the throat, held him at arm’s length and “shook him like a child.”

Armstrong’s friends rushed to his rescue, and for a time it seemed as if Lincoln would be mobbed. But he held his own bravely and all alone, and by his daring excited the admiration of even those whose sympathies were with young Armstrong. What at one time seemed to result in a general fight resulted in a general handshake, even “Jack” Armstrong declaring that Lincoln was “the best fellow who ever broke into camp.”

LINCOLN SPLIT 400 RAILS FOR A YARD OF BROWN JEANS.

When Lincoln lived in Illinois (New Salem) he wore trousers made of flax and tow cut tight at the ankles and out at both knees. Though a very poor young man he was universally welcomed in every house of the neighborhood. Money was so scarce in those days that it is known that Lincoln once split 400 rails for every yard of brown jeans, dyed with white walnut bark, that would be necessary to make him a pair of trousers.

LINCOLN AS A VERSE WRITER.

Even when he was a boy Lincoln was sometimes called upon to write poetry. The following are among his earliest attempts at rhyme:

Good boys who to their books apply, Will all be great men by and by.

It is needless to say that Lincoln himself carried out what he wrote so well; in other words, he “practiced what he preached.” It was in a great measure owing to his constant application to his books that he afterward became a great man.

The following poem Mr. Lincoln wrote in 1844, while on a visit to the home of his childhood:

My childhood’s home I see again And sadden with the view; And, still, as memory crowds my brain, There’s pleasure in it, too. Oh, memory, thou midway world ’Twixt earth and paradise, Where things decayed and loved ones lost In dreamy shadows rise; And, freed from all that’s earthy vile, Seems hallowed, pure and bright, Like scenes in some enchanted isle, All bathed in liquid light.

LINCOLN’S QUICK WIT IN HELPING A GIRL TO SPELL A WORD.

“Abe” Lincoln was always ready and willing to help any one. Once he was in a spelling match at school when the word “defied” had been given out by the teacher. It had been misspelled several times when it came the turn of a girl friend of Lincoln’s to spell. The pupils were arranged on opposite sides of the room and “Abe” was watching his friend as she struggled with the spelling. She began d-e-f, and stopped, being unable to decide whether to proceed with an i or a y. Happening to look up, she caught sight of Abe, who was grinning. He pointed with his index finger to his eye. The hint was quickly understood, the word was spelled with an i and it went through all right.

LINCOLN AS A NOTION PEDDLER.

In March, 1830, the Lincoln family moved from Gentryville, Indiana, to near Decatur, Illinois, their household goods being packed in a wagon drawn by four oxen driven by “Abe.” The winter previous Lincoln had worked in a country store in Gentryville and before undertaking the journey he invested all the money he had, some thirty dollars, in notions, such as needles, pins, thread, buttons and other domestic necessities. These he sold to families along the route and made a profit of about one hundred per cent. This shows he had a mind for seizing hold of opportunities for making money even when young.

LINCOLN SAVED FROM DROWNING.

The life of Lincoln during the time the family lived in Kentucky appears to have been entirely uneventful. He helped his mother--after he was 3 years old--in the simple household duties, went to the district school, and played with the children of the neighborhood. The only one of young Lincoln’s playmates now living is an old man nearly 100 years old named Austin Gollaher, whose mind is bright and clear, and who never tires of telling of the days Lincoln and he “were little tikes and played together.” This old man, who yet lives in the log house in which he has always lived, a few miles from the old Lincoln place, tells entertaining stories about the President’s boyhood.

Mr. Gollaher says that they were together more than the other boys in school, that he became fond of his little friend, and he believed that Abe thought a great deal of him.

In speaking of various events of minor importance in their boyhood days Mr. Gollaher remarked: “I once saved Lincoln’s life.” Upon being urged to tell of the occurrence he thus related it: “We had been going to school together one year; but the next year we had no school, because there were so few scholars to attend, there being only about twenty in the school the year before.

“Consequently Abe and I had not much to do; but, as we did not go to school and our mothers were strict with us, we did not get to see each other very often. One Sunday morning my mother waked me up early, saying she was going to see Mrs. Lincoln, and that I could go along. Glad of the chance, I was soon dressed and ready to go. After my mother and I got there Abe and I played all through the day.

“While we were wandering up and down the little stream called Knob Creek Abe said: ‘Right up there’--pointing to the east--‘we saw a covey of partridges yesterday. Let’s go over and get some of them.’ The stream was swollen and was too wide for us to jump across. Finally we saw a narrow foot-log, and we concluded to try it. It was narrow, but Abe said, ‘Let’s coon it.’

“I went first and reached the other side all right. Abe went about half-way across, when he got scared and began trembling. I hollered to him, ‘Don’t look down nor up nor sideways, but look right at me and hold on tight!’ But he fell off into the creek, and, as the water was about seven or eight feet deep and I could not swim, and neither could Abe, I knew it would do no good for me to go in after him.

“So I got a stick--a long water sprout--and held it out to him. He came up, grabbing with both hands, and I put the stick into his hands. He clung to it, and I pulled him out on the bank, almost dead. I got him by the arms and shook him well, and then rolled him on the ground, when the water poured out of his mouth.

“He was all right very soon. We promised each other that we would never tell anybody about it, and never did for years. I never told any one of it until after Lincoln was killed.”

LINCOLN’S YOUTHFUL ELOQUENCE.

One man in Gentryville, Ind., a Mr. Jones, the storekeeper, took a Louisville paper, and here Lincoln went regularly to read and discuss its contents. All the men and boys of the neighborhood gathered there, and everything which the paper related was subjected to their keen, shrewd common sense. It was not long before young Lincoln became the favorite member of the group and the one listened to most eagerly. Politics was warmly discussed by these Gentryville citizens, and it may be that sitting on the counter of Jones’ grocery Lincoln even discussed slavery. It certainly was one of the live questions of Indiana at that date.

Young Lincoln was not only winning in those days in the Jones grocery store a reputation as a debater and story teller, but he was becoming known as a kind of backwoods orator. He could repeat with effect all the poems and speeches in his various school readers, he could imitate to perfection the wandering preachers who came to Gentryville, and he could make a political speech so stirring that he drew a crowd about him every time he mounted a stump. The applause he won was sweet, and frequently he indulged his gifts when he ought to have been at work--so thought his employers and Thomas, his father. It was trying, no doubt, to the hard pushed farmers to see the men who ought to have been cutting grass or chopping wood throw down their sickles or axes to group around a boy whenever he mounted a stump to develop a pet theory or repeat with variations yesterday’s sermon. In his fondness for speech-making he attended all the trials of the neighborhood and frequently walked 15 miles to Booneville to attend court.

ONE OF LINCOLN’S SONGS.

As will be learned elsewhere in this book Annie Rutledge was Lincoln’s first love. Mrs. William Prewitt, of Fairfield, Iowa, is a sister of Annie Rutledge. She is a widow in comfortable circumstances and lives with one of her sons. This is what she says of her dead sister and Lincoln:

“Her death made a great impression upon him I could see. We never knew him to jolly or laugh afterward. Annie was next to the oldest girl in our family, and she had a great deal of the housework to do. I remember seeing her washing in the old-fashioned way. She would sweep and bake, and was a good cook and took pride in her housework. She and Abe were very jolly together sometimes. They used to sing together. There was one song I didn’t like to hear, and he would sing it to tease me. He would tip back his chair and roar it out at the top of his voice, over and over again, just for fun. I have the book they used to sing out of yet with that song in it.”

The book is an old-fashioned “Missouri Harmony,” and the song is as follows:

When in death I shall calmly recline, O, bear my heart to my mistress dear; Tell her it lived on smiles and wine Of brightest hue while it lingered here; Bid her not shed one tear of sorrow To sully a heart so brilliant and bright, But healing drops of the red grape borrow To bathe the relick from morn till night.

When informed that the song was a queer one to sing for fun, Mrs. Prewitt replied that “it is a queer song anyhow.”

LINCOLN’S FIRST POLITICAL SPEECH.

A citizen of Buffalo has found among his papers an account of the circumstances under which Abraham Lincoln made his maiden speech. It was originally printed in the Springfield (Ill.) Republican, and is as follows: