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t!invnmininminSKETCHES OF LINCOLN.Remarkable Stories cf His Boyhood Days.HE READS HIS FIRST LAWBOOK.featur coin’s tent g but st intim. close Some songsing tcA Terrible Backwoods Battle—A Wedding Song — Going to 31 ill — Restless Under Home Ibile—The Trip to New Orleans and Encounter With Marauding Negroes.ture,to takT[From the 41 Life of Lincoln by William H. Herndon and Jfir.se W. WVik. Copyright, ISsS, by Jess*.* W. Weik. Copyright, by D. Applet on Sz Co. jIV.Although imbued with a marker] dislike for manual labor, it cannot be truth-fuliv said that Lincoln was indolent From a mental standpoint ho was one of the most energetic young men of his day. He dwelt altogether in the land of thought. His deep meditation and abstraction easily induced the belief among his horny handed companions that he was lazy. In fact, a neighbor, John Romine, makes that charge. “He worked for me,” testifies the latter, “but was always reading and thinking. I used to get mad at him for it. I say* ho was awfully lazy. Ho would laugh and talk, crack jokes and tell stories all tho time—didn’t lovo work half as much asJ..7UCOpared In riod tding t posed self, of pafromMrs.poserdingPosong glory ward gulai her rA nil A HAM’S STIi PM OT1IER.his pay. He said to mo one day that his father taught him to work, but he never taught him to love it.” Verily there was but one Abraham Lincoln.His chief delight during the day*, if unmolested, was to lie down under the shado of some inviting tree to read and study*. At night, lying on his stomach in front of tho open fireplace, with a piece of charcoal lie would cipher 011 a broad wooden shovel. When the latter was covered over 021 both sides, lie would take his father’s drawing knife or plane and shave it off clean, ready* for a fresh supply of inscriptions tho next dav. Ho often moved about theVcabin with a piece of chalk, writing and ciphering 021 boards and tho Hat sides of hewed -logs. Whenever a bare wooden surface had been filled with his letters and ciphers ho would erase them and begin anew.The first lawbook Lincoln ever read was “Tho Statutes of Indiana. ” He obtained tho volume from his friend DavidTurnham, who testifies that he fairly devoured the book in his eager efforts to abstract tho store of knowledge that lay between the lids. No doubt, as Turnham insists, the study of the statutes at this early day led Abo to think of tho law as his calling in maturer years. At any* rate, he now began to evince no little zeal in tho matter of public speaking—in compliance with tho old notion, no doubt, that a lawyer can never succeed unless I10 has tho elements of tho orator or advocate in his construction—and even at work in tho field ho could not resist the temptation to mount the nearest stump and practice on his fellow laborers.With all his peaceful propensities Abe was not averse to a contest of strength, either for sport or in settlement—as in one memorable case—of grievances. Personal encounters were of frequent occurrence in Gen try* vi lie in those days, and the prestige of having thrashed an opponent gave tho victor marked social distinction. Green B. Taylor, with whom Abe worked the greater part of 0120 winter on a farm, furnished me with an account of tho noted fight between John Johnston. Abe’s stepbrother, and William Grigsby, in which stirring drama Abo himself played an important role before the curtain was rung down. Taylor’s father was tho second for Johnston, and William Whitten officiated in a similar capacity for Grigsby.“They had a terrible fight,” relates Taylor, “and it soon becaino apparent that Grigsby was too much for Lincoln’s man, Johnston. After they had foughta long time without interference, it having been agreed not to break the ring, Abe burst through, caught Grigsby, threw him off and some feet away. There he stood, proud as Lucifer, andswinging a bottle of liquor over his headswore he was ‘the big buck of the lick. ’ ‘If any one doubts it,’ he shouted, ‘he has only to come on and whet his horns.'” A general engagement followed his challenge, but at the end of hostilities the field was cleared, and the wounded retired amid the exultantBytcent propi was lt;tho 1 the (son hwagecent* mo v be m ever form pare*gove cos siandwithoverWoeTim• 1it at sons,at R ed 1 couL• A: mnUFannowHOW;hownonehave\r •» r^i -iv a.-jfur 1lonu*. ^arorbriestreirathforetribOnevtincarrtinilt;logstieastrilsinkinaian o' A yeaibegthepro;so 1 wit deawoiIwinoutme;OrlchaAb(lastproHisdueturevitherenvoyof
Newspaper Details
Logansport Saturday Night Review
Logansport, Indiana, US
Sat, Nov 16, 1895
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 10 Feb 2021
Other Publications Near Logansport, Indiana
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