The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1868-09-01
An Unpublished Incident of President
- Lincoln.

A respected townsman and Old acqua'
| intance was the narrator of the story to
my informant, and myself participant.
According to that habit of familiarity SO
prevalent in the West (by means OF
which man is made to prolong his boy
hood throughout his life }, this gentleman
is known among old friends by the name
| of "Jim,'' as Mr.. Lincoln was always
called s'Abe-" For the sake of my story,
shall have to call Mr.-'Jim," as
any one Of his fellow citizens would in
telling it.
This gentleman relates that soon after
Mr.. Lincoln's Cooper Institute speech,
he saw a notice in the New York Tribune
that Hon. A. Lincoln, of Illinois, had de-
livered an address to the Sunday School
at the Five Points, which was very well
received by both teachers and pupils.
Knowing that Mr.. Lincoln was not a
professor of religion, it struck him that
it was good subject for banter; and so,
seizing the paper, he started for old
Abes Office. Bursting into the room
impulsively, he was startled to find a
stranger in conversation with Mr.. Lin
coin; and turned to retrace his steps,
when the latter called out: Jim! what do
you want2' Nothing Yes, you do;
come back After some entreaty, Jim
approached Mr. Lincoln and remarked
with merry twinkle in his eye: well,
Abe see you have been making speech
to Sunday school children. What's the
matter?' sit down, Jim and I'll tell
you all about that And with that he
put his foot On the stove, and began:
when Sunday morning came, didn't
know exactly what to do. Washburne
asked me where was going. told him
I had nowhere to go; and he proposed
to take me down to the Five Points Sun
day School, to show me so4a athing worth
seeing. I Was very much interested by
what I saw Presently Mr.. Pease came
up and spoke to Washburne, who intro
duced me. Mr.. Pease wanted us to
speak Washburne spoke; and then /
was urged to speak. I told them did
not know aything about talking to Sun
day Schools; but Mr.. Pease said that
many of them were friendless and home
less, and that a few words would do
them good. Washburne said I must
talk And so 1 rose to speak; but tell
you, jim, didn't know what to say.
I couldn't talk about Christ and relig-
ion, for / didn't know much of either;
but remembered that Mr. Pease had
said that they were friendless and home
less, and thought of the time when /
had been pinched by terrible poverty.
And so I told them that I had been
poor; that I remembered when my toes
stuck out through broken shoes in the
winter; when my arms were out at the
elbows; when I shivered with the cold.
rule. That was, ALWAYS DO THE VERY
BEST you CAN. told them that I had
always tried to do the best I could, and
if they would follow that rule, they would
get along somehow. That was about
what said. And when got through,
Mr.. Pease said it was just the thing they
needed. And when the school was dis
missed, all the teachers came up and
shook hands with me, and thanked me
for it; though did not know that I was
saying anything of any account. But
the next morning I saw my remarks no.
ticed in the papers,"
Here Mr.. Lincoln put his hand in his
pocket, and remarked that he never heard
! hot boI had bo
songs which those children sang.
With that he drew forth little book,
rcmarking that they had given him one
of the books from which they sang.
Did you ever hear any poetry like this,
Jim?' And he began to read piece.
with all the earnestness of his great ear
nest soul. In the middle of the second
verse his friend Jim 'felt choking in
his throat and a tickling in his nose At
the beginning of the third verse he saw
that the stranger from the East was weep
ing and his own tears fell fast Turning
toward Lincoln who was reading on. he
saw the great hlintling tears in his eyes,
: so that be could not possibly see the
page. He was repeating that song from
memory! How often he had read it. or
how long its sweet and simple ac, ents
continued to reverherate through his
soul, no one can know.
How much influence may that little
child's song have had in bringing him to
that trustful attitude toward God which
was SO characteristic of him during the
weary closing years of his life.
And there is more than one we'll au-
thenticated fact coming to light now. all
going to show that there was more of OBJ
scurity and mystery in his origin, and of