The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1871-08-03
IRON Che n. 7. Daily tribune.
''Tad'' Lincoln.

Todd Lincoln will never think Of
the well-grOwn young gentleman
who died on Saturday at Chicago.
The name Of "Tad"-a pct name
given by himself with his first stam-
mering utterances, and adopted by
his fond parents and the world
recalls the tricksy little sprite who
gave to that sad and solemn White
House Of the great war the only
comic relief it knew. The years
that have followed, spent in study
and travel, produced an utterly diff.
ferent person. The Tad Lincoln of
our history ceased to exist long ago.
The modest and cordial young fel-
low who passed through New York
a few weeks ago with his mother,
will never be known outside Of the
circle Of his mourning friends. But
'little Tad" will be remembered as
long as any live who bore a person.
al share in the great movements
whose centre for four years was at
Washington.
He was so full OF life and vigOr-
so bubbIing over with health, and
high spirits, that he kept the house
alive with his pranks and his fantas-
tic enterprises. He was always a
"chartered Iibertine," and after
the death Of his brother Willie, a
prematurely serious and studious
child, and the departure Of Robert
for college, he installed himself as
the absolute tyrant Of the Executive
Mansion. He was idolized by both
father and mother, petted and in
dulged by his teachers, and fawned
upon and earessed by that nOisOme
horde Of Office seekers which infest-
ed the ante-room of the White
House. He had a very bad opinion
of books and no opinion of discipline,
and thought very little Of any tutor
who would not assist him in yoking
his kids to a chair or in driving his
dogs tandem over the South Lawn.
He was as shrewd as he was lawless,
and always knew whether he could
make a tutor serviceable or not. If
he found one with obstinate ideas of
the superiority of grammar to kite
flying as intellectual employment,
he soon found means of getting rid
of him. He had so much to do that
he felt he could not waste time in
learning to spell. Early in the
morning you could hear his shrilI
pipe resOunding thrO' the dreary cor
ridOrs of the Executive residence.
The day passed in a rapid succession
of plots and commotions, and when
the President laid down his weary
pen toward midnight, he generally
found his infant goblin asleep under
his table or roasting his curly head
by the open fire place; and the tall
chief would pick up the child and
Itrudge off to bed with the drowsy lit
tie burden on his shoulders, stoop-
ling under the doors and dcdging
the chandeliers. The President took
infinite comfort in the ehild's rude
health, fresh fun, and uncomfortable
J boisterousness. He was pleased to
see him growing up in ignorance of
books, but with singularly accurate
/ ideas Of practical matters. He was
a fearless rider, while yet so small
that his legs stuck out horizontally
from the saddle. He had that pow
er of tanning and attaching animals
to himself which seems the especial
gift Of kindly and unlettered ma
lures. "Let him rum" the easy-gO-
ing President would say; "he has
| time enough left to learn his letters
and get pokey. Bob was just such
a little rascal, and now he is a very
decent boy"
1t was evident that with all his
insubordination and reckless mis-
chief the spoiled child was at heart
Of a truthful and generous nature.
| He treated hatterers and office seek
ers with a curious cooIness and con-
tempt, but he often espoused the
/ cause OF some poor widow or latter
ed soldier, whom he found waiting
in the ante-rOOms, and it was most
amusing to see the hearty little fell
low dragging his shabby prOteges
into the Executive presence, order
/ ing the ushers out of the way, and
demanding immediate action from
headquarters. The President rarely
refused a grace of this kind, and the
demands were not 50 frequent as 10
lose the charm Of novelty.
/ One of the tricks into which his
/ |idIeness. and his enterprise together
drove him, was the occasion of
much laughter to the judiciOus, and
much horror to the respectable in
Washington. He invested, one
morning, all his pocket money in
buying the stock in trade of an old
woman who sold gingerbread near
the Treasury. He made the Gov
| ernment carpenters give him a board
and some trestles, which he set up
in the imposing pOrte-cOehere Of the
White House, and on this rude
counter displayed his wares. Every
ofice-seeker who entered the house
that morning bought a toOthsOme
luncheon Of the keen little merchant,
and when an hour after the opening
g of the booth a member Of the house
: hold discovered the young pastry
e man the admired centre Of a group