The Indianapolis leader. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1879-1890, 1880-03-28
LINCOLN'S STORIES.
Pleasant Pen Pictures of the Great War
President.
New Anecdotes Never Told Before-How
Mr.. Lincoln Got Rid of a Consummate
Bore.
philadelphia Times.


, joker of the United States. When care ST
r heaviest on his heart and the prospect of
favorable solution of the war seemed mo;
doubtful he would turn away from his tror
bles and tighten the gloom of the hour b
one of those jokes which soon became nation
al in their reputation. 1t was this facult
of casting away sare that enabled the presi
dent to endure the wear and tear of grea
war that would have killed most men.
Many people will, no doubt, always be
lieve that many Of the jokes attributed u
Mr.. Lincoln were manufactured outside o
the White House and laid to the great presi
dents account; and while this is partly tru'
Mr.. Lincoln did tell thousands of anecdotes
and if some credited to him were told by
others there were scores of Lincolns jokes
that have never been repeated or published
| remember one day going to the White
House with Senator Ben Wade, when Mr.
Lincoln assailed us with perfect avalanche
of jokes. Mr.. Wade was in a hurry, having
to be at the Senate by IL o'clock, and it was
then after IL. "Sit down, Mr.. Wade; sit
down, General" cried the jolly president
Il am going to tell you story"
! "Mr President, J should be most happy to
listen to your story" said Mr.. Wade, "but
have some little business with you this
morning, and then / must go to the Senate,
as it is almost the hour for it to assemble"
| well, we'll, guess you will be in time,
but want to talk to you, and if the Senate
meets without you. why let it meet, that's
all.' Then turning abruptly to me the
president inquired:
"How are the people out in kentucky"
was then in command of the Blue Grass
region of Kentucky, where Mr.. Lincoln had
| many friends.
"They are pretty WELL" replied.
"Are they loyal now?" asked Uncle Abe,
with smile.
Sometimes they are and sometimes they
are not" ! replied. "When they think the
Union is going to win they get loyal until
Lee gains a. battle on the Potomac, and then
when it looks better for the Confederacy they
become disloyal again.
"That reminds me of the high and the low
combed cock" said Abe, land as it is CAPT
tai story L must tell it to YOU
"Now, Mr.. Lincoln" said Wade, II must
be going, as it is nearly II, and have bare
ly time to reach the Senate before it assem-
bles. / have a little business with you,
and'-
'sSit down, sit down, man. cried Lincoln;
''the Senate can assemble, say, without you
being there and l must tell you this story;
besides, won't be five minutes, and you can
surely give me that much of your time
Uncle Abe then related the following story,
which / repeat as nearly as l can recollectin
his own words:
ssWbap T xuas a Won Oster ont IN X eptuclyy
there was chap who had high combed
cock that could lick all the roosters in the
country. One day an emigrant came in to set
tie who said he had low-combed cock he
reckoned could thresh anything in them
parts, the high-combed cock included
The interest became intense and the chickens
were examined by all the boys. Both
looked we'll and seemed to be genuine
game cocks. A meeting was arranged to
come off between the cocks and the whole
neighborhood was excited over it. Squire
c. was noted man and very sharp.
The Squire was always right, but no one
could ever find out exactly what his beliefs
were, his reserved opinions being the correct
ones The Squire was consulted about the
roostess. as he was about every thing else, and
putting his spectacles on his nose he examin-
cd both roosters carefully. He said the high
combed cock had 'pints about him which
indicated he would win, but the ow-combed
cock was much the heaviest rooster of the
two and by sheer weight might beat his an
tagonist. The young fellows who wanted to
bet questioned the Squire closely, but they
could not get any nearer to his opinion OF
the real merits of the chickens. The day
came for the battle and with it a great crowd.
The Squire presided, for in those days more
than now racing, fighting and betting was
the height of Kentuckian's glory. Close
attention was given to the Squirrels position
on the fight rs he was both oracle and
Judge.
propose said the squire this ere shell
be fare fife, and tharfore we will Civ three
cheers for both ROSTERS 1t was done with
will and then the fight began. At every
turn in the battle the Squire would cry out:
'Hurrah for the high-combed cockp 'Hur-
rah for the low-combed cockp Once he
made a bet on the high-combed cock, but i'm
mediately hedged by betting on the low
combed cock. At last, after bloody contest
the low-combed cock got the worst of it,
turned tail and ran. 'Hurrah! hurrahl hur-
rah for the high .combed cock! Gentlemen,
/ knew that rooster would win in the end,
but it is always unfair to express an opinion
| in contest like this in advance of the raal
issoo. Now, gentlemen, you have had all
the fun, but you see that high-combed roos-
ter was bound to win. Why. look at his
combl ANY man can see with half an eye
he is a real game chicken, while that other
one is only dunghill fowl
"Now," cried Uncle Abe, that is the
way it is with those fellows out in Ken
lucky. They want to be on both sides
in this fight and hurrah for the high
or the low-combed cock as policy die
tates. If we win they will be good Union
men, but if JEFF Davis were to win they
would be the best rebels in the world. Gene
RAIL-" he said, seriously, II think we have got
the high-combed cock in this fight. We
must see to it that our rooster wins, and Their
in the end we will be all right"
sat and looked in astonishment at the
great man before me. / had come to Wash
ington to explain to him my embarrassment
in Kentucky on account of the anomalous
position of the State and the varying temper
of the people Kentucky was then a Stat,
in the Union with representation in ou
COMPRESS but she had sent no less thar
$4,000 men to the rebel army and had also
representation in the rebel Congress at Rich
mond. had expected 20 have some Difficult
ty in making my embarrassments understood
but here was man who knew everything
and by simple story had not only explains
my situation, but had pointed out what
should do. Irolated the story to Mr.. Stanton
and after that always referred to the contes
in Kentucky as that between two rooster
! Once l wrote Mr.. Wade: "Tell Mr.. Lncol
y our high combed cock is doing yer
r we'll and can hardly fail to win The SOUR
bets three to one on him at present."
he naxt 1otfar Wode raplied. Ell daliva~o