Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1882-11-04
ONE or LIHcoLK'S JOKES.

How old Abe 'tScooped' the Democrats
Giles Turner, in Des Moines Register.
In the days when Clay and Polk
were making their great contest for
the Presidency, Mr. Lincoln and
Judge c., of a neighbOring county,
were advertised for joint discus
sion at the court house in Jackson
vile upon the political issues-Lin-
coin to advocate the claims of the
"Mill Boy of the Slashes," and the
Judge to ably present those Of
"Jimmie Polk, OfTennessee." b" eve
were attending school on the hill in
the suburbs of the then little village
of Jacksonville" Mr.. Turner con-
tinued, $50 named in honor of 'Old
Hickory Out of about 200 stu
dents there were some 80 of us that
belonged to the 'unterrified Democ-
racy.' We attended every meet
ing, went early, got the front seats,
and every mothers son of US could
sing:
Hurrah, hurrah, for the hickory tree,
The tough and slaunch old tree -..s. r
Its branches cover all the ground,
1t roots in Tennessee.
And we knew exactly when to ap-
plaud our man, and how to conduct
ourselves so as to annoy our adver-
saries in the most approved style,
if not more 50. / assure you we
could discount all opposition in the
hurrah business, and you would
have thought so too if you could
have heard us thunder when the
Judge entered the courtroom, and
then what bad colds and terrible
coughs we had when Lincoln came
in. We had the inside, and meant
business The Judge spoke first,
giving us the sweet music Of the 'ad
Valorem tariff with all its varia-
tions, well interspersed with the
Jingle of 'hard money, free trade
and sailors rights, an Ocean-bound
Republic, tifty-four forty or fight
and closed by referring to himself
as having been born of Democratic
parents, nursed by a Democratic
mother, was rocked in hickory
bark cradle and voted for Jackson.
ave then gave three cheers and
a tiger. We did our part so well
that the Wings were discouraged,
and made but feeble effort when
Lincoln took the stand. / expect
he made a good speech, but as we
had no faith in anything but De-
mocracy, we gave him no credit,
but put down all he said as 'Whig
lie.' Nearing the close of his speech
he said that he had understood
from some source that the Judge,
emphatic and positive as he was,
had not always entertained the
principles he advocated that night.
Yes, sir, always, from my youth
up replied the Judge. Did you
ever live i'm Kaskaskia p asked
Lincoln. Yes, sir, for a year or
two Was you, whilst you resid-
ed there, a Democrat or Il Federal
ist?' a Democrat replied the
Judge. Somehow it runs through
my mind rejoined Lincoln, that
the reverse is true. AT any rate /
will tell you all about it. When /
lived at old SangamatOwn John
Strobe and / used to haul sawlogs
to the mill i'm winter. In summer
we sometimes hauled goods from
Alton. We got orders from Lamb,
Cook and Others, and proceeded
with other teams to Alton for goods;
we each got our load and drove
back as far as Plasaw, and went in
to camp for the night. We turned
our oxen out 10 Craze, while we
took possession OF an empty cabin
recently vacated. We soon got our
supper, and dark coming on the
boys amused themselves at game