The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1882-04-29
"REMINISCENCES OF LINCOLN.
By THE cRrER OF THE COURT.

was ''eyery man has his own way o.
eating his oysters" meaning, we pre-.
sumo, that every man has his own way
Of doing things. He was not unlike
other men in this respect, for he had his
Own way Of doing everything he would
undertake. He had his W ways OF
putting in time" and it was in nearly
every case, as the Hoosier would re-
mark, ga pretty tolerable good way.'
He was Industrious in the preparation
OF his cases; would exercise great pa
tience, and was persevering in his Ia
bors until fully satisfied he was right.
When he had spent a reasonable
amount of time in office labor, he could
be seen gathering up his hat and going
TO some one of the different places TO
which he was in the habit of resorting.
Among his favorite resorts was the Of
ice Of the Supreme Court Clerk, in the
old State Capitol building. 1t was in
this place he would find companionship
with others, who. like himself, resorted
10 MI. Iurney's oH1cc rom Torce OF
habit and for the same reasons which
impelled him to go there. Among the
attractions in that Office was q chess
BOARD, much used, and generally by Mr..
Lincoln as one of the players. MIR.
i q ivy BlhlNu Illlliotii bAAolAAN7C
was dull, and his most frequent antago-
nists were Mr.. Lincoln or Hon. s.. II.
Treat, who had been one of the Supreme
Judges, but at the time of which no
writes was the United States District
Judge for the Southern District Of Hi.
nois. Frequently Mr.. Lincoln and
Judge Treat were the contestants, and
while Mr.. Lincoln played q good game
ut chess, the Judge, to use Mr.. Lin
coins own way of stating it, twas a lit
tie too much for me-" II a little old
red-topped stand, which for long YEAR,
formed u part of the furniture of the
Supreme Court room, could tell its tale,
t would be able to fill a volume of many
amusing pages, not only in the history
of Mr.. Lincoln, but many others whom
the common leveler of all mankind"
has silenced by his side in the grave.
TAD LINCOLN CONCLUDES A GAME WITH
Z CEREMONY.
Over this stand, placed by the side OF
the old Franklin open wood-stove in the
cooler months, or where the gentle
breeze would cool their brows in the
warmer seasons of the year, could be
seen the forms of Mr.. Lincoln and the
Judge with their eyes rivetcd upon the
ivory pieces on the board and their
minds absorbed in the movement with
an earnestness that brooked no interior
ence unless at the peril of a "rufiing OF
temper" 1t was on such an occasion
that an incident occurred which Illus
trated the indulgent nature of Abraham
Lincoln as n parent. Mr.. Lincoln had
brought Tad" his youngest boy,
down town in the afternoon and the lit
IL f-11-,- laI LAo- r,,,.- Is-.-n1I
about the law office until Mr.. Lincoln
got through with his Office work, when
he led him over to the State House,
where he met the Judge, and they pro.
posed a game. Tad was permitted
to amuse himself with something about
the Office and was allowed to play
around to suit his fancy while the game
proceeded. 1t was quite a lengthy
game, and the boy had surfeited al
play, while the men were mutually
feasting on the game. At last, out Of
patience, Tad approached the table
and said:
''Tum home, papa, tum; Is'e tired,
and mama wants us to supper"
"Yes, my son." said the father, 'rD
go with you in a little while"
Tad played on for some minutes
and came up again, when about the
same dialogue passed between them.
and Tad" was induced to take longer
time. After playing around for a while
longer he came again, and this time, as
Mr.. Lincoln remarked, with his Ken
lucky up" Mr.. Lincoln tried to put
him off again, but it was q failure, fol-
the little fellow was growing obstreper-
Gus, and without a word of warning he
said, 81 tan top it," and suiting the ac-
ton Il the word, swept his little arm
across the stand and scattered the chess
pieces '.nine ways for Sunday" The
players jumped to their feet and TAD
took to his heels like q deer, with the
irate father behind him. Away they
went around the columns, the boy dodg.
ing and the father reaching until sever.
al minutes were exhausted in the chase,
when Tad" was captured. Those pres
emit supposed MI. Lincoln would turn
him over the p~aternal knee and ''exer.
else him." but he did not. He put on
his hat, and taking the boy by the
hand. gently chided him for the act, as
he partly excused him by blaming him.
self for firing "Tad's' patience.
AN IMPROBABLE STORY CORRECTED.
1t has been said that Mr.. Lincoln wa,
engaged in playing a game of base ball
when the dispatches was handed him
announcing his nomination to the Presi.
dency in 1860 at Chicago by the Repub-
lican party. This is a great mistake.
Mr.. Lincoln was as fully aware of whai
was going on that day as any man in
Springfield. 1t would argue an apathy
in regard to passing events never chart
'acteriziug Abraham Lincoln in anything
political or professional. He was what
the world would style o ''wel posted
man" on nearly every subject claiming
.stention from public men particularly
md in a matter of such moment to HIM,
md one upon which he had exchanged
views with nearly every prominent dele.
rate to the convention from this State,
| either in person or by letter, that it II
out of the range of the probable to pro
sumo for a moment that he was playing
ball or in any other way treating tho
matter with that indifference which
some have ~endeavored to picture In this
story. Allow me right here to diyergc
a little to give the true history OF Mr
Lincoln's whereabouts when receiving
the news. He had benin the tele
graph office at that time on the nortl
Side of the square, awaiting dispatche'
and had patiently endured the suspense
until the convention had begun to TAX
a ballot. He then left the office AM
walked to the store door OF Smith
Wickersham e. Co., where Mr.. Rosen
wald's store now is. Whilo standing
there talking of what he had alread.
learned, a yell was heard and footstep
were also heard coming down the stair
way of the telegraph office. This wa
taken up until yell after yell was hear
all along the north side, n a messen
ror ca4e running to him announcin