River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1885-07-30


muse. hushed in thought
.Will YOU describe him when a boy?'
well, he was at this time not grown,
| only six feet two inches high. He was
six feet four and one-half inches when
grown-tall, lathy, and gangling mot
much appearance, not handsome, not
ugly. but peculiar This kind of fell
low: If a man rode up on horseback,
Abe would be the first one out, up on
the fence and asking questions, till his
father would give him a knock side o.
the head; then he'd go throw at snow
birds or suthin', but ponderin' all the
while.
ACTIVE AND sTR0NG.s
'.Was he active and strong?'
He was that. Twas ten years older,
but couldn't rassle him down. His
legs was too long for me to throw him.
He would fling one foot upon my shout
der and make me swing corners swift,
and his arms 50 long and strong! My,
how he would chop! His ak would
flash and bite into a sugar-tree or syca-
more. and down it would come. If
| YOU heard him fallin trees in clearin'
YOU would say there We're three men at
work bv the way trees fell. But he
never was sassy or quarrelsome.
I've seen him walk into a crowd of
sweain' rowdies, and tell some droll
yarn and bust them allup. 1t was the
same when he was a lawyer; all eyes
whenever he riz were on him. there
was suthin peculiarsome about him. =
| Il faonh inn M 4a
with?"
Sometimes he would write with Il
piece of charcoal, or the pint of burnt
stick. on the fence or floor. We got
a little paper at the country town, and
made ink out of blackberry briar-
root and little copperas in it. 1t was
black, but the copperas would eat the
paper after awhile. | made his first
pen out of turkey buz2ard feather;
them's good for pens. We had no
geese them days. After he learned to
write he was scrawlin' his name every
where; sometimes he would write it on
the white sand down by the crick bank,
and leave it till the fresh would blot it
out. F."
All, Dennis, that name is written
now. not in sand; high on the heroic
roll in Libertys proud temple, above
the names Of all save one. Next to
the name of the immortal Washington
blazes the signature of the blameless
ruler and matchless man, Abraham
Lincoln That plain name is now a
kinqlier title than is worn on earth.
Yes, that so, and rightly, too. Not
for his greatness; he was not the great
est man that ever lived, but he was the
honestest. | reckon he never did a
mean act | could see he didn't know
how. an he never learned.
Did you have any idea of his future
greatness?'
mo; it was new country and he
was raw boy; rather a bright and
likely lad. but the big world seemed
far ahead of him. We were all slow
goin folks, but he had it in him, though
we never suspected it.
did he take to books eagerly?"
mo; we had to hire him at first.
But when he got a taste it was the old
story-we had to pull the sow's ears to
get her to the trough and pull her tail
to get her away He read a great deal
and had a wonderful memory-w wonder
, full. Never forgot anything"
s.What church did Abe attend?"
1.-The Baptist I'll tell you circum-
stance about him. He would come
home from church, and put a box in
the middle of the cabin floor, and re-
peat the sermint from text to doXology.
I've heard him do it often.
DIDN'T BELIEVE IN MIRACLES.
''Was he a religious man?"
I - =, g.,
gious man He was moral man
strictly-never went to frolics, never
drank liquor, never used tobacco, never
swore. But in after life he became
more religious; but the Bible puzzled
him, especially the miracles. He often
asked me in the timber, or sittin'
around the fireplace nights, to explain
Scripture. He never joined any church
or any secret order"
"How did the lad fare for food and
clothingp'
Plenty, as it as-corn-dodger,
bacon, and game, some fish, and wild
fruits. I've often seen him take a
dodger to the field and gnaw at it when
blowing. We had very little wheat
flour. The nearest mill was eighteen
miles. A hoss mill it was, with plug
pullin sweep around; and Abe used to
say his hound could stand and cat the
flour as fast as it was made, and then
be ready for his supper. For clothin g
he had jeans He was grown before
, he wore all-wOol pants.
did YOU move with him to Illinois?
''Yes; | bought little improvement
near him, six miles from Decatur.
Here the famous rails were split that
were carried around in the campaign.
They were called his rails; but nobody
can tell about that. | split some OF
'em. and we had a rail frolic and folks
came and helped us spli5. He was a
master hand maulin rails. | heard
T him say in a speech one day about these
rails: If | didn't make these, | made
many just as good Then the crowd
yelled.
Were you his crony and compan-
ion?'
Yes, | was the only boy in the
| place all them years, and we were
always together
did you ever visit him in Washing
ton?''
Certainly; there We're some folks
arrested in Charlestown, and |, for
their folks sake, went on dUrin the
t War to get 'em free, for it was best.
got there and found the White House
, surrounded with soldiers. | went up to
, the door to get in, and a reporter
Tmeans porterl stopped me and said;
[ Who do YOU waut to see? said MIR.
Lincoln. He said. You can t see him
, it amt the time of day yet | said.
III show YOU if / can t. | hahn come
here from Illinois for nothin'. He
grinned and showed me the dooy of his
Office. Outside was a heap If fellers
waitin' to Git to see the President.
opened the door kinder soft, and at the
: other end of big room sat Abe at an
t old desk worth about six bits Hey?
; / holered. you're pretty President,
amt you?' He looked up and said
We'll. Dennis, is that you? and made 8
t run and just gethered me- When could
f cit able to talk | said: Il don't want nc
! offs. Abe. He said Most of EN- do
Dennis and smiled kinder tired.
told my errand, and he said to come VI
next morning and he would fix it. W.
A talked an hour, as friendly as ever
2 about long-gone times. Then he tolc
: me to 90 down to the house and see
t Marv-that's his wife. She's dead
T now. poor soul | knowed they was
too birbfalutin' down to Mary : fol