River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1885-07-30
LINCOLN'S FRIEND.
Dennis Hanks Talk in an Interesting
Manner Concerning Uncle Abe.

Dennis Hanks Talk in Interesting
Manner Concerning Uncle Abe.
Paris (Ill) Gazette: The following
interview. held in this city about two
weeks since with our grandfather,
Dennis T. Hanks, by the Rev. Robert
Mcintyre, of Charleston. regarding
the early life of President Abraham
Lincoln, and which appeared in the
Charleston Courier, will be of great in
terest to our readers. Uncle Dennis,
as he is Familiarity known, makes his
home in Paris with his daughter, Mrs.
James Shaotf
found him hale and erect, ready to
recount for the benefit of younger
| generation the incidents which marked
the youth of the martyred President.
| His name is Dennis Hanks, and he is a
cousin of Lincoln. Uncle Dennis, as he
is called, is typical Kentuckian, born
in Hardin County, 1899. His face is
sun-bronzed and plowed with burrows
of time; a resolute mouth, with firm
grip of the Jaws, broad forehead above
pair of unweariable eyes. The eyes
seem out of place in the weary, faded
face; they glow and flash like two dia-
mond sparks, set in ridges of dull gold.
/ The face is serious one, but the play
of light in the eyes, unquenchable by
time, bctrays the nature full of sunshine
and elate life A sidewise glance at
the profile shows a face strikingly
Lincoln-likc, prominent cheek bones,
temple. nose, and chin; but, best of all,
that twinkling drollery in the eye that
/ flashed in the White House during the
/ dark days of the Civil War. To our
query he replied cheerily:
Certainly, certainly. sir, I'll talk to
YOU about Abe. | kin talk, too, bein
rs I'm the only livin' man that knows
| all about him.
''How old was Mr.. Lincoln when you
| first met him?"
''About "A hours hardly that I
rikkilectI run all the way, over two
miles, to see Nancy Hanks boy baby.
/ Twas common then for connection to
| gether in them days to see new babies.
! Her name was Nancy Hanks before she
married Thomas Lincoln. | held the
wee one a minnit | was 10 years old,
/ and it tickled me to hold the pulpy, red,
little Lincoln"
''When did you move to lndiana?'
''When Abe was about g. Mr.. Lin
/ coin moved first. and built a camp of
brush in Spencer County. We came
| out a year later, and he then had
cabin up, aud he gave us the shanty.
On this spot Abe grew to manhood. "
How far apart were your cabins?'
"About fifteen rods Abe killed
| turkey the day we got there and
couldn't git through tellin' about it.
| The name was pronounced Linkh0rn
bv the folks then. We was all uneddu-
Gated. After a spell we learned bet
ter
I'm the Life of Lincoln, published
/ afer his nomination, it is stated that.
you taught him to read >
Eyes. sir. | did. | taught him to
spell. read. and cipher He knew his
letters pretty welliSh; but no more.
! His mother taught him his letters. If
ever there was a good woman on earth
she was one, a true Christian of the
Baptist church; but she died soon after
we arrived, and left him without a
teacher; his father couldn't read word.
HIS EDUCATION.
is it possible he had no schooling?"
"OnIy about one quarter, scarcely
that. then in to help him; ! didn't
know much but l did the best could. !"
What books did he read first?'
''Webster's speller. When | got
him through that only had a copy Of
Indiana statutes. Then he got hold
of book. | cant rikkolect the name;
maybe YOU kin if / tell you somethin
ct was in it. 1t told a yarn about a
Teller, or nigger or suthin, that sailed q
flatboat up to rock; and the rock was
magnetized and drawed the nails out
of his boat. an he cot duckin, or
drowned. or suthin, forget now.
THAT is the story OF Sindbad in the
Arabian Nights. >
That's it. that's the book. Abe
would lay on the floor with a chair I'M
der his head and laugh over them RAJ
bian Nights By the hour. l told him
it was likely lies from end to end. but
he learned to read right well in it.
Had he any other books?"
/ YES: | borrowed for him the Life of
Washington and the Speeches Of
/ Henry Clay They had a powerful
influence on him He told me after
+ wards. in the White House. he wanted
, to live like Washington. His speeches
show that; but the other book did the
! most amazing work. He was a Demo
crat. like his father and all of US. when
, he began to read il. When he closed
it he was Wing, heart and soul, and
: he went step by step until he became
! leader of the Republicans.
. meditated a moment here on the
old mans story. Was there ever any
} thing SO strange, so suggestive? This
rude backwoodsman blindly had turned
with a cheap book the current of the
mightiest life in modern times. What
, sand-blind creatures we are. How
we juggle with destiny. How God uses