The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-07-12

with Abe, and knew him all his life, l said,
You had hard times, hadn't you, in those
days2"
I'VE didn't think So After Abe and wrestled
while the horse mill was grinding He
could out jump me, but could throw him. He
was leggy and was stocky. and / could trip
him. We had corn pone bread, and in the fall
punkin pie Calico was IS cents yard, and
the gals were as proud of it as of silk now We
got one pair Of shoes yearly for Christmas gift;
they lasted till dandelion green's come, and
then went barefoot till the next Christmas.
Our linsey was homespun and home wove, aud
dveu in & dope OF walnut bark and copperas
We had no matches. How did we tell ths time
of day. BY our stummicks or the A Teller
didn't polish his boots till, a couldn't scratch
EN- and git buggy on Sunday and go CALM
over all creation them days. His boiled shirt
was made of fax and ironed the back of
char; be spanked by the light of a lard lamp
with rag for a wick which made dim light
but good enough to spark by Every dud we
had was homemade. Our pianys was spinning
wheels and looms our tea was sassafrac. and we
had coffee Sundays Everybody drunk
whisky them days, even the preachers; endurn
preachers they was-nOne of your buttOnup
fellers-and could sing like bobolinks"
The writer asked Mr.. Chapman if he could
remember any quarrelS or fights in which young
Lincoln engaged
NO sir Once, while hunting, he told ME of
wrestling match with Dan Needham, on Wa
bash point. Dan was the champion wrestler
and 1t was best man, two out of three falls. Abe
threw him twice, when Dan got swearing mad
can't whip me-. Abe said, Dan, can whip
you as easy as l can throw you; |
am no fighter but if you want row.
come on Dan backed out. 1t in my
house here. Lincoln parted with his step
mother for the last time, on his way to Wash
ington. She dearly loved him and feared harm
would come to him. She said: Abraham, |
know you will never come home; they will kill
you He smiled and said, in the old fashioned
way, Nanny. don't be uneasy; you will see me
again; III be all right. She lived to hear of his
murder, and died shortly afterward | recall a
visit he made to me at place called Paradise.
We had strong lodge of Know -nothinss there,
and tried with another friend, to get Lincoln
to join US. He sat and talked for hours to u.s.
showed us the error of our belief and both of us
quit the lodge forever"
us the story told by Carp in the Cleveland
paper, cOrrectN | said to Mrs. Bowling, step
niece,
Yes. don't know who Carp" is, but uncle
Abe told me that story when he last visited my
house. He was not superstitiouS but that
vision worried him and Mary, his wife, very
much. lie told me he was reclining on lounge,
and happened to glance at a mirror. and his
face with two distinct reflections; one was nat
ural the other pale and CHASTITY. He was
he saw 1t, for 1t was repeated and he felt 1t was
omen Of ILL.,"
''Murdoch, the eocutionist is reported as
What do you think of that! [ asked of Mrs.
Chapman, who lived in Lncoln's home quite a
while after his marriage
Il can't say. 1t may be true. / never knew
him 10 pray, but | heard him make a remark TO
Mary, when Robert was about two years old,
which inclined me to believe he intended to join
his fathers church, the Baptist, some day.
While not church member. think he at
heart considerably influenced by the Christian
religion"
There is an impression that his home life was
unhappy"
That is a delusion. I lived long time in
their home in Springfield, and uncle was happy
with his wife. She good wife and mother,
somewhat quick tempered, and sometimes
smartly veXed by his home spun ways and
ungraceful sayings. For instance, one day he
lay in his favorite attitude in summer, stretched
on the floor of the hall, as long sermon, and
reading book party of friends called and
asked to see the ladies. He said: Come in, and
I'll trot them out to see you Such remarks
nettled her little, but they were happy to-
gether. His tragic death affected Mary SO that
she never was the Same woman again"
DO you recall any of his peculiar sayings
doings?
Very few it is so long ago. and we never
thought then of uncle being president Here
is copy of the first picture he had taken
and here is a part of the letter he wrote me with
the picture. He sent it to me from Chicago In
the letter he writes 1t is homely picture,
but L am homely man, and it is good likeness
of your uncle One of his odd pranks l re-
member. He. when living in the cabin where
we were children. would take US one by one dip
our feet in the mud, lift US on his tall shoulders
take the impression of feet on the
whitewashed ceiling. He would print the tracks
in row, and laugh at the procession of little
feet He would also tell US strange stories by
the hour"
TO Captain Easton, close friend of Lincoln's,
| said, Everyone speaks of Abe's story telling
power. He was not wide reader Where did
hp oct yba1 la fI,O IF ante
''Alade them, l reckon. He never failed to
have one to illustrate his point. Dennis Hanks,
his teacher, says he learned to read in the
Arabian Nights, and knew it by heart: / have
thought, perhaps, that book influenced his
character. 1t was the only book in the cabin at
the time he learned to read. and that Oriental
yarner, ScheberaZade, who had story ready for
every emergency, may have inspired the back
woods boy to stir up his gift of story telling
Do you know this gift is the secret of his sue
cess and first made him political quantity9'
That's an odd piece of philosophy; how so2r
well, I'll explain He began life for himself
as a store keeper In little cross roads settle
ment north of here 1t was the only store in
the place, and the farmer boys would gather in
to talk. Abe of course, was the favorite Joker
and talker and just then the Blackhawk war
broke out A company formed about the
little store, and popular young Abe, to his sur
prise elected captain. After the war on
coming home, candidates were being nominated
for the Legislature, and Abe's boys put up the
tall talker and able young captain. His election
to the Legislature put the political bee in his
bonnet. and made the backwoods boy look up
He began to study law, went TO Congress- and
then to the presidency and immortality. 1t be-
gan in that country store, with his irrep-essible
talk TO his young friends. He never drank or
disspated, and so became a natural leader
among the prairie youth. l was keeping a store
here during his law practice on this circuit.
Often has he come into my store, with fee
note earned in a case and said Cap, let mother
trade this 500 note out until come again. Some
times he would load up his buggy with provis-
ions at my store, drive down to his fathers
cabin and stay all night"
To Hon. o. B. Fickin his associate at the bar
and in Congress- | said Have your recollections
of Lincoln ever been publishedl'
mo, sir | first met Abe Lincoln in the
Legislature. He was member from Sangamon.
and from Wabash. His chief points as a law.
Yer were, strong common sense and knowledge
of the people. His remark in the White House