The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-05-30

sometimes ne would write with A piece of charcoal or the p'lnt of burnt stick on the tence or floor. We 70, A little paper at the country town, and | made ink out of blackberry oTiar rost and a h,tle eapperas iu 1t IL was black, but the coppsras would eat the paper aiter awhile. made his hsSt pen out of a tur- key enst2rd leather; them'S good tor peas We had no geese them days. Alter he learned ,e wHts he vas scss~!sa' h.s name everywhere; sometimes he would write t Ia the white sand down on the ctlck bank and leave II till the fresh would blot it out,
 
 An, Dennis, that name is written no~. not sn sand; high on the heroic roll in Lberty's proud temple, above the names oi all save one.
 
 "Did you have any idea of his future gTestneSsY"
 No; was a new country. and he was raw boy rathet bright an likely lad, but the biI world seemed tar ahead ot him. We were all slow goin' folks, but he hAd it 'n him, though we never suspected ,t.'
 nid he take to books eagerly r
 No, we had to hsre hin, al first. But when he got a taste IL vas the old story we had to pull the sow's ears ,o gi, her to the trough, and pull her tail to git her away. He read great deal and had a wonderful memory wonderful Never forgot anything"
 "Wha, church did Abe attend ?"
 The Baptist I'll tell you cltcum- stance about hlm. He would come home from church and put box in the middle of the cabin floor, and repeat the sc,m,nt from tex, ,o doxology. ive heard him do Il oten."
 Was he a religious manp'
 Well, he wasn't An intdcl or anything like that, but he wasn't In early lite a re liHiouS man He was moral man, strictly never went to itollcs. never drunk liquor, never used tobacco. never swore But in after lite he became more telg. lous, but the bible pu, 1led h,m, especially the miracles. He often asked nc In the timber, or si,tln' around ,hc fireplace nights, 10 explain scripture. He never joined any church or secret order"
 How did the lad fare for food and clo,hingr
 Plenty, Aueh as il was- corn dodge, and bacon, and game, some ii h and wild fruits. I've otlen seen him take dodgcr to Ihe 6eld and gnaw al |, when blowing We had very little wheat flour. The nearest null was eighteen miles boss mill il was, with plug pullin sweep around, and Abe used to say his hound could stand and eat the four all day AS fast as it was made, and then be ready for his supper. For clothing he had jeans he was grown before lie wore all. wool pants"
 "Did you move with him io Illinois 1e
 "Yes; bough, li.le improvement near him, Six miles from Decatur. Here the famous rails were splil that were car. ried around in the-campaign. They were called hts ra.ls, bu, nobody can tell abou, that. split some of 'cm, and we had A helped us split. He was d master hand maulin' rails. 1 heard him say in \ speech one day about these rails :: lf didn, make these have made many just as good Then the crowd yelled"
 Were you his cfony and companion z
 "Yes; was the only boy in the place all them years, and NC was always ,o- gether."
 Did you ever visit him in Washing ton i'
 Certainly there were some folks ar. rested in Charleston and l. for their folks sake, wen, on dur,n' the war 10 get them free, for il was best. go, there and ! found the White House surrounded with soldiers. l went up to the door 10 go in and reporter (means por,er) stopped me and said, Who do you want to see l said. MT. Lincoln He said. You can't see him /; il ain, the time of day yet said, I'll show you if can't 1 hain' come here from illinois for nothin'.' Hs grinned and showed me the door of hi' office. Outside was A heap oi felleri waitin' to get to ses tho president opened the door kinder soft, and a, the other end of big room sat Abe at ar old desk worth about six bits. Hey hoiieIed, you're a pretty president, am yer He looked and said. Well, Den his, is that you z and made a run and jus gathered me. When could ge, able is talk said, 'l don't want no offs, Abe. He said, Mos. Of them do. Dennis, ane smiled kinder tired. told my esrand and he said 10 come up next morning and he would fix it. We talked an hou as friendly as ever about tonga gons times; then he told me to go down to th' house and see Mary-,hat's his wife She's dead r1pw, poor soul. 1 knowec they was too higbfslutin' down 10 Mary for me, so vent 10 tavern and put up Mex. morning vent up, and Abe hat an aSmload of indictments and he said Take these over to Stanton and he1l (, it said, Abe, 1 don't know where ih' plaguered place is.' So he called re porser standin' by and said. Take thes. to Mir. Sianton.' Pretty soon Stanton, ir bobtail coat, came In. He didn't wan to lei 'em go but Abe was kind and mads him sign lem. When Stanton went out said, Abe, fl was as big as you are, would take Stanton over my knee and spank him. Tie laughed asd said, Il i not easy io keep my cabinet all in gsoc