The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-12-13

His Experiences as Postmaster and Surveyor
in Indiana and Illinois.


in Indiana and Illinois
December Century
| In the spring of the year. 1888, he was ap
pointed postmaster of New SalenI and held the
Office for three years. Its enaoluments were
slender and it's duties light, but there was in al
| probability, citizen of the village who could
have made so much OF it as he The mails were
| so scanty that he was said to carry them in his
hat and he is also reported to have read every
newspaper that arrived. 1t is altogether.likely
| that this formed the leading inducement to his
| taking the Office His incumbency lasted until
! New Salem ceased to be populous enough
for a post-station, and the mail went by ia
Petersburg. Dr. Holland relates a SEQUEL ia
| this official experience which illustrates the
quaint honesty of the man. Several years later,
when be was a practicing lawyer, an agent OF
| the Postoffice Departments called upon him and
| asked for a balance due from the New Salem
| Office, some SIT. Lincoln rose, and opening a
| little trunk which lay in a corner of the room,
took from it cotton rag in which was tied up
the exact sum required. Il never use any mans
| money but my own," he quietly remarked
| When consider the pinching poverty in
which these years had been passed, we NAV ap-
| preciate the self-denial which had kept him
| from making even temporary use of this little
sum Of government money.
John Calhoun, the surveyor of Sangamon
county, was at this time overburdened with
work. The principal industry then was specu-
iation In land. Every settler, of course, wanted
IL,
| every community had its syndicate of leading
citizens who cherished scheme of laying out a
| city some where. In many the city was
plotted, the sites of the principal buildings in
GLIDING courthouse and university. were de-
| termined, and sonorous name was selected out
| of Putarch before it's location was
| even considered. For this latter
| Office the Intervention of an official
surveyor was necessary, and therefore Mr.. Cal
houn had more business than he could attend to
without assistance Looking about for a young
man of good character, intelligent. enough to
learn surveying at short notice, his attention
was soon attracted to Lincoln. He offered
young Abraham book containing the elements
or the art, and told him when he had mastered
| 1t he should have employment The offer was a
hatterfng one, and Lincoln, with that steady
self-reliance of his, accepted it, and armed with
his book Went out to the schoolmaster's (Menton
Graham), and in six weeks close application
made himself surveyor.
1t will be remembered that Washington in his
youth adopted the same profession, but there
were few points of similarity in the lives of the
two greatest of our Presidents, in youth or later
manhood. The Viyglnan had every social adj
vantage in his favor, and was by nature a man
OF more thrift and greater sagacity in money
matters. He used the knowledge gained in the
practice of his profession so wisely that he be-
came rather early in life a large landholder and
continually increased his possessions until his
death Lincoln, with almost upbounded oppor-
tunities for the selection and purchase of valua-
Bile tracts made no use whatever of them. He
employed his skill and knowledge merely as
bread-wnner and made so little provision
for the future that when Mr.
Van Bergen, who had purchased the
railroad note, sued and got judgment on it, his
horse and his surveying instruments were taken
to pay the debt and only by the generous inter-
vention of friend was he able to redeem these
invaluable means of living. He was, neverthe-
less an excellent surveyor. His portion of the
public work. executed under the directions of
Mr. Calhoun and his successor, Z. M. Neaie
was we'll performed, and he soon found his time
pretty we'll employed with private business
which came to him from Sangamon and the ad-
joining counties. Early in the year 1884 we find
him appointed one of three viewers" to locate
road from Salt Creek to the county line in the
direction of Jacksonville. The board seems to
have consisted mainly of its chairman. as Lin
coin made the deposit of money required by law,
surveyed the route, plotted the road and wrote
the report.
Though it is evident that the postoffice and
the surveyors level were not making rich man
of him, they were sufficient to enable him to
live decently, and during the year he greatly
increased his acquaintance and his influence in
the county. The one followed the other natu-
rally; every acqantace he made became his
friend, and even before the end of his unsuccess-
full canvass in 1882 it had become evident to the
observapt politicians of the district that he was
a man whom it would not do to leave out of
their calculations. There seemed to be no limit
to his popularity nor to his aptltudes. in the
opinion of his admirers He was continually
called on to serve in the most incongruous capac-
tiles. Old residents say be was the best Judge at a
horse-race the county afforded; he was occasion
ally second in duel of fistcuffs, though he
usually contrived to reconcile the adversaries on
the turf before any damage was done; he was
the arbiter on all controverted points Of litera-
ture, science or woodcraft among the disputa-
tlous denizens of Clary's Grove, and his decis-
ions were never appealed from. His native tact
and humor were invaluable in his works as a
peacemaker, and his enormous physical
strength, which he always used with a mag
nanimity rare among giants, placed his off
hand DEGREES beyond the reach of contemptu-
GUS question. He composed differences among
friends and equals with a good natured
raillery but he was as rough as need be when
his wrath was aroused by meanness and cruelty.
We hardly know whether to credit some of the
stories, apparently we'll attested by living wit
nesses, of his prodguous muscular powers. He
is said to nave lifted, at Rutledge's MILL box of
stones weighing over half ton. It is also re-
lated that he could raise barrel of whisky from
the ground and drink from the bung; but the
narrator adds that he never swallowed the
whisky. Whether these traditions are strictly
true or not, they evidently founded on the
current reputation he enjoyed among his fell
lows for extraordinary strength, and this
was an important element in his influence. He
was known to be capable of handling almost any
man he met, yet he never sought a quarrel. He
was everybody's friend, and yet used no LIQUOR
or tobacco. He was poor and had scarcely ever
been at school, yet he was the best informed
young man in the village. He had grown up on
the frontier, the utmost fringe of civilization,
yet he was gentle and clean of speech, innocent
of blasphemy scandal His good qualities
might have excited resentment if displayed by a
we'll dressed stranger from an Eastern State.
but the most uncouth ruffians of New Salem
took sort of proprietary interest and pride in
the decency, and the ceverness, and the learn
ing of their friend and comrade, Abe Lincoln