Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1894-04-03
LINCOLN'S PLUG HAT.
A veRlTABLE Joint OF sToVEPiPE'
WITH ROMANTIC BRlM.

Was the roatOdiCo OF New balem-lta
Liveiiest Experience was When 10 Served
as n Football For Ladies'.
There arc enough Of funny incidents
reported Of Mr.. Liucoln's hat TO mako
It tabled in song and iliumined in
story" For example, It served as a
football on the night of his election to
the presidency, when the ladies at the
old homestead testified their glee over
bis good fortune. The scene would have
done credit to the great game between
Yale and Princeton ON Manhattan field.
This is the story as told by an eyewit-
ness:
"A few of us ladies went over and
helped Mrs. Lincoln prepare a little sup
per for the friends Of Mr.. Lincoln, who
had been invited in 10 hear the returns.
Every half hour or 30 we would pass
around coffee and cakes. About 1 o'clock
in the morning enough had been learned
to warrant the belief that the rail split
ter had been elected. think II was
when we heard the news from New
York. The men rushed on Mr.. Lincoln
and shook his hands, while some Of the
actually Rugged him, and-I
might as well admit i'll kissed him.
Then some one went into the hall
and took FROM the rack the old silk hat
that he wore, and which was as long as
a joint Of stovepipO and about as shape
ly to my mind, and It was thrown up to
the ceiling. As Il came down some one
gave 1t a kick, and then the women
Joined in the fun, and we played foot
ball with that hat until II was an indis-
tinguishabl0 mass. We were simply be-
yond control. What a ridiculous scene
1t would have been to one looking in
without knowing what prompted It'll
1T was oil the more SO, so far az !
was concerned, for originally / had been
q Seward woman While the conven-
tion was in session in Chicago we were
waiting TO hear the news. It had been
arranged in case Lincoln received the
nomination to FIRE a cannon My noar-
est neighbor wal a Mrs. Dubois, with
whom l had several friendly spats dur
ing the campaign preceding the nOmi-
nation. / heard tho cannon shot, and
the next moment / saw Mrs. Dubois
running across the street. She had been
making a shirt for her husband, who
was about the AiEe Of the late Judge Da-
vid Davis, so you may have some idea
of the size of the garment she was wav-
ing. She rushed intn the house and
Haunted It in my ISca. Il made me
mad, and ! sat down and began crying.
The good woman put her arms around
me, begged my pardon and kissed me,
and from that time we were Lincoln
women. She took part in the football
match"
As if not content with his @ feet 4 or
8 inches Of gaunt stature, Lincoln had
his now historic hat made fully a foot
high, W tn a brim almost as big as a
southern som l ero. 1t seemed to have
been a combination of all styles then in
existence, and in this respect 1t reflected
his own early experience in having been
a storekeeper, soldier, surveyor and
finally a solicitor. 1t was a veritable
Joint Of stovepipe," and it's remarka-
bic and romantic brlm made 1t alike
serviceable in rain or shine. 1t might
have boon called with propriety a 'plus
ugly" after the name OF the mo in
Baltimore that threatened him in his
journey to the capital.
During Lincoln's great debate with
Douglas the hat fnirly doomed into
space. The smallness Of tho latter's
stature caused him to be nicknamed
The Little Giant" and when Lincoln
stood beside him with his hat on the
difference between the two seemed all
but immeasurable. Curiously enough,
when MI. Lincoln came to be inaugu-
rated at Washington and took off his
hat ON the stand preparatory to making
his inaugural address Douglas held the
high hat go hat no careless person might
put his foot in it.
Representative Springer, who halls
from Lincoln's old home, knew the hat
well, and in speaking Of it recently said
"Mr. Lincoln's high hat was the mos
indispensable thing Of his whole outfit,
In it he carried all his valuable papers
In fact, it was a sort of file rack. Here
were all the briefs of his various Law
cases. Curiously enough, he carried the
accounts in his head, and that is why
he lost so much money. Had no re
NdIheu Lub pEOCCSS duu hOlb ulo dCCOuull
in his hat and the cases in his head, h'
would have boon better off. His ha'
served for his satchel on a Journey, anC
all that was needed besides this wer'
his saddlebags and his horse. II wal
large and capacious, and a great many
documents and data could be crowded
into 1t without seriously discOmmodinl
the uyaarar
But Mr.. Lincoln had still better usl
for his valuable tile, which seems t
have had more virtues than those re
hearsed in the nursery tale Of Jack an'
tine Beanstalk." When be was post
master at New Salem, his hat became
! most important part Of his Office equip
ment. AS soon as the mail was received
each day tho young postmaster woul'
put the letters in his hat and take
stroll through the village. The villa
gers knew that he was a peripateti
postofice, and Of course everybody wa
anxious to know the contents of the hat
which seemed to promise as much t
p them as a hat in the hands of a sleigh
of hand performer. Washington Cor
+, st. Louis Republic.
Sweet Childhood.
Tommy-Europe's in the east, ism
it, papa2