The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-04-14
NO BOTTOM HERE.


editor-in-chief at one end, the proofreader
at the other, and in the interval the re-
porters, minor editors and specials =
there were not many, nor were the lines
dividing their ranks and duties very
sharply drawn.
To them entered on the day in question,
very tall. angular man of dark COM
plexion and hollow cheeks, somewhat
stopped at the shoulders. He stood half
head above feet in height. His legs were
absurdly long and thin and he had enor-
nous feet and hands. His head, also abb
normal in its length, was heavily matched
with a shock of rumpled dark hair, and
under the shaggy eyebrows was a
pair of deep-seJ eyes, whose keen
but merry twinkle went long
way toward redeeming the absurd figure
in one hand a carpetbag about three feet
long. and so deep that, tall as he was, it
barely cleared the floor 1t seemed to be
packed with all its owners portable be-
1ongings. He glanced along the table to
the editors chair, and in drawing high
keyed voice asked the young man who &C.
cupied that throne:
Ray?"
DR.. Ray was then the senior editor of the
Tribune. He was not in.
well" continued the visitor, still adj
dressing the young man at the top Of the
table, may [ ask you if you are the new
editor from Cleveland-McDiH, or Medill,
or something's"
II am Medill, the new editor" the young
man answered.
"Well, l guess you'll do Just as we'll"
The new editor asked, and with a degree
of Journalism quite foreign to the Chicagoan
of forty years ago (for the manner of the
visitor had been brusque): please tell
me whom l have the honor of addressing"
'Well" (this drawing expletive for the
third time) "well, down on the Sangamon
River they used to call me Abraham Lin
coin Now they generally call me Old
Abe though [ amt so very old either"
'Old Abe was already a name to conjur
with in Illinois. The new editor from
Ohio directly gave to his visitor seat and
engaged him in conversation of lively in
teTest to both. But first there was business
to be done
I'm in a hurry" the hero of the Sang
anon River began, "but | came up to sub
scribe for your paper. l can't get it regu-
larry down our way, so l borrow it from
neighbor. But sometimes he lends it be-
fore l get around. Now [ want to paw for
six months ahead, and he pulled from
the cavernOus pockets OF the ''jeans''
pocketbook, united the strap, and counted
out four 81 bills. Mr. Medill took the
money (there was no beastly pride in those
days TO separate the great editor from the
counting-rOom), and wrote receipt on a
sheet OF copy" paper. This document
Mr.. Lincoln thrust into his pocket re-
marking as he did So ~ like your paper;
didn't like 1t before you boys took hold
of it; it was too much OF Known othing
sheet"
Then he plunged into conversation. But
the young editor observed that his new ac-
quaintance had sharper faculty for ask
ing questions than for answering them.
Under his careless exterior he maintained
an 1mpregnable reserve. He inquired of
Mr.. Mediu about all the leading politi-
clans in Ohio, whom he seemed to know
with a degree of accuracy surprising in
those early DAYS when, with few railroads
and fewer telegraphs, Ohio was further
from Illinois than California is now. How
were Giddings and Chase, Carter and
Wade?
Before he arose to go he said, 'Wen, 1
guess m something of Seward Wing
myself"
This meeting was the beginning of an
acquaintance which lasted with increasing
intimacy until Lincoln's death, and in
volved not few Incidents in his life hith-
erto unrecorded.
At the first regular Republican State
Convention held in Illinois, at Blooming
ton in May, 1856, Mr.. Medill assisted in the
double capacity of delegate and reporter
for the Tribune. The convention is chiefly
noteworthy as the occasion on which Mr.
Lincoln delivered the most eloquent
speech OF his life. Such at least is the tes-
timony of the few living persons who
heard it. Mr.. Medill's story of the CONVEX
sation and the speech have an especial in
terest in view of his professional relations
to the speaker.
After a full ticket had been NOM
mated, he says, there was a season of
speech-making, and all the talk was of
Bleeding Kansas Among the speakers
was Owen Loveioy. After he had finished
cry went up for Lincoln, and presently
at the back of the church, in which the
convention was held, up rose my gaunt
angular friend, looking exactly as he did
when | first saw him in the Tribune office
year before. He came forward with a
giraffe-like swing Che never walked
straight like other men) and stood in front
of the pulpit. But after he had spoken a
few sentences the delegates shouted to
him to get up in the pulpit. He did so,
and there finished his Demosthenian
speech.
at is one of the regrets of my life that
this speech of Lincoln's was not preserved
1t was easily his most radical, and it was
the first of the series of events which made
him President. 1 have often tried to re-
produce 1t from memory. Once at the re-
quest of the late Thorndyke Rice of the
North American Review, attempted to
reduce my recollections to paper for that
magazine; but the more l tried the more
Mcclellan and the less Lincolnian the
speech became. So | had to give it up
II will tell you how the speech came to
be lost. Lincoln latter he had mounted
the pulpit began something like this
Gentlemen of the convention, | am not
here as delegate; l have no credentials.
and might be called an interoper But
you have given me call to speak, and
like a Methodist minister, | have re-
sponded. A few of us got together in nv
office at Springfield yesterday, and elected
ourselves as sympathetic visitors to the
convention. We have no Republican party
organized in Springfield at this time, but
we have a few Republicans. | foresee
trouble ahead that will grow out of this
uncalled-for repeal of the Missouri COM
promise that will tax the wisest and most
patriotic men to keep American citizens
from imbruing their hands in their broth
ers blood.
"Then, for l can remember his exact
words no further, he drew picture of
slavery and its baneful effects on this coun-
try If extended, and delivered the most ter
ribIe lnvective upon that institution, it
seemed to me, that ever fell from the lips
of man. | remember he said at the close
something like this: Come what will, you
may count on Arabian Lincoln to stay