The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-06-06

10y peTiNle-lOn .. o. mcclure.
left him till l had apparently pumped
him dry. Regarding the birth of the
boy Abe, reproduce here his testimony
in his own vernacular:
1T wuz the custom in those davs to
run and greet the newborn babe. They
told me the Linkerns had new baby
down at their house, and so run all the
purity early, for rikkolect when held
the little feller i'll my arms his mother
said. Be keerful nv him. fur you air the
fust boy he's ever seen Tie wimmen
wuz already s'putin bout name, and
80 while the chatterin wuz a-goin on
sort O. swung him bnck and forth-a
little too peart. l reckon, fur with that
the youngster soon begun to cry, and
then handed him over to Aunt Polly,
who wuz standin close by. Aunt, So,
/. take him. / don't care what you
name him, he'll never come to much, )
! fur I'll tell you he wuz the puniest, cry
in'est little feller ever saw
OF the boys childhood in Kentucky
! little was to be obtained at the time of
my visit or that Of Mr. Herndon either.
| Even then there was an air cf loneli.
ness about the neighbOrhoOd, feeling
of isolation from the world outside
which must have been mere marked in
the years when little Abe spent his soli-
tary days strolling through the woods
| or hunting pebbles i'll the branches One
man was found who had been clerk in
the village store toward which Nancy
| Lincoln trudged with her little boy to
replenish at intervals her stock of fam
| lily supplies. When interviewed, he
seemed, as he looked through the rosy
mist Of memory, to recall the forlorn
couple with feelings Of commingled
| pride and affection. 1.-THE little fellow 8
sad face" he testified, "made deep
impression on me as he sat ON the top Of
keg while his mother bartered for her
cotton, her coffee and dyestuffs, and
could not refrain from dropping into
his half reluctant palm lump Of sugar
now and then"
When he reached mans estate, Mr..
Lincoln had but little to say Of his life
in Kentucky, because doubtless there
was so little Of it, He remembered a
few Of the early residents of the neigh
borhood in which he was born, but he
never visited that locality after he
moved away from it with his parents in
1915. He likewise could recall some of
the incidents of his play days, but the
country was SO sparsely settled and his
companions so few that part of his
history is necessarily meager and dim.
Early in June, 1850, Kentucky CORE
! spondent, learning Ct his nomination to
the presidency, invited him to visit his
birthplace. "You suggest, he stated
in his answer to the invitation few
days later, that visit to the place Of
my nativity might be pleasant to me-
Indeed it would. But would it be safe?
Would not the people lynch me?" This
latter inquiry proved to be an unfortu-
/ nate suggestion and led him finally into
an ENHANCEMENT from which he with
! no little difficulty released himself. In
another letter to the same correspondent,
dated Aug. 16, 1850, he writes: "a cor.
respondent Of the New York Herald
! who was here a week ago. writing to
that paper, represents me as saying I
had been invited to visit Kentucky, but
that I expected it was trap to inveigle
me into Kentucky in order to do violence
to me. This is wholly mistake. l said
no such thing do not remember, but
possibly did mention my correspond
ence with you. But very certainly was
not guilty Of stating or insinuating a
suspicion Of any intended violence, de.
ception or other wrong against me by
you or any other Kentuckfan. Aug.