The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-08-29

sons may be opposed to naughty stories" "
he used to say, but | never knew man
to leave the room while ono was being
told" Leonard SWEET said of him. IF
he told a good story that was refined and
had IA sharp point he did not like it any
the better because it was refined If it
was outrageously vulgar, he never seem
ed TO see that part Of it if it had the
sharp ring Of wit Nothing ever reached
him but the wit. Almost any man that
will tell very vulgar story has, in
degree, a vulgar mind, but it was not
so with him. With all his purity Of
character and exalted morality and sen
sibility, which no man can doubt, when
hunting for wit he had no ability to dis
criminatc between the vulgar and the
refined substances from which he ex-
tracted it, 1t was the wit he was after,
the pure jewel, and he would pick it up
out of the mud or dirt just as readily as
he would from ii parlor table. "
A thorough master Of all phrases Of
frontier life and woodcraft, Mr. Lin
coins most amusing stories consisted of
incidents in his boyish days among his
country playfcllows. He had q mar
velous relish for everything Of that sort
and the happiest possible faculty Of
turning his numerous "reminiscences to
good account in after life He had great
faith III the common sense of the coul.
try people and he gave them credit for
greater intelligence than most men do
He always maintained that the best ato-
ries originated with country boys and in
the rural districts. Hence the frequency
Of log cabins, coons, bulls, dogs, etc,
i'll many of his narratives. He could soc
amusing and oftcnrimes ludicrous elc-
ments in the commonplace things Of life
which were passed unnoticed by others,
and if he could not nairatc some actual
story i'll connection herewith it was not
difficult to improyise one Brought up
in wilderness, he never conceived what
ball or hop was except as it represent
ed a shindig, and of light literature he
knew nothing beyond Becky Williams
Courtship' and Cousin Sally billiard. -
His idea of classical music is cxemplified
in the sentiment and rhythm of Daddy,
Come Hold Ne, . or "The Down Easter
and the Bull" Hence he would have
preferred niger show to Handel $
Messiah" Dan Rcc's circus to a lee
ture on art and Artemus Ward Great
Sho" to Emerson Essays. His wit
was harmless, and no allcgory, recital or
yarn of his ever stnng or wounded. There
were zest and flavor in what he said and
yet no man ever had occasion, with pos
sibly single exception, to complain
that he sent barb into his soul.
There is after all no better way to
bring out this story telling trait of Mr.
Lincoln's character than to reproduce a
few Of the things he was wont To mar.
rate. To do this will, fear. evoke from
some persons more or less censoriOus
criticism, but regardless of such a pro-
test fancy majority Of people want
as far as is now possible, to see and feel
the presence of the real man, and,
though some of these things may CRATE
little harshly, yet those of us who
want to know him and all there was of
him must take him just as he was
Even so great critic, such a master of
pure English as Emerson could see the
philosophy of Lincoln wit. His broad
good humor, he wrote, running easily
into jocular talk in which he delighted
and in which he excelled was a rich gift
to this wise man. 1t enabled him to
keep his secret, to meet every kind Of a
man and every rank in society, TO take
off the edge Of the severest decisions, to
mask his own purpose and sound his
companion and to catch with true in
stinct the temper of every company he
addressed. And, more than all, it is tC
man Of severe labor in anxious and
oxhausting crises the natural restorative,
good as sleep, and is the protection Of the