The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-04-27
KNEW LINCOLN WE'LL.
UNCLE PHILIP CLARK's REcoLLHc-
Ti0Ns OF HIS FRIEND ABE.

The Ffrss Meeting Was In tho Flatboas-
ing Dsys-ssrved Together Afterward
In the Black Hawk war--was lincoln
. Humorist by Nssure9
Unole Philip CLARK, who died In Mat
tpon, Ills, on Feb. IS, 1897, was the last
person to die Of those intimately ASSOCIATE
ID with Abraham Lincoln In the emanoi-
pator's early experience In Sangamon and
Menard counties. Tho frosts of So winters
had whitened the old mans looks at the
time Of his death, but they had not chilled
his enthusiasm or weakened the interest
In the man no learned to love and admire
In his youth and whose memory no cher
ished until death.
/ had many conversations with Mr..
Clark about Lincoln. Shortly before Uncle
Philips death be told me that he first met
Lincoln In 1881 under circumstances which
were such % to live In his memory.
"The scene Of my first meeting with
him 10 as vivid In memory as my walk
down town yesterday" said the old man,
whose eye twinkled with tho keen sense of
the grotesque aroused by some features Of
1t to me:
"My father and I were living about
oight miles from Springfield and were en-
barking In the business Of aatboating,
which was sort Of craze, as you now call
", among the we'll to do old settlers who
sought market for their -four and pork
on the lower Mississippi We were loading
on the south fork Of the Sangamon when
one day in the midst Of our work we OBJ.
served q tall, lank, lean stranger coming
out of the woods and toward u.s.
HE had on o ragged coat, an old droop.
ing hat and pair Of battered jean pants,
the half Of one leg Of which was then of
and the other extended down into rough,
coarse pair Of gaping shoes. His appear.
ance made me laugh, and winked at 70.
Their, who soon began to converse with
him. was 10 years old and the visitor
was then about 49, He soon told us his
mission. He did not smile. He was so
earnest oil the while that his very earnest
ness impressed me. He bore letter to
my father from Denton Offut, an old ao-
quaintanco Of ours who had a flatboat on
the other fork of the river which had
caught on snag in the stream and def1ed
the efforts Of tho men to remove ii. The
visitor was Abe Lincoln, and the letter no
brought was one asking my father for
help. Father told me to accompany Lin
coin to Offut's boat. He was to come on
later.
Lincoln and I walked together six
miles to where the boat was stuck. In o
few moments we dislodged 1t and sent IL
floating down to the fork of the river
81 have often heard Lincoln credited
with joking and merrymaking late in life,
and somo have called him humorist by
nature. With all due regard for the opin-
Ions Of tho great men who scem to know
80 much moro of Lincoln's heart and mind
than VIC who grew up with him, must
deny tho correctness of this, for he was the
saddest end most earnest man ever knew,
and had my acquaintance with him ter
minated and had never heard of him
after that flatboat event. would never
have forgotten tho impression Of sorrow no
made on me then. If Abe Lincoln learned
anything, he learned how to joke for the
art was not bred with him, but came to
him In after years to oil the great machine
of mind straining under the burdens that
God chose to put upon him.
He told me In my conversation at that |
first meeting that he was working for So /
month. Ho talked freely, but deliberately,
and had faculty of impressing those
around him. You would call it mesmer-
ism nowadays.
"Mr. Lincoln and Offut waited for us
two days at the fork of the river, and at
the end Of that time my father, myself and
William McLease, with the boat steerer,
Sam Mckee, Joined them. There was
danger of the snags, and we all tied up at
night and built a fire and enjoyed our
selves socially. Lincoln told me he thought
he could better his situation, as he had no
liking for the Gatboat business. He
thought seriously Of settling at Walnut
Hills, place not far from Beardstown.
But we did not agree as to the enterprise,
and Lincoln abandoned this idea.
"Tho trip to Beardstown required seven
days, We had a man of tho name of Ward
who did the cooking, and had skiff to
tako us ashore when we wished to land at
any place. During this trip became as
well acquainted with Lincoln as one
young man well could with another His
conversation was such as to draw out in
from his companions He was
always, even in those cherries times,
aspiring to better knowledge and better
position.
Il returned to my home near Springfield
after parting with my new friend at
Beardstown did not go farther down
the river at that time, and he went to New
Orleans. Neighborhoods then were not
few miles across as now, but they covered
Immense spaces. People spoke Of others
living 80 or 40 miles away as neighbors,
though tho country was beginning to fill
up.
II saw Lincoln occasionally, but was
not again associated with him until the
spring of 1889, when, with a number Of
others, l enlisted for the Black Hawk war,
and by my own choice in MIR. Lincoln's
company. was surprised and glad to see
him an officer. We went together to
Beardstown, where on account Of my
ability as boat steerer and my knowledge
IF tho waters, was transferred to another
company and went to Fort Armstrong
near Rock Island. Lincoln secured me
nent on the duties Of private soldier on
the march. / was given the choice of row.
ooats and many other nice privileges.
Lincoln rejoined us at the fort, and the
lrmy proceeded up the river. was with
lincoln every day now, and made the ac-
luaintance Of several other men whom
lid not then think would figure in history.
There were jeff Davis, a second lieutenant
n the Seventh infantry, and Joe john
ton, captain. got to know them both.
Davis drilled my company. l mot and
incw Zach Taylor who walked round over
he bonts every day in an old rough blouse,
making him look like anything but q
But beneath his gruff and
hort words / learned to know that old
LnnL had a lind hnart u ChIna no Tinna.