The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-06-21
KNEW LINCOLN WELL.
UNCLE PHILIP CLARK'S REcoLLEC-
TONS OF HIS FRIEND ABE.

In the HIack Hawk war-was Lincoln
Iiumorist by Nature?
Uncle Philip Clark, who died in Mat
toon, Ills, ON Feb Is, 1897, was the last
person to die of those intimately associat-
ed with Abraham Lincoln I'm the enamel
rator's early experience in Sangamon and
Mcnard counties. The frosts of 50 winters
had whitcned tho old mans locks at the
time of his death but they had not chilled
his enthusiasm or weakened the interest
in the man he learned to love and admire
in his youth and whose memory he cher
ished until death.
/ had many conversations with Mr..
Clark about Lincoln. Shortly before Uncle
Philips death he told me that he first met
Lincoln in 1881 under circumstances which
were such as to live in his memory
"The scene of my first meeting with
him is as vivid in memory as my walk
down town yesterday" said the old man,
whose eye twinklod with the keen sense of
the grotcsque aroused by some features of
the incident. This is the story as he told
it to me:
MY father and I were living about
eight miles from Springfield and were en-
barking in the business of fatboating,
which was sort of craze, as you now call
it, among the we'll to do old settlers who
sought market for their flour 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 tall, lank, lean stranger coming
out of the woods and toward us.
"He had on a ragged coat, an old droop-
ing hat and n pair of tattered jean pants,
the half of one leg of which was then off
and the other extended down into a rough,
coarse pair of gaping shoes. His appear
anco made me laugh, and winked at ia
Their, who soon began to converse with
him. 1 was. Is years old and the visitor
was then about 22. He soon told us his
mission. He did not smile. He was so
earnest all the while that his very earnest
ness impressed me. He bore letter to
my father from Denton Offut, an old ac-
quaintance of ours who had flatboat on
the other fork of the river which had
caught on snag in the stream and defed
the efforts of the men to remove 1t. The
visitor was Abe Lincoln, and the letter he
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
!
few moments we dislodged it and sent it
floating down to the fork of the river
II have often heard Lincoln credited
with joking and merrymaking late in life
and some have called him a humorist by
nature With all due regard for the opin-
ions of the great men who seem to know
so much more of Lincoln's heart and mind
than we who grew up with him, l must
deny the correctness of this, for he was the
saddest and most earnest man ever knew,
and had my acquaintance with him ter
minated and had l never heard of him
after that iatboat event, l would never
have forgotten the impression of sorrow he
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 s. a
month. He talked freely, but deliberately,
and had q 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
,
Sam Mckee, joined them. There was
danger Of the snags, and we all tied up at
night and built fire and enjoyed our
selves socially. Lincoln told me he thought
| he could better his situation, as he had no
liking for the 1atboat business. He
thought seriously of settling at Walnut
Hills, place not far from Beardstown.
But we did not agree rs to the enterprise,
and Lincoln abandoned this idea.
"The trip to Beardstown required seven
days. We had man of the name of Ward
who did the cooking, and had skiff to
take 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
formation from his companions. He was
always, even in those cheerless times,
aspiring to better knowledge and better
position.
II returned to my home near Springfield
after parting with my new friend al
Beardstown. / did not go farther down
the river at that time, and he went to New
Orleans Neighborhoods then were not q
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 I'll
up.
~ saw Lincoln occasionally, but was
not again associated with him until the
spring Of 1892, when, with n number of
others, enlisted for the Black Hawk war,
and by my own choice in Mr.. Lincoln Is
company l was surprised and glad to sec
him an officer. We went together to
Beardstown, where, on account of my
ability as boat steerer and my knowledge
of the waters, l was transferred to another
company and went to Fort Armstrong
near Rock Island. Lincoln secured mt
the position, and it was II great improve
ment on the duties of II private soldier OF
the march l was given the choice of row
boats and many other nice privileges.
"Lincoln rcjoined us at the fort, and the
army proceeded up the river. l was with
Lincoln every day now, and made the nc
quaintance of several other men whom
did not then think would figure in history
There We're jeff Davis, IA second lieutenant
in the Seventh infantry, and Joe John
ston, captain. got to know them both