The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-02-09

Colonel Thompson used whisky sparingly
in the latter years of his life, chiefly by
his physicians orders. During his official
life he was never known to touch a drop of
wine He did not believe in cold baths. but
believed that a person should battle enough
to keep clean. In this connection he said:
"One thing which has done more for my
health than anything else is the use of a
pair of horse-hair mittens. With these l
rub my skin until Ii glows from crown 10
sole night and morning. This keeps IL in
excellent condition. 1 have done this for
more than forty years every night and
every morning, and / doubt not 1t has
saved me from ill health My skin is now
as soft and rosy as that of a baby. l per-
spire easily and the rubbing keeps the
pores of the skin open. The pores of the
skin are. you know, the sewers of the hu-
man system. and / keep my thousands Of
sewers always OPEN.
STORIES OF LINCOLN.
He never tired of talking of President
Lincoln. Lincoln anu L grew UP togeth-
err" he said, in the interview referred to.
He was on one side of the Wabash river.
in Illinois. and 1 was on the other side. in
Indiana. We had known about each other
for years before we came together. knew.
of course. of his election, and when, at
the first of the session, 1 saw a tall. un-
calmly man coming across the hall of the
House of Representatives, with a smile on
l.
apparently knew me in the same way. for
as he reached me he held out his hand,
saying: How are you, Dick?
How are you Abe? I replied. took
Ii, and then began friendship which
lasted until Lincoln died.
81 was very fond of Lincoln" Mr..
Thompson went on. I'VE were much to-
gether during his first term in Congress.
and L believe he made his first entrance
into fashionable society with me. A most
accomplished lady from Virginia, a friend
o. mine, gave reception early in the sea-
son. About fifty distinguished men were
invited, but Lincoln was not among the
number. / concluded he should go, and I
went to my friend and told her that
wanted an invitation for him, as l was
anxious that she should meet him. She
gave me the invitation. / remember how
Lincoln looked as he sat among the COM
pany that night. He was. you know, TALL
angular and awkward. Some time after
his presentation he became engaged in con-
versation with my lady friend, taking a
seat on a very low rocking chair at her
feet AS he grew interested in talking he
kept edging closer and closer to his host
ess. He was SO low that his knees almost
came to his chin, and to get rid of his legs
he wrapped them one around the other. AS
he grew more interested he came so close
that his knees touched the lady'S dress,
and as / looked l thought he must finally
end in ner lap. The next day met my lady
friend and asked her what she thought of
Lincoln. She replied at once: That man
III
those at my house last night think he has
the best chance of being President of the
United States This was about ten years
before he was thought of as a presidential
candidate
LINCOLN AND THE BOSTON NAN.
The conversation here turned to Lincoln
as a story teller, when Mr. Thompson said.
president Lincoln did not originate the
best of his stories. He had very receptive
memory and stored away every anecdote he
heard His mind was such that it was able
to use such things in the way of illustra-
ton. His favorite way of conveying an idea
was by story. For instance, take an in
cident which occurred one night when
was at the White House. l had been spend
ing the evening there with President Lin
coin. / was lying on my back upon a
lounge. Lincoln was sitting in chair, with
his feet propped up beside me. We had
struck half past 10. / then got up and said
that 1 must go home told the President
that he must be tired and that he ought to
go to bed and get the rest which he needed
to fortify him for the worries and troubles
of the morrow.
mo replied President Lincoln, don't
go yet. Stay a half hour longer. / have
an appointment at II o'clock with man
from Boston, who has claim of something
like $780, 900 against the government. / have
told him he could bring his papers here at
II, and he will surely call on the minute.
".All right said l. Il will stay
"Well, the man was announced as the
clock struck IL. AS he came in President
Lincoln took his papers and said: L can't
look over this matter now, but II you will
leave the papers / will attend to 1t as soon
as 1 can find time
There were number of parties opposing
the claim, and / could see that the man
wanted to get some idea as to what his
chances were before he left. He volunteered
a question, hoping to draw the President
out. Lincoln appreciated his feeling, and
told the following:
"'You make me think of a lawyer out in
Illinois who wanted to turn merchant He
had not succeeded at the law, and he de-
cided to close his office and open a store.
He wrote to New York for a stock of goods
and offered his feilow-attOrneys as refer
ences. The wholesale house wrote to one
of these as to the responsibility of the
would-be storekeeper, whom we will call
Tom Jones'. The reply which was received
was about as follows:
81 think Tom Jones is good. / know he
is rich His assets, / should say, amount to
at least 100000 He has. in the first place.
a wife, beautiful, dark-haired brunette.
who is worth to- him or to any man 500, OO0
1 am sure he would not sell her for that. 1
know / should not If she belonged to me-
He has also two children, boy and girl
The boy is perfectly sound. He is eleven
smart. l don't think he could be bought at
any price. j know Jones would not sell him
for $4,000. 1 think that $49,950 would be a
low estimate for the girl, as she has the
making of a good woman In her. In addi-
ton to these items, Jones has table in his
Office worth s. two chairs worth 80 cents
EACH an inkstand worth Is cents and a
double bladed Barlow knife. which / put in
at dime, and besides, there is in his office
a great big rat hole, which Is worth look
ing into. And So, concluded the President,
although L don't know much about your
claim, think there may be great big rat
hole there which may be worth looking
into, and I will look into 1t. The man
laughed and went away we'll pleased
JACKSON'S ADVICE.
The conversation then turned to Jackson,
and the colonel described the Inauguration
in 1929, speaking of the solemnity with
which Jackson kissed the Bible, and giving
vivid picture of the scene. Said ne: II
was nineteen years old at that time, and 1
came to see the Inauguration with my
father. Father was a strong Jackson man.,
and he had a personal acquaintance with
the President. / did not agree with father
as to his political sentiments, and / told
him that i should never vote for a man
like jackson. day or two after the in
auguration father took me with him and
went to call upon the President. He and
Jackson chatted together for some time,
and then, just as he was about to leave,
father Mortified me by saying: Mr.. Presi-
dent. L want to ask you to give some adj
vice to my son. He does not hold the same
views concerning you as / do, and / wish
you could say something to keep him in
the traces of the party.
81 expected a reproof from jackson, for