Hattiesburg daily progress. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 18??-1909, 1903-06-09
ABE LINCOLN
Some "reminiscences of His Indiana
Boyhood-How He Once Started
Temperance Craze.

Temperance Craze.
Until few years ago there was in
Gentryvllle an old wooden fire
shovel. on which Lincoln had traced
these verses:
Time what an emyty vapor tbs
And days, how swift they are;
Swift as an arrow speed our lives,
Swift as a shooting star,
The present moment
The stanza was not finished, but it
was kept for many years until the
old fire shovel disappeared, and its
whereabouts are unknown to this
day.
| There used to be a character
around Gentryville i'll It's early days
known as s'Old Holmes" who was
| often intoxicated.
One winter night "Old Holmes
/ would have been frozen but for Lin
coin. who found him and carried him
home, sitting up all night to resuscl-
tate HIM. This incident started a
| temperance wave over Spencer
county, and the debates were start
ling and interesting.
Half way up the long wandering
street for many years stood an old
Iblacksmithshop. In front of it was
q widespreadlng tree, that still
waves its boughs, but every sign of
the old shop is gone.
The ground on which stood the
smIthy for years was owned by the
Rev. Fred Heulling, past COM
mander of the Indiana Grand Army
of the republic, but is now the
property of Jacob DendingeT, a
town marshal.
This old blacksmith shop was a
famous place in the life of Gentry
, Vile and was a favorite resort for
the people of Spencer county.
The old blacksmith whose name
everyone seems to have forgotten,
was natural storyteller, and he
had around him crowd of as good
storytellers as himself.
r Abraham Lincoln was at this shop
q a great deal, and it was a common re-
sort for his father, Thomas Lincoln
and Abraham's uncles, John and
a Dennis Hanks. The shop was the
q country news stand and the lecture
g platform, and it was there thai
: Abraham Lincoln learned many o.
= the stories that he told in after life
1t was here that Dennis Hank:
II told the story of Sykes dog, stor,
a that Lincoln told to Grant after tn
4 fall of Vicksburg, and which was on
of the most famous of Lincoln
, stories.
1t Sykes had a dog that was nui
sance, some one fed him large cart
ridge that exploded, and the anima
never amounted to much after tina
as dog.
Lincoln's application of the stor
II was that those who were complain
ing of Grant for parollng SO many {
Pemberton's army did not realiZ
that after the fall of Vicksburg it di
not amount to much as an army.
The Crawford school, which Abrs
ham Lincoln attended, was situate
Is about three miles from here. 1t Wa
~ built of round logs, and was not MOI
IN than six feet high.
20 Some of the older persons in th
country remember their parent
e- telling of Andrew Crawford, til
We teacher, and his brother, Josia
MT Crawford, name given him /
no Abraham Lincoln.
ns Josiah Crawford once loaned Lii
'oo coin copy of Life of Washington
KS. and Lincoln got the book wet, Fl
toll which Crawford charged him
=, lcents, a debt that Lincoln paid |
~ working for three days pullil
ns fodder.
ng The local history is that he nev
forgave Josiah Crawford, and t.
name "Blue Nose that it is SAID
gave him, is part of the legends
Spencer county to this day.
18th or the enemies that Lincoln mac
up none were greater tnan some me,
tad bers Of the Grigsby family, many
-, whose defendants still live in tl
tn. neighborhood. Sarah Lincoln, s
ted ter of Abraham, married Aar