, 1906-04-04

anu WIFI HIS ldll, dnSuldf HSlTe WAS
seen towering among the hunting shirts
it was considered due notice hat the
fun was about to commence.
Crawford's Blue Nose.
abe Linkern,' as he was generally
called, made things lively wherever he
went, and if C~rawford's blue nose hap
pened to have been carried to the as
sembly it quickly subsidized OF his ar
rival into some obscure corner, for the
implacable "Linkern" was apt to make
it the subject Of Il jest that would set
the company in a roar. But when a
party was made up and Abe left out,
as sometimes happened through the in
fiuence of Crawford, he sulked, fumed,
got mad, nursed his anger into rage
and then broke out In songs or chron-
icles, which were frequently very bit
ter, sometimes passably humorous and
invariably vulgar.
AT an early age he began to attend
the preachings roundabout, but prin-
cipally ut the Pigeon Creek church.
with a view to catching whatever
might be ludicrous in the preachers air
or matter and making it the subject of
mimicry as soon as he could collect an
audience of idle boys and men to hear
him. A pious stranger, passing that
way on a Sunday morning, was invited
to preach for the Pigeon Creek congre-
CATION. but he banged the boards of the
old pulpit and beloved and groaned so
wonderfully that Abe could hardly con-
tain his mirth.
This memorable sermon was Il great
favorite with him, and he frequently
reproduced it with nasal tones, rolling
eyes and all manne of droll aggraya-
tons, to the great delight of Nat Grigs-
by and the wild fellows whom Nat was
able to assemble. None that heard him,
not even Nat himself, who was any
thing but duh, was ever able to show
wherein Abe's absurd version really de-
parted from the original.
The Importance of Gentryville as a
center of business soon began to pos
sess the im%aginations Of the jewellers
between the two Pigeon creeks. Why
might it not be a great place of trade?
Mr.. Gentry was a most generous pa
iron; it was adyantageously situated
where two roads crossed; it already
had a blacksmith's shop, a grocery and
a store.
Dennis Hanks, John Johnston, Abe
and the other boys in the neighbor-
hood loitered much about the store, the
grocery and the blacksmith's shop at
Gentryville. Dennis ENORMOUSLY re-
marks. sometimes we spent Il little
time at grog, pushing weights, wres-
Ting, telling Stories" The time that
Abe spent at grog'' was, in truth, Il
little time" He never liked ardent
spirits at any period of his life, but he
did take his dram as others did.
He was Il natural politician. intensely
ambitious and anxious to be popuiac.
For this reason and this alone he drank
with his friends, although very temper
ntely. If he could have avoided it with
out giving offense he would gladly have
lone so. But he coveted the applause
of his pot companions and, because he
could not get it otherwise, made a faint
p~retense of enjoying his liquor as they
did. The people drank, and Abe was
always for doing whatever the "peo-
pie" did. All his life he held that what
soever was popular-the habit or the
sentiment of the masses-could not be
essentially wrong. But, although a
whisky jug was kept in every ordina-
rily respectable household, Abe never
tasted it at home. His stepmother
thought he carried his temperance to
extremes.
[To BE Continued