The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-08
SKEWHORN.
Light on the origin and Meaning sT q word
Used by Lincoln.

To THE EDITOR OF THE SUN-Sr: Ths
following question appeared in THE srN a
few days ago:
Abraham lincoln wrote 20 Governor Curtin OF
Pennsylvanla April Is. 1898. that "A small force oil
the enemy Is nourshing about In the northern part
Of Virginia on the skewhorn principle" Can you
or some of your obliging readers tell me what he
meant by "skewhorn"I
My grandfather owned q COW. one Of a
herd OF perhaps forty. She was an ugly "old
rip She used to kick the hired man when
he went to milk her, and he. being possessed
Of a voca bulary Of invective. talked TO her IN
sentences as epigrammatic and terse as
Bernard Shaw's. One Of her eyes was a
limpid brown. The other was a calm. still.
calculating white. One Of her horns grew as
1t should. in a graceful curve over her lew
brow. The other stuck out in front and
swerved downward, upward and backward
in a manner distinctly disconoerting to any
self-respecting COW who has any regard for
her appearance. Her chief delight seemed
to be in getting out Of the barnyard nights
and ramping around the garden. eating the
radishes, lettuce and cabba ges. A poke
was put on her and then she couldn't jump
the fence. Another Of her predatory habits
consisted in the achievement OF nour
ishment by methods known to the sucking
calf. She levied toll upon the other cows
till grandfather put around her nose q strap
Hlled with nails hled to a point. These COM
ing in contact with the object Of her endeavor
caused the source Of supply to gaze upon her
with grieved looks and walk away sort OF
sad like" Upon which proceeding. As grand
father expressed IL, old Skewhoru used to
go down in the corner Of the pasture lot and
heller like hell"
The COW was known as skewhorn. In
our family the name came to be synonymous
with the act OF achievement by unfair or
questionable means. An old man in a nearby
village who made a business Of shaving
notes. was known as Old Skewhorn. An
other citizen, lon suspected OF stealing
chickens. was referred to by name. with the
added statement that probably he had been
skewhornin' around again. when fowls were
missed from the henhouse.
This word was not confined to western New
York. where / heard it first. for / have dis
covered its use In Ohio and Pennsylvania.
applied with similar meaning. 1t Is useful
as a noun and as an adjective and II makes
a good verb. II l were making a new die
tionary l should classify it variously. with
illustrations thus:
Smith Is an old newborn.
Smith lives on the skewhorn principle.
Smith skewhorned me out Of SO.
Smith is the skewhornedest man I over knew.
In fact. n whole vocabulary could be built
up on the idea that q "skewhorn" is q person
or thing that achieves results by means not
recognized as legitimate.
Elementally the idea seems to be that
essential crookedness is physically apparent
to the trained observer. as in the case OF the
COW ! have mentioned. A short session Of
deep thought on the matter will readily sug-
gest to any one how true this is.
believe therefore that TIL sun is right
in saying that "one may readily imagine its
sense from the obliquity which inheres in
skew" and | trust that this definite and
true statement Of fact may give an idea OF
the origin OF the word used by MIR. Lincoln.
II is a good word and should not be lost to
memory. II. p.
HENRY CLAY p. o, Del, December z.