The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1909-02-10

ILL.,
-><.Al coins way was
II DID NOT CONE 10 better and saner
HEAR STORIES" than most of
these methods, possibly than all of
them. He told stories.
Mr.. Lincoln once expressed this idea
to an important congressman that call
ed full Of business. The president be-
gan some innocent story, just by way
of saying "Good morning." There
upon the congressman puffed himself
up. mr.. President" he said, II did
not come here this morning to hear
stories. It is too serious a time"
The smile faded from the presidents
face. Lincoln was eve gentle. truly a
gentle man. Dividing that word de-
fines 1t. But for this quality he would
have terminated the interview with
the bore then and there. As it was, he
asked him quietly to sit down. II re-
spect you as an earnest, sincere man."
he said to the congressman. "You can
not be more anxious than I have been
constantly since the beginning Of the
war, and I say to you now that were
1t not for this occasional vent 1 should
die"
The president had another object in
giving way to the anecdote habit.
Everybody else did 1t, or tried to, and
he vas so companionable a man that
he wanted to be like other people.
Telling stories was a national dissi-
patton. Lincoln naturally fell into it,
only he did it better than others. BE
raised it into an art.
1t was his pastime. He did not drink
or play cards. AS for a~utomobiling,
afinities and buying legislatures, these
diversions had not been invented, at
least under these names. If they had
been, Lincoln would not have had any
thing to do with them. They are the
pastimes Of the rich, and he was al
ways poor. He had no vices, with the
possible exception Of talking politics.
So his sport was telling stories. 1t
beguiled his own hours and made 9th
or people happy. 1t was his method
Of teaching lessons, giving mental med
1cine and spreading sunshine.
The beauty Of a Lincoln narrative
is that it Invariably has a point. In
this it does not resemble all latter day
humor. A collection Of individuals
M day visited the White House, and
one grew rather familiar and asked
the president to tell a story. Lincoln
turned his back on the fellow and
quietly remarked to the rest of the
group that he never told stories just
for the sake of telling stories. Through
out his life, whatever the reports might
be, he had always told stories to Illus
trate a truth or enforce an argument.
Lincoln often put more into a story
or into a pat phrase than some men
put into a sermon-more, indeed, than
some authors put into a book. For ex.
ample, when one editor made a great
cutlery against the administration with
out adducing any facts to back it w
MI. Lincoln was reminded of a story:
A man travelling through Kansas on
horseback was o~vertaken by a terrific
thunderstorm. To make matters worse.
night came on, there was no house SEEM
ingly in miles, and the traveller lost his
way. AS the storm grew more violent he
d~ismounted and led his horse, stumbling
along in the mud, the rain and the in
creasing din of the thunder. It was now
the blackness Of arkness except for in
termittent flashes Of lightning, and the
traveller became terrified by the fact that
he could not find the road. Suddenly a
tremendous thunder crash brought him
to his knees In this frightened prayer:
20 Lord, If it's all the same to you,
give me a little more light and a little
less noise"
A farmer once came to the president
with the complaint that the soldiers
had stolen his horse and he wanted
the government to pay him at once.
Lincoln replied that If he attended to
each case like this he would have
enough work for twenty presidents.
This recalled a steamboat pilot story:
In one portion Of his journey this pilot
had to steer the boat through a most
p~erilous stretch of rapids. One day while
right in the middle of this boiling stretch
of water he felt a tug at his coattail.
"Hey. mister" piped a small boy, stop
your boat a minute. I've lost my apple
overheard"
This recalls the time that the presi-
dent turned on one committee Of high
browed knockers who came to com
plain Of the way he was running the
in patience he said:
Gentlemen. suppose all the property you |
We're worth was in gold and you had put
1t into the hands of Blondin to carry
across the Niagara river on a rope. would
you shake the cable or keep shouting at
him: "Blondin. stand up a little straight !