New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1909-02-03

she had one. An as like as not Abe d
eat his supper thar, takin' anything
she'd give him that he could gnaw a.
an read at the same time. I've seen
many Teller come in an look at him,
Abe not KNOWN anybody was round.
an sneak out ag'in like cat an say,
We'll. I'll be darned! 1t didn't seem
natural, nohow, to see Teller read
like that
Lincoin's Unsuitable craving to know
things did not manifest itself alone in
desire to read. Every stranger that
toned by the youngster until the elder
Lincoln interfered. He was as per-
sistent a questioner as Ii Hung
Chang. When Robert Owens colony
was started at New Harmony, Ind,
young Abraham almost worried him
self sick because he heard there was
a boat load Of books along, and he
wanted to break into this paradise of
knowledge. Books were not plentiful
in Indiana in those days, and the fu-
ture president was known to walk for
miles or work for days for the poor
privilege of buying or borrowing one.
That was the poverty the boy felt
most
One more quotation from the gar
rulous Dennis and we leave him. 1t
is anent the Lincoln stories:
Abe says I, 'whar did you get so
blamed many lies?' An he'd always
say: Denny, when story Farms you
good lesson it amt no lie God tells
truth in parallels. They're easier fur
common folks to understand an ricol-
lect.' His stories was like that
Most writer's on Lincoln insist on de-
scribing his dress, dwelling on the
fact that his trousers did not meet his
shoes, that his coat was too small, If
he had coat, and generally making
his habiliments as ridiculous as rath-
er lively imagination will permit. This
is scarcely fair. Lincoln dressed fully
as we'll as those with whom he asso-
ciated. Indeed, the lively Dennis says
that Abe had more pride than the 9TH
er children and therefore INDUCED the
unusual luxury of white shirts for
Sunday. Awkward he perhaps was.
but that he was the lout sometimes
pictured was farthest from the truth.
Indeed, he was regarded as the bright
est and most ambitious boy in the
neighborhood
Compared with city standards or
even with modern standards anywhere
Lincoln was shabbily dressed, was
poor lacked educational advantages
and was surrounded by an inferior
environment. 1t is not just to COM
pare by such standards. His boyhoed
occurred nearly a century ago on the
frontier. In his world his education.
mostly self acquired, was better than
the average; his poverty was little or
no worse than that of those around
MIN; his dress was as good as or better
than that of his boy friends TO ridi-
Guile his people or his circumstances
or MS clothes is to ridicule those of
all frontiersmen Of his day. Any one
guilty of such a reflection but adver-
|
due stress he places on outer things.
What do the Lincoln clothes amount
to anyway? They were the most su-
perficial part of the man and are i'm
portant only in the eyes of the most
superficial people. Why are they spo-
ken Of more than those of any other
president? Lincoln himself was too
big to be conscious of them.
But little removed from this is the
continual, reiterated, everlasting refer
ence to his great height What if he
was tall? There have been other tall
men i'll history of whose longitudinal
measurements little or nothing is said
Why keep it so in the foreground with
Lincoln? Why make it so prominent
that it obscures infinitely more impor-
tant things? Does his stature in his
tory depend on the length Of his bones?
Are we to measure his soul with a
footrule? Are his bodily dimensions
more to be regarded than his charac-
ter? Are his inner glory and beauty
always to be yelled behind a homely
exterior? There have been other ugly
men in history concerning whose lack
OF personal pulchritude not one-hun-
dredth part as much has been said.
Why not talk more of the inner Lin
coin and his mission of mercy rather
than spend so much time on his outer
mask and the accidents that surround
ed him?
The most noteworthy things about
Lincoln the boy were not the length
Of his trousers and the shortness of his
purse. They were his love of Justice,
his love Of knowledge, his love of
truth. These were shown in a thou
sand ways. They are the lights that
| reveal him. With all due respect to
everybody, l am infinitely tired of all
the nonessential rubbish that is foist-
ed on the world in the name of Lincoln
to the observation of his greater and
better self.
When Roman emperor won war