Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-02-11

loNH III lHe lOliOWlng extracts from
that they were borrowed, and 1 have
always. therefore, believed that they
were original with him. Although lit
tie irregular in metre, the sentiment
would think, do credit to an older
head:
Time, what an empty vapor tbs,
And days how swift they are;
Swift as an Indian arrow
| Fly on like shooting star
The present moment Just is here,
! Then slides away in haste,
That we can never say they're ours,
| But only say they're past.
I" His penmanship, after some prac.
tice, became SO regular In form that
! 1t excited the admiration of other and
younger boys. One of the latter, 10
seph G. Richardson, said that ABE
Lincoln was the best penman In the
Ineighborhood." At Richardson's re-
quest he made some copies for prac-
tice. During my visit to Indiana | met
richardson, who showed these two
lines which Abe had prepared for
him:
Good boys who to their books apply
! VIII all be great men by and by.
His deep meditation and abstrac-
ton easily induced the belief among
his horny-handed companions that he
was lazy. In fact neighbor, John Ro.
mine, makes that charge. HE worked
for me- testif1es the latter, but was
always reading and thinking. 1 used
to get mad at him for It. saw he was
aWfully lazy He would laugh and
talk, crack his jokes and tell stories
all the time; didn't love work half as
well as his pay. He said to me one
day that his father taught him to
work, but he never taught him to love
It,"
His chief delight during the day,
when unmolested, was to lie down un-
der the shade of some inviting tree
to read and study. At night, lying on
his stomach in front of the open fire.
place, with piece Of charcoal, he
would cipher on broad wooden
shovel When the latter was covered
over on both sides he would take his
fathers drawing knife or plane and
shave 1t off clean, ready for a fresh
supply Of inscriptions the next day.
he often moved about the cabin with
q piece OF chalk, writing and ciphering
on boards and the flat sides of huge
logs. When every bare wooden sur
face had been filled with his letters
and ciphers he would erase them and
begin anew. Thus 1t was always; and
, the boy whom dull old Thomas Lin.
J coin and rustic John Romine conceiv-
ed TO be lazy, was in reality the
most tireless worker in all the region
baround Gentryville.
, How he contrived at the age of four
teen to absorb information is thus
told by John Hanks: When Abe and
] returned to the house from work,
he would go to the, cupboard snatch a
) Epiece of corn bread, sit down, take a
: book, cock his legs up as high as his
: head, and read. We grubbed. plowed,
/ moved and worked together barefoot.
} ed in the fields. Whenever Abe had a
| chance in the fields while at work.
/. or at the house, he would stop and
i, read He kept the Bible and Aesop's
{ fables always within reach and read
. them over and over again These two
volumes furnished him with the many
figures Of speech and parallels which
: he used with such happy effect in his
later and public utterances.
. No pne had a more retentive mem.
DRY. If he read or heard good thing
: It never escaped him. His powers Of
: concentration We're intense and in the
ability through analysis to strip bare
. a proposition, he was unexcelled. His
l thoughtful and investigative mind dug
i down after IDEAS, and never stopped
until bottom facts were reached. With
! such mental equipment the day was
: destined to come when the world
a would need the services Of his intel
D lect and heart That he was equal to
a the great task when the demand came
Y is but another striking proof of the
:, grandeur Of his character.
8 The first law books Lincoln ever
o read was the statutes of Indiana He
l. obtained the volume from his friend,
i David Turnham who testified that he
e fairly devoured the book in his eager
: efforts to abstract the store of knowl.
il edge that lay between the lids. No
J. doubt, as Turnham insists, the study
l. Of the statutes at this early day led
Q Abe to think Of the law as his calling
a in maturer years. At ar rate he
q now began to evince no little zeal in
d the matter Of public speaking-in com
!. pliance with the old notion, no doubt
4 that lawyer could never succeed un.
. less he has the elements of the orator
7 or advocate in his construction-and
8 even when at work in the fields he
# could not resist the temptation tc
v mount the nearest stump and practice
a on his fellow laborers. The latter
\ would flock around him and active op
:. erations would cease whenever he be
gan. A cluster Of tall and stately
trees often made him most dignified
and appreciative audience during the
delivery of these maiden forensic ef
forts.
No feature of his back woods life
8 pleased Abe SO much as going to the
o mill. In later years Mr.. Lincoln re
8 lated the following "reminiscences ci