The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1909-02-13


| too early dying.
i tWho gave us Lincoln
| And never knew
! Within two years, Tom Lincoln
found for himself a wife and for the
children mother in the widow Sally
Bush johnson. If Nancy Hanks plant
ed in Abraham Lincoln's character tho
seeds of ambition and earnestu%ss,
Sally Bush nourished them, teaching
1 him all she could, and encouraging him
/ in his struggles for knowledge
The boy had an Unsuitable appetite
! for books, which were few enough
He says that he read every book that
he had ever heard of in that country
for a circuit of fifty miles" He not
only read them, he absorbed them
! At about the age of eighteen. he
came upon a copy of the Revised Stat
utes of Indiana, containing as well
I the Declaration of Independence, The
Constitution of the United Safes,
and the act organizing the Northwest
Territory, and these We're the founda-
ton of his knowledge of government
and statecraft.
Lured still by the spirit of "est'ess-
ness and the call to supposedly letter
conditions, Thomas Lincoln novel his
family. in $780, to the banks of the
Sangamon, near Decatur, Ill, Young
Abraham assisted in the toilsome
| fitting, and then, having reached his
majority began his independence.
supporting himself by any sort of
honest labor. His services were in
demand. standing six-feet-four he
could out-lift, out-work, out-wrestle
any man he ever came in contact
with"
Employed to assist In taking a fat
boat load OF produce to New Orleans,
he first saw the full meaning OF hui
man slavery, as he stood in the mar
ltet place where men and women were
bartered as beasts. Sick at heart and
Indignant to the core he said. Boys.
if ever get chance to hit this
thing, I'll hit il hard" Did he Aye,
he did, His strong hand gave it the
death stroke-but how little they or
he guessed the future. 1t was about
this time that he split the rails which
gave him fame in later years, and as
clerk in a country store at New Sa-
lem. acquired the name of Honest
Abe which he deserves then and
and ever.
In 1882 he became a candidate for
the legislature-rather an ambitious
movement for a poor youth OF TWEEN
ythree-his platform being lnterna-
tional improvements, revision OF the
laws and better provision for the ed
ucation of the people He was beaten
in the race. partly because service IN
the Black Hawk war interrupted his
campaign.
Elected to the legislature in 1884,
md
and knew the first sweet keen eXper'
fences of love. The story of his love
for Ann Rutledge may only be sug
gester here. to say that her death
threw him into a sorrow which almost
wrecked his mind. and into shadow
, from out of which his spirit seemed
, never entirely to emerge.
, In 1886 le was again elected to the
legislature and took a prominent par
/ in the important action of that time
Especially is it to be remembered tha'
he and Dan. Stone entered on the rec
ord their written protest against pro
slavery action by the legislature, ana
. that they We're the only ones VINO mao
the purpose, or the sufficient courage
] to do it.
At this period began the lifelong
ivalry between Lincoln and Douglas
| at the bar and in politics. which be
came a great part of the political his
tory of the state and the nation.
His marriage to Mary Todd occur
red in 1912. But it is doubtful if any
other woman could ever take the
Mace that Ann Rutledge held in his
heart. or if he ever quite recovered
from the shock of her untimely death
In 1876 he was member OF con
: gress. being elected over Peter Cart
wright. the famous pioneer preacher
: During this session he introduced
: hill for the abolition of slavery in the
District of Columbia, with compen
{ sation TO the owners-a bill when go'
scant consideration, but which shows
tiae trend and temper of the man him
: self. AT the close of his term he was
offered the governorship of Oregon
and we may speculate interestingly as
TO what acceptance might have meant
to him and to the nation.
Returning to his law practice. tc
which he gave more serious attention
that before he counted his politica
life as probably ended. His defeat
bv Douglas. for the u. S. senatorship
confirmed this feeling But all the
time he was growing into a position
of leadership of the anti-slaVery semi
mont of the state. And when the
Bloomington convention OF 1000 Sd
| the birth of the Republican party. i
was his famous lost speech Whlci
summoned all the forces antagonlsti'
: 10 slavery and its extension, INTO ser
vice under this new banner,