Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-02-08
"L;ttle Abe"
True Stories Of LineoIn's Youth by
Rogers Gore, Kentuekian.
A Youthful Trapper.

Kentucky, where he was born, tina
he never threw stones at song birds, or
he never failed to intercede in behalf
of the dog that was being kicked by it's
master. Little Abe" as he was known
by his limited number Of n%eighbors
and acQuaintances, was fond OF dogs.
Austin Gollaher. Lincoln's playmate,
county. told me that the Lincoln fami-
ly had more dogs than they could sup
port" and that most of the dogs had
followed Little Abe" home at vari-
Gus times Lincoln's favorite dog was
one he found upon the oadside with a
broken leg. He carried the dog home
in his arms and set the broken limb,
and that dog" said Mr.. Gollaher, was
the best rabbit dog Abe ever had"
While trapping in those days was a
necessity. young Lincoln disliked 1t, be-
cause it meant suffering to Gods Great
ures. learn this story from the tradi-
tions in La Rue county: Tom Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln's father, was fond OF
trapping: besides finding much sport In
the vocation he provided meat and furs
for his family. His traps were scat
tered along the south fork OF Nolynn
knew Just where each trap wa located.
Little Abe" believed 1t an unpardon-
able sin to catch too much game. and
ne frequently visited the traps and Nib
Grated come OF the game before his
father could make the rounds.
Austin Gollaher related a story to me
! about a visit he and Abe once made
to Tom Lincoln's traps when they were
caught in the act OF liberating q red
fox from one of the snares. Tom Lin
coin came up, Mr.. Gollaher said. just
as Abraham was about to cut the cord
which was Topped under the forefeet of
the fox. To avoid the whipping Which
Abe knew was forthcoming, he and
young Gollaher made for the tall tim
Der. Mr.. Gollaher said that Little
Abe" was never whipped when Mrs.
Lincoln was present to maxi interces-
sions, land for that reason" said Col
laher, I'VE e~ndeavored to reach the Lin
coin cabin in advance OF Tom Lin
coin. that we might prepare Mrs. Lin
coin for the ordeal"
In taking an indirect route the boys
were lost in h woods. I'VE spent the
entire day." said Mr.. Gollaher, "in
trying tc And the trail. but to no avail.
I gave up in despair, but Abe neither
showed fear nor encouragement, and
was persistent in his endeavors to find
a a out of our troubles. Evening
was advancing too rapidly to suit me,
and ! was becoming thoroughly panic
stricken. but the strong heart Of Abra-
ham was apparently undaunted. Abe
rebuked me for my faint heatredness,
and said: Why, we'll sharpen a pole
SAAU AAA4 ~ . ~ 0AAA NAAC WOAVGo CtIlklOl
get us: we can punch their eyes out
when they rear up on the trunk OF the
tree But just as the last streak of
daylight was going out I heard a voice,
and with all Of my might I yelled:
Here we are Shut your mouth said
J Abraham, that's pa and he'll whip me-
Sure enough. 1t was Tom Lincoln, but
Mrs. Lincoln was with him, and Abe
did not get the whipping"
LincOln's wit developed early In life.
II hoVyn hn4VH t~1I AI~A ,-k--
mere child his retorts blazed from his
droll tongue In a manner hat always
made the offender vince. A man by
the name of WoOdson once kicked Lit
tie Abe's" lame dog: the dog retaliated
by biting the fellow on the leg. Wood
killed. and in the presence of Little
Abe made known his decree. my leg
is already swelling" said Woodson.
and l am afraid 1t will nave to be cut
off" IT that's So" retorted Little
Abe" Tn mighty sorry my dog did
"Going Fishing"
Austin Goliaher rescued Lincoln from
Knob creek, n small river in the vicin-
ity of the Gollaher home. Upon this
day Mrs; Lincoln had paid a visit to
were "at their knitting the little sons
event fishing" In attempting to cross
q foot log Little Abe fell into q deep
hole OF water. Il just poked him my
pole," related Mr.. Gollaher. and pulled
him him to @, the the bank. 40. That was one
tinued Mr.. Gollaher. but he wa
not too badly frightened to grin
and say: I hope I can do that much
for you some day. Austin.' He really
wanted something to happen to me,
that he might be placed in an attitude
NJ h0UfnD a0yynA nnv Ito IT ltt1A AA0s
was full of gratitude. and spent a lot
of his time trying to find some way
to help those h a been good to
him. He often said to me that IL he
ever found a gold mine there were just
three people he would take into his
other two were his mother and Mr..
Hodgeh. the miller. I asked him II he
would tell his father. n he said:
No. II would worry pc, because he
wouldn't want to Dig
That Sunday Cap.
An old woman once rave Lincoln a
cap which she had made out of fox fur.
1T was his Sunday cap" said MI. Col
laher. "and Abraham was proud Of 1t.
A jOurneyman preacher came through
the country one day and stopped at
. meeting In the neighborhood. DUR
ing the series of revivals the preacher
lost his hat, and Mrs. Lincoln loaned
Little Abe's' fur cap to the minister.
Il was v returned. Abraham asked
me what I thought about the preacher.
and I told him that I thought that the
fellow was q rascal. Well. Austin
said Abraham. you know mother Q
been telling us about the thief on the.
/ cross; I wish the Jews would catch this
thief Little Abe always said that
he would be good, but that he would
never 1oin Q church. He never forgot