Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1914-02-05

nat ana leave the OulCe. .
, Lincoln generally got to the
office in the morning at 8 o'clock, %
and when it was later, Herndon,
his partner, knew there had ~
been trouble at home, for Lin
coin then had no cheerful morn ~
ing greeting, only a grunt, as he
fell wolfshly upon the morn
ing's mail. He might have
lunched, easily enough, at home,
but he preferred crackers and ~
cheese at the office, and often N@MM
stayed there until after dark.
Sometimes he would knock
off, in the late afternoon and ZMM
clean out the stable and saw v#
wood, feed the horse and milk M
the Cow. He had a passion for #
chores Of his boyhood days a
on his fathers pitiful acres. He MSMM
was his own hired man until and ~
even after his election as presi- n1f M
dent. AT midnight a neighbor ~
saw him once %chopping wood for ~
his supper when his wife was ~
away. ag %MMM
In the evening, having no ~T
club, Lincoln would ordinarily Is y
go to the grocery store and --r
s~pellbind the cracker box
habitues with some more of his S<1&0L1.
everlasting anecdotes-only two s\1 AZGIH
Of which, he insisted, were his
own invention. If a minstrel So
show came to town he was sure
to be a f~ront-row, ffrst-night patron, and, next to
blackface comedy, he was enamored of magic
lantern entertainments He had a passion for
probing into the mysteries of anything mechanical,
and if he were alive today the automobile would
have given him great joy. @F
When circuit riding in the ante-railway days he
would utilize the rest of the noon hour after lunch
con at some wayside farmhouse in crawling under
and prowling over the harvest machinery, as full
Of questions as a schoolboy, more insatiably
curious than any of Ewes daughters. AS he
walked the streets of Springfield every vehicle he
saw interested him, and the interior economy of
the kitchen clock pleased him unutterably.
In the house he spent most of his time ~indulging
his children, playing with the cat, like Montague,
or lying sprawled out, like Caliban, on the floor OF
the hall reading. He didn't like the parlor, be-
cause the haircloth chairs and marble table, the
wax flowers under a glass bell, the portrait al
bum and the family Bible, with their huge glass
clasps, represented Mrs. Lincoln's ideas of mag
ni1icence and not his own notion OF solid comfort.
He would be in his shirt sleeves, and If loud
knocking at the front door disturbed his elegant
leisure he would go to the door Just as he was
and promise to "trot the women folks out" without
delay. Mrs. Lincoln never forgave him for help
ing himself to butter at the table with his own
knife.
Lincoln's ~favorite outer garb as he sailed forth
in winter for his office was an ancient gray shawl;
he took particular pains never to have his hat
brushed or his shoes BACKED; his carpet bag
threatened at the seams to disgorge its burthen Of
legal documents; his green cotton umbrella had
no handle to speak of, and inside was the legend,
"A. Lincoln" the letters cut out of white muslin
and sewed to the faded cloth. Altogether he
looked like the advance agent of a Denman
Thompson show. In 1856 a pair Of spectacles
cost him thirty-seven and one-half cents.
The office was in character with the notorious
indifference to appearances Of the senior partner
of the firm. Once a young law student attempted
to blaze a trail through the accumulated rubbish,
and found that some seeds given by a congress-
man had taken root and %sprouted in the dirt.
The mailbox was Lincoln's old plug hat, as was
formerly the case when he was postmaster at
New Salem. He also used the hat as a repository
for legal papers of Importance. Miscellaneous
transactions were confided to the safekeeping Of
a mammoth envelope, on which Lincoln had
scrawled, When you can't find 1T anywhere else,
look into this"
When Lincoln went into court there was none
of the see-the-conquering-hero swagger about him.
He would say, well, here l am. amt you glad to
see me?" and If in the course Of the argument 1t
was necessary for him to concede a point to the
other side he would remark, II reckon 1t would be
fair to let in that" and when overruled by the
court would laugh and say, well, l reckon ! must
be wrong"
When a lawyer asked him If an attachment had
the force Of a summons his confession of ignor-
ance was c~heerfully frank, "Damfno" On a long
palavering letter requesting his legal service he
wrote laconically, Count me in. A. Lincoln"
The accounts Of the firm never bothered him
he left all that to Herndon. He never d~ishgured
the account book himself with a reckoning. When
anybody gave him money for legal services he
would divide with Herndon, IL the latter was in
the Office, and when Herndon was not there he
would wrap the money up in a piece Of paper,
mark it in pencil, Case of Smith VS.. Jones'
Herndon's half and leave 1t in a drawer of his
partners desk.
When they made him president and he was Just
about to take the train for Washington he went
to the old Office for the last time and found Hern-
don there.