The Penn's Grove record., 1914-02-06

hat and leave the once.
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 &NMNM
fell wol6shly 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 ~
stayed there until after dark.
Sometimes he would knock ~
off" in the late afternoon and ~
clean out the stable and saw V
wood, feed the horse and milk EW
the COW. He had a passion for
Chores of his boyhood days
on his fathers pitiful acres. He ~
was his own hired man until and
even after his election as presi- ~
dent. At midnight a neighbor ~
saw him once c~hopping wood for
his supper when his wife was
away. %
In the evening, having no ~
club, Lincoln would ordinarily Is
go to the grocery store and zn1
spellbind' the cracker box 11L
habitues with some more Of his Sr1A0A
everlasting anecdotes-only two EE'
of which, he insisted, were his
own invention. If a minstrel
show came to town he was sure
to be a frontrow, 1rst-night patron, and, next
blackface comedy, he was enamored of "magi
lantern" entertainments. He had a passion II
probing into the mysteries of anything mechanics
and if he were alive today the automobile woul
have given him great joy.
When circuit riding in the anterailway days b
would utilize the rest of the noon hour after luncl
con at some wayside farmhouse in crawling unde
and prowling over the harvest machinery, as flu
of questions as a schoolboy, more insatiabl
curious than any of Ewes daughters. AS b
walked the streets of Springfield every vehicle b
saw Interested him, and the interior economy {
the kitchen clock pleased him unutterably.
In the house he spent most of his time indulgin
his children, playing with the cat, like Montaign'
or lying sprawled out, like Caliban, on the floor {
cause the haircloth chairs and marble table, tn
wax flowers under a glass bell, the portrait a
bum and the family Bible, with their huge glas
clasps, represented Mrs. Lincoln's ideas Of mai
niicence and not his own notion of solid comfor
He would be in his shirt sleeves, and if lou
knocking at the front door disturbed his elegar
leisure he would go to the door just as he wa
and promise to "trot the women folks out" withou
delay. Mrs. Lincoln never forgave him for hell
lA6 Allu6O1 " UulLCI dL Ii LdUlo Will no wv
knife.
Lincoln's favorite outer garb as he sailed fort
n winter for his Office was an ancient gray shawl
he took particular pains never to have his ha
brushed or his shoes BACKED; his carpet ba
threatened at the seams to disgorge its burthen {
legal documents; his green cotton umbrella ha
no handle to speak of, and inside was the legent
"A. Lincoln" the letters cut out of white musli
and sewed to the faded cloth. Altogether b
looked like the advance agent of a Denma
Thompson show. In 1856 a pair of spectacle
cost him thirtyseven and one-half cents.
The Office was in character with the notoriou
indifference to appearances of the senior partne
OF the firm. Once a young law student attempte
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 wa
formerly the case when he was postmaster 9
New Salem. He also used the hat as a repositor
for legal papers of Importance. Miscellaneou
transactions were confded to the safekeeping {
a mammoth envelope, on which Lincoln ha
scrawled, When you can't find 1T anywhere els
look into this"
When Lincoln went into court there was non
OF the see-the-conquering-hero swagger about hin
He would say, Well, here / am, amt you glad t
see me?" and If in the course of the argument
was necessary for him to concede a point to tn
other side he would remark, Il reckon it would b
fair to let in that" and when oyerruled by th
court would laugh and say, We'll, I reckon / mus
be wrong"
When a lawyer asked him II an attachment ha
the force OF a summons his confession of igno
ance was cheerfully frank, "Damfino." On a Ion
palavering letter requesting his legal service b
wrote laconfcally, Count me in. A. Lincoln"
The accounts Of the firm never bothered him
he left all that to Herndon. He never ~disagure
the account book himself with a reckoning. Whe
anybody gave him money for legal services b
would divide with Herndon, If the latter was l
the Office. and when Herndon was not there b
would wrap the money up in a piece of pape
mark it In pencil, Case of Smith VS.. Jones'
Herndon's half" and leave 1t in a drawer Of hi
desk.
When they made him president and he was jus
about to take the train for Washington he wer
to the old office for the last time and found Herr
don there.