The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1921-11-03

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Of Postry- sorrowful and pious vol
ume. He could nnd no ladder Of
rhyme with An adequate reach. He
endeavorsd 10 build one. He wrote
melancholy verses and letters, confess
ing his passion. to Annabsl, which
she did not encourage, but which she
always kept and valued for their In
genuous and noble ardor. Some Of
these Anacreontics are among the
treasures inherited by her descend
ants. They were q matter of slight
Importance, one would say, but they
mark the beginning Of q great r
Immediately after his return to the
new home In Springfield, the boy,
Josiah, set out to make himself hon-
ored Of his ideal. In the effort he
made himself honored Of many. His
eager brain had soon taken the footing
Of manhood.
A remarkable school Of political
science had begun its sessions in the
little Western village Of Springfield.
The world had never seen the like Of
1t. Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A..
Douglas, 3, D.. Baker, o. III. Browning,
Jesse B. Thomas, and Josiah Lamborn
Ia most unusual array Of talent as
subsequent history has proved-were,
wont to gather around the fireplace in
the rear Of Joshua Speeds store, eve
nings, to discuss the issues of the
time. Samson and his son Joe came
often to hear the talk. Douglas looked
like, a dwarf among those ~long-geared
men. He was slight and short, being
only about five feet tall, but he had a
big, round head covered with thick,
straight, dark hair, a bulldog look and
a voice like thunder. Douglas and
Lincoln were in a heated argument
over the admission of slavery to the
territories the first night that Samson
and Joe sat down with them.
"We didn't like that little rooster Of
a man, he had such a high and mighty
way with him and 80 frankly opposed
the principles we believe in. He was
an out-and-out p~ro-slavery a He
would have every state free to regu-
late It's domestic institutions, in it's
own way, subject only to the Constitu-
ton Of the United States. Lincoln
held that it amounted to saying that
IL one man chose to enslave another
no third party shall be allowed to OBJ
ject.'"
In the course of the argument Doug
las alleged that the Wings were the
%aristocrats Of the country.
''That reminds me Of a night when
l was speaking at Havana" said Hon
est Abe. "A man with a ruffled shirt
and a massive gold watch chain got
up and charged that the Wings were
aristocrats. Douglas in his broad
cloth and fine linen reminds me Of
that man. I'm not going to answer
Douglas as l answered him. Most of
the Wings l know r my kind Of
folks. l was a poor boy working on
a ffatboat at eight dollars a month
and had only n pair of breeches and
they were buckskin. If you know the
nature of buckskin, you know that
when it is wet and dried by the sun it
will shrink and my breeches kept
shrinking and deserving the sock area
Of my legs until several inches Of
them were bare above my shoes.
Whilst I was growing longer they
were growing shorter and so much
tighter that they left a blue streak
around my legs which can be seen to
this day. II you call that ~aristocracy
/ know Of one Wing that is an aristo-
crat." n,l.
"But look at the New England type
of Wing exemplifed by the lmperious
and majestic Webster" said Douglas.
webster was another poor lad"
Lincoln answered. His fathers home
was q. log cabin in a lonely land until
about the time Daniel was born, when
the family moved to a small frame
house. His is the majesty of q great
intellect" 49,.
There was much talk Of this sort
until Mr. Lincoln excused himself to
walk home with his two friends who
had just returned from the North, be-
ing eager to learn Of Samson's visit.
The latter gave him q full account of
it and asked him to undertake the col
lection of Brimstead's note. {
"I1l get after that fellow right
away" said Lincoln. "Tm glad to get
a chance at one of those men who
have been skinning the farmers"
They sat down by the fireside In
Samson's house.
"Joe has decided that he wants to
be a lawyer" said Samson. 4
"Well, Joe, We'll all do what we can
to keep you from being q shotgun
lawyer" Abe Lincoln began. tive got
q good first lesson for you. ! found 1t
in a letter which Rufus Choate had
written to Judge Davis. In It he says
that we rightly have great. respect for
the decisions of the majority, but that
the law is something vastly greater
and more sacred than the verdict Of
any majority. The law he says,
comes down to Vi one mighty and
continuous stream Of wisdom and ex-
perience accumulated, ancestral,
widening and deepening and washing
itself clearer as it runs on, the agent
Of civilization, the builder q a thou
sand cities. To have lived through
ages OF unceasing trial with the pas
sions, interests and affairs OF men. to
have lived through the drums and
tramplings Of conquest. through revo-