Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-11-05
s FIRST
PET WAS A P|G,
SAYS A FRIEND
MCIure's Magazine for No
vember Prints a New
Story, Dealing With Boy
hood of Emancipation.

(McClure's Magazine, in the No
vember issue, prints a new story or
Abraham Lincoln. The incident
deals with Lincoln's boyhood and Is
one of the few authentic accounts
of that period of his life. The story
was told twenty-five years ago by
printed at that time in the Atlanta
Constitution.)
Abraham Lincoln asked Gilbert
J. Greene to take n walk with him
into the country. 1t was in the late
"fifties," Green was q journeyman
printer in Springfield, Illinois, and
when the fame of Lincoln through
out the state was steadily rising.
Greene was only too eager to ac-
cept the invitation. He already rec
ognized the greatness of the char
acter of Lincoln. A walk and talk
with Lincoln meant widening of
the mental horizon. 1t was moon
light night. Everything was quiet
along the country road. Suddenly
the strollers came upon six little
pigs with their noses close together.
Those little pigs are lost" said
Lincoln, after briefly surveying
them; "let's help them to find their
mother"
With little pig grunts and snorts,
the six were soon scampering down
| the road. At length they found a
hole in the fence, and their mother
| in the field a rod away. Lincoln
smiled with satisfaction as he saw
the pig family reunited, and re-
marked: II never see pig that ]
do not think of my first pet. When
a boy six years old, while we lived
near Hodgenville, Kentucky, went
over to neighboring farm. A litter
of striped piggies had just been
born, and l was so taken with them
that they could not get me away
from them. The owner filled me
with supreme joy by saying: you
may have one of those pigs IL you
can get him home / instantly ac-
cepted the offer.
II had on tow shirt-one which
my mother had woven--reachine
below my knees, and fastened al
the neck by a wooden button my
| father had made. Using the front
of 1t as an apron, or sack, l rolled
my pig up in it and carried him
! home. got an old bee-gum-a
hollow 1og,-put corn-husks and
leaves into it for bed, and tucked
him away for the night.
"He squealed for his mother
nearly all night. In the morning
carried him meal and bran, anC
bread and milk--everything coult
think Of; but he would not touch
,any of them. About all he could dc
was to squeal. At length my moth
err said to me: Abe, take that pie
back home; it will die il you keel
lit here
i "What my mother said was al
ways the truth and the law to me
and, though 1t almost broke m!
heart, I took the pig back. Hi
mother was so glad to see him. and
The to see her! After she had giveI
him his dinner, he looked so prett.
could not stand 1t, and l begged
J the man to let me take him back
/ put him in my tow shirt, as hat
, before, and took him to our house
Mother protested, and cried. Sh
| broke down and relented, and salt
might try him one day more. III
, would not eat thing I brough
him, and mother sent me bacl
! with him again. I carried him bacl
and forth to his meals for tw
!, weeks, until we taught him to cal
and he was mine for good"
In commenting on this walk AM
talk with Lincoln, Mr.. Greene said
ut gave me a clearer insight int
the great heart of Lincoln thai
: years of close association coul
I have done. He had wonderful
Y kindness Of heart. He could nc
help being tender any more tina
the song-birds about his cabi
could keep from singing. 1t wa
easy, even then, for me to see ho'
o the boy, so tender to his first pc
r might grow to be perhaps the yer
? greatest and noblest American ger
ttleman." Mcclure for Novembe