Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1922-03-03


around the place and taking 1t easy
He read all the books | had, until You
and Doe Allen came with the law
books. Then he pitched into them. !
think he has changed good deal since
Ann died He talks lot about God
and the hereafter
In October young Mr.. Lincoln re-
turned to his surveying, and in the
last month of the year to VandaIia for
an extra session of the legislature,
where he took a stand against the con-
yention system of nominating candi-
dates for public office Samson went
TO yandalia for visit with him and
TO see the place before the session end
ed. The next year, in a letter 10 his
brother, he says:
s.Yandalia is a small, crude village.
1t has a strong flavor of whisky, pro-
family and tobacco The night after
got there went to banquet with
Abe Lincoln. Heard q lot about the
dam nigger-loving Yankees who We're
trying TO ruin the state and country
with abolition. There were some
stories like those we used TO hear in
the lumber camp, and no end of pow
erful talk, in which the names of God
and the Savior were roughly handled.
A few of the statesmen got drunk, and
after the dinner was over two of them
| jumped OH the table and danced down
/ the whole length of it, SCATTERING
plates and cups and saucers and
glasses. Nobody seemed TO be able
,, 10 stop them. I hear that they had TO
pay several hundred dollars for the
damage done. You will be apt to think
that there is too much liberty here in
the West, and perhaps that is so, but
] The fact is these men are not half so
bad as they seem to be. Lincoln tells
me that they are honest, almost to a
man, and sincerely devoted to the pub
lie good as they see it. [ asked Ale
Lincoln, who all his life has associated
with rough-tongued, drinking men,
how he managed TO hold his own
| course and keep his talk and habits SO
clean
/ why, the fact is said he, i have
! associated with the people who lived
around me only part of the time, but
have never stopped associating with
myself and with Washington and Clay
and Webster and Shakespeare and
; Burns and DeFoe and Scott and
Blackstone and Parsons. On the
whole, I've been III pretty good com
pany
He has not yet accomplished much
! III the legislature / don't think that
he will until some big issue comes
! along Tn not much Of hand ar
hunting squirrels, he said to me the
| other day Wait till | see a bear The
| people Of Fandalia and Springfield
| have never seen him yet. They don't
| know him as / do. But they all re
spect hin--just for his good-fellow-
| ship, honesty and decency. | guess
| that every fellow with foul mouth
hates himself for it and cHvies the
| man who isn't like him. They begin
| to see his skill as a politician, which
has shown itself in the passage Of
!! bill removing the capita, to Spring
/ field. Abe Lincoln was the man who
i put it through But he has not yet I'M
covered his best talents. Mark my
/ word, some day Lincoln will be a big
/ man.
THE death of his sweetheart has
/ aged and sobered him. When we are
| together he often sits looking down
| with a sad face. For a While not
word out Of him. Suddenly he will
! begin saying things, the effect of
which Will go with me to my grave,
although | cannot call back the words
and place them as he did. He is what
would call great captain of words.
Seems as if | heard the band playing
while they marched by me as well
dressed and stepping as proud and
regular as the Boston Guards In
some great battle between Right and
Wrong you will hear from him. |
hope it may be the battle between
Slavery and Freedom. although at
present he thinks they must avoid
coming to q clinch. In my opinion 1t
cannot be done. I expect to live to
I see the fight and to take part in it"
/ Late in the session of 1S36-1S37 the
prophetic truth of these words began
/ to reveal itself. A bill was being put
/ through the legislature denouncing the
| growth of abolition sentiment and it's
! activity in organized societies and up
/ holding the right of property in slaves.
| Suddenly Lincoln had come to fork
| in the road. Popularity, the urge of
many friends, the counsel Of wealth
and power, and public opinion, the cali
Of good politics pointed in one direc-
ton and the crowd went that way. 1t
was a stampede. Lincoln stood alone
at the corner. The crowd beckoned,
but in vain. One man came back and
joined him. 1t was Dan Stone, who
was not candidate for reelection.
His political career was ended. There
We're three words on the sign-board
pointing toward the perilous and lone
ly road that Lincoln proposed to fol-
low. They were the words Justice and
Human Rights. Lincoln and Dan
Stone took that road in a protest, de-