Year: 1860

US he sometimes changes, and when w


have near Us honest men known to be pure


ly honest for more than thirty years, wh'


deny all this and propose to tell US tn


true state of the case, and to give US tn


true principles of that party! l think not


Besides this, when we have for years beer


opposed, in politics, to man who ha


again and again seen his party defeated


and has himself sometimes failed, and sill


seen that man true TO his colors, re-armins


and re-entering the field to try to upholt


and successfully plant his colors upon the


side of victory, when all the time we knew


he had but to change once to win, and ye


has never changed, l think may say neve1


faltered, how are we to respect him? Suct


a man l have known Mr.. Lincoln for thirty


years to be. In boyhood days We toiled


together; many are the days we have lug


ged the heavy oar on the Ohio, the Illinois


and the Missouri rivers together; many are


the long cold days that we have journeyed


over the wild prairies and through the for


est with gun and AK, and though it is not


pleasant to refer back to ii, well do l re-


member when we set out together in the


cold winter TO cut and maui rails on the


Sangamon river. in Macon county, thirty


years ago, to enclose his fathers little home


and from day to day kept at work until the


whole was flushed and the homestead


fenced in; we often swapped work in this


way, and yet during the many years we


were connected together as laborers, some


times fiat boating, sometimes hog driving,
sometimes rail making, and too, when it


was nearly impossible to get books he was
a constant reader; l was listener; be set


tied all disputes of the young men in the
neighborhood, and his decisions were al
ways abided by. l never knew man so
honest under all circumstances for his whole
life. Thus associated with Mr.. Lincoln,
learned to love him, and when 1858 he was
candidate for the first time within my
reach, against my feelings, and l may say
against my convictions, my old party ties
induced me to vote for Mr.. Douglas; my
Democratic friends all declared Lincoln an
Abolitionist; heard him make a speech
in Decatur just before the election and l
could see nothing bad in it; but was told
by the party he was wrong; l could not see
how he could be, but they said so, and
was Democrat and went. My wife used
to say to me that some day Abe would
come out and be something; l thought so
too, but | could not exactly see how man
in the lower walks of life, day laborer,
and hopeless poor, would ever stand much
chance to get up very high in the world;
at last, one day at home, we heard that the
Republican State Convention was to be
held at Decatur, and they were going for
Abe for President. As soon as | found
this out, went into town and told a friend
of Abe's that as great and honest merit
was at last be be awarded in the person of
my friend, Mr.. Lincoln, by the Republican
party, 1 thought of the hard and trying
struggles of his early days, and recollect-
ing the rails we had made together thirty
years ago, made up my mind to present
some of them to that Convention as tes-
t;monial of the beginning of one of the
greatest living men Of the age, believing
they would speak more in his praise than
any orator could, and honor true labor
more than the praise of men or the reso-
lutions of conventions. On our way to
get the rails, l told this friend of old Abe
that if Abe should be nominated for Presi-
dent would vote for him; everybody
knows what he has been, and l rejoice that
l live to give the testimony to his good
ness and honesty, and hope l shall live to
vote for him for President of the United
States next November. Is there anything
wrong in thisl Who ought to refuse to
vote for as good and great man as he
is? l know that in voting for him 1 vote
with the Republican party, and will be con-
sidered as adopting its principles as l now
understand them see no good reason why
l may not doso; our own party is divided,
and we have no Solomon TO tell who shall
take the child. Slavery has divided the
Democratic party; nobody can blame Re-
publicanism for the destruction that came
upon us at Charleston; slavery has disuni-
ted us-it has united the Republican par
ty; if there is any good about the question,
they have it all, and we have the trouble
If l understand Mr.. Douglas now, he oc-
cupies position on this question just as
distasteful to the South as Mr.. Lincoln
does-with this clear difference: the South
seem to understand Mr.. Lincoln's position
better than his, and to respect it good
deal more, and l am convinced if Mr..
Douglas does not respect the nigger he does
the mulatto, and one brings just as much
in Mobile as the other, and stands as high
in the market.


Many of my Democratic neigh5ors will
say l have done wrong, but l know there
are many who would do as l have done,
were it not they do not feel willing to break
away from party ties and to encounter "the
talk" of old friends. As long as l have
sold Abe" to lead me know shall ney-
er go very far from right. Should he be
elected President and find any trouble in
steering his new boat, he has only to re-
member how we used to get out of hard
places by rowing straight ahead and never
by making shcrt turns. The tallest oaks
in the forest have fallen by his giant arm;
be still wields tremendous maui; out of
the largest timber he can make the small
est rails; l have seen him try a tough cut
and fail once; the second trial he never fail
ed to use it up. Though not very beau
tiful symbol of honesty, l think the rail
fitting one, and mean to present Abe with