TTTE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAXD, FEBRUARY 9, 1913.
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II III'
a E N R T VILLARD.
tl financier and railroad magnate.
was a newspaper reporter In days
before the war. He told the following
story:
."I drove with Mr. Lincoln In a buggry
from a political meeting: to a flag sta
tion 20 miles west of Spring-field, thera
to await a train. It was late, and a
violent thunder atorm came up. We got
Into an empty freight car and squatted
on the floor. In the course of conver
sation be told me that when he was
clerking: In a country store, his highest
ambition had been to a member of the
Legislature. He said: 'As for getting
to be a Senator of the United States, I
am saying to myself every day that It
Is too big a thing for me; I'll never get
it, Bat my wife Insists that I am go
ing to be President of the United
States, too.' And in making this re
mark he roared with laughter, shaking
all over. 'Just think of such a sucker
as me as President.' he said."
When Lincoln was chosen by the
Whigs a second time for the Legisla
ture, friends gave him $200 for ex
penses. Later on he handed back to
them $199.25, saying. "I didn't need the
money. I made the canvass on my
own horse: my board, at the homes of
friends, cost nothing, and my only out
lay was 75 cents for a barrel of cider
which some farm laborer insisted I
should treat them to."
Two log cabins are interestingly as
sociated with Lincoln. In one of them.
In Hardin County, Kentucky, he was
born. There Is not even an authentic
the famous i picture of it. Inasmuch as It tell down,
or was blown down, 2o years before the
breaking out of the Civil War. Some
of the logs of which it was built were
utilized as material for a neighbor's
corn crib.
Foreboding; Is Fulfilled.
The other cabin was built In 1831,
near Farmington, 111., by Abraham's
father, Thomas Lincoln. He died 20
years later, but his second wife con
tinued to live In the cabin until some
time after the martyred President was
shot.
After his election to the Presidency,
In 1861, and before going to Washing
ton, Mr. Lincoln went to see his step
mother. She told him then that she
had a presentiment that something was
going to happen to him, and that she
would never see him again alive. He
laughed at her, but her foreboding was
fulfilled.
Lincoln as a youth was quite famous
for his strength. It Is said that he
could carry 600 pounds on his back. On
one occasion he walked away with two
logs which three sturdy men were
unable to handle. A neighbor, who
knew him well, has written: "He could
strike with a maul a heavier blow,
could sink an ax deeper into wood than
any other man I ever saw."
Lincoln's contemplated duel with
James Shields, a political adversary, is
a historic incident. Shields, an Irish
man, was greatly enraged by Lincoln's
wit, unmercifully used at his expense,
and demanded satisfaction on the field
of honor. He was a famous swords
man, while the future emancipator
knew almost nothing about fencing.
They met on Bloody Island, In the
Mississippi River, and Lincoln was the
first to arrive on the scene. When
Shields and his seconds came, they saw
Lincoln who, four inches over six feet
in height, had arms as long and strong
as a gorilla's reaching up higher than
any other man in the state could have
done, and lopping off saplings as thick
as a man's forearm with single slashes
of his weapon.
A very formidable weapon It was, for
Lincoln, as the challenged party, had
chosen the longest and largest cavalry
saber available, with which to settle
the contention. It is evident that his
performance with the saplings had the
effect he intended, for Shields friends.
after gazing awestruck at the spectacle
for a few moments, hastened to patch
up peace.
The lady Mr. Lincoln married had
rather vigorous temper, and occasion
ally was driven to exasperation by
some of her husband's little ways. He
owned a cheap little desk, which he
took to the White House with him
because It was a cherished possession.
having been long in use, and being
provided with convenient pigeon-holes
One day he split some ink on it by ac
cident, and his wife, who entertained
special dislike for the desk, had It
thrown out as rubbish.
Relics of Lincoln.
It was wholly against the policy of
Jlr. Lincoln to oppose his wife In any
way, if possible to avoid doing so. So
he gave the desk to a lady who was an
old friend, telling her that he had used
it when he first began to do business
for himself. At the present time It is
on exhibition among the relics of Lin-
coin, which form the famous Oldroyd i carried thither from Ford's Theater op-
collection. In the house on Tenth street, posite.
where the president died, after being Among other articles In this collec-
Hon (the house containing It being now
a sort of Lincoln museum) is the fur
niture from the old Lincoln homestead
at Springfield, Including the cookstove,
the above-mentioned desk, Mr. Lincoln's
favorite horsehair rocker, and the wal
nut cradle in which the emancipator
himself often rocked his children to
sleep.
Mr. Lincoln's wife, it will be remem
bered, was Mary Todd. He had for a
rival no less a man than Stephen A.
Douglas, who, already rising in the
world, was destined to become so fa
mous. It was a choice between the lit
tle man and the big man, and the girl,
who was plump, pretty, vivacious and
very attractive, picked out the latter.
It Is said, whether truly or not, that
Abraham (he sometimes wrote his
name Abram in those days, by the
way) had a presentiment that the mar
riage was not destined to turn out
happily. At all events, on the day first
set -for the ceremony he was taken
suddenly sick, so that the wedding had I
to be postponed at the last moment,
when the bride and guests were wait
ing. Not until a year later did it
actually come off.
But Lincoln had had a previous ro
mance, when only 24 years of age the
young lady In this Instance being a
dainty and golden-haired little creature
named Anne Rutledge. She died not
long after they became engaged, and
the young man was thrown into such
despair by her loss that he may be
said never to have entirely recovered
from It. His friends thought for a
while that he was going insane, and
in stormy weatner ne wouia rave ana
cry that he could never be reconciled
to have the snow and rain beat upon
her grave.
A most admirable description of the
martyred President was given by Na
thaniel Hawthorne In an article which
he wrote for the Atlantic Monthly, en
titled "Chiefly on War Matters." The
editor of the magazine, deeming that It
might offend his admirers, blue-penciled
It out. It read as follows:
Blne-Penclled Description.
"Unquestionably, Western man though
he be, and Kentuckian by birth. Presi
dent Lincoln is the essential represen
tative of all Yankees, and the veritable
specimen, physically, of what the world
seems determined to regard as our
characteristic qualities. There is no de
scribing his lengthy awkwardness, nor
the uncouthness of his movements; and
yet It seemed as If I had been in the
habit of seeing him dally, and had
shaken hands with him a thousand
times in some village street so true
was he to the aspect of the pattern
American.
"He was dressed in a rusty black
frock-coat and pantaloons, un brushed,
and worn so faithfully that the suit
had adapted itself to the curves and
angularities of his figure, and had
grown to be an outer skin of the man.
The whole physiognomy is as coarse a
one as you would meet anywhere in
the length and breadth of the states;
but withal. It is redeemed. Illuminated,
softened and brightened by a kindly
though serious look out of his eyes and
an expression of homely sagacity that
seemed weighted with rich results of
bitter experience a great deal of na
tive sense, no bookish cultivation, no
refinement, honest at heart and thor
(Concluded on Pafre 7.)
CHARLES DANA GIBSON'S PICTURE-STORY "A WIDOW AND HER FRIENDS"
A QUIET DINTTEE WITH DR. BOTTLES, AFTER WHICH HE READS ALOUD
mSS BABBLES' LATEST WORK.
NEXT WEEK A MESSAGE FROM THE OUTSIDE WORLD.