Lincoln's Yarns and Stories [119]
The gratitude of the mother was too deep for expression, save by her tears, and not a word was said between her and Stevens until they were half way down the stairs on their passage out, when she suddenly broke forth in an excited manner with the words:
"I knew it was a copperhead lie!"
"What do you refer to, madam?" asked Stevens.
"Why, they told me he was an ugly-looking man," she replied, with vehemence. "He is the handsomest man I ever saw in my life."
THAT COON CAME DOWN.
"Lincoln's Last Warning" was the title of a cartoon which appeared in "Harper's Weekly," on October 11, 1862. Under the picture was the text:
"Now if you don't come down I'll cut the tree from under you."
This illustration was peculiarly apt, as, on the 1st of January, 1863, President Lincoln issued his great Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in the United States forever free. "Old Abe" was a handy man with the axe, he having split many thousands of rails with its keen edge. As the "Slavery Coon" wouldn't heed the warning, Lincoln did cut the tree from under him, and so he came down to the ground with a heavy thump.
This Act of Emancipation put an end to the notion of the Southern slave holders that involuntary servitude was one of the "sacred institutions" on the Continent of North America. It also demonstrated that Lincoln was thoroughly in earnest when he declared that he would not only save the Union, but that he meant what he said in the speech wherein he asserted, "This Nation cannot exist half slave and half free."
WROTE "PIECES" WHEN VERY YOUNG.
At fifteen years of age "Abe" wrote "pieces," or compositions, and even some doggerel rhyme, which he recited, to the great amusement of his playmates.
One of his first compositions was against cruelty to animals. He was very much annoyed and pained at the conduct of the boys, who were in the habit of catching terrapins and putting coals of fire on their backs, which thoroughly disgusted Abraham.
"He would chide us," said "Nat" Grigsby, "tell us it was wrong, and would write against it."
When eighteen years old, "Abe" wrote a "piece" on "National Politics," and it so pleased a lawyer friend, named Pritchard, that the latter had it printed in an obscure paper, thereby adding much to the author's pride. "Abe" did not conceal his satisfaction. In this "piece" he wrote, among other things:
"The American government is the best form of government for an intelligent people. It ought to be kept sound, and preserved forever, that general education should be fostered and carried all over the country; that the Constitution should be saved, the Union perpetuated and the laws revered, respected and enforced."
"TRY TO STEER HER THROUGH."
John A. Logan and a friend of Illinois called upon Lincoln at Willard's Hotel, Washington, February 23d, the morning of his arrival, and urged a vigorous, firm policy.
Patiently listening, Lincoln replied seriously but cheerfully:
"As the country has placed me at the helm of the ship, I'll try to steer her through."
GRAND, GLOOMY AND PECULIAR.
Lincoln was a marked and peculiar young man. People talked about him. His studious habits, his greed for information, his thorough mastery of the difficulties of every new position in which he was placed, his intelligence on all matters of public concern, his unwearying good-nature, his skill in telling a story, his great athletic power, his quaint, odd ways, his uncouth appearance--all tended to bring him in sharp contrast with the dull mediocrity by which he was surrounded.
Denton Offutt, his old employer, said, after having had a conversation with Lincoln, that the young man "had talent enough in him to make a President."
ON THE WAY TO GETTYSBURG.
When Lincoln was on his way to the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, an old gentleman told him that his only son fell on Little Round Top at Gettysburg, and he was going to look at the spot. Mr. Lincoln replied: "You have been called on to make a terrible sacrifice for the Union, and a visit to that spot,