When Lincoln’s attention was called to the fact that, at one time in
his boyhood, he had spelled the name of the Deity with a small “g,” he
replied:
“That reminds me of a little story. It came about that a lot of
Confederate mail was captured by the Union forces, and, while it was
not exactly the proper thing to do, some of our soldiers opened several
letters written by the Southerners at the front to their people at home.
“In one of these missives the writer, in a postscript, jotted down this
assertion:
“‘We’ll lick the Yanks termorrer, if goddlemity (God Almighty) spares
our lives.’
“That fellow was in earnest, too, as the letter was written the day
before the second battle of Manassas.”
“FETCHED SEVERAL SHORT ONES.”
“The first time I ever remember seeing ‘Abe’ Lincoln,” is the testimony
of one of his neighbors, “was when I was a small boy and had gone with
my father to attend some kind of an election. One of the neighbors,
James Larkins, was there.
“Larkins was a great hand to brag on anything he owned. This time it was
his horse. He stepped up before ‘Abe,’ who was in a crowd, and commenced
talking to him, boasting all the while of his animal.
“‘I have got the best horse in the country,’ he shouted to his young
listener. ‘I ran him nine miles in exactly three minutes, and he never
fetched a long breath.’
“‘I presume,’ said ‘Abe,’ rather dryly, ‘he fetched a good many short
ones, though.’”