When Mr. Lincoln was quite a small boy he met with an accident that
almost cost him his life. He was saved by Austin Gollaher, a young
playmate. Mr. Gollaher lived to be more than ninety years of age, and
to the day of his death related with great pride his boyhood association
with Lincoln.
“Yes,” Mr. Gollaher once said, “the story that I once saved Abraham
Lincoln’s life is true. He and I had been going to school together for a
year or more, and had become greatly attached to each other. Then school
disbanded on account of there being so few scholars, and we did not see
each other much for a long while.
“One Sunday my mother visited the Lincolns, and I was taken along. ‘Abe’
and I played around all day. Finally, we concluded to cross the creek
to hunt for some partridges young Lincoln had seen the day before.
The creek was swollen by a recent rain, and, in crossing on the narrow
footlog, ‘Abe’ fell in. Neither of us could swim. I got a long pole and
held it out to ‘Abe,’ who grabbed it. Then I pulled him ashore.
“He was almost dead, and I was badly scared. I rolled and pounded him
in good earnest. Then I got him by the arms and shook him, the water
meanwhile pouring out of his mouth. By this means I succeeded in
bringing him to, and he was soon all right.
“Then a new difficulty confronted us. If our mothers discovered our
wet clothes they would whip us. This we dreaded from experience, and
determined to avoid. It was June, the sun was very warm, and we soon
dried our clothing by spreading it on the rocks about us. We promised
never to tell the story, and I never did until after Lincoln’s tragic
end.”