I. THE WILDERNESS AS THE GARDEN OF POLITICAL LIBERTY
The pioneer and frontiersman of early America are very strange beings
when viewed from our present social customs, or as studied from the
so-called refinements of modern interests and conveniences, but, no
doubt, the problem is now before us, which shall be the makers of
America, the pioneer view of freedom and right, or influence from the
present methods of material distinctions and individual success. We
may be sure that whichever one of these ideas gets first to the heart
of the American boy, that is the ideal that will make of him the
resulting man. The American boy loves to go to the bottom of things
and so the submarine idea of interests is full of fancies. He likes to
get to the top of things and the airship carries him away on the wings
of adventure. But this all is merely because he likes freedom and
conquest. There is a limit to the submarine and the airship, as there
is to all machinery ideals, but there was no limit to the
frontiersman and the pioneer. The boy wants no limit, and there is the
same opening now to be a frontiersman and a pioneer in human values as
there ever was, provided they are human values and not individual
aggrandizement. The only consideration is that the scenes have changed
and the obstacles known as "things in the way" are different.
The pioneer and the frontiersman were laboring to achieve something
far more important than clearing away trees, killing wildcats or
subduing the wild men of the wilderness. Such dangerous and exciting
work was but an incident in the great struggle. They were striving for
a safe, free and sufficient living for family and home. But far
greater than the economic interest was the ideal interest of freedom
from the will of overlords. That sublime goal of human endeavor is
probably no nearer the heart's desire now than it was then. Society is
not yet out of the wilderness of wildcat schemers and wild men
monopolists.
The American boy has an immeasurably greater opportunity to continue
the heroic and patriotic work of the frontiersman and pioneer. The
safety, freedom and sufficiency of America is merely well started on
its second period. The first great epoch of American humanity became
symbolized in the life of Washington and the second in the life of
Lincoln. If there is a third great symbolic character, it is yet to
come. The American boy must feel the meaning combined in Washington
and Lincoln if he is to be a pioneer civilizing, socially and
politically, the frontier of America for a nobler world.
II. SMALL BEGINNINGS IN PUBLIC ESTEEM
The wilderness family was humble as its needs. It was as least as good
as its neighbors. One thing we should appreciate as significant, in
the destitution of the times, the Lincoln family was adventurous and
enterprising until it arrived for final settlement in the richest
soil-regions of the Mississippi valley, and the freest mind-regions of
political America.
In the spring of 1830, on account of ill health in the neighborhood,
Lincoln's father decided to move from the unpromising forests of
Indiana to the fertile prairies of Illinois. Friends and relatives had
already preceded him, and had sent back glowing accounts of the
prairie lands. When the family arrived in Illinois, Lincoln was
probably as near destitute as ever in his life, and he entered into a
contract "to split four hundred rails for every yard of brown jeans
dyed with white walnut bark that would make a pair of trousers."
Lincoln was now past twenty-one, and, it may be said, not until his
arrival at New Salem had he found firm ground on which to begin
building to some plan of life. Undoubtedly, his vision of the future
was one of very vague dreams. That he was adventurous and looked
beyond his community for the fulfillment of his fortunes is shown in
his effort at commercial enterprise with nothing as his capital. He
now arranged to take a second raft of home goods to New Orleans. Such
a venture required no small amount of courage and self-reliance.
Wide observation with suitable thinking seems to give one prudence and
steadiness of mind in emergencies. In several trying instances this
proved to be true in Lincoln's experience, long before the
civilization of America was depending upon his warm heart and clear
head. Many such instances seem as trivial as the trimmings of a
sapling, but they are the perfecting process that makes possible the
great oak.
When his flatboat was finished at New Salem, it was necessary to have
a canoe that was to trail along behind the boat. The canoe was made
from a dugout log. When it was shoved into the booming Sangamon
river, his two friends, John Seamon and Walter Carmon, sprang into it
for the first ride, but the stream was too swift for them. The current
began to sweep them away down stream.
"Head up stream," Lincoln shouted, "and work back to shore."
But they could not beat the rush of water. Nearing the wreck of an old
flatboat, they tried to pull the canoe in among the timbers and hold
themselves fast. Seamon caught hold of a stanchion as they came by and
the canoe was overturned, leaving Seamon clinging to the timber and
Carmon being borne down stream, clinging to the slippery log.
Lincoln yelled for Carmon to swim for the branches of an elm tree that
swung in the high water near the shore. Carmon did this. Lincoln then
called to Seamon to swim for the tree with Carmon and they could be
rescued together.
It was a very cold April day and the men were in danger of becoming
too benumbed to hold on. By this time the whole village of New Salem
was gathered at the bank.
Lincoln procured a rope, which he fastened to a large log. The log was
pushed into the water and a venturesome young fellow named Jim Darrell
bestrode the log that was to be floated down stream to the rescue.
The log went straight to the tree all right, but the young man was too
eager to help his fellows. In the struggles the log was turned and so
caught in the current that it was swept away from them and there were
now three to be rescued from the tree.
The log was towed back. Lincoln tied another rope to it, and held the
end of the rope in his hand. He then mounted the log to take the
dangerous ride himself. As the log came into the tree, he threw the
rope around a limb and held fast. In another minute all three of the
shipwrecked men were safely astride the log. He then told the people
to let go the guiding rope. The well-calculated result was that the
current against the log, and the pull on the rope fastened to the
limb, swung them safely around to the shore.
Strange and foreign as it may seem, numerous clear-headed exploits
like this made his neighbors believe in him. Such belief encouraged
him to believe in himself, and, trivial as the analogy may seem, and
unworthy as the comparison might be, it doubtless had much to do in
strengthening his ambition to surpass his surroundings and gain the
larger fields of service. It is said that no one ever learned faster
in any situation than Lincoln. He never "lost his head" in any whirl
of events, and always before the crisis arrived he was facing it as
master.
[Illustration: Lincoln's Residence at Springfield, Illinois.]
Lincoln's raft from New Salem arrived in New Orleans in May, 1831. At
that time it seemed as if all the adventurers in the world had
gathered there, and it was probably the wickedest city on earth. It
was the gathering place of pirates, robbers and wild boatmen of the
river and gulf.
The city in its wild prosperity and barbarity must have made a strong
impression on Lincoln. Worst of all was its hideous slave market. Here
men and women were herded together like animals and sold like cattle.
Here he saw negro girls, many of them nearly white, treated like
beasts. At the auctioning off of a mulatto girl he turned away from
the revolting spectacle, saying to his companions, "Boys, let's get
away from this. If I ever get a chance to hit that thing (meaning
slavery), I'll hit it hard."
And to him was given the chance, through the terrible ordeal of civil
war, to drive that shame forever from the land of freedom. Only in the
light of twentieth century developments can we look back and see what
a desperate condition America would be in if the Southern half of the
United States had succeeded in becoming a separate slave-nation. Great
evils were involved and great wrongs had to be worked out from among
the passions and prejudice of the times, but we can now all believe,
no matter how meritorious was state patriotism, or how sincere the
faith of the people, or how correct their interpretation of the
original Union, that we have a greater America, destined to take a
better part in making a nobler civilization for a more progressive
world.
III. TESTS OF CHARACTER ON THE LAWLESS FRONTIER
There were gangs of good-natured rowdies, and there were roughhouse
communities in pioneer days.
Such a community and such a gang was in the neighborhood of New Salem,
known as Clary's Grove and the Clary Grove Boys. They delighted in
being rough and coarse, though, it is said, to their credit, that they
were generous and most faithful friends.
Denton Offutt for some reason liked to boast to them of his hired man.
He seemed to believe that it shed glory on himself as an employer. He
told the Clary Boys that his man could lift more, throw farther, run
faster, jump higher and wrestle better than any man in Sangamon
County. This hurt the Clary boys' sense of superiority. They decided
to test it out. Accordingly, they appointed Jack Armstrong as their
best man to prove their right to the championship.
Lincoln objected to the "tussle and scuffle" ideas of the time, he
disbelieved in the honors won by "wooling and pulling," but the age of
"fist-and-skull" duels was not yet at an end, and the question of best
man had to be tried out.
Clary's Grove came one day to back their man as representative of
themselves, and New Salem turned out to back the other. It was to be
"catch-as-catch-can and the best man wins."
The task to represent New Salem against the neighboring rowdydom was
not an easy one. But such is human nature that who can say what effect
it would have had on Lincoln's future if he had been beaten and
bullied over in that fight. Perhaps it shows how needful it is to do
well everything at hand to be done, because we do not know how it may
be part of our way to the unknowable future.
The champions came together according to the "fair play" of the time.
They clinched and swayed, those two strong men, but neither could be
moved from his feet. Each side was yelling itself hoarse, as the one
who was to be the greatest of Americans strove with the one who would
long ago be as forgotten as his dust, except for the struggle he made
and for the conquest.
Feeling himself being defeated, one of them did not play the game
fair. It was not Lincoln. The champion of the Clary gang played a
trick, and Lincoln caught him by the throat, holding him out at arm's
length, where he could only kick, and squirm and beat the air, but
could do nothing against that long, strong right arm. The Clary gang
rushed to the rescue, and it looked as if he would have to fight them
all when Armstrong declared that he had enough, and that Lincoln was
the "best fellow that ever broke into camp."
Not long after this the Clary gang elected Lincoln as Captain of their
sports and henceforth were among his most faithful friends. The fact
that Lincoln could hold the political support and good-will of both
the best and the worst shows that there was a reliability in his
character to which they could together safely give allegiance.
The friendship of Jack Armstrong and his family, after the fight,
never swerved, and the time came when Lincoln repaid their kindness
and their simple loyalty in a great way. Years afterward, when Lincoln
had become a renowned lawyer, Jack Armstrong's son was accused of
murder. They went for Lincoln and Lincoln came. He studied the case
and became convinced that the son of his old friend was innocent.
There had been a quarrel among some young men one night near an
out-of-door camp meeting, and one had been stabbed to death.
Young Armstrong was arrested on the testimony of one who claimed to
have seen the blow struck by the light of the moon.
Lincoln made the witness repeat his testimony about the moon and then
began his address to the jury. He told of his relations to the
prisoner's father, of the kindness of the mother, and how he had
played with the boy as a child. Then he said that he was not there as
paid attorney but as a friend of the family. With that explanation, he
reviewed the testimony showing that all the evidence depended on what
the witness had seen by the light of the moon. At this point he
produced an almanac showing that there was no moon on the night of the
murder. The jury took only a very short consultation to bring in a
verdict of "Not Guilty."
This story has often been told in which the almanac is represented as
having been an old one, thus winning the case by a trick of falsehood,
but investigation has proven this to be untrue, accordingly supporting
the statement that Lincoln never used such tactics to win a case.
We have learned that no character in history can be understood except
in relation to its surroundings. Otherwise, Lincoln's fight with the
backwoods' ruffians might now seem vulgar and lawless, but it was in
truth a powerful factor in building his life for its supreme service.
It not only helped to establish his own conscious integrity, but it
was planting respect for him among his neighbors, which was as
necessary for his growth of reputation as anything at any time in his
career. The time when a boy can afford not "to care what people think"
depends very much not only upon the boy and the people, but also upon
what is meant by the "care" and the "think."
IV. THE PIONEER MISSIONARY OF HUMANITY
The pioneer West was indeed uncouth, but there were many noteworthy
redeeming features in the zeal of the better classes for ideal
interests. Doubtless, Lincoln was often inspired by such a fair view
of humanity. Many an incident is told of the unselfish devotion among
the people with whom Lincoln lived.
The zeal in having a mission in those days was something that is
almost unimaginable in these days. It is illustrated by the following
incident told by Milburn of the useful men of those days in touch with
the Lincoln life.
A young travelling preacher, and the preachers of that period in those
regions were really all travelling if they were preachers, for they
had no abiding place, was so much beloved by a man who had acquired a
large amount of land, that the man made the young preacher the present
of a deed to half a section of land. The young man, being destitute,
was much rejoiced to receive the gift of three hundred and twenty
acres of good prairie soil. He went away with a grateful heart toward
his generous benefactor. Three months later he returned, and, as he
greeted the generous friend at the door, he handed back the deed,
saying, "Here, sir, I want you to take back your title-deed."
"What's the matter," asked the surprised friend. "Anything wrong with
it?"
"No," replied the young man, as if somewhat ashamed to give his
reason.
"Isn't the land good enough?"
"Good as any in the state."
"Are you afraid it is a sickly place?"
"Healthy as anywhere."
"Do you think I am sorry I gave it to you?"
"I haven't the slightest reason to doubt your whole-hearted
generosity."
"Then why in the thunder don't you keep it?" inquired the dumbfounded
benefactor.
"Well, sir, if I must tell you," said the young preacher, "you know I
am very fond of singing, and there's one hymn in my book, which has
been one of my greatest comforts in life, and it is not so any more. I
have lost the joy of singing it, and it has killed so much other joy
that I can no longer endure the privation. I will sing you one verse."
Then he sang:
"No foot of land do I possess,
No cottage in the wilderness;
A poor wayfaring man.
I lodge awhile in tents below,
And gladly wander to and fro,
Till I my Canaan gain;
There is my house and portion fair,
My treasure and my heart are there,
And my abiding home."
"Please take your title-deed," he exclaimed. "I want to have the joy I
used to have in singing that song. I'd rather sing it with a clear
conscience than to own America."
It was among such people sacrificing themselves for humanity that
Lincoln found his great inspiration from the sordid and mean that are
ever to be found muckraking at the bottom. The family may be in a good
home, safe for its children, but the good home must be in a good
community or they are not safe. In fact, we cannot be sure of a good
home unless its good community is in a good world. Good people in a
good community are of priceless help to a good mother bringing up a
good boy, with the biggest meaning of life in the word good.
V. EXPERIENCES IN THE INDIAN WAR
Great events probably have less effect in shaping one's life than the
little incidents that compose them. It seems so with Lincoln.
The confidence and appreciation of his friends (note that it was not
his self-seeking aggressiveness) caused him to believe that he should
try to become their representative in the state legislature. He was in
the midst of this, his first political campaign, which was at the age
of twenty-three, when Black Hawk, the Indian warrior, crossed the
Mississippi River, April 6, 1832, with his five hundred followers and
began what is known as the Black Hawk War.
The white settlers had gradually occupied the Indians' land, and the
government by treaties had caused the Indians to be removed to
territory west of the Mississippi. Black Hawk, a leader of the Sacs
and Foxes, believed the Indians to be mistreated and so resolved to
drive the white settlers back to the treaty line.
"My reason teaches me," he wrote to the government, "that land cannot
be sold. The Great Spirit gave it to his children to live upon, and
cultivate, as far as is necessary for their living; and so long as
they occupy and cultivate it they have a right to the soil, but, if
they willingly leave it, then any other people have a right to settle
on it. Nothing can be sold but such things as can be carried away."
There are now several social theories based on this idea that the
earth belongs to the people who use it. The theory of right things
governs the minds of all who think, even of the wild men in the
wilderness.
When the news arrived that the Indians had declared war against the
whites, with the appeal from Governor Reynolds for volunteers, Lincoln
dropped his canvass for the legislature in order to enlist for the
defense of his country.
The man-making incident in this important event was Lincoln's election
as captain of his home company. If there had been one thing which
Lincoln had not studied, that was the tactics of a soldier. He knew
nothing about military orders, and yet the time was coming, all too
soon, when he was to be chief of the greatest military organization
then in the world.
A sawmill owner named Kilpatrick was pushing himself forward to be
made captain. This man owed Lincoln two dollars for work and would not
pay it.
Lincoln got an idea and he said to his friend Greene, "Bill, I believe
I can now make Kilpatrick pay that two dollars he owes me. I'll run
against him for captain."
When it came to the vote, the two candidates stood out in the open,
and the men were told to stand up by the man they wanted to be
captain. More than three-fourths of them gathered around Lincoln, and
he became Captain Lincoln. He tells us himself that he never had any
success in life which gave him more satisfaction. It was a vote of
confidence in the reality of a man.
In telling of his ignorance of military command, he says that he was
marching his company across a field when they came to a gate. "I could
not for the life of me remember the proper word of command for getting
my company endwise, so that the line could get through the gate; so,
as we came up to the gate, I shouted, 'This company is dismissed for
two minutes, when it will fall in again on the other side of the
gate.'"
He was also totally unfamiliar with camp discipline, and he once had
his sword taken from him for shooting off his rifle within limits. At
another time his company stole some whisky, and, during the night,
became so drunk that they could not fall in line the next morning. For
this neglect of discipline Lincoln had to wear a wooden sword for two
days. But his men respected him and were his devoted friends. They
knew he meant what he said, and whatever they saw of him was the
truth.
His firmness in the right "as God gives us to see the right," even
against his associates, is illustrated in the incident of saving an
Indian's life.
The frontiersman's standard of morality toward an Indian was that the
only good Indian is a dead Indian.
One day an Indian was brought into camp. He was trying to cross the
country and return to his tribe. To do this was his privilege and
General Cass had given him an order of safe conduct. But the
frontiersmen had come out to kill Indians and this was their first
chance. Lincoln stood up by the side of the red man, and boldly took
the Indian's part. Some rebellious ones determined to take the Indian
and kill him, even if they had to fight Lincoln to do it. But Lincoln
stood up by the side of the red man and gave them to understand that
it could be done only over his dead body. They knew that he meant it.
The result was that the Indian was allowed to go his way, and the
resolute Captain never lost a friend for it. Many an act of mercy in
keeping with this one has made his name beloved throughout the earth.
His soldiering lasted three months, but it doubtless gave him many
ideas for use in the greater events of after years.
VI. LIFE-MAKING DECISIONS
At the close of his unsuccessful canvass, in August of 1832, for the
Illinois Assembly, he was out of anything to do, and he seriously
considered the advice of his friends to become a blacksmith. This was
a suitable trade for him, they said, because he was so strong armed.
But this work gave him no leisure for study and he decided against it.
The only thing he knew was store-keeping and he decided to buy a
store. The opportunity was open for him to buy a half interest with
William Berry and he did so, giving notes for the goods. Business
prospered rapidly while the enthusiasm was on, but Berry loved whisky
as much as Lincoln loved books, and between the one who squandered
time and money on liquor, and the one who neglected business for
books, there could not be expected any results more natural than that
business should finally go to pieces.
It was in the midst of these conditions that Berry took out a tavern
license for the firm. It is understood that this was not for the
purpose of keeping a liquor grocery, but to enable them to sell the
stock on hand that had come to them from the stores they had bought
out, and probably to get the much needed money to conduct their
business. In those days a store could get no business if it had no
liquor to sell. The personal morality of a thing must be considered in
relation to the times. The selling of liquor by the quart was then as
unquestioned propriety as selling potatoes or flour. Liquor was sold
in all grocery stores as a part of the general business of the store
the same as tobacco or sugar.
But it should be noted that the license was taken out in the name of
Berry and that Lincoln's name was signed by some other person to the
bond.
Among the characteristic incidents told of Lincoln during this period
is that of his encounter with a swaggering stranger who came into the
store and used his choicest oaths in the presence of some women.
Lincoln asked him to stop but he paid no attention. At the second
request, more firmly given, he declared that nobody could dictate his
style of language in a free country.
"Well," said Lincoln, as the newcomer continued swearing, "if you must
be whipped, I suppose I might as well whip you as any other man."
The man believed he could "whip" Lincoln and vindicate the freedom of
speech and the rights of man. According to his theory, right was on
his side, and it could be vindicated by battle. Lincoln's more
concrete object was to prevent swearing in the presence of women. So
they went outside to begin the war. The obliging persons present
formed a ring around the combatants to insure fair play, and the
freedom of decency began its war with the freedom of speech, according
to the ancient wager of battle.
New Salem had little doubt about which would win. In a minute Lincoln
was rubbing smartweed into the eyes of the freedom of speech, and the
rights of man was bellowing for mercy.
New Salem was at bottom composed of real men and they liked that sort
of thing. The champion of genuine human freedom and real rights in New
Salem was building his unknown way to be the champion of the same
fundamental human interests in the capital of his nation.
It is very likely that those who feel little think even less, because
those wideawake enough to think much must have imagination, which is
the mother of sympathy. Many stories are told of Lincoln's deep
feeling of sympathy for those about him, and especially he was the
friend who believed in decency and loved moral order.
"Honest Abe" is a name that would be generally regarded now as a
"nickname" expressing a kind of good-natured contempt. Justice now
wades deep streams in the adjustments of big business. But Abraham
Lincoln had a musical soul and the color harmony of a great scenic
artist for humanity. He might not have an eye for fitness in clothes
or the idealism of pretty things, but his soul was in pain over any
mistreatment of human beings. He could not endure the discordant note
in any dishonest transaction, and he could not stand for any blur on
the canvas in the scenes of mercy and justice. Like great standards of
right-life waving in the breeze were many acts of Lincoln endearing
him to the confidence of his people. As an illustration may be
mentioned the incident of his taking six and a quarter cents too much
from a customer. He walked three miles in the evening after the store
closed, in order to restore the money. Another time he weighed out
half a pound of tea and afterward discovered that a four-ounce weight
had been on the scales. He weighed out the extra four ounces and
closed the store so he could promptly deliver the remainder of the
tea. This was probably poor business, but it meant much for human
liberty that the people believed in him, and that he always made good
in fulfillment of that belief.
Any one doing these things now would very likely be playing the game
of getting a reputation for honesty as the best policy for the sake of
the policy, and if he required such strictness of dealing with himself
he would be regarded merely as a miser. Only bankers, the post office
and big business are expected legitimately to hunt for the lost cent
all night before the account books can be closed. But this was
Lincoln's whole life and his neighbors knew it. They told other people
that he was a man to be trusted until at last the whole world knew it,
and the historians recorded it among the imperishable records of
civilization.
A nation is rich as it has such ideals of character, especially in
this kind striving on from the lowliest to the highest, through the
destitution and discouragement that may drag down the aspiring dream
of better life.
Robert Browning appreciates the honored names when he says,
"A nation is but an attempt of many,
To rise to the completer life of one;
And they who live as models for the mass
Are simply of more value than they all."