It has been stated that Lincoln, after reigning at the village store,
had become the idol of the settlement. A stranger to whom he was shown
was not properly impressed. One of the clerk's friends, William Greene,
bragged that his favorite was the strongest man in the township--this
was not affecting the critic--and even went on: "The strongest in the
country!"
"H'm! not the strongest in the State!" denied the stranger. "I know a
man who can lift a barrel of flour as easily as I can a peck of
potatoes."
"Abe, there, could lift _two_ barrels of flour if he could get a hold
on them."
"You can beat me telling 'raisers', but--"
"Taking a lift out of you or not, I am willing to bet that Abe will
lift a barrel of spirits and drink out of the bunghole to prove he can
hold it there!"
"Impossible! What will you lay on the thing?"
They made a wager of a new hat--the Sunday hat of beaver being still
costly.
Greene was betting unfairly--on a sure thing--as he had seen his friend
do what he asserted, all but the drinking flourish. Lincoln was averse
to the wagering at all, but to help his friend to the hat, he consented
to the feat. He passed through it, lifting the cask between his two
hands and holding the spigot-hole to his lips while he imbibed a
mouthful. As he was slowly lowering the barrel to the floor, the winner
exclaimed jubilately:
"I knew you would do it; but I never knew you to drink whisky before!"
The barrel was stood on the floor, when the drinker calmly expelled the
mouthful of its contents, and drolly remarked:
"And I have not _drunk_ that, you see!"
As a return for his action to win the hat, he asked Greene not to wager
any more--a resolve which he took to oblige him.
* * * * *