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Show 1 KNEW LINCOLN IN YOUTH f t " I Aged Lady Now Living in California Recalls ( Times of Long Ago f t Twenty miles out from Los Angeles, An-geles, Cal., on the seashore road, In n humble, four-roomed house, Is nn old woman who Abraham Lincoln was very fond of and who ho tcaslngly nnmed "Quinine" 70 years ago, when, ,n store clerk In New Salem, he boarded board-ed for $1 a week under her father's roof. Mrs. Vienna Lystcr has Just celebrated cele-brated her 89th birthday. A stately old woman, sho Is still frco of step and straight of vision, though her memory has begun to falter, recollection recollec-tion to wnver and down tho long vista of years nnd tlay-mnrks of her girlhood girl-hood nro blurred. This long-ago friend of Lincoln sits In her son's home nt Hurnott pnd tells mnny stories of tho Grcnt Commoner. With n quaint tenderness comes tho thought that this Is tho cousin, tho girlhood friend, of fair Ann Ilutledge, tho dead love of Lincoln's youth. For twenty years, "nllko to fortune and to fame unknown," the recipient of Lli.coln's whlmslcnl nickname has mndd her homo In tho whitewashed cottngo In tho little town of Burnett. Seventy-five years ago, In the summer sum-mer of 1830, Lincoln released himself from parental care and started out to make his own way. This was soon after his people has removed to Illinois, Illin-ois, and the future President was then a gaunt, tall lad of llttlo more than 21. Tho following year, Just after his famous ftatboat trip to Now Orleans, he made his second and "pormnnent" appearance In Now Salem, on tho banks of tho Sangamon river. Its population at that time probably did not exceed soventy-fivo men, women nnd children. It was ono of tho many came to us, and my mother charged him about $1 a week for his bed and board." Tho "us girls" referred to by Mrs. Lystcr were elovon In number (reinforced (rein-forced by ono brother), and a right merry crowd for a log cabin homo, It may bo guessed. In tho order of their ages they were: Dctsy Cameron, nicknamed "Isabcllo" by Lincoln; Vienna, whom tho future President preferred to nddrcss as "Quinine," perhaps because at 17 she could find a sharp thrust to answer his teasing with; Thomns lono brother In a wilderness wild-erness of girls, cnlled "Tarn O'Shan-tor" O'Shan-tor" by Lincoln, nnd Nancy, Jane, Martha, Mar-tha, Sarah, Sallnn nnd Sorcna (tho twins), Eliza, Caroline and Margaret. What clerk to-day would walk five miles dally between his storo and his hoarding house? Lincoln did it for months, striding from "Parson" Cam eron s log cabin In tho early mornings to Denton Offutt's general store, and back n gul n nt dusk. Ho loved oxorclso In the open, ho was proud may bo at tlmo a trifle boastful of his physical strength and grcnt powers of endurnnce, but aside from that, ono cannot help wondering If John Cameron's merry houseful of buxom daughters may not have been a keener Inspiration for those dally trudges than love of Naturo and of Nnturo's moods. Mrs. Lystcr remembers "Abe" striding strid-ing steadily, but unhurriedly "home," gaunt shoulders drooped, shaggy head bent nnd eyes glued to tho pages of a grammar that he held well up as ho wtilkcd. Awaiting him at tho long tramp's end were the friends who. In accepting "boom" towns of what was then tho Far Western Stato of Illinois, Tho ensuing llvo years, 1831 to 183C, cover ono of tho most Interesting porl-ods porl-ods of Lincoln's early life, whon ho learned tho lessons of lovo and death and to rlso above tho bitterness of despair. de-spair. It was during this period that Mrs. Lystor (then Vlonna Cameron) know him, received nt his hands the odd nlcknnmo of "Quinine," nnd bo-canio bo-canio n quiet observer of his courtship court-ship of her beautiful cousin, Ann Rut-lodge. Rut-lodge. Ono of tho foremost men of tho Now Salem neighborhood was tho Rev. John Cameron, Mrs. Lloyd's futhor, Ho preached In tho Presbyterian church on Sundays, and, nftor tho custom of thoso sturdy times, turnod a shrowd oyo to business during tho woek, Ho It was, Indeed who, with his wife's brothor, tho James Rutledgo montloned by historians In connection with tho liiBtrum of Lincoln's llfo, laid out tho town slto of Now Salem. At tho tlmo of Lincoln's advont In Now Salom "Parson" Cameron with his wlfo and family eleven daughters and ono son had his homo In tho proverbial log houso of tho oerlod, a fow miles from town on tho hanks of tho Sangamon stream, close to tho Rutledgo & Camoron mm. inis miter mi-ter combined tho business of sawing timber and grinding grist. Tho mill, on a dam that Jutted out a fow hundred hun-dred foot Into tho rlvor, was ono of tho last landmarks of tho locality fo crumblo away. LIncolji for a short tlmo was In chnrgo of It. Mrs. Lystcr does not recnll tho day that Lincoln first camo to her father's homo to board, but roforonco to what ,meagor data is extant Indicates that It was In tho wlntor or spring of 1833. "Lincoln wns a great, big, hulking follow fol-low then," says Mrs. Lystor, "full to 'the chin with fun and always playing droll pranks on us girls. Ho was a clerk in Denton Offut's storo when he A tho $l-a-week board, hod taken him In and mndo him ono of themselves. "Lincoln, or 'Abo,' ns wo ono and all soon camo to call him was a member of tho family ns long ns he stayed with us," Mrs. Lystcr says. "To him my mother wns 'Aunt Polly,' " a fact homo out by historians. "Lincoln," says Mrs. Lystor, recalling recal-ling thoso raro days, "was a remark-nblo remark-nblo young man for pranks. Ho had a nlcknnmo for each one of us girls, but I can only romember a few. Ono of his tricks was to pluck his friends by their ears ho was always doing that. I havo heard my father speak of seeing 'Abo standing at a corner, or In tho road, tolling ono of his droll stories or engaged In earnest discussion, discus-sion, nnd, at a climax In tho tnlo or conversation, strotchlng out one of his long arms, and gently pulling tho listener's lis-tener's car, Instead of plucking the lapel of his coat. From moro than ono of us Cameron girls 'Abo' caught a scolding for not leaving our cars nlono." |