Show Nancy Hanks Hears News of Her Son SOlI By y ELMO SCOTT WATSON Released b by Western Newspaper Union MONG the countless tributes tributes trib trib- AMONG ArtONG fi utes paid to Abraham Lincoln are several written by newspaper men which have become Newspaper Classics I i. i e e. pieces of prose that so caught the public fancy as to result in frequent requests that they be reprinted reprint reprint- ed in the newspaper in which they originally appeared Outstanding among these is isan isan isan an imaginary conversa conversation tion between Lincoln's mother Nancy Hanks Lincoln and a n personification of the Present It was written in 1914 for forthe forthe forthe the Boston Herald by Robert Lincoln OBrien O'Brien at that time editor of the Herald from 1931 to 1937 chairman of the United States Tariff commission commission commission commis commis- sion and ond now publisher of the Cape Cod Colonial at ot Hyannis Mass Moss It reads as follows Nancy Hanks flanks I I see the calendar calen calen- dar says it is 1914 nearly a century century century cen cen- tury after my We lile in the world ended Pray tell teU me spirit of the Present whether anyone mortal remembers that I 1 ever lived or knows my place of burial The Present Present Present-oh Oh yes There Is Isa isa I a a monument over your grave at Pigeon Creek A man named Studebaker of South Bend Ind went there In 1879 and spent 1000 in marking it Nancy Hanks What What do you mean More money than I ever saw in my life spent on my grave more than sixty years after alter I had I Was he a rich descendant descend descend- I ant of 01 mine The Present He Present He was no relative relative relative rela rela- tive of ot yours As a matter fact citizen he thought your grave ought to be marked Twentythree Twentythree Twenty- Twenty three years later the state of Indiana Indiana In In- diana erected a massive monument monument monument ment in your honor school schoolchildren schoolchildren schoolchildren children marched in procession when it was dedicated The governor governor governor gov gov- of the state now one of the thereat great reat commonwealths of the Union was there while a B distinguished distin distin- general from afar delivered delivered delivered ered the principal oration This monument cost a larger fortune than han you ever knew anyone to possess More people than you ever saw together at one time assembled And on the pedestal in raised letters one may read Nancy Hanks flanks Lincoln Can there be any mistake about that Nancy Hanks What What is this wonder of wonders I realize that hat my mortal remains in n a rough pine box were buried burled under the trees at Pigeon Creek and that no minister of religion was there to say even a prayer I supposed that if lf anybody in all thIs his earth of ot yours would be surely surey sure sure- ly y forgotten and soon forgotten it it would be Nancy Hanks th the plain woman of the wilderness My life was short short short-of of only twenty twenty- five years years and and in it I s saw w little of at the great world and knew little of it it and on going out had little further to expect from It it So I 1 pray break to me the meaning of this appalling mystery I IThe IThe The Present This Present This is the i of at February I Nancy That Hanks Hanks That was the birthday of my little boy a slender slender slender slen slen- der awkward fellow who used every night to climb a ladder of wooden pins driven into a log up into a bed of leaves in the loft and there to dream Whatever became of that sad little boy boyT lIe He was not very well when I left him All that winter he seemed ailing I hated to go away I Iwas Iwas Iwas was afraid his father could not give the care that the frail fraU little fellow needed Did you ever er hear what became of my little nine nine- year-old year boy out in the woods of Pigeon Creek The Present Present Present-of Of course I have heard what became of him Few have not The people who could answer your question number hundreds of millions today There is no land and no tongue in which the information you seek could not be supplied and usually by bythe bythe bythe the man in the street Actual millions of people know that the of at February was the day you welcomed into your cabin in the frontier wilderness that little boy Ills His birthday in two twenty states of the Union including the imperial imperial im im- pedal state of New York has become be come a legal holiday Most of the others hold some commemorative commemorative commemorative exercises When the great financial market of the world opened in London this morning it was with the knowledge that the United States of America the great republic over the seas would record no stock transactions transactions transactions this day The words No market Lincoln's birthday travel on ocean cables under every sea and business in the great buildings forty stories high of New York city has paused today So it does at Ft Dearborn Lake Michigan Michigan Michi Michi- you you remember remember-on on gan now one of the foremost clues cities of the world Nancy Hanks Pray flanks Pray tell me more of the miracle of my little t v r 4 p A NY New s OO N TH T VI EZRY roo l GONE T i iT T SWORE IN INAI AN OL CL SP TELLS ME uS f-uS S BONAPARTE FELLA F LLA HAS NAS CAPTURED MOST 0 SPAIN WHAT'S NEW OUT CR e fIM ATALL ATALL FEkA Fet FER FERA A NEW BABY DOWN T TOM LINCOLN S. NUTt-fI NUTt eVER HAPPENS Our He E fl- fl t BY QueST QueST- Press Pub Puh Cb Yo Yo bt This cartoon titled Hardin County 1809 Is also a Newspaper Classic Drawn by II T. T Webster it was first printed in 1918 in the Kansas City Star and other newspapers receiving the syndicate servIce service service ice of the Press Publishing company New York World Every ery year since then it has been reprinted in the Star at the request of readers boys boy's life I cannot wait to hear what it all aU means I IThe IThe The Present Present Present-It If you had one copy of every book that has been written about him you would have lave a larger library than you ever saw in hi your mortal life If you had visited every city which has las reared his statue you would be more widely traveled than any person that you ever saw The journey would take you to several European capitals Every possIble possible pos pos- sible work that he ever wrote every speech he ever made every document he ever penned has been collected and these have all aU been printed in sets of books with a fullness such as has been accorded to the works of only a afew afew afew few children of men You rout could count on the fingers of 01 two hands hands and ond perhaps of one the men in al all p 1 s a te as a's t ta n ni t i Fw 1 N i iV iF F V 3 sa t ti i AI i t tR f rr ROBERT LINCOLN OBRIEN O'BRIEN secular history who so vitally appeal appeal ap ap- ap I peal to the imagination of mankind mankind mankind man man- kind today Nancy Hanks And Ranks And so my little littleboy littleboy littleboy boy came rame into all alt this glory in his lifetime I IThe The Present present present-Oh Oh no lie He died at six fifty as unaware of how the world would eventually regard regard regard re re- re- re gard him as old Christopher Columbus Co Ca- lumbus himself A few months before his death he expected soon to be thrown out of the position he was holding and so he wrote a aletter aletter aletter letter telling how he should strive to help his successor to carry out the unfinished work Your little littleboy littleboy little littleboy boy saw so little to indicate the place that time has accorded him His 1115 widow was hardly able to get from congress a pension large enough for comfortable support and yet that same body in less than a half century appropriates two million dollars stop dollars stop to think of that that for for a national monument in his honor and on plans so elaborate as to call cail eventually for far more than this sum But Dut I could tell you only half the story Men have retired from business to go into solitude to study his life Others have been made famous by reason of having having hav hay ing known him I recall a New NewYork NewYork NewYork York financier who had known the high life of the world mingling mingling min min- gling with the princes and statesmen statesmen states states- men of nearly every land On his seventieth birthday his friends gave him u II complimentary din ner lie He chatted to them of what he had seen and where he had been But Dut he dismissed all the honors of the big world by saying that hat the one thing that remained most worth while in his threescore threescore threescore three three- score years and ten was that he had lad shaken hands and conversed In n private audience with your little ittle boy whom this cosmopolite pictured as leading the procession procession sion of ot the immortals down the centuries Nancy Hanks This Ranks This is beyond me I am lost in mystery and amazement What did my boy- boy that hat earnest sad little fellow of He the woods s and streams streams streams-do do to tomake tomake tomake make men feel this way How did it all aU come about The Present That Present That might be beas beas beas as hard for you to understand without a 11 knowledge of what has taken aken place in the meantime as ashe the he skyscrapers and the ocean cables ables and railroad trains that I Ilave have lave spoken about But Dut I will try tryo to o tell teU you something of whal wha he helas has las done Nancy I Hanks flanks I I am hanging on your words I long to hear the story The Present Present We We have in the trie United States a great democracy We are making a great experiment experiment experiment ment for the nations Y Your ur little littleboy littleboy boy gave friends of democracy the Jie world over the largest measure measure measure meas meas- ure of confidence in its permanency permanency perma perma- nency and success of any man that has ever lived More than a million people a year now pour into the United States from lands beyond the theseas theseas theseas seas most of ot them unfamiliar with our language and our customs customs customs cus cus- toms and our aims alms When we Americans who are older by a afew afew afew few generations go out to meet them we take as the supreme example of what we mean by our great experiment the life of Abraham Abraham Abraham Ab Ab- Ab- Ab raham Lincoln And when we weare weare weare are ourselves tempted in the mad complexity of our material civili civili- civilization civilization to disregard the pristine ideals of the republic we see his gaunt figure standing before us usand usand usand and his outstretched arm pointing to the straighter and simpler path of at righteousness For he was a liberator of men in bondage he was a savior of his country he was a bright and shining light lie He became President of ot the United States but that affords small clue to his real distinction Few Americans ever refer to him himas as President Lincoln In the idiom of our people he is Abraham Abraham Abraham Abra Abra- ham Lincoln called by the name you gave him in tha wilderness gloom To that name of your choosing no titles that the vain world knows could add anything of honor or distinction And today today to to- today day from the Atlantic to the Pacific Pacific Pacific Pa Pa- seas and in places under distant distant distant dis dis- dis- dis tant skies children will recite ii in their schools his words men will wil gather about banquet boards to refresh their ideals by hearing anew some phase of his wonderful wonder wonder- ful story Our nation ge get along without some of its territory territory terri terri- tory without millions of ot its people people peo pea pie without masses of at its hoarded hoard ed wealth but it would be poor indeed were it to wake up on this this thi morning ot of the Twentieth century without the memory of Abraham Lincoln one Lincoln one of the ilie really priceless priceless priceless price price- less possessions of ot the republic To the list of Newspaper Clas Clas- ics ales associated with Lincoln's BIrthday should be added en cr r. r True it appeared first in a book ook but it has been reprinted by y request in the papers so many nany times that it rates as a Newspaper Classic It was writ writ- t ten n by Rosemary and Stephen Vincent genet Benet and was included In n their A Book Dook of Americans published by Farrar and fine Rine- hart lart in 1933 Its subject is N SCY HANKS If Nancy Came Came- back as u a ghost Seeking news Of what she loved most shed she'd Shed She'd ask uk first Wheres Where's my son What happened ned to 10 Abe What's Whal's he he- done Poor little Utile Abe Left Lett all alone Except pt for Tom Who's a rolling roiling stone He Ife was wu only nine The year I died I 1 remember still How flow hard he cried Scraping along In a little shack With hardly a shirt To cover hi hla hie back And a prairie wind To blow him down Or times If he went to 10 town You wouldn't know About my son Did he grow tall Did he have fun Did he learn Ie-am to read Did he get iet to town Iown Do you know his name Did he get on Soon after A Book Dook of Americans Americans Americans Ameri Ameri- cans cans appeared and the reprintIng reprint- reprint Ing ng of Nancy Hanks began D. D R. R GrafT Graff a contributor to Franklin Frankin Frank Frank- in tin P. P Adams' Adams column The Conning Conning Conning Con Con- ning Tower then appearing in inthe inthe the he New York Herald Tribune wrote this REPLY TO TilE THE GHOST OF NANCY HANKS I remember member your son eon Whose bony hands Left a plow to res rest t tIn In prairie sands sandi And Ami came to town In his Sunday suit cult Wearing Toms Tom's hat And shirt to boot booL He lie got a job jobIn jobIn jobIn In a grocers grocer's store out beans bean And the floor Then he bought leather boot For his awkward feet fed And practiced law lawIn lawIn lawIn In the county scaLlie seat scat lie He studied hard Almost every night Till the pages blurred Beneath the candle light tight You'd have smiled In your pioneer way To see him About Henry Clay And hear him talk lalk In a pitched low toneTo toneTo tone toneTo To a bed and a table In a room all alone When n hed he'd think of you Before go goin In to 10 sleep Hed He'd pray the Lord Your soul to keep And hed he'd see ee your face When the drip Through the quiet hours Of a flatboat trip Did he have fun Yes In his youth And hed he'd often laugh laughIn In a way uncouth But In later years When his road was steep lie He kept his laughter Way down deep Did he grow tall A good six feet fed With a roomy chest Where a stout heart beat With hairy hands To grip a plow And a blacksmiths blacksmith's ibis flats That cd stun a cow Did he get on onIt on- on If It what you mean Is a white frame house houseIn In a yard of green Or money to buy buyA A bottomland farm Or store bought clothes To keep him warm Or the extra horse So he could ride Along country roads With his village brideWell brideWell brideWell bride bride- Well Well Well- Cettin on like that Wasn't his way lie He didn't gauge success By the bales bals of hay Or the cords of wood woodA A man can buy Or acres he owns In wheat or rye He lie didn't care For wealth In gold But for wealth in love That a heart henrt could bold Your son Abe Was of different clay clOT Hed He'd forget to ask His Ills rightful pay payAs payAs payAs As a lawyer should When he wins a ease cue And the right prevails Against the base bue lie He made his way wayBy wayBy wayBy By a different road And his hs shoulders carried came camedA A heavy lead toad While cannon belched And generals led Gaunt Caunt gray troops Of marching dead While fear-crazed fear boys boy I Slogged through mud And canisters were Flecked with blood While Sherman rode Through a southern street And a drummer died In a Held field of wheat wheaL Yes Abe got on Though few can tell teU How he ever lived through The wars war's black hell heU hellAnd hellAnd And he died at |