Show byc 0 utha U li 01 1 A 14 4 t 4 at Lincoln the captain in the 7 U d Lincoln the rail splitter P in garfield park chicago T W 6 0 tv 4 MR I 1 I 1 11 I 1 sam the hoosier ITIC by ELMO SCOTT WATSON IN N SCORES of cities and villages throughout the united states and in several foreign countries stand statues and other memorials to the great american whose birthday we nye will celebrate on february 12 most of them having been erected to commemorate his services as president during a critical period in the nations history and his world ulde renown as r P great humanitarian portray him as the bearded nan inan of mature years and benign countenance the great emancipator the man of sorrows the martyr in recent years however there has been a tendency to perpetuate in bronze and stone certain incidents in his bis earlier life which will mcm memorialize ori alize those formative years when hen the character of the future american immortal was being shaped and molded so we have hare the rall rail splitter Bp litter statue in garfield park in chicago the black hawk war captain statue in dixon ill the candidate statue in cincinnati ohio and the young toune statesman statue in louisville ky the newest of these youthful lincoln statues Is the one which was erected last year on the plaza of the lincoln national life insurance company at fort wayne ind and which portrays lincoln the booster IIo osier youth it Is the work of the famous sculptor paul Mans manship bip the main facts of Lincol ns earlier years are well known to most americans thanks to the painstaking labor of such biographers as rev william E barton senator albert J P nev cridge and carl sandburg and others who seem to have brought to light every single fact which was significant in making lincoln the man that lie be became but it Is doubtful if anything more interesting has ever been written about that period of Lincol ns life than the report of an overlooked interview with dennis F ilan hanks alls a cousin and close companion of lincoln which was set down by robert mcintyre an attorney of mattoon ill in may hay 1892 a copy of which has recently come into the hands of the author of this article the interview in part follows I 1 found him hale bale and erect ready to recount for the benefit of a younger generation the incidents which marked the youth of the martyred marty red president ident ills his name Is dennis V F banks and he Is a cousin to lincoln uncle dennis as he Is IB called Is a typical kentuckian born in hardin county 1799 1709 his face Is sun bronzed and plowed with furrows of time a resolute mouth with firm grip of the jaw broad forehead shore above a pair of eyes the eyes seem out of place in the weary faded face they glow and lash flash like two diamond sparks set in ridges of dull gold the face Is a serious one but the play of light in the eyes unquenchable dby y time betrays the nature full of sunshine and elate life A sidewise glance at the profile shows a face strikingly lincoln like prominent cheek bones temples nose and chin but be best 4 of all that twinkling drollery in the eye that fla flashed shed in the white house chirin the flirk days of the civil war to my query he replied cheerily certainly certainly sir air ill talk to you about abe I 1 kin talk too bein ns as I 1 an am the only livin man also that knows all about him how old was sir mr when hen you first met bet him about 24 hours hardly that I 1 I 1 ran all the way over two miles to see nancy hanks banks boy baby common then for to gether in them days to see new babies ner name was nancy danks banks before she married thomas lincoln I 1 held the wee one a minnil 1 I was ten years old and it tickled me to hold the pulpy red little lincoln when did you move to indiana when abe was about nine mr lincoln moved first and built a camp of brush in spencer county we came out a year later and he be then had a cabin up and he gave us the shanty on this abe grew to manhood how far apart were your cabins about fifteen rods abe killed a turkey the day we got there an get about it the name was pronounced enkhorn isi f ft I 1 1 kt 4 41 4 1 statesman CA aln louisville ky J r lincoln L vie the candidate in cincinnati ohio by the folks then e was nil all after a spell we learned better in the life of lincoln published after his nomination it Is stated that you taught him to read yes sir air I 1 did I 1 taught him to spell read and cipher ne ile knew his bis letters pretty gellish Nel lish but no more ills in other mother taught him his letters if ever there was a good woman on earth she was one a true christian of the baptist church but she died soon after we e arrived and left him without a teacher his father read a word Is it possible he be had no schooling only about one quarter scarcely that I 1 then set in to help him I 1 know much but I 1 did the best I 1 could what books did he read first websters speller when I 1 got him through that I 1 only had a copy of indiana statutes then he got hold of a book I 1 cant the name maybe you kin if I 1 tell you bo methin et was in it it told a yarn about a feller a nl ger or suthon that sailed balled a flatboat up to a rock and the rock was magnetized and draped the nails out of his boat and he be got a ducklo or drowned or guthin sut liin I 1 forgot now cow that Is the story of sinbad in the arabian nights it the boa abe would lay on the floor with a chair under his head bead and laugh over them rabian nights by the hour I 1 told him it was likely ties lies from end to end but he be learned to read right well in it had fillad he any other hooks books yes I 1 borron borrowed d for him the life of washington and the speeches of henry clay they had a powerful influence on him lie be told me afterwards IT in the white house bouse he wanted to live like ilke washington ills his speeches show that but the other book bonk did the most amazing work ile he was a democrat like his rather father and all of us when he be began to read it when he closed it lie he was a whig heart and soul and he went step by step till ho he leader of the republicans public ans will you describe him when a boy well he was at this time not grown only 8 6 feet 2 inches high ile he was 0 6 feet 4 aa when grown tall lathy and gangling not much appearance pe arance not handsome not ugly u ay iy but peculiar this kind of a feller if a man rode up horseback abe would be the first one out up op on the fence asking questions till his father would give him a knock side ol 01 0 his head then hed go and throw at snowbirds snow birds or euthin but pon pondering ponder derin ln all the while was he active and strong ile he was that I 1 was ten years older but I 1 ra ralp ip him down ills HIR 11 1 i was too long ions for or me to throw him ile he would ning fling one foot upon my shoulder and make me swing corners swift and ills arms anus so long and strong my I 1 how he be could chop I 1 ills ax would flash and bite into a sugar tree or sycamore and down it would conae come it if you heard him fallin trees in a cl earin you would say there was three men at work by the way trees fell put but he never was sassy or quarrelsome ive seen him walk into a crowd of rowdies and tell some arole yarn and bust them all up tip it was the same when he be was a lawyer all eyes whenever he riz were on him there was a euthin about him what did you teach him to write with sometimes he would write with a piece of charcoal or the pint of a burnt stick on the fence or aar floor we got a little paper at the country town and I 1 made ink out of black bury briarroot briar brar root and a little copperas in M it it was black but the copperas would eat the paper after awhile I 1 made ills his first pen out of a tur turkey key buzzard feather rhems good for pens we had bad no geese them days after he learned to tn write he was vas sc rawlin his name everywhere sometimes he would write it in the white sand down on the crick bank and leave it till the freshet would blot it out did you have any idea of ills his future great nesse ness no it was a new country and he was a raw boy rather a bright an likely lid lad but the big world seemed far ahead of him we were slow goin folks but he had it in him though we ire never suspected it did he take to books eagerly no we had to hire him at first but when he got a taste it was the old story we had to pull the sows bows ears to git her tri tn the trough and pull her tall to git her away lie ile read a great deal and had a wonderful memory wonderful never forgot anything how did the lad fare for food and clothing plenty such as it was corn dodger bacon and game some fish and wild fruits ive often seen him take a dodger to the field and gnaw at it when plowing we had very little wheat flour the nearest mill was IS miles a boss mill it was iab with a pill plug a sweep around and abe used to say his hound could stand and eat the flour all day as fast as it was made and then be ready for his supper for clothing he had jeans he was grown he wore all 1 W I 1 pants did you move with him to illinois yes I 1 bought a little I improvement provement near him six kit miles from decatur here the famous rails were mere split that flint were carried around in the earn cam laign they were cre callei called ills his rails but noboa nobody y can tell about that I 1 split sol some ne of em and we had a rall rail frolic and folks c came ame and helped us ila split bollt lie ile was a master hono maulen rails I 1 heard him say in a speech one day about these rails if I 1 make these I 1 have made many just as good then the crowd yelled one more question did he got get his rare sense and sterling principles from one parent or both both his strong will from ills his father I 1 ill 11 tell you an incident ills 1119 father used to swear a little and one day his baby girl picked up a foul oath and was bruising tile the bitter morsel in her sweet mouth when nancy called thomas and said listen husband lie ile stopped that tb at habit never swore again cut but abes kind bind noss ness humor love of humanity hatred of aly slavery ery all came from her I 1 am free to say abe was a mothers boy so I 1 bade the old man goodby good by pressing once more tile the palsied hand that guided the per that wrote the emancipation 0 by western newspaper cew |