DR. RODMAN'S VISIT TO WASHINGTON 17

ident and, after announcing the purpose of my visit as a representative of my fellow citizens in Larue County, ventured to tell him also the story of the cane, explaining that I had left the latter with a silversmith in the city to be mounted and properly engraved. The next day I called with the cane, to make the formal presentation. Lincoln seemed to be deeply pleased by this mark of appreciation on the part of his Kentucky friends and immediately asked how he was to learn who the donors of the cane were. Before I could answer that he would find their names on the metal head, he interrupted me, exclaiming laughingly, 'How absurd such a question. I ought to have known better than to ask it, for you have already answered it. I am like the Irishman who called on me when I was postmaster at New Salem, Illinois, and asked for his mail. "What name?' said I.

"Sure,' said the Irishman, 'and the name is on the letter.' "The President," continued Dr. Rodman, "ran over the list of early residents of the county, inquiring about the Brownfields, the Cesnas, the Friends, and other pioneer families, displaying a knowledge of persons and places more or less remarkable for one who, for so many years, had been away from his native heath. When I reached the name of Austin Gollaher he halted me. 'Is that old fox living yet?' he exclaimed. 'You may not believe it, but I would rather see him than any other man in Kentucky. Be sure to remember me to him when you reach home. I shall never forget an amusing but very scurvy trick he once played on me when we were boys. With weapons no more formidable than hickory clubs he and I had been playing in the woods and hunting rabbits. After several hours of vigorous ex

ercise we had stopped to rest. After a while I threw down my cap, climbed a tree, and was resting comfortably in the forks of two limbs. Below me stretched out full length on the grass was Austin apparently asleep. Beside him lay his cap, the inside facing upwards. In the pocket of my little jacket reposed a paw-paw which I had shortly before found. The thought suddenly occurred to me that it would be great fun to drop it into Austin's upturned cap. It was so ripe and soft I could scarcely withdraw it whole from my pocket. Taking careful aim I let it fall. I had calculated just right; for it struck the cap center and I could see portions of soft yellow paw-paw spattering in every direction. I paused to observe the result, convinced that Austin would resent the indignity; but, strange to relate, the proceeding failed to arouse him. Presently I slid down the tree, but judge of my surprise on reaching the ground when I learned that, instead of sleeping, Austin had really been awake; and that while I was climbing the tree he had very adroitly changed caps, substituting my own for his, so that, instead of tormenting him as I was intending, I had simply besmeared my own headgear.""

Elsewhere I have indicated that Herndon was the first visitor to Kentucky or southern Indiana in quest of intelligence or facts bearing on the events of Lincoln's early life. So far as it related to the collection of the requisite historical material, that statement is correct; but that Herndon was preceded a few weeks by a man whose mission, though nominally different, was along similar lines is also true. Joseph H. Barrett, who during the Civil War period was Commissioner of Pensions in Washington, had for some time been at work on a "Life of Lincoln"

ROWBOTHAM'S RECOLLECTIONS

19

which was published in the summer of 1865. In the earlier part of the year his publishers, Moore, Wilstach & Baldwin, of Cincinnati, had sent to Kentucky and Indiana an artist, in the person of John H. Rowbotham, commissioned to make pictures of important places and scenes in the early life of Lincoln to be engraved and used in illustrating the book. He was, in reality, the first man to penetrate the backwoods of Kentucky and Indiana in search of Lincoln data and material. Rowbotham began his travels at Springfield, after first conferring with Herndon. As he made his way through the territory assigned him he reported to Herndon, detailing his experiences frequently from day to day. Having been told that the original log cabin in which Lincoln was born was still standing near the town of Hodgenville, he made his way there as speedily as possible "fearing lest the structure might be burned, or carried away piecemeal, by the army of relic hunters who would soon be moving in that direction." When he arrived there, however, he found, much to his surprise, that the cabin was no longer in existence. When it disappeared no one seemed to be able to tell.

"At Hodgenville, which is about ten miles northeast of Elizabethtown," writes Rowbotham to Herndon June 24, 1865, "I inquired the way to Rock Spring farm, owned by R. A. Creal, better known as 'Old Dickey Creal.' The farm is about three miles southeast of Hodgenville on a good straight road. The site of Mr. Lincoln's birthplace is on this farm about five hundred yards from Mr. Creal's house. It is situated on a knoll or rising ground and is now a barley field. The cabin has long since disappeared and gone to decay, the only sign of its former existence being a few rocks

indicating where the chimney once stood. At the edge of the field are two old pear trees planted by Thomas Lincoln between which was a gateway leading to the house. Mr. Creal remembers the latter very well. Near the spot is a very romantic spring from which the farm takes its name and where, no doubt, Mr. Lincoln as a child often played."

While in Indiana Rowbotham visited Lincoln's home in Spencer County. "The home," he writes in another letter to Herndon, "lies a little off the Gentryville road on rising ground and is the most perfect reminiscence of Mr. Lincoln's early life. Here the family lived thirteen years. Mr. Lincoln's mother died here and is buried on the summit of a thickly wooded hill about a quarter of a mile from and immediately opposite the house. There is no stone to mark the spot, but it is well known. When you come, inquire for Josiah Crawford, John Romine, and old Mrs. Richardson, all of whom were at the burial of Mrs. Lincoln. Dennis Hanks was also present, but he is now in Illinois and you can see him yourself." There being, at that time, no stone, not even a board to mark the grave, Rowbotham was forced to the conclusion, expressed in one of his letters to Herndon, that "Mr. Lincoln does not appear to have cared for his home after the death of his mother."

Before young Lincoln had reached his tenth year his family moved to Indiana, and here, where they lingered till he had attained his majority, were the days of his wonderful boyhood spent. Here gathered those silent forces whose combination produced that unique character which stands

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out in wonder and lofty eminence, one of the colossal figures of modern history. It was these earlier years of his life that had their lasting effect on the mind and temperament of this great mirthful but melancholy man.

The date of the removal from Kentucky to Indiana is readily fixed by the statement of Mr. Lincoln in the sketch of his life which he wrote and delivered to his friend Jesse W. Fell, of Bloomington, Illinois, in 1859. "We reached our new home," he relates, "about the time the State came into the Union" — which would indicate the years 1816 to 1817. After describing the country as a “wild region with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods," he turns to the educational facilities of the period, observing that "there were some schools, so called, but no qualification was ever required of a teacher beyond 'readin', writin', and cipherin' to the Rule of Three.' If a straggler supposed to understand Latin happened to sojourn in the neighborhood he was looked upon as a wizard. There was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education. Of course when I came of age I did not know much. Still, somehow, I could read, write and cipher to the Rule of Three; but that was all. I have not been to school since. The little advance I now have upon this store of education I have picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity."

The years of his residence in Indiana Lincoln never failed to recall save with the deepest satisfaction. They were indeed the formative period of his life and therefore constitute an important epoch in his development. There was a fascination in the rude companionship and boisterous horse-play of southern Indiana at that time which left