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“Lincoln Apparently Never Even Thought Of Correcting His Son”
The liberties he allowed his children at times appear extraordinary. For example, once when he was playing chess with a judge of the Supreme Court, Robert came and told his father it was time to go to dinner. Lincoln replied, “Yes, yes.” But, being very fond of the game, he quite forgot that he had been called, and played on. Again the boy appeared, with another urgent message from Mrs. Lincoln. Again Lincoln promised to come, again he forgot.A third time Robert arrived with a summons, a third time Lincoln promised, and a third time he played on. Then, suddenly, the boy drew back and violently kicked the chess-board higher than the players’ heads, scattering the chessmen in every direction. “Well, Judge,” Lincoln said with a smile, “I reckon we’ll have to finish this game some other time.” Lincoln apparently never even thought of correcting his son.
The Lincoln boys used to hide behind a hedge in the evening and stick a lath through the fence. As there were no street lights, passers-by would run into the lath and their hats would be knocked off. Once, in the darkness, the boys knocked off their father’s hat by mistake. He didn’t censure them, but merely told them that they ought to be careful, for they might make somebody mad.
By Dale Carnegie，“Lincoln, the Unknown” ，Carnegie-070-14
“He was the Most Indulgent Parent I have ever Known”
William H. Herndon said: “He exercised no government of any kind over his household. His children did much as they pleased. Many of their antics he approved, and he restrained them in nothing. He never reproved them or gave them a fatherly frown. He was the most indulgent parent I have ever known. He was in the habit, when at home on Sunday, of bringing his two boys, Willie and Thomas-or “Tad”-down to the office to remain while his wife attended church. He seldom accompanied her there. The boys were absolutely unrestrained in their amusement. If they pulled down all the books from the shelves, bent the points of all the pens, overturned inkstands, scattered law-papers over the floor, or threw the pencils into the spittoon, it never disturbed the serenity of their father’s good-nature. Frequently absorbed in thought, he never observed their mischievous but destructive pranks-as his unfortunate partner did, who thought much, but said nothing-and, even if brought to his attention, he virtually encouraged their repetition by declining to show any substantial evidence of parental disapproval. After church was over the boys and their father, climbing down the office stairs, ruefully turned their steps homeward. They mingled with the throngs of well-dressed people returning from church, the majority of whom might well have wondered if the trio they passed were going to a fireside where love and white-winged peace reigned supreme.”
By William H. Herndon，Jesse W. Weik “Herndon’s Lincoln: A True Story of a Great Life” ,Herndon-257-07
“To Play Town Ball With Them”
Lincoln was inordinately fond of his two little sons, Tad and Willie. He often stole away, on a summer evening, to play “town ball” with them, his coat-tails flying out behind him as he ran from base to base. Sometimes, he would shoot marbles with them all the way from the White House to the war-office. At night he loved to get down on the floor and roll and romp with them. On bright, warm days he would sometimes go out back of the White House and play with the boys and their two goats. Tad and Willie kept the White House in an uproar, organizing minstrel shows, putting the servants through military drill, running in and out among the office-seekers. If they took a fancy to a certain applicant, they would see that he got in to see “Old Abe” immediately. If they couldn’t get him in the front way, they knew of back entrances. With as little respect for ceremony and precedent as their father had, they dashed in and interrupted a Cabinet meeting once to inform the President that the cat in the basement had just had kittens. On another occasion the stern Salmon P. Chase was irritated and disgusted because Tad climbed all over his father and finally perched on his shoulder and sat astride of his neck while Chase was discussing the grave financial situation that confronted the country.
By Dale Carnegie，“Lincoln, the Unknown” ，Carnegie-142-12
“He was Enjoying himself Hugely.”
When the President came into the family sitting room and sat down to read, the boys would rush at him and demand a story. Tad perched precariously on the back of the big chair, Willie on one knee, Bud on the other, both leaning against him. Holly usually found a place on the arm of the chair, and often I would find myself swept into the group by the long arm which seemed to reach almost across the room.
I wish I could remember some of those stories. Usually they were melodramatictales of hunters and settlers attacked by Indians. I have thought since that some of these tales may have been based on actual occurrences in the President’s boyhood and I am sorry that my memory is so dim concerning them. I am afraid the boys enjoyed them more than I did. At the close of one favorite story of frontiersmen chased by the Indians, he would drawl impressively, “They galloped and they galloped, with the red skins close behind.” “But they got away, Pa, they got away,” interrupted Tad. “Oh, yes, they got away.” Then suddenly rising to his full height, “Now I must get away.”
Whenever I see St. Gaudens’ statue of Lincoln, I think of these story hours and my memory supplies the four little wriggling figures, all gone now.
President Lincoln liked to play with the boys whenever he had a little time from his duties. Willie used to say mournfully, “Pa don’t have time to play with us now.” Once I heard a terrible racket in another room, and opening the door with the idea of bestowing some sisterly “don’t” upon my young brothers, whose voices could be heard amid the din, beheld the President lying on the floor, with the four boys trying to hold him down. Willie and Bud had hold of his hands, Holly and Tad sprawled over his feet and legs, while the broad grin of: Mr. Lincoln’s face was evidence that he was enjoying himself hugely. As soon as the boys saw my face at the door, Tad called, “Julie, come quick and sit on his stomach.” But this struck me too much like laying profane hands on the Lord’s anointed, and I closed the door and went out.
By Julia T. Bayne: Tad Lincoln’s father, P108
“Do Good to them Who Hate you”
Mrs. Lincoln said: “Some of the newspaper attacks on him gave him great pain. I sometimes read them to him, but he would beg me to desist, saying, ‘I have enough to bear now, but yet I care nothing for them. If I’m right I’ll live, and if wrong I’ll die anyhow; so let them fight at me unrestrained.’ My playful response would be, ‘The way to learn is to hear both sides.’ I once assured him Chase and certain others who were scheming to supplant him ought to be restrained in their evil designs. ‘Do good to them who hate you,’ was his generous answer, ‘and turn their ill-will into friendship.'”
By William H. Herndon，Jesse W. Weik “Herndon’s Lincoln: A True Story of a Great Life” , Herndon-299-47 308
“The only Ruler I Have is my Conscience.”
Mrs. Lincoln said: “I told him once of the assertion I had heard coming from the friends of Seward, that the latter was the power behind the throne; that he could rule him. He replied, ‘I may not rule myself, but certainly Seward shall not. The only ruler I have is my conscience-following God in it-and these men will have to learn that yet.'”
By William H. H
“Love is the Chain whereby to Bind Child to its Parents”
Mrs. Lincoln said: “As to his nature, he was the kindest man, most tender husband, and loving father in the world. He gave us all unbounded liberty, saying to me always when I asked for anything, ‘You know what you want, go and get it,’ and never asking if it were necessary. He was very indulgent to his children. He never neglected to praise them for any of their good acts. He often said, ‘It is my pleasure that my children are free and happy, and unrestrained by parental tyranny. Love is the chain whereby to bind a child to its parents.'”
By William H. Herndon，Jesse W. Weik “Herndon’s Lincoln: A True Story of a Great Life” ,Herndon-299-43
“He is not of Age”
The day of the presidential election in November, 1864, was gloomy and rainy. About noon I called on President Lincoln, and to my surprise found him entirely alone, as if by common consent everybody had avoided the White House. It was “cabinet day,” and at the meeting, which had been held earlier, only two members of the cabinet were present. Stanton was at his home, sick with chills and fever; Seward, Usher, and Dennison had returned to their own States to vote; and Fessenden was closeted with New York financiers in conference over ways and means to place the new loan. So Secretary Welles and Attorney-General Bates were left to ” run the machine,” and very little time had been occupied by them at their session with the President. Lincoln took no pains to conceal his anxious interest in the result of the election then going on all over the country, and said: ‘I am just enough of a politician to know that there was not much doubt about the result of the Baltimore convention ; but about this thing I am very far from being certain. I wish I were certain.” I spent nearly all the afternoon with the President, who apparently found it difficult to put his mind on any of the routine work of his office, and entreated me to stay with him. In the course of the afternoon he told an amusing story about a pet turkey of his boy “Tad.” It appears that Jack, the turkey, whose life had been spared the year before, at Tad’s earnest request, had mingled with the “Bucktail” soldiers from Pennsylvania, quartered in the grounds on the river front of the White House. The soldiers were voting under the direction of a commission sent on from their State, as was the custom in several States in the Union, and Tad, bursting into his father’s office, had besought the President to come to the window and see the soldiers who were “voting for Lincoln and Johnson.” Noticing the turkey regarding the proceedings with evident interest, Lincoln asked the lad what business the turkey had stalking about the polls in that way. “Does he vote?” “No,” was the quick reply of the boy; “he is not of age.” The good President dearly loved the boy, and for days thereafter he took great pride in relating this anecdote illustrative of Tad’s quick-wittedness.
Noah Brooks, Washington, D.C., in Lincoln’s Time, ed. Herbert Mitgang (Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1971; Athens, Ga., and London: University of Georgia Press, 1989), p. 51.
“his face was…ever looked upon”: Joseph Wilson Fifer, quoted in Rufus Rockwell Wilson,Intimate Memories of Lincoln(Elmira, N.Y.: Primavera Press, 1945), p. 155.
“eyes would sparkle…than his”: Jonathan Birch, “A Student Who Was Aided by Mr. Lincoln,” in Wilson, Intimate Memories of Lincoln, p. 105. Ethan Allen/George Washington story: Abner Y. Ellis statement, January 23, 1866, in HI, p. 174.
“Well, B…. as a man ought to want”: “Recollections of Mr. McCormick,” in Wilson,Intimate Memories of Lincoln, p. 251 (quote); Holzer, Lincoln at Cooper Union, p. 86. Holzer identifies “B.” as Mayson Brayman.
the long evenings Lincoln spent at Seward’s: Hendrick, Lincoln’s WarCabinet, p. 186. “My friend…churchwarden!”: Wilson, IntimateMemories of Lincoln, p. 422.
The day before…“half of his speech”: James Speed quoted in John G. Nicolay, “Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address,” Century 47 (February 1894), p. 597. Various accounts suggest…“a makeshift desk”: George D. Gitt, quoted in Wilson, Intimate Memories of Lincoln, p. 476.
An audience…between Everett and Seward: Klement, “The Ten Who Sat,” Lincoln Herald (1985), p. 106. “leaned from one side…of his right hand”: Gitt, quoted in Wilson, Intimate Memories of Lincoln, p. 478. Another member…to his pocket: Monaghan, Diplomat in Carpet Slippers, p. 341.
“flutter and motion…an empty house”: Gitt, quoted in Wilson, IntimateMemories of Lincoln, p. 478. steel-rimmed spectacles…at his pages: Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, Vol. II, p. 468. “He had spent…supreme principle”: Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg, p. 120.
“the assemblage…there came applause”: Gitt, quoted in Wilson,Intimate Memories of Lincoln, p. 479. he turned to Ward Lamon…“disappointed”: Lamon, Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, p. 173.
Henry Wilson, “Jeremiah S. Black and Edwin M. Stanton,”Atlantic Monthly 26 (October 1870), pp. 469–70.
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“I’ve Read Enough of it”
For many years I subscribed for and kept on our office table the Westminster and Edinburgh Review and a number of other English periodicals. Besides them I purchased the works of Spencer, Darwin, and the utterances of other English scientists, all of which I devoured with great relish. I endeavored, but had little success in inducing Lincoln to read them. Occasionally he would snatch one up and peruse it for a little while, but he soon threw it down with the suggestion that it was entirely too heavy for an ordinary mind to digest.
In 1856 I purchased in New York a life of Edmund Burke. I have forgotten now who the author was, but I remember I read it through in a short time. One morning Lincoln came into the office and, seeing the book in my hands, enquired what I was reading. I told him, at the same time observing that it was an excellent work and handing the book over to him. Taking it in his hand he threw himself down on the office sofa and hastily ran over its pages, reading a little here and there. At last he closed and threw it on the table with the exclamation, “No, I’ve read enough of it. It’s like all the others. Biographies as generally written are not only misleading, but false. The author of this life of Burke makes a wonderful hero out of his subject. He magnifies his perfections-if he had any-and suppresses his imperfections. He is so faithful in his zeal and so lavish in praise of his every act that one is almost driven to believe that Burke never made a mistake or a failure in his life.” He lapsed into a brown study, but presently broke out again, “Billy, I’ve wondered why book-publishers and merchants don’t have blank biographies on their shelves, always ready for an emergency; so that, if a man happens to die, his heirs or his friends, if they wish to perpetuate his memory, can purchase one already written, but with blanks. These blanks they can at their pleasure fill up with rosy sentences full of high-sounding praise. In most instances they commemorate a lie, and cheat posterity out of the truth. History,” he concluded, “is not history unless it is the truth.” This emphatic avowal of sentiment from Mr. Lincoln not only fixes his estimate of ordinary biography, but is my vindication in advance if assailed for telling the truth.
By William H. Herndon，Jesse W. Weik “Herndon’s Lincoln: A True Story of a Great Life” ,Herndon-257-23