Lincoln, the unknown

LINCOLN THE UNKNOWN • 75A third time Robert arrived with a summons, a third timeLincoln promised, and a third time he played on. Then, suddenly,the boy drew back and violently kicked the chess-boardhigher than the players' heads, scattering the chessmen in everydirection."Well, Judge," Lincoln said with a smile, "I reckon we'llhave 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 eveningand stick a lath through the fence. As there were no streetlights, passers-by would run into the lath and their hats wouldbe knocked off. Once, in the darkness, the boys knocked offtheir father's hat by mistake. He didn't censure them, butmerely told them that they ought to be careful, for they mightmake somebody mad.Lincoln did not belong to any church, and avoided religiousdiscussions even with his best friends. However, he once toldHerndon that his religious code was like that of an old mannamed Glenn, in Indiana, whom he had heard speak at achurch meeting, and who said: "When I do good, I feel good,when I do bad I feel bad, and that's my religion."On Sunday mornings, as the children grew older, he usuallytook them out for a stroll, but once he left them at home andwent to the First Presbyterian Church with Mrs. Lincoln. Halfan hour later Tad came into the house and, missing his father,ran down the street and dashed into the church during the sermon.His hair was awry, his shoes unbuttoned, his stockingssagging down, and his face and hands were grimy with the blacksoil of Illinois. Mrs. Lincoln, herself elegantly attired, wasshocked and embarrassed; but Lincoln calmly stretched out oneof his long arms and lovingly drew Tad to him and held theboy's head close against his breast.Sometimes on Sunday morning, Lincoln took the boys downtownto his office. There they were permitted to run wild."They soon gutted the shelves of books," says Herndon, "rifledthe drawers and riddled boxes, battered the point of my goldpen . . . threw the pencils into the spittoon, turned over the inkstandson the papers, scattered letters over the office and dancedon them."And Lincoln "never reproved them or gave them a fatherlyfrown. He was the most indulgent parent I have ever known,"Herndon concludes.