TWENTIETH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII 629 



told me that perhaps I could find a building some place if I went to a 

 certain banker. I went to that banker and he referred me to a certain 

 studio; the man in that studio referred me to a lawyer, and that lawyer 

 referred me over to a certain corner of the square. I asked this lawyer, 

 "Is there anybody in Springfield still living that was an intimate friend 

 of Abraham Lincoln while he was living here?" And his reply was, 

 "There are three kinds of friends, one an acquaintance, one a friend, and 

 the third a very intimate friend. There is one of the last description 

 still living. His name is Mr. Bunn," and I promptly resolved to hunt up 

 Mr. Bunn. But first I went to that office building. It was quite interest- 

 ing. Mr. Lincoln had an office in front, and in the rear he lived. Strange 

 as it may seem, there wasn't a tablet or mark of any character to indi- 

 cate that this was the former oflJce of Mr. Lincoln. 



That evening after dinner I went over towards Mr. Bunn's home, and 

 then the thought occurred to me, "Here, Thorne, you are nothing but a 

 curiosity seeker; Mr. Bunn is probably bored to death by them." My 

 lawyer friend had said, "This man Bunn seldom talks to anybody," and 

 with that thought in mind I turned around to go back to town to a mov- 

 ing picture show. My train left at 11:30. I got about halfway to the 

 movie show, when I said to myself, "Thorne, you had better go back and 

 talk with Bunn ; you may never have another chance," so I turned around 

 and went back. I knocked at the door, and a man came and invited me 

 in. I told him I wanted to speak to Mr. Bunn. He wanted to know 

 whether I wanted to see Mr. Bunn senior or junior, and I replied, "The 

 older gentleman." He said that he was then eating dinner. I asked to 

 be excused and was going back, but he insisted that I stay, and presently 

 an old, tottering, gray-haired, feeble man, over eighty years of age, came 

 Into the room, all smiles, greeting me most cordially. I said I was simply 

 an attorney, had a case there at Springfield, and had heard during the 

 course of the day that he was an intimate friend of Abraham Lincoln, 

 and then I asked if he would be kind enough to give me simply a word 

 picture of just how Lincoln acted and looked in real life. Mr. Bunn then 

 commenced talking. I had hard work getting away to catch my eleven- 

 thirty train. He told me incident after incident in the life of Mr. Lin- 

 coln. It was the most interesting interview I have ever had in my life, 

 with any man that I know. Mr. Bunn, it seems, had had charge of the 

 cases for the bank for whom Mr. Lincoln was counsel, and in those days, 

 Mr. Bunn said, many cases were tried which today are settled. He came 

 in contact with Lincoln very closely for a considerable period of time. 

 His first introduction to Lincoln occurred as follows: One morning he 

 was out sweeping the sidewalk; Lincoln came along the street, stopped, 

 and said, "How did you like my speech last night?" Bunn replied, "Oh, 

 it was a good talk, all right, Mr. Lincoln, but you won't stand any show 

 with Mr. Douglas, he's an orator." And Mr. Bunn said that sort of 

 aroused Lincoln, who answered, "But Mr. Douglas is wrong," and then 

 he proceeded to argue out the case with him, pro and con. Lincoln was 

 after the viewpoint of the man on the street who didn't have any axe 

 to grind. He wanted to see how he had impressed the public. That 

 incident ripened into a friendship that grew closer as the years passed 

 by. Mr. Bunn belonged to the little coterie of people that helped Mr. 



