18 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



Hendricks, of Madison, and John Tipton, of Logansport, 

 both of whom he knew well, and in March was appointed 

 to the postmastership of Lake Court House, or, as it was 

 usually written, Lake C. H. Postmaster's duties at first 

 were light, consisting of occasional trips to Michigan City 

 to take and bring back current accumulations. Financial 

 returns, which were restricted to the proceeds of the 

 office, were small, but the prestige and privileges at- 

 tached to the position more than compensated for the 

 obligations involved. 1 Robinson appreciated particularly 

 the franking right which went with the office, and made 

 such extensive use of it through his correspondence dur- 

 ing the next few years, that the name Lake C. H. became 

 familiar to thousands of farmers throughout the country. 

 The duties of this office were capably performed, and 

 Robinson's removal in 1843, because of his political affilia- 

 tions, was publicly regretted by more than one editor of 

 the agricultural periodicals to which he contributed. 



In the early years of his residence in Lake County, 

 Robinson was an ardent Whig, actively interested not 

 only in local politics, but also in national elections. On 

 March 28, 1840, he presided over a senatorial convention 

 in Valparaiso. Illustrating the spirit of the times, the 

 convention adopted the resolution, "That we have our 

 political log cabin already raised, that next August we 

 will roof it in, that next November we will chink Loco- 

 focos into the cracks, and that next March we will move 

 into it." 2 Throughout the greater part of 1840 he sought, 

 with success, to create favorable sentiment for General 

 Harrison. In this connection Robinson wrote political 

 articles and campaign songs, some of which were pub- 

 lished in newspapers of the state. 3 With other Whigs 

 from Lake and Porter counties he attended the famous 



1 Robinson, "History of Lake County, 1833-1847," op. cit., 42-43. 



2 Packard, Jasper, History of La Porte County, Indiana . . ., 210 

 (La Porte, 1876). 



3 Spirit of '76, Indianapolis, April 25, 1840; post, 135, 136; manu- 

 scripts of campaign songs in possession of H. A. Kellar. 



