80 NATHANIEL SOUTHGATE SHALER 



I walked beside him. Probably because he knew how to talk 

 to a lad few know the art, and those the large natures alone 

 we became at once friendly. When I had shown him into 

 the house, I hung about to find his name. As I had never heard 

 of Mr. Lincoln of Illinois, it was explained to me that he was 

 the man who was "running against" the Little Giant. We lads 

 all knew Stephen A. Douglas, who was so popular that farm 

 tools were named for him : the Little Giant this and that of corn- 

 shellers or ploughs. While Mr. Lincoln was with my grand- 

 father, my mother dined or supped with him. When she came 

 home she said : " I have had a long talk with Mr. Lincoln, who 

 is called an Abolitionist; if he is an Abolitionist, I am an Abo- 

 litionist." I well remember the horror with which this remark 

 inspired the household : if my mother had said she was Satan, 

 it could not have been worse. The droll part of the matter is 

 that all the reasonable people about me were in heart haters 

 of slavery. They saw and deplored its evils, and were full of 

 fanciful schemes for making an end of it. But the name Abo- 

 litionist was abominated. 



I never knew what brought Mr. Lincoln to my grandfather's 

 house. It is likely that he came because a certain doctor of 

 central Kentucky, an uncle of Mr. Lincoln, a widower, had re- 

 cently married an aunt of mine, a widow. This union of two 

 middle-aged people, each with large families, brought trouble; 

 since family traditions were against divorce, a separation was 

 effected which had an amusing though tragic finish. When all 

 other matters of property had been arranged and P. had be- 

 taken himself to his plantation in Mississippi, as an afterthought 

 he set up a supplementary claim to a saddle mule belonging to 

 my aunt which he had forgotten to demand in the settlement. 

 This re-opened the question, and it was determined in family 

 council that the grasping doctor should not be satisfied. We 

 boys had the notion that Mr. Lincoln's visit related to this 

 episode of the mule, for shortly after the "critter" was sent 

 with a servant by steamboat, to be delivered to the claimant 



