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CALEB CARMAN.

519

He had but few

in the Legislature he appointed me his deputy, as the post-office was then in my house. I don't think I ever saw Lincoln idling any time away. books, but those few were always near to and from his work, would read.

him, and in going He had a wonderful

memory, and was a great story-teller.

He was While he boarded

retentive memory, liked by every person who knew him. with me he made himself useful in every way that he could. If the water-bucket was empty he filled it; if wood was needed he chopped it; and was always cheerful and in a good humor. He started out one morning with the axe on his shoulder, and I asked him what he was going to do. His answer was: “I am going to try a project." When he returned he had two hickory poles on his shoulders, and in a very short time two of my chairs had new bottoms.

Caleb Carman

PETERSBURG, 1882.

AN EVENING WITH MR. LINCOLN.

HERE are some evenings, the events of which are

TH

so impressed upon our memories, that scarcely a word said, or an act done, can ever be forgotten; at one time, perhaps, because of the beauty of our surroundings; at another, because the events were a surprise and worthy of remembrance. The evening to which I refer was noteworthy for both of these reasons.

It was, I think, in the year 1856. My husband, the late Norman B. Judd, was attorney for the Rock Island Railroad. The bridge over the Mississippi at Rock Island had been destroyed by a river steamer running into it and setting it on fire. The steamboat owners along the Mississippi had brought a suit against the railroad company, and it was to be tried in the U. S. District Court at Chicago. Mr. Lincoln had come to Chicago as assistant counsel in the suit. Mr. Judd had invited Mr. Lincoln to spend the evening at our pleasant home on the shore of Lake Michigan. After tea, and until quite late, we sat on the broad piazza, looking out upon as lovely a scene as that which has made the Bay of Naples so celebrated. A number of vessels were availing themselves of a fine breeze to leave the harbor, and the lake was studded with many a white sail. I remember that a flock of sea-gulls were flying along the beach, and dipping their beaks and white-lined wings in the foam that capped the short waves as they fell upon the shore.

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Whilst we sat there, the great white moon appeared on the rim of the Eastern horizon, and slowly crept above the water, throwing a perfect flood of silver light upon the dancing waves. The stars shone with the soft light of a midsummer night, and the breaking of the low waves upon the shore, repeating the old rhythm of the song which they have sung for ages, added the charm of pleasant sound to the beauty of the night.

In

Mr. Lincoln, whose home was far inland from the great lakes, seemed greatly impressed with the wondrous beauty of the scene, and carried by its impressiveness away from all thought of the jars and turmoil of earth. that mild, pleasant voice, attuned to harmony with his surroundings, and which was his wont when his soul was stirred by aught that was lovely or beautiful, Mr. Lincoln began to speak of the mystery which for ages enshrouded and shut out those distant worlds above us from our own, of the poetry and beauty which was seen and felt by seers of old when they contemplated Orion and Arcturus as they wheeled, seemingly around the earth, in their nightly course; of the discoveries since the invention of the telescope, which had thrown a flood of light and knowledge on what before was incomprehensible and mysterious; of the wonderful computations of scientists who had measured the miles of seemingly endless space which separated the planets in our solar system from our central sun, and our sun from other suns, which were now gemming the heavens above us with their resplendent beauty.

He speculated on the possibilities of knowledge which an increased power of the lens would give in the years to come; and then the wonderful discoveries of late

centuries as proving that beings endowed with such capabilities as man must be immortal, and created for some high and noble end by him who had spoken those numberless worlds into existence; and made man a little lower than the angels that he might comprehend the glories and wonders of his creation.

When the night air became too chilling to remain longer on the piazza, we went into the parlor, and, seated on the sofa, his long limbs stretching across the carpet, and his arms folded behind him, Mr. Lincoln went on to speak. of other discoveries, and also of the inventions which had been made during the long cycles of time lying between the present and those early days when the sons of Adam began to make use of the material things about them, and invent instruments of various kinds in brass and gold and silver. He gave us a short but succinct account of all the inventions referred to in the Old Testament from the time when Adam walked in the Garden of Eden until the Bible record ended, 600 B. C.

I said, "Mr. Lincoln, I did not know you were such a Bible student." He replied: "I must be honest, Mrs. Judd, and tell you just how I came to know so much about these early inventions." He then went on to say that, discussing with some friend the relative age of the discovery and use of the precious metals, he went to the Bible to satisfy himself, and became so interested in his researches that he made a memoranda of the different discoveries and inventions; that soon after he was invited to lecture before some literary society, I think in Bloomington; that the interest he had felt in the study convinced. him that the subject would interest others, and he therefore

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prepared and delivered his lecture on the "Age of Different Inventions:" and " of course," he added, "I could not after that forget the order or time of such discoveries and inventions."

After Mr. Lincoln left, Mr. Judd remarked: “I am constantly more and more surprised at Mr. Lincoln's attainments and the varied knowledge he has acquired during years of constant labor at the Bar, in every department of science and learning. A professor at Yale could not have been more interesting or more enthusiastic."

Another incident in connection with the railroad suit above referred to may be of interest.

Mr. Joseph Knox, one of the ablest lawyers in Illinois, was also engaged as counsel in the defense. Mr. Lincoln began his speech in the forenoon and spoke until the court adjourned at noon. Mr. Knox dined with us that day. He sat down at the dinner table in great excitement, saying: "Lincoln has lost the case for us. The admissions he made in regard to the currents in the Mississippi at Rock Island and Moline will convince the court that a bridge at that point will always be a serious and constant detriment to navigation on the river."

Mr. Judd's reply was in substance that Mr. Lincoln's admissions in regard to the currents were facts that could not be denied, but that they only proved that the bridge should have been built at a different angle to the stream, and that a bridge so built could not injure the river as a navigable stream. This reply was noteworthy as foreshadowing Mr. Lincoln's argument made in the afternoon. The case was decided in their favor, and although carried later to the Supreme Court at Washington, where it was

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