4*5? Cr NRLF *B 8061 12 wp - lw A AT [COPYRIGHTED] Price 25 Cents. THE EVIDENCE THAT ABRAHAM LINCOLN WAS NOT BORN IN LAWFUL WEDLOCK, OR THE SAD STORY OF NANCY HANKS. PREFACE. As a rule, the public does not inquire into the motives of an author. They presume, and correctly, that he works as other men do, for reward, or the hope of reward. But there are exceptions, and perhaps the present product may be among them. The question may be significantly asked: "For what purpose was this booklet written." Now, the writer would respectfully request of the public not to be over hasty in imputing a base motive where other motives may be reasonably supposed. He has no spite to gratify either against the living or the dead, nor has he ever had cause to entertain such a feeling. If his individual opinion about Mr. Lincoln be worth anything, he regards him as second to no President in love of country or in per sonal int%rity; as inferior to Jefferson in philosophic in sight and to Jackson in firmness and self reliance ; but above them all in the profound depth of his human sympathy and in his Christ like spirit. The unfortunate circumstances of his parentage and birth can not affect his character or the esteem and reverence in which his memory is justly held. According to St. Matthew s gospel, the lineage of Jesus Christ is traced through Tamar, Ruth, Rachab and Bath- sheba^C How, then, can any dishonor attach to Mr. Lincoln or his progeny by reason of the frailty of Nancy Hanks? WM. M. C, Dallas, Texas. INTRODUCTION. Written history is mostly lies. Thucidides and Walpole affirmed it. Reading and experience justify it. The world sees the puppets dance ; it can not get behind the curtain and witness the handling of the wires that move them. The history of the Lower Empire is a record of the intrigues of eunuchs and^trumpets. For a century prior to 1789 the history of France is an outcrop of lewd desire of men in high places and the jealousies and rivalries of court ladies dominated by the amiable vice. The Buckinghams and Nell Gwins shaped the policy of England during a critical period of her history. The great religious reformation in that country owed its being to the hot lust of a greasy king. Cromwell was looked upon as a hypocrite until Car- Ivle rehabilitated him as an honest man. Sir Walter Scott s life of Napoleon was written to tickle English ears and make nionev. Motley is worm eaten with religious and political prejudice, and his productions smell of the office seeker. Truth most yield to Hume s toryism, and facts are not permitted to spoil the brilliant antithises of Macaulay. Almost every one believes that Judge Taney said : "The negro has no rights, which the white man is bound to re spect," when he said no such thing or any thing like it. It has been pounded into us from infancy, that the Pilgrim Father s fled to Xew England and braved the perils of the wilderness to escape persecution and for the privilege of worshiping God according to the dictates of their own conscience. Not one in a hundred thousand of the so-called cultured classes knows the fact, that the voyagers in the May Flower enjoyed the amplest religious liberty in Holland ; that they abjured their faith in the hope that by so doing they would received permission from the British government to settle in Virginia; that when permission was refused they sailed like Buccaneers, intending to squat on the Dutch lands of Manhattan, and where egregiously dismayed when they found themselves thrown on the bleak shores of Cape Cod. The Rev. Dr. John Robinson is pictured in the primary his tories in the garb of an angel and with the countenance of a saint, pronouncing a blessing upon the seventeenth century carpet-baggers on their departure from Delft Haven ; and the pupils and readers are not told that this man recanted his professed religious belief for a consideration, and yelped in the pack of Maurice s dogs that hounded the aged and virtuous Barnveldt to his death. The school children are not informed that Robinson s famou> "Farewell Sermon" i- a f<>rger\ 1,\ ( ;< \ . \Yinslo\v. which is the fact. The pious ly inclined are edified with the story of General Washington praying at Valley Forge, when Washington was an agnostic like Jefferson and Paine, and would as soon have thought of praying privately for success in battle as to pray for his man to knock the other fellow out in a prize fight. Thus are the innocents befooled and befuddled. Not only are they deceived in the domain of history, and for a purpose, but their holiest emotions are exploited for profit. Patriotism is a factor on the stock exchange. The enthusiasm for the flag is booked into the reserve fund,, and the flag itself is entered as a commercial asset. When the big traders want a war,- the fighting population are saw- dusted with patriotic airs from brass bands, heart-rending eloquence from the platform, and the igncs fatni of home and country. "God and humanity" is always invoked when ever a special raid on the treasury is in contemplation, and the bigger the steal, the more prolonged and intense is the invocation. "The extension of Christian civilization" is the Macedonian cry when the object in view is to loot Cuba and Porto Rico and butcher the Filipinos struggling for inde pendence. Thus are the hireling scribes corking up history and pasting on the labels, just as Maine menhaden and Jersey cider are marked French sardines and Veuve Cliquot. The easy explanation of all this is, that it does not put money in the purse to tell the truth when it runs against the grain of popular prejudice or prevailing sentiment. Lies yield a greater profit ; hence business methods demand that lies be told, and they are told. The foregoing reflections niay serve to show how diffi cult it is to get a hearing before the American people for any allegation that would seem to cast a reflection upon Mr. Lincoln s reputation in any possible way. The man was so- pure in his integrity, so devoted to his duty as he saw it, and with all so kind of heart and so genial in nature, that any proposition, which would appear to derogate from the love and honor in which his memory is held, is condemned beforehand as false, if not malicious. His apotheosis has finally determined every possible issue in his favor and there is no longer place for investigation. Enquiry in this direction is not tolerated, nor is any evidence admitted however overwhelming may be its weight. Prejudice and popular sentiment are too strong to allow impartial trial of a question which the general ignorance supposes touches his name and fame. The witnesses however trustworthy are turned down and the clamor of the great mass carries the day. Mr. Lincoln is one of the world s great men and his his tory belongs to the world at large. Fortunately, the mate- rial for his biography can not be cornered and monopolized. Kvery event of his life is a public inheritance for mankind and must be so considered and treated. Especially, and for many reasons, should the story of his origin and birth not be smothered, but be transmitted to posterity in their unvarnished reality. And to do this is not only the undoubt ed right, but the duty, if you please, of the critic of popular history. I. All that we know about President Lincoln s parentage and birth, under his own hand, are two brief records; the one, an entry in the Bible in his own handwriting, that he was born on the I2th of February, 1809; and the other, a bit of autobiography, which he gave to Mr. Jessie R. Fell in De cember, 1859, for a campaign sketch, in which he said that his parents were both born in Virginia. There are but two biographies of Mr. Lincoln .which cast any light uponfliis subject; and, best of all, they are by far the more reliable. The first of these is that of Mr. Ward H. Lamon, who was Mr. Lincoln s law partner at Danville and Bloomington. Besides his own opportunities for in formation, Mr. Lamon had the advantage of the material collected by Mr. Herndon. Mr. Herndon had been the partner and intimate associate and friend of Mr. Lincoln for a quarter of a century, and the material which he placed at Mr. Lamon s disposal consisted of three enormous vol umes of original manuscripts, gathered from all sources at the cost of much time, labor and expense, and criticized with the care of a lawyer accustomed to weigh and esti mate testimony. The second book referred to is the biog raphy by Mr. Herndon himself. When not otherwise indicated, these two works are the authority for every direct statement of facts made in this paper. The italics here used are not in the original, but employed as a convenient method by the writer to call at tention to some special matter. II. It is agreed on all sides that Mr. Lincoln knew but little, and cared still less, about his family history, and that he sedulously avoided anv reference to it. It is certain that he is mistaken, if he is correctly quoted, when he said that both his parents were born in Virginia. The name of his reputed father, was Thomas Linkhorn, or Linkern, (for it is found spelled both ways). It was first changed by Mr. Lincoln himself to "Lincoln," and it may be added by way of parenthesis, that, taken in connect ion with other facts in this history, this change of name may not be without its significance. Why should he bear the name "Linkhorn," if that person were not his father? Then, again, the simplicity of his character will not allow us to suppose that he refused the name of his own father and assumed a loftier sounding one from petty vanity. Wherever Nancy Hanks may have come from, it is be yond doubt, that the father of Thomas for whom some writers have forged the Christian name of Abraham mi grated from Virginia to Kentucky, and that Thomas was born in the last named state. III. Widespread traditions exist that the son of Nancy Hanks was not a legitimate child. Writing upon this subject Mr. Herndon says : "Regarding the paternity of Mr. Lincoln, a great many surmises and a still larger amount of unwritten, or at least unpublished, history has drifted into the currents of West ern lore and journalism. "A number of such traditions are extant in Kentucky and other localities. Mr. Weik has spent a considerable time in investigating the truth of a report current in Bourbon coun ty, Kentucky, that Thomas Lincoln, for a consideration from one Abraham Enlow, a miller there, assumed the pa ternity of the infant child of a poor girl, named Nancy Hanks; and after marriage removed with her to Harclin county. "Mr. Herndon adds that a gentleman of Mt. Ster ling, Kentucky., who had been judge, and afterwards was an editor, published a paper in support of this contention. The allegations and arguments of this paper are ncgiven further than to say that the paper alleged a resemblance be tween Inlow (Enlow) and Mr. Lincoln in facial and physi cal features, in extraordinary stature and length of limb. Herndon s reply, however, is feeble. He says the Bible record shows that Abraham was the second child. a In reply to Mr. iierndon it is tu be remarked, that this I .ible record, made by Abraham Lincoln, contained no en try of the birth or marriage of his mother ; and in regard to Abraham being the second child, it must be borne in mind that the entries were made by Mr. Lincoln himself long years after the events recorded, and admitting for a mo ment, that he was illegitimate, and that he knew it, it was a pious act in him to cover his mother s shame as far as in his power to do so, by making his sister older than himself in the Bible record. IV, There is also an account given by Lamon of a collision between Thomas Linkhorn and Abraham Enlow, or Inlow. which has its significance. Mr. Lamon says: "They ft night like savages; but Lincoln (Linkhorn ) obtained a >ignal and permanent advantage by biting off Enlow s nose." "This affray and the fame of it," continues Lamon, "make Lincoln (Linkhorn) more anxious than ever to es cape from Kentucky." We are left to form our own con jectures about the origin of the quarrel ; no cause is as signed. Hut is not this desperate affray a powerful cor- roboration of the tradition that an illicit relation existed, or was supposed by Linkhorn to have existed, between Xancy Hanks and Enlow; and may we not presume that the fight was about her? And was not the increased desire of Link- horn to get away from Kentucky owing to the fact that he felt himself disgraced by the publicity given to the scandal by his fight with Enlow? Is this an unreasonable suppo sition? Does it not, on the contrary, serve to fill out, ex plain, bring into harmony, and strengthen the other tradi tions relating to President Lincoln s birth ? Linkhorn did not remove from Kentucky to fly from slavery and locate in a free state where toil was honorable. as narrated by the romancers; for lie was no toiler; but, frm all accounts, an ignorant, shiftless vagabond. Be sides, there was not at that time, fifty .slaves in the comity; his more fortunate relatives were slave owners, and there is no reason in supposing that he differed in opinion from other men of his class, of Southern birth. This story of his desire to escape from a land of slavery is of a piece with those fictions which describe the Linkhorn tumble-down shanty, fourteen feet square in an Elizabethtown alley, where the inmates lived in squalid poverty, as a frugal Chris tian home ; the father a gallant frontiersman and the moth er a Roman matron of the wilderness. One estimable New England lady, not satisfied with tracing the blood of the Hanks to the Saxon Kings of England, carries it back to the Egyptian dynasties, because in the old Egyptian lan guage she says there is a word, "and" (Hank) meaning- soul ! V. Nancy Hanks is described as being a beautiful girl, with pleasing manners, slender and symmetrical form, and above the ordinary height ; a brunette with dark hair and soft ha zel eyes, and a high intellectual forehead. It is further re marked of her that she always wore a marked melancholy expression which fixed itself upon the memory of everyone who knew or saw her. It would be interesting to know if she was possessed of this melancholy disposition before her marriage, and if so, when or how it originated. VI. The reticence of Mr. Lincoln about his mother has been alluded to. Mr. Lamon says : "While he seldom if ever spoke of his own mother, he loved to dwell on the beautiful character of Sally Bush." Young Abraham Lincoln was ten years old when his mother died. The dearest and sweetest memories and as sociations which remain of a mother in after years are those which are fixed within the first ten years of life. Mr. Lin coln s nature was deeply affectionate. Why, then, this strange silence in regard to his own mother and the lavish ing of all his affections on his stepmother, Sally Bush ? Mr. Lincoln aspired to position in social as well as political life ; and it may well be that a knowledge of his mother s frailty and his own origin (probably told him by his stepmother) cast upon him that pall of melancholy which shadowed all his life. In the autobiography which Mr. Lincoln gave to Fell, he disposes of his mother in three lines, giving neither her Christian or maiden name, and saying she came of a family of the name of Hanks. 10 VII. Sally Brush first brought sunshine into young Lincoln s life. She was a kind, good, and noble woman; devotedly attached to her step-son, and he no less devoted to her. He always spoke of her in after life as his "saintly mother," his "angel mother;" and yet, she did one thing which is utterly inconsistent with her character unless an explanation can be given. She changed the name of the girl, who had been named Nancy, after her mother, to Sarah. Unaccounted for, this was a mean and contemptible act. Why should not the child be permitted to bear her mother s name? If Sally Bush had some good reason to obliterate from the child s mind, as far as possible, all recollections of her mother, then her conduct is in keeping with her character; otherwise it is not. Her singular silence, too, in all that related to Nancy Hanks when Mr. Herndon visited and in terviewed her after the assassination of President Lincoln is an additional ground for the belief that she held the key to the secret. VIII. Mr. Herndon says: "There was something about his^Lin- coln s) origin, that he never cared to dwell on." After his nomination for the presidency, Mr. J. L. Scripps, of the Chicago Tribune, went to Mr. Lincoln and asked for material for a history of his life. Mr. Lincoln replied that it was folly to attempt to make any thing out ^f his early years. Soon after the death of Mr. Lincoln, Scripps wrote to Mr. Herndon as follows: "He (Mr. Lin coln) communicated some facts to me concerning his an a-try which he did not wish to be published then, and which I have never spoken of or alluded to before." What these facts were, Mr. Scripps did not tell even to .Mr. Herndon, who had been Mr. Lincoln s most intimate friend, and who was then collecting material for his .tpliy. f How the silence of Mr. Scripps under the circum stances to be accounted for? On one ground only, the o mmunications must have been of such a nature that an h< norable man could not use them without permission. Mr. Lincoln was dead, and Mr. Scripps died without re- 11^ t IK-HI. Was this the secret? II IX. The treatment of young Lincoln by his mother s hus band requires explanation. Cruelty is not a trait of such indolent, happy-go-lucky, contented tramps as Thomas Linkhorn is represented to have been. Col. Chapman, who knew as much about the family as any one outside of its circle, and who had possession of the Bible containing the records, is quoted by Mr. Lamon, as saying : " Abe s father habitually treated him with great barbarity." Can his treat ment of the boy be connected with his "savage fight" with Abraham Enlow and a knowledge that the boy was not his child? X. There is abundant evidence that the Hanks were low and ignorant people. Mr. Herndon quotes from a manuscript of Mr. J. B. Helms in which it is said: "The Hanks girls were great at camp-meeting." Mr. Helms then proceeded to relate a scene of which he was an eye witness at Eliza* bethtown, and in which one of the young ladies of the Hanks family figured conspicuously. He writes: "I remember one camp-meeting in 1806. A general shout was about to commence. Preparations were being made. A young lady invited me to stand on a bench where we could see all over the altar. To the right, a strong atheletic young man, about twenty-five years old, was being put in trim for the occasion, which was done by divesting him of all apparel except shirt and pants.. On the left, a young lady was being put in tune in much the same manner, so that her clothes would not be in the way, and so that when her combs flew out, her hair would go into graceful braids. She, too, was young, not more than twenty. The perform ance commenced about the same time by the young man on the right, and the young lady on the left. Slowly and gracefully they worked their way towards the center, sing ing, shouting, and hugging and kissing, (generally their own sex) approaching each other nearer and nearer. The center of the altar was reached, and the two closed with their arms around each other, the man singing and shouting at the top of his voice : 12 "1 have my Jesus in my arms, Sweet as honey, strong as bacon hams." "Just at this moment, the young lady holding my arm whispered, They are to be married next week ; her name is Hanks. " Mr. Herndon says he did not learn whether the lady performer was the President s mother or not. "The fact that Nancy Hanks did marry that year," gives color, he thinks, to the belief that it was she. He does not think, how ever, that her hugging partner was Thomas, because such a deed required an enthusiasm and a dash beyond the ca pacity of that inert individual. XL There was undoubtedly irregular blood in some of the Hanks women. Mr. Herndon says he has the written state ment of Denis Hanks, the son of an aunt of the President s mother, that he came into the world by nature s back door. We give in Mr. Herndon s own words what Mr. Lincoln told him about his mother. Mr. Herndon says (Chapter I, page 3) : "It was about 1850. when he and I were driving in his one-horse buggy to the court in Menard county, Illinois. The suit we were going to try was one in which we were likely, either directly or indirectly, to touch upon the sub ject of hereditary traits. During the ride he spoke for the first time in my hearing of his mother, dwelling on her char acteristics, and mentioning and enumerating what qualities he inherited from her. He said among other things that she was the illegitimate daughter of Lucy Hanks, and a well- bred Virginia farmer or planter: and he argued that from this last source came his power of analysis, his logic, his mental activity, his ambition and all the qualities that dis tinguished him from the other members and descendants nf the Hanks family. His theory in discussing the matter of hereditary traits had been, that for certain reasons illeg itimate children are often-tiines sturdier and brighter than those / or;/ / ;/ lawful ?ccd-lock : and in his case he believed that his hi tUT nature and finer qualities came from this broad-minded unknown Virginian." Mr. Herndon continues: "The revelation painful as it 13 was called up recollections of his mother, and, as the buggy jolted over the road, he added ruefully, God bless my mother ; all that I am, or ever hope to be, I owe to her, and immediately lapsed into silence. "Our interchange of ideas ceased, and we rode for some time without exchanging a word. He was sad and absorbed. Burying himself in thought, and musing, no doubt, over the disclosure he had just made, he drew round him a bar rier which I feared to penetrate. His words and melancholy tone made a deep impression on me. It was an experience I can never forget." This is one of the "rare occasions" when Mr. Lincoln made mention of his mother. His exclamation of pity for her is suggestive of what* was going on in his mind. His melancholy silence is even more so. His mother s mother had sinned, had his own mother sinned in like manner, and did he know it? XII. And now the scene changes and the curtain rises on an other act of the eventful drama. Mr. James H. Cathey, of North Carolina, has published a volume of 185 pages, in which he claims Mr. Lincoln for his own state. And, mirabile dictu ! another "father Abra ham," bobs up; and more wonderful still, his name, also, is Abraham Enlow. It is beyond doubt that there were two Abraham Enlows, one in Kentucky and the other in North Carolina. This fact makes perfect harmony between the apparently divergent traditions in the two states. Three Enlow brothers arrived in this country in colonial times from England and Scotland, and the descendants of one branch settled in South Carolina and afterwards in Kentucky, and, in looking over the list of Christian names among them, "Abraham," is found to be a favorite one. According to the North Carolina tradition, Nancy Hanks and her son by the North Carolina Abraham, were sent by the father to his relatives in Kentucky, where they were well cared for until the mother married Linkhorn. The Enlow to whom they were sent was named Abraham. It is an established fact that at the same time there were Hanks in Kentucky. So far there is no discrepancy between the North Carolina and Kentucky traditions. As to how long 14 Xancy Hanks remained with the Kentucky Enlows before she married, tradition is silent. XIII. The North Carolina tradition is divergent in some of the details, but all its forms agree in the essential points, that Nancy Hanks was a member of Abraham Enlow s family, in Buncombe county, in the first decade of the present century in the capacity of servant and companion ; that she bore a child to Enlow, which was named Abraham, after him, and that to quiet the irate Mrs. Enlow the father sent mother and child into Kentucky. Mr. Cathey has proved the existence of this tradition be yond all doubt. He gives us the written statement of a number of highly respectable persons in North Carolina, Illinois, Missouri and Texas, who remember hearing the story, long before Mr. Lincoln had risen to fame. These statements are too numerous and long to be introduced here. We can refer to a few of them only. XIV. Mr. Phillip Dills, born in 1808, "and still nimble in body and mind," remembers hearing the story talked over long before the civil war. Walter Battle, born in 1809, says: "I distinctly remem ber hearing my own family tell -of the trouble between Abraham Enlow and Nancy Hanks, when I was a boy." Wm. H. Conley, born in 1812, says: "I remember when I was a lad, on one occasion some of the women of the settlement were at my father s house, and in conversation with my mother, had a great deal to say about some trouble that had once occurred between Abe Enlow and a girl, they called Xancy Hanks." And it is to be remembered that the memory of old people of what occurred in their youth is reliable. Captain James W. Terrell, of Rutherford, who has rep resented his county in the legislature, and filled other of fices of honor and trust says: "I then began to inquire into tin- matter, and had no difficulty in arriving at the following indisputable facts, for which I am indebted to the follou in- <)!<! people." Among the old people to whom he is so in debted, he gives the names of Dr. John Min^iis and his wife. 15 the daughter of Abraham Enlow, (both deceased). "The facts arrived at" are the items in the tradition above given with the additional one that Nancy Hanks and her child were removed to Kentucky by the instrumentality of Hon. Felix Walker, then member of Congress from the Bun combe district. Captain Terrellis -reliable, and the daughter of Abraham Enlow ought to know. Joseph A. Collins says, that in 1869, he was in Texas, where he made the acquaintance of Judge Gilmore, who lived four miles from Fort Worth : "He told me," says Mr. Collins, "he knew Nancy Hanks before she was married, and that she then had a child she called Abraham." Captain Wm. A. Enlow, grandson of Abraham Enlow says : "There is a tradition come down through the family that Nancy Hanks, the mother of President Lincoln, once lived at my grandfather s, and while there became the mother of a child said to be my grandfather, Abraham Enlow s." Wesley M. Enlow, son of Abraham, born in 1811, and still living says : "I was born after the incident between father and Nancy Hanks. I have, however, a vivid recollec tion of hearing the name of Nancy Hanks frequently men tioned in the family when I was a boy. No, I never heard my father mention it; he was always silent on the subject "Nancy Hanks lived in my father s family. I have no so far as I know. doubt the cause of my father sending her to Kentucky, is the one generally alleged. The occurrence as understood by my generation and given to them by that of my father, I have no doubt is essentially true." If Nancy Hanks lived at Abraham Enlow s house, there was at least the opportunity. C. A. Ragland is a citizen of Missouri,. and an attorney at the town of Stockton. He says, that about twelve years ago he called on Col. T. G. C. Davis at his office in St. Louis. Col. Davis was a relative of his and a cousin of Jefferson Davis. Col. Davis had long resided in Illinois, and the conversation turning on the men and the times of the state, he said he was intimately acquainted with Presi dent Lincoln, was often associated with him as well as against him in law cases before the Supreme Court; that they were members of the constitutional convention and If, drafted most of the constitution. He said that he knew the mother of Lincoln, was raised in the same neighborhood in Kentucky, and that it was generally understood, without question in that neighborhood, that Lincoln, the man who married the President s mother, was not the father of the President, but that the father s name was Knlow. XV. This is the Kentucky tradition, and the Kentucky Enlow. The North Carolina tradition agrees with it in its allega tion that Xancy Hanks lived with the Kentucky Enlow. The Kentucky tradition, as we have seen, ascribes the paternity of Mr. Lincoln, to the Kentucky Enlow, the man with whom Thomas Linkhorn had the desperate fight. The names, residences, and ages of these and other wit nesses are all given ; also their occupations and a sketch of their lives, and ample proof that they are intelligent and honest and in every way worthy of belief. XVI. The question naturally arises, how could such a trivial event, happening between obscure parties, in the wilderness of the Smokey Mountains, and among a rude people, be thought worthy of perpetuation by tradition. I hit Abraham Enlow was not an obscure man. He was remarkable for vigor, both of mind and body. He migrate d from Rutherford to the Ocona Lufta in Buncombe county, carrying his family, household goods and live stock, making much of his way by Indian trails, and cutting out a road through the tangled wilderness of the mountain slopes. Some of his ancestors had been teachers, and he had been taught the English rudiments. He became one of the great men in the then great area of the county, and the foremost personage in his own neighborhood. He was the richest man in the settlement and by far the most intelligent and enterprising. He waggoned to Charleston, S. C, and Augusta, Ga., and brought back salt, powder, and other articles necessary for pioneers. He farmed and raised live stock for distant markets. He traded in slaves as far as Florida. Upon one occasion he brought home twenty which he had purchased. He was Justice of the Peace; had a blacksmith shop and other useful apparatus ; was an inti mate friend of the Hon. Eclix Walker of "Buncombe." fame in the House of Representatives. He settled difficul ties ; people came to him for advice on all kinds of matters. It is impossible for the present generation to form an ade quate conception of the baronial influence and power wielded by such a man as Abraham Enlow. The people recognized him as their counselor and friend, a sort of Oom Paul, and cheerfully submitted to his decisions. Such a man would be talked about in the neighborhood. Especially would the women of the settlement, whose only recreation and amusement was gossip, delight in repeating over and over again the story of the great Abraham Enlow and the pretty and erring Nancy Hanks. XVII. Two additional arguments are introduced to support the tradition. Abraham Enlow is said by those who knew him to have been tall, lean, lank, rawboned, wiry, and with a re markable length of limbs, hands and fingers. The descrip tion of the personal appearance of Wesley Enlow, his son, in form and structure, exactly fits Mr. Lincoln in every par ticular. Not only is a resemblance claimed in the make up of the body, but also of facial features and expression. There are a number of portraits of the Enlow family. There is no portrait of the original Abraham and that of his son, Wesley, was taken in his eighty-eight year. Many persons think they see a striking resemblance between his face and that of Abraham Lincoln. There are others who think they see such a striking resemblance between the features, ex pression and peculiar set of the head of Robert Walker Enlow, son of Wesley, and the corresponding features of Mr. Lincoln, that they ground their belief in the truth of the tradition upon this alone without further evidence. XVIII. Bastard. Madam, I was not old Sir Robert s son; Sir Robert could not do it, we know his handiwork ; Therefore, good mother, to whom am I beholden for these limbs? Sir Robert never holp to make this leg. Lady Falconbridge. King Richard Coeur de Lion was thy father ; i8 Bastard. With all my heart I thank thee for my father ; Who lives and dares but say thou didst not well, When I was got, I ll send his soul to hell. Shakespeare s King John. THE END. 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