Monday, October 15, 2012

Lincoln was COUNTRY Through and Throgh

You can take the country boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the country boy, and Lincoln was a country boy through and through.

Take his appearance. Renditions of the man, whether a photograph, a painting, a statue or a $5 bill invariably show his tie crooked and no more than 75% of his hair in place. [One is reminded that fingers were invented long, long before pocket combs.]

So also, you might have been surprised, if you had knocked on the Lincoln White House door, to have the door answered by the President himself - in his shirtsleeves. You might also have been non-plussed to see him use his own spoon in the White House sugar bowl.

And there's no telling how you'd react to the following story that may not be true but certainly has the ring of authenticity about it. One evening, they say, before going to the theater, Lincoln was standing a the foot of the stairs in the White House with some friends and explained in his breezy manner, 'Mary's still upstairs puttin' on her trottin' harness.''

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