“The
Human Condition: A User’s Manual,” by Arnold Kunst
21
November
Clearly Lincoln just
couldn’t pass up the chance to have a bit of fun. According to Ward Hill Lamon,
a fellow attorney and an old and trusted friend, Mr. Lincoln was the light and
life of the court. As Lamon says, “The most trivial circumstance furnished the
background for his wit. The following incident which illustrates his love of a
joke occurred in the early days of our acquaintance. I, being at the time on
the infant side of 21, took particular pleasure in athletic sports. One day
when we were attending the circuit court which met at Bloomington, Illinois, I
was wrestling near the courthouse with someone who had challenged me to a trial
and in the scuffle made a large tare in the rear of my trousers.
“Before I had time to make
any change in my trousers I was called into court to take up a case. The
evidence was finished, I, being the prosecuting attorney at the time, got up to
address the jury. Having on a somewhat short coat my misfortune was rather
apparent.
“One of the lawyers for a
joke started up a subscription paper which was passed from one member of the
bar to another as they sat by a long table fronting the bench with the object
of buying a pair of pantaloons for Lamon, ‘He being,’ the paper said, ‘a poor
but worthy young man.’
“Several lawyers put down
their names with some ludicrous subscription, and finally the paper was placed
before Mr. Lincoln who, being engaged in writing at the time, glanced quickly
over the paper, and immediately taking up his pen, wrote his name and then the
following:
“’I can contribute nothing
to the end in view.’”
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