Duryea of the U. Christian Commission, which met frequently with President Abraha Lincoln. His whole nature was simple and sincere — he was pure, and then was himself. The Marquis de Chambrun, a French writer who came to know Mr. Much of Mr. Lincoln chronicler Edward J. He quickly made new friends and found employment until Offut arrived with the merchandise.
He played the roles of merchant, odd jobs man, student of grammar, reader of Shakespeare and Robert Burns, spinner of stories, and soldier. Lincoln was often solicited to write letters for his less literate friends. While he boarded 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. I never had a friend to whom I was more warmly attached. His character was almost faultless. Possessing a warm and generous heart, genial, affable, honest, courteous to his opponents, persevering, industrious in research; never losing sight of the principal point under discussion.
There was a clear charm to young Lincoln that residents would long remember. I was just starting in life myself, on my place below here and had a log cabin. In front of the house was a tolerably low rail fence I had built, mebbe five rails high. We had done breakfast a few minutes, when two young men came walking along the road.
One of them was Abe. A man named Offut. Offut was going to start a grocery at New Salem. Abe was walking up to go to work in the store. The old woman fixed them up something, the things were on the table, and they had their breakfast. I expect he would have gone over just as easy if it had been higher, for he had powerful long legs. Lincoln attracted friends of all ages. Lincoln when he came to Illinois in , said Mr. Despite his friendliness, it was not easy truly to get to know Mr.
