b By ELMO SCOTT WATSON JU are riding in your automobile on a paved road from Peoria to Spring- field, Ill. Off to the west runs a branch road, also a modern high- way. If you follow it, in a little while you come to the town of Petersburg—just another little Mid- dle Western city. But keep on going south. Now you are following a winding road which leads up on the bluffs overlooking the Sangamon river. Suddenly you forget that you are riding in an automobile and that you have been speeding over a modern concrete road. You forget that this Is 1932. For a hundred years roll back and it is the year 1832. The magic which has brought about this transformation is the sight of a little cluster of log cabins scattered over a grassy tract of some 60 acres which unfolds before you. The cabins are empty, it is true, but if you have any Imagination at all, it's easy enough to people them. Come over here to this eabin. The sign in front of It says that it is the Offut store. Walk Inside. There behind the rough plank counter a tall, gangling, awkward-looking young man Is unrolling a bolt of calico and hold- ing It out to the appraising fingers of a woman in a homespun dress, Do you recognize him? No? Well, then, come over here to this big double log cabin. The sign on the front says it is the Rutledge tavern. It is evening and in front of the fire which blazes In the big fireplace at one end of the room is a group of men. It's pretty likely they'll be listening to a story which this same tall, gangling, awkward-looking young man Is telling. Back In the shadows you may be able to see the form of a young girl—an un- usually attractive girl even though she is dressed in calico. She Is the daughter of the tavern. keeper and her name is Ann. But if by chance the tall man Isn't in the Rutledge tavern let's take a look In another cabin nearby, It's the cooper shop of a certain Henry Onstott. There's a fireplace here, too, and stretched out on the floor in front of it is this yoyng man we've been seeking. Of course, you've guessed who it is by now. But just in case you haven't, ask him to let you take his book for a moment. Look on the fiyleaf In front and there you'll see the name “A. Lincoln.” Of all the memorials that have been erected to the memory of Abraham Lincoln this one on the banks of the Sangamon river in Menard county, Illinois, Is unique. It Is no imposing edifice of marble or granite. It contains no work from the chisel and mallet of a great sculptor, portraying once more the familiar face and form of the Great Emancipator., But when the projected reconstruction work is completed, the village of New Salem, where Lincoln “passed from raw untutored youth to strong intellectual manhood,” will be a place where hig fellow Americans can go and In the atmosphere of that place they can more nearly feel a spiritual kin- ship to him than in any other place dedicated to his memory. Of Old Salem park, the state park which has been established there, a recent bulletin of the Illinois department of public works and build ings says: “It was a small town but it gave birth to a Great Boul. When Lincoln at the age of twenty. two, drifted down the river In 1831 and stranded his boat upon the famous mill dam at Old Salem, two years it had gained a population of one hundred inhabitants and scattered along its one long street on either side there were in the neighborhood of 25 cabins of varying size in cluding the large, two-story double room tavern, “Here he came a friendless overgrown boy, uncouth, uneducated, with a knowledge of only the barest rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic. Here he chopped wood, tended store, became a merchant for himself, narrowly avoid. fng bankruptcy and utterly falled In commer. elal lines, He was appointed postmaster, using his hat for hig office, He acted as surveyor and his monuments are yet taken as author. ity. . . . Here he studied grammar, philosophy law and learned to debate against men of ning, ¥ “During his residence here hig character was Lincoln ~ Berry Store (—— The Offut Store formed; his education was completed, his name of ‘Honest Abe' acquired: he caught the urge to serve humanity in a big broad, unselfish way, Here sweet chapters were written into his great life which grip the hearts of men throughout the world, on “With Lincoln's departure in 1837 for wider fields, Old Salem having served its purpose, went into a decline and became a deserted village. Its cabins were removed to Petersburg where fortunately one was preserved. This was the Onstott Cooper shop where by the light of the cooper’s shingles, Lincoln studied Shakespeare, Burns and Blackstone, It has been returned to its original foundation at Old Salem. ‘peace’ and here If you have any sentiment coursing In your blood, you will find peace. Per- fect peace hovers over this serene, stately em- Inence of green jutting out Into the quiet sea of prairie and woodland. Old Salem never ceased to mean much to Lincoln. He expected to make it his rural home after his second Presidency. * « + « Research work has brought to view the original foundations of every log cabin along these forgotten streets, the almost obliterated road leading out of the village to Springfield and the path from Offut's store where Lincoln clerked, down to the grist mill where he was wont to officiate. Soon all log cabing will be restored on thelr original foundations and all cabins, shops and mill will be furnished as they were In 1831, “When this work is tactfully done, the sem. blance of a vanished era will be perfect. The associations, the taverns, the homes, the old well which is now in tse, the paths of a great life will be eloquently imparted to ua. The six hap- plest and most fruitful years Abraham lincoln had spent up to this time In his life will lle before us more vividly than tongue or pen could describe them.” Bo far the buildings which have been restored are the Rutledge tavern, the Offut store, near which took place the famous Armstrong-Lincoln wrestling match; the store where Lincoln and William Berry were business partners; the Henry Onstott cooper shop and the Hill and Me Namar store. There is also a handsome stone structure’ which ls used as a Lificoln museum, containing many interesting Lincoln relics. Al though the original town was named New Salem, the state park and the restored village is called Old Balem. This was necessary because there is a New Balem In Pike county, Ili and 8 town of Salem In Marion county, Bo to pre vent confusion, it was thought best to eall the ressurrected town Old Salem. It was during Lincoln's life In New Salem that there became associated with his name some of the innumerable stories so familiar to all of us, Some of them are sufficiently authent!. cated to be accepted as fact but others are pure legend. Not the least of the services of the late Senator Albert J. Beveridge In his monu- mental blography of Lincoln, published by the Houghton Mifflin company some four years ago, was the confirming of some of these legends and the dispelling of others so that an authentic portrait of Lincoln emerged from the great mass, of evidence of which he examided. The Rutledge Tavern ———————— 111 Me 2 All fholoprerhs Lrcapt Lincoln) vv the Aut) The Hill-McNamar Store The high spot in Lincoln's career at New falem In the mind of most people, no doubt, was his romance with Ann Rutile tavernkeeper, over which so ghter of the writers have rhapsodized, albeit usually inaccurately wins a very substantial basis of fact for the legend which has sprung up about this love affair, but it was not the “grand passion” which has been so often depicted. Of her Beveridge Buys: “Ann appears to have been the mos There attrac two most prominent and prosperous young men it would appear, she was very much in love. Lincoln, too, ‘had great partialities’ for her. but McNamar stood in his way, MeNamar and Lincoln were friends and the young merchant did not know that Lincoln was ‘paying any par my acquaintance’ as, indeed, he was not at that time. On her part, Ann was not then “favorably impressed’ with Lincoln, who was ‘young, poor and awkward’ and without prospects, while both Hill and McNamar were ‘up in the world" ” MeNamar went by the name of MeNiel in New Salem, a name which he had assumed when he left his home In New York to seek his fortune in the West and pay off the debts which his father had accumulated. His only reason for the change of name was in order “to avold pur. suit by his parents” and there was no disgrace attached to that change. But It led to tragedy Just the same. For McNamar went back East, fell ill and with other troubles piling up on him, his letters to Ann, to whom he had confessed his real name, became infrequent and finally censed coming to New Salem, “Troubled that letters from her betrothed no longer came, Ann told her parents of McNamar's change of name. Suspicion Instantly sprang up and possessed the Rutledge family. tumor of the circumstances soon ran from cabin to cabin In the little hamlet; gossip made the worst of the situation, , , . Ann had been abandoned. “So stood matters when Lincoln, through whose hands (as postmaster at the time) her correspondence with McNamar had passed, be gan his courtship, the .nature and course of which are misty. No positive engagement re sulted, although it seems that there was a tenta- tive agreement to marry, ‘conditional,’ however, asserts Ann's brother, ‘to an honorable release from the contract with McNamar.' Indeed, when urged by her younger brother, David, to marry Lincoln, Ann refused until she could see Me- Namar again and ‘inform him of the change.’ ” But she was destined never to see him agaln for she died on August 25, 1835. “When Lincoln came from the bedside of the dying girl ob- servers noted that he was despondent and, when she died, he appeared gloomy and dejected. Again, In the village, ‘old people’ wagged their heads and sald that he was mentally unbal- anced, this time because of sorrow. ‘But vari ous opinions obtained as to the cause of his change, some thought it was an Increased appli. cation to his law studies, others that it was deep anguish of Soul (ag he was all soul) over the Loss of Miss R', Beveridge then quotes another biographer of Lincoln as sa “Gossip and imagination have represented this early romance as casting » shadow over his whole after life, and as having produced something bordering upon Insanity, The picture has been somewhat too highly col. ored and the story made rather too tragic” It was sufficiently tragic for the first love of Ann Rutledge for some three months later McNamar came back to New Salem to find his betrothed dead, (@®. 1933, Western Newspaper Union.) tablets, a sore throat!” It’s a wise plan to take aspirin after any or whenever there is any and even rheumatism, French Writer on | American Culture I should lke to meet In every Euro pean country women as truly cuit vated as those whom I have seen In th he great colleges of the h eastern United States—at Bryn th » my fel jow countryman, Paul Morand, that n saving our wm during the next! that one of its sanc we shall have western clvill few decades, but tuaries, along with Paris, London and some of the great European uni versities, will be the rocky islets of Manhattan.—Andre Maurois In th London Morning Post. You'll always find a good looking glass, Plumb Worthless Uncle Dan, centenarian and ex. slave, ig n pensioner of a South Caro- lina family. One day, while he was drawing his regular dole, his pres ent patron took occasion to rally him in fact, of int in general, . " the cost of his upkeep; that's right “But It ain't nbers the day when mid $1,200 for me, pot being worth oln comes along yn proclamation bh worthless.” --ountry Gentleman, Miniature Schoolhouse Ihouse, 20 by 50 feet, which t in one IT ploveed did the nile will rang, : of Safe Escape “Were there cries of ‘Author! Ag thor!” when jour play was pro duced? “Yes, but 1 was running too fast for them!” In youth, you read of strange and (fascinating places. When you are older, you visit them, / The law of heaven is love, ——— CORRECT for in parents as well oil. Scott & Bowne, ren Lackner” on Scott’s E OF NORWEGIAN His Kind Deed A lad who has been taught to do a kind deed each day was having a heart-to-heart talk with his mother at bedtime, “Did you do a kind deed today?” mother asked. “Yes, Mary's curls were on my deak when she leaned back in her seat at school. The teacher was looking and I dida’t pull her hair” replied the lad. Porcupines Destroy Trees San Juan national forest officials have discovered a new enemy of trees——porcupines. The animals rud trees with their sharp quills, strip ping a ring around them and causing them to “spike top,” or die at the top first, Forest Supervisor Andrew Hutton estimated porcupines have caused as much damage to the tim- GROWTH Children as children — to such common illnesses Bloomficid, N. J. Sales Represcatative, Sunday night af 9.30 p.m. (E. 8. T.) ever the 1a Coart-do-Cosrt Network, mulsion GLEBE bln als ber during the last tew years as that caused by fire. A campaign against them, he said, would be made. Precaution Roddie was taking his little broth. er Phil to Sunday school for the first time. He seemed rather concerned about it and just before starting, turned to his mother and seid: “Mother, what is Phil's last name? They might ask me” To keep clean and heal take Dw, Plevee’s Plensant Pellets. regulate liver, bowels and stomach A Ungathered Rice “Paddy” is the name given te un husked rice, whether growing or gath- ered. Human nature remains the same, but not at all times of the day.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers