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270. Caleb Carman (William H. Herndon Interview).
Petersburg Octr 12th 1866
Caleb Carman
— aged 62 — Knew Lincoln well — first knew him in Sangamon Town — 7 M North west of the city of Spgfd. Saw Abe work a flat boat — Broadwell sawed the lumber with an up right Saw — Steam Mill — There was no whip sawing of the boat plank — : it was sawed in a mill — Abe — long — tall & green — Cloathed in light blue Jeans — Coat & pants — round about Coat — Short one — trowsers short — not Strapt down. hat broad brim low wool hat. — Shoes. He was funny — joky — humorous — full of yarns — stories — rigs. &c — : he was frequently quoting poetry — reciting prose like orations — : had a Kind of Shantee — down on or near the river — Abe cooked — played seven up in the Camp after dark — Abe played a good game: he worked with the hands — Offutt — John Hanks & Jno Johnson were with Abe — they worked too — building the boat about Six weeks — Knew Abe in 1831 — . I was in the Indian war of 1828. or 9 — Abe was not out then — wasn't out in the Black Hawk war — Know no Evil — no wrong — no meanness — Am a democrat — opposed to Lincoln in politics, bitterly So — but loved the Man. Never saw him under the influence of liquor — took his dram with me when he felt like it — not often — His conduct to women & children was Kind and Condesending — I saw Abe at a show one night at Sangamon town — up stairs at my uncles — Jacob Carman: the Showman Cooked Eggs in Abes hat — Abe, when the man called for the hat Said — "Mr the reason why I didn't give you my hat before was out of respect to your Eggs — not care for my hat." Lincoln boarded with me one or two years at New Salem — Abe was boarding with me when he went to the Legislature in 1834: he was — P.M — not deputy — went from Springfield in Carriage — don't think he ever walked to Spgfd to borrow Law Book: he lived at my house when he studied law first — as I understand it: he never intended to learn the black smith trade: this story I know to be a humbug: he surveyed in 1834 — surveyed Petersburg — boarded then with me — : he merchandised in N. Salem before I got there — He Kept grocery too before I got down from Sangamon town. I lived in the house in which Berry & Lincoln Kept grocery — New Salem laid off East & west — running on the back of the hill — about 25 — or 30 houses — all gone but one — : he bottomed — Lincoln did — some chairs for me in 1834 & 1831 — One Morning I Saw Abe up Early with an axe on his shoulder — I said to him — "Abe what in the devil are you going to do" "I'll tell you directly" said Abe he went in
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the woods — cut down 2 hickory sapplings — peeled off the Course outer bark — peeled off the clean tender inner bark and with it bottomed my chairs. Abe ceased boarding with me in 1836 & 7. Abe was very good Kind & courteous to children & women — was sometimes sociable with men — Seen him Survey many times — he often to my own Knowledge attended law cases before Justices of the Peace in & near Salem from 1834 to 1837 — He loved Burns' poetry — Shakespear — and some few other books — read the News papers of the day — the Sangamon Journal & Mo Republican & Louisville Journal: He was always quoting Poetry — singing songs — "Old Suekey blue Skin"375
him to drink Sometimes and possibly he never would have touched it but for his friends — He used to worry — tire himself down at Study & work at Salem — would retire to Armstrongs — Shorts — Grahams & other places to get recruited —Library of Congress: Herndon-Weik Collection. Manuscript Division. Library of Congress. Washington, D.C. 2706 — 10; Huntington Library: LN2408, 1:357 — 62