Extra Credit Questions

[Anita]

Ditto! It was Buffalo. Thanks for the question Roger. This is from the site http://buffaloah.com/h/fagant/linc.html Lots of interesting info here.

Abraham Lincoln in Western New York
By John Fagant

A bet paid off:

"Just before the Lincoln cortege arrived at the American, one of the Buffalo & Lake Huron railroad wagons, partially filled with wood, and containing a saw and buck, was driven in front of the hotel." Mr. George Mugridge and Mr. J. H. Canfield had made a bet the previous November on who would win the Presidential election. Mr. Canfield, choosing Steven Douglas, lost, and now he was paying off that bet. Canfield was to saw a half a cord of wood in front of the American hotel and then give it to the poorest black family in Buffalo.11 This he did. The sawing began when Lincoln appeared and finished long after the speech was over. The crowd still present gave him a round of applause."

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(12-26-2014 04:28 PM)STS Lincolnite Wrote:  

(12-26-2014 03:08 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Hint #1: A newspaper in this city described Robert Lincoln as follows:

"He is a harum-scarum sort of a college chap, with just a trifle of the ‘fast' in his composure, we imagine."

Was it Buffalo? I seem to remember the "harum scarum" description but not the story of the sawing.

Strangely I think that someone also described RTL's son in law Warren Beckwith (whom Robert didn't approve of by the way) as a "harum scarum fellow". What exactly did the term harum scarum mean back in those days?

The Buffalo Daily Courier gave its impression of the First Lady and her son, Robert:

Mrs. Lincoln "was receiving hosts of citizens in the parlors of the hotel. Mrs. L. seems a quiet, kindly looking, elderly lady, with nothing specially dignified or intellectual in her appearance, but with a sobriety and composure … which are perhaps as desirable. Her son, Robert T, or "Prince Bob" as he is familiarly styled by his chums, hovered about his mother the most of the time. He is a harum-scarum sort of a college chap, with just a trifle of the ‘fast' in his composure, we imagine."12


According to Merriam-Webster:
Definition of HARUM-SCARUM
: reckless, irresponsible
Synonyms
daredevil, devil-may-care, foolhardy, harum-scarum, hell-for-leather, irresponsible, kamikaze