Lincoln Discussion Symposium

In honor of Roger's return, here is the latest incarnation of "A Sandburg Stumper."

No Googling, please.

Listen to the following conversation:

The woman then asked Sandburg, “This [fellow], they say he was an infidel. Was he?”

Sandburg quietly assured her that “he was nearer to God than any man who said that."

To whom was Sandburg and the woman referring to?

First clue. It WAS NOT Abraham Lincoln.

Best
Rob

(05-08-2023 08:55 PM)Rob Wick Wrote: [ -> ]In honor of Roger's return, here is the latest incarnation of "A Sandburg Stumper."

No Googling, please.

Listen to the following conversation:

The woman then asked Sandburg, “This [fellow], they say he was an infidel. Was he?”

Sandburg quietly assured her that “he was nearer to God than any man who said that."

To whom was Sandburg and the woman referring to?

First clue. It WAS NOT Abraham Lincoln.

Best
Rob

John Brown?

I'll second Michael and guess John Brown.

Exceptional guess gentlemen, but incorrect.

Clue twofer: I'm sure he's been mentioned here before, but I would not dare try to guess how many times.

Also, Sandburg wrote to Phillip Green Wright, "He says to read Homer, Virgil, the Bible, etc. on a rocky point on Long Island with the sea on three sides. I think there’s many a man and woman tired of life trying to find what it can mean to laugh, run, leap and exult- probing the mystery in a room where the tomes of lore shut out the life-giving air."

Best
Rob

Eugene Debs?

Sorry Anita, but it is not Debs.

Best
Rob

Henry David Thoreau?

Nope, Roger, it isn't Thoreau.

Best
Rob

Robert Ingersoll?

Sorry Steve, but it isn't Ingersoll.

Next clue.
In 1904 Sandburg paid a visit to New Jersey to see the sites associated with this person and paid a woman a quarter to tour his home. That was when Sandburg was asked the question.

Best
Rob

William Dayton? A real dark horse guess from New Jersey.

Sorry, but it isn't Dayton.

Next clue. The woman giving Sandburg the tour said she knew this person. "You couldn't help but like him," she said. She added that he was such a gentle soul that he wouldn't let his housekeeper brush away the cobwebs from his home. He said that "he wished to let the spiders have their own sweet way."

Best
Rob

Walt Whitman?

Good job Mike! It was Whitman. My last clue was going to be that Sandburg was often compared to him, and even Sandburg admitted that he copied Whitman in the beginning.

Best
Rob

Who is this (Sandburg edition)?

No googling please.

Who is this gentleman standing behind Sandburg?



Best
Rob