Lincoln Cottage April 9 Event with Don Doyle and Sidney Blumenthal

[Eva Elisabeth]

SHAME ON ME - and this shall teach me not to criticize tour guides and point at misquotations (a German proverb says: "God punishes little sins instantly")...no wonder you don't know the turkey story, the birds were peacocks!!! I'm sorry about that. Here the peacock story goes as recalled by Stanton's son, Lewis Stanton:

“Mr. Lincoln and my father arrived at the cottage. They at once noticed the peacocks who were roosting in a small cluster of cedar trees with the ropes and sticks caught in the many small branches and recognized the dangerous and uncomfortable position when on the morrow they would attempt to fly to earth. The two men immediately went to work, solemnly going to and fro unwinding the ropes and getting them in straight lines and carefully placing the small pieces of wood where without catching they would slide off when in the morning the birds flew down.”

(B.P.Thomas, H.M.Hayman: "Stanton, the Life and Times of Lincoln's Secretary of War," pp.384/385)

Here's is a nice and informative site on the Soldiers' Home:
http://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/insi...ubjectID=4