Gibson W. Harris

[David Lockmiller]

(12-28-2017 02:57 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Many thanks to Scott for sending a .pdf file of the Gibson W. Harris' articles in the Woman's Home Companion (1903-1904). Harris was a young law clerk in the Lincoln-Herndon office 1845-1847.

CLICK HERE

It was with some difficulty that I read some of the PDF. I thought that others might have had the same problem as did I, and so, I copied over into a Word file the narrative of the first two meetings of these two individuals from Gibson Harris' perspective.

MY RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN By Gibson William Harris

A Law Student in Lincoln and Herndon’s Office From 1845 to 1847

The First Time I Saw Abraham Lincoln:

The presidential campaign of 1840 was in full blast, the famous campaign of "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too." Abraham Lincoln was on the Whig ticket as a district presidential elector, and for the fourth time was elected that year to the state legislature. The Democratic nominee for presidential elector for the same district was Isaac Walker, an able man, who afterward removed to Iowa, and from that state went to the United States Senate. Both nominees were actively stumping a considerable part of Illinois, and at Albion, on a certain afternoon in mid-autumn, they were to hold a joint debate.

Mr. Walker in his early days had lived in our village, and Lincoln, who had the opening speech, was naturally desirous of circumventing what he felt sure would be Ins opponent's endeavor to make capital of the fact. The opening lines of Byron's “Lara" occurred to him as suitable for his purpose but he could recall only a portion of them. So, about the middle of the forenoon on the day of the debate, there came into the log schoolhouse, where I sat among other pupils in their early teens, a remarkably tall young man, ungainly and plain-appearing, dressed in a full suit of blue jeans.

Approaching the master, he gave his name, apologized for the intrusion, and said: “I am told you have a copy of Byron’s works. If you could oblige me, I would like to borrow it for a few hours." But the book was at the master’s house, and would have to be sent for. It so happened that the teacher's wife was present and she offered to fetch it. The distance being considerable, the visitor demurred to her return on this sole errand and insisted on going with her. With thanks and a good-day to the master, and a smile such as I have never seen on any other face a smile that was flashed over the room to take in all of us lads and lassies, the tall, gaunt presence passed out.

We boys had previously given little thought to the political meeting, but there was something about the visitor that aroused in me, as I found it had in my chums, a strong desire to see him again and hear him speak. Several of us petitioned for and were granted a half-holiday. Mr. Lincoln was at this time thirty-one years old, and had begun to attract attention as a lawyer. His style of speaking even then was remarkably direct and forcible.

At the meeting in question almost the first thing we heard, when the debate opened, were these lines:

"He, their unhoped but unforgotten lord,
The long self-exiled chieftain, is restored;
There be bright faces in the busy hall.
Bowls on the board, and banners on the wall.
He comes at last, in sudden loneliness.
And whence they know not, why they need not guess;
They more might marvel, when the greetings o'er,
Not that he came, but why came not before."

In vain did Mr. Walker's rejoinder ring the changes on auld lang syne.

Lincoln's sallies on “why came not before" had taken the wind out of his opponent's sails completely, while his command of pure, sententious English and the correctness of his diction were, I distinctly remember, favorably commented on by some of our best citizens. Albion's large proportion of educated men gave this appraisal real significance.

A New Friend:

In September, 1845, through the kindness of our then state senator, Mr. Charles Constable, it was arranged that I should enter the law office of Lincoln and Herndon, at Springfield, as student and clerk. From Albion it took me three days to reach Springfield by stage, the only means of transportation available other than private conveyance, though the distance can now be covered by rail in four hours.

Repairing to the law-firm's office, I met Mr. Herndon, and learned from him that the senior partner was traveling the circuit, and would not be home for several days. I left without disclosing my identity, preferring to await the return of Mr. Lincoln.

Learning in due time that Mr. Lincoln had returned, I again went to the law office, and this time he was in. He rose from his chair and gave me a cordial handshake. "You are the young man Mr. Constable spoke to me about?” he asked, and then introduced me to Mr. Herndon. Next, motioning toward the office bookcase, he remarked, "You will need what that contains. Make yourself at home," which I proceeded to do by taking a chair, he resuming his at the same time.

Elevating his feet to a level with his head, literally sitting on his backbone, he began making inquiries about different persons in and around Albion. The extent of his acquaintance with them surprised me, but the surprise wore off when I found, as I did in time, there was not a county in Illinois in which he did not know a number of the leading citizens, men whose voice had weight in public affairs. He seemed not only to know just how much influence each had politically, but likewise their noted peculiarities, their whims and fancies.

I did no reading that day. Mr. Lincoln was taking a rest after his tour of the circuit, and was in a chatty mood; above all, I was a new subject for his mental apparatus to investigate. If any mind was ever governed in its activities by the maxim, "The proper study of mankind is man,” it was Abraham Lincoln’s.

During my stay in his office I was the only student and only clerk in it. I can truthfully say I gave to my duties of both kinds the most diligent attention of which I was capable, and was soon made to feel the senior partner's kindly interest in me personally.

Simultaneously the less pleasing fact dawned upon me that Mr. Lincoln was not an assiduous instructor in the technics of law (which, indeed, were always more or less irksome to him, his mind dwelling rather on its principles), and reluctantly I began to turn to Mr. Herndon for such explanations as I needed, or, as opportunity offered, discussed what to me were knotty points with various younger members of the local bar.

But, while these developments could not but be a damper to the ardent youth unsatisfied till he could enter Mr. Lincoln's office, I never thought of admiring him less.