Most people don't know this, but I have this 'thing' about the presidents. In fact it led to a song I wrote about ten years ago to help kids memorize their names and then I wrote a whole CD of songs called "Remember The Presidents" (available on CD Baby.com by the way!)
Today is February 12th and it's Abraham Lincoln's birthday! And it just so happens that two people whom I love very much have an interesting connection to the 16th president, so I thought I'd feature their stories on this special day.
Below is the first one - it's an excerpt from my mom's memoir called "Looking Back".
My
First Book
By Irene Milko Cooper
I must’ve been about eight or nine years old
and looking back from this time of plenty I cannot conceive that I did not own
any of my very own books. Yes, I had
school books, and I went to the neighborhood library but these were not my
books to keep, to hold and proudly say, “This is my book – my very own book!”
I remember it was raining – a cold autumn rain (in Detroit, Michigan). I
was getting wet, very wet so I ran to escape the cold rain, plus the holes in
my shoes were starting to absorb the rain and the inner cardboard my mother had
shaped into place inside of them was starting to get spongy. Water was swirling
along the curb as I made ready to jump across it to the street. I stopped, as
something caught my eye. Laying in the swirling water was a book – a beautiful
soggy book. I quickly scooped it up, looking around, praying that no one would
come and claim it. I hurried home with it.
My Mother had the living room coal stove going full
blast and it felt so good to sit on the trunk behind the stove and feel the warmth
surround me. Then I got an old rag and
wiped my book, pressing down to get the moisture out. Mom approached me and
said it would never be any good; that I shouldn’t bother because it was a mess.
(Mom didn’t like to read.) So I knew I’d
better guard my book and I made a mental note to keep it in view.
The stove stood up on
four legs on a metal square mat. I wiped the mat under the stove off and placed
my book to dry there. At night I placed
it on top of the trunk and would turn it so that it would dry, which it
eventually did. And then, one cold winter
day I was able to drink a hot cup of tea and sit and read my beautiful book: “The
Story of Young Abraham Lincoln” by Wayne Whipple. And as I read and re-read
this book and lived young Abe’s story he became my friend.
I still have the
book. I keep it safely wrapped in a bag, its faded pages fragile but when I
hold it I can still remember the joy it gave me when I found it and it became
my very first book. How very proud and
happy I was with my great find!
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And, below is the second - It is the introduction of a book my husband Alex edited called The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln (available on Amazon.com by the way!).
Abraham Lincoln is remembered as a tragic figure, a martyred emancipator. But he is also a great comic figure. Comedy was married to tragedy in his life and his personality.
It was the wit and wisdom of Abraham Lincoln that first won him the hearts of the people. Prior to his election as president in 1860 he never held a higher post than that of a one-term Illinois congressman. But people trusted Lincoln instinctively because he seemed wiser than other men, and they liked him because he was funnier than other men.
Abraham Lincoln was a great writer and a great orator as well as a great leader. He deserves a place in American Literature as well as history. However, he wrote no books, he composed no memoirs, he left behind no magnum opus. The quotations sited in this book are drawn from a variety of sources, both oral and written.
The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln includes both stories told about Lincoln and stories told by Lincoln. No president has had more stories told about him than Lincoln. Many of these stories have passed from American history into American folklore. Sometimes it is hard to separate Lincoln the historical figure from Lincoln the folk hero.
No president told more stories than Lincoln. He was the storytelling president. He used anecdotes the way Christ is said to have used parables, to make a point, to illustrate a principle. He used humor the way Mark Twain used humor, to break down barriers and throw light on truth.
Ultimately it's for you to decide if the stories told about Lincoln are true and if the stories told by Lincoln contain truth.
Alex Ayres
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If you would like to read the first ten pages of Alex's book (or see some of the other books he has available) please click on the link below.
