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Abraham Lincoln & the Hooker
Mar. 29th, 2013 11:23 amOne of the nicest things about the little tablet B gave me is he put his Netflix account on it. Last night I watched a History Channel program on Abraham Lincoln as seen through the eyes of his law partner, William Herndon.
They were partners for 16 years until Lincoln was catapulted to the Presidency. They had a peculiar kind of intimacy – Herndon made no secret of his loathing for Mrs. Lincoln, the vain, ambitious and hysterical née Mary Todd, so Herndon was never invited to the Lincoln home.
After Lincoln's assassination, Herndon began collecting stories about Lincoln from the people who'd known him in Springfield and before. These stories did not synchronize well with the various hagiographies that sprang up immediately after Lincoln's death, so for more than a century Herndon was discredited as an authoritative source of Lincoln information. In particular, Lincoln's only surviving son Robert Todd Lincoln hated Herndon – presumably because Herndon described the marriage of Robert's parents as one based on "policy" rather than on romantic love.
In the last 20 years or so, the academic assessment of Herndon has changed.
Herndon recounts a story told him by Lincoln's close friend Joshua Speed.
Lincoln, desirous to "have a little", asked his bunkmate, "do you know where I can get some."
Speed recommended Honest Abe to a fancy woman of his acquaintance. After Abe and the lady stripped down, Abe asked, How much? And the lady told Abe, Five bucks.
This upset Abe, who only had three bucks on him.
Lincoln thought a moment or so and said – 'I do not wish to go on Credit. I'm poor & I don't know where my next dollar will come from and I cannot afford to Cheat you.'
Lincoln offered the girl three bucks. The narrative makes it seem as though she was so charmed by his honesty, she was willing to waive the fee altogether. But this, Lincoln was not prepared to do. So he climbed out of bed, buttoned up his pants and went on his way.
I can't help thinking if they taught this kind of stuff in high school social studies classes, kids would do so much better on standardized tests.
They were partners for 16 years until Lincoln was catapulted to the Presidency. They had a peculiar kind of intimacy – Herndon made no secret of his loathing for Mrs. Lincoln, the vain, ambitious and hysterical née Mary Todd, so Herndon was never invited to the Lincoln home.
After Lincoln's assassination, Herndon began collecting stories about Lincoln from the people who'd known him in Springfield and before. These stories did not synchronize well with the various hagiographies that sprang up immediately after Lincoln's death, so for more than a century Herndon was discredited as an authoritative source of Lincoln information. In particular, Lincoln's only surviving son Robert Todd Lincoln hated Herndon – presumably because Herndon described the marriage of Robert's parents as one based on "policy" rather than on romantic love.
In the last 20 years or so, the academic assessment of Herndon has changed.
Herndon recounts a story told him by Lincoln's close friend Joshua Speed.
Lincoln, desirous to "have a little", asked his bunkmate, "do you know where I can get some."
Speed recommended Honest Abe to a fancy woman of his acquaintance. After Abe and the lady stripped down, Abe asked, How much? And the lady told Abe, Five bucks.
This upset Abe, who only had three bucks on him.
Lincoln thought a moment or so and said – 'I do not wish to go on Credit. I'm poor & I don't know where my next dollar will come from and I cannot afford to Cheat you.'
Lincoln offered the girl three bucks. The narrative makes it seem as though she was so charmed by his honesty, she was willing to waive the fee altogether. But this, Lincoln was not prepared to do. So he climbed out of bed, buttoned up his pants and went on his way.
I can't help thinking if they taught this kind of stuff in high school social studies classes, kids would do so much better on standardized tests.
