973.7L63 Charrney, Theodore S. 
 E3C38a As we think of him 
 
jncol: 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 MEMORIAL 
 
 the Class of 1901 
 
 founded by 
 
 HARLAN HOYT HORNER 
 
 and 
 
 HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER 
 
Chink 
 of fii 
 
Edition Bote 
 
 Prepared and published expressly for distribution to 
 the members of the Illinois State Historical Society 
 in attendance at the 57 th Annual Meeting held in 
 Chicago, Illinois on October 12th and 13th, 1956. 
 
 hi fi press 
 Chicago 
 
£3 C32w Li-ncoU ^oc-w 
 
 ©edicatorg 
 
 The late 
 
 Harry E. Pratt 
 
 Lincoln Scholar 
 and Authority 
 
Prefatory 
 
 As We Think of Him, he is a robust youth, a flat- 
 boatman, a railsplitter, a fun-loving wrestler, a jack- 
 of-all trades, a volunteer soldier, a frontier story- 
 teller, a self taught lawyer, and all the other down to 
 earth characterizations that fit young Abraham Lin- 
 coln during his first five or six years in Illinois. 
 
 The rest of the country may think of him as an 
 occupant of the White House at a critical time; as a 
 figure towering with or above Franklin, Washington, 
 Jackson and others; as a martyr who gave his life 
 because of his symbolism, even as others in past his- 
 tory have done. 
 
 Yet, As We, in Illinois, Think of Him, he is asso- 
 ciated with log cabins; he towers above frontier char- 
 acters, some of whom were quite towering; he lives 
 not as martyr but as the symbol of Illinois, Land of 
 Lincoln. 
 
 That, is As We Think of Him. 
 
 THEODORE S. CHARRNEY 
 
Down the Mississippi by flatboat he went and saw 
 the barbarism called slavery. Even then, as a youth, 
 his observations carried with them a dedicated 
 quality. 
 
His first job was splitting rails, sometimes a thou- 
 sand a day, little knowing he was chopping out his 
 campaign nickname thirty years prior to its use. 
 
Games on the frontier were rough and tumble, but 
 all in good fun and sportsmanship. Even after he sat 
 in the White House some oldsters remembered only 
 that, he was a hard wrestler to beat. 
 
In the natural course of his everyday work he 
 stopped often, we are told, to spin yarns, and some- 
 how gave himself an education in public speaking. 
 
From a frontier jaypee he culled the rudiments of 
 law, and within months began to apply his legal 
 knowledge practically and to the benefit of others. 
 
Early he learned the hurt that goes with life and 
 never forgot its meaning or its place in our existence. 
 
Credits 
 
 The preparation of this pamphlet was made possible 
 thru the co-operation and courtesies of 
 
 Paper 
 
 EXCEL PAPER COMPANY 
 
 Illustrations 
 
 NATIONAL EDITORIAL ASSOCIATION 
 
 Publishing 
 
 HI FI PRESS 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
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