Ohio History Journal

ABRAHAM LINCOLN VISITS WITH HIS PEOPLE

 

by J. H. CRAMER

Associate Professor of History, Youngstown College

 

The crossroads of America nurtured Abraham Lincoln; they

were home to him. He spent most of his life in the villages and

small towns of the Middle West, and the thriving city of Spring-

field, Illinois, numbered only seven thousand persons in its popu-

lation during the years in which Lincoln was one of its leading

citizens. The teeming life of the American city never appealed to

the man of the prairies; he was more at home among the towns-

people with whom he had lived.

Cities played a part in the life of the man, and he appeared

before more than one large crowd of city people as he traveled

upon the way to Washington in 1861. He did not feel at home be-

fore these people, and he voiced his feelings to a guest upon the

train which was carrying him from Cincinnati to Columbus. The

fellow traveler was Dr. James Scott, editor of a Republican weekly

in a small Ohio town, and a politician of local note. He had

traveled with some fellow members of the state legislature as one

of a committee to escort the president-elect to Columbus. Lincoln

and the group were chatting pleasantly upon the incidents of the

trip, and the reception at Cincinnati was referred to as one of the

outstanding events in the travels through Illinois, Indiana, and

Ohio. The "Queen City" of Ohio had a population well in excess

of 150,000 people, and most of the citizens had gathered to see

and hear the first president-elect of the newly formed Republican

party. Pro-southerners had listened to his words with apprehen-

sion; the German workingmen had applauded his words, and the

ovation must have pleased and encouraged the distinguished guest.

It had impressed his fellow travelers, and they asked about his

reaction to the reception. Editor Scott, who was close at hand,

observed that in his reply, "the president remarked he had never

been much in big cities, and city ways came awkward to him, and he

 

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ABRAHAM LINCOLN                      67

did not know but what he appeared awkward to big cities."¹ Many

newspaper editors and reporters of the period would have written

"Amen" to this bit of self-appraisal.

Washington, Chicago, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and New York

played definite parts in the career of a great American, but Abra-

ham Lincoln's America was a rural one, with small villages and

towns nestled upon rolling prairies. Hodgenville, Little Pigeon

Creek, Decatur, Danville, New Salem, and Springfield; these were

the towns in which Abraham Lincoln lived, learned of men and

things, and laid the foundation of the man who matured into a

statesman. These were the places that dotted the life of Abraham

Lincoln; they were the homes of his people.

In view of his close association with villages and small towns

(those localities which city dwellers are prone to consider the cross-

roads of America), it is interesting to notice that Abraham Lincoln's

townfolk have received slight consideration in the reports of his

trip to Washington. A few brief references; casual notice of the

short sentences of the president-elect; and a word of his departure-

these comprise the story of rural America in the large city dailies

of 1861. Indifference to the America which Lincoln knew is not

strange. 0. H. Dutton of the New York Tribune, Henry Villard of

the New York Herald, and J. Howard, Jr., of the New York Times

might have an interest in the words spoken in a small town, or in a

stop there, but such things had little news value for the readers of

the newspapers in New York City. W. P. Painter of the Phila-

delphia Inquirer wrote in detail of one or two receptions in the

small towns, but the columns of the newspapers in the large cities

were devoted to the more important addresses of the president-elect

and his visits to the larger cities. The jocular remarks of an Illinois

giant at Thorntown, Indiana, a flattering word to the ladies of

Painesville, or a pleasant good morning to the people of Wil-

loughby could not excite interest among the readers of the daily

newspapers of New York City and Philadelphia. It might be enter-

taining news for Clevelanders, but the reporters for the three

journals of this growing Ohio city gave little space to the visits to

rural towns. The story is found in the pages of the local press

where it has lain hidden for over eighty years.

1 Western Star (Lebanon, Ohio), February 21, 1861.

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68     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY,

 

The visit of the Civil War president to Cleveland was chron-

icled in full in each one of the daily newspapers of the city, and

every journal in the large cities of the nation carried several

columns upon the reception in the "Forest City." These accounts

have been reprinted in Cleveland newspapers of the present day,

and there are few unknown facts concerning the stop in the present-

day metropolis of Ohio. The reason why the version of the address

given by Lincoln as it appears in the pages of the Cleveland Plain

Dealer and the Cleveland Leader is different from that of the other

city newspapers of the day is one of the few unknown things con-

cerning Lincoln and the city of Cleveland. Abraham Lincoln in

Cleveland was of interest to Clevelanders; his words and the visit

made good news-story material for reporters in Buffalo, Pittsburgh,

Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and New York. The subsequent stops at

the villages of Euclid, Willoughby, Painesville, and Geneva seem to

have meant nothing to the readers of the large cities.

No vast crowd of citizens greeted the president-elect in these

villages, nor did he utter words of import to rural townspeople who

had gathered to welcome him. His words meant little to the re-

porters who traveled with Abraham Lincoln; they held interest only

for the fellow commoners of the man of the crossroads. They had

come to see this lanky fellow whom they had helped to place in the

highest office in the land; they had assembled to hear a word of

greeting. The brief remarks to which these people listened are

relatively unimportant, but they reveal the man of the small towns,

at ease and at home among his people.

The departure for a visit with the "homefolks" was blessed

with fair skies and mild weather. The day before, President-elect

Lincoln had marched in a downpour through the mud of the Cleve-

land streets. The good weather of February 16 brought a gala

crowd of Clevelanders to the old depot on the lake front to bid

Lincoln God speed and farewell. The Lake Shore Railroad had

provided a special train, and the president's car was acknowledged

to be the most palatial coach in which he had ridden since the de-

parture from Springfield. The veteran engineer of the line, Wil-

liam Congdon, was at the throttle of the powerful locomotive, the

"William  Case." Reception committees from  Buffalo and Erie

boarded the train to accompany the president-elect to their respec-

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ABRAHAM LINCOLN                     69

 

tive cities, and only incidentally to suggest that the more juicy

political plums would prove most palatable to them. A few Cleve-

land politicians of note, D. K. Cartter, Judge Tilden, Judge Spald-

ing, and Judge Wilson, rode on to Erie, in the hope that their am-

bition for federal office might be realized. It is significant to note

that Cartter was later appointed as chief justice of the Supreme

Court of the District of Columbia. It may have been the influence

of a vote changed to Abraham Lincoln at Chicago; it may have

been the ability of the man; it may have been the ride to Erie; but

the three factors combined to help a president-elect remember a

political debt.

The last guest boarded the train, and at about nine-thirty in

the morning, it left upon the trip to Buffalo. The presidential

special did not pause at the small village of Euclid, upon the out-

skirts of Cleveland, but crowds of people had gathered along the

track to fire cannon and cheer the gentleman from Illinois. One

overzealous citizen, William Hazen, did not tend his firing piece

with the necessary care, and the first unhappy incident of the trip

occurred. The Euclid resident lost a hand as he fired a salute in

honor of the newly elected president.

The train was behind time, and it sped rapidly toward the town

of Willoughby. No stop was planned at this Ohio town of 1,700

people, but it does seem that the cars paused for a minute or two.

The entire population of the town and surrounding countryside had

assembled, and it was a happy throng that watched the train draw

to a stop. Lincoln appeared upon the rear platform of his car, and

after the cheering people had subsided into silence, he addressed a

few words to them. The town of Willoughby boasted no newspaper

in 1861, and the only account of the visit of the president-elect

appeared in a letter to the weekly paper of the neighboring village

of Painesville. One Willoughby citizen was rather elated over the

fact that he had not arisen early in the morning to join the group

of his townspeople who had traveled to Painesville to swell the

throng gathered there. He had stayed at home with some of his

fellow residents and written the following note to the Painesville

editor:

To-be-President Lincoln was to stop and speak at Painesville on Saturday

-that was to day-and some of our most enterprizing citizens went down to

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70     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

hear him, with a view of taking in his dimensions. Well, some of our not-

so-enterprizing citizens, to the number of six hundred, stayed at home, and

saw as much and heard more of him. So true is it that "luck is in leisure".

Yes, Mr. Editor, "Honest Old Abe" did say "Good morning" to Willoughby,

and Willoughby said, "God bless you, man of cares, doomed to toss on the

top billows of these troublous times."2

The letter was signed by an anonymous "Was There" and

contains the only account of the fact that Abraham Lincoln spoke

at Willoughby. It is only known that he said "good morning," and

only the assertion that the people of the northeastern Ohio village

heard more of him than those of Painesville permits of any insight

into the length of his speech. The crowd had listened to the presi-

dent-elect for a few minutes at best; the locomotive whistle had

sounded; and the train traveled upon the way to the lake town of

Painesville.

The capital of Lake County expected Lincoln, and it had pre-

pared a reception for him. Upon Friday night a committee of three

had gone to Cleveland to make the necessary arrangements to re-

ceive the president-elect. Mayor Wilcox had remained over night to

accompany the distinguished visitor upon the trip to Painesville.

Early in the morning of Saturday the 16th, a flagstaff was raised on

the small depot, from which the Stars and Stripes fluttered in the

breeze. A stand had been constructed of railroad ties; it was a

fitting platform, for it was to hold the "rail-splitter" of Illinois.

As early as nine o'clock the crowd began to assemble at the depot,

and despite the fact that Painesville was a town of but about 2,000

people, the crowd numbered from 4,000 to 5,000 persons. The rural

folk had gathered to meet a man of their soil. The people did not

mind the wait; the tuneful Painesville Cornet Band was upon hand

to provide entertainment.

It was nearing ten o'clock as the presidential train drew toward

the Painesville depot. The tall gentleman from the neighboring

state of Illinois alighted with his shorter fellow traveler, Mayor

Wilcox. Both ascended the rail platform, and the mayor introduced

Lincoln in a brief speech that must have delighted him. Mayor

Wilcox had no advice for the "man of cares"; he merely said:

2 Painesville Telegraph, February 21, 1861.

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ABRAHAM LINCOLN                       71

 

"Fellow Citizens-I have the pleasure of introducing to you, the

President elect, the Hon. Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois."³

The people cheered the Honorable Abraham Lincoln loudly,

and after the noise had died down, the noted speaker responded to

the introduction of the mayor, in these few appropriate words:

LADIES and GENTLEMEN-I have stepped out upon this platform that

I may see you and that you may see me, and in the arrangement I have the

best of the bargain. The train stops only for a few minutes, so that I have time

to make but few remarks. We are met by large crowds at almost every ten

miles, but in few instances where there are so many as here, or where there

are so many (turning towards them and bowing) good-looking ladies. I can

only say now that I bid you good morning and farewell.4

He then turned toward the musicians and said, "Let us have

the better music of the band." He had made a homely little speech,

a talk to his friends at the crossroads. He had been jocular Abra-

ham Lincoln, not the serious man of Indianapolis and Cleveland.

This fellow who had once been accused of being lacking in those

little links that make up the gentleman had voiced his gallantry to

the ladies, and the reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer observed

that the words caused a marked fluttering and preening upon the

part of the fair ladies of Painesville. He had spoken of the "fair

ladies" at Newark, Ohio, but it was the first time that he had told a

crowd that he had the best of the bargain in seeing them. He was

to use the sentence upon frequent occasion in later speeches in towns

and cities. The reaction of the ladies is not given in the words of

the Painesville reporter, but he does note that Lincoln "is a brighter

and better-looking man than the portraits around the country indi-

cate." It is possible that the ladies may have helped to persuade

their husbands to vote for him in 1864.

The band struck up a tune, the people rent the air with shouts

for the "constitution as it is," and Superintendent Nottingham

cried "all aboard." A weary giant of a man, hoarse from too many

speeches, regained his place in the cars, and the train steamed on

to Madison. The president-elect had paused for five minutes at

Painesville.

Madison was a town of slightly over 2,000 persons, but the cars

paused for only one minute in this Ohio town. Lincoln appeared

3 Painesville Telegraph, February 21, 1861.

4 Painesville Telegraph, February 21, 1861.

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72     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

upon the platform of his car and spoke only long enough to compli-

ment the fair ladies in the crowd. He then disappeared into the

car, and the locomotive sped on to Geneva.

At this small village upon the shores of Lake Erie, a large

crowd of seventeen hundred people had gathered at the depot,

virtually the entire populace of the town. A group of ladies was

present holding a banner upon which were inscribed the words, "The

Lord is God." As the train approached a cannon boomed forth in

salute. The president-elect stepped out upon the platform, and a

Dr. Burrows, a Geneva minister, stepped forward to read his pre-

pared address of welcome to the visitor:

Abraham Lincoln, the Peoples representative and President: Aided by

Divine Providence may he guide the Ship of State (now floating among the

reefs and breakers of Disunion) that she may be brought back to her original

moorings. The Constitution as it is; the Union as it was; and liberty

uncompromised.5

Loud cheering greeted the completion of the reading of the

speech. It was a flowery effort, much unlike the simple welcome

of Mayor Wilcox, but Abraham Lincoln responded in a few words

expressive of his approval of the sentiments voiced by Dr. Burrows.

Again the crowd applauded and cheered, and an old Geneva resi-

dent called out, "'Uncle Abe,' stand firm." He was "Mr. Lincoln"

to his friends in Springfield; he was "Uncle Abe" to the old fellow

in Geneva, a man of the crossroads.

The crowd continued shouting the praise of the tall guest, the

locomotive whistle pierced the din, and Abraham Lincoln of Illi-

nois was on the way to the thriving lake port of Ashtabula. It

was a busy little town, but it was not the city of 23,000 people that

it is at present. There were about 1,500 persons in the lake town

in 1861, and almost all of them went to greet Lincoln. It might

have been expected that the Republican leader would stop at Ashta-

bula, for it was close to the home of his former congressional

messmate, Joshua Reed Giddings. The Ohio abolitionist had been

fond of the more conservative Illinois congressman, and he had been

one of the first to send his congratulations upon the election of the

Illinoisan to the presidency.

The president might expect to recive a favorable newspaper

 

5 Ashtabula Weekly Telegraph, March 2, 1861.

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ABRAHAM LINCOLN                    73

 

reception in Ashtabula, for the Ashtabula Sentinel, which was pub-

lished at nearby Jefferson, was the personal organ of the fiery

Joshua Giddings. The editorial policy of the paper was directed

by an able journalistic group, the Howells family. A young son

of the family had produced one of the early campaign lives of the

president-elect, and now he was disporting himself in the company

of an equally youthful editor in their work of editing the Ohio State

Journal at Columbus. The young men were amusing themselves

by confusing the citizens of the Ohio capital with editorials which

did not reveal the exact political stand of the newspaper. A

Howells-Giddings weekly could be expected to give full attention to

the visit of the former congressman from Illinois. The Sentinel

failed to report the brief remarks of the honored guests, but it did

give a colorful description of the visit, from which an interesting

view of the reception may be obtained.

Although the train was not due into the depot until about

eleven in the morning, as soon as dawn streaked the Ohio sky, the

people began to travel on foot and upon horseback from the sur-

rounding countryside. They came from distances as great as thirty

miles, and by ten o'clock a dense throng of between 3,000 and 4,000

people was gathered at the station. Shortly before the arrival of

the presidential train, an empty cattle train of fifteen cars was run

upon a side switch. It was immediately filled by a crowd of 1,500

persons which taxed the capacity of the cars. The booming of

cannon and the brassy voices of trumpets announced the approach

of the train. As it drew to a stop the tall figure of Mr. Lincoln

appeared upon the platform of the rear car. The townspeople

greeted him with three hearty cheers and paused a moment for quiet

to be restored. He was hoarse from too many speeches, and he

was barely audible beyond the first few rows of people, but he

greeted them in these words: "I can only say how do you do, and

farewell, as my voice, you perceive will warrant nothing more. I

am happy to see so many pleasant faces around me and to be able

to greet you as friends."6

He bowed not ungracefully as he concluded, and turned to

enter the car. One of the ladies called out that the feminine portion

of the crowd would like to see Mrs. Lincoln. The president-elect

6 Ashtabula Weekly Telegraph, February 23, 1861.

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74     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

turned, smiled down at the ladies, and replied that "he should

hardly hope to induce her to appear, as he had always found it

difficult to make her do what she did not want to."⁷ The people

laughed heartily, and Lincoln joined in the general merriment.

The Ashtabula reporter made no reference to the reaction of the

fiery and cultured Mary Todd Lincoln, if she heard the sally of

humor directed at her. After these last remarks, the crowd surged

forward, and many sought to shake hands with the weary man. He

laughingly declined, explaining that his arms were almost shaken

from his body. The people had been pleased with his visit, and the

editors of both Ashtabula papers observed that the people, far

from being disappointed with their side of the bargain, were im-

pressed with the pleasant smile and the general appearance of the

man whom they had chosen as president.

A last cheer from the people, one last strain of music from the

band, and the salute of the cannon marked the departure of the

president-elect. The locomotive "William  Case," puffed merrily

on the way to Conneaut, the last stop in Ohio. It was a small town

near the Pennsylvania border where about 2,000 people made their

homes. The town had appointed a committee of reception. At

about nine o'clock on Friday, February 15, the committee had con-

sulted the railroad company concerning the probable hour of the

arrival of the special train. The Conneaut editor wrote that the

committee had received a telegram from Cleveland, stating that the

train would pause for a few moments "that the populace might

have a chance to look at the great man."

Conneaut was pleased with the news that it was to see a presi-

dent-to-be, and early upon Saturday morning, the citizens began to

decorate the depot for the festive occasion. Other citizens were sent

out in every direction to inform the people of the visit of Lincoln.

Bells were rung, flags were waved, and cannon thundered forth the

notice for the people to assemble. Soon the rural dwellers began

to come from every direction, and they continued to arrive at the

station even after the train had departed. At eleven-thirty, when

the engine drew to a halt before the little Conneaut depot, over

2,000 men, women, and children were gathered to see the gaunt

fellow from Illinois. The "downbrake" whistle sounded, the train

 

7 Ibid.

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ABRAHAM LINCOLN                        75

 

rolled to a stop, and four gentlemen stepped upon the rear platform

of the last car. One towered above the rest, and as the people saw

him, they burst forth in wild applause. Men and women jostled

each other as they surged forward for a better view. Lincoln stood

silent for a moment. He was hoarse; his voice was nearing a rough

whisper; but the people had come from distant farms to hear a

word from him. He had little time for words, but he stepped for-

ward and said, "I have lost my voice and cannot make a speech,

but my intentions are good."⁸ There were many people North and

South who would have liked an expression of specific intention upon

his part. The people applauded the announcement of "good inten-

tions," and the speaker concluded by thanking them for their kindly

demonstration. The cars began to move slowly forward through

aisles of people upon both sides of the track, and Abraham Lincoln

stood upon the platform bowing to the cheering throngs. At this

moment, a Captain Appleby of Conneaut called out to him, "Don't

give up the ship!" The weary giant called back, "With your aid

I never will as long as life lasts."⁹ He was to die just as he piloted

the ship safely into harbor.

The trip through the crossroads of Ohio had been completed,

but it had ended upon a happy note. The editor who had spoken

of a great man, looked at that man and penned one of the most

interesting contemporary portraits of Abraham Lincoln. He wrote

these words for readers of the Conneaut weekly journal, the Con-

neaut Reporter:

As we looked at that face, upon which so many eyes are now turned, we

could not choose but admire the manly features, despite the sometimes repre-

sentation of ugliness. As he stood there nodding and bowing to the multi-

tude, we detected the unmistakeable lines of determination, tempered with

humanity written upon his lineaments. The common portraits and caricatures

do not express correctly his features. They give, it is true, something of the

contour, but as a general thing are much too large and are far coarser than

an inspection of the original proves them to be. Anxiety and care are per-

ceptible upon his face, but there is nevertheless, a calm, unassuming some-

thing about it which leads the beholder to hope that he may be the instru-

ment in the hands of the people, of quieting the troubled waters, and the

good old ship-of-state may be brought back to her former safe and quiet

moorings.10

8   Conneaut Reporter, February 21, 1861.

9  Ibid.

10 Ibid.

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The small-town residents of northeastern Ohio had seen and

heard Abraham Lincoln, and they had been pleased with the man.

Then he was on his way to the small but thriving city of Erie. The

cars stopped at the Pennsylvania lake port; Lincoln partook of an

excellent meal and appeared to address a few words to the citizens

of Erie.

From Erie, the train went to the town of Westfield, nestled in

the rural areas of a great state. It might seem strange that the

account of Abraham Lincoln and the small towns of northeastern

Ohio should end in a small New York state village, but two Ohioans

played an important part in the visit to Westfield. There was little

reason to stop at the town except for the fact that Lincoln had a

youthful correspondent in the town. Months before he had quietly

chuckled over her letter. She had wanted an answer from one of

his little girls, and, having none, he had replied. She had liked

the pretty rail border around his picture, but she felt that his face

could stand improvement. Little wonder that a gaunt fellow with

a sense of humor told his audiences that he had the better of the

bargain when they met to see each other. Abraham Lincoln of

Illinois had come to greet his youthful correspondent from rural

New York.

A large crowd gathered at Westfield to greet the president-

elect, and he hoped the young miss was in it. The metropolitan

dailies gave slight attention to one of the most colorful meetings

upon the trip. Many years later Mrs. Grace Billings made the story

known to the public, but she seems to have been unaware of an

account by a Cleveland reporter which had introduced her to the

people in the critical days of February 1861. The letter which she

wrote to a busy nominee was not made public until the 1930's, but

part of the contents had been given in the columns of a Cleveland

daily as early as 1861. The Cleveland reporter noticed that a large

banner uttered words of welcome to Lincoln and that the shouts

of the citizens greeted him as he stepped upon the platform of his

special car. He made some complimentary remarks upon New

York state and the fair ladies of Westfield, and concluded with the

following sentences:

During the campaign last Fall I received a letter from this place-and a

very pretty letter it was, too. It was written by a young girl, whose name if

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ABRAHAM LINCOLN                      77

 

he remembered rightly, was Bedell-Among other things in that letter was a

recommendation that I should let my whiskers grow, as it would improve my

appearance. It was partly from that suggestion that I have done so. If that

young lady is in this crowd I should like very much to see her.11

Little Miss Bedell was pointed out by a number of bystanders,

and she walked forward to meet the man who had been as consider-

ate of a letter from a child as of one from a noted political leader.

Some accounts assert that the president-elect greeted her with hearty

kisses, but the letters of Mrs. Billings do not corroborate such state-

ments. One other reporter upon the special train wrote a detailed

account of the meeting with Miss Bedell, and he was the only news-

paperman, with the exception of the correspondent for the Cleveland

Herald, to copy down the words spoken by Lincoln. The man was

William P. Painter of the Philadelphia Inquirer, and he erred in

calling Miss Bedell by the name of Barlly. A Cleveland newspaper-

man and Abraham Lincoln made Miss Bedell known to the nation

upon February 16, 1861, but most of the widely circulated dailies

of the day ignored the incident. Most of them contented themselves

with a reference to Miss Bedell as an attractive young woman, and

portrayed the president-elect as a man who enjoyed saluting beauti-

ful young ladies with a kiss. Only one paper tried to picture the

young lady as she was; the correspondent for the Cleveland Plain

Dealer wrote that the Westfield miss was twelve years of age, a

disillusioning report for those who pictured Mr. Lincoln as a ro-

mantic Lochinvar from out of Illinois.

The words which Abraham Lincoln spoke at the crossroads

were not significant, nor had he intended them to be. He had

neither the inclination nor the time to make important speeches in

the small towns. The addresses in the cities were serious in tone,

but, with one or two exceptions, they were composed with the pur-

pose of saying a few things to the people without disclosing any

definite policy. The brief speeches and remarks to the crowds in

the small towns were just what Abraham Lincoln intended they

should be, words of greeting and farewell, nothing more. The

commoner from Springfield had merely desired to visit with his

people, not to discuss national problems with them.

The crowds in the small towns and the activities and words of

11 Cleveland Herald, February 18, 1861.

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78     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

the president-elect in the rural places did not make good news copy

for the metropolitan press. The crossroads meant little to the city

readers, but they were important to Abraham Lincoln. They were

the homes of the people who had started him upon a political

career; they were the part of America he knew and had grown up

in. He had joked with these rural folk; he had greeted them with

pleasantries; but here and there a sentence stood forth. There was

the courageous reply to Captain Appleby, "With your aid I never

will as long as life lasts." The government of, by, and for the

people would survive as long as it had men of the courage and

vision of Abraham Lincoln and men of the small towns and great

cities helping their leaders to preserve a nation dedicated to a free

people.

Abraham Lincoln never forgot the crossroads; they had nur-

tured him. America cannot ignore them, for it was the small towns

like Willoughby, Painesville, Ashtabula, Conneaut, and Westfield

which produced the greatest figure of the American crossroads-

Abraham Lincoln.

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