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Lincoln Tales Tall and True

Book and Lyrics by Brian “Fox” Ellis, Music by Barry Cloyd and Brian “Fox” Ellis

Characters in order of appearance Reginald Dewitt, A brash reporter from New York City who asks too many questions… but he is a good reporter, listening to what is said and asking questions to move the stories along. The key thing is that he comes into this scene as a hard-nosed reporter wanting to get a story and he leaves a much more humble man, realizing that these are not “bumpkins” but people who, much like Lincoln, have achieved a certain nobility and character from their circumstances. In drama, someone has to change and in the case of this play, I suspect it will be both DeWitt and Austin. Mr. Gullaher - Austin’s father, village elder, raconteur par excellence. Originally from the South, like most of Southern Illinois, and still somewhat sympathetic to the Southern sentiments. ..thinks that perhaps his son Austin has been a bit too taken with Lincoln’s “liberal” thinking…and he’s for sure that Austin has developed too much of Lincoln’s affinity for stretching a story. Mrs. Gullaher, warm matron who serves some sweet lemonade more concerned with the human rather than the political side of Lincoln. She knew his family, Nancy and Sarah. And, like every mother, the prospect of her family going to war has been much on her mind. She’s very protective of her family and she might display this in not being keen on the idea of Austin talking so much to a New York reporter. Austin Gullaher, a boyhood friend of Abraham Lincoln. Austin is more than just a good storyteller. To create sympathy, he needs a few faults….perhaps he talks too much and his family is constantly on his case about jabbering on and on. .. or perhaps he tends to stretch his stories and his family and friends must constantly drag him back to the truth. … or he can be extremely hot-headed and takes great offense when someone corrects him. ..or a combination of these traits.

There is the lively possibility of a larger ensemble with family members, friends and neighbors also swapping stories, singing in the chorus, marching in the band, interjecting colloquialisms and dancing up a storm! Knowing that kids love to watch other kids onstage, it brings them into the action and tells them “This play is for you, too!”… and every kid watching another kid onstage wishes that he could be up there with him.

Setting – Small Illinois Town, the day after Lincoln was shot. There is a front porch with a few rocking chairs, a guitar, banjo and mandolin hanging on the wall, a few steps to one side, an old tree out front, stage right. A few stumps for folks to sit on, dance on, speak from.

The Feel: The show has a showboat, vaudeville, variety show feel to it. It mixes raucous songs and choral dance numbers with popcorn jokes, comedy and melodrama. There are period songs, folksongs, campaign songs, a heartbreaking lament, and big Oklahoma like choral dance numbers. During one song the chorus rattles off a humorous, witty selection of Lincoln’s aphorisms. During the campaign song a marching band does a routine on stage. The stories are brought to life with dynamic telling. It is first and foremost a show where we celebrate the life of Lincoln through a mix of well-known and little known tales about the Prairie Years in Act 1 and the War Years in Act 2.

Part of the joy and challenge is to deliver each story in a fresh and new way: songs tell stories – one song ballad like and another has a sing-along chorus with each verse recounting a funny incident; skits re-enact stories; a debate tells the same story from two points of view; a prop, an ax, passed around elicits several related stories about log cabins, rail-splitting, and the rail-splitter as a political metaphor one narrator begins a story and two or three narrators interject or pick up and move it off in a different direction; Lincoln love for reading a court room drama with the cast play acting and the audience being treated like the jury; reminds me of, is it true that, I heard it this way a little girl tells a story heard from her uncle or grandpa; Ma sympathizes with Mary Todd and the loss of her boys; someone reads a letter; Lincoln’s letter to the mother of dead boys, Lincoln’s letter of pardon

The play opens with father walking onto his porch. He sits in a rocking chair. He picks up a banjo or guitar and plays a little musical prelude with snippets of several songs as the village wakes up. Two people cross the stage with milking buckets. A few girls draw hopscotch and dance hopscotch to the melodies. The day starts quietly until a brash, enthusiastic reporter approaches the girls REPORTER: Do you know where I could find Austin Gullaher? SUZIE: Why would you want to talk to him? MARY: Suzie, mind your manners. Yes, sir, (with a curtsy) He lives over there. (Pointing at the porch. The girls continue to play hopscotch, distractedly, listening in on reporter.) REPORTER: (Walks over to porch and asks old man.) Excuse me sir, are you Austin Gullaher? FATHER: “It all depends on who’s asking the question?” REPORTER: My name is Reginald Dewitt. I am a reporter for the American Herald-Gazette. I came all the way out here from New York City to talk to Austin Gullaher. FATHER: Ma, come on out here, there is someone here who would like to talk to Austin! MOTHER: (from off stage) Who is it? FATHER: A reporter from New York City! MOTHER: (As she comes out the door) New York City? Why would anyone from New York City want to talk to Austin? REPORTER: Ma’am, I’m here to talk to Austin, because I understand he was a childhood friend of the president. FATHER: Well, if you think he knew Abraham, don’t ya think we might have seen a little of him, too? I knew Abraham when he was a little boy. MOTHER: We lived right down the road in Knob Creek Kentucky. We were good friends with Thomas and Nancy Lincoln. Austin! Get out here! There is some reporter from New York here to talk to you. (Turns on reporter) Why you want to talk to my boy? FATHER: Abraham was always a peculiar little boy… (Austin bursts, stumbles out the door, nearly knocking ma off the porch.) AUSTIN: Ma, what do ya’ want? MOTHER: This reporter here says he has some questions for yo… REPORTER: (interrupts, offering a hand shake) The name is Reginald DeWitt. I am a reporter for the American Herald Gazette. I have it on good authority that you knew Abraham Lincoln and were a childhood friend of his. AUSTIN: Yeah, I knew Abraham Lincoln… and yeah, we were childhood friends. REPORTER: Then you are the man I have been looking for. AUSTIN: It might be true, but ya’ still haven’t answered my question, why would you be looking for me? REPORTER: Well, I heard that you might have a story or two about the early years of our president. MOTHER: Austin know a story or two? FATHER: How about two hundred and two. He came out of the womb crying for attention and has rarely shut-up since. MOTHER: Now, pa, don’t be hard on the boy. He gets his sense of exaggeration from his father. Can ya’ tell?

Tell a Tale or Two - (Start slowly, hesitant, un-even, pick up tempo into rollicking, confident, gusto-filled song with contagious enthusiasm!!! Each verse is filled with snippets of poetic images from the life of Lincoln.)

AUSTIN: Well, I think that I can tell a tale or two I can tell a tale or two (Father picks up guitar and strums along, eventually finding the tempo and melody) MOTHER: Don’t encourage him.

AUSTIN: Abraham’s Life is so filled with stories I can tell a tale or two (Guitar picks up rhythm and then banjo, bass, and fiddle comes in…) Well, I knew Lincoln when he was just a boy Long before we moved to Illinois Remember a time we fought an old bobcat His dog lost an ear, can you imagine that

I can tell a tale or two, I can tell a tale or two. Abraham’s life is so filled with stories I can tell a tall or two

Abraham was fishing in an old muddy creek ‘caught enough fish to feed his family for a week while walking home a soldier he met He gave’m his fish, would’ve given his net

I can tell a tale or two I can tell a tale or two Abraham’s life is so filled with stories

ALL: Can he tell a tale or two, (or three)? He can tell a tale or six (everyone say a different number!)

Ne’er forget the time that we were walking home Found the village drunk in a puddle by the road I said, serve him right if he drown tonight, Samaritan Abraham carried him home

ALL: I can tell a tale or two, or four I can tell a tale or two. Abraham’s life is so filled with stories I can tell a tall or two

REPORTER: WAIT, wait, wait, there is one story I was sent here to find… AUSTIN: You have a rude way of asking, but I think I know which tale you are looking for… I remember it like it was yesterday, April, 1816 or so, Abraham was seven and I was nine. Well, you folks know what it’s like growing up in the country? FATHER: This fella from New York City? AUSTIN: Pa… …growing up in the country with your closest neighbor a mile or more away, you’ll play with a polecat if they are friendly enough. Abraham and I was best friends. Our favorite place to play was Knob Creek. Usually it was just ankle deep, a fun place for a couple of boys to catch frogs or s-s-ssnakes-s-s. But on the morning I am remembering… with the snow melt and spring rains, Knob Creek was way up over its banks, flood stage! Abraham and I were walking along the shore when we come to a place where there was a log fallen across the creek. Abraham says, “Austin, look here, I’m going to walk across that there log.” I said, “Abraham, I would not do that if I were you. You know and I know that you cannot swim and neither can I. And with all of that rain that log will be slippery, you’ll slip. You’ll fall. You’ll die!” Now, I have to ask, have you ever done something just because someone told you not to do it? You can all guess what Abraham did, sure enough, he starts walking across that log. He puts one foot in front of the other, he gets about half way across, and you can all guess what happens next, sure enough, (YELP!) he falls in. The river just washes him away! Help! Help! Well I don’t know what to do, I don’t know how to swim. But I can’t just stand there. I have to do something. So I start running along the side of the river when I realize his life is in my hands, quite literally, for I grabbed aholt of a sycamore, a young dead sapling and it snaps off into my hands. I run up ahead and yell grab hold, grab hold! He grabs onto the stick and I pullt him out. I saved his life! Sure enough! If not for me he would‘ve never been president. Thank you very much! REPORTER: (Shakes his head with a hint of disbelief) Well, um, thank you Mr. Gullehur, but something tells me that there might be a few more stories you could tell, what else do you know about Mr. Lincoln’s earliest years? AUSTIN: Well, sir, to be fair, since my family loves to tease me about doing all the talking, I won’t tell another story until you do. If you know Mr. Lincoln, as you claim, you must know a story or two about him. What stories have you heard Mr. Lincoln tell? REPORTER: Wait, wait, wait. I’m the reporter. I ask you questions. You answer them. This is how it works. AUSTIN: Well, maybe where you come from, but here we take turns. I won’t spin another yarn until you tell a tale or two. REPORTER: That is not how this works. AUSTIN: Yes, it is… if you want me to tell another story you must tell us one first. REPORTER: (grumbles) Er, um, alright, maybe I can tell a tale or two (Father strums the guitar to encourage him) I can tell a tale or two (picks up melody) Abraham’s life was so full of stories I can tell a tale or two

Abraham Lincoln was a man of letters That’s a plane truth they say (A little awkward, spoken word) If he’d had his druthers he would spent his time with his nose in a book all day

I can tell a tale or two (gradually moves towards confidence) I can tell a tale or two Lincoln’s life was so full of stories I can tell a tale or two

REPORTER: One time I was at the telegraph office and while we were sitting around waiting for news from the front lines. Lincoln talked about reading while he was plowing. As Mr. Lincoln told it, he would line the horse up on a tree at the far end of the field, send the horse on his way, the horse knew what to do, so Lincoln would put his nose in a book. (Pantomime walking while reading with great facial expression as if this book is an amazing emotional roller coaster!) He always ended this little tale with a laugh: I would rather have my nose in book than a horse’s behind AUSTIN: (At the same time) I would rather have my nose in book than a horse’s behind REPORTER: Who’s telling this story? AUSTIN: I guess you do know Mr. Lincoln. FATHER: But he also had another tag at the end of that tale: Reading will take you places plowing will not! REPORTER: (At the same time) Reading will take you places plowing will not! FATHER: Abraham’s stories always had that little stinger, that potent little point at the end of his tale…

ALL: I can tell a tale or two, I can tell a tale or two. Abraham’s life’s so filled with stories I can tell a tall or two

REPORTER: Mr. Lincoln’s stories were a little crass Rather in a book than a horse’s FATHER: behind FATHER: Reading takes you places plowing will not As a self taught man, just look where he got

ALL: I can tell a tale or two, or four I can tell a tale or two. Abraham’s life is so filled with stories We can tell a tall or two

FATHER: I remember Abraham was always reading books. Books were hard to come by in these frontier towns. He would walk miles to borrow any book he could get his hands on. One time he borrowed a book from a neighbor, Bluenose Johnson. I think the book was “The Life of George Washington” REPORTER: (interrupting) by Mason Weems? FATHER: You know the book? A real page turner. Abraham had been up late reading by candle light. You know the feeling? You’re tired, but you cannot stop. One more chapter, one more chapter, you keep telling yourself. Three chapters later you can’t keep your eyes open but you keep reading. Finally, somewhere in the middle of the night, Abraham blows out the candle, sets the book on the windowsill and crawls into bed. He left the window open. It rained that night. The book was wet, ruined, and it was not his. He walked to the neighbor’s house with the wet book in hand. He told the neighbor he had ruined the book and could not afford to buy a new one, BUT he would do whatever was required of him to earn its equivalent value. He spent three days cutting fodder for one book. That’s just the kind of young man he was… REPORTER: I know that book because Mr. Lincoln showed it to me saying it was the first book he owned outright. He took it to the Whitehouse with him. Little did he know when he was a little boy that someday only he was a president to rival Washington. But Mr. Gullaher, what is the stinger on that tale? FATHER: “My best friend is one who will loan me a book I have not yet read.” AUSTIN: Oh, I could tell a dozen stories about the integrity of ol’ Abraham. Have you heard about his nick name… ALL: Honest Abe! AUSTIN: Honestly, he did not like the nick name Abe. So you notice, out of respect I use his full G-d given name Abraham. But do you know how he earned the name? MOTHER: Yes, but we rejoice in the retelling… AUSTIN: Abraham had very little formal education. As he liked to say, ‘he attended school in fits and starts.’ But for a while he attended a one room school house in Indiana. The school master had one thing he loved more than anything else, a rack of deer antlers over the door. FATHER: I think is was a fourteen point buck, I would be proud of that one. AUSTIN: Now, contrary to popular opinion, teachers are human. Try as they might, they can’t hold it all day. While the teacher was visiting the one room building behind the one room school house, if you know what I mean… when the cat is gone the mice will play. Boys will be boys. One of the boys dared Abraham to jump up and touch those antlers, ‘double dog dared him’. Abraham was always tall for his age so he went one better. He jumped up and grabbed onto both of those antlers… and one broke off in his hand. Just then the teacher come back into the room. Every one runs to their seats. Abraham slips the antler under his chair and sits there like nothing is wrong. The teacher walks to the front of the room and the first thing he notices is what he does not see. One of his antlers is missing. The other students watched him turn beet red, steam rising, and just as he is about to bust a gasket, before the teacher says anything, Abraham stands up, with antler in hand. “Uh, Sir, before you get mad at anybody else, I just wanted to say, I did it. It’s my fault.” The teacher’s jaw dropped to the floor with a thump. After he picked it up, he said, “Abraham, for your honesty, ye shall not be punished.” The other boys and girls could not believe their ears! They did not know what to say. They began to tease him. They pinned him with a nick name that stuck. Still to this day some folks like to call him… ALL: Honest Abe!

We can tell a tale or two! We can tell a tale or two! Abraham’s life is so filled with stories, We can tell a tale or two!

MOTHER: (Shifting the mood with every phrase, driving the knife in a little deeper, until it is truly a teary eyed moment.) But it wasn’t all fun and games, no it wasn’t all watermelon seed spitting contests and greased pigs. It was a hard scrabble life for that boy. I hate to speak ill of the dead, but his pa was a laggard who never amounted to much. And, his mother, G-d bless her soul, she took sick and died. Milk sick I think it was… You do not want to imagine it. Every child’s worst night mare, losing your mother. She called her son to her side and with her last words, her last breathe said, ‘you be good Abraham, you be good…’ and then she left this world… and him all alone in it… (Mother sings this old black spiritual, real plaintive…) Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, Sometimes I feel like a motherless child A long way from home, a long way from home

Some say Abraham never got over it. He was touched with the melancholy his whole life. What boy ever gets over losing his mother at such a tender age? His pa remarried, a cheerless old widow woman named Sarah Bush Johnston. But she was not Abraham’s mother. His older sister Sarah raised him up. She did the best she could, but then a few years later, shortly after she marries a neighbor boy, Sarah, his sister, gets pregnant and dies in childbirth, and Abraham loses his best friend, once more leaving him all alone in this world… Sometimes I feel like I ain’t got no friend, Sometimes I feel like I ain’t got no friend A long way from home, a long way from home

FATHER: Touched with the melancholy his whole life… even when he was telling a funny story there was that hound dog’s face of his... AUSTIN: Oh, Come on. Ma, Pa, tell this nice man from New York City what Abraham did when he first met his step-mother. MOTHER: (Wipes away the tear and puts on a Cheshire grin…) Oh, that was a good one. One of the few times I saw that old woman laugh out loud was telling this story! (All three pantomime the story as they tell it) MOTHER: When Sarah Bush Johnston first moved into that little cabin in Indiana, she told me the place was dark and dank with the pall of death hanging in the air. The first thing she did was clean out the cabin and white wash the walls. I’m sure some of these ladies here have painted a room white or some bright color to add life to a home. She even whitewashed the ceiling. But you folks know whitewash is made from a little ground up limestone added to milk. By the time she and the boys were done painting it was time to milk the cow. FATHER: As soon as Sara slipped out the boys hatched a plan. AUSTIN: Abraham picked up his little step brother, dunked his feet in the mud, turned him upside down and walked him across the bright white ceiling leaving a trail of muddy foot prints! FATHER: Then the boys washed off the muddy feet and sat like nothing was going on, but you know how it is when you trying not to laugh? MOTHER: Sara come back in, took one look at them boys and she knew they were up to something. She follered their eyes and saw those muddy foot prints on her fresh paint. First she was mad, then she was confused, how in the world? Then she busts out laughing, laughing so hard she cried! AUSTIN: More than a belly laugh, as Sarah told it, she laughed so hard she nearly wet drawers!

MOTHER: I can tell a tale or two I can tell a tale or two Abraham’s life is so filled with stories I can tell a tale or two

Abraham hoed a pretty tough row Hard knock life, touched w/ sorrow often laughed to fight back tears hardy lad thrived through the years

ALL: I can tell a tale or two I can tell a tale or two Abraham’s life is so filled with stories I can tell a tale or two

REPORTER: I know these stories took place in Kentucky and Indiana. But how was it that the Lincoln family made their way to Illinois? MOTHER: Some folks say they left to put some distance between them and the deaths of Nancy and Sarah. FATHER: I believe they left because of a song. REPORTER: A song? What kind of a song would cause these people to pack up and leave the graves of their loved ones? FATHER: After the war of 1812 our nation was cash strapped and land rich so we paid our veterans with land grants. Many of these soldiers had farms and family back east and did not want to leave, so they sold their land to speculators who bought it up for pennies on the dollar. The land speculators hired a song writer to travel the eastern seaboard to sing the glories of Illinois so they could sell this land to settlers at a profit. They even spelled it E-L-A-N-O-Y figuring these east coast folks would not know how to pronounce this French version of an Indian word… Illinois… REPORTER: (With flash of recognition he butts in and grabs the guitar.) Hold on! I know this song! My father used to sing it to me. Give me that guitar. I think it’s my turn to tell one anyhow. FATHER: (Not pleased about the interruption, reluctantly hands over the guitar, and tries to plunge ahead with the story while reporter puts on strap and starts strumming song) …we do know Thomas Lincoln liked this song and some say it is the reason he came to Illinois. Others say it was a letter from a cousin John Hanks… (cuts him off and starts singing) REPORTER: Way down upon the Wabash Such land was never known If Adam had passed over it the soil he’ld surely own He’d think it was the garden he played in as a boy and straight pronounce it Eden in the state of El-a-noy (Father chimes in with a banjo, other folks pick up other instruments a little square dance forms.) ALL: So move your family westward good health you will enjoy and rise to wealth and honor in the state of Illinois

FATHER: T’was here the queen of Sheba came with Solomon of old With an ass load full of spices pomegranates and fine gold and when she saw this lovely land her heart was filled with joy and straight away she said I’ld like to be the queen of El-a-noy

ALL: So move your family westward good health you will enjoy and rise to wealth and honor in the state of Illinois

AUSTIN: She’s bounded by the Wabash, the Ohio and the Lakes, There’s crawfish in the swampy lands, the milk sick and the shakes. But these are slight diversions, that take not from the joy of living in this garden land the state of El-a-noy.

ALL: So move your family westward good health you will enjoy and rise to wealth and honor in the state of Illinois

So move your family westward Bring all your girls and boys And cross at Shawnee ferry in the state of Illinois AUSTIN: (grumbling to himself) Though he does not mind his manners too well, that boy can pick a tune and tell a tale or two… (Mother gives an admonishing look and moves on) MOTHER: And so they came to Illinois by the Paris road, Paris, Illinois that is. FATHER: They ended up in Decatur in the spring of 1830, about the same time the Gullahurs were helping to settle New Salem. REPORTER: I have heard Lincoln speak of the terrible blizzard of 1830-31. What can you tell me about it? FATHER: It was the worst winter in Illinois history, even to this day! AUSTIN: Snow piled up nearly a dozen feet in some places. Folks were snowed into their cabins froze and died. MOTHER: God rest his soul, Abraham’s Uncle Mordecai froze to death. AUSTIN: A friend of ours survived by chopping a hole in his log cabin and digging a tunnel through a snow drift out to the barn. He chopped a hole in his barn and spent the rest of the blizzard sleeping with his hogs. Don’t laugh at me, I know it’s true! Think about it the hogs would keep him warm and if he got hungry he had all the ham and pork chops a man could eat. FATHER: The truth is, we do know Lincoln came down with a terrible case of the shakes, cause he bought Peruvian bark at the general store. REPORTER: Is that quinine? AUSTIN: Why yes, are you any relations to Ninian Edwards? REPORTER: What are talking about? AUSTIN: You are such a ninny. Abraham also walked over to the Sheriff Warnicke’s to borrow some food, cause the Lincoln’s were starving and the snow was too deep to glean the fields or hunt for game. While crossing the Sangamon River, Abraham fell through the ice and nearly died! He crawls up out of the icy cold water and stumbles up to the house. Lips blue, skin pale, icicles dangling from his hair, chin and sleeves. Must‘ve looked like one of those abominable snow men coming across the field! Sheriff welcomed him in, stripped off his clothes, wrapped him in blankets, filled him with hot tea and set him up by the fire! FATHER: Some say he stayed a few extra days cause Sheriff Warnicke had a copy of the Illinois Statutes and that is when Abraham begun studying to be a lawyer. AUSTIN: I have it on good authority that Abraham stayed a few extra days because Sheriff Warnicke had a pretty daughter named Polly, but she thought him ugly and uncouth and would not have a thing to do with him! But finally, finally, the snow melts, spring comes. Thomas Lincoln don’t like the winters so he decides to move further south, considers going all the way back to ol’ Kentuck! But he settles down near Goose Nest Prairie. And for the first time, Abraham is free from his father’s shackles. Ol’ Man Offut hires him to build a flatboat and sail on down to New Orleans. On the way he gets caught up on the dam in New Salem. Folks laugh at this lanky bumpkin putting a hole in his boat to get over the dam, but when it works they take a shine to him, but more important he takes a shine to New Salem and comes back to settle there…

FATHER: (Spoken as he grabs guitar, lights go down and solo spot on father) Abraham often said, I was born in Kentucky, Raised in Indiana, But it was in Illinois I became a man… If this be true, as I know it is, then it was in New Salem that that boy rose to be a man (A ballad like slow tempo that rises almost anthem like)

NEW SALEM SONG – (A ballad like slow tempo that rises almost anthem like) New Salem rose up on the rivers shore, just before Abraham arrived The town became his first real home wrapped him in her arms In this rugged place he’d grow and learn to thrive

He battled with the Clary Grove boys to prove he was their man Won these wild critters to his side they named him as their Captain in the war with Black Hawks Band Cause his strength and inner courage would abide CHORUS: The Sword is made by fire in the forge The melting and the Hardening of Steel The blacksmith’s hammer pounds the rim to curve As the Cartwright bends his will to form the wheel Abraham kept a general store as Mister Offets man And he failed not once but twice, to pay his debt With a chain and eye towards fairness he soon surveyed the land Forged an honest path in business, no regrets

Fair Miss Annie Rutlage, bloomed in this rugged place She was promised to a man of low degree Gave her secret heart to Lincoln but before the year was past Death’s unexpected angel set her free CHORUS: The Sword is made by fire in the forge The melting and the hardening of Steel The blacksmith’s hammer pounds the rim to curve As the Cartwright bends his will to form the wheel BRIDGE: New Salem gave to him a baptism by fire The place his heart returned in darkest times A wishing stone, a talisman, a gateway to desire As the road that he is travelling unwinds

A man whose name was Mentor Graham planted fertile seeds And the love of books and learning took its root. Reading all that he could find became his passion and his joy, as the mighty tree of knowledge bore its fruit.

CHORUS: The Sword is made by fire in the forge The melting and the hardening of Steel The blacksmith’s hammer pounds the rim to curve As the Cartwright bends his will to form the wheel

Last Chorus: New Salem was the fire and the forge…this little river town in Illinois. Made this country’s President a man from that spark of self-reliance in the boy.

AUSTIN: Funny thing… How New Salem sprung up just in time for Abraham Lincoln to find himself there and was then washed away by the sands of time a few short years after he left… It was like our Creator brought together all the elements he needed to forge a man who could manage the difficult trials of these times… If I tried to take you there this very afternoon I’d have a hard time finding it… it is like a ghost town… … empty buildings… but I tell you there is a spirit that dwells in this place… REPORTER: Please, please sir, tell me more about this place, New Salem. AUSTIN: So it is please now? Well, New Salem wasn’t much. A mill town, a small dam on the Sangamon River with a cluster of log cabins, a one-room school house, a general store, and Abraham Lincoln’s hat was the post office. MOTHER: New Salem was the sweetest little town in all of Illinois! Abraham ran a general store. I remember one time he was all stretched out on a counter, his nose in a book, when a woman come in for some groceries. Abraham put the book down, jumped up to help her, but his mind was lost in Greek Philosophy or Blackburn’s Commentaries or whatever he was reading. He helped her get a yard or two of calico, some coffee, salt or whatever she was wanting. He rang her up. Chased her out of the door and went back to his book. At the end of the evening he’s counting up his cash register and his figures don’t come out right. He double checks his math and realizes he short changed this woman six cents. So he walks six miles to pay back that six cents, that’s just the kind of young man he was. That’s why folks call him… ALL: Honest Abe! MOTHER: But there is a side to this story most folks overlook: Abraham was single, never liked cooking much, and if he showed up at a woman’s door at supper time, she was not going to let him walk away hungry. AUSTIN: (Grabbing the ax off the wall, gets up to walk away) I’ve heard enough of this… I think there’s a few rails to split to keep the hogs out of the corn. FATHER: Mother, will you look at that! Austin would rather split rails and work up a sweat than spin a few yarns! Never thought I would see the day. REPORTER: (Tugs the ax, but lets it go as Austin tugs back so he stumbles and looks a little foolish, but then asks the question that tugs Austin back into the game. The ax becomes a talisman and as they pass it around everyone tells a quick series of stories.) Is that the ax Mr. Lincoln used to split all of those rails he is so famous for? AUSTIN: Why yes, yes it is! I used to split rails with him! This is one area where he excelled. His size, his long lanky limbs, gave him a real advantage. (Modeling the process) First you fell the tree and limb it. Then you drive a series of wedges into the log, split it in half, half each half and then half or quarter those, getting eight to sixteen rails from a single oak log. But guess who was paid for splitting most of those rails? His pa… his pa would farm him out like an indentured servant and collect the wages at the end of the day. Abraham often said, “My father taught me to work hard, but he never taught me to love it.” MOTHER: (Grabbing the ax) Now, that ain’t all true. Sometimes Abraham was paid directly for his labor. One time he was paid in a couple of yards of homespun cloth, died dark brown with walnut husks, the misses of the household made him a brand new pair of britches. Needed a lot of cloth to cover them lanky limbs! FATHER: (Grabbing the ax) I must first tell you, I am a true blue Jacksonian Democrat, a Douglas Man in the Senatorial election. You might be surprised to hear it, but I am not ashamed to say it: I have never voted for Abraham Lincoln. But I was there in the wigwam in Decatur for the first big Republican Convention in Illinois. Our state politics were in a shambles with Know Nothings, Whigs, Constitutionalists, and Democrats all in an uproar, so I was curious about this new party of Republicans. That wigwam was quite the site. Whacked together plank wood and a huge tent thrown over the whole thing, filled to overflowing with folks all clamoring to get in and hear the commotion. Just as the delegates were about to make a vote on some important procedural issue, Richard Oglesby interrupts the proceedings to announce, “We have a special guest in the tent and he should be given a seat of honor on the platform, Mr. Abraham Lincoln! Please come forward.” The crowd erupted into a boisterous cheer louder than the roar of the ocean! Lincoln was caught unawares. He was squatting near the back of the crowd. He tried to shove his way up but unlike the Red Sea it would not part for this Moses. SO they troosted him up, his long lanky legs and arms flailing about, and the crowd man-handled him over their heads, passing him from person to person to the platform. The delegates went on with their business. Again, when there was a tense moment, Oglesby interrupts the proceedings, a master for political shenanigans, and he says, “We have an old Democrat here who wishes to have a word with us.” Well everyone turns to see who it is this time, anxious to bring ‘old democrats’ into their new party, they took a vote to let him enter… and who could it be, but Abraham’s cousin John Hanks, and a neighbor Isaac Jennings. They come into the hall with two fence rails holding up a large banner that read: “Abraham Lincoln – The Rail Candidate.” Joyful chaos ensued, wild pandemonium, deafening applause and cheers! The entire delegation was caught up in this frenzy for Abraham Lincoln. You have to hand it to him, Oglesby created a powerful momentum that later lead to the National Republican Party held in a wigwam in Chicago a few months later, nominating Abraham Lincoln for President of these United States. Lincoln not only split rails here in Illinois, but the political metaphor was born here as well! REPORTER: (Holding the ax admiringly for just a moment, before Father takes it back) Did Mr. Lincoln split those rails paraded through the wigwam? FATHER: When asked later he replied, “John and I did make some rails down there; and if those aren’t the identical rails we made, they certainly look very much like them.” AUSTIN: You are so full of questions, but have given no answers of your own. You still have not answered my question, why are you here in the first place? REPORTER: (Deflective) Are you saying it is my turn to tell another tale or two? AUSTIN: NO! I am saying I want you to explain yourself. Why would a reporter come all the way from New York City to talk to us? REPORTER: I told you, I am here to learn more about the early life of our president. (To father) Mr. Gullahur, would you be a dear and hand me that guitar again… please… (plowing past the question) There is one area of Lincoln’s life I do know a few things about, his life as a lawyer. I studied for the bar myself. I first read of Mr. Lincoln was when he defended that boy in Beardstown and won with an Old Farmer’s Almanac as his primary witness. MOTHER: That boy he defended was an old family friend, Duff Armstrong. Ya’ see his ma and pa, Hannah and Jack would let Lincoln board with them while he lived in New Salem. Abraham often bounced young Duff on his knee and might have changed a diaper or two. So after Jack died, G-d rest his soul, Hannah was heart-struck when her boy was accused of murder. Lincoln volunteered to take that case for his dear old friend Hannah Armstrong… REPORTER: Well, mother, just for you then, here’s an idea I have been rolling around in my head on the train on my way out here from New York City… Balance in the Scales of Justice = Capo 2 Am

Chorus: Balancing the scales of justice, balance in the love of the law Seeking the truth in all it’s permutations, to remedy the wrongs that he saw.

1. A brawl breaks out in a frontier town on a dark and cloudy night. Fists are flying, tempers are high and a life is lost in the fight. It was ol’ Duff Armstrong said a witness, ol’ Duff by the light of the moon. Abraham wins ‘cos the Almanac said the night was as dark as a tomb.

Chorus

2. Well the railroads and the riverboats were quarrelin’, ‘bout which one had the say, In the transportation needs of this growing land, of a train or a boat’s right of way. So into the breach steps young Lincoln, it’s a daunting legal test He says the rivers are the past, the rails are our future, leading us into the West.

Chorus

AUSTIN: Though I agree with your sentiment, why do you have to get so, so high fluting? Using words like daunting legal test, and permutations, and into the breach… that is not a clear picture of the Abraham Lincoln that I knew… Here is the lawyer I saw in action:

3. One trick up his sleeve was humor, crass but bold you might say. When Logan wore his shirt with the outside in, Lincoln raised doubt as his play. A prosecutor once called him crooked, you’re a two faced liar he cried. If I had another face would I wear this one, so my rival must be guilty of the lie.

Chorus

REPORTER: I do think that the Almanac Trial is one of the cleverest cases I have ever read about. Mr. Gullahur, can you please tell me more? FATHER: There is that please again. We could learn to like that. As you already hinted, there was a fight that night with Duff Armstrong and the gentleman who died. A dozen witnesses were present. There was a camp meeting with a hell fire and damnation kind of preacher. MOTHER: When he spoke a host of heavenly angels filled the air! FATHER: While the women-folk were listening to the preacher, as was the custom, there was a whiskey tent set up just far enough away to be out of ear shot. REPORTER: From the preacher? FATHER: No sir, from the woman-folk. After he had had a few too many this man, I forget his name, he’s ready to pick a fight with anyone. Soon there is a tussle, a few swings, a few harsh words and it broke up before it got started, but a few of us heard Duff say under his breath, “He’ll get what’s coming to him.” Later, the drunk gets on his horse, falls off twice, and rides away. REPORTER: I know the rest: The man turns up dead. Duff and an accomplice are arrested for murder. The accomplice is convicted, but Lincoln defends Mr. Armstrong. First he gets a change of venue to avoid bias, something Mr. Lincoln often did to help get a favorable jury. When Lincoln cross examines the eye witness. The eye witness says, “Of course it was him,” pointing at Armstrong, “I saw him by the light of a full moon, plain as day!” Having heard this line before, Mr. Lincoln was prepared. He had purchased a farmer’s almanac which he promptly pulled from out of his waist coat. Turned to the date of the murder and showed the jury there was just a sliver of a moon on the night of the murder and even that did not rise until later, especially in a valley with tall trees on either side! But what clinched that case was Mr. Lincoln’s expert testimony from a local doctor, who said the wounds could have been caused by him falling off his horse and hitting a large stone, witnesses had seen him fall off his horse, twice, and the indentation was too large for a sling shot wound. Brilliance! Sheer brilliance! AUSTIN: (mocking) Brilliance, sheer brilliance. There you go with that high falluting ‘expert testimoiny’ ‘change of venue’ and ‘indentation’. Why not just say the stupid drunk fell off his horse and bashed in his skull!?! Mr. Lincoln the lawyer was successful because he used the, um, how would you say it, the vernacular of the common folk. Pa, help me out with the case of slander and the hog thief! I’ll play Mr. Lincoln, you play Mr. Stephan Douglas, who you are so very fond of. (To reporter) Oh yeah, Lincoln and Douglas sparred many times in the courtroom before their famous debates. They rode the same circuit for a couple years. This story took place in that log cabin courthouse over in Macon County that Lincoln helped whitewash & chink. You can go see it for yourself! (grabbing two guys from the front row as accuser and accused they re-enact the case) FATHER: My client here accuses you of slander dragging his good name through the mud! You have said in public that he is the one who stole them missing hogs, defaming him and spoiling his high standing in the community. You are duly sued and should pay retribution! AUSTIN: Now Mr. Lincoln takes an unusual tactic. Usually in a slander case you deny any wrong doing. “MY client never said no such thing!” But there were witnesses so Mr. Lincoln with a wink to the jury says, “Of course my client here accused you of being a hog thief… cause you stole them hogs and I have witnesses who helped you eat the ham and bacon!” Lincoln’s argument was so convincing the case was throwed out, and his client acquitted. FATHER: But he story is not over. Lincoln’s argument was so convincing that the other man was promptly arrested for stealing them hogs! Now because this scoundrel lost the first case, he had to pay court costs, including Mr. Douglas and Lincoln’s fees. He couldn’t afford it. So when the new trial came he could not afford a lawyer of his own… AUSTIN: So one was appointed, Mr. Lincoln took the case, turned right around and convinced a Macon County crew, “Gentlemen of the jury, this man did not steal them hogs, I have witnesses that put him in another town on the day of the supposed theft,” making Mr. Lincoln the only man I know to win both sides of the same case! (Give the ‘volunteers’ a round of applause.) FATHER: Lincoln had this uncanny ability to step into the jury box, talk to us like neighbors and use the language of the people to make a solid argument. It was artistry at work and the whole town would show up when the circuit court came to town! MOTHER: Abraham was also a defender of the widow woman, and those who could not defend themselves. He was one of the first to argue for a woman’s rights in a divorce case up there in Peoria, a case that went to the Illinois Supreme Court! He argued that because the divorce proceedings were not complete when the man died, his lawful wife deserved her share of the inheritance, a woman having rights in her husband’s affairs, can you imagine that? But my favorite story involves the elder, Mellissa Goings. As the story goes, this elderly woman, and I do know that as I get older, so does elderly, but she was 70 years old! Her husband had knocked her to the ground, was sitting on her chest, strangling her, and shouting I am going to kill you! She believed him. She reached out and grabbed the only thing she could find, a stick of fire wood. She clubbed him and he died. And she was going to be hung for murder. I hear tell that monster’s brother posted Mellissa’s bail and helped invite Lincoln to take the case, ‘cause even his brother knew what a scoundrel he was! Lincoln’s first tactic was to argue against the sins of spousal abuse. “Clearly she loved him, she did not mean to kill him. She had put up with him for 50 years.” No woman should tolerate that kind of abuse for one instant let alone 50 years. But you well know that a jury of your peers is a jury of all men. Sad to say a man has a right to beat his wife, it is expected and legally protected, women have few rights in this land of equality. Women will get the vote some day, maybe not in my lifetime, but some day, and then maybe, when that someday comes, we can have a woman in the Whitehouse or better yet the judge’s seat! Well, Abraham looks into the juries eyes and sees he isn’t swaying enough of them, maybe they don’t want their wives getting the wrong idea, and Abraham does not want to lose this case. SO he switches tactics in the middle of the case! He argues in favor of self defense. He says to the jury as I am saying to you now: Put yourself in her shoes! If someone knocked you to ground, was sitting on your chest, strangling you, and shouting I am going to kill you, would you believe them? Would you defend yourself? Again Abraham sees he is not swaying enough of them, so he turns to the judge and asks for a moment alone with his client. In Metamora, Illinois that courthouse sits across from a beautiful park, so the court adjourns and everyone pours out into the park. Abraham is gone for a long time, before coming back into the courtroom… by himself… the judge calls the court to order and Lincoln resumes his argument, going on and on against the sins of spousal abuse, speaking out for the righteousness of self-defense, often repeating himself. The judge looks around and notices that Mrs. Goings is gone. He interrupts Abraham and says, “Mr. Lincoln did you tell your client to flee this court of law?” “Why, no sir, if I aid and abet the escape of a wanton criminal I could be disbarred! I did not tell her to flee!” And he turns to the jury and resumes his argument, going on and on and on, much like this story, when the judge interrupts him again and says, “If you did not tell her to flee, what exactly did you tell her?” Abraham looks at the judge and says, “Well, sir, my client told me she was thirsty… so I told her… there was some mighty fine water in the state of Tennessee… and she was never seen in Central Illinois again! REPORTER: This is amazing, yet true, I remember reading about that case! MOTHER: Since you say you wrote that song for me, let me have a try, pa, hand him a guitar… (Mother sings solo and then reporter joins in…) Balancing the scales of justice, balance in the love of the law Seeking the truth in all it’s permutations, to remedy the wrongs that he saw. Wrongfully accused of adultery, so he could put her aside Invite his girlfriend to join him, but then this scoundrel dies His heirs want the wealth for their own, pushing her into the cold But Lincoln wins the day for a woman’s right, brilliant and bold MOTHER/REPORTER: Balancing the scales of justice, balance in the love of the law Seeking the truth in all it’s permutations, to remedy the wrongs that he saw. REPORTER: It is astounding that this simple country bumpkin, self-taught lawyer, “mast fed” I heard him say, could become the highest paid lawyer in America. There is no doubt his life as a rural lawyer prepared him well for the baboons he later met in Washington. Before the hands of fate lead him to the Whitehouse, he stood down that other little giant, General McClellan in a case with the railroads. Did you know McClellan was a railroad tycoon before becoming the grand general of the army of the Potomac and Lincoln’s nemesis in the last election? In that case McClellan reluctantly paid Lincoln $5000 making him the highest paid lawyer in America! Oh, I could talk all day about Lincoln the Lawyer… but I do need to head to Springfield to wire in my story. I would like to talk to Billy Herndon before I leave Illinois. Does he still live in Springfield? MOTHER: But Mr. Dewitt, dinner will be ready in less than an hour, and we can’t let you walk away hungry, won’t you please stay? You could catch the early evening train and get your story in tonight for tamarra’s paper. AUSTIN: Ma, can’t you see he’s a busy man who has taken what he wants and needs to get gone? REPORTER: I would be happy to stay… but I do have some um business to attend to. You would not by chance have indoor plumbing? FATHER: (laughing) We still use an old fashioned out house, out in the woods over that away… downwind. (Ma goes into the house, Pa follows with an armload of fire wood, Austin splits a piece, as reporter pantomimes a long walk, faintly at first, he hears off in the distance:) NEWSBOY: Lincoln is shot dead! President Lincoln is assassinated! REPORTER: (Runs to him on the apron, far end of stage) Shut up, boy, you can’t just come into town shouting such foul mouthed things. NEWSBOY: But it’s true! REPORTER: I know it’s true, but you can’t just shout it from the roof tops. This is no way to announce such tragic news. Besides, you cannot tell these folks just yet. NEWSBOY: Why not? REPORTER: I’ve got my reasons, besides it would break their hearts… NEWSBOY: But they need to know. You can not not tell them. REPORTER: Here, I got an idea. I’ll buy all of your papers and pass them out when the time is right… you run along now boy. (The newsboy is happy to have sold all of his papers. The reporter pushes him along, off stage and then goes to the outhouse and dumps all of the papers in the poop shoot and the stage goes dark for intermission.)

INTERMISSION

ACT 2

AUSTIN: I saw you talking to some boy over there. What was going on? It did not look like you treated him too kindly. REPORTER: (Caught off guard, making it up) Oh, um, it was a newsboy. I was going to buy a paper, (pause) Um, but then I saw it was a rival paper, so, so I chased him off, it was nothing. AUSTIN: I usually read the paper a few days late, when I can borrow it for free… don’t look so surprised, us country bumpkins can read you know. MOTHER: (Coming out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron) I’ve got a nice tender ham and some sour dough bread in that new cast iron oven pa bought for me. This morning I picked some of the springs first creasy greens and ramps, they’re simmering together. And Pa’s got a little hard cider from the last of last fall’s apples. It should all be ready before the hour is through. REPORTER: IS that one of those hams from that neighbor who slept with his pigs in the winter of 1830-31? Or is it one of those pigs not stolen by Hines accused by Adkins in the case where Lincoln won both sides? FATHER: No, this is that hog who was rooting under the Christian County Courthouse over in Taylorville. That hog made such a ruckus under the courthouse while Lincoln was delivering his argument to the jury that the jury could not hear him. SO, Lincoln issued a writ of quitus, so the sheriff would arrest that pig for disrupting the proceedings. The sheriff shut him up and, well, um, we are just helping the sheriff out a little by serving that hog for supper. He’ll be quiet now! REPORTER: Now, before we go any further, I want to thank you for the stories of Mr. Lincoln’s youth and early days in Illinois. But I have not heard anything about his early political life? What do you know about his political career? AUSTIN: Did you hear ma say dinner would be ready in less than an hour? We ain’t got all week. FATHER: As I already said, I am a true blue democrat, but Lincoln does have a gift when it comes to oratory. MOTHER: His high nasal voice, some found offensive, but it carried to the corners of the town square when big crowds came out to hear him… and the power of his words. As Austin said, he used the vernacular of the people so everyone could understand. FATHER: More than just funny stories, he always had that little stinger at the end. AUSTIN: I remember back in Kentucky and Indiana, when the circuit court or some circuit riding preacher would come to town, after the sermonizing was over, Abraham would jump up on a stump and repeat almost word for word what he had heard with ten times the drama and humor, wild gesticulations and exaggerated huff and puff. All the kids would roar with laughter. MOTHER: Some say his first real speech come over in Decatur. Two politicians were making the rounds, a crowd gathered, but folks were not impressed. When they were done, one man gave a shout to Abraham, who was plowing with a team of oxen nearby, and said “Abraham, show these men what a real speech sounds like.” AUSTIN: Abraham stepped up onto an actual stump, he spoke eloquently, saying “If we can improve transportation, improve roads and waterways, we can improve the lives of farmers so we can get goods to market and purchase the commodities we need to gain a leg up in this world.” Them politicians were so impressed they went back to the state capital in Vandalia and passed legislation to invest in transportation. He learned early that his words had the power to change the world. REPORTER: I thought the state capital was in Springfield? AUSTIN: Our first state capitol was in the French Town with the Indian name, Kaskaskia, and then later moved to Vandalia, south of here. FATHER: Lincoln had a hand in moving it to Springfield, just one of the many times he reached across the aisle to work with Democrats for the benefit of Illinois. He helped to form the ‘Long Nine’ as they were known, nine unusually tall men from the Springfield Area who wanted a state capitol near the center of the state. Lincoln even talked the Chicago area delegates into voting with him with the promise he would help fund the completion of the I & M canal. Lincoln kept his promise and this canal put Chicago on the map!

AUSTIN: Abraham Lincoln was powerful speaker or so the large crowds would say He could grab you up in the grip of his words And turn your heart any which way

I can tell a tale or two - I can tell a tale or two Abraham’s life is so filled with stories - I can tell a tale or two

FATHER: Make a compromise to pass legislation This was a fair sport for him Vote with me to move the statehouse I’ll build the canal I&M

I can tell a tale or two - I can tell a tale or two Abraham’s life is so filled with stories - I can tell a tale or two

AUSTIN: After serving several terms in the state house Abraham ran for Congress. He ran against a hell fire Methodist preacher, Peter Cartwright. Abraham decided on Sunday morning to go hear him preach. Cartwright was jumping up and down, working hisself into a lather, when he says, “All of ye who plan to ascend to the pearly gates of heaven please rise!” And every man, woman and child leaps to their feet as one body. Everybody, that is, except Abraham. Cartwright is surprised and decides to make a point, so he says, “And all of ye who plan to descend to the fiery furnace of hell, please rise!” And of course, no one stands up, especially not Abraham. So Cartwright, having Lincoln where he wants him says, “Mr. Lincoln, I asked if you was going to heaven to rise and you remained in your seat. I asked if you were going to hell to stand and you did not. If you are not going to heaven or hell, where are you going?” Without missing a beat, Abraham says, “To Congress!” …and he did! REPORTER: Though I work for a paper in New York City, I have been covering Washington Politics for many years. Mr. Lincoln arrived in Washington D.C. about the same time I did. I remember one of his first speeches before the assembled house. Now, if you think politicians today are bad, (pause) I won’t argue, but just before the war started it often came to fisticuffs. Mudslinging was live and in person. I once saw a fight break out where a northern congressman was caned into unconsciousness. Onto this stage comes this backwoods politician Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln was speaking out against the War with Mexico, saying it was justified on false grounds and we had no right to invade a sovereign nation. Mr. Lincoln clearly implied that our president had lied to us to get into this war and he could not support it. A congressman from Virginia began heckling him, shouting rude and crude remarks, too rude to repeat. Some say it flustered Mr. Lincoln and he lost his train of thought, but it appeared to me that he interrupted himself, gave the rest of the house a knowing wink and said, “This man reminds me of a steamboat that once sailed the Illinois River; it was the grandest riverboat the river had ever seen, with the grandest calliope organ. There was one problem with this boat, being a steamboat with such a large steam organ… that calliope took so much pressure, whenever you played a song the engine would stop running… and so seems to be the problem with the congressman: whenever he opens his mouth his brain stops working! AUSTIN: (Punching him playfully.)That’s the best one I heard you tell! I had not heard that one before. Pa I think we are starting to rub off on this boy. REPORTER: But after he served in Washington he fell off the map for a while, what happened? FATHER: He said he retired from public life and went back to riding the circuit court, until Douglas passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act opening the door for the expansion of slavery into the Western states. MOTHER: But Douglas’ idea of popular sovereignty was a slap in the face to the carefully crafted Missouri Compromise. Douglas gave a rousing speech at the state fair in Springfield that year and it riled up Abraham. The next day Abraham gave a rebuttal that left listeners awestruck. FATHER: Douglas stood up solidly for states’ rights, while Lincoln changed his speech in every town! MOTHER: But Father, why do you simply repeat Douglas’ argument without seeing that Lincoln wisely responded to Douglas, answering his concerns. You are just like Douglas who simply repeated himself six times! AUSTIN: Oh, ma, pa, we do not need to re-enact the debates for this fella’. REPORTER: Why not? If your mother wants to pick a fight I will side with her. FATHER: This sounds like fun! Can I be the fierce little giant, Stephan Douglas! (Ma and Pa stand back to back, take five paces, turn and fire) FATHER: I desire to know whether Mr. Lincoln stands as he did in 1854, in favor of the fugitive slave law? I desire him to answer whether he stands pledged against the admission of any more slave states into the Union, even if the people want them? I want to know if he stands pledged against the admission of a new state into the Union with such a constitution as the people of that state may see fit to make? I desire to know whether he stands pledged to prohibit slavery in all the Territories of the United States, North as well as South of the Missouri Compromise line? I demand his answer to these questions. MOTHER: What Judge Douglas is really asking is this if I support or oppose his Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise. I think that it is wrong: wrong in its direct effect, letting slavery into Kansas and Nebraska and wrong in principle, allowing slavery to spread to every other part of the wide world where men can be found inclined to take it. In truth, I hate slavery, not only the monstrous injustice of slavery itself, I hate it because it deprives our republican example of its just influence in the world; enables the enemies of freedom, to taunt us as hypocrites; causes the real friends of freedom to doubt our sincerity, and especially because it forces so many good men amongst ourselves into an open war with the very fundamental principles of civil liberty – criticizing the Declaration of Independence, and insisting that there is no right principle of action but self-interest. REPORTER: Bravo, bravo! Both Judge Douglas and President Lincoln would be proud of your performances! AUSTIN: (not to be outdone, with a hint of one-up-man-ship) Yeah, but you missed the best part: just as the crowd was gathering, Douglas thought he could score a few points by saying, “When I first met Mr. Lincoln he was store keep selling whiskey and cigars!” The friends of Douglas gave a polite chuckle, but Abraham could not let that go unanswered, so, speaking to his supporters, Lincoln says just loud enough for the friends of Douglas to hear, “What Judge Douglas has said is true, when we first met I was a shop keep selling calico, sugar, salt, a few cigars and maybe a little whiskey… but the difference between us is thus, whilst I was on one side of the counter selling whisky, Mr. Douglas was on the other siding buying. And if I remember correctly, he was one of my best customers! And the difference between us is thus, whilst I have left my side of the counter, he sticks as tenaciously as ever to his own!” REPORTER: Those debates changed the conversation of this country. It was like all the sentiments of the nation, both sides of the issues, were given full discourse and no one could sit on a fence any longer. Mr. Lincoln summed it up best saying slavery is wrong on moral grounds. It makes us a hypocrite in the eyes of all who value freedom. The People of the south found those to be fighting words. MOTHER: Those were fighting words, but you cannot blame Abraham for succession or the Civil War. He did all he could to hold this union together. REPORTER: But we are getting ahead of ourselves. What was happening in Illinois that Mr. Lincoln could deliver such powerful words and yet lose the election? AUSTIN: Abraham won the popular vote, but lost the election in the state legislature. The state legislature leans to the Democratic side of the aisle. SO, friends of Douglas sent him to the senate. But Abraham got the last laugh by beating Douglas in the race for the Presidency! I was there in the wigwam in Chicago when the state of Illinois rallied behind Abraham and the friends of Lincoln organized a set of political shenanigans similar to their grand plan in Decatur. You see, Lincoln was not the first choice of many but the friends of Lincoln arranged that both Chase and Seward’s supporters would make Lincoln their second choice. After he won his party’s nomination, they took an old Irish aire and rewrote it as a campaign song for Lincoln. Lincoln and Liberty, too. REPORTER: I do love this song, (Everyone sings Lincoln & Liberty with a marching band, “Wide Awakes’ rally!)
Hurrah for the choice of the nation,
Our chieftan so brave and so true!
We'll go for the great reformation,
For Lincoln and liberty, too!
They'll find what by felling and mauling,
Our railmaker statesman can do;
For the people are everywhere calling,
For Lincoln and Liberty, too!
Then up with the banner so glorious,
The star spangled red, white and blue,
We'll fight till our banner's victorious,
For Lincoln and liberty, too! "…We 'll go for the boy from Kentucky 
The hero of hoosierdom through 
The pride of the 'Suckers' so lucky 
For Lincoln and Liberty too…"

REPORTER: Even before Mr. Lincoln took the train to Washington, the southern states began to secede. By the time he had taken his oath of office the nation was on the verge of war. Lincoln did his best to hold the Union together and refused to make the first strike. He had to provide provisions to the men at Fort Sumter… (MOTHER begins a melodic ou-ou-ou as this line starts) AUSTIN: I remember well that morning, April 12, 1861, when General Beauregard fired his cannons on Fort Sumter. The roar of that cannon echoed from the bay of Charlestown across this country from the Alleghenies to the Rockies, and re-echoed around the world, drawing the eyes of tyrants who scoffed at our experiments in liberty and democracy. ALL: Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on. MOTHER: Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on. (Father strums softly, slowly as we recite the numbers…)
AUSTIN: The first major battle came on July 21, 1861, near the town of Manassas. In the First Battle of Bull Run, folks came out with picnic baskets to watch as more than 4689 men lost their lives and the Union was routed. Our first real victory didn’t come until February 13-16, 1862 at Fort Donelson in Western Tennessee where there were 19,455 casualties. Just a few days later, the confederacy thought they could catch Grant unawares and attacked him on a Sunday morning near the little church of Shiloh. Grant rallied his troops and turned the grey tide, but 23,741 men were killed, fatally wounded or missing in action; the bloodiest day in American history, until that point, but it only got worse. Later that summer, August 1862, a new low was reached at the Second Battle of Bull Run, more than 125,000 men met on the battle field and 25,000 lost their lives. Blue Coats and Grey Coats all bleed red. ALL: Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on. MOTHER: I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps;
His day is marching on.
(Mother sings a melodic, ou-ou-ou-ou - wordless version as we rattle off more numbers) FATHER: Every day the papers brought news of more losses, the death tolls just kept piling up: At the battle of Antietam, there were 26,000 casualties. The battle of Chancellorsville saw 30,000 men lose their lives. At Chickamauga 34,000 died. In three days of the Wilderness Campaign there were 25,000 more casualties. REPORTER: (Irate) Casualties? Casualties? As a newspaper man I hate they way they butcher the language to describe the horror… what is casual about such slaughter? MOTHER: In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free;
While God is marching on.
AUSTIN: But the bloodiest battle by far was the battle of Gettysburg. In the first three days of July 1863 there were 51,000 men killed. The details are even more appalling: North Carolina’s 26th lost 584 men the first day. When roll was called for Company G only one man answered and the only way he had survived the day was because he had been knocked unconscious by a shell bursting near him. In all they lost 714 of their 800 men. The gallant men of The 24th Michigan brigade, which had faced North Carolina that first day, lost 362 of its 496 men. At Gettysburg 23 Federal regiments lost more than half of their men. More than 3,000 horses were also killed. It is hard to imagine death on this scale, the field soaked with the blood of the fallen, more corpses than one could count, and the agonies of those not yet dead. After the dust and smoke cleared and the Confederates retreated, Union troops dug massive graves and simply piled the bodies one on top of another. Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.

REPORTER: (Rooting around in his satchel) I was there, in Gettysburg, when he delivered those 282 or so words that changed the tenor of the war, those few words changed history: Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met here on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled, here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have, thus far, so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government (The Reporter continues to read, but another voice joins in, then another, then another until all of them finish the last sentence.) W/ MOTHER: of the people, W/ FATHER: by the people, AUSTIN: for the people, ALL shall not perish from the earth. (Pause, applause? Then a more intimate tone.) AUSTIN: I have never met another man who admires Abraham Lincoln as much as I do. Watching him grow up, struggle through tragedy unbearable to most, and climb his way to the top without the greed or lust for power you so often see in others. Abraham gives us hope, shows us that any man from the humblest beginnings can achieve greatness. I am beginning to see how much you love Abraham, too. I am so glad the war is over, that Grant and Lee have signed that treaty and Lincoln can begin the work to heal the nation, “letting our better angels guide us,” “with malice towards none.” Please accept my apologies. I am sorry for anything I said. Any misgivings I held about you. As Abraham himself might say, with his love for fables, you are the city mouse to my country mouse. (Offer a hand shake) REPORTER: (Real affection, turning towards grief, still not sure if this is the time, hesitant, building nerve, towards ‘the terrible news’)I have a confession of my own to make. President Lincoln told me of you folks as we passed the hours in the telegraph office waiting for reports from the front lines. He often spoke of how New Salem prepared him for the life he led. Austin, he told me how you saved his life, he owed his life to you. He spoke of all of you in such glowing terms I thought it was another one of his tall tales. These people cannot be real. But now I see you are the most real people I have ever met, truly the salt of the earth from which greatness rises. Lincoln could not, would not have become the great man he was without friends like you. (To Father) He became a great politician, lawyer and storyteller, because of raconteurs, heroes like you, Mr. Gullahur. (To Mother) His empathy and love for all mankind, his grief for every dying soldier, he learned from you, mother. Austin, Austin, you are more than even Lincoln could capture in words… with your braggadocio, touched with a tinge of self-doubt, your boldness, tempered with empathy. (To all) Believe me when I say Lincoln loved you all like family. Your stories, the stories of Annie Rutledge, Mentor Graham, Billy Herndon, Jack and Hannah Armstrong, they shall be remembered. Your stories shall be forever a part of Lincoln’s story, part of America’s story, for we could not be the land of the free or home of democracy without the flawed nobility of people like you, you and Mr. Lincoln. G-d rest his soul. For there is something else I must tell you. President Lincoln is dead! He was shot in the head by an assassin at Ford’s Theatre. He struggled through the night but died yesterday morning. I took the first train out of Washington to get here. What I told you is true: I came to learn of Lincoln’s early years… to write his eulogy. Better than any eulogy I could write, your stories have been a celebration of the life of this great and heroic man. Austin, this is the real reason a city slicker like me wanted to meet a country mouse like yourself… (Stunned silence, awe, anger, frustration, all the stages of grief…) AUSTIN: (Takes a swing at him, blind with rage and grief he misses, charges him and knocks him down. As the family pulls him off he shouts) NO! NO! Take it back. It can’t be true. You are lying. Why would you play such a mean trick on us! Get out of here! Get out of here! (Austin and pa struggle, pa tries to comfort this inconsolable grief) MOTHER: You best be going. REPORTER: I’m taking a train to Springfield to wire in the story. I will be back in the morning. MOTHER: Go, go while pa is holding him… just as I was starting to like you, don’t come back... (Austin struggles free, chases him to the edge of the stage and falls down with grief, cries, wails, sobs, long silence before the music comes up soft, slow, he sings)

(Austin falls down with grief, cries, wails, sobs, long silence before reciting) O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up--for you the flag is flung--for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths--for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You've fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead. (Whole house goes dark for as long as we can bear it.) REPORTER: (Looking around for him, calling out) Where’s Austin, Austin! Austin! I have the morning papers for you. Look! As the nation grieves this fallen hero, the folks who knew him best celebrate his life with stories! Austin, your stories are the lead in this morning’s paper. All over the nation folks are reading about President Lincoln and your stories are the healing Balm of Gilead. (Turns to the audience) Folks help with this song: We can tell a tale or two, we can tell a tale or two, Abraham’s life was so filled stories, we can tell a tale or two. Now we all know that it’s the tales that make a man As Lincoln’s stories spread throughout the land We know the breadth and depth of ol’ Abraham Our hero, the martyr, fav’rd son of Uncle Sam Chorus (Austin appears in the shadows) AUSTIN: Take these stories home, tell them to your kids Celebrate the glory of what Abraham did These stories are our guidepost, on our darkest night Like Abraham of old he becomes our guiding light Chorus, chorus Telling Earth Tales,

Brian “Fox” Ellis

Prairie Folklore Theatre * P.O. Box 10800, Peoria, IL 61612 * 309-689-8000 * www.prairiefolkloretheatre.com “Where history comes to life with a healthy scoop of good ol’ American humor.”