Page:He Knew Lincoln and Other Billy Brown Stories.djvu/79

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BACK THERE IN '58

Hear 'em? Hear the Lincoln and Douglas debates? Well, I should say I did. Heard every one of 'em. Yes, sir, for about two months back there in '58, I didn't do a thing but travel around Illinois listenin' to them two men argue out slavery; and when I wa'n't listenin' to 'em or travelin' around after 'em, I was pretty sure to be settin' on a fence discussin'. Fur my part I never did understand how the crops was got in that fall; seemed to me about all the men in the state was settin' around whittlin' and discussin'.

Made Lincoln? Yes, I reckon you might say they did. There's no denyin' that's when the country outside begun to

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