Abraham Lincoln

Ignorance and superstition prevailed among the early Hoosiers. They believed that breaking a mirror or carrying a hoe or an ax into a cabin would bring a death in the family within a year’s time. The wailing of a dog portended a death the next day. If a dog crossed a hunter’s path, it was bad luck unless he locked his little fingers together.

-- Michael Burlingame, “Abraham Lincoln: A Life”

I find this an interesting note, because this background left a superstitious streak in Lincoln, which he took into adult life. For example, when he was a congressman, he refused to travel with a group of thirteen people. There is also this tidbit from his boyhood that Lincoln related to Henry C. Whitney, a close friend and biographer of the president.

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“I used to wander out in the woods all by myself. It had a fascination for me which had an element of fear in it - superstitious fear. I knew that I was not alone just as well as I know that you are here now. Still I could see nothing and no one, but I heard voices. Once I heard a voice right at my elbow - heard it distinctly and plainly. I turned around, expecting to see someone, of course. No one there, but the voice was there.”

-- Abraham Lincoln

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When asked what the voice said, Lincoln was silent. Whitney said, “Deep gloom - a look of pain - settled on his countenance and lasted some minutes.”

June

We are at that time of the year, in the month of June, when I am reminded why I fall out of the habit of freely taking out the recyclable bits of trash, or getting the mail or the trash bins, in the middle of the day, and enjoying a little fresh air: it's too damn hot! I dread having to step outside into that blazing sun, like it might literally burn me. I want to wait until the evening shadows spread our way.