Stephen Douglas

Throughout the early and middle-nineteenth century, it was a common path of advancement to migrate westward, as the pecking order could be pretty dense in the more established east. This was true for both Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. Douglas certainly expected to find success, judging by this anecdote.

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In mid-1833, he embarked on yet another Douglas move westward, to Cleveland. “When shall we expect you to come home to visit us, my son?” pleaded his mother. “On my way to Congress,” he replied.

-- Allen C. Guelzo, “Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates that Defined America” (2008)

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Frank Stanford

“I don’t believe in tame poetry. Poetry busts guts.”

-- Frank Stanford

Family

When Kay came into the kitchen, a little after 6:30, I stepped up to make my sandwich (my chili-flavored sloppy joe). While we were together, she mentioned that a lot of people there were asking about me. It was, after all, a family reunion. She said they were concerned about how I am doing. I was surprised. I even felt a little touched. You would think I'd be utterly forgotten, out of mind. The news sort of made me feel, for a moment, as though I were a part of the world, when I generally feel like I am cut off from the regular continuum of space-time, floating by in my own bubble. However, I am more than a little worried that somebody might come to try to help me. I hope not. I don't want to work in a store or be a salesman, or anything that they might be able to arrange for me in the thought of helping me.