Country Notebook
By Rogene "Jeannie" McPherson
While one of the siblings was picking up acorns from a burr oak tree, others were collecting huge sycamore tree leaves for fall decorations, and I was helping myself to seeds from a cockscomb plant. All of this activity was taking place on a beautiful September late afternoon in Springfield, Illinois, just down the street from Abraham Lincoln’s home.
Each of my three siblings had been to Petersburg, Illinois, at numerous times, but this was the first trip when the four of us together visited the land where our ancestors landed when they migrated from Germany.
Abe Lincoln, as a young man establishing himself, lived at New Salem, only a couple of miles from Petersburg. The New Salem village is now a living history settlement where we touched the soil and breathed the air that Abe Lincoln consumed. Lincoln was employed to survey the town of Petersburg making it possible that Abe and our great-great-grandfather, Carl, had an opportunity to interact.
Carl had two wives, both buried in an old German cemetery with him, with the first wife dying young. Typhoid, tuberculosis, and childbirth were often credited as causes of death. Three of Lincoln’s sons died young and are buried at Lincoln’s tomb in Springfield, along with his wife, Mary Todd. Death of the young was common but excruciatingly painful for Lincoln as he agonized over his sick child as illustrated in an exhibit of the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield.
Another exhibit features Lincoln listening to his cabinet while such members shared the pros and cons of Lincoln’s writing of the Emancipation Proclamation and the calculation of when to announce it. The strategy of waiting until the North won a decisive battle would demonstrate the North’s power and determination. The proclamation was signed long before the war was over, but shortly after the Union army won the Battle of Antietam.
I am struck by words like agonized, listening, calculation, strategy, decisive, power, and determination. Some might argue that these are fighting words. Others might prefer a positive spin and suggest they are ideals those in leadership should practice when taking on responsibility. I don’t pretend to know the hearts of our political candidates at the presidential, congressional, state and county levels but I do question whether the rhetoric of some are just words not intentions. If I knew how to determine the difference by listening to their speeches, debates, forums, and television ads, I would be the first one to tell you. I know the factors that cause me to make a voting decision, but they may differ from yours.
Words like inflation, income, economics, education, pro-life, pro-choice, federal budget, peace, war-time, voluntary, draft, individual rights, state rights, equity, freedom of speech, and freedom to bear arms are platforms in which we may take a stand. We can’t have them all, but we can prioritize in terms of choosing one candidate over another. In other words, what is something you are willing to fight and maybe die for, even at great cost. Lincoln likely thought about what he was willing to die for, making him what many call the greatest president in our country’s history.
So there you have it. We live in one great big world of winners, losers, troublemakers and peacekeepers. Which one do you identify with? I referred to a trip I took with my siblings. Sure, in our growing up years, we had our share of sibling quarrels. But somehow, we were taught to value each other, so much so that we agreed not to talk politics on this trip. I’ll share a text from a family member, “Thanks for a great time in Illinois. Love you.” Words we should all learn to live with.
Rogene “Jeannie” McPherson, from the Centerville area, is a regular contributor to the Linn County Journal. Her latest book Posts from the Country, Adventures in Rural Living is available online in both virtual and printed editions. Copies are on the shelves at all Linn County libraries.
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