A Young Lincoln

Tomorrow  marks the day when President Abraham Lincoln was fatally shot in Ford’s Theater (April 14, 1865), so I thought a Lincoln anecdote might be appropriate in advance of that.

Lincoln, Abraham (1809-1865), US statesman; 16th president of the United States.

(A clerk of the court relates the only occasion on which he was fined for contempt of court.)

“Davis fined me five dollars.  Mr. Lincoln had just come in, and leaning over my desk had told me a story so irresistibly funny that I broke out into a loud laugh.  The judge called me to order, saying, ‘This must be stopped.  Mr. Lincoln, you are constantly disturbing this court with your stories.’ Then to me: ‘You may fine yourself $5.00.’ I apologized, but told the judge that the story was worth the money.  In a few minutes the judge called me over to him. ‘What was the story Lincoln told you?’ he asked. I told him, and he laughed aloud in spite of himself.  ‘Remit your fine,’ he ordered.”

Courtesy of The Little Brown Book of Anecdotes, Clifton Fadiman, Editor. (A recommended buy.)