President Lincoln

Hi everyone, I found another dog statue before I left DeKalb.This one was in front of a cement company. He had on working clothes and cement tools in his tool belt. He had cement all over his boots, so I guess he was woking hard. I drove down the middle of Illinois and part of the way was on old Route 66. Many years ago in 1926 a road was made from San Francisco to Chicago. When this road was made there were not very many cars and no freeways. Parts of this old road are still left and I wanted to see it. I stopped in the town of Lincoln. This town was named for a lawyer that became one of our Presidents. Our country changes Presidents now,every  4 or 8 years. Do you know who our President is now? What number President was Mr. Lincoln? This little town was just starting when Lincoln was a circut lawyer. There were not many lawyers then and he would ride his horse from town to town to different courthouses. The town did not have a name yet. The people liked Lincoln and decided to name the town after him. They had a big party at the railroad depot and he cut up a watermelon and poured out some juice and said I name this town Lincoln, and everybody ate watermelon. I found a little watermelon statue where he did this. Then I went to the old courthouse where he worked. I sat in the judges chair at his desk. Do you see anything different about this flag? Is it different from the flags in your school? Do you know why?

I next went down the highway to Springfield. This is the Capital of  Illinois and this is where Lincoln bought a house and lived with his wife Mary and his 4 children. He lived here when he was voted President of The United States. I found his law office and statues of him with his wife and son.
I saw the old Capital and the new capital. I went inside the new Capital and got to ride though the security machine again.  There was a beautiful domed roof inside and lots of statues and pictures. I found a picture of our first president. Do you know what his name was. He liked to wear a white wig. Lots of men did at that time. I bet they kept his head warm. Maybe I should get a wig. That picture was really big. I think the artist must have had a big ladder when he was painting it.

I met a really nice park ranger named Tom. He Put me on his shoulder and took me into Lincolns  house. It was very beautiful and had lots of bright colors. There was a big black stove that Lincoln bought for Mary so she did not have to cook in the fireplace anymore. There was a big wooden box with a bucket in it. It was called a dry sink. There was no water in the house so they brought it in in buckets and then there was a hole in the bottom of the box where they drained the water into buckets again and took it outside to throw away in the garden. I am sure glad I don't have to work that hard to wash dishes. Remember there was no electicity then and no TV. They had a box called a Stereoscope.    They put pictures in it and it looked like 3D. I saw Lincolns hat hanging on the Hall Tree. Guess why it is called that. I went upstairs and saw Lincolns Bed.  I peeked underneath and saw his chamberpot. This was a bowl that everyone had under their bed in case they had to use it for a toilet during the night. There was no indoor plumbing and no toilets. Nobody wanted to go outside to the outhouse when it was dark. I went in his backyard and saw pipes coming down the walls from the roof. This is where they caught rainwater and it went into a underground tank called a cistern. Then they pumped it up when they needed it. Way back in the corner of the yard, behind Mary's garden and next to the barn was the outhouse. I looked inside and there were 3 different sized toilets. I like having the bathroom inside the house better.

I went to the Union Station and it was very big inside. It was a little sad too. In a glass case was a model of a train.
When Lincoln died so many people loved him, so they decorated a train to carry his coffin to
different places so people could say goodbye to him. Then they put the coffin on a beautiful wagon with black horses pulling it.

I went outside after that and walked around Springfield. I was so happy to see flowers again. That meant it was getting warmer. I found beautiful  red tulips at the place Lincoln lived before he bought his house. I am going to send you some funny money from Springfield and some paper finger puppets. Who do you think the puppets will be? I am going to see more Lincoln things tomorow after I get a good nights rest.   Aloha Kahunas  from Junior