And, in general, send me
everything you think will be a good 'war-club.'"
Every sign of success he quoted to Stuart; the number of subscribers
to the "Old Soldier," a campaign newspaper which the Whig committee
had informed the Whigs of the State that they "_must take_;" the names
of Van Buren men who were weakening, and to whom he wanted Stuart to
send documents; the name of every theretofore doubtful person who had
declared himself for Harrison. "Japh Bell has come out for Harrison,"
he put in a postscript to one letter; "ain't that a caution?"
The monster political meetings held throughout the State did much
to widen Lincoln's reputation, particularly one held in June in
Springfield. Twenty thousand people attended this meeting, delegations
coming from every direction. It took fourteen teams to haul the
delegation from Chicago, and they were three weeks on their journey.
Each party carried some huge symbolic piece--the log cabin being the
favorite. One of the cabins taken to Springfield was drawn by thirty
yokes of oxen. In a hickory tree which was planted beside this cabin,
coons were seen playing, and a barrel of hard cider stood by the door,
continually on tap. Instead of a log cabin, the Chicago delegation
dragged across country a government yawl rigged up as a two-masted
ship, with a band of music and a six-pounder cannon on board.
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