New Holland-Middletown and Olympia South students spend the day in Lincoln with Lincoln

 

[February 16, 2019] 

On Friday 85 students from New Holland-Middletown and Olympia South schools spent the better part of the day in Lincoln visiting Abraham Lincoln Historic sites and learning about the Logan County connection with the 16th President.

The students from New-Holland Middletown were in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Their teachers are Shelly Maxheimer, Patience Williams, and Jerry Neisler.

The students from Olympia South in Atlanta were the fourth grade classes of Mrs. Garcia and Mrs. Martin.

The group arrived in Lincoln around 9 a.m. on Friday morning and made four stops in the course of the day.

Students were treated to a movie with popcorn at the Lincoln Family Theater. The movie was a short documentary about Abraham Lincoln. From there, they traveled to the Postville Courthouse where they were able to tour and hear about the days where Lincoln practiced law, prior to his becoming President.

Following the visit to Postville the students were bussed to the Lincoln Heritage Museum at Lincoln College. There they had the opportunity to view the many Abraham Lincoln displays on the ground floor and do a walk-through of the interactive museum on the second floor.

The groups ended their day at the Lincoln Depot. There they enjoyed servings of the special Mary Todd cake and had a chance to visit with Mr. Lincoln, as portrayed by Randy Duncan of Chatham.

At the depot Mr. Lincoln spoke to the students about things that had happened to him in his life as a lawyer in Logan County and he also recounted a story from his days at as a store keeper in New Salem. His focus for the kids was on being honest and having integrity.

He shared a story of when he was a store keeper, he had short changed a customer by six cents. When the day was done and he was counting the money in the cash box, he realized what he had done and though the customer lived quite a piece from the store, he walked to her house to deliver the six cents.

He also shared a very important story about how sometimes in law, doing the right thing is more important than doing the legal thing. He recounted how a man not from the area was in Logan county when he received word that his wife lay dying in Springfield. Desperate to get home he ‘borrowed’ a horse without permission so he could ride it to the train station and take the train to Springfield. When he arrived at the train station, he made sure the horse was watered, then turned it in the direction of its home and gave it a smack, hoping it would find its way back to its owner. The man then boarded the train and made it back to Springfield in time to say good bye to his wife.

The man was arrested and charged with horse thieving, a very serious crime in the 1800’s.

Lincoln explained that before passing judgement on someone it is important to know the whole story. While borrowing the horse without permission had been wrong, the intent of the man to get to his wife, and his hope that the horse would find its way home made the case exceptional. After much consideration, Lincoln presented his request to the judge, explaining the extraordinary circumstances, he beseeched the judge to allow the man to go free with only a fine. The judge agreed saying that no judge with a good conscience could impose harsh punishment on such an act.

The students were very attentive to Lincoln listening carefully to every word and afterward asking questions and even seeking the autograph of the famous man.

At the end of their day, the students gathered around the base of the Lincoln statue in the south room at the depot for a class picture with President Lincoln.

Teachers commented that they felt the students had a good day and got something from the tour. One teacher said she wished they had a little more time to spend, but it was an early dismissal day for the school, so the teachers had to keep the kids on a tight schedule. Even so, the tour was an introduction to the kids of what the city of Lincoln holds and it is hoped they will all share their experience with friends and family, and those friends and family will be drawn to see these sites for themselves.

The event on Friday was hosted by the Logan County Tourism Bureau in partnership with the Lincoln Family Theater, Postville Courthouse State Historic Sight, and Lincoln Heritage Museum at Lincoln College.

[Nila Smith]