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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.
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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] |
