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RALPH EMERSON'S RECOLLECTIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 323

Lincoln to Mr. Manny. When all the parties had arrived at Cincinnati, Mr. Lincoln was informed by Mr. Watson that Mr. Stanton would close the case for the defendants. This was a great humiliation to Mr. Lincoln. Although he had prepared his argument, Mr. Lincoln did not argue the case. Mr. Lincoln first met Mr. Stanton at Cincinnati. Mr. Stanton treated him with great discourtesy during the trial, and referred to him as a railsplitter from the wild west. Notwithstanding these indignities, Mr. Lincoln was impressed with Mr. Stanton's great force of character; and when six years later a man of iron was needed, President Lincoln made Mr. Stanton his secretary of war. No other incident in the life of Mr. Lincoln better illustrates his moral greatness. The trial resulted in a victory for the Manny Company. The decision was announced January 16, 1856. The defendants' expenses of the suit were sixty thousand dollars, and this large sum was made from the business in a short time. Mr. McCormick appealed the case to the United States supreme court, where the decision of the lower court was affirmed, and Mr. Manny's rights as inventor were fully sustained.

Ida M. Tarbell's Life of Lincoln, republished from her serial in McClure's Magazine, gives an incident of this trial, which the author obtained from Ralph Emerson, who says:

"Mr. Stanton closed his speech in a flight of impassioned eloquence. Then the court adjourned for the day, and Mr. Lincoln invited me to take a long walk with him. For block after block he walked rapidly forward, not saying a word, evidently deeply dejected.

"At last he turned suddenly to me, exclaiming: 'Emerson, I'm going home.' A pause. 'I am going home to study law.'

"Why, I exclaimed; 'Mr. Lincoln, you stand at the head of the bar in Illinois now! What are you talking about?'

"Ah, yes,' he said, 'I do occupy a good position there, and I think that I can get along with the way things are done there now. But these college-trained men, who have devoted their whole lives to study, are coming west, don't you see? And they study their cases as we never do. They have got as far as Cincinnati now. They will soon be in Illinois.' Another long pause; then stopping and turning toward me, his countenance suddenly assuming that look of strong determination which those who knew him best sometimes saw upon his face, he exclaimed, 'I am going home to study law! I am as good as

any of them, and when they get out to Illinois I will be ready for them.'"

Mr. Lincoln once visited Rockford on professional business in connection with this suit. It was on a hot summer afternoon. Mr. Lincoln and one of the clients sat on an old log on the bank of the river and discussed the matter. Mr. Lincoln wore a long linen coat, and presented that picture of ungainliness with which the world is familiar. Mr. Lincoln was a guest at Mr. Manny's home, which was a small frame building that stood on the site of the Milwaukee depot. The company paid Mr. Lincoln one thousand dollars, which was the largest fee he had received up to that time.

The prolonged mental strain incident to perfecting his inventions and the trial of the suit undermined Mr. Manny's health. He fell a prey to consumption, and January 31, 1856, he passed away, in his little modest home on South Main street, when he had just passed his thirtieth birthday. He never realized the wealth which his inventions would bring to others, nor the prestige which they would give to the Reaper City, nor the great name which he had made for himself.

Mrs. Manny received a royalty of twenty-five dollars on every machine manufactured. This amount was subsequently reduced. Financial reverses overtook the company in 1857, but it weathered the storm, and built an extensive plant.

During the next few years after the arrival of J. H. Manny, other manufacturers began business on the water-power. D. Forbes & Son established their iron foundry in 1854, and in 1864 the malleable iron works were added to the business.

Joseph Rodd came to Rockford from Canada in the autumn of 1853, and a few years later he embarked in the milling business on the east side of the river. Mr. Rodd's home was the residence of Colonel Lawler on Kishwaukee street.

In 1854 M. Bartlett & Company built one of the finest stone structures on the water-power for a flouring mill. The Troxell mill was established in 1853 on the East side, and in 1855 it was purchased by Mr. Bartlett.

T. Derwent & Son began the milling business on the waterpower in 1859.

Messrs. Bertrand & Sames were engaged in the manufacture of cultivators in the middle fifties.

W. D. Trahern came to Rockford in 1848 and manufactured threshing machines on the old water-power, under the firm name

THE MANNYS–N. C. THOMPSON,

325

of Trahern & Stuart. In 1856 Mr. Stuart retired and was succeeded by Mr. Dales. Later Mr. Trahern manufactured iron pumps. He died November 2, 1883.

In 1854 John P. Manny began the manufacture of knife sections in Rockford for John H. Manny's reapers. He succeeded in producing a knife section that was hardened by his own peculiar process in oil tempering, which has never been surpassed to this day.

F. H. Manny came to Rockford in 1859 and a few years later he was engaged in manufacturing the John H. Manny combined reaper and mower.

N. C. Thompson came to Rockford in 1857, and for years he manufactured exclusively the John P. Manny reaper and

mower.

William Gent came to Rockford in 1857, and was associated with John Nelson in scroll work, and later he assisted the inventor in perfecting his knitting machine. Mr. Gent was considered one of the best working mechanics in the state. He died June 20, 1887.

CHAPTER LXIII.

EMERSON, LOWELL, WHIPPLE AND OTHERS LECTURE IN ROCKFORD.

THE

HERE has been one movement in the history of the American mind which gave to literature a group of writers entitled to the name of a school. This was the great humanitarian movement, or series of movements, in New England, which began with the elder Channing, ran through its later phase in transcendentalism, and spent its force in the anti-slavery agitation and the enthusiasms of the civil war. This movement was cotemporary with the preaching of many novel doctrines in religion, sociology, science, education, medicine and hygiene. New sects were formed. There were Millerites, Spiritualists, Mormons, Swedenborgians and Shakers.

This intellectual and moral awakening found its expression in the lecture platform. The daily newspaper had not assumed its present blanket-sheet proportions; and the leaders of these various phases of new thought carried their message to the people in person.

In the autumn of 1853 the Young Men's Association was organized, for the purpose of bringing to Rockford the most popular lecturers of the day. Among its members were Rev. H. M. Goodwin, C. H. Spafford, H. H. Waldo, H. P. Holland, E. W. Blaisdell, J. E. L. Southgate, William Lathrop, R. A. Sanford, E. H. Baker, Rev. J. Murray, E. C. Daugherty, A. S. Miller.

The first course was provided for the winter of 1853-54. It began with two lectures, November 29th and 30th, by E. P. Whipple, in the First Baptist church. It is almost incredible that one of the local newspapers should not have even given the subject of his lecture. From the other, however, it is learned that Mr. Whipple's theme for this first lecture was Heroic Character, and that he "delineated graphically and beautifully the hero-soldier, led on by his love of glory; the hero-patriot, actuated by his love of country; the hero-reformer, moved by his love of humanity; and the hero-saint, animated by his love of God." The subject of his second lecture was Eccentric Character. The Forum's criticism was not very appreciative.

HORACE GREELEY'S IMPRESSIONS OF ROCK RIVER.

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The third lecture was given December 10th, at the Baptist church, by Horace Mann. His subject was Young Men. The Democrat, in "reporting" the lecture, took this flattering unction to its soul: "As we looked around over the large assemblage of youth, beauty, intellect and fashion, and noted with what anxiety the sea of heads were turned toward the speaker, as if to catch the words ere they left his lips, we experienced a deep feeling of pride, and thought to ourselves, few places in any land, of equal age, population, etc., can boast of a more highly refined, intellectual community than are to be found in our own little embryo city."

The fourth lecture was given in the City Hall, by George William Curtis, December 12th. His subject was Young America, and for an hour and a half the speaker entranced his audience with his noble thought and pure diction. After referring to the Alps, Mr. Curtis said: "But there are loftier mountains than the Alps; there is a lovelier landscape than that unfolded by Italy, with all its richness and all its beauty. There is a land more beautiful, more voluptuous, more soul-satisfying; a region far away, but which every man has visited; a paradise into which no care, no sorrow, no vice ever enters; where Barnburners and Hunkers lie down together; where all heads are silver-gray, woolly; where painters praise each other's pictures; musicians are not jealous of their fellow artists; ladies with blue do not dislike brown eyes in others; where musicians on wintry, moonlight nights, serenading delightful damsels, blow their fingers and their instruments only for love. Millions have sailed for the shores of this fair country, with the faith of a Columbus or a Franklin, and millions have failed to reach them; like the child running to catch the setting sun only to grasp the cold grey of the evening, so we essay to gain the favored land; it is the California to which thousands sail, only to get wrecked on Cape Horn; it is the eyes of his mistress to the ardent lover, just before she jilted him. This favored land is the land of Fancy, pictured on the ardent soul of youth."

Horace Greeley followed Mr. Curtis. His theme was The Reforms of the Age. He spoke of the abolition and temperance movements, woman's rights, and the abolition of the death penalty. Mr. Greeley wrote his impressions of the Rock river valley at some length for the New York Tribune, from which this characteristic paragraph is taken: "I have traversed the Roman Campana (which is only a great wet prairie surcharged

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