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             INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION

                           CHAPTER 2.

                   FROM EIGHTEEN FORTY-ONE TO
                      EIGHTEEN FIFTY-SEVEN.

     Of his boyhood, Ingersoll seldom spoke: it was a subject too
reminiscent of struggle and hardship, -- of unutterable sorrow. But
the story of a man necessarily involves, to some extent, the story
of a boy; and the right to pursue the story of the man here
concerned was long since included among those rights inalienable to
the human race.

     It is in Ashtabula, as a town of scarcely a thousand souls, in
the old Western Reserve, that we get the first definite impressions
of the "mischievous" boy who was so human that people insisted,
then and ever after, upon calling him by only half of his first
name, sometimes making up the loss of letters with an endearing
epithet, -- "Our 'Bob.'"

     Robert is eight years old, has a stepmother, and is obliged to
be promptly on hand every Sunday, for the catechism-class and a
sermon or two, in his father's church. But there are six more days
in the week; and as neither a stepmother nor a catechist nor a
preacher is ubiquitous, even in a village, we hear of sundry
doings, here and there, by a youngster whose face is not always
clean, whose shoes (when he wears any) do not invariably "shine" --
of leap-frog in the telltale sawdust of the circus-ring -- of
miscellaneous noises issuing from the old tannery -- of fire-
crackers going off where they shouldn't.

     Be it noted, however, that, "whatever prank 'Bob' might be up
to, there was never any meanness in it." Thus commented the
aforementioned catechist, Mr. Robertson, in later life, and from
the best of first-hand knowledge; for, aside from being the boy's
Sunday-school teacher, and a trustee in Rev. Mr. Ingersoll's
church, he kept a store, where Robert, in whom he took a personal
interest, and who was in and out from day to day, "often had his
pockets filled with nuts and raisins" by the proprietor.

     The latter's testimonial to the boy's essential integrity is
most interestingly confirmed by others. For example, the late
Samuel W. Wetmore, M.D., of Buffalo, N. Y., writing in 1899, said:

     "More than fifty years ago I learned to love him for his
honesty, truthfulness, integrity, sincerity, and noble nature." "We
were boys together in Ashtabula, Ohio. "We went to school and
church together, played, fished and hunted together * * * ." "I
think I had the honor of first calling him 'Honest Bob'; and by
that cognomen he was afterward recognized by his boy associates.
Life seemed to burst out on the face of that boy with all the
effulgence that intelligence and goodness could portray in a noble
character."

     All of which affords the impression of a "mischievous" boy
who, to say the least, was also a good boy.




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             INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION

     From a surviving member of Mr. Robertson's Sunday-school
class, we learn that Robert "was a very apt scholar, well up in the
lesson." At the "academy," which he attended less than a year, he
seems to have been equally "apt," Dr. Wetmore stating: "Although I
was a year older than he, I was never his peer as a scholar." And
this, it will be seen, completes our impression -- a "mischievous
good boy who was also a bright boy.

     A letter written in the "back parlor" in which, sixty-nine
years ago, Rev. Mr. Ingersoll held the week-night prayer-meetings
of his church affords some interesting reminiscences of Robert, --
reminiscences fully verified by more intimate authority.

     The pastor took much pride in the carefully cultivated garden
and the well-kept lawn comurised in the lot on which stood his
residence, and had given Robert imperative instructions to keep
them entire and inviolate from the depredations of marauding live
stock, even though the latter should take the familiar form of a
cow belonging to the teacher of the Sunday-school in Rev. Mr.
Ingersoll's church. In the fullness of time, the cow appeared, --
wearing a nimbus of cauliflower and cabbage! The boy's efforts to
eject her, through the gateway of the fence that surrounded the
entire lot, merely resulted in her veering off in some other
direction. But he persisted; and, as Shelley describes it, 'the
sinuous path of lawn and of moss led through the garden along and
across,' until, suddenly, at the extreme rear of the lot, the cow
slipped, sprawled, and disappeared! -- Robert reaching the
immediate scene of apparent dematerialization just in time to see
her rolling over and over down an eighty-foot embankment toward the
Astabula River! Never, he often remarked in later years, should he
forget his feelings as he watched that rotating cow, nor when,
on hurrying breathlessly to the foot of the bank, he saw her upon
her feet, placidly chewing a wisp of grass!

     Our next incident is of interest, not only because of Robert's
later achievements as an orator, but as indicating, in a touching
way, how closely dependent upon each other, in childish affection,
were he and his brother "Clark." At an entertainment, in the
Baptist Church, Robert was to "speak a piece" that he had
thoroughly learned at school -- "I Remember, I Remember," by Thomas
Hood: --

     "I remember, I remember,  The house where I was born,  The
little window where the sun  Come peeping in at morn;  He never
came a wink too soon,  Nor brought too long a day,  But now, I
often wish the night  Had borne my breath away!  "I remember, I
remember," --

     But Robert didn't "remember" -- he didn't remember a word
after he made his bow. So he started for his seat. No sooner did he
reach it than the poem came back to his mind; and he returned to
the stage. But with his second bow he forgot it all again! Then,
with a confidence in the vicarious that he never afterwards
indulged, -- a confidence born of childish affection and innocence,
-- he said, marching off the stage: "'Clark' knows it."




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             INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION

     Passing over the succeeding decade, our next view of Robert is
in Greenville, where, in 1851, his father had shortly preceded him.
The fact that he was then a youth of seventeen, and that the
Ingersolls, no longer keeping house, boarded and "roomed," for
varying periods, in several separate families, render it natural
that many of the older and former residents of the place should
still have of him some distinct recollections. A careful summary of
the latter, results in no striking transformation of the Ashtabula
impression; in fact, in no transformation, other than would very
naturally come with the added years. It is a phenomenon of normal
development. The "mischievous" good bright boy has simply become a
youth whose "mischief" is less evident; who, if he does smoke
cigars (but never a pipe!), is still good, perhaps better; and who,
moreover, is "extraordinarily bright for one of his age."

     His quickness at learning is remarked by a prominent resident
of Greenville who was his seatmate, for six months, in 1851.
According to the gentleman mentioned, Robert passed his school-
hours not in over-zealous attention to books, -- sometimes even
amusing himself by throwing "paper wads"; "and then when recitation
came, he would beat any of us"! This habit of throwing "paper wads"
and beating people at "recitation" never left him! His "wads" and
"recitations" were of very fine texture and quality in later life!
The school which he attended in Greenville, like that in Ashtabula,
was called an "academy." It was a private subscription school
conducted by Mr. Socrates Smith, in the basement of the
Congregational Church, of which Rev. Mr. Ingersoll was pastor.

     As a companion, Robert was "very magnetic and fascinating." He
excelled as a story-teller, and was brilliant in general
conversation. His diction was admirable. Whether speaking or
writing, he chose the "inevitable" word or phrase, showing withal
a predilection' for figurative expression. He was an extensive
reader, especially of the finer and more artistic classes of
literature. Familiar with all the poets, he was particularly fond
of Burn's and Byron. Burns he would quote " by the hour." It was in
Greenville that the Muse paid to Robert himself what was perhaps
her first visitation. In a poem of twelve stanzas, dated
"Greenville, April 15," signed "R. G. I.," and printed in the
Greenville Journal, in June, 1852, he thus (in part; apostrophizes
"The Wavy West": --
                         * * * * * * * *

                  "Thou glorious world of bloom
                        Where bending flowers gently blow
                        And o'er thy breast their leaflets throw
                  In beauty's soft perfume;

                  "Where dark-haired Indian girls,
                        Reclining on thy dewy breast,

                        In morning dew and sunlight dressed,
                   Adorned with dewy pearls,

                  "First felt the tender flame,
                        Saw lovers's lips in rapture move
                        And felt the trembling beat of love
                   Thrill wildly o'er their frame."

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             INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION

     In the ninth stanza is a quotation from The Cotter's Saturday
Night: -- an interesting proof of how deeply he had taken to heart
the noble lyrics of the "ploughman poet."

     But the most precious of the recollections of Robert's
Greenville acquaintances involves his regard for the memory of his
mother. They tell of a lock of hair which, accidentally separated
from his personal belongings, and subsequently discovered by an
associate, was identified by Robert in terms of tenderest
affection. We can therefore believe, that, with the following
lines, which he was then wont to repeat, came thoughts of far-off
Cazenovia: --

               "Oft in the stilly night,
                    Ere slumber's chains have bound me,
                    Fond memory brings the light
                Of other days around me."

     For, thirty years later, did he not write? --

     "My mother died when I was but a child: and from that day --
the darkest of my life -- her memory has been within my heart a
sacred thing, and I have felt, through all these years, her kisses
on my lips.'

                               2.

     If we reflect upon the itinerancy indicated in preceding
pages, and, especially, if we contrast the educational advantages
of the rural communities of the time with the scholastic abilities
of Rev. Mr. Ingersoll, we shall not be surprised to learn that
Robert, -- the "Great Agnostic" to be, -- received most of his
early instruction from a certain orthodox clergyman. The latter
assistance, with the meager help obtained at school, evidently was
ample for one of Robert's mental tendency and habits. For, daring
boyhood and early youth, he read nearly everything (judging by the
statements of his associates, as already indicated, and by the
titles he himself has given) that was considered standard in moral,
religious, and theological literature, as well as such works of
fiction and poetry as were regarded as "safe" for the young.
Subsequently, although he never pursued an academic nor a
collegiate course of any kind, -- "never knelt to the professor,"
as he said of Shakespeare, -- he devoured with avidity everything
that was really great in fiction and poetry not only, but in
history, philosophy, and science. As the bee is to the world of
flowers, so became Ingersoll to the world of literature. with this
exception, that none of the honey which the latter gathered could
be taken from him. To change the figure, any striking fact, any
beautiful thought, once passed "the warder of the brain" remained
forever his cherished captive.

     Pausing in retrospective comparison of his native endowments
and his acquired mental wealth with those of the average pedagogue
of his youth, we are strongly inclined to envy certain pupils of
Metropolis, Massac County, Ill.; for it was there, in 1852 or '53,
that Ingersoll himself taught a private subscription school. The
log house in which he taught is still standing (1910) at Fourth and


                         Bank of Wisdom
                  Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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             INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION

Ferry Streets, and is regarded with interest and pride. An anecdote
related by residents of Metropolis, in connection with his
tutorship, indicates that one of the noblest and most prominent
traits of his character, benevolence, was, even at the early age
implied, already manifest. It is said that, although he found, at
the end of the term, about half of his subscribers unable to pay
their tuition, he promptly receipted all bills "in full."

     But while his benevolence was undoubtedly manifest at this
period, another of his characteristics, wit, was equally so.
Indeed, on at least one occasion during his career as a
schoolmaster, his wit was so prominently to the fore as to preclude
the possibility of such an exercise of benevolence as that
mentioned in the preceding paragraph.

     Engaged to teach in a rural district, Ingersoll was "boarding
'round." Several Baptist ministers and elders who were conducting
a revival in the neighborhood were also "boarding 'round." They
made a practice of discussing religion at table. The young teacher
took little or no part in their discussions until he was one day
pointedly asked what he thought about baptism. He hesitated but
they insisted. Thereupon he said: --

     "Well, I'll give you my opinion: With soap baptism is a good
thing."

     The brethren were shocked -- horrified! The witty thrust sped
from gossip to gossip, and so intense did the feeling against its
author become that he was obliged to abandon his school. It is
interesting, if not pleasing, to note, however, that the pious zeal
which compelled the latter action does not seem to have been alive
to an overkeen sense of justice; for the patrons of the school
concerned failed to recognize, certainly in a practical way, that
even an "infidel" teacher was entitled, at least, to compensation
for services already rendered according to agreement. As a
consequence, young Ingersoll, being otherwise unsupplied with
funds, had to make his way on foot to his home -- a long distance
from where he had merely given an honest answer to an impertinent
question.

                               3.

     In 1853 he took up his residence at Marion (with his father,
his sister Mary Jane, and his brother Ebon Clark) and commenced the
study of law with Hon. Willis Allen and his son William Joshua
Allen, Esq., who were practicing in partnership. Hon. Willis Allen
was a member of Congress, having been elected, as a Democrat, in
1851; he was reelected as such in 1853. William Joshua Allen, Esq.,
was a member of the Illinois legislature in 1854, subsequently
district attorney, Judge of a United States circuit court, and a
Democratic member of Congress for two succeeding terms, being
originally elected, in 1861, to fill the vacancy created by the
resignation of John A. Logan.

     Marion, as at present, was the shire-town of Williamson
County, as well as the place of session of the circuit court; and
Ingersoll, while studying law, earned his livelihood, and


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             INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION

contributed to the support of his father and his sister, by
rendering assistance on the records (as a clerk, or "deputy,") in
the office of the clerk of that court and of the county court.
Captain John Marion Cunningham, who subsequently became the father-
in-law of John A. Logan, was clerk of both courts.

     Such instruction as Ingersoll received from the Allens, in the
intricacies of the law, doubtless came chiefly from the senior of
the two, an able lawyer of many years' experience. The younger
Allen, though able and ambitious, was but five years Ingersoll's
senior, had been in practice only the same number of years, and
could hardly have been fitted to impart much information to a mind
so richly endowed by nature, and so bountifully stored in an
endeavor to satiate its thirst for universal knowledge, as was that
of Ingersoll. However, the latter, -- none the less then than
subsequently, to the discomfiture both of jurists and theologians,
-- was bristling with questions; and as the best lawyers, and even
the judges, "rode circuit" on horseback, from county to county,
there is no doubt that nearly every one of them contributed to his
fund of legal lore.

     But although he was an earnest and unusually retentive student
of the law, he possessed, as previously indicated, a strong love
for general literature; and knowing the profound impression which
Burns and Shakespeare, in particular, had already made upon him, we
feel certain that Kent, Blackstone, et el. were occasionally
obliged to give first place in his affections to Lear, Hamlet, and
the "ploughman poet."

     It is said that, while at Marion, Ingersoll did not impress
one as being overambitious. Rather did he incline to manifest at
least two of the characteristics of his maturity: he was never in
a hurry -- liked to indulge the spirit of freedom; and he loved to
pour for others the sparkling, warming cordial of wit and humor. He
could be seen now around the court-house, now in the office of the
Allens, but perhaps nearly as often around the hotel, entertaining
his fortunate hearers with stories, or by relating the great and
wonderful things he had read. He was recognized as the most
captivating story-teller in the place. "He seemed to want everybody
to be happy." His overflowing good-naturedness, with a tendency to
rollicking, though innocent, amusements, made him the central
favorite of every party of young people with whom he chanced to
find himself. But he did not usually associate with young people:
habitually went with those older than himself. Individuals of his
own years "looked up" to him. A very interesting confirmation of
this is the fact that many people who were acquainted with both
Ebon and Robert in their youth, now confidently recall (and are
ready to argue the point) that Robert was the older, whereas he was
two years younger.

     The technical requirements for admission to the bar were then
incomparably less exacting than at present, a condition which was
undoubtedly fortunate, not only for the occasional applicant whose
brain was capable of being something more than a well-wound, well-
regulated forensic mechanism, but for the world at large. It is
questionable whether the gate which has more recently been erected
across the path to juristic authority and honors would swing wide


                         Bank of Wisdom
                  Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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             INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION

enough to clear a Lincoln or an Ingersoll. However this may be, the
latter, when he visited Mount Vernon on December 20th of the
following year (1854), with the required certificate of moral
character not only in his pocket, but in his countenance, evidently
carried also the necessary certificate in his brain; for, together
with his brother Ebon Clark, he was promptly admitted to the bar.'

     [NOTE: As nearly as I have been able to ascertain, the
requirements that Ingersoll was obliged to fulfill were: (1)
Furnishing a certificate "of his good moral character" "from the
court or county" (which certificate he probably procured from the
court of Williamson County, at Marion); (2) an examination (more or
less perfunctory) in open court: (3) provide liquid refreshments
for the officers of the court at Mount Vernon; and (4) take an oath
of office as an attorney.]

     In 1855 he settled in Shawneetown, the county-seat of
Gallatin, being at first engaged in the Federal land-office, of
which Captain Cunningham who also had removed from Marion) was
register, and of which Samuel K. Casey, Esq., an able lawyer, was
receiver. Soon relinquishing this employment, Ingersoll entered, as
deputy, the office of the clerk of the county court and of the
circuit court,' working for a part of the time on the records, as
he had done at Marion, but giving his more serious attention to the
law, in the office of Judge William G. Bowman, much after the
manner of young attorneys of the present day. Judge Bowman was then
an eminent lawyer, and was afterwards a member of the
Constitutional Convention of the State of Illinois, a state
senator, and surveyor-general of Utah.

     In addition to his legal attainments, he was a man of general
intellectual taste and culture, and a rationalist in religious
matters. The latter fact naturally rendered his office, in the eyes
of young Ingersoll, a specially attractive place. Similarly, a mind
which not only gave promise of a brilliant legal carer.', but which
was already projecting its luminous rays into the dark corners of
politics and theology, rendered Ingersoll, in the eyes of Judge
Bowman, a specially attractive young man. He could reason closely,
and argue convincingly, on almost any subject. He was taking a hand
in local politics. He was so efficient and popular as deputy clerk
that he was mentioned as the probable successor to Hall. And it was
during this period that he delivered his first public anti-
theological discourse.

     [NOTE: John E. Hall held both the office of clerk of the
county court and clerk of the circuit court, and it was on November
11, 1856, while he was dictating some official paper to Ingersoll,
that he was shot by Robert C. Sloo, a young graduate of West point,
and instantly killed, falling into Ingersoll's arms. The shooting
was the result of a political feud. Hall and Sloo's father, Colonel
James G. Sloo, the local Democratic leader, were bitter enemies.
Young Sloo alleged that a certain letter which was published in the
Intelligencer, of Marion, Ill., on October 10, 1856, under the
pseudonym "Vindex," and which seriously reflected upon the
character of Colonel Sloo and family, was written by Hall. After an
exciting trial, which lasted forty-two days, and in which John A.
Logan, Leonard Sweet, John W Crockett, and other noted lawyers took
part, the slayer was acquitted on the ground of emotional
insanity.]
                         Bank of Wisdom
                  Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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             INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION

     Judge Bowman possessed not only an excellent legal library,
but what was regarded as an unusually large private collection of
general and miscellaneous literature. Of this fortunate
circumstance, young Ingersoll took eager advantage. He would often
read far into the night, -- always ready, on the morrow, to
discuss, or to repeat in toto, whatever he had read. Nor did he,
from all accounts, ever lack an opportunity. His remarkable memory,
common sense, and felicity of expression attracted the attention of
all. He seemed, even then, to possess the unconscious faculty of
making and holding friends -- the genius of friendship. In fact, he
manifested, in a greater or less degree, all the mental and
temperamental attributes which were destined soon to make his name
familiar throughout the Prairie State.

     During the first year of his residence in Shawneetown, he
commenced the practice of his profession there, in partnership with
his brother Ebon Clark, under the firm-name of "E.C. and R.G.
Ingersoll." But their stay was not to be a long one. However
perfect a sense of contentment may have been felt by the older
lawyers of the place, who had to its manner grown, it was impotent
to cast its insidious lethargic spell over the kindling brilliancy
of Robert G. Ingersoll. Of its probable environmental advantages,
we catch a glimpse through the latter himself when he ludicrously
describes its court-house, at the time of his practice there, as "a
square box with a horse hitched on each side and a pimple on top"!
Nevertheless, it was not, be it said in passing, the same quiet
town which it later became, and which it now is: rather was it the
metropolis of southern Illinois. However, Peoria offered, from
every standpoint, a far more promising field. The fact that it was
already a railroad-center of some importance, and gave indications
of becoming much more prominent in this respect, added very
materially to its advantages as a forensic battle-ground. Moreover,
the managers of some of its largest industrial concerns had become
Ingersoll's clients. They had placed in his hands for adjustment,
in Shawneetown and adjoining places, a number of important claims,
and he had shown unusual talent. In fact, such notable legal
ability had he displayed, that his clients, in recognition, and in
the spirit of helpfulness, had extended to him an urgent invitation
to transfer his professional residence to their own city.
Accordingly, it was to Peoria, in February, 1857, that he removed,
to continue the practice of law with his brother, under the same
firm-name, "E.C. and R.G. Ingersoll."


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