Abraham Lincoln visits Morris to teach students the value of honesty

16th US President Abraham Lincoln (R-Illinois) visited Morris on Thursday and Friday, first stopping in for a haircut with Dick Sohan Thursday before stopping in at Morris Elementary for a talk with third grade students.

For Lincoln, it was a retreading of old ground: He last visited Morris in 1858, stopping for a haircut at about the same location as the Sanitary Barber Shop at 121 W. Washington St. and sleeping at an inn that was somewhere close to Corleone’s at 110 Liberty St.

Trudy DesLauriers introduced Lincoln to the third-graders from Morris Elementary and Nettle Creek Elementary on Friday morning, talking to them about the importance of history.

“History is just a story or two about two or three things that happened a long time ago,” DesLauriers said. “It could be a story that your grandma tells you about when she was in school and she got in trouble. That happened a long time ago, so that’s history for grandma’s story fromn a long time ago. It could be something that happened just a few hours ago.”

For these third grade students, getting to hear from President Lincoln is part of their history.

Lincoln spoke to the students about honesty, sharing the tale of George Washington chopping down a cherry tree.

“He said ‘I cannot tell a lie, father. I’ve chopped down that with my little hatch,‘” Lincoln said. “His father was so proud of him for telling the truth that he didn’t get in any trouble. Now, most of you know that stuff, right? Are you familiar with the fact that this story is not really a true story? That never happened.”

Lincoln said the man who wrote that story made it up for his book, and while the story isn’t true, it does contain a message worth learning: It’s about how it’s important to tell the truth.

He also explained to the kids the importance of reading, and how they should take advantage of the knowledge available around them. After all, he only had three books in the house as a child, and he grew up to become president.

“All the people who have ever become president, at one time, were exactly the same age you are, too, and they had no idea they were going to become president,” Lincoln said. “So think about that just a bit further. That means right now, that there’s somebody in this country who is exac tly your age that can grow up and become president.”

The students listened as Lincoln explained the concept of equality and how during his life, he saw that so many people weren’t being treated equally. He said he always knew that when he had the opportunity to attack that head on, he’d take it.

Lincoln, played by Randy Duncan, visited Morris with the Grundy County Historical Society. This program was made possible by a grant from the Sanford Enrichment Fund at Community Foundation of Grundy County.

Duncan, as Lincoln, also spoke to students at Saratoga Elementary School on Friday.