By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – An Abraham Lincoln author shared stories of the Great Emancipator Monday for an audience at SIU’s Paul Simon Public Policy Institute.

Douglas Wilson of Knox College founded a Lincoln Studies Center on campus.

“He has the reputation of being this listener, and he was. But what we don’t hear about is how he shut himself off and said, I don’t want to be bothered for the next four days.

“He’s writing.”

Wilson says a chief collector of biographical information in the time following Lincoln’s death is his old law partner, William Herndon. Lincoln’s stepmother had encouraged Lincoln in his learning but told Herndon how griefstricken she was that her fear of assassination came true.

By the way, Wilson says, Lincoln’s father felt Abe’s time would be better spent slopping the hogs than in improving his vocabulary.

Wilson’s works include “Lincoln’s Sword” and “Honor’s Voice,” books which earned him the Lincoln Prize.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].