Lincoln logbook?
Friday, July 7th, 2023 Alive 19,064 days
If Abraham Lincoln asks you to hold his hat, donʼt.
The sixteenth president was notorious for storing things in his famously capacious hat. But you never know what might be in there.
It makes sense that heʼd stuff it with a Lincoln logbook, or a few pencils, or even a draft of a speech to Congress. But if you were to rummage through his stovepipe chapeau you might not only encounter legal briefs, but Mr. Lincolnʼs actual briefs. Thatʼs because the hat was something of a catch-all for him. Half filing cabinet, half trash can.
Apple cores were a particularly common hazard, though why he should save apple cores is unknown to me.
Also unknown to me is why I know this. When I lived in Illinois, I never visited any Lincoln musea. When I lived in the South, I did visit the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace in Hodgenville, Kentucky. So perhaps I picked it up there. Or maybe I just imagined the whole thing.