Chas. W. Sherman, who lives south of Protection, has been making a visit during the past few weeks at his old home in Illinois. The Star is favored with the following very interesting letter from him:

Toledo, Ill., October 24, 1925.

Editors, Western Star: I have been wondering what I could do this dreary, dismal, rainy morning to pass away the time, so I thought I would spend an hour in writing you a few lines, reciting some of the scenes and conditions as I have found them since leaving home, and since I have been in the home land of my youth.

I left Protection on the morning of September 30, after passing through our two or three weeks of rain there, and got here just in time to get into the rainy season here. The rains that we had in Kansas in September had covered the whole route through Kansas, Missouri and on into Illinois as far as Effingham. All along the way the fields were soaked and every little place that would hold water was filled.

From Effingham on the rest of the way it got dryer. On reaching here I found the drought conditions still unbroken but within a day or two the rains set in here and it has been raining most of the time since.

Another condition that covered the whole country from Protection to Toledo was the drought of the past season. There isn't any corn worth mentioning until you reach Effingham. From there on the corn crop improves as you travel east. Here the corn crop is the best that it has been in 25 years.

New corn is selling on the local market at 60 cents per bushel. The last estimate on the corn crop for the state of Illinois is 378,982,000 bushels. The broom corn was good too, and is no small item in this country. It is selling as high as $250 to $300 per ton.

The oats crop was almost an entire failure, only a small acreage of the crop having been harvested. The hay crop was very short too, making from one fourth to one half ton per acre. It is selling here now at $18 per ton. Soy beans is another crop that every farmer here raises, and it too, was short.

Another thing that is getting to be a great industry here is the orchards. There are several large commercial orchards that are cared for the year round. They are kept sprayed and every other attention is given them that will add to their production. Aside from these nearly every farm has its own orchard. It is a sight to one not accustomed to it, to drive through the country here and see the apple crop this year. Trucks are busy now hauling them into the market centers. Sprayed hand picked apples are selling here at from 50 cents to $1.25 per bushel.

They had a fire a few days ago at Nerga, a little town about 12 miles from here. The cold storage plant in that place was burned and 350,000 bushels of apples which were stored in it went up in smoke. Some apples, I say!

This country has made a great change since I left it 40 years ago. The improvements are so changed, and the old residents have passed on to their reward. The farms have been divided up into smaller places, a great many containing only 10, 20 or 40 acres. I am thinking just now of one mile I have passed by several times, where there are 11 sets of farms improvements. So you see lots of times one only knows where they are by location.

The other day we drove up north about nine miles to where one of my nieces lives. After dinner we drove over to the old Shiloh church and country, about a mile and a half from the place where the father of Abraham Lincoln is buried. The old marble monument, one of the old fashioned type, has been moved by the American legion to a place near the gate at the entrance to the cemetery. In its place they have erected a granite slab about 3x8 feet, on the face of which is this inscription:

LINCOLN

Thomas and Sarah Bush Lincoln

1778-1851     1788-1869

Father and step mother of
Our Martyred President

The old fashioned marble shaft that formerly stood at the head of the grave, but which is now at the entrance to the cemetery, is about eight feet tall. It is of the old fashioned type, with a large square base, with a shaft on top. On the face of the base, at the foot of the shaft, there is this inscription:

THOMAS LINCOLN

Father of
The Martyred President

Born
January 6, 1776

Died
January 15, 1851

Hundreds and hundreds of tourists visit this historic spot every year since touring the country got to be such a habit. With hammers, chisels, or anything else they could get hold of they have broken out pieces of the marble for souvenirs until the old monument is nearly ruined and the inscription is hardly readable. Who would have believed that the American people would have committed such an act of vandalism as they have in nearly destroying this old monument? The American Legion is erecting an iron cage or fence around it so that the tourists next year will not be able to reach it, but will have to stand outside and look in.

The door to the old Presbyterian church stands ajar at all times. Just inside the door is a table with a large register on it where you can write your name and place of residence. A number of pictures of Lincoln and of the log cabins where he once lived hang on the walls. About two miles east and probably half a mile north of this church there used to stand an old double log cabin where the Lincolns once lived. I have seen it many times when I was a boy. I don't know whether it is still standing there or not, as I have not been there since I came to Illinois this time.

I have read a number of articles on the life of Lincoln and the places where he lived, but I have the first time yet to read of his ever having lived in this locality, and I have often wondered why.

CHAS. W. SHERMAN.

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Thanks to Shirley Brier for finding, transcribing and contributing the above news article to this web site!

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