A Look at the Office of Abraham Lincoln

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Office
By Abraham Lincoln

I used to write a lot of books. All of them were published. The University of Tennessee Book Store bought a thousand copies of the very first book I published.

One day the president of a large English watercolor company and his advertising vice president flew into the cornfields of Dayton International Airport to see some of my books. I picked them up at the airport and walked them through our two car garage into my office in what had been the family room.

They liked my books and offered to give me a check for $15,000.00 as an advance. A week or two after they left, I got a check from the company and they got the books.

Our banker told us and so did our accountant it was a good idea to invest the money in the construction of a new room—so we could deduct the costs from our income taxes. We thought we could deduct it that same year but learned it could only be deducted over an extended time period. This is how the picture of my office was made possible.

And this is my office—about 24 by 26 feet, with an entrance door, two windows and a large skylight. This is what fifteen grand built back in 1981.

Next to the office is a white oak tree that came from a sprout at the old school in Gordon. My friend noticed lightening had struck the oak tree we used to sit under at Noon
recess and eat our packed lunches. After the lightening damaged the tree, several nuts sprouted and began growing around the base. My oak tree is one of those sprouts. It is
now about 30 feet tall, or taller. The birds love it and so do the squirrels.

I can tell I am getting older now. I no longer have the will or the courage to take on some ideas and see how much money I can make. I was once on the front page of the Wall Street Journal for some of the ideas I came up with that led to some new businesses in this country and abroad. I am no longer willing to risk what I have to coax ideas into businesses.

So I sit in my office chair and gaze out the window from the room the book built and think about the events coming up. I am not thrilled with the prospects for a long life because I am at the end of the ball of string I got 77 years ago.

You would think that an automobile built 77 years ago would be in better shape than a person born the same year. The entire car is made from steel and other materials and I am
mostly water. You can dent me anywhere you want to poke. Cars tend to rust away. Junk yards are full of old, rusty, cars.

I think I have a dozen or more books in my head. I just don’t have the time or the enthusiasm to poke the keys to make the books readable.