for those who look at lincoln's address, or are familiar with it already,
note one of the early uses of the adjective "homeless."  lincoln meant by
it the absence of family ties (as the result of bad behavior linked to
drink) that would give the term its principal meaning until the advocates
of the 1980s brought it back into wide use to indicate the lack of an
abode.  jb

At 09:37 AM 10/31/00 +0000, you wrote:
>It may be of some interest that at least in 1842 Abraham Lincoln was
>an enthusiastic supporter of the Washingtonians, as documented in an
>address to their Springfield meeting celebrating Washington's
>birthday.  I came across extended excerpts in
>
>                Paul M. Angle and Earl Schenck Miers (eds).
>                The Living Lincoln
>                1955, Barnes and Noble Books, N.Y.
>                pp. 47-56
>
>                                   Paul Shiman
>                                   (a lurker for Lilian)