NORMAL - Abraham Lincoln came to town Wednesday night to set the record straight on a few matters. Lincoln, portrayed by impersonator George Buss, took questions from area reporters and audience members at the Normal Theater.

Mixing serious answers with earthy yarns and one-liners, Lincoln spoke on topics ranging from his wife's spending to what he hoped his epitaph would say.

For example, when asked how a man who appeared to be a country bumpkin could be an effective president, he said looks can deceive.

He then told a tale about a young man who saw his sister and a man with their clothing in disarray but mistook what they were doing.

"My critics have their facts all right, but draw the wrong conclusion," Lincoln said.

Emcee Bob Lenz, acting as Lincoln's press secretary, asked the 300-member audience to imagine it was in Washington, D.C., on April 13, 1865, the day before Lincoln was shot.

When asked about his wife's extravagant purchases at taxpayer expense, Lincoln replied: "Washington was not ready for Mary. Nor was Mary ready for Washington."

He said he wrote a personal check for $25,000 to repay the U.S. Treasury and was grateful for the chance to clarify that issue.

Reporter Fraser Engerman, describing himself as being from State Farm, "the nation's largest insurers of horses and buggies," asked Lincoln how he would like to be remembered. What would he like to see written on his tombstone?

"He signed the Emancipation," Lincoln said.

While thumbing through a sheaf of yellowed papers, he asked the audience if they would like him to recite the Gettysburg Address. He did, then went on to discuss it's meaning.

He said he had gone to that Pennsylvania town to help people heal after the devastating battle.

He said the people there spent four months burying 59,000 dead Americans and the bodies of 10,000 pack animals, much of it in hot summer weather. Farmers also dealt with unexploded ordnance in their fields.

He frequently spoke of mending wounds between the North and the South. He noted "the other eve, Dixie was playing on the lawn of the Executive Mansion."

"We've got to rebuild the South," he said. "It's a mess. From what I've heard, General Sherman didn't leave it any better."

After the press corps finished, the floor was opened to audience questions.

A teacher wanted advice for her sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders. He said they need to read as much as possible, especially Aesop's fables because they have morals.

Lincoln, while acknowledging his many enemies and the risk to his personal safety, said it was time to get on with the business of running the country.

He was asked what he'd like to do after his presidency ended.

"I'd like to go back to Illinois, plant a garden and put potatoes in it," he said. He also wanted to see the Holy Land and the Pacific Ocean, he added.

The event was sponsored by the David Davis Mansion Foundation and Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission of McLean County.