The most interesting thing in the house was this "Life Mask" of Abraham Lincoln. I have no idea how it got here or why. What is known is that during Lincoln's visit to Chicago in the early spring of 1860 to argue a court case, sculptor Leonard Volk asked him to sit for a bust. When Lincoln consented, the artist decided that to keep the sittings to a minimum he would start by doing a life mask. Lincoln found the process of letting wet plaster dry on his face, followed by a skin-stretching removal procedure, "anything but agreeable." But he endured the discomfort with good humor, and when he saw the final bust, he was quite pleased, declaring it "the animal himself."