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diff --git a/17237-8.txt b/17237-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f128306 --- /dev/null +++ b/17237-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12079 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Man for the Ages, by Irving Bacheller + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Man for the Ages + A Story of the Builders of Democracy + +Author: Irving Bacheller + +Illustrator: John Wolcott Adams + +Release Date: December 5, 2005 [EBook #17237] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A MAN FOR THE AGES *** + + + + +Produced by Rick Niles, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + A MAN FOR THE AGES + + By IRVING BACHELLER + + A STORY OF THE BUILDERS OF DEMOCRACY + + AUTHOR OF THE LIGHT IN THE CLEARING, KEEPING UP WITH LIZZIE, ETC. + + 1919 + + + + +TO MY DEAR FRIEND AND COMRADE +ALEXANDER GROSSET + +I DEDICATE THIS BOOK IN +TOKEN OF MY ESTEEM + + + + +_Property is the fruit of labor; property is desirable; it is a positive +good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become +rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not +him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him work +diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his +own shall be safe from violence when built._ + +ABRAHAM LINCOLN. +_March 21, 1864._ + + + + +A Letter + +TO THE AGED AND HONORABLE JOSIAH TRAYLOR FROM HIS GRANDSON, A SOLDIER IN +FRANCE, WHEREIN THE MOTIVE AND INSPIRATION OF THIS NARRATIVE ARE BRIEFLY +PRESENTED. + + +_In France, September 10, 1915._ + +Dear Grandfather: + +At last I have got mine. I had been scampering towards the stars, like a +jack-rabbit chased by barking greyhounds, when a shrapnel shell caught up +with me. It sneezed all over my poor bus, and threw some junk into me as +if it thought me nothing better than a kind of waste basket. Seems as if +it had got tired of carrying its load and wanted to put it on me. It +succeeded famously but I got home with the bus. Since then they have been +taking sinkers and fish hooks out me fit only for deep water. Don't +worry, I'm getting better fast. I shall play no more football and you +will not see me pitching curves and running bases again. No, I shall sit +in the grandstand myself hereafter and there will not be so much of me +but I shall have quite a shuck on my soul for all that. I've done a lot +of thinking since I have been lying on my back with nothing else to do. +When your body gets kind of turned over in the ditch it's wonderful how +your mind begins to hustle around the place. Until this thing happened my +intellect was nothing more than a vague rumor. I had heard of it, now and +then, in college, and I had hoped that it would look me up some time and +ask what it could do for me, but it didn't. These days I would scarcely +believe that I have a body, the poor thing being upon the jacks in this +big machine shop, but my small intellect is hopping all over the earth +and back again and watching every move of these high-toned mechanics with +their shiny tools and white aprons. My mind and I have kind of got +acquainted with each other and I'm getting attached to it. It is quite an +energetic, promising young mind and I don't know but I'll try to make a +permanent place for it in my business. + +I've been thinking of our Democracy and of my coming over here to be +chucked into this big jack pot as if my life were a small coin; of all +the dear old days of the past I have thought and chiefly how the +wonderful story of your life has been woven into mine--threads of wisdom +and adventure and humor and romance. I like to unravel it and look at the +colors. Lincoln is the strongest, longest thread in the fabric. Often I +think of your description of the great, tender hands that lifted you to +his shoulder when you were a boy, of the droll and kindly things that he +said to you. I have laughed and cried recalling those hours of yours with +Jack Kelso and Dr. John Allen and the rude young giant Abe, of which I +have heard you tell so often as we sat in the firelight of a winter +evening. Best of all I remember the light of your own wisdom as it glowed +upon the story; how you found in Lincoln's words a prophecy of the great +struggle that has come. Since I have been steering my imagination on its +swift, long flights into the past I have been able to recall the very +words you used: "Lincoln said that a house divided against itself must +fall--that our nation could not endure part slave and part free, and it +was true. Since then the world has grown incredibly small. The peoples of +the earth have been drawn into one house and the affairs of each are the +concern of all. With a vain, boastful and unscrupulous degenerate on the +throne of Germany, it is likely to be a house divided against itself and +I fear a greater struggle than the world has ever seen between the bond +and the free. It will be a bloody contest but of its issue there can be +no doubt because the friends of freedom are the children of light and are +many. They will lay all they have upon its altars. They will be +unprepared and roughly handled for a time but their reserves of material +and moral strength which shall express themselves in ready sacrifice, are +beyond all calculation. Only one whose life spans the wide area from +Andrew Jackson to Woodrow Wilson and who has stood with Lincoln in his +lonely tower and watched the flowing of the tides for three score years +and ten, as I have, can be quite aware of the perils and resources of +Democracy." + +All these and many other things which you have said to me, dear +grandfather, have helped me to understand this great thunderous drama in +which I have had a part. They have helped me to endure its perils and +bitter defeats. It was you who saw clearly from the first that this was +the final clash between the bond and the free--an effort of the great +house of God to purge itself, and you urged me to go to Canada and enlist +in the struggle. For this, too, I thank you. My wounds are dear to me, +knowing, as you have made me know, that I have come well by them fighting +not in the interest of Great Britain or France or Russia, but in the +cause of humanity. It is strange that among these men who are fighting +with me I have found only one or two who seem to have a vision of the +whole truth of this business. + +Now I come to the point of my letter. I have an enlistment to urge upon +you in the cause of humanity and there are no wounds to go with it. When +I come home, as I shall be doing as soon as I am sufficiently mended, we +must go to work on the story of your life so that all who wish to do so +may know it as I know it. Let us go to it with all the diaries that you +and your father kept, aided by your memory, and give to the world its +first full view of the heart and soul of Lincoln. I have read all the +biographies and anecdotes of him and yet without the story as you tell it +he would have been a stranger to me. After this war, if I mistake not, +Democracy will command the interest of all men. It will be the theme of +themes. You tell me that we shall soon get into the struggle and turn +the scale. Well, if we do, we shall have to demonstrate a swiftness of +preparation and a power in the field which will astonish the world, and +when it is all over the world will want to know how this potent Democracy +of ours came about. The one name--Lincoln--with the background of your +story, especially the background, for the trouble with all the +biographies is a lack of background--will be the best answer we could +give I think. Of course there are other answers, but, as there are few +who dare to doubt, these days, that Lincoln is the greatest democrat +since Jesus Christ, if we can only present your knowledge to the world we +should do well. Again the great crowd, whom you and I desire to enlighten +if we can, do not read biography or history save under the compulsion of +the schools, so let us try only to tell the moving story as you have told +it to me, with Lincoln striding across the scene or taking the center of +the stage just as he was wont to do in your recollection of him. So we +will make them to know the giant of Democracy without trying. + +Duty calls. What is your answer? Please let me know by cable. Meanwhile +I shall be thinking more about it. With love to all the family, from your +affectionate grandson, R.L. + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + +BOOK ONE + + I Which Describes the Journey of Samson Henry Traylor and His Wife + and Their Two Children and Their Dog Sambo through the Adirondack + Wilderness in 1831 on Their Way to the Land of Plenty, and + Especially Their Adventures in Bear Valley and No Santa Claus + Land. Furthermore, It Describes the Soaping of the Brimsteads and + the Capture of the Veiled Bear + + II Wherein Is Recorded the Vivid Impression Made upon the Travelers + by Their View of a Steam Engine and of the Famous Erie Canal. + Wherein, Also, Is a Brief Account of Sundry Curious Characters Met + on the Road and at a Celebration of the Fourth of July on the Big + Waterway + + III Wherein the Reader Is Introduced to Offut's Store and His Clerk + Abe, and the Scholar Jack Kelso and His Cabin and His Daughter + Bim, and Gets a First Look at Lincoln + + IV Which Presents Other Log Cabin Folk and the First Steps in the + Making of a New Home and Certain Incapacities of Abe + + V In Which the Character of Bim Kelso Flashes Out in a Strange + Adventure that Begins the Weaving of a Long Thread of Romance + + VI Which Describes the Lonely Life in a Prairie Cabin and a Stirring + Adventure on the Underground Railroad about the Time It Began + Operations + + VII In Which Mr. Eliphalet Biggs Gets Acquainted with Bim Kelso and + Her Father + + VIII Wherein Abe Makes Sundry Wise Remarks to the Boy Harry and + Announces His Purpose to Be a Candidate for the Legislature at + Kelso's Dinner Party + + IX In Which Bim Kelso Makes History, While Abe and Harry and Other + Good Citizens of New Salem Are Making an Effort to that End in the + Indian War + + +BOOK TWO + + + X In Which Abe and Samson Wrestle and Some Raiders Come to Burn and + Stay to Repent + + XI In Which Abe, Elected to the Legislature, Gives What Comfort He + Can to Ann Rutledge in the Beginning of Her Sorrows. Also He Goes + to Springfield for New Clothes and Is Astonished by Its Pomp and + the Change in Eli + + XII Which Continues the Romance of Abe and Ann until the Former Leaves + New Salem to Begin His Work in the Legislature. Also It Describes + the Coloneling of Peter Lukins + + XIII Wherein the Route of the Underground Railroad Is Surveyed and + Samson and Harry Spend a Night in the Home of Henry Brimstead and + Hear Surprising Revelations, Confidentially Disclosed, and Are + Charmed by the Personality of His Daughter Annabel + + XIV In Which Abe Returns from Vandalia and Is Engaged to Ann, and + Three Interesting Slaves Arrive at the Home of Samson Traylor, + Who, with Harry Needles, Has an Adventure of Much Importance on + the Underground Road + + XV Wherein Harry and Abe Ride Up to Springdale and Visit Kelso's and + Learn of the Curious Lonesomeness of Eliphalet Biggs + + XVI Wherein Young Mr. Lincoln Safely Passes Two Great Danger Points + and Turns into the Highway of His Manhood + + +BOOK THREE + + + XVII Wherein Young Mr. Lincoln Betrays Ignorance of Two Highly + Important Subjects, in Consequence of Which He Begins to Suffer + Serious Embarrassment + +XVIII In Which Mr. Lincoln, Samson and Harry Take a Long Ride Together + and the Latter Visit the Flourishing Little City of Chicago + + XIX Wherein Is One of the Many Private Panics Which Followed the + Bursting of the Bubble of Speculation + + XX Which Tells of the Settling of Abe Lincoln and the Traylors in the + Village of Springfield and of Samson's Second Visit to Chicago + + XXI Wherein a Remarkable School of Political Science Begins Its + Sessions in the Rear of Joshua Speed's Store. Also at Samson's + Fireside Honest Abe Talks of the Authority of the Law and the + Right of Revolution, and Later Brings a Suit against Lionel Davis + + XXII Wherein Abe Lincoln Reveals His Method of Conducting a Lawsuit in + the Case of Henry Brimstead et al. vs. Lionel Davis + +XXIII Which Presents the Pleasant Comedy of Individualism in the New + Capital, and the Courtship of Lincoln and Mary Todd + + XXIV Which Describes a Pleasant Holiday and a Pretty Stratagem + + XXV Being a Brief Memoir by the Honorable and Venerable Man Known in + These Pages as Josiah Traylor, Who Saw the Great Procession of + Events between Andrew Jackson and Woodrow Wilson and Especially + the Making and the End of Lincoln + + + + +A MAN FOR THE AGES + + + + +BOOK ONE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +WHICH DESCRIBES THE JOURNEY OF SAMSON HENRY TRAYLOR AND HIS WIFE AND +THEIR TWO CHILDREN AND THEIR DOG SAMBO THROUGH THE ADIRONDACK WILDERNESS +IN 1831 ON THEIR WAY TO THE LAND OF PLENTY, AND ESPECIALLY THEIR +ADVENTURES IN BEAR VALLEY AND NO SANTA CLAUS LAND. FURTHERMORE, IT +DESCRIBES THE SOAPING OF THE BRIMSTEADS AND THE CAPTURE OF THE VEILED +BEAR. + + +In the early summer of 1831 Samson Traylor and his wife, Sarah, and two +children left their old home near the village of Vergennes, Vermont, and +began their travels toward the setting sun with four chairs, a bread +board and rolling-pin, a feather bed and blankets, a small looking-glass, +a skillet, an axe, a pack basket with a pad of sole leather on the same, +a water pail, a box of dishes, a tub of salt pork, a rifle, a teapot, a +sack of meal, sundry small provisions and a violin, in a double wagon +drawn by oxen. It is a pleasure to note that they had a violin and were +not disposed to part with it. The reader must not overlook its full +historic significance. The stern, uncompromising spirit of the Puritan +had left the house of the Yankee before a violin could enter it. Humor +and the love of play had preceded and cleared a way for it. Where there +was a fiddle there were cheerful hearts. A young black shepherd dog with +tawny points and the name of Sambo followed the wagon or explored the +fields and woods it passed. + +If we had been at the Congregational Church on Sunday we might have heard +the minister saying to Samson, after the service, that it was hard to +understand why the happiest family in the parish and the most beloved +should be leaving its ancestral home to go to a far, new country of which +little was known. We might also have heard Samson answer: + +"It's awful easy to be happy here. We slide along in the same old groove, +that our fathers traveled, from Vergennes to Paradise. We work and play +and go to meetin' and put a shin plaster in the box and grow old and +narrow and stingy and mean and go up to glory and are turned into saints +and angels. Maybe that's the best thing that could happen to us, but +Sarah and I kind o' thought we'd try a new starting place and another +route to Heaven." + +Then we might have seen the countenance of the minister assume a grave +and troubled look. "Samson, you must not pull down the pillars of this +temple," he said. + +"No, it has done too much for me. I love its faults even. But we have +been called and must go. A great empire is growing up in the West. We +want to see it; we want to help build it." + +The minister had acquired a sense of humor among those Yankees. Years +later in his autobiography he tells how deeply the words of Samson had +impressed him. He had answered: + +"Think of us. I don't know what we shall do without your fun and the +music of your laugh at the pleasure parties. In addition to being the +best wrestler in the parish you are also its most able and sonorous +laugher." + +"Yes, Sarah and I have got the laughing habit. I guess we need a touch +of misery to hold us down. But you will have other laughers. The seed has +been planted here and the soil is favorable." + +Samson knew many funny stories and could tell them well. His heart was as +merry as _The Fisher's Hornpipe_. He used to say that he got the violin +to help him laugh, as he found his voice failing under the strain. + +Sarah and Samson had been raised on adjoining farms just out of the +village. He had had little schooling, but his mind was active and well +inclined. Sarah had prosperous relatives in Boston and had had the +advantage of a year's schooling in that city. She was a comely girl of +a taste and refinement unusual in the place and time of her birth. Many +well favored youths had sought her hand, but, better than others, she +liked the big, masterful, good-natured, humorous Samson, crude as he was. +Naturally in her hands his timber had undergone some planing and +smoothing and his thought had been gently led into new and pleasant +ways. Sarah's Uncle Rogers in Boston had kept them supplied with some of +the best books and magazines of the time. These they had read aloud with +keen enjoyment. Moreover, they remembered what they read and cherished +and thought about it. + +Let us take a look at them as they slowly leave the village of their +birth. The wagon is covered with tent cloth drawn over hickory arches. +They are sitting on a seat overlooking the oxen in the wagon front. Tears +are streaming down the face of the woman. The man's head is bent. His +elbows are resting on his knees; the hickory handle of his ox whip lies +across his lap, the lash at his feet. He seems to be looking down at his +boots, into the tops of which his trousers have been folded. He is a +rugged, blond, bearded man with kindly blue eyes and a rather prominent +nose. There is a striking expression of power in the head and shoulders +of Samson Traylor. The breadth of his back, the size of his wrists and +hands, the color of his face betoken a man of great strength. This +thoughtful, sorrowful attitude is the only evidence of emotion which he +betrays. In a few minutes he begins to whistle a lively tune. + +The boy Josiah--familiarly called Joe--sits beside his mother. He is a +slender, sweet-faced lad. He is looking up wistfully at his mother. The +little girl Betsey sits between him and her father. That evening they +stopped at the house of an old friend some miles up the dusty road to +the north. "Here we are--goin' west," Samson shouted to the man at the +door-step. + +He alighted and helped his family out of the wagon. "You go right +in--I'll take care o' the oxen," said the man. + +Samson started for the house with the girl under one arm and the boy +under the other. A pleasant-faced woman greeted them with a hearty +welcome at the door. + +"You poor man! Come right in," she said. + +"Poor! I'm the richest man in the world," said he. "Look at the gold on +that girl's head--curly, fine gold, too--the best there is. She's +Betsey--my little toy woman--half past seven years old--blue eyes--helps +her mother get tired every day. Here's my toy man Josiah--yes, brown hair +and brown eyes like Sarah--heart o' gold--helps his mother, too--six +times one year old." + +"What pretty faces!" said the woman as she stooped and kissed them. + +"Yes, ma'am. Got 'em from the fairies," Samson went on. "They have all +kinds o' heads for little folks, an' I guess they color 'em up with the +blood o' roses an' the gold o' buttercups an' the blue o' violets. Here's +this wife o' mine. She's richer'n I am. She owns all of us. We're her +slaves." + +"Looks as young as she did the day she was married--nine years ago," said +the woman. + +"Exactly!" Samson exclaimed. "Straight as an arrow and proud! I don't +blame her. She's got enough to make her proud I say. I fall in love again +every time I look into her big, brown eyes." + +The talk and laughter brought the dog into the house. + +"There's Sambo, our camp follower," said Samson. "He likes us, one and +all, but he often feels sorry for us because we can not feel the joy that +lies in buried bones and the smell of a liberty pole or a gate post." + +They had a joyous evening and a restful night with these old friends and +resumed their journey soon after daylight. They ferried across the lake +at Burlington and fared away over the mountains and through the deep +forest on the Chateaugay trail. + +Since the Pilgrims landed between the measureless waters and the pathless +wilderness they and their descendants had been surrounded by the lure of +mysteries. It filled the imagination of the young with gleams of golden +promise. The love of adventure, the desire to explore the dark, infested +and beautiful forest, the dream of fruitful sunny lands cut with water +courses, shored with silver and strewn with gold beyond it--these were +the only heritage of their sons and daughters save the strength and +courage of the pioneer. How true was this dream of theirs gathering +detail and allurement as it passed from sire to son! On distant plains to +the west were lands more lovely and fruitful than any of their vision; in +mountains far beyond was gold enough to gild the dome of the heavens, as +the sun was wont to do at eventide, and silver enough to put a fairly +respectable moon in it. Yet for generations their eyes were not to see, +their hands were not to touch these things. They were only to push their +frontier a little farther to the west and hold the dream and pass it on +to their children. + +Those early years of the nineteenth century held the first days of +fulfillment. Samson and Sarah Traylor had the old dream in their hearts +when they first turned their faces to the West. For years Sarah had +resisted it, thinking of the hardships and perils in the way of the +mover. Samson, a man of twenty-nine when he set out from his old home, +was said to be "always chasing the bird in the bush." He was never +content with the thing in hand. There were certain of their friends who +promised to come and join them when, at last, they should have found the +land of plenty. But most of the group that bade them good-by thought it +a foolish enterprise and spoke lightly of Samson when they were gone. +America has undervalued the brave souls who went west in wagons, without +whose sublime courage and endurance the plains would still be an unplowed +wilderness. Often we hear them set down as seedy, shiftless dreamers who +could not make a living at home. They were mostly the best blood of the +world and the noblest of God's missionaries. Who does not honor them +above the thrifty, comfort loving men and women who preferred to stay at +home, where risks were few, the supply of food sure and sufficient and +the consolations of friendship and religion always at hand. Samson and +Sarah preferred to enlist and take their places in the front battle line +of Civilization. They had read a little book called _The Country of the +Sangamon_. The latter was a word of the Pottawatomies meaning land of +plenty. It was the name of a river in Illinois draining "boundless, +flowery meadows of unexampled beauty and fertility, belted with timber, +blessed with shady groves, covered with game and mostly level, without a +stick or a stone to vex the plowman." Thither they were bound to take up +a section of government land. + +They stopped for a visit with Elisha Howard and his wife, old friends +of theirs, who lived in the village of Malone, which was in Franklin +County, New York. There they traded their oxen for a team of horses. They +were large gray horses named Pete and Colonel. The latter was fat and +good-natured. His chief interest in life was food. Pete was always +looking for food and perils. Colonel was the near horse. Now and then +Samson threw a sheepskin over his back and put the boy on it and tramped +along within arm's reach of Joe's left leg. This was a great delight to +the little lad. + +They proceeded at a better pace to the Black River country, toward which, +in the village of Canton, they tarried again for a visit with Captain +Moody and Silas Wright, both of whom had taught school in the town of +Vergennes. + +They proceeded through DeKalb, Richville and Gouverneur and Antwerp and +on to the Sand Plains. They had gone far out of their way for a look at +these old friends of theirs. + +Every day the children would ask many questions, as they rode along, +mainly about the beasts and birds in the dark shadows of the forest +through which they passed. These were answered patiently by their father +and mother and every answer led to other queries. + +"You're a funny pair," said their father one day. "You have to turn over +every word we say to see what's under it. I used to be just like ye, used +to go out in the lot and tip over every stick and stone I could lift to +see the bugs and crickets run. You're always hopin' to see a bear or a +panther or a fairy run out from under my remarks." + +"Wonder why we don't see no bears?" Joe asked. "'Cause they always see us +first or hear us comin'," said his father. "If you're goin' to see ol' +Uncle Bear ye got to pay the price of admission." + +"What's that?" Joe asked. + +"Got to go still and careful so you'll see him first. If this old wagon +didn't talk so loud and would kind o' go on its tiptoes maybe we'd see +him. He don't like to be seen. Seems so he was kind o' shamed of himself, +an' I wouldn't wonder if be was. He's done a lot o' things to be 'shamed +of." + +"What's he done?" Joe asked. + +"Ketched sheep and pigs and fawns and run off with 'em." + +"What does he do with 'em?" + +"Eats 'em up. Now you quit. Here's a lot o' rocks and mud and I got to +'tend to business. You tackle yer mother and chase her up and down the +hills a while and let me get my breath." + +Samson's diary tells how, at the top of the long, steep hills he used to +cut a small tree by the roadside and tie its butt to the rear axle and +hang on to its branches while his wife drove the team. This held their +load, making an effective brake. + +Traveling through the forest, as they had been doing for weeks, while the +day waned, they looked for a brookside on which they could pass the night +with water handy. Samson tethered, fed and watered their horses, and +while Sarah and the children built a fire and made tea and biscuits, he +was getting bait and catching fish in the stream. + +"In a few minutes from the time I wet my hook a mess of trout would be +dressed and sizzling, with a piece of salt pork, in the pan, or it was a +bad day for fishing," he writes. + +After supper the wagon was partly unloaded, the feather bed laid upon the +planks under the wagon roof and spread with blankets. Then Samson sang +songs and told stories or played upon the violin to amuse the family. The +violin invariably woke the birds in the tree-tops, and some, probably +thrushes or warblers or white throated sparrows, began twittering. Now +and then one would express his view of the disturbance with a little +phrase of song. Often the player paused to hear these musical whispers +"up in the gallery," as he was wont to call it. + +Often if the others were weary and depressed he would dance merrily +around the fire, playing a lively tune, with Sambo glad to lend a helping +foot and much noise to the program. If mosquitos and flies were +troublesome Samson built smudges, filling their camp with the smoky +incense of dead leaves, in which often the flavor of pine and balsam was +mingled. By and by the violin was put away and all knelt by the fire +while Sarah prayed aloud for protection through the night. So it will be +seen that they carried with them their own little theater, church and +hotel. + +Soon after darkness fell, Sarah and the children lay down for the night, +while Samson stretched out with his blankets by the fire in good weather, +the loaded musket and the dog Sambo lying beside him. Often the howling +of wolves in the distant forest kept them awake, and the dog muttering +and barking for hours. + +Samson woke the camp at daylight and a merry song was his reveille while +he led the horses to their drink. + +"Have a good night?" Sarah would ask. + +"Perfect!" he was wont to answer. "But when the smudges went out the +mosquiters got to peckin' my face." + +"Mine feels like a pincushion," Sarah would often answer. "Will you heat +up a little water for us to wash with?" + +"You better believe I will. Two more hedge hogs last night, but Samba let +'em alone." + +Sambo had got his mouth sored by hedge hogs some time before and had +learned better than to have any fuss with them. + +When they set out in the morning Samson was wont to say to the little +lad, who generally sat beside him: "Well, my boy, what's the good word +this morning?" Whereupon Joe would say, parrot like: + +"God help us all and make His face to shine upon us." + +"Well said!" his father would answer, and so the day's journey began. + +Often, near its end, they came to some lonely farmhouse. Always Samson +would stop and go to the door to ask about the roads, followed by little +Joe and Betsey with secret hopes. One of these hopes was related to +cookies and maple sugar and buttered bread and had been cherished since +an hour of good fortune early in the trip and encouraged by sundry +good-hearted women along the road. Another was the hope of seeing a +baby--mainly, it should be said, the hope of Betsey. Joe's interest was +merely an echo of hers. He regarded babies with an open mind, as it were, +for the opinions of his sister still had some weight with him, she being +a year and a half older than he, but babies invariably disappointed him, +their capabilities being so restricted. To be sure, they could make quite +a noise, and the painter was said to imitate it, but since Joe had +learned that they couldn't bite he had begun to lose respect for them. +Still, not knowing what might happen, he always took a look at every +baby. + +The children were lifted out of the wagon to stretch their legs at +sloughs and houses. They were sure to be close behind the legs of their +father when he stood at a stranger's door. Then, the night being near, +they were always invited to put their horses in the barn and tarry until +next morning. This was due in part to the kindly look and voice of +Samson, but mostly to the wistful faces of the little children--a fact +unsuspected by their parents. What motherly heart could resist the silent +appeal of children's faces or fail to understand it? Those were memorable +nights for Sarah and Joe and Betsey. In a letter to her brother the woman +said: + +"You don't know how good it seemed to see a woman and talk to her, and we +talked and talked until midnight, after all the rest were asleep. She let +me hold the baby in my lap until it was put to bed. How good it felt to +have a little warm body in my arms again and feel it breathing! In all my +life I never saw a prettier baby. It felt good to be in a real house and +sleep in a soft, warm bed and to eat jelly and cookies and fresh meat and +potatoes and bread and butter. Samson played for them and kept them +laughing with his stories until bedtime. They wouldn't take a cent and +gave us a dozen eggs in a basket and a piece of venison when we went +away. Their name is Sanford and I have promised to write to them. They +are good Christian folks and they say that maybe they will join us in the +land of plenty if we find it all we expect." + +They had two rainy, cold days, with a northeast wind blowing and deep mud +in the roads. The children complained of the cold. After a few miles' +travel they stopped at an old hunter's camp facing a great mossy rock +near the road. + +"Guess we'll stop here for a visit," said Samson. + +"Who we goin' to visit?" Joe asked. + +"The trees and the fairies," said his father. "Don't ye hear 'em askin' +us to stop? They say the wind is blowin' bad an' that we'd better stop +an' make some good weather. They offer us a house and a roof to cover it +and some wood to burn. I guess we'll be able to make our own sunshine in +a few minutes." + +Samson peeled some bark and repaired the roof and, with his flint and +tinder and some fat pine, built a roaring fire against the rock and soon +had his family sitting, in its warm glow, under shelter. Near by was +another rude framework of poles set in crotches partly covered with bark +which, with a little repairing, made a sufficient shelter for Pete and +Colonel. Down by a little brook a few rods away he cut some balsams and +returned presently with his arms full of the fragrant boughs. These he +dried in the heat of the fire and spread in a thick mat on the ground +under the lean-to. It was now warm with heat, reflected from the side of +the great rock it faced. The light of the leaping flames fell upon the +travelers. + +"Ye see ye can make yer own weather and fill it with sunshine if ye only +know how," said Samson, as he sat down and brushed a coal out of the +ashes and swiftly picked it up with his fingers and put it into the bowl +of his clay pipe. "Mother and I read in a book that the wood was full o' +sunlight all stored up and ready for us to use. Ye just set it afire and +out comes the warm sunlight for days like this. God takes pretty good +care of us--don't He?" + +The heat of other fires had eaten away a few inches of the base of the +rock. Under its overhang some one had written with a black coal the words +"Bear Valley Camp." On this suggestion the children called for a bear +story, and lying back on the green mat of boughs, Samson told them of the +great bear of Camel's Hump which his father had slain, and many other +tales of the wilderness. + +They lived two days in this fragrant, delightful shelter until the storm +had passed and the last of their corn meal had been fed to the horses. +They were never to forget the comfort and the grateful odors of their +camp in Bear Valley. + +On a warm, bright day in the sand country after the storm they came to a +crude, half finished, frame house at the edge of a wide clearing. The +sand lay in drifts on one side of the road. It had evidently moved in the +last wind. A sickly vegetation covered the field. A ragged, barefooted +man and three scrawny, ill clad children stood in the dooryard. It was +noon-time. A mongrel dog, with a bit of the hound in him, came bounding +and barking toward the wagon and pitched upon Sambo and quickly got the +worst of it. Sambo, after much experience in self-defense, had learned +that the best way out of such trouble was to seize a leg and hang on. +This he did. The mongrel began to yelp. Samson lifted both dogs by the +backs of their necks, broke the hold of Sambo and tossed aside the +mongrel, who ran away whining. + +"That reminds me of a bull that tackled a man over in Vermont," said he. +"The man had a club in his hand. He dodged and grabbed the bull's tail +and beat him all over the lot. As the bull roared, the man hollered: +'I'd like to know who began this fuss anyway.'" + +The stranger laughed. + +"Is that your house?" Samson asked. + +The man stepped nearer and answered in a low, confidential tone: + +"Say, mister, this is a combination poorhouse and idiot asylum. I am the +idiot. These are the poor." + +He pointed to the children. + +"You don't talk like an idiot," said Samson. + +The man looked around and leaned over the wheel as if about to impart a +secret. + +"Say, I'll tell ye," he said in a low tone. "A real, first-class idiot +never does. You ought to see my actions." + +"This land is an indication that you're right," Samson laughed. + +"It proves it," the stranger whispered. + +"Have you any water here?" Samson asked. + +The stranger leaned nearer and said in his most confidential tone: "Say, +mister, it's about the best in the United States. Right over yonder in +the edge o' the woods--a spring-cold as ice--Simon-pure water. 'Bout the +only thing this land'll raise is water." + +"This land looks to me about as valuable as so much sheet lightnin' and +I guess it can move just about as quick," said Samson. + +The stranger answered in a low tone: "Say, I'll tell ye, it's a wild +cow--don't stand still long 'nough to give ye time to git anything out of +it. I've toiled and prayed, but it's hard to get much out of it." + +"Praying won't do this land any good," Samson answered. "What it needs +is manure and plenty of it. You can't raise anything here but fleas. It +isn't decent to expect God to help run a flea farm. He knows too much for +that, and if you keep it up He'll lose all respect for ye. If you were to +buy another farm and bring it here and put it down on top o' this one, +you could probably make a living. I wouldn't like to live where the wind +could dig my potatoes." + +Again the stranger leaned toward Samson and said in a half-whisper: "Say, +mister, I wouldn't want you to mention it, but talkin' o' fleas, I'm like +a dog with so many of 'em that he don't have time to eat. Somebody has +got to soap him or he'll die. You see, I traded my farm over in Vermont +for five hundred acres o' this sheet lightnin', unsight an' unseen. We +was all crazy to go West an' here we are. If it wasn't for the deer an' +the fish I guess we'd 'a' starved to death long ago." + +"Where did ye come from?" + +"Orwell, Vermont." + +"What's yer name?" + +"Henry Brimstead," the stranger whispered. + +"Son of Elijah Brimstead?" + +"Yes, sir." + +Samson took his hand and shook it warmly. "Well, I declare!" he +exclaimed. "Elijah Brimstead was a friend o' my father." + +"Who are you?" Brimstead asked. + +"I'm one o' the Traylors o' Vergennes." + +"My father used to buy cattle of Henry Traylor." + +"Henry was my father. Haven't you let 'em know about your bad luck?" + +The man resumed his tone of confidence. "Say, I'll tell ye," he answered. +"A man that's as big a fool as I am ought not to advertise it. A brain +that has treated its owner as shameful as mine has treated me should be +compelled to do its own thinkin' er die. I've invented some things that +may sell. I've been hopin' my luck would turn." + +"It'll turn when you turn it," Samson assured him. + +Brimstead thoughtfully scuffed the sand with his bare foot. In half a +moment he stepped to the wheel and imparted this secret: "Say, mister, if +you've any more doubt o' my mental condition, I'm goin' to tell ye that +they've discovered valuable ore in my land two miles back o' this road, +an' I'm hopin' to make a fortune. Don't that prove my case?" + +"Any man that puts his faith in the bowels of the earth can have my +vote," said Samson. + +Brimstead leaned close to Samson's ear and said in a tone scarcely +audible: + +"My brother Robert has his own idiot asylum. It's a real handsome one an' +he has made it pay, but I wouldn't swap with him." + +Samson smiled, remembering that Robert had a liquor store. "Look here, +Henry Brimstead, we're hungry," he said. "If ye furnish the water, we'll +skirmish around for bread and give ye as good a dinner as ye ever had in +yer life." + +Henry took the horses to his barn and watered and fed them. Then he +brought two pails of water from the spring. Meanwhile Samson started +a fire in a grove of small poplars by the roadside and began broiling +venison, and Sarah got out the bread board and the flour and the +rolling-pin and the teapot. As she waited for the water she called the +three strange children to her side. The oldest was a girl of thirteen, +with a face uncommonly refined and attractive. In spite of her threadbare +clothes, she had a neat and cleanly look and gentle manners. The youngest +was a boy of four. They were a pathetic trio. + +Joe had been telling them about Santa Claus and showing them a jack-knife +which had come down the chimney in his pack at Christmas time and +describing a dress of his mother's that had gold and silver buttons +on it. The little six-year-old girl had asked him many questions about +his mother and had stood for some moments looking up into Sarah's face. +The girl timidly felt the dress and hair of the woman and touched her +wedding ring. + +"Come and wash your faces and hands," Joe demanded as soon as the water +came. + +This they did while he poured from a dipper. + +"Nice people always wash before they eat," he reminded them. + +Then he showed them his bear stick, with the assurance that it had killed +a hedge hog, omitting the unimportant fact that his father had wielded +it. The ferocity of hedge hogs was a subject on which he had large +information. He told how one of their party had come near getting his +skin sewed on a barn door. A hedge hog had come and asked Sambo if he +would have some needles. Sambo had never seen a hedge hog, so he said +that he guessed he would. + +Then the hedge hog said: "Help yourself." + +Sambo went to take some and just got his face full of 'em so it looked +like a head o' barley. They had to be took out with a pinchers or they'd +'a' sewed his skin on to a barn door. That was their game. They tried to +sew everybody's skin on a barn door. + +Every night the hedge hog came around and said: "Needles, needles, +anybody want some needles." + +Now Sambo always answered: "No thank you, I've had enough." + +"Where's your mother?" Sarah asked of the ten-year-old girl. + +"Dead. Died when my little brother was born." + +"Who takes care of you?" + +"Father and--God. Father says God does most of it." + +"Oh dear!" Sarah exclaimed, with a look of pity. + +They had a good dinner of fresh biscuit and honey and venison and eggs +and tea. While they were eating Samson told Brimstead of the land of +plenty. + +After dinner, while Brimstead was bringing the team, one of his children, +the blonde, pale, tattered little girl of six, climbed into the wagon +seat and sat holding a small rag doll, which Sarah had given her. When +they were ready to go she stubbornly refused to get down. + +"I'm goin' away," she said. "I'm goin' aw-a-ay off to find my mother. I +don't like this place. There ain't no Santa Claus here. I'm goin' away." + +She clung to the wagon seat and cried loudly when her father took her +down. + +"Ain't that enough to break a man's heart?" he said with a sorrowful +look. + +Then Samson turned to Brimstead and asked: + +"Look here, Henry Brimstead, are you a drinking man? Honor bright now." + +"Never drink a thing but water and tea." + +"Do you know of anybody who'll give ye anything for what you own here?" + +"There's a man in the next town who offered me three hundred and fifty +dollars for my interest." + +"How far is it?" + +"Three miles." + +"Come along with us and get the money if you can. I'll help ye fit up and +go where ye can earn a living." + +"I'd like to, but my horse is lame and I can't leave the children." + +"Put 'em right in this wagon and come on. If there's a livery in the +place, I'll send ye home." + +So the children rode in the wagon and Samson and Brimstead walked, while +Sarah drove the team to the next village. There the good woman bought new +clothes for the whole Brimstead family and Brimstead sold his interest in +the sand plains and bought a good pair of horses, with harness and some +cloth for a wagon cover, and had fifty dollars in his pocket and a new +look in his face. He put his children on the backs of the horses and led +them to his old home, with a sack of provisions on his shoulder. He was +to take the track of the Traylors next day and begin his journey to the +shores of the Sangamon. + +Samson had asked about him in the village and learned that he was an +honest man who had suffered bad luck. A neighbor's wife had taken his +children for two years, but bad health had compelled her to give them up. + +"God does the most of it," Sarah quoted from the young girl, as they rode +on. "I guess He's saved 'em from the poorhouse to-day. I hope they'll +ketch up with us. I'd like to look after those children a little. They +need a mother so." + +"They'll ketch up all right," said Samson. "We're loaded heavier than +they'll be and goin' purty slow. They'll be leavin' No Santa Claus Land +to-morrow mornin'. Seems so God spoke to me when that girl said there +wa'n't no Santa Claus there." + +"No Santa Claus Land is a good name for it," said Sarah. + +They got into a bad swale that afternoon and Samson had to cut some +corduroy to make a footing for team and wagon and do much prying with the +end of a heavy pole under the front axle. By and by the horses pulled +them out. + +"When ol' Colonel bends his neck things have to move, even if he is up to +his belly in the mud," said Samson. + +As the day waned they came to a river in the deep woods. It was an +exquisite bit of forest with the bells of a hermit thrush ringing in one +of its towers. Their call and the low song of the river were the only +sounds in the silence. The glow of the setting sun which lighted the +western windows of the forest had a color like that of the music-golden. +Long shafts of it fell through the tree columns upon the road here and +there. Our weary travelers stopped on the rude plank bridge that crossed +the river. Odors of balsam and pine and tamarack came in a light, cool +breeze up the river valley. + +"It smells like Bear Valley," said Sarah. + +"What was that poetry you learned for the church party?" Samson asked. + +"I guess the part of it you're thinking of is: + + 'And west winds with musky wing + Down the cedarn alleys fling + 'Nard and Cassia's balmy smells.'" + +"That's it," said Samson. "I guess we'll stop at this tavern till +to-morrow." + +Joe was asleep and they laid him on the blankets until supper was ready. + +Soon after supper Samson shot a deer which had waded into the rapids. +Fortunately, it made the opposite shore before it fell. All hands spent +that evening dressing the deer and jerking the best of the meat. This +they did by cutting the meat into strips about the size of a man's hand +and salting and laying it on a rack, some two feet above a slow fire, and +covering it with green boughs. The heat and smoke dried the meat in the +course of two or three hours and gave it a fine flavor. Delicious beyond +any kind of meat is venison treated in this manner. If kept dry, it will +retain its flavor and its sweetness for a month or more. + +Samson was busy with this process long after the others had gone to bed. +When it was nearly finished he left the meat on the rack, the fire +beneath it having burned low, crossed the river to the wagon, got his +blanket, reloaded his gun and lay down to sleep with the dog beside him. + +Some hours later he was awakened by "a kind of a bull beller," as he +described it. The dog ran barking across the river. Samson seized the gun +and followed him. The first dim light of the morning showed through the +tree-tops. Some big animal was growling and roaring and rolling over and +over in a clump of bushes near the meat rack. In half a moment it rolled +out upon the open ground near Samson. The latter could now see that it +was a large black bear engaged in a desperate struggle with the pack +basket. The bear had forced his great head into the top of it and its +hoop had got a firm hold on his neck. He was sniffing and growling and +shaking his head and striking with both fore paws to free himself. Sambo +had laid hold of his stub tail and the bear was trying in vain to reach +him, with the dog dodging as he held on. The movements of both were so +lively that Samson had to step like a dancer to keep clear of them. The +bear, in sore trouble, leaped toward him and the swaying basket touched +the side of the man. Back into the bushes and out again they struggled, +Sambo keeping his hold. A more curious and ludicrous sight never +gladdened the eye of a hunter. Samson had found it hard to get a chance +to shoot at the noisy, swift torrent of fur. Suddenly the bear rose on +his hind legs and let out an angry woof and gave the basket a terrific +shaking. In this brief pause a ball from the rifle went to his heart and +he fell. Samson jumped forward, seized the dog's collar and pulled him +away while the bear struggled in his death throes. Then the man started +for camp, while his great laugh woke distant echoes in the forest. + +"Bear steak for dinner!" he shouted to Sarah and the children, who stood +shivering with fright on the bridge. + +Again his laughter filled the woods with sound. + +"Gracious Peter! What in the world was it?" Sarah asked. + +"Well, ye see, ol' Uncle Bear came to steal our bacon an' the bacon kind +o' stole him," said Samson, between peals of laughter, the infection of +which went to the heart and lips of every member of the family. "Shoved +his head into the pack basket and the pack basket wouldn't let go. It +said: 'This is the first time I ever swallered a bear, an' if you don't +mind I'll stay on the outside. I kind o' like you.' But the bear did +mind. He didn't want to be et up by a basket. He'd always done the +swallerin' himself an' he hollered an' swore at the basket an' tried to +scare it off. Oh, I tell ye he was awful sassy and impudent to that old +thing, but it hung on and the way he flounced around, with Sambo clingin' +to his tail, and the bear thinkin' that he was bein' swallered at both +ends, was awful. Come an' see him." + +They went to the bear, now dead. Sambo ran ahead of them and laid hold of +the bear's stump of a tail and shook it savagely, as if inclined to take +too much credit upon himself. The hoop of the pack basket had so tight a +hold upon the bear's neck that it took a strong pull to get it back over +his head. One side of the basket had been protected from the bear's claws +by a pad of sole leather--the side which, when the basket was in use, +rested on the back of its carrier. His claws had cut nearly through it +and torn a carrying strap into shreds. + +"I guess he'd 'a' tore off his veil if the dog had give him a little more +time," said Samson. "Ol' Uncle Bear had trouble at both ends and didn't +know which way to turn." + +A good-sized piece of bacon still, lay in the bottom of the basket. + +"I wouldn't wonder if that would taste pretty beary now," said Samson, as +he surveyed the bacon. "It's been sneezed at and growled on so much. +Betsey, you take that down to the shore o' the river there and wash the +bear out of it. I'll skin him while yer mother is gettin' breakfast. +There's plenty o' live coals under the venison rack, I guess." + +They set out rather late that morning. As usual, Joe stood by the head of +Colonel while the latter lapped brown sugar from the timid palm of the +boy. Then the horse was wont to touch the face of Joe with his big, hairy +lips as a tribute to his generosity. Colonel had seemed to acquire a +singular attachment for the boy and the dog, while Pete distrusted both +of them. He had never a moment's leisure, anyhow, being always busy with +his work or the flies. A few breaks in the pack basket had been repaired +with green withes. It creaked with its load of jerked venison when put +aboard. The meat of the bear was nicely wrapped in his hide and placed +beside it. They sold meat and hide and bounty rights in the next village +they reached for thirty long shillings. + +"That cheers up the ol' weasel," Samson declared, as they went on. + +"He got a hard knock after we met the Brimsteads," said Sarah. + +"Yes, ma'am! and I'm not sorry either. He's got to come out of his hole +once in a while. I tell ye God kind o' spoke to us back there in No Santa +Claus Land. He kind o' spoke to us." + +After a little silence, Sarah said: "I guess He's apt to speak in the +voices of little children." + +His weasel was a dried pig's bladder of unusual size in which he carried +his money. Samson had brought with him a fairly good quantity of money +for those days. In a smaller bladder he carried his tobacco. + +Farther on the boy got a sore throat. Sarah bound a slice of pork around +it and Samson built a camp by the roadside, in which, after a good fire +was started, they gave him a hemlock sweat. This they did by steeping +hemlock in pails of hot water and, while the patient sat in a chair by +the fireside, a blanket was spread about him and pinned close to his +neck. Under the blanket they put the pails of steaming hemlock tea. After +his sweat and a day and night in bed, with a warm fire burning in front +of the shanty, Joe was able to resume his seat in the wagon. They spoke +of the Brimsteads and thought it strange that they had not come along. + +On the twenty-ninth day after their journey began they came in sight of +the beautiful green valley of the Mohawk. As they looked from the hills +they saw the roof of the forest dipping down to the river shores and +stretching far to the east and west and broken, here and there, by small +clearings. Soon they could see the smoke and spires of the thriving +village of Utica. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +WHEREIN IS RECORDED THE VIVID IMPRESSION MADE UPON THE TRAVELERS BY THEIR +VIEW OF A STEAM ENGINE AND OF THE FAMOUS ERIE CANAL. WHEREIN, ALSO, IS A +BRIEF ACCOUNT OF SUNDRY CURIOUS CHARACTERS MET ON THE ROAD AND AT A +CELEBRATION OF THE FOURTH OF JULY ON THE BIG WATERWAY. + + +At Utica they bought provisions and a tin trumpet for Joe, and a doll +with a real porcelain face for Betsey, and turned into the great main +thoroughfare of the north leading eastward to Boston and westward to +a shore of the midland seas. This road was once the great trail of the +Iroquois, by them called the Long House, because it had reached from the +Hudson to Lake Erie, and in their day had been well roofed with foliage. +Here the travelers got their first view of a steam engine. The latter +stood puffing and smoking near the village of Utica, to the horror and +amazement of the team and the great excitement of those in the wagon. The +boy clung to his father for fear of it. + +Samson longed to get out of the wagon and take a close look at the noisy +monster, but his horses were rearing in their haste to get away, and even +a short stop was impossible. Sambo, with his tail between his legs, ran +ahead, in a panic, and took refuge in some bushes by the roadside. + +"What was that, father?" the boy asked when the horses had ceased to +worry over this new peril. + +"A steam engyne," he answered. "Sarah, did ye get a good look at it?" + +"Yes; if that don't beat all the newfangled notions I ever heard of," she +exclaimed. + +"It's just begun doin' business," said Samson. + +"What does it do?" Joe asked. + +"On a railroad track it can grab hold of a house full o' folks and run +off with it. Goes like the wind, too." + +"Does it eat 'em up?" Joe asked. + +"No. It eats wood and oil and keeps yellin' for more. I guess it could +eat a cord o' wood and wash it down with half a bucket o' castor oil in +about five minutes. It snatches folks away to some place and drops 'em. +I guess it must make their hair stand up and their teeth chatter." + +"Does it hurt anybody?" Joe asked hopefully. + +"Well, sir, if anybody wanted to be hurt and got in its way, I rather +guess he'd succeed purty well. It's powerful. Why, if a man was to ketch +hold of the tail of a locomotive, and hang on, it would jerk the toe +nails right off him." + +Joe began to have great respect for locomotives. + +Soon they came in view of the famous Erie Canal, hard by the road. +Through it the grain of the far West had just begun moving eastward in a +tide that was flowing from April to December. Big barges, drawn by mules +and horses on its shore, were cutting the still waters of the canal. They +stopped and looked at the barges and the long tow ropes and the tugging +animals. + +"There is a real artificial river, hundreds o' miles long, hand made of +the best material, water tight, no snags or rocks or other imperfections, +durability guaranteed," said Samson. "It has made the name of DeWitt +Clinton known everywhere." + +"I wonder what next!" Sarah exclaimed. + +They met many teams and passed other movers going west, and some +prosperous farms on a road wider and smoother than any they had traveled. +They camped that night, close by the river, with a Connecticut family on +its way to Ohio with a great load of household furniture on one wagon and +seven children in another. There were merry hours for the young, and +pleasant visiting between the older folk that evening at the fireside. +There was much talk among the latter about the great Erie Canal. + +So they fared along through Canandaigua and across the Genesee to the +village of Rochester and on through Lewiston and up the Niagara River to +the Falls, and camped where they could see the great water flood and hear +its muffled thunder. When nearing the latter they overtook a family of +poor Irish emigrants, of the name of Flanagan, who shared their camp site +at the Falls. The Flanagans were on their way to Michigan and had come +from the old country three years before and settled in Broome County, New +York. They, too, were on their way to a land of better promise. Among +them was a rugged, freckled, red-headed lad, well along in his teens, of +the name of Dennis, who wore a tall beaver hat, tilted saucily on one +side of his head, and a ragged blue coat with brass buttons, as he walked +beside the oxen, whip in hand, with trousers tucked in the tops of his +big cowhide boots. There was also a handsome young man in this party of +the name of John McNeil, who wore a ruffled shirt and swallow-tail coat, +now much soiled by the journey. He listened to Samson's account of the +Sangamon country and said that he thought he would go there. He had +traded hats on the way with Dennis, who had been deeply impressed by the +majestic look of the beaver and had given a silver breast pin and fifteen +shillings to boot. + +A jolly lad was Dennis, who danced jigs, on a flat rock by the riverside, +as Samson played _The Irish Washerman_ and _The Fisher's Hornpipe_. In +the midst of the fun a puff of wind snatched the tall beaver hat from his +head and whirled it over the side of the cliff into the foliage of a +clump of cedars growing out of the steep cliff-side, ten feet or so below +its top. Before any one could stop him the brave Irish lad had scrambled +down the steep to the cedars--a place of some peril, for they hung over +a precipice more than a hundred feet deep above the river. He got his +treasure, but Samson had to help him back with a rope. + +The latter told of the veiled bear, and when the story was finished he +said to the Irish lad: "It will not do you any harm to remember that it +is easier to get into trouble than to get out of it. In my opinion one +clean-hearted Irish boy is worth more than all the beaver hats in +creation." + +Sarah gave the Irish family a good supply of cookies and jerked venison +before she bade them good-by. + +When our travelers left, next morning, they stopped for a last look at +the great Falls. + +"Children," said Samson, "I want you to take a good look at that. It's +the most wonderful thing in the world and maybe you'll never see it +again." + +"The Indians used to think that the Great Spirit was in this river," said +Sarah. + +"Kind o' seems to me they were right," Samson remarked thoughtfully. +"Kind o' seems as if the great spirit of America was in that water. It +moves on in the way it wills and nothing can stop it. Everything in its +current goes along with it." + +"And only the strong can stand the journey," said Sarah. + +These words were no doubt inspired by an ache in her bones. A hard seat +and the ceaseless jolting of the wagon through long, hot, dusty days had +wearied them. Even their hearts were getting sore as they thought of the +endless reaches of the roads ahead. Samson stuffed a sack with straw and +put it under her and the children on the seat. At a word of complaint he +was wont to say: + +"I know it's awful tiresome, but we got to have patience. We're goin' +to get used to it and have a wonderful lot of fun. The time'll pass +quick--you see." + +Then he would sing and get them all laughing with some curious bit of +drollery. They spent the night of July third at a tavern in Buffalo, then +a busy, crude and rapidly growing center for the shipping east and west. +Next day there was to be a great celebration of the Fourth of July in +Buffalo and our travelers had stopped there to witness it. The bells +began to ring and the cannon to bomb at sunrise. It was a day of great +excitement for the west-bound travelers. The horses trembled in their +stalls. Sambo took refuge in Colonel's manger and would not come out. + +There were many emigrants on their way to the far West in the crowd--men, +women and children and babies in arms--Irish, English, Germans and +Yankees. There were also well dressed, handsome young men from the +colleges of New England going out to be missionaries "between the desert +and the sown." + +Buffalo, on the edge of the midland seas, had the flavor of the rank, new +soil in it those days--and especially that day, when it was thronged with +rough coated and rougher tongued, swearing men on a holiday, stevedores +and boatmen off the lakes and rivers of the middle border--some of whom +had had their training on the Ohio and Mississippi. There was much +drunkenness and fighting in the crowded streets. Some of the carriers and +handlers of American commerce vented their enthusiasm in song. + +In Samson's diary was the refrain of one of these old lake songs, which +he had set down, as best he could, after the event: + + "Then here's three cheers for the skipper an' his crew, + Give 'er the wind an' let 'er go, for the boys'll put 'er through; + I thought 'twould blow the whiskers right off o' you an' me, + On our passage up from Buffalo to Milwaukee-ee." + +Each of these rough men had dressed to his own fancy. Many wore fine +boots of calf skin with red tops, drawn over their trousers, and high +heels and blue and red shirts and broad brimmed straw hats. A long haired +man, in buckskin leggings and moccasins, with a knife at his belt and too +much whisky beneath it, amused a crowd by a loud proclamation of his own +reckless and redoubtable character and a louder appeal for a chance to +put it in action. It was a droll bit of bragging and merely intended, as +the chronicler informs us, to raise a laugh. + +"Here I be half man an' half alligator," he shouted. "Oh, I'm one o' yer +tough kind, live forever an' then turn into a hickory post. I've just +crept out o' the ma'shes of ol' Kentuck. I'm only a yearlin', but cuss +me if I don't think I can whip anybody in this part o' the country. I'm +the chap that towed the Broadhorn up Salt River where the snags was so +thick a fish couldn't swim without rubbin' his scales off. Cock a doodle +doo! I'm the infant that refused his milk before his eyes was open an' +called for a bottle o' rum. Talk about grinnin' the bark off a tree--that +ain't nothin'. One look o' mine would raise a blister on a bull's heel. +Cock a doodle doo! (slapping his thighs). Gol darn it! Ain't there some +one that dast come up an' collar me? It would just please my vitals if +there was some man here who could split me into shoe pegs. I deserve it +if ever a man did. I'll have to go home an' have another settlement with +ol' Bill Sims. He's purty well gouged up, an' ain't but one ear, but he's +willin' to do his best. That's somethin'. It kind o' stays yer appetite, +an' I suppose that's all a man like me can expect in this world o' +sorrow." + +At this point a tall, raw-boned woman in "a brindle dress" (to quote the +phrase of Samson), wearing a large gilt pin just below her collar, with +an orthographic design which spelled the name Minnie, approached the hero +and boldly boxed his ears. + +"Licked at last," he shouted as he picked up his hat, dislodged by the +violence he had suffered, and retired from the scene with a good-natured +laugh. + +Sarah was a bit dismayed by the behavior of these rough forerunners of +civilization. + +"Don't worry," said Samson, as they were driving away on the Lake Road +next morning. "The lake and river boatmen are the roughest fellers in the +West, and they're not half as bad as they look an' talk. Their deviltry +is all on the outside. They tell me that there isn't one o' those boys +who wouldn't give his life to help a woman, an' I guess it's so." + +They had the lake view and its cool breeze on their way to Silver Creek, +Dunkirk and Erie, and a rough way it was in those days. + +Enough has been written of this long and wearisome journey, but the worst +of it was ahead of them--much the worst of it--in the swamp flats of Ohio +and Indiana. In one of the former a wagon wheel broke down, and that day +Sarah began to shake with ague and burn with fever. Samson built a rude +camp by the roadside, put Sarah into bed under its cover and started for +the nearest village on Colonel's back. + + * * * * * + +"I shall never forget that day spent in a lonely part of the woods," the +good woman wrote to her brother. "It endeared the children to me more +than any day I can remember. They brought water from the creek, a great +quantity of which I drank, and bathed my aching head and told me stories +and cheered me in every way they could. Joe had his bear stick handy and +his plans for bears or wolves or Indians. Samson had made some nails at a +smithy in Pennsylvania. Joe managed to drive one of them through an end +of his bear stick and made, as he thought, a formidable weapon. With his +nail he hoped to penetrate the bear's eye. He had also put some bacon in +the bottom of the pack basket, knowing the liking of the basket for +bears. My faith in God's protection was perfect and in spite of my misery +the children were a great comfort. In the middle of the afternoon Samson +returned with a doctor and some tools and a stick of seasoned timber. How +good he looked when he came and knelt by my bed and kissed me! This is a +hard journey, but a woman can bear anything with such a man. The doctor +gave me Sapington's fever pills and said I would be all right in three +days, and I was. + +"Late that afternoon it began to rain. Samson was singing as he worked on +his wheel. A traveler came along on horseback and saw our plight. He was +a young missionary going west. Samson began to joke with him. + +"'You're a happy man for one in so much trouble,' said the stranger. + +"Then I heard Samson say: 'Well, sir, I'm in a fix where happiness is +absolutely necessary. It's like grease on the wagon wheels--we couldn't +go on without it. When we need anything we make it if we can. My wife is +sick and the wagon is broke and it's raining and night is near in a +lonesome country, and it ain't a real good time for me to be down in the +mouth--is it now? We haven't broke any bones or had an earthquake or been +scalped by Indians, so there's some room for happiness.' + +"'Look here, stranger--I like you,' said the man. 'If there's anything +I can do to help ye, I'll stop a while.'" + + * * * * * + +He spent the night with them and helped mend the felly and set the tire. + +The fever and ague passed from one to another and all were sick before +the journey ended, although Samson kept the reins in hand through his +misery. There were many breaks to mend, but Samson's ingenuity was always +equal to the task. + +One day, near nightfall, they were overtaken by a tall, handsome Yankee +lad riding a pony. His pony stopped beside the wagon and looked toward +the travelers as if appealing for help. The boy was pointing toward the +horizon and muttering. Sarah saw at once that his mind was wandering in +the delirium of fever. She got out of the wagon and took his hand. The +moment she did so he began crying like a child. + +"This boy is sick," she said to Samson, who came and helped him off his +horse. They camped for the night and put the boy to bed and gave him +medicine and tender care. He was too sick to travel next day. The +Traylors stayed with him and nursed the lad until he was able to go on. +He was from Niagara County, New York, and his name was Harry Needles. +His mother had died when he was ten and his father had married again. He +had not been happy in his home after that and his father had given him +a pony and a hundred dollars and sent him away to seek his own fortune. +Homesick and lonely and ill, and just going west with a sublime faith +that the West would somehow provide for him, he might even have +perished on the way if he had not fallen in with friendly people. His +story had touched the heart of Sarah and Samson. He was a big, green, +gentle-hearted country boy who had set out filled with hope and the love +of adventure. Sarah found pleasure in mothering the poor lad, and so it +happened that he became one of their little party. He was helpful and +good-natured and had sundry arts that pleased the children. The man and +the woman liked the big, honest lad. + +One day he said to Samson: "I hope you won't mind if I go along with you, +sir." + +"Glad to have you with us," said Samson. "We've talked it over. If you +want to, you can come along with us and our home shall be yours and I'll +do what's right by you." + +They fared along through Indiana and over the wide savannas of Illinois, +and on the ninety-seventh day of their journey they drove through +rolling, grassy, flowering prairies and up a long, hard hill to the +small log cabin settlement of New Salem, Illinois, on the shore of the +Sangamon. They halted about noon in the middle of this little prairie +village, opposite a small clapboarded house. A sign hung over its door +which bore the rudely lettered words: "Rutledge's Tavern." + +A long, slim, stoop-shouldered young man sat in the shade of an oak tree +that stood near a corner of the tavern, with a number of children playing +around him. He had sat leaning against the tree trunk reading a book. He +had risen as they came near and stood looking at them, with the book +under his arm. Samson says in his diary that he looked like "an untrimmed +yearling colt about sixteen hands high. He got up slow and kept rising +till his bush of black tousled hair was six feet four above the ground. +Then he put on an old straw hat without any band on it. He reminded me of +Philemon Baker's fish rod, he was that narrer. For humliness I'd match +him against the world. His hide was kind o' yaller and leathery. I could +see he was still in the gristle--a little over twenty--but his face was +marked up by worry and weather like a man's. I never saw anybody so long +between joints. Don't hardly see how he could tell when his feet got +cold." + +He wore a hickory shirt without a collar or coat or jacket. One suspender +held up his coarse, linsey trousers, the legs of which fitted closely and +came only to a blue yarn zone above his heavy cowhide shoes. Samson +writes that he "fetched a sneeze and wiped his big nose with a red +handkerchief" as he stood surveying them in silence, while Dr. John +Allen, who had sat on the door-step reading a paper--a kindly faced man +of middle age with a short white beard under his chin--greeted them +cheerfully. + +The withering sunlight of a day late in August fell upon the dusty +street, now almost deserted. Faces at the doors and windows of the little +houses were looking out at them. Two ragged boys and a ginger colored dog +came running toward the wagon. The latter and Sambo surveyed each other +with raised hair and began scratching the earth, straight legged, whining +meanwhile, and in a moment began to play together. A man in blue jeans +who sat on the veranda of a store opposite, leaning against its wall, +stopped whittling and shut his jack-knife. + +"Where do ye hail from?" the Doctor asked. + +"Vermont," said Samson. + +"All the way in that wagon?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"I guess you're made o' the right stuff," said the Doctor. "Where ye +bound?" + +"Don't know exactly. Going to take up a claim somewhere." + +"There's no better country than right here. This is the Canaan of +America. We need people like you. Unhitch your team and have some dinner +and we'll talk things over after you're rested. I'm the doctor here and I +ride all over this part o' the country. I reckon I know it pretty well." + +A woman in a neat calico dress came out of the door--a strong built and +rather well favored woman with blonde hair and dark eyes. + +"Mrs. Rutledge, these are travelers from the East," said the Doctor. +"Give 'em some dinner, and if they can't pay for it, I can. They've come +all the way from Vermont." + +"Good land! Come right in an' rest yerselves. Abe, you show the gentleman +where to put his horses an' lend him a hand." + +Abe extended his long arm toward Samson and said "Howdy" as they shook +hands. + +"When his big hand got hold of mine, I kind of felt his timber," Samson +writes. "I says to myself, 'There's a man it would be hard to tip over in +a rassle.'" + +"What's yer name? How long ye been travelin'? My conscience! Ain't ye +wore out?" the hospitable Mrs. Rutledge was asking as she went into the +house with Sarah and the children. "You go and mix up with the little +ones and let yer mother rest while I git dinner," she said to Joe and +Betsey, and added as she took Sarah's shawl and bonnet: "You lop down an' +rest yerself while I'm flyin' around the fire." + +"Come all the way from Vermont?" Abe asked as he and Samson were +unhitching. + +"Yes, sir." + +"By jing!" the slim giant exclaimed. "I reckon you feel like throwin' off +yer harness an' takin' a roll in the grass." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +WHEREIN THE READER IS INTRODUCED TO OFFUT'S STORE AND HIS CLERK ABE, AND +THE SCHOLAR JACK KELSO AND HIS CABIN AND HIS DAUGHTER BIM, AND GETS A +FIRST LOOK AT LINCOLN. + + +They had a dinner of prairie thickens and roast venison, flavored with +wild grape jelly, and creamed potatoes and cookies and doughnuts and +raisin pie. It was a well cooked dinner, served on white linen, in a +clean room, and while they were eating, the sympathetic landlady stood by +the table, eager to learn of their travels and to make them feel at home. +The good food and their kindly welcome and the beauty of the rolling, +wooded prairies softened the regret which had been growing in their +hearts, and which only the children had dared to express. + +"Perhaps we haven't made a mistake after all," Sarah whispered when the +dinner was over. "I like these people and the prairies are beautiful." + +"It is the land of plenty at last," said Samson, as they came +out-of-doors. "It is even better than I thought." + +"As Douglas Jerrold said of Australia: 'Tickle it with a hoe and it +laughs with a harvest,'" said Dr. Allen, who still sat in the shaded +dooryard, smoking his pipe. "I have an extra horse and saddle. Suppose +you leave the family with Mrs. Rutledge and ride around with me a little +this afternoon. I can show you how the land lies off to the west of us, +and to-morrow we'll look at the other side." + +"Thank you--I want to look around here a little," said Samson. "What's +the name of this place?" + +"New Salem. We call it a village. It has a mill, a carding machine, a +tavern, a schoolhouse, five stores, fourteen houses, two or three men of +genius, and a noisy dam. You will hear other damns, if you stay here long +enough, but they don't amount to much. It's a crude but growing place and +soon it will have all the embellishments of civilized life." + +That evening many of the inhabitants of the little village came to the +tavern to see the travelers and were introduced by Dr. Allen. Most of +them had come from Kentucky, although there were two Yankee families who +had moved on from Ohio. + +"These are good folks," said the Doctor. "There are others who are not so +good. I could show you some pretty rough customers at Clary's Grove, not +far from here. We have to take things as they are and do our best to make +'em better." + +"Any Indians?" Sarah asked. + +"You see one now and then, but they're peaceable. Most of 'em have gone +with the buffalos--farther west. We have make-believe Indians--some +reckless white boys who come whooping into the village, half crazy with +drink, once in a while. They're not so bad as they seem to be. We'll have +to do a little missionary work with them. The Indians have left their +imitators all over the West, but they only make a loud noise. That will +pass away soon. It's a noisy land. Now and then a circuit rider gets here +and preaches to us. You'll hear the Reverend Stephen Nuckles if you +settle in these parts. He can holler louder than any man in the state." + +"You bet he can holler some when he gits fixed for it," said Abe, who sat +near the open door. + +"He's for them that need scarin'. The man that don't need that has to be +his own preacher here and sow and reap his own morality. He can make +himself just as much of a saint as he pleases." + +"If he has the raw material to work with," Abe interposed. + +"The self-made saint is the only kind I believe in," said Samson. + +"We haven't any Erie Canal to Heaven, with the minister towin' us along," +said Abe. "There's some that say it's only fifteen miles to Springfield, +but the man that walks it knows better." + +The tavern was the only house in New Salem with stairs in it. Stairs so +steep, as Samson writes, that "they were first cousins to the ladder." +There were four small rooms above them. Two of these were separated by +a partition of cloth hanging from the rafters. In each was a bed and +bedstead and smaller beds on the floor. In case there were a number of +adult guests the bedstead was screened with sheets hung upon strings. In +one of these rooms the travelers had a night of refreshing sleep. + +After riding two days with the Doctor, Samson bought the claim of one +Isaac Gollaher to a half section of land a little more than a mile from +the western end of the village. He chose a site for his house on the edge +of an open prairie. + +"Now we'll go over and see Abe," said Dr. Allen, after the deal was made. +"He's the best man with an axe and a saw in this part of the country. He +clerks for Mr. Offut. Abe Lincoln is one of the best fellows that ever +lived--a rough diamond just out of the great mine of the West, that only +needs to be cut and polished." + +Denton Offut's store was a small log structure about twenty by twenty +which stood near the brow of the hill east of Rutledge's Tavern. When +they entered it Abe lay at full length on the counter, his head resting +on a bolt of blue denim as he studied a book in his hand. He wore the +same shirt and one suspender and linsey trousers which he had worn in the +dooryard of the tavern, but his feet were covered only by his blue yarn +socks. + +It was a general store full of exotic flavors, chiefly those of tea, +coffee, whisky, tobacco, muscovado sugar and molasses. There was a +counter on each side. Bolts of cloth, mostly calico, were piled on the +far end of the right counter as one entered and the near end held a show +case containing a display of cutlery, pewter spoons, jewelry and fishing +tackle. There were double windows on either side of the rough board door +with its wooden latch. The left counter held a case filled with threads, +buttons, combs, colored ribbons, and belts and jew's-harps. A balance +stood in the middle of this counter. A chest of tea, a big brown jug, +a box of candles, a keg and a large wooden pail occupied its farther end. +The shelving on its side walls was filled by straw hats, plug tobacco, +bolts of cloth, pills and patent medicines and paste-board boxes +containing shirts, handkerchiefs and underwear. A suit of blue jeans, +scythes and snaths, hoes, wooden hand rakes and a brass warming-pan hung +from the rafters. At the rear end of the store was a large fireplace. +There were two chairs near the fireplace, both of which were occupied by +a man who sat in one while his feet lay on the other. He was sleeping +peacefully, his chin resting on his breast. He wore a calico shirt with a +fanciful design of morning-glories on it printed in appropriate colors, a +collar of the same material and a red necktie. + +Abe laid aside his book and rose to a sitting posture. + +"Pardon me--you see the firm is busy," said Abe. "You know Eb Zane used +to say that he was never so busy in his life as when he lay on his back +with a broken leg. He said he had to work twenty-four hours a day doin' +nothin' an' could never git an hour off. But a broken leg is not so bad +as a lame intellect. That lays you out with the fever an' ague of +ignorance. Jack Kelso recommended Kirkham's pills and poultices of +poetry. I'm trying both and slowly getting the better of it. I've learned +three conjugations, between customers, this afternoon." + +The man sleeping in the chair began snoring and groaning. + +"Don't blame Bill," Abe went on. "Any man would have the nightmare in a +shirt like that. He went to a dance at Clary's Grove last night and they +shut him up in a barrel with a small dog and rolled 'em down hill in it. +I reckon that's how he learnt how to growl." + +In the laughter that followed the sleeper awoke. + +"You see there's quite an undercurrent beneath the placid surface of our +enterprise," Abe added. + +The sleeper whose name was William Berry rose and stretched himself and +was introduced to the newcomer. He was a short, genial man, of some +thirty years, with blond, curly hair and mustache. On account of his +shortness and high color he was often referred to as the Billberry +shortcake. His fat cheeks had a color as definite as that of the blossoms +on his shirt, now rather soiled. His prominent nose shared their glow of +ruddy opulence. His gray eyes wore a look of apology. He walked rather +stiffly as if his legs were rheumatic. + +"Mr. Traylor, this is Mr. William Berry," said Dr. Allen. "In this +beautiful shirt he resembles a bit of vine-clad sculpture from an Italian +garden, but is real flesh and blood and a good fellow." + +"I don't understand your high-toned talk," said Berry. "This shirt suits +me to a dot." + +"It is the pride of New Salem," said the Doctor. "Mr. Traylor has just +acquired an interest in all our institutions. He has bought the Gollaher +tract and is going to build a house and some fences. Abe, couldn't you +help get the timber out in a hurry so we can have a raising within a +week? You know the arts of the axe better than any of us." + +Abe looked at Samson. + +"I reckon he and I would make a good team with the axe," he said. "He +looks as if he could push a house down with one hand and build it up with +the other. You can bet I'll be glad to help in any way I can." + +"We'll all turn in and help. I should think Bill or Jack Kelso could look +after the store for a few days," said the Doctor. "I promised to take Mr. +Traylor over to Jack Kelso's to-night. Couldn't you come along?" + +"Good! We'll have a story-tellin' and get Jack to unlimber his guns," +said Abe. + +It was a cool evening with a promise of frost in the air. Jack Kelso's +cabin, one of two which stood close together at the western end of the +village, was lighted by the cheery blaze of dry logs in its fireplace. +There were guns on a rack over the fireplace under a buck's head; a +powder horn hanging near them on its string looped over a nail. There +were wolf and deer and bear pelts on the floor. The skins of foxes, +raccoons and wildcats adorned the log walls. Jack Kelso was a blond, +smooth faced, good-looking, merry-hearted Scot, about forty years old, +of a rather slight build, some five feet, eight inches tall. That is all +that any one knew of him save that he spent most of his time hunting and +fishing and seemed to have all the best things, which great men had said +or written, on the tip of his tongue. He was neatly dressed in a blue +flannel coat and shirt, top boots and riding breeches. + +"Welcome! and here's the best seat at the fireside," he said to Samson. + +Then, as he filled his pipe, he quoted the lines from Cymbeline: + + "'Think us no churls nor measure our good minds + By this rude place we live in.' + +"My wife and daughter are away for a visit and for two days I've had the +cabin to myself. Look, ye worshipers of fire, and see how fine it is now! +The homely cabin is a place of beauty. Everything has the color of the +rose, coming and going in the flickering shadows. What a heaven it is +when the flames are leaping! Here is Hogarth's line of beauty; nothing +perpendicular or horizontal." + +He took Abe's hand and went on: "Here, ye lovers of romance, is one of +the story-tellers of Ispahan who has in him the wisdom of the wandering +tribes. He can tell you a tale that will draw children from their play +and old men from the chimney corner. My boy, take a chair next to Mr. +Traylor." + +He took the hand of the Doctor and added: "Here, too, is a man whose wit +is more famous than his pills--one produces the shakes and the other +cures them. Doctor, you and I will take the end seats." + +"My pills can be relied upon but my wit is like my dog, away from home +most of the time," said the Doctor. + +"Gathering the bones with which you often astonish us," said Kelso. "How +are the lungs, Doctor?" + +"They're all right. These long rides in the open are making a new man of +me. Another year in the city would have used me up." + +"Mr. Traylor, you stand up as proud and firm as a big pine," Kelso +remarked. "I believe you're a Yankee." + +"So do I," said Samson. "If you took all the Yankee out o' me I'd have an +empty skin." + +Then Abe began to show the stranger his peculiar art in these words: + +"Stephen Nuckles used to say: 'God's grace embraces the isles o' the sea +an' the uttermost parts o' the earth. It takes in the Esquimaux an' the +Hottentots. Some go so fur as to say that it takes in the Yankees but I +don't go so fur.'" + +Samson joined in the good-natured laughter that followed. + +"If you deal with some Yankees you take your life in your hands," he +said. "They can serve God or Mammon and I guess they have given the Devil +some of his best ideas. He seems to be getting a lot of Yankee notions +lately." + +"There was a powerful prejudice in Kentucky against the Yankees," Abe +went on. "Down there they used to tell about a Yankee who sold his hogs +and was driving them to town. On the way he decided that he had sold them +too cheap. He left them with his drover in the road and went on to town +and told the buyer that he would need help to bring 'em in. + +"'How's that?' the buyer asked. + +"'Why they git away an' go to runnin' through the woods an' fields an' we +can't keep up with 'em.' + +"'I don't think I want 'em,' says the buyer. 'A speedy hog hasn't much +pork to carry. I'll give ye twenty bits to let me off.'" + +"I guess that Yankee had one more hog than he'd counted," said Samson. + +"It reminds me of a man in Pope County who raised the biggest hog in +Illinois," Abe went on. "It was a famous animal and people from far and +near came to see him. One day a man came an' asked to see the hog. + +"'We're chargin' two bits for the privilege now,' said the owner. + +"The man paid the money and got into his wagon. + +"'Don't you want to see him?' the farmer asked. + +"'No,' said the stranger. 'I've seen the biggest hog in Illinois an' +I don't care to look at a smaller one.'" + +"Whatever prejudice you may find here will soon vanish," said Kelso, +turning to the newcomer. "I have great respect for the sturdy sons of New +England. I believe it was Theodore Parker who said that the pine was the +symbol of their character. He was right. Its roots are deep in the soil; +it towers above the forest; it has the strength of tall masts and the +substance of the builder in its body, music in its waving branches and +turpentine in its veins. I thought of this when I saw Webster and heard +him speak at Plymouth." + +"What kind of a looking man is he?" Abe asked. + +"A big erect, splendid figure of a man. He walked like a ram at the head +of his flock. As he began speaking I thought of that flash of Homer's in +the _Odyssey_: + +"'When his great voice went forth out of his breast and his words fell +like the winter snows--not then would any mortal contend with Ulysses.'" + +Abe who since his story had sat with a sad face looking into the fire now +leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, and shook his head with interest +while his gray eyes took on a look of animation. The diary speaks often +of the "veil of sadness" on his face. + +"He is a very great man," Abe exclaimed. + +"Have you learned that last noble flight of his in the reply to Hayne as +you promised?" Kelso asked. + +"I have," said Abe, "and the other day when I was tramping back from +Bowlin Green's I came across a drove of cattle and stopped and gave it to +them. They all let go of the grass and stood looking. By an' by the bull +thought he'd stood it as long as he could an' bellered back at me." + +"Good! Now stand up and let us see how you imitate the great chief of the +Whig clan," said Kelso. + +The lank and awkward youth rose and began to speak the lines in a high +pitched voice that trembled with excitement. It lowered and steadied and +rang out like noble music on a well played trumpet as the channel of his +spirit filled with the mighty current of the orator's passion. Then, +indeed, the words fell from his lips "like the winter snows." + +"They shook our hearts as the wind shakes the branches of a tree," Samson +writes in his diary. "The lean, bony body of the boy was transfigured and +as I looked at his face in the firelight I thought it was handsome. + +"Not a word was spoken for a minute after he sat down. I had got my first +look at Lincoln. I had seen his soul. I think it was then I began to +realize that a man was being made among us 'more precious than fine gold; +even a man more precious than the golden wedge of Ophir.'" + +The Doctor gazed in silence at the boy. Kelso sat with both hands in his +pockets and his chin upon his breast looking solemnly into the fire. + +"Thank you, Abe," he said in a low voice. "Something unusual has happened +and I'm just a little scared." + +"Why?" Abe asked. + +"For fear somebody will spoil it with another hog story. I'm a little +afraid of anything I can say. I would venture this, that the man Webster +is a prophet. In his Plymouth address he hears receding into never +returning distance the clank of chains and all the horrid din of slavery. +It will come true." + +"Do you think so?" Abe asked. + +"Surely--there are so many of us who hate it. These Yankees hate it and +they and their children are scattering all over the midlands. Their +spirit will guide the West. The love of Liberty is the salt of their +blood and the marrow of their bones. Liberty means freedom for all. Wait +until these babies, coming out here by the wagon load, have grown to +manhood. Slavery will have to reckon with them." + +"I hate it too," said Abe. "Down the Mississippi I have seen men and +women sold like oxen. If I live I'm going to hit that thing on the head +some day." + +"Do you still want to be a lawyer?" Kelso asked. + +"Yes, but sometimes I think I'd make a better blacksmith," said Abe. + +"I believe you'd do better with the hammer of argument." + +"If I had the education likely I would. I'm trying to make up my mind +what's best for me." + +"No, you're trying to decide what is best for your friends and your +country and for the reign of law and justice and liberty." + +"But I think every man acts from selfish motives," Abe insisted. + +Dr. Allen demurred as follows: + +"The other night you happened to remember that you had overcharged Mrs. +Peters for a jug of molasses and after you had closed the store you +walked three miles to return the money which belonged to her. Why did you +do it?" + +"For a selfish motive," said Abe. "I believe honesty is the best policy." + +"Then you took that long walk just to advertise your honesty--to induce +people to call you 'Honest Abe' as they have begun to do?" + +"I wouldn't want to put it that way," said Abe. + +"But that's the only way out," the Doctor insisted, "and we knowing ones +would have to call you 'Sordid Abe.'" + +"There's a hidden Abe and you haven't got acquainted with him yet," Kelso +interposed. "We have all caught a glimpse of him to-night. He's the Abe +that loves honor and justice and humanity and their great temple of +freedom that is growing up here in the new world. He loves them better +than fame or fortune or life itself. I think it must have been that Abe +whose voice sounded like a trumpet just now and who sent you off to Mrs. +Peters with the money. You haven't the chance to know him that we have. +Some day you two will get acquainted." + +"I don't know how to plead to that indictment," Abe answered. "It looks +so serious I shall have to take counsel." + +At this moment there was a loud rap on the door. Mr. Kelso opened it and +said: "Hello, Eli! Come in." + +A hairy faced, bow legged man, bent under a great pack, partly covered +with bed ticking, stood in the doorway. + +"Hello, Mr. Kelso," the bearded man answered. "The poor vandering Jew has +gome back ag'in--hey? I tink I haf to take de hump off my back before I +gits in." + +Staggering beneath his load he let it down to the ground. + +"Bring in your Trojan horse and mind you do not let out its four and +twenty warriors until morning. I'll have some bread and milk for you in a +minute. Gentlemen, this is my friend Eli--a wandering pioneer of trade." + +"I haf a vonderful line o' goods--vonderful! vonderful!" said Eli, +gesturing with both hands. "Silk an' satin! De flowers o' de prairie, de +birds o' de air could not show you colors like dem. You vill fall in +love. If I do not let you have dem you vill break your hearts. An' I have +here one instrument dot make all kinds o' music." + +"First supper--then open your Trojan horse," said Kelso. + +"First I must show my goods," Eli insisted, "ant I'll bet you take dem +all--everyt'ing vat I have in dot pack an' you pay my price an' you t'ank +me say 'Eli, vat you have to drink?'" + +"I'll bet you four bits I don't," said Kelso. + +"You are my frient; I vould not take your money like dot so easy. No! It +vould not be right. These are Scotch goods, gentlemen--so rare an' +beautiful--not'ing like dem in de world." + +He began to undo his pack while the little company stood around him. + +"Gentlemen, you can see but you can not buy. Only my frient can have dem +goods," he went on glibly as he removed the cover of the pack. + +Suddenly there was a lively stir in it. To the amazement of all a +beautiful girl threw aside the ticking and leaped out of the large wicker +basket it had covered. With a merry laugh she threw her arms around Jack +Kelso's neck and kissed him. + +The men clapped their hands in noisy merriment. + +"That's like Bim, isn't it?" said the Doctor. + +"Exactly!" Abe exclaimed. + +"I stop at David Barney's an' dere she took de goods out o' my pack an' +fix up dis job lot fer you," said Eli with a laugh. + +"A real surprise party!" the girl exclaimed. + +She was a small sized girl, nearing sixteen, with red cheeks and hazel +eyes and blonde hair that fell in curls upon her shoulders. + +"Mr. Traylor, this is my daughter Bim," said Kelso. "She is skilled in +the art of producing astonishment." + +"She must have heard of that handsome boy at the tavern and got in a +hurry to come home," said the Doctor. + +"Ann Rutledge says that he is a right purty boy," the girl laughed as she +brushed her curls aside. + +She turned to Samson Traylor and asked wistfully, "Do you suppose he +would play with me?" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +WHICH PRESENTS OTHER LOG CABIN FOLK AND THE FIRST STEPS IN THE MAKING OF +A NEW HOME AND CERTAIN CAPACITIES AND INCAPACITIES OF ABE. + + +Next morning at daylight two parties went out in the woods to cut timber +for the home of the newcomers. In one party were Harry Needles carrying +two axes and a well filled luncheon pail; Samson with a saw in his hand +and the boy Joe on his back; Abe with saw and axe and a small jug of root +beer and a book tied in a big red handkerchief and slung around his neck. +When they reached the woods Abe cut a pole for the small boy and carried +him on his shoulder to the creek and said: + +"Now you sit down here and keep order in this little frog city. If you +hear a frog say anything improper you fetch him a whack. Don't allow any +nonsense. We'll make you Mayor of Frog City." + +The men fell to with axes and saws while Harry limbed the logs and looked +after the Mayor. Their huge muscles flung the sharp axes into the timber +and gnawed through it with the saw. Many big trees fell before noon time +when they stopped for luncheon. While they were eating Abe said: + +"I reckon we better saw out a few boards this afternoon. Need 'em for the +doors. We'll tote a couple of logs up on the side o' that knoll, put 'em +on skids an' whip 'em up into boards with the saw." + +Samson took hold of the middle of one of the logs and raised it from the +ground. + +"I guess we can carry 'em," he said. + +"Can ye shoulder it?" Abe asked. + +"Easy," said Samson as he raised an end of the log, stepped beneath it +and, resting its weight on his back, soon got his shoulder near its +center and swung it clear of the ground and walked with it to the +knollside where he let it fall with a resounding thump that shook the +ground. Abe stopped eating and watched every move in this remarkable +performance. The ease with which the big Vermonter had so defied the +law of gravitation with that unwieldly stick amazed him. + +"That thing'll weigh from seven to eight hundred pounds," said he. "I +reckon you're the stoutest man in this part o' the state an' I'm quite a +man myself. I've lifted a barrel o' whisky and put my mouth to the bung +hole. I never drink it." + +"Say," he added as he sat down and began eating a doughnut. "If you ever +hit anybody take a sledge hammer or a crowbar. It wouldn't be decent to +use your fist." + +"Don't talk when you've got food in your mouth," said Joe who seemed to +have acquired a sense of responsibility for the manners of Abe. + +"I reckon you're right," Abe laughed. "A man's ideas ought not to be +mingled with cheese and doughnuts." + +"Once in a while I like to try myself in a lift," said Samson. "It feels +good. I don't do it to show off. I know there's a good many men stouter +than I be. I guess you're one of 'em." + +"No, I'm too stretched out--my neck is too far from the ground," Abe +answered. "I'm like a crowbar. If I can get my big toe or my fingers +under anything I can pry some." + +After luncheon he took off his shoes and socks. + +"When I'm working hard I always try to give my feet a rest and my brain +a little work at noon time," he remarked. "My brain is so far behind the +procession I have to keep putting the gad on it. Give me twenty minutes +of Kirkham and I'll be with you again." + +He lay down on his back under a tree with his book in hand and his feet +resting on the tree trunk well above him. Soon he was up and at work +again. + +They hewed a flat surface on opposite sides of the log which Samson had +carried and peeled it and raised its lower end on a cross timber. Then +they marked it with a chalk line and sliced it into inch boards with a +whip saw, Abe standing on top of the log and Samson beneath it. Suddenly +the saw stopped. A clear, beautiful voice flung the music of _Sweet +Nightingale_ into the timbered hollow. It halted the workers and set the +woodland ringing. The men stood silent like those hearing a benediction. +The singing ceased. Still they listened for half a moment. It was as if a +spirit had passed and touched them. + +"It's Bim--the little vixen!" said Abe tenderly. "She's hiding here in +the woods somewheres." + +Abe straightened up and peered through the bushes. The singing ceased. + +"I can see yer curls. Come out from behind that tree--you piece o' Scotch +goods!" Abe shouted. + +Only silence followed his demand. + +"Come on," Abe persisted. "There's a good-looking boy here and I want to +introduce you." + +"Ask him to see if he can find me," said the voice of the girl from a +distance. + +Abe beckoned to Harry and pointed to the tree behind which he had seen +her hiding. Harry stealthily approached it only to find that she had +gone. He looked about for a moment but could not see her. Soon they heard +a little call, suggesting elfland trumpets, in a distant part of the +wood. It was repeated three or four times; each time fainter and farther. +They saw and heard no more of her that day. + +"She's an odd child and as pretty as a spotted fawn, and about as wild," +said Abe. "She's a kind of a first cousin to the bobolink." + +When they were getting ready to go home that afternoon Joe got into a +great hurry to see his mother. It seemed to him that ages had elapsed +since he had seen her--a conviction which led to noisy tears. + +Abe knelt before him and comforted the boy. Then he wrapped him in his +jacket and swung him in the air and started for home with Joe astride his +neck. + +Samson says in his diary: "His tender play with the little lad gave me +another look at the man Lincoln." + +"Some one proposed once that we should call that stream the Minnehaha," +said Abe as he walked along. "After this Joe and I are going to call it +the Minneboohoo." + +The women of the little village had met at a quilting party at ten +o'clock with Mrs. Martin Waddell. There Sarah had had a seat at the frame +and heard all the gossip of the countryside. The nimble fingered Ann +Rutledge--a daughter of the tavern folk--had sat beside her. Ann was a +slender, good-looking girl of seventeen with blue eyes and a rich crown +of auburn hair and a fair skin well browned by the sunlight. She was the +most dexterous needle worker in New Salem. It was Mrs. Peter Lukins, a +very lean, red haired woman with only one eye which missed no matrimonial +prospect--who put the ball in play so to speak. + +"Ann, if Honest Abe gits you, you'll have to spend the first three months +makin' a pair o' breeches for him. It'll be a mile o' sewin'." + +"I reckon she'd have to spend the rest o' her life keepin' the buttons on +'em," said Mrs. John Cameron. + +"Abe doesn't want me and I don't want Abe so I reckon some other girl +will have to make his breeches," said Ann. + +"My lord! but he's humbly," said Mrs. Alexander Ferguson. + +"Han'some is that han'some does," Mrs. Martin Waddell remarked. "I don't +know anybody that does han'somer." + +"Han'some is that han'some looks I say," Mrs. Lukins continued with a +dreamy look in her eye. + +"I like a man that'll bear inspection--up an' a comin' an' neat an' trim +as a buck deer," Mrs. Ferguson confessed. + +"An' the first ye know he's up an' a goin'," said Mrs. Samuel Hill. "An +then all ye have to look at is a family o' children an' the empty bread +box." + +"Wait until Abe has shed his coat an' is filled out a little. He'll be a +good-lookin' man an' I wouldn't wonder," Mrs. Waddell maintained. + +"If Abe lives he'll be a great man, I think," said Mrs. Dr. Allen. "I +forgot how he looked when I heard him talking the other night at the +debate in the schoolhouse about the flogging of sailors with the cat o' +nine tails. He has a wonderful gift. If I were Ann I should be proud of +his friendship and proud to go with him to the parties." + +"I am," said Ann meekly, with her eyes upon her work. "I love to hear him +talk, too." + +"Oh, land o' mercy! He's good company if you only use your ears," Mrs. +Ferguson remarked. "Mis' Traylor, where did you git your man?" + +"At Vergennes. We were born in the same neighborhood and grew up +together," said Sarah. + +"Now there's the kind of a man! Stout as a buffalo an' as to looks I'd +call him, as ye might say, real copasetic." Mrs. Lukins expressed this +opinion solemnly and with a slight cough. Its last word stood for nothing +more than an indefinite depth of meaning. She added by way of drawing the +curtain of history: "I'll bet _he_ didn't dilly dally long when he made +up his mind. I reckon he were plum owdacious." + +"What a pretty pattern this is!" said Sarah with a sudden shift of front. + +Mrs. Lukins was not to be driven from the Elysian fields so easily and +forthwith she told the story of her own courtship. + +A bountiful dinner of stewed venison and chicken pie and tea and frosted +cake was served, all hands turning in to help with the table and the +cleaning up. While they were eating Sarah told of her long journey and +their trials with fever and ague. + +"It's the worst part of going west but it really isn't very dangerous," +said Mrs. Dr. Allen. + +"Nine scoops o' water in the holler o' the hand from a good spring for +three mornin's before sunrise an' strong coffee with lemon juice will +break the ager every time," said Mrs. Lukins. "My gran' mammy used to say +it were better than all the doctors an' I've tried it an' know what it'll +do." + +"I suppose if you got ten scoops it would be no good," said Sarah with a +laugh in which Mrs. Allen and some of the others joined. + +Mrs. Lukins looked offended. "When I'm takin' medicine I always foller +directions," said she. + +So the day passed with them and was interrupted by the noisy entrance of +Joe, soon after candlelight, who climbed on the back of his mother's +chair and kissed her and in breathless eagerness began to relate the +history of his own day. + +That ended the quilting party and Sarah and Mrs. Rutledge and Ann joined +Samson and Abe and Harry Needles who were waiting outside and walked to +the tavern with them. + +John McNeil, whom the Traylors had met on the road near Niagara Falls and +who had shared their camp with them, arrived on the stage that evening. +He was dressed in a new butternut suit and clean linen and looked very +handsome. Samson writes that he resembled the pictures of Robert Emmet. +With fine, dark eyes, a smooth skin, well moulded features and black hair +neatly brushed on a shapely head he was not at all like the rugged Abe. +In a low tone and very modestly, with a slight brogue on his tongue he +told of his adventures on the long, shore road to Michigan. Ann sat +listening and looking into his face as he talked. Abe came in, soon after +eight o'clock, and was introduced to the stranger. All noted the contrast +between the two young men as they greeted each other. Abe sat down for +a few minutes and looked sadly into the fire but said nothing. He rose +presently, excused himself and went away. + +Soon Samson followed him. Over at Offut's store he did not find Abe, +but Bill Berry was drawing liquor from the spigot of a barrel set on +blocks in a shed connected with the rear end of the store and serving +it to a number of hilarious young Irishmen. His shirt was soiled. Its +morning-glories had grown dim in a kind of dusty twilight. The young men +asked Samson to join them. + +"No, thank you. I never touch it," he said. + +"We'll come over here an' learn ye how to enjoy yerself some day," one of +them said. + +"I'm pretty well posted on that subject now," Samson answered. + +It is likely that they would have begun his schooling at once but when +they came out into the store and saw the big Vermonter standing in the +candlelight their laughter ceased for a moment. Bill was among them with +a well filled bottle in his hand. + +He and the others got into a wagon which had been waiting at the door and +drove away with a wild Indian whoop from the lips of one of the young +men. + +Samson sat down in the candlelight and Abe in a moment arrived. + +"I'm getting awful sick o' this business," said Abe. + +"I kind o' guess you don't like the whisky part of it," Samson remarked, +as he felt a piece of cloth. + +"I hate it," Abe went on. "It don't seem respectable any longer." + +"Back in Vermont we don't like the whisky business." + +"You're right, it breeds deviltry and disorder. In my youth I was +surrounded by whisky. Everybody drank it. A bottle or a jug of liquor was +thought to be as legitimate a piece of merchandise as a pound of tea or a +yard of calico. That's the way I've always thought of it. But lately I've +begun to get the Yankee notion about whisky. When it gets into bad +company it can raise the devil." + +Soon after nine o'clock Abe drew a mattress filled with corn husks from +under the counter, cleared away the bolts of cloth and laid it where they +had been and covered it with a blanket. + +"This is my bed," said he. "I'll be up at five in the morning. Then I'll +be making tea here by the fireplace to wash down some jerked meat and a +hunk o' bread. At six or a little after I'll be ready to go with you +again. Jack Kelso is going to look after the store to-morrow." + +He began to laugh. + +"Ye know when I went out of the tavern that little vixen stood peekin' +into the window--Bim, Jack's girl," said Abe. "I asked her why she didn't +go in and she said she was scared. 'Who you 'fraid of?' I asked. 'Oh, I +reckon that boy,' says she. And honestly her hand trembled when she took +hold of my arm and walked to her' father's house with me." + +Abe snickered as he spread another blanket. "What a cut-up she is! Say, +we'll have some fun watching them two I reckon," he said. + +The logs were ready two days after the cutting began. Martin Waddell and +Samuel Hill sent teams to haul them. John Cameron and Peter Lukins had +brought the window sash and some clapboards from Beardstown in a small +flat boat. Then came the day of the raising--a clear, warm day early in +September. All the men from the village and the near farms gathered to +help make a home for the newcomers. Samson and Jack Kelso went out for a +hunt after the cutting and brought in a fat buck and many grouse for the +bee dinner, to which every woman of the neighborhood made a contribution +of cake or pie or cookies or doughnuts. + +"What will be my part?" Samson had inquired of Kelso. + +"Nothing but a jug of whisky and a kind word and a house warming," Kelso +had answered. + +They notched and bored the logs and made pins to bind them and cut those +that were to go around the fireplace and window spaces. Strong, willing +and well trained hands hewed and fitted the logs together. Alexander +Ferguson lined the fireplace with a curious mortar made of clay in which +he mixed grass for a binder. This mortar he rolled into layers called +"cats," each eight inches long and three inches thick. Then he laid them +against the logs and held them in place with a woven network of sticks. +The first fire--a slow one--baked the clay into a rigid stone-like sheath +inside the logs and presently the sticks were burned away. The women had +cooked the meats by an open fire and spread the dinner on a table of +rough boards resting on poles set in crotches. At noon one of them +sounded a conch shell. Then with shouts of joy the men hurried to the +fireside and for a moment there was a great spluttering over the wash +basins. Before they ate every man except Abe and Samson "took a pull at +the jug--long or short"--to quote a phrase of the time. + +It was a cheerful company that sat down upon the grass around the table +with loaded plates. Their food had its extra seasoning of merry jests and +loud laughter. Sarah was a little shocked at the forthright directness of +their eating, no knives or forks or napkins being needed in that process. +Having eaten, washed and packed away their dishes the women went home at +two. Before they had gone Samson's ears caught a thunder of horses' feet +in the distance. Looking in its direction he saw a cloud of dust in the +road and a band of horsemen riding toward them at full speed. Abe came to +him and said: + +"I see the boys from Clary's Grove are coming. If they get mean let me +deal with 'em. It's my responsibility. I wouldn't wonder if they had some +of Offut's whisky with them." + +The boys arrived in a cloud of dust and a chorus of Indian whoops and +dismounted and hobbled their horses. They came toward the workers, led +by burly Jack Armstrong, a stalwart, hard-faced blacksmith of about +twenty-two with broad, heavy shoulders, whose name has gone into history. +They had been drinking some but no one of them was in the least degree +off his balance. They scuffled around the jug for a moment in perfect +good nature and then Abe and Mrs. Waddell provided them with the best +remnants of the dinner. They were rather noisy. Soon they went up on the +roof to help with the rafters and the clapboarding. They worked well a +few minutes and suddenly they came scrambling down for another pull +at the jug. They were out for a spree and Abe knew it and knew further +that they had reached the limit of discretion. + +"Boys, there are ladies here and we've got to be careful," he said. "Did +I ever tell you what Uncle Jerry Holman said of his bull calf? He said +the calf was such a _suckcess_ that he didn't leave any milk for the +family and that while the calf was growin' fat the children was growin' +poor. In my opinion you're about fat enough for the present. Le's stick +to the job till four o'clock. Then we'll knock off for refreshments." + +The young revelers gathered in a group and began to whisper together. +Samson writes that it became evident then they were going to make trouble +and says: + + * * * * * + +"We had left the children at Rutledge's in the care of Ann. I went to +Sarah and told her she had better go on and see if they were all right. + +"'Don't you get in any fight,' she said, which shows that the women knew +what was in the air. + +"Sarah led the way and the others followed her." + + * * * * * + +Those big, brawny fellows from the grove when they got merry were looking +always for a chance to get mad at some man and turn him into a plaything. +A victim had been a necessary part of their sprees. Many a poor fellow +had been fastened in a barrel and rolled down hill or nearly drowned in a +ducking for their amusement. A chance had come to get mad and they were +going to make the most of it. They began to growl with resentment. Some +were wigging their leader Jack Armstrong to fight Abe. One of them ran to +his horse and brought a bottle from his saddle-bag. It began passing from +mouth to mouth. Jack Armstrong got the bottle before it was half emptied, +drained it and flung it high in the air. Another called him a hog and +grappled him around the waist and there was a desperate struggle which +ended quickly. Armstrong got a hold on the neck of his assailant and +choked him until he let go. This was not enough for the sturdy bully of +Clary's Grove. He seized his follower and flung him so roughly on the +ground that the latter lay for a moment stunned. Armstrong had got his +blood warm and was now ready for action. With a wild whoop he threw off +his coats, unbuttoned his right shirt-sleeve and rolled it to the +shoulder and declared in a loud voice, as he swung his arm in the air, +that he could "out jump, out hop, out run, throw down, drag out an' lick +any man in New Salem." + +In a letter to his father Samson writes: + + * * * * * + +"Abe was working at my elbow. I saw him drop his hammer and get up and +make for the ladder. I knew something was going to happen and I followed +him. In a minute every one was off the roof and out of the building. I +guess they knew what was coming. The big lad stood there swinging his arm +and yelling like an Injun. It was a big arm and muscled and corded up +some but I guess if I'd shoved the calico off mine and held it up he'd a +pulled down his sleeve. I suppose the feller's arm had a kind of a mule's +kick in it, but, good gracious! If he'd a seen as many arms as you an' I +have that have growed up on a hickory helve he'd a known that his was +nothing to brag of. I didn't know just how good a man Abe was and I was +kind o' scairt for a minute. I never found it so hard work to do nothin' +as I did then. Honest my hands kind o' ached. I wanted to go an' cuff +that feller's ears an' grab hold o' him an' toss him over the ridge pole. +Abe went right up to him an' said: + +"'Jack, you ain't half so bad or half so cordy as ye think ye are. You +say you can throw down any man here. I reckon I'll have to show ye that +you're mistaken. I'll rassle with ye. We're friends an' we won't talk +about lickin' each other. Le's have a friendly rassle.' + +"In a second the two men were locked together. Armstrong had lunged at +Abe with a yell. There was no friendship in the way he took hold. He was +going to do all the damage he could in any way he could. He tried to butt +with his head and ram his knee into Abe's stomach as soon as they came +together. Half drunk Jack is a man who would bite your ear off. It was no +rassle; it was a fight. Abe moved like lightning. He acted awful limber +an' well greased. In a second he had got hold of the feller's neck with +his big right hand and hooked his left into the cloth on his hip. In that +way he held him off and shook him as you've seen our dog shake a +woodchuck. Abe's blood was hot. If the whole crowd had piled on him I +guess he would have come out all right, for when he's roused there's +something in Abe more than bones and muscles. I suppose it's what I feel +when he speaks a piece. It's a kind of lightning. I guess it's what our +minister used to call the power of the spirit. Abe said to me afterwards +that he felt as if he was fighting for the peace and honor of New Salem. + +"A friend of the bully jumped in and tried to trip Abe. Harry Needles +stood beside me. Before I could move he dashed forward and hit that +feller in the middle of his forehead and knocked him flat. Harry had +hit Bap McNoll the cock fighter. I got up next to the kettle then and +took the scum off it. Fetched one of them devils a slap with the side of +my hand that took the skin off his face and rolled him over and over. +When I looked again Armstrong was going limp. His mouth was open and his +tongue out. With one hand fastened to his right leg and the other on the +nape of his neck Abe lifted him at arm's length and gave him a toss in +the air. Armstrong fell about ten feet from where Abe stood and lay there +for a minute. The fight was all out of him and he was kind of dazed and +sick. Abe stood up like a giant and his face looked awful solemn. + +"'Boys, if there's any more o' you that want trouble you can have some +off the same piece,' he said. + +"They hung their heads and not one of them made a move or said a word. +Abe went to Armstrong and helped him up. + +"'Jack, I'm sorry that I had to hurt you.' be said. 'You get on to your +horse and go home.' + +"'Abe, you're a better man than me,' said the bully, as he offer'd his +hand to Abe. 'I'll do anything you say.'" + + * * * * * + +So the Clary's Grove gang was conquered. They were to make more trouble +but not again were they to imperil the foundations of law and order in +the little community of New Salem. As they were starting away Bap McNoll +turned to Harry Needles and shouted: "I'll git even with you yet--you +slab-sided son of a dog." + +That is not exactly what he said but it is near enough. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +IN WHICH THE CHARACTER OF BIM KELSO FLASHES OUT IN A STRANGE ADVENTURE +THAT BEGINS THE WEAVING OF A LONG THREAD OF ROMANCE. + + +The shell of the cabin was finished that day. Its puncheon floor was in +place but its upper floor was to be laid when the boards were ready. Its +two doors were yet to be made and hung, its five windows to be fitted and +made fast, its walls to be chinked with clay mortar. Samson and Harry +stayed that evening after the rest were gone, smoothing the puncheon +floor. They made a few nails at the forge after supper and went over to +Abe's store about nine. Two of the Clary's Grove Gang who had tarried in +the village sat in the gloom of its little veranda apparently asleep. Dr. +Allen, Jack Kelso, Alexander Ferguson and Martin Waddell were sitting by +its fireside while Abe sat on the counter with his legs hanging off. + +"He's a tough oak stick of a man," Kelso was saying. + +"Here he is now," said Dr. Allen. "That lad you cuffed had to stop at my +office for repairs." + +"I told you once to use a crowbar if you wanted to hit anybody, but never +to use your hands," said Abe. + +"Well there wasn't any time to lose and there was no crowbar handy," said +Samson. + +"That reminds me of a general who made the boys of his regiment promise +to let him do all the swearin'," Abe began. "One day a sergeant got into +trouble with a mule team. It was raining hard and the off mule balked. +Wouldn't draw a pound. The sergeant got wet to the skin and swore a song +of fourteen verses that was heard by half the regiment. The general +called him up for discipline. + +"'Young man, I thought it was understood that I was to do all the +swearin',' he said. + +"'So it was,' said the sergeant, 'but that swearin' had to be done right +away. You couldn't 'a' got there in time to do it if I'd 'a' sent for +ye.'" + +"I'm sorry we had to have trouble," Samson remarked, after the outburst +of appreciation that followed Abe's story. "It's the only spot on the +day. I'll never forget the kindness of the people of New Salem." + +"The raising bee is a most significant thing," said Kelso. "Democracy +tends to universal friendship--each works for the crowd and the crowd +for each and there are no favorites. Every community is like the thousand +friends of Thebes. Most of its units stand together for the common +good--for justice, law and honor. The schools are spinning strands of +democracy out of all this European wool. Railroads are to pick them up +and weave them into one great fabric. By and by we shall see the ten +million friends of America standing together as did the thousand friends +of Thebes." + +"It's a great thought," said Abe. + +"No man can estimate the size of that mighty phalanx of friendship all +trained in one school," Kelso went on. "Two years ago the _Encyclopedia +Britannica_ figured that the population of the United States in 1905 +would be 168,000,000 people, and in 1966, 672,000,000. Wealth, power, +science, literature, all follow in the train of light and numbers. The +causes which moved the sceptre of civilization from the Euphrates to +Western Europe will carry it from the latter to the New World." + +"They say that electricity and the development of the steam engine is +going to make all men think alike," said Abe. "If that's so Democracy and +Liberty will spread over the earth." + +"The seed of Universal Brotherhood is falling far and wide and you can +not kill it," Kelso continued. "Last year Mazzini said: 'There is only +one sun in heaven for the whole earth, only one law for all who people +it. We are here to found fraternally the unity of the human race so that, +sometime, it may present but one fold and one Shepherd." + +Then Lincoln spoke again: "I reckon we are near the greatest years in +history. It is a privilege to be alive." + +"And young," Dr. Allen added. + +"Young! What a God's blessed thing is that!" said Kelso and then he +quoted from Coleridge: + + "'Verse, a breeze mid blossoms straying + Where Hope clung feeding like a bee, + Both were mine! Life went a maying + With Nature, Hope and Poesy + When I was young!' + +"Abe, have ye learned the _Cotter's Saturday Night_?" + +"Not yet. It's a heavy hog to hold but I'll get a grip on an ear and +a hind leg and lift it out o' the pen before long. You see." + +"Don't fail to do that. It will be a help and joy to ye." + +"Old Kirkham is a hard master," said Abe. "I hear his bell ringing every +time I get a minute's leisure. I'm nigh through with him. Now I want to +study rhetoric." + +"Only schoolmasters study rhetoric," Kelso declared. "A real poet or a +real orator is born with all the rhetoric he needs. We should get our +rhetoric as we get our oxygen--unconsciously--by reading the masters. +Rhetoric is a steed for a light load under the saddle but he's too warm +blooded for the harness. He was for the day of the plumed knight--not for +these times. No man of sense would use a prancing horse on a plow or a +stone boat. A good plow horse is a beautiful thing. The play of his +muscles, the power of his stride are poetry to me but when he tries to +put on style he is ridiculous. That suggests what rhetoric is apt to do +to the untrained intellect. If you've anything to say or write head +straight across, the field and keep your eye on the furrow. Then comes +the sowing and how beautiful is the sower striding across the field in +his suit of blue jeans, with that wonderful gesture, so graceful, so +imperious! Put him in a beaver hat and broadcloth and polished calfskin +and a frilled shirt and you couldn't think of anything more ridiculous!" + +In the last diary of Samson Henry Traylor is this entry: + + * * * * * + +"I went to Gettysburg with the President to-day and sat near him when he +spoke. Mr. Everett addressed the crowd for an hour or so. As Kelso would +say 'He rode the prancing steed of Rhetoric.' My old friend went straight +across the field and his look and gestures reminded me of that picture of +the sower which Jack gave us one night long ago in Abe's store. Through +my tears I could see the bucket hanging on his elbow and the good seed +flying far and wide from his great hand. When he finished the field, +plowed and harrowed and fertilized by war, had been sowed for all time. +The spring's work was done and well done." + + * * * * * + +At a quarter of ten the Doctor rose and said: + +"We're keeping Abe from his sleep and wearing the night away with +philosophy. I'm going home." + +"I came over to see if you could find a man to help me to-morrow," Samson +said to Abe. "Harry is going over to do the chinking alone. I want a man +to help me on the whipsaw while I cut some boards for the upper +flooring." + +"I'll help you myself," Abe proposed. "I reckon I'll close the store +to-morrow unless Jack will tend it." + +"You can count on me," said Jack. "I'm short of sleep anyhow and a day of +rest will do me good." + +Abe went with his friends to the door beyond which the two boys from +Clary's Grove sat as if sound asleep. It is probable, however, that they +had heard what Samson had said to Abe. + +"Well, I didn't know these wild turkeys were roosting here," Abe laughed. +He roused them from their slumbers and said: "Boys, you're trying to saw +the day off a little too short. It's got to run till you get to Clary's +Grove. Better take those horses home and feed 'em." + +The boys got up and yawned and stretched themselves and mounted their +horses which had been tied to a bar and rode away in the darkness. + +Next morning Abe and Samson set out for the woods soon after daylight. + +"I like that boy Harry," said Abe. "I reckon he's got good stuff in him. +The way he landed on Bap McNoll was a caution. I like to see a feller +come right up to the scratch, without an invitation just in the nick +o' time, as he did." + +"Did you see him jump in?" Samson asked. + +"I saw everything some way. I saw you when ye loosened the ear o' John +Callyhan. That tickled me. But the way I felt yesterday--honest, it +seemed as if I could handle 'em all. That boy Harry is a likely young +colt--strong and limber and well put together and broad between the +eyes." + +"An' gentle as a kitten," Samson added. "There never was a better face on +a boy or a better heart behind it. We like him." + +"Yes, sir. He's a well topped young tree--straight and sound and good +timber. Looks as if that little girl o' Jack's was terribly took up with +him. I don't wonder. There are not many boys like Harry around here." + +"What kind of a girl is she?" Samson asked. + +"Awful shy since the arrow hit her. She don't know what it means yet. +She'll get used to that I reckon. She's a good girl and smart as a steel +trap. Her father takes her out on the plains with him shooting. She can +handle a gun as well as anybody and ride a horse as if she had growed to +his back. Every body likes Bim but she has her own way of behaving and +sometimes it's awful new-fashioned." + +Harry Needles went whistling up the road toward the new house with +sickle, hoe and trowel. As he passed the Kelso cabin he whistled the +tune of _Sweet Nightingale_. It had haunted his mind since he had heard +it in the woods. He whistled as loudly as ever he could and looked at the +windows. Before he had passed Bim's face looked out at him with a smile +and her hand flickered back of the panes and he waved his to her. His +heart beat fast as he hurried along. + +"I'm not so very young," he said to himself. "I wish I hadn't put on +these old clothes. Mrs. Traylor is an awful nice woman but she's +determined to make me look like a plow horse. I don't see why she +couldn't let me wear decent clothes." + +Sarah had enjoyed mothering the boy. His health had returned. His cheeks +were ruddy, his dark eyes clear and bright, his tall form erect and +sturdy. Moreover the affectionate care his new friends had given him and +his interest in the girl filled his heart with the happiness which is the +rain of youth and without which it becomes an arid desert. + +He had helped Alexander Ferguson with the making of the fireplace and +knew how to mix the mortar. He worked with a will for his heart was in +the new home. It was a fine September morning. The warm sunlight had set +the meadow cocks a crowing. The far reaches of the great, grassy plain +were dimmed with haze. It was a vast, flowery wilderness, waving and +murmuring in the breeze like an ocean. How long those acres, sown by the +winds of heaven, had waited for the plowman now arrived! + +Harry felt the beauty of the scene but saw and enjoyed more the face of +Bim Kelso as he worked and planned his own house--no cabin but a mansion +like that of Judge Harper in the village near his old home. He had filled +every crevice in the rear wall and was working on the front when he heard +the thunder of running horses and saw those figures, dim in a cloud of +dust, flying up the road again. He thought of the threat of Bap McNoll. +It occurred to him that he would be in a bad way alone with those +ruffians if they were coming for revenge. He stepped into the door of the +house and stood a moment debating what he would best do. He thought of +running toward the grove, which was a few rods from the rear door of the +house, and hiding there. He couldn't bear to run. Bim and all the rest of +them would hear of it. So with the sickle in his right hand he stood +waiting inside the house and hoping they wouldn't stop. They rode up to +the door and dismounted quietly and hobbled their horses. There were five +of them who crowded into the cabin with McNoll in the lead. + +"Now, you young rooster, you're goin' to git what's comin' to you," he +growled. + +The boy faced them bravely and warned them away with his sickle. They +were prepared for such emergencies. One of them drew a bag of bird shot +from his pocket and hurled it at Harry's head. It hit him full in the +face and he staggered against the wall stunned by the blow. They rushed +upon the boy and disarmed and bore him to the floor. For a little time +he knew not what was passing. When he came to, his hands and feet were +tied and the men stood near, cursing and laughing, while their leader, +McNoll, was draining a bottle. Suddenly he heard a voice trembling with +excitement and wet with tears saying: + +"You go 'way from here or I'll kill you dead. So help me God I'll kill +you. If one o' you touches him he's goin' to die." + +He saw Bim Kelso at the window with her gun leveled at the head of +McNoll. Her face was red with anger. Her eyes glowed. As he looked a +tear welled from one of them and trailed down the scarlet surface of her +cheek. McNoll turned without a word and walked sulkily out of the back +door. The others crowded after him. They ran as soon as they had got out +of the door. She left the window. In a moment the young men were +galloping away. + +Bim came into the house sobbing with emotion but with her head erect. +She stood her gun in a corner and knelt by the helpless boy. He was +crying also. Her hair fell upon his face as she looked at the spot of +deep scarlet color made by the shot bag. She kissed it and held her cheek +against his and whispered: "Don't cry. It's all over now. I'm going to +cut these ropes." + +It was as if she had known and loved him always. She was like a young +mother with her first child. Tendeny she wiped his tears away with her +blond, silken hair. She cut his bonds and he rose and stood before her. +Her face changed like magic. + +"Oh what a fool I've been!" she exclaimed. + +"Why so?" he asked. + +"I cried and I kissed you and we never have been introduced to each +other." + +She covered her eyes with her hair and with bent head went out of the +door. + +"I'll never forget that kiss as long as I live," said the boy as he +followed her. "I'll never forget your help or your crying either." + +"How I must have looked!" she went on, walking toward her pony that was +hitched to a near tree. + +"You were beautiful!" he exclaimed. + +"Go away from me--I won't speak to you," she said. "Go back to your work. +I'll stay here and keep watch." + +The boy returned to his task pointing up the inside walls but his mind +and heart were out in the sunlight talking with Bim. Once he looked out +of the door and saw her leaning against the neck of the pony, her face +hidden in his mane. When the sun was low she came to the door and said: + +"You had better stop now and go home." + +She looked down at the ground and added: + +"Please, please, don't tell on me." + +"Of course not," he answered. "But I hope you won't be afraid of me any +more." + +She looked up at him with a little smile. "Do you think I'm afraid of +_you_?" she asked as if it were too absurd to be thought of. She +unhitched and mounted her pony but did not go. + +"I do wish you could raise a mustache," she said, looking wistfully into +his face. + +Involuntarily his hand went to his lip. + +"I could try," he said. + +"I can't bear to see you look so terribly young; you get worse and worse +every time I see you," she scolded plaintively. "I want you to be a +regular man right quick." + +He wondered what he ought to say and presently stammered: "I--I--intend +to. I guess I'm more of a man than anybody would think to look at me." + +"You're too young to ever fall in love I reckon." + +"No I'm not," he answered with decision. + +"Have you got a razor?" she asked. + +"No." + +"I reckon it would be a powerful help. You put soap on your lip and mow +it off with a razor. My father says it makes the grass grow." + +There was a moment of silence during which she brushed the mane of her +pony. Then she asked timidly: "Do you play on the flute?" + +"No, why?" + +"I think it would break my heart. My Uncle Henry plays all day and it +makes him look crazy. Do you like yellow hair?" + +"Yes, if it looks like yours." + +"If you don't mind I'll put a mustache on you just--just to look at every +time I think of you." + +"When I think of you I put violets in your hair," he said. + +He took a step toward her as he spoke and as he did so she started her +pony. A little way off she checked him and said: + +"I'm sorry. There are no violets now." + +She rode away slowly waving her hand and singing with the joy of a bird +in the springtime: + + "My sweetheart, come along + Don't you hear the glad song + As the notes of the nightingale flow? + Don't you hear the fond tale + Of the sweet nightingale + As she sings in the valleys below-- + As she sings in the valleys below?" + +He stood looking and listening. The song came to him as clear and sweet +as the notes of a vesper bell wandering in miles of silence. + +When it had ceased he felt his lip and said: "How slow the time passes! +I'm going to get some shaving soap and a razor." + +That evening when Harry was helping Samson with the horses he said: + +"I'm going to tell you a secret. I wish you wouldn't say anything about +it." + +Samson stood pulling the hair out of his card and looking very stern as +he listened while Harry told of the assault upon him and how Bim had +arrived and driven the rowdies away with her gun but he said not a word +of her demonstration of tender sympathy. To him that had clothed the +whole adventure with a kind of sanctity so that he could not bear to have +it talked about. + +Samson's eyes glowed with anger. They searched the face of the boy. His +voice was deep and solemn when he said: + +"This is a serious matter. Why do you wish to keep it a secret?" + +The boy blushed. For a moment he knew not what to say. Then he spoke: "It +ain't me so much--it's her," he managed to say. "She wouldn't want it to +be talked about and I don't either." + +Samson began to understand. "She's quite a girl I guess," he said +thoughtfully. "She must have the nerve of a man--I declare she must." + +"Yes-sir-ee! They'd 'a' got hurt if they hadn't gone away, that's sure," +said Harry. + +"We'll look out for them after this," Samson rejoined. "The first time +I meet that man McNoll he'll have to settle with me and he'll pay cash on +the nail." + +Bim having heard of Harry's part in Abe's fight and of the fact that he +was to be working alone all day at the new house had ridden out through +the woods to the open prairie and hunted in sight of the new cabin that +afternoon. Unwilling to confess her extreme interest in the boy she had +said not a word of her brave act. It was not shame; it was partly a kind +of rebellion against the tyranny of youthful ardor; it was partly the +fear of ridicule. + +So it happened that the adventure of Harry Needles made scarcely a ripple +on the sensitive surface of the village life. It will be seen, however, +that it had started strong undercurrents likely, in time, to make +themselves felt. + +The house and barn were finished whereupon Samson and Harry drove to +Springfield--a muddy, crude and growing village with thick woods on its +north side--and bought furniture. Their wagon was loaded and they were +ready to start for home. They were walking on the main street when Harry +touched Samson's arm and whispered: + +"There's McNoll and Callyhan." + +The pair were walking a few steps ahead of Samson and Harry. In a second +Samson's big hand was on McNoll's shoulder. + +"This is Mr. McNoll, I believe," said Samson. + +The other turned with a scared look. + +"What do ye want o' me?" he demanded. + +Samson threw him to the ground with a jerk so strong and violent that it +rent the sleeve from his shoulder. McNoll's companion who had felt the +weight of Samson's hand and had had enough of it turned and ran. + +"What do ye want o' me?" McNoll asked again as he struggled to free +himself. + +"What do I want o' you--you puny little coward," said Samson, as he +lifted the bully to his feet and gave him a toss and swung him in the air +and continued to address him. "I'm just goin' to muss you up proper. If +you don't say you're sorry and mean it I'll put a tow string on your neck +and give you to some one that wants a dog." + +"I'm sorry," said McNoll. "Honest I am! I was drunk when I done it." + +Samson released his prisoner. A number in the crowd which had gathered +around them clapped their hands and shouted, "Hurrah for the stranger!" + +A constable took Samson's hand and said: "You deserve a vote of thanks. +That man and his friends have made me more trouble than all the rest of +the drinking men put together." + +"And I am making trouble for myself," said Samson. "I have made myself +ashamed. I am no fighting man, I was never in such a muss on a public +street before and with God's help it will never happen again." + +"Where do you live?" the officer asked. + +"In New Salem." + +"I wish it was here. We need men like you. What part of the East do you +hail from?" + +"Vermont," Samson answered. "I've just bought land and built a cabin a +little west of the village. Came here for a load of furniture." + +"I'm a Maine man and a Whig and opposed to slavery and my name is Erastus +Wright," said the constable. + +"I am a Whig and against slavery," Samson volunteered. + +"I could tell that by the look of you," said the constable. "Some day we +must sit down together and talk things over." + +Samson wrote in his diary: + + * * * * * + +"On the way home my heart was sore. I prayed in silence that God would +forgive me for my bad example to the boy. I promised that I would not +again misuse the strength He has given me. In my old home I would have +been disgraced by it. The minister would have preached of the destruction +that follows the violent man to put him down; the people would have +looked askance at me. Deacon Somers would have called me aside to look +into my soul, and Judge Grandy and his wife would not have invited me to +their parties. Here it's different. A chap who can take the law in his +hands and bring the evil man to his senses, even if he has to hit him +over the head, is looked up to. That day a number of men and boys +increased my shame by following us to the wagon and wanting to shake +hands and feel of my muscles and paining my soul with praise. It's a +reckless country. You feel it as soon as you get here. In time, I fear, +I shall be as headlong as the rest of them. Some way the news of my act +has got here from Springfield. Sarah was kind of cut up. Jack Kelso has +nicknamed me 'The man with the iron arms,' and Abe, who is a better man +every way, laughs at my embarrassment and says I ought to feel honored. +For one thing Jack Armstrong has become a good citizen. His wife has +foxed a pair of breeches for Abe. They say McNoll has left the country. +There has been no deviltry here since that day. I guess the gang is +broken up--too much iron in its way." + + * * * * * + +Sarah enjoyed fixing up the cabin. Jack Kelso had given her some deer and +buffalo skins to lay on the floors. The upper room, reached by a stick +ladder, had its two beds, one of which Harry occupied. The children slept +below in a trundle bed that was pushed under the larger one when it was +made up in the morning. + +"Some time I'm going to put in a windletrap and get rid o' that stick +ladder," Samson had said. + +Sarah had all the arts of the New England home maker. Under her hand the +cabin, in color, atmosphere and general neatness, would have delighted a +higher taste than was to be found on the prairies, save in the brain of +Kelso who really had some acquaintance with beauty. To be sure the bed +was in one corner, spread with its upper cover knit of gray yarn +harmonizing in color with the bark of the log walls. A handsome dark +brown buffalo robe lay beside it. The rifle and powder horn were hung +above the mantel. The fireplace had its crane of wrought iron. + +Every one in the little village came to the house warming. + +"There is nothing in America so beautiful as 'this here kind o' thing' +when the firelight shines upon it," said Kelso who often indulged in the +vernacular of the real ladder climbers. + +"Well, of course, it isn't like Boston or New York," Sarah answered. + +"Thank God!" Kelso exclaimed. "New York hurts my feelings, so many of its +buildings are of grand design and small proportions. Mrs. Traylor, you +are lucky to have this beautiful island in an ocean of music. There is +music in the look and sound of these meadows--bird music, wind music, +the level music of Felician David's Desert. Perhaps you don't know about +that and really it doesn't matter. Traylor, tune up your fiddle." + +Samson began to play, stopping often to give the hand of welcome to a +guest. The people of New Salem were in their best clothes. The women wore +dresses of new calico--save Mrs. Dr. Allen, who wore a black silk dress +which had come with her from her late home in Lexington. Bim Kelso came +in a dress of red muslin trimmed with white lace. Ann Rutledge also wore +a red dress and came with Abe. The latter was rather grotesque in his new +linsey trousers, of a better length than the former pair, but still too +short. + +"It isn't fair to blame the trousers or the tailor," he had said when he +had tried them on. "My legs are so long that the imagination of the +tailor is sure to fall short if the cloth don't. Next time I'll have 'em +made to measure with a ten-foot pole instead of a yardstick. If they're +too long I can roll 'em up and let out a link or two when they shrink. +Ever since I was a boy I have been troubled with shrinking pants." + +Abe wore a blue swallow-tail coat with brass buttons, the tails of which +were so short as to be well above the danger of pressure when he sat +down. His cowhide shoes had been well blackened; the blue yarn of his +socks showed above them. "These darned socks of mine are rather proud and +conceited," he used to say. "They like to show off." + +He wore a shirt of white, unbleached cotton, a starched collar and black +tie. + +In speaking of his collar to Samson, he said that he felt like a wild +horse in a box stall. + +Mentor Graham, the schoolmaster, was there--a smooth-faced man with a +large head, sandy hair and a small mustache, who spoke by note, as it +were. Kelso called him the great articulator and said that he walked in +the valley of the shadow of Lindley Murray. He seemed to keep a watchful +eye on his words, as if they were a lot of schoolboys not to be trusted. +They came out with a kind of self-conscious rectitude. + +The children's games had begun and the little house rang with their songs +and laughter, while their elders sat by the fire and along the walls +talking. Ann Rutledge and Bim Kelso and Harry Needles and John McNeil +played with them. In one of the dances all joined in singing the verses: + + I won't have none o' yer' weevily wheat, + I won't have none o' yer barley; + I won't have none o' yer' weevily wheat, + To make a cake for Charley. + + Charley is a fine young man, + Charley is a dandy, + Charley likes to kiss the girls, + Whenever it comes handy. + +When a victim was caught in the flying scrimmage at the end of a passage +in the game of Prisoners, he or she was brought before a blindfolded +judge: + +"Heavy, heavy hangs over your head," said the Constable. + +"Fine or superfine?" the judge inquired. + +"Fine," said the Constable, which meant that the victim was a boy. Then +the sentence was pronounced and generally it was this: + +"Go bow to the wittiest, kneel to the prettiest and kiss the one that you +love best." + +Harry was the first prisoner. He went straight to Bim Kelso and bowed and +knelt, and when he had risen she turned and ran like a scared deer around +the chairs and the crowd of onlookers, some assisting and some checking +her flight, before the nimble youth. Hard pressed, she ran out of the +open door, with a merry laugh, and just beyond the steps Harry caught +and kissed her, and her cheeks had the color of roses when he led her +back. + +John McNeil kissed Ann Rutledge that evening and was most attentive to +her, and the women were saying that the two had fallen in love with each +other. + +"See how she looks at him," one of them whispered. + +"Well, it's just the way he looks at her," the other answered. + +At the first pause in the merriment Kelso stood on a chair, and then +silence fell upon the little company. + +"My good neighbors," he began, "we are here to rejoice that new friends +have come to us and that a new home is born in our midst. We bid them +welcome. They are big boned, big hearted folks. No man has grown large +who has not at one time or another had his feet in the soil and felt its +magic power going up into his blood and bone and sinew. Here is a +wonderful soil and the inspiration of wide horizons; here are broad and +fertile fields. Where the corn grows high you can grow statesmen. It may +be that out of one of these little cabins a man will come to carry the +torch of Liberty and Justice so high that its light will shine into every +dark place. So let no one despise the cabin--humble as it is. Samson and +Sarah Traylor, I welcome and congratulate you. Whatever may come, you can +find no better friends than these, and of this you may be sure, no child +of the prairies will ever go about with a hand organ and a monkey. Our +friend, Honest Abe, is one of the few rich men in this neighborhood. +Among his assets are Kirkham's Grammar, _The Pilgrim's Progress_, the +Lives of Washington and Henry Clay, Hamlet's Soliloquy, Othello's +Speech to the Senate, Marc Antony's address and a part of Webster's reply +to Hayne. A man came along the other day and sold him a barrel of rubbish +for two bits. In it he found a volume of Blackstone's _Commentaries_. Old +Blackstone challenged him to a wrestle and Abe has grappled with him. I +reckon he'll take his measure as easily as he took Jack Armstrong's. +Lately he has got possession of a noble asset. It is the _Cotter's +Saturday Night_, by Robert Burns. I propose to ask him to let us share +his enjoyment of this treasure." + +Abe, who had been sitting with his legs doubled beneath him on a buffalo +skin, between Joe and Betsey Traylor, rose and said: + +"Mr. Kelso's remarks, especially the part which applied to me, remind me +of the story of the prosperous grocer of Joliet. One Saturday night he +and his boys were busy selling sausage. Suddenly in came a man with whom +he had quarreled and laid two dead cats on the counter. + +"'There,' said he, 'this makes seven to-day. I'll call Monday and get my +money.' + +"We were doing a good business here making fun. It seems a pity to ruin +it and throw suspicion on the quality of the goods by throwing a cat on +the counter. I'll only throw one cat. It is entitled: + + MY SISTER SUE + + "Say, boys, I guess 'at none o' you + Has ever seen my sister Sue, + She kin rassle an' turn han'springs kerflop, + But Jimmy Crimps!--ye should see her hop! + Yes, sir! + + "She kin h'ist one foot an' go like Ned! + An' hop on top o' my mother's bed, + An' back an' round the house she'll go, + 'Ith her ol' knee as limber as a hickory bow, + Yes, sir! + + "She kin sing a hull song 'ithout ketchin' her breath, + An' make up a face 'at 'ud scare ye to death! + She kin wiggle her ears an' cross her eyes + An' stick out her tongue till yer hair 'ud rise. + Yes, sir! + + "An' play wildcat on her han's an' knees, + Honest! 'T would give ye the gibberees! + An' she sneaks along an' jumps at you + An' gives sech a yell!--my sister Sue! + Yes, sir! + + "She kin shoot off a gun an' set a trap, + An' if you don't behave she kin give you a slap + She kin holler and scream like a flock o' geese + An' stan' on her head an' speak a piece. + Yes, sir! + + "She kin run cross legged an' ride a cow, + An' jump from the beam to the big hay mow. + I reckon yer hair 'ud stan' up to see 'er + A breakin' a colt er throwin' a steer, + Yes, sir! + + "My sister Susan has got a beau. + When he comes she sets an' acts jes' so, + An' talks so proper--it's zac'ly jes + Like the flummididles on her dress, + Yes, sir! + + "When she stan's in that darn ol' Sunday gown + Ye'd think a grasshopper could knock 'er down. + An' she laughs kind o' sick--like a kitten's mew-- + Ye wouldn't think 'twas my sister Sue, + No, sir! + + "An' she says: 'Oh, dear! those horrid boys! + They act so rough an' make sech a noise!' + Good gracious! ye wouldn't think 'at she + Could talk as loud as a bumble bee-- + No, sirs + + "Honest! Er lift a chip o' wood, + She acts so puny an' nice an' good! + 'Boys are awful!' she says, 'till they're grown, + Er nelse they got to be yer own!' + Oh, gosh!" + +This raised a storm of merriment, after which he recited the poem of +Burns, with keen appreciation of its quality. Samson repeatedly writes of +his gift for interpretation, especially of the comic, and now and then +lays particular stress on his power of mimicry. + +John Cameron sang _The Sword of Bunker Hill_ and _Forty Years Ago, Tom_. +Samson played while the older people danced until midnight. Then, after +noisy farewells, men, women and children started in the moonlit road +toward the village. Ann Rutledge had Abe on one arm and John McNeil on +the other. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +WHICH DESCRIBES THE LONELY LIFE IN A PRAIRIE CABIN AND STIRRING ADVENTURE +ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD ABOUT THE TIME IT BEGAN OPERATIONS. + + +When Samson paid Mr. Gollaher, a "detector" came with the latter to look +at the money before it was accepted. There were many counterfeits and +bills good only at a certain discount of face value, going about those +days and the detector was in great request. Directly after moving in, +Samson dug a well and lined it with a hollow log. He bought tools and +another team and then he and Harry began their fall plowing. Day after +day for weeks they paced with their turning furrows until a hundred +acres, stretching half a mile to the west and well to the north of the +house, were black with them. Fever and ague descended upon the little +home in the early winter. + +In a letter to her brother, dated January 4th, 1832, Sarah writes: + + * * * * * + +"We have been longing for news from home, but not a word has come from +you. It don't seem as if we could stand it unless we hear from you or +some of the folks once in a while. We are not dead just because we are a +thousand miles away. We want to hear from you. Please write and let us +know how father and mother are and all the news. Is Elizabeth Ranney +married yet, and how does the minister get along with his new wife? We +have all been sick with the fever and ague. It is a beautiful country and +the soil very rich, but there is some sickness. Samson and I were both +sick at the same time. I never knew Samson to give up before. He couldn't +go on, his head ached so. Little Joe helped me get the fire started and +brought some water and waited on us. Then the little man put on his coat +and mittens and trudged away to the village with Betsey after the doctor. +Harry Needles had gone away to Springfield for Mr. Offut with a drove of +hogs. Two other boys are with him. He is going to buy a new suit. He is a +very proud boy. Joe and Betsey got back with the doctor at nine. That +night Abe Lincoln came and sat up with us and gave us our medicine and +kept the fire going. It was comical to see him lying beside Joe in his +trundle bed, with his long legs sticking over the end of it and his feet +standing on the floor about a yard from the bed. He was spread all over +the place. He talked about religion, and his views would shock most of +our friends in the East. He doesn't believe in the kind of Heaven that +the ministers talk about or any eternal hell. He says that nobody knows +anything about the hereafter, except that God is a kind and forgiving +father and that all men are His children. He says that we can only serve +God by serving each other. He seems to think that every man, good or bad, +black or white, rich or poor, is his brother. He thinks that Henry Clay, +next to Daniel Webster, is the greatest man in the country. He is +studying hard. Expects to go out and make speeches for Clay next summer. +He is quite severe in his talk against General Jackson. He and Samson +agree in politics and religion. They are a good deal alike. He is very +fond of Samson and Harry--calls them his partners. He said to Samson the +other evening. + +"I want you for a friend always. If you can stand it, I would like my +story to be a part of yours. If you say so, we'll stick to the same boat +and pole her over the shoals and carry her across the bends and see if we +can get to good going in deep water. When the channel will permit, we can +put in a steam engine.' + +"We love this big awkward giant. His feet are set in the straight way and +we think that he is going to make his mark in the world. + +"When I went to sleep he lay in the trundle bed, with two candles burning +on the stand beside him, reading that big green book of mine entitled +_The Works of William Shakespeare_. He had brought a law book with him, +but he got interested in William Shakespeare and couldn't let it alone. +He said that he was like a mired horse whenever he began to read a play +of the immortal bard, and that he had to take his time in getting out. +When he went away next morning he borrowed Samson's pack basket. I felt +bad because we couldn't go and make any arrangements with Santa Claus for +the children. Joe was dreadfully worried, for Betsey had told him that +Santa Claus never came to children whose father and mother were sick. +Christmas Eve Abe came with the pack basket chock-full of good things +after the children were asleep. He took out a turkey and knit caps and +mittens and packages of candy and raisins for the children and some cloth +for a new dress for me. Mrs. Kelso had come to spend the night with us, +although Samson and I were so much better it really wasn't necessary. I +made her go up the ladder to bed before midnight. That evening a short, +fat Santa Claus came in with a loaded pack. He had a long, brown beard +and a red nose and carried a new clay pipe in his mouth and was very much +bundled up. + +"We called the children. They stood looking at Santa Claus, and Santa +Claus stood looking at them. He gave them mufflers and some candy hearts +and tried to pick them up. They ran away and he chased them under our bed +and got hold of Joe's foot and tried to pull him out, and Joe hollored +like a painter, and Santa Claus dropped his pipe and sat down on the +floor and began laughing. I saw it was Bim Kelso. Abe left with her, and +I suppose they went back to the village and around in a regular Santa +Claus spree. + +"Mrs. Kelso said that she had been making a beard of pieces of buffalo +skin and fitting up an old suit of her father's clothes that afternoon. +I wonder what she'll do next. It's terrible to be so much in love and not +quite seventeen. Harry is as bad as she is. I wish they had been a little +older before they met. + +"Joe said yesterday that he was going back to Vergennes. + +"'How are you going to get there?' I asked. + +"'Abe's going to make me a pair o' wings, and I'm going to smash right up +through the sky and go awa-a-y off to Vergennes and play with Ben and +Lizzie Tyler. Abe says there ain't no bad roads up there.' + +"I asked him what I should do if he went away and left me like that. + +"'Oh, I'll come right back,' he said, 'and maybe I'll see Heaven way up +in the clouds. If I do I'll stop there in a tavern over night and buy +something for you.' + +"In a minute a new idea came to him and he said: + +"'I guess Abe would make a pair of wings for you if you'd ask him.' + +"Often I wish for wings, and always when I think of those who are dear +to me and so far away. You said you would come out next spring to look +about. Please don't disappoint us. I think it would almost break my +heart. I am counting the days. Some time ago I put down 142 straight +marks on my old slate, that being the number of days before May 1. Every +night I rub off one of them and thank God that you are one day nearer. +Don't be afraid of fever and ague. Sapington's pills cure it in three or +four days. I would take the steamboat at Pittsburg, the roads in Ohio and +Indiana are so bad. You can get a steamer up the Illinois River at Alton +and get off at Beardstown and drive across country. If we knew when you +were coming Samson or Abe would meet you. Give our love to all the folks +and friends. + +"Yours affectionately, + +"Sarah and Samson." + + * * * * * + +It had been a cold winter and not easy to keep comfortable in the little +house. In the worst weather Samson used to get up at night to keep the +fire going. Late in January a wind from the southeast melted the snow and +warmed the air of the midlands so that, for a week or so, it seemed as if +spring were come. One night of this week Sambo awoke the family with his +barking. A strong wind was rushing across the plains and roaring over the +cabin and wailing in its chimney. Suddenly there was a rap on its door. +When Samson opened it he saw in the moonlight a young colored man and +woman standing near the door-step. + +"Is dis Mistah Traylor?" the young man asked. + +"It is," said Samson. "What can I do for you?" + +"Mas'r, de good Lord done fotched us here to ask you fo' help," said the +negro. "We be nigh wone out with cold an' hungah, suh, 'deed we be." + +Samson asked them in and put wood on the fire, and Sarah got up and made +some hot tea and brought food from the cupboard and gave it to the +strangers, who sat shivering in the firelight. They were a good-looking +pair, the young woman being almost white. They were man and wife. The +latter stopped eating and moaned and shook with emotion as her husband +told their story. Their master had died the year before and they had been +brought to St. Louis to be sold in the slave market. There they had +escaped by night and gone to the house of an old friend of their former +owner who lived north of the city on the river shore. He had taken pity +on them and brought them across the Mississippi and started them on the +north road with a letter to Elijah Lovejoy of Alton and a supply of food. +Since then they had been hiding days in the swamps and thickets and had +traveled by night. Mr. Lovejoy had sent them to Erastus Wright of +Springfield, and Mr. Wright had given them the name of Samson Traylor and +the location of his cabin. From there they were bound for the house of +John Peasley, in Hopedale, Tazewell County. + +Lovejoy had asked them to keep the letter with which they had begun their +travels. Under its signature he had written: "I know the writer and know +that the above was written with his own hand. His word can be relied +upon. To all who follow or respect the example of Jesus Christ I commend +this man and woman." + +The letter stated that their late master had often expressed his purpose +of leaving them their freedom when he should pass away. He had left no +will and since his death the two had fallen into the hands of his nephew, +a despotic, violent young drunkard of the name of Biggs, who had ruled +his servants with club and bull whip and who in a temper had killed a +young negro a few months before. The fugitives said that they would +rather die than go back to him. + +Samson was so moved by their story that he hitched up his horses and put +some hay in the wagon box and made off with the fugitives up the road to +the north in the night. When daylight came he covered them with the hay. +About eight o'clock he came to a frame house and barn, the latter being +of unusual size for that time and country. Above the door of the barn +was a board which bore the stenciled legend: "John Peasley, Orwell Farm." + +As Samson drew near the house he observed a man working on the roof of +a woodshed. Something familiar in his look held the eye of the New Salem +man. In half a moment he recognized the face of Henry Brimstead. It was +now a cheerful face. Brimstead came down the ladder and they shook hands. + +"Good land o' Goshen! How did you get here?" Samson asked. Brimstead +answered: + +"Through the help of a feller that looks like you an' the grit of a pair +o' hosses. Come down this road early in September on my way to the land +o' plenty. Found Peasley here. Couldn't help it. Saw his name on the +barn. Used to go to school with him in Orwell. He offered to sell me some +land with a house on it an' trust me for his pay. I liked the looks o' +the country and so I didn't go no further. I was goin' to write you a +letter, but I hain't got around to it yet. Ain't forgot what you done for +us, I can tell ye that." + +"Well, this looks better than the sand plains--a lot better--and you look +better than that flea farmer back in York State. How are the children?" + +"Fat an' happy an' well dressed. Mrs. Peasley has been a mother to 'em +an' her sister is goin' to be a wife to me." He came close to Samson and +added in a confidential tone: "Say, if I was any happier I'd be scairt. +I'm like I was when I got over the toothache--so scairt for fear it would +come back I was kind o' miserable." + +Mr. Peasley came out of the door. He was a big, full bearded, jovial man. + +"I've got a small load o' hay for you," said Samson. + +"I was expecting it, though I supposed 'twould be walkin'--in the dark o' +the night," Peasley answered. "Drive in on the barn floor." + +When Samson had driven into the barn its doors were closed and the +negroes were called from their place of hiding. Samson writes: + + * * * * * + +"I never realized what a blessing it is to be free until I saw that +scared man and woman crawling out from under the dusty hay and shaking +themselves like a pair of dogs. The weather was not cold or I guess they +would have been frozen. They knelt together on the barn floor and the +woman prayed for God's protection through the day. I knew what slavery +must mean when I saw what they were suffering to get away from it. When +they came in the night I felt the call of God to help them. Now I knew +that I was among the chosen to lead in a great struggle. Peasley brought +food for them and stowed them away on the top of his hay mow with a pair +of buffalo skins. I suppose they got some sleep there. I went into the +house to breakfast and while I ate Brimstead told me about his trip. His +children were there. They looked clean and decent. He lived in a log +cabin a little further up the road. Mrs. Peasley's sister waited on me. +She is a fat and cheerful looking lady, very light complected. Her hair +is red--like tomato ketchup. Looks to me a likely, stout armed, good +hearted woman who can do a lot of hard work. She can see a joke and has +an answer handy every time." + + * * * * * + +For details of the remainder of the historic visit of Samson Traylor to +the home of John Peasley we are indebted to a letter from John to his +brother Charles, dated February 21, 1832. In this he says: + + * * * * * + +"We had gone out to the barn and Brimstead and I were helping Mr. Traylor +hitch up his horses. All of a sudden two men came riding up the road +at a fast trot and turned in and come straight toward us and pulled up +by the wagon. One of them was a slim, red cheeked young feller about +twenty-three years old. He wore top boots and spurs and a broad brimmed +black hat and gloves and a fur waistcoat and purty linen. He looked at +the tires of the wagon and said: 'That's the one we've followed.' + +"'Which o' you is Samson Traylor?' he asked. + +"'I am,' said Traylor. + +"The young feller jumped off his horse and tied him to the fence. Then he +went up to Traylor and said: + +"What did you do with my niggers, you dirty sucker?' + +"Men from Missouri hated the Illinois folks them clays and called 'em +Suckers. We always call a Missouri man a name too dirty to be put in a +letter. He acted like one o' the Roman emperors ye read of. + +"'Hain't you a little reckless, young feller?' Traylor says, as cool +as a cucumber. + +"I didn't know Traylor them days. If I had, I'd 'a' been prepared for +what was comin'. + +"Traylor stood up nigh the barn door, which Brimstead had closed after we +backed the wagon out. + +"The young feller stepped close to the New Salem man and raised his whip +for a blow. Quick as lightnin' Traylor grabbed him and threw him ag'in' +the barn door, keewhack! He hit so hard the boards bent and the whole +barn roared and trembled. The other feller tried to get his pistol out of +its holster, but Brimstead, who stood beside him, grabbed it, and I got +his hoss by the bits and, we both held on. The young feller lay on the +ground shakin' as if he had the ague. Ye never see a man so spylt in a +second. Traylor picked him up. His right arm was broke and his face and +shoulder bruised some. Ye'd a thought a steam engyne had blowed up while +he was puttin' wood in it. He was kind o' limp and the mad had leaked out +o' him. + +"'I reckon I better find a doctor,' he says. + +"'You get into my wagon and I'll take ye to a good one,' says Traylor. + +"Just then Stephen Nuckles, the circuit minister, rode in with the big +bloodhound that follers him around. + +"The other slaver had got off his hoss in the scrimmage. Traylor started +for him. The slaver began to back away and suddenly broke into a run. The +big dog took after him with a kind of a lion roar. We all began yelling +at the dog. We made more noise than you'd hear at the end of a hoss race. +It scairt the young feller. He put on more steam and went up the ladder +to the roof of the woodshed like a chased weasel. The dog stood barkin' +as if he had treed a bear. Traylor grabbed the ladder and pulled it down. + +"'You stay there till I get away an' you'll be safe,' said he. + +"The man looked down and swore and shook his fist and threatened us with +the law. + +"Mr. Nuckles rode close to the woodshed and looked up at him. + +"'My brother, I fear you be not a Christian,' he said. + +"He swore at the minister. That settled him. + +"'What's all this erbout?' Mr. Nuckles asked me. + +"'He and his friend are from Missouri,' I says. 'They're lookin' for some +runaway slaves an' they come here and pitched into us, and one got +throwed ag'in' the barn an' the other clum to the roof.' + +"'I reckon he better stay thar till he gits a little o' God's grace in +his soul,' says the minister. + +"Then he says to the dog: 'Ponto, you keep 'im right thar.' + +"The dog appeared to understand what was expected of him. + +"The minister got off his hoss and hitched him and took off his coat and +put it on the ground. + +"'What you goin' to do?' I says. + +"'Me?' says the minister. 'I be goin' to rassle with Satan for the soul +o' that 'ar man, an' if you keep watch I reckon you'll see 'at the +ground'll be scratched up some 'fore I git through.' + +"He loosened his collar an' knelt on his coat and began to pray that the +man's soul would see its wickedness and repent. You could have heard him +half a mile away. + +"Mr. Traylor drove off with the damaged slaver settin' beside him and the +saddle hoss hitched to the rear axle. I see my chance an' before that +prayer ended I had got the fugitives under some hay in my wagon and +started off with them on my way to Livingston County. I could hear the +prayin' until I got over the hill into Canaan barrens. At sundown I left +them in good hands thirty miles up the road." + + * * * * * + +In a frontier newspaper of that time it is recorded that the minister and +his dog kept the slaver on the roof all day, vainly trying with prayer +and exhortation to convert his soul. The man stopped swearing before +dinner and on his promise not again to violate the commandment a good +meal was handed up to him. He was liberated at sundown and spent the +night with Brimstead. + +"Who is that big sucker who grabbed my friend?" the stranger asked +Brimstead. + +"His name is Samson Traylor. Comes from Vermont," was the answer. + +"He's the dog-gonedest steam engyne of a man I ever see, 'pon my word," +said the stranger. + +"An' he's about the gentlest, womern hearted critter that ever drawed the +breath o' life," said Brimstead. + +"If he don't look out 'Liph Biggs'll kill him--certain." + +Samson spoke not more than a dozen words on his way back to New Salem. +Amazed and a little shocked by his own conduct, he sat thinking. After +all he had heard and seen, the threat of the young upstart had provoked +him beyond his power of endurance. Trained to the love of liberty and +justice, the sensitive mind of the New Englander had been hurt by the +story of the fugitives. Upon this hurt the young man had poured the +turpentine of haughty, imperial manners. In all the strange adventure it +seemed to him that he had felt the urge of God--in the letter of Lovejoy, +in the prayers of the negro woman and the minister, in his own wrath. The +more he thought of it the less inclined he was to reproach himself for +his violence. Slavery was a relic of ancient imperialism. It had no right +in free America. There could be no peace with it save for a little time. +He would write to his friends of what he had learned of the brutalities +of slavery. The Missourians would tell their friends of the lawless and +violent men of the North, who cared not a fig for the property rights of +a southerner. The stories would travel like fire in dry grass. + +So, swiftly, the thoughts of men were being prepared for the great battle +lines of the future. Samson saw the peril of it. + +As they rode along young Mr. Biggs took a flask half full of whisky from +his pocket and offered it to Samson. The latter refused this tender of +courtesy and the young man drank alone. He complained of pain and Samson +made a sling of his muffler and put it over the neck and arm of the +injured Biggs and drove with care to avoid jolting. For the first time +Samson took a careful and sympathetic look at him. He was a handsome +youth, about six feet tall, with dark eyes and hair and a small black +mustache and teeth very white and even. + +In New Salem Samson took him to Dr. Allen's office and helped the doctor +in setting the broken bone. Then he went to Offut's store and found Abe +reading his law book and gave him an account of his adventure. + +"I'm both glad and sorry," said Abe. "I'm glad that you licked the slaver +and got the negroes out of his reach. I reckon I'd have done the same if +I could. I'm sorry because it looks to me like the beginning of many +troubles. The whole subject of slavery is full of danger. Naturally +southern men will fight for their property, and there is a growing number +in the North who will fight for their principles. If we all get to +fighting, I wonder what will become of the country. It reminds me of the +man who found a skunk in his house. His boy was going after the critter +with a club. + +"'Look here, boy,' he said, 'when you've got a skunk in the house, it's +a good time to be careful. You might spyle the skunk with that club, but +the skunk would be right certain to spyle the house. While he's our +guest, I reckon we'll have to be polite, whether we want to or not.'" + +"Looks to me as if that skunk had come to stay until he's put out," said +Samson. + +"That may be," Abe answered. "But I keep hopin' that we can swap a hen +for the house and get rid of him. Anyhow, it's a good time to be +careful." + +"He may be glad to live with me, but I ain't willin' to live with him," +Samson rejoined. "I ain't awful proud, but his station in life is a +leetle too far below mine. If I tried to live with him, I would get the +smell on my soul so that St. Peter would wonder what to do with me." + +Abe laughed. + +"That touches the core of the trouble," said he. "In the North most men +have begun to think of the effect of slavery on the soul; in the South a +vast majority are thinking of its effect on the pocket. One stands for a +moral and the other for a legal right." + +"But one is righter than the other," Samson insisted. + +That evening Samson set down the events of the day in his book and quoted +the dialogue in Offut's store in which he had had a part. On the first of +February, 1840, he put these words under the entry: + +"I wouldn't wonder if this was the first trip on the Underground +Railroad." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +IN WHICH MR. ELIPHALET BIGGS GETS ACQUAINTED WITH BIM KELSO AND HER +FATHER. + + +In a musty old ledger kept by James Rutledge, the owner of Rutledge's +Tavern, in the year 1832, is an entry under the date of January 31st +which reads as follows: + +"Arrived this day Eliphalet Biggs of 26 Olive Street, St. Louis, with one +horse." + +Young Mr. Biggs remained at Rutledge's Tavern for three weeks with his +arm in a sling under the eye of the good doctor. The Rutledges were +Kentucky folk and there the young man had found a sympathetic hearing and +tender care. Dr. Allen had forbidden him the use of ardent spirits while +the bone was knitting and so these three weeks were a high point in his +life so to speak. + +It had done him good to be hurled against a barn door and to fall +trembling and confused at the feet of his master. He had never met his +master until he had reached Hopedale that morning. The event had been too +long delayed. Encouraged by idleness and conceit and alcohol, evil +passions had grown rank in the soil of his spirit. Restraint had been a +thing unknown to him. He had ruled the little world in which he had lived +by a sense of divine right. He was a prince of Egoland--that province of +America which had only half yielded itself to the principles of +Democracy. + +Sobriety and the barn door had been a help to his soul. More of these +heroic remedies might have saved him. He was like one exiled, for a term, +from his native heath. After the ancient fashion of princes, he had at +first meditated the assassination of the man who had blocked his way. +Deprived of the heat of alcohol, his purpose sickened and died. + +It must be said that he served his term as a sober human being quite +gracefully, being a well born youth of some education. A few days he +spent mostly in bed, while his friend, who had come on from Hopedale, +took care of him. Soon he began to walk about and his friend returned to +St. Louis. + +His fine manners and handsome form and face captured the little village, +most of whose inhabitants had come from Kentucky. They knew a gentleman +when they saw him. They felt a touch of awe in his presence. Mr. Biggs +claimed to have got his hurt by a fall from his horse, pride leading him +to clothe the facts in prevarication. If the truth had been known Samson +would have suffered a heavy loss of popularity in New Salem. + +A week after his arrival Ann Rutledge walked over to Jack Kelso's with +him. Bim fled up the stick ladder as soon as they entered the door. Mr. +Kelso was away on a fox hunt. Ann went to the ladder and called: + +"Bim, I saw you fly up that ladder. Come back down. Here's a right nice +young man come to see you." + +"Is he good-looking?" Bim called. + +"Oh, purty as a picture, black eyes and hair and teeth like pearls, and +tall and straight, and he's got a be-e-autiful little mustache." + +"That's enough!" Bim exclaimed. "I just wish there was a knot hole in +this floor." + +"Come on down here," Ann urged. + +"I'm scared," was the answer. + +"His cheeks are as red as roses and he's got a lovely ring and big watch +chain--pure gold and yaller as a dandelion. You come down here." + +"Stop," Bim answered. "I'll be down as soon as I can get on my best bib +and tucker." + +She was singing _Sweet Nightingale_ as she began "to fix up," while Ann +and Mr. Biggs were talking with Mrs. Kelso. + +"Ann," Bim called in a moment, "had I better put on my red dress or my +blue?" + +"Yer blue, and be quick about it." + +"Don't you let him get away after all this trouble." + +"I won't." + +In a few minutes Bim called from the top of the ladder to Ann. The latter +went and looked up at her. Both girls burst into peals of merry laughter. +Bim had put on a suit of her father's old clothes and her buffalo skin +whiskers and was a wild sight. + +"Don't you come down looking like that," said Ann. "I'll go up there and +'tend to you." + +Ann climbed the ladder and for a time there was much laughing and +chattering in the little loft. By and by Ann came down. Bim hesitated, +laughing, above the ladder for a moment, and presently followed in her +best blue dress, against which the golden curls of her hair fell +gracefully. With red cheeks and bright eyes, she was a glowing picture. +Very timidly she gave her hand to Mr. Biggs. + +"It's just the right dress," he said. "It goes so well with your hair. +I'm glad to see you. I have never seen a girl like you in my life." + +"If I knew how, I'd look different," said Bim. "I reckon I look cross. +Cows have done it. Do you like cows?" + +"I hate cows--I've got a thousand cows and I see as little of them as +possible," said he. + +"It is such a pleasure to hate cows!" Bim exclaimed. "There's nothing I +enjoy so much." + +"Why?" Ann asked. + +"I am not sure, but I think it is because they give milk--such quantities +of milk! Sometimes I lie awake at night hating cows. There are so many +cows here it keeps me busy." + +"Bim has to milk a cow--that's the reason," said Ann. + +"I'd like to come over and see her do it," said Mr. Biggs. + +"If you do I'll milk in your face--honest I will," said Bim. + +"I wouldn't care if it rained milk. I'm going to come and see you often, +if your mother will let me." + +A blush spread over the girl's cheeks to the pretty dimple at the point +of her chin. + +"You'll see her scampering up the ladder like a squirrel," said Mrs. +Kelso. "She isn't real tame yet." + +"Perhaps we could hide the ladder," he suggested, with a smile. + +"Do you play on the flute?" Bim asked. + +"No," said Mr. Biggs. + +"I was afraid," Bim exclaimed. "My Uncle Henry does." She looked into Mr. +Biggs' eyes. + +"You like fun--don't you?" he said. + +"Have you got a snare drum?" Bim queried. + +"No. What put that into your head?" Mr. Biggs asked, a little mystified. + +"I don't know. I thought I'd ask. My Uncle Henry has a snare drum. That's +one reason we came to Illinois." + +Mr. Biggs laughed. "That smile of yours is very becoming," he said. + +"Did you ever dream of a long legged, brindle cat with yellow eyes and +a blue tail?" she asked, as if to change the subject. + +"Never!" + +"I wisht you had. Maybe you'd know how to scare it away. It carries on +so." + +"I know what would fix that cat," said Mrs. Kelso. "Give him the hot +biscuits which you sometimes eat for supper. He'll never come again." + +At this point Mr. Kelso returned with his gun on his shoulder and was +introduced to Mr. Biggs. + +"I welcome you to the hazards of my fireside," said Kelso. "So you're +from St. Louis and stopped for repairs in this land of the ladder +climbers. Sit down and I'll put a log on the fire." + +"Thank you, I must go," said Biggs. "The doctor will be looking for me +now." + +"Can I not stay you with flagons?" Kelso asked. + +"The doctor has forbidden me all drink but milk and water." + +"A wise man is Dr. Allen!" Kelso exclaimed. "Cervantes was right in +saying that too much wine will neither keep a secret nor fulfill a +promise." + +"Will you make me a promise?" Bim asked of Mr. Biggs, as he was leaving +the door with Ann. + +"Anything you will ask," he answered. + +"Please don't ever look at the new moon through a knot hole," she said in +a half whisper. + +The young man laughed. "Why not?" + +"If you do, you'll never get married." + +"I mustn't look at the new moon through a knot hole and I must beware of +the flute and the snare drum," said Mr. Biggs. + +"Don't be alarmed by my daughter's fancies," Kelso advised. "They are +often rather astonishing. She has a hearty prejudice against the flute. +It is well founded. An ill played flute is one of the worst enemies of +law and order. Goldsmith estranged half his friends with a grim +determination to play the flute. It was the skeleton in his closet." + +So Mr. Eliphalet Biggs met the pretty daughter of Jack Kelso. On his +way back to the tavern he told Ann that he had fallen in love with the +sweetest and prettiest girl in all the world--Bim Kelso. That very +evening Ann went over to Kelso's cabin to take the news to Bim and her +mother and to tell them that her father reckoned he belonged to a very +rich and a very grand family. Naturally, they felt a sense of elation, +although Mrs. Kelso, being a woman of shrewdness, was not carried away. +Mr. Kelso had gone to Offut's store and the three had the cabin to +themselves. + +"I think he's just a wonderful man!" Bim exclaimed. "But I'm sorry his +name is so much like figs and pigs. I'm plum sure I'm going to love him." + +"I thought you were in love with Harry Needles," Bim's mother said to +her. + +"I am. But he keeps me so busy. I have to dress him up every day and put +a mustache on him and think up ever so many nice things for him to say, +and when he comes he doesn't say them. He's terribly young." + +"The same age as you. I think he is a splendid boy--so does everybody." + +"I have to make all his courage for him, and then he never will use it," +Bim went on. "He has never said whether he likes my looks or not." + +"But there's time enough for that--you are only a child," said her +mother. "You told me that he said once you were beautiful." + +"But he has never said it twice, and when he did say it, I didn't believe +my ears, he spoke so low. Acted kind o' like he was scared of it. I don't +want to wait forever to be really and truly loved, do I?" + +Mrs. Kelso laughed. "It's funny to hear a baby talking like that," she +said. "We don't know this young man. He's probably only fooling anyway." + +Bim rose and stood very erect. + +"Mother, do you think I look like a baby?" she asked. "I tell you I'm +every inch a woman," she added, mimicking her father in the speech of +Lear. + +"But there are not many inches in you yet." + +"How discouraging you are!" said Bim, sinking into her chair with a sigh. + +Bim went often to the little tavern after that. Of those meetings little +is known, save that, with all the pretty arts of the cavalier, unknown to +Harry Needles, the handsome youth flattered and delighted the girl. This +went on day by day for a fortnight. The evening before Biggs was to leave +for his home, Bim went over to eat supper with Ann at the tavern. + +It happened that Jack Kelso had found Abe sitting alone with his +Blackstone in Offut's store that afternoon. + +"Mr. Kelso, did you ever hear what Eb Zane said about the general subject +of sons-in-law?" Abe asked. + +"Never--but I reckon it would be wise and possibly apropos," said Kelso. + +"He said that a son-in-law was a curious kind o' property," Abe began. +"'Ye know,' says Eb, 'if ye have a hoss that's tricky an' dangerous an' +wuth less than nothin', ye can give him away er kill him, but if ye have +a son-in-law that's wuthless, nobody else will have him an' it's ag'in' +the law to kill him. Fust ye know ye've got a critter on yer hands that +kicks an' won't work an' has to be fed an' liquored three times a day an' +is wuth a million dollars less than nothin'.'" + +There was a moment of silence. + +"When a man is figurin' his assets, it's better to add ten dollars than +to subtract a million," said Abe. "That's about as simple as adding up +the weight o' three small hogs." + +"What a well of wisdom you are, Abe!" said Kelso. "Do you know anything +about this young Missourian who is shining up to Bim?" + +"I only know that he was a drinking man up to the time he landed here and +that he threatened Traylor with his whip and got thrown against the side +of a barn--plenty hard. He's a kind of American king, and I don't like +kings. They're nice to look at, but generally those that have married 'em +have had one h--l of a time." + +Kelso rose and went home to supper. + +Soon after the supper dishes had been laid away in the Kelso cabin, young +Mr. Biggs rapped on its door and pulled the latch-string and entered and +sat down with Mr. and Mrs. Kelso at the fireside. + +"I have come to ask for your daughter's hand," he said, as soon as they +were seated. "I know it will seem sudden, but she happens to be the girl +I want. I've had her picture in my heart always. I love your daughter. I +can give her a handsome home and everything she could desire." + +Kelso answered promptly: "We are glad to welcome you here, but we can not +entertain such a proposal, flattering as it is. Our daughter is too young +to think of marriage. Then, sir, we know very little about you, and may I +be pardoned if I add that it does not recommend you?" + +The young man was surprised. He had not expected such talk from a ladder +climber. He looked at Kelso, groping for an answer. Then-- + +"Perhaps not," said he. "I have been a little wild, but that is all in +the past. You can learn about me and my family from any one in St. Louis. +I am not ashamed of anything I have done." + +"Nevertheless, I must ask you to back away from this subject. I can not +even discuss it with you." + +"May I not hope that you will change your mind?" + +"Not at present. Let the future take care of itself." + +"I generally get what I want," said the young man. + +"And now and then something that you don't want," said Kelso, a bit +nettled by his persistence. + +"You ought to think of her happiness. She is too sweet and beautiful for +a home like this." + +There was an awkward moment of silence. The young man said good night and +opened the door. + +"I'll go with you," said Kelso. + +He went with Mr. Biggs to the tavern and got his daughter and returned +home with her. + +Mrs. Kelso chided her husband for being hard on Mr. Biggs. + +"He has had his lesson, perhaps he will turn over a new leaf," she said. + +"I fear there isn't a new leaf in his book," said Kelso. "They're all +dirty." + +He told his wife what Abe had said in the store. + +"The wisdom of the common folk is in that beardless young giant," he +said. "It is the wisdom of many generations gathered in the hard school +of bitter experience. I wonder where it is going to lead him." + +As Eliphalet Biggs was going down the south road next morning he met Bim +on her pony near the schoolhouse, returning from the field with her cow. +They stopped. + +"I'm coming back, little girl," he said. + +"What for?" she asked. + +"To tell you a secret and ask you a question. Nobody but you has the +right to say I can not. May I come?" + +"I suppose you can--if you want to," she answered. + +"I'll come and I'll write to you and send the letters to Ann." + +Mentor Graham, who lived in the schoolhouse, had come out of its door. + +"Good-by!" said young Mr. Biggs, as his heels touched the flanks of his +horse. Then he went flying down the road. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +WHEREIN ABE MAKES SUNDRY WISE REMARKS TO THE BOY HARRY AND ANNOUNCES HIS +PURPOSE TO BE A CANDIDATE FOR THE LEGISLATURE AT KELSO'S DINNER PARTY. + + +Harry Needles met Bim Kelso on the road next day, when he was going down +to see if there was any mail. She was on her pony. He was in his new suit +of clothes--a butternut background striped into large checks. + +"You look like a walking checkerboard," said she, stopping her pony. + +"This--this is my new suit," Harry answered, looking down at it. + +"It's a tiresome suit," said she impaciently. "I've been playing checkers +on it since I caught sight o' you, and I've got a man crowned in the king +row." + +"I thought you'd like it," he answered, quite seriously, and with a look +of disappointment. "Say, I've got that razor and I've shaved three times +already." + +He took the razor from his pocket and drew it from its case and proudly +held it up before her. + +"Don't tell anybody," he warned her. "They'd laugh at me. They wouldn't +know how I feel." + +"I won't say anything," she answered. "I reckon I ought to tell you that +I don't love you--not so much as I did anyway--not near so much. I only +love you just a wee little bit now." + +It is curious that she should have said just that. Her former confession +had only been conveyed by the look in her eyes at sundry times and by +unpremeditated acts in the hour of his peril. + +Harry's face fell. + +"Do you--love--some other man?" he asked. + +"Yes--a regular man--mustache, six feet tall and everything. I just tell +you he's purty!" + +"Is it that rich feller from St. Louis?" he asked. + +She nodded and then whispered: "Don't you tell." + +The boy's lips trembled when he answered. "I won't tell. But I don't see +how you can do it." + +"Why?" + +"He drinks and he keeps slaves and beats them with a bull whip. He isn't +respectable." + +"That's a lie," she answered quickly. "I don't care what you say." + +Bim touched her pony with the whip and rode away. + +Harry staggered for a moment as he went on. His eyes filled with tears. +It seemed to him that the world had been ruined. On his way to the +village he tried and convicted it of being no fit place for a boy to live +in. Down by the tavern he met Abe, who stopped him. + +"Howdy, Harry!" said Abe. "You look kind o' sick. Come into the store and +sit down. I want to talk to you." + +Harry followed the big man into Offut's store, flattered by his +attention. There had been something very grateful in the sound of Abe's +voice and the feel of his hand. The store was empty. + +"You and I mustn't let ourselves be worried by little matters," said Abe, +as they sat down together by the fire. "Things that seem to you to be as +big as a mountain now will look like a mole hill in six months. You and I +have got things to do, partner. We mustn't let ourselves be fooled. I was +once in a boat with old Cap'n Chase on the Illinois River. We had got +into the rapids. It was a narrow channel in dangerous water. They had to +keep her headed just so or we'd have gone on the rocks. Suddenly a boy +dropped his apple overboard and began to holler. He wanted to have the +boat stopped. For a minute that boy thought his apple was the biggest +thing in the world. We're all a good deal like him. We keep dropping our +apples and calling for the boat to stop. Soon we find out that there are +many apples in the world as good as that one. You have all come to a +stretch of bad water up at your house. The folks have been sick. They're +a little lonesome and discouraged. Don't you make it any harder by crying +over a lost apple. Ye know it's possible that the apple will float along +down into the still water where you can pick it up by and by. The +important thing is to keep going ahead." + +This bit of fatherly counsel was a help to the boy. + +"I've got a book here that I want you to read," Abe went on. "It is the +_Life of Henry Clay_. Take it home and read it carefully and then bring +it back and tell me what you think of it. You may be a Henry Clay +yourself by and by. The world has something big in it for every one if he +can only find it. We're all searching--some for gold and some for fame. I +pray God every day that He will help me to find my work--the thing I can +do better than anything else--and when it is found help me to do it. I +expect it will be a hard and dangerous search and that I shall make +mistakes. I expect to drop some apples on my way. They'll look like gold +to me, but I'm not going to lose sight of the main purpose." + +When Harry got home he found Sarah sewing by the fireside, with Joe and +Betsey playing by the bed. Samson had gone to the woods to split rails. + +"Any mail?" Sarah asked. + +"No mail," he answered. + +Sarah went to the window and stood for some minutes looking out at the +plain. Its sere grasses, protruding out of the snow, hissed and bent in +the wind. In its cheerless winter colors it was a dreary thing to see. + +"How I long for home!" she exclaimed, as she resumed her sewing by the +fire. + +Little Joe came and stood by her knee and gave her his oft repeated +blessing: + +"God help us and make His face to shine upon us." + +She kissed him and said: "Dear comforter! It shines upon me every time +I hear you say those words." + +The little lad had observed the effect of the blessing on his mother in +her moments of depression and many times his parroting had been the word +in season. Now he returned to his play again, satisfied. + +"Would you mind if I called you mother?" Harry asked. + +"I shall be glad to have you do it if it gives you any comfort, Harry," +she answered. + +She observed that there were tears in his eyes. + +"We are all very fond of you," she said, as she bent to her task. + +Then the boy told her the history of his morning--the talk with Bim, with +the razor omitted from it; how he had met Abe and all that Abe had said +to him as they sat together in the store. + +"Well, Harry, if she's such a fool, you're lucky to have found it out so +soon," said Sarah. "She does little but ride the pony and play around +with a gun. I don't believe she ever spun a hank o' yarn in her life. +She'll get her teeth cut by and by. Abe is right We're always dropping +our apples and feeling very bad about it, until we find out that there +are lots of apples just as good. I'm that way myself. I guess I've made +it harder for Samson crying over lost apples. I'm going to try to stop +it." + +Then fell a moment of silence. Soon she said: + +"There's a bitter wind blowing and there's no great hurry about the +rails, I guess. You sit here by the fire and read your book this +forenoon. Maybe it will help you to find your work." + +So it happened that the events of Harry's morning found their place in +the diary which Sarah and Samson kept. Long afterward Harry added the +sentences about the razor. + +That evening Harry read aloud from the _Life of Henry Clay_, while Sarah +and Samson sat listening by the fireside. It was the first of many +evenings which they spent in a like fashion that winter. When the book +was finished they read, on Abe's recommendation, Weem's _Life of +Washington_. + +Every other Sunday they went down to the schoolhouse to hear John Cameron +preach. He was a working man, noted for good common sense, who talked +simply and often effectively of the temptations of the frontier, notably +those of drinking, gaming and swearing. One evening they went to a debate +in the tavern on the issues of the day, in which Abe won the praise of +all for an able presentation of the claim of Internal Improvements. +During that evening Alexander Ferguson declared that he would not cut his +hair until Henry Clay became president, the news of which resolution led +to a like insanity in others and an age of unexampled hairiness on that +part of the border. + +For Samson and Sarah the most notable social event of the winter was a +chicken dinner at which they and Mr. and Mrs. James Rutledge and Ann and +Abe Lincoln and Dr. Allen were the guests of the Kelsos. That night Harry +stayed at home with the children. + +Kelso was in his best mood. + +"Come," he said, when dinner was ready. "Life is more than friendship. It +is partly meat." + +"And mostly Kelso," said Dr. Allen. + +"Ah, Doctor! Long life has made you as smooth as an old shilling and +nimbler than a sixpence," Kelso declared. "And, speaking of life, +Aristotle said that the learned and the unlearned were as the living and +the dead." + +"It is true," Abe interposed. "I say it, in spite of the fact that it +slays me." + +"You? No! You are alive to your finger tips," Kelso answered. + +"But I have mastered only eight books," said Abe. + +"And one--the book of common sense, and that has wised you," Kelso +went on. "Since I came to this country I have learned to beware of the +one-book man. There are more living men in America than in any land I +have seen. The man who reads one good book thoughtfully is alive and +often my master in wit or wisdom. Reading is the gate and thought is +the pathway of real life." + +"I think that most of the men I know have read the Bible," said Abe. + +"A wonderful and a saving fact! It is a sure foundation to build your +life upon." + +Kelso paused to pour whisky from a jug at his side for those who would +take it. + +"Let us drink to our friend Abe and his new ambition," he proposed. + +"What is it?" Samson asked. + +"I am going to try for a seat in the Legislature," said Abe. "I reckon +it's rather bold. Old Samuel Legg was a good deal of a nuisance down in +Hardin County. He was always talking about going to Lexington, but never +went. + +"'You'll never get thar without startin',' said his neighbor. + +"'But I'm powerful skeered fer fear I'd never git back,' said Samuel. +'There's a big passel o' folks that gits killed in the city.' + +"'You always was a selfish cuss. You ought to think o' yer neighbors,' +said the other man. + +"So I've concluded that if I don't start I'll never get there, and if +I die on the way it will be a good thing for my neighbors," Abe added. + +The toast was drunk, and by some in water, after which Abe said: + +"If you have the patience to listen to it, I'd like to read my +declaration to the voters of Sangamon County." + +Samson's diary briefly describes this appeal as follows: + + * * * * * + +"He said that he wanted to win the confidence and esteem of his fellow +citizens. This he hoped to accomplish by doing something which would make +him worthy of it. He had been thinking of the county. A railroad would do +more for it than anything else, but a railroad would be too costly. The +improvement of the Sangamon River was the next best thing. Its channel +could be straightened and cleared of driftwood and made navigable for +small vessels under thirty tons' burden. He favored a usury law and said, +in view of the talk he had just heard, he was going to favor the +improvement and building of schools, so that every one could learn how to +read, at least, and learn for himself what is in the Bible and other +great books. It was a modest statement and we all liked it." + + * * * * * + +"Whatever happens to the Sangamon, one statement in that platform +couldn't be improved," said Kelso. + +"What is that?" Abe asked. + +"It's the one that says you wish to win the regard of your fellows by +serving them." + +"It's a lot better than saying that he wishes to serve Abe," said Dr. +Allen, a remark which referred to a former conversation with Abe, in +which Kelso had had a part. + +"You can trust Abe to take the right turn at every fork in the road," +Kelso went on. "If you stick to that, my boy, and continue to study, +you'll get there and away beyond any goal you may now see. A passion +for service is more than half the battle. Since the other night at the +tavern I've been thinking about Abe and the life we live here. I've +concluded that we're all very lucky, if we are a bit lonesome." + +"I'd like to know about that," said Sarah. "I'm a little in need of +encouragement." + +"Well, you may have observed that Abe has a good memory," he continued. +"While I try to be modest about it, my own memory is a fairly faithful +servant. It is due to the fact that since I left the university I have +lived, mostly, in lonely places. It is a great thing to be where the +register of your mind is not overburdened by the flow of facts. Abe's +candidacy is the only thing that has happened here since Samson's +raising, except the arrival and departure of Eliphalet Biggs. Our +memories are not weakened by overwork. They have time for big +undertakings--like Burns and Shakespeare and Blackstone." + +"I've noticed that facts get kind o' slippery when they come in a bunch, +as they did on our journey," said Samson. "Seems so they wore each other +smooth and got hard to hold." + +"Ransom Prigg used to say it was easy enough to ketch eels, but it was +powerful hard to hold 'em," Abe remarked. "He caught three eels in a trap +one day and the trap busted and let 'em loose in the boat. He kept +grabbin' and tusslin' around the boat till the last eel got away. 'I +never had such a slippery time in all the days o' my life,' said Rans. +'One eel is a dinner, but three eels is jest a lot o' slippin' an' +disapp'intment.'" + +"That's exactly the point I make," said Kelso. "A man with too many eels +in the boat will have none for dinner. The city man is at a great +disadvantage. Events slip away from him and leave nothing. His intellect +gets the habit of letting go. It loses its power to seize and hold. His +impressions are like footprints on a beach. They are washed away by the +next tide." + +There was much talk at the fireside after dinner, all of which doubtless +had an effect on the fortunes of the good people who sat around it, and +the historian must sort the straws, and with some regret, for bigger +things are drawing near in the current. Samson and Sarah had been telling +of their adventures on the long road. + +"We are all movers," said Kelso. "We can not stay where we are for a +single day--not if we are alive. Most of us never reach that eminence +from which we discover the littleness of ourselves and our troubles and +achievements and the immensities of power and wisdom by which we are +surrounded." + +At least one of that company was to remember the words in days of +adversity and triumph. Soon after that dinner the memories of the little +community began to register an unusual procession of thrilling facts. + +Early in April an Indian scare spread from the capital to the remotest +corners of the state. Black Hawk, with many warriors, had crossed the +Mississippi and was moving toward the Rock River country. Governor +Reynolds called for volunteers to check the invasion. + +Abe, whose address to the voters had been printed in the _Sangamon +Journal_, joined a volunteer company and soon became its captain. On the +tenth of April he and Harry Needles left for Richland to go into +training. Samson was eager to go, but could not leave his family. + +Bim Kelso rode out into the fields where Harry was at work the day before +he went away. + +"This is a great surprise," said Harry. "I don't see you any more except +at a distance." + +"I don't see you either." + +"I didn't think you wanted to see me." + +"You're easily discouraged," she said, looking down with a serious face. + +"You made me feel as if I didn't want to live any longer." + +"I reckon I'm mean. I made myself feel a million times worse. It's awful +to be such a human as I am. Some days I'm plum scared o' myself." + +"I'm going away," the boy said, in a rather mournful tone. + +"I hate to have you go. I just love to know you're here, if I don't see +you. Only I wish you was older and knew more." + +"Maybe I know more'n you think I do," he answered. + +"But you don't know anything about my troubles," said she, with a sigh. + +"I don't get the chance." + +There was half a moment of silence. She ended it by saying: + +"Ann and I are going to the spelling school to-night." + +"Can I go with you?" + +"Could you stand it to be talked to and scolded by a couple of girls till +you didn't care what happened to you?" + +"Yes; I've got to be awful careless." + +"We'll be all dressed up and ready at quarter of eight. Come to the +tavern. I'm going to have supper with Ann. She is just terribly happy. +John McNeil has told her that he loves her. It's a secret. Don't you +tell." + +"I won't. Does she love him?" + +"Devotedly; but she wouldn't let him know it--not yet." + +"No?" + +"Course not. She pretends she's in love with somebody else. It's the best +way. I reckon he'll be plum anxious before she owns up. But she truly +loves him. She'd die for him." + +"Girls are awful curious--nobody can tell what they mean," said Harry. + +"Sometimes they don't know what they mean themselves. Often I say +something or do something and wonder and wonder what it means." + +She was looking off at the distant plain as she spoke. + +"Sometimes I'm surprised to find out how much it means," she added. "I +reckon every girl is a kind of a puzzle and some are very easy and some +would give ye the headache." + +"Or the heartache." + +"Did you ever ride a horse sitting backwards--when +you're going one way and looking another and +you don't know what's coming?" she asked. + +"What's behind you is before you and the faster you go the more danger +you're in?" Harry laughed. + +"Isn't that the way we have to travel in this world whether we're going +to love or to mill?" the girl asked, with a sigh. "We can not tell what +is ahead. We see only what is behind us. It is very sad." + +Barry looked at Bim. He saw the tragic truth of the words and suddenly +her face was like them. Unconsciously in the midst of her playful talk +this thing had fallen. He did not know quite what to make of it. + +"I feel sad when I think of Abe," said Harry. "He don't know what is +ahead of him, I guess. I heard Mrs. Traylor say that he was in love with +Ann." + +"I reckon he is, but he don't know how to show it. You might as well ask +me to play on a flute. He's never told her. He just walks beside her to a +party and talks about politics and poetry and tells funny stories. I +reckon he's mighty good, but he don't know how to love a girl. Ann is +afraid he'll step on her, he's so tall and awkward and wanderin'. Did you +ever see an elephant talking with a cricket?" + +"Not as I remember," said Harry. + +"I never did myself, but if I did, I'm sure they'd both look very tired. +It would be still harder for an elephant to be engaged to a cricket. I +don't reckon the elephant's love would fit the cricket or that they'd +ever be able to agree on what they'd talk about. It's some that way with +Abe and Ann. She is small and spry; he is slow and high. She'd need a +ladder to get up to his face, and I just tell you it ain't purty when ye +get there. She ain't got a chance to love him." + +"I love him," said Harry. "I think he's a wonderful man. I'd fight for +him till I died. John McNeil is nothing but a grasshopper compared to +him." + +"That's about what my father says," Bim answered. "I love Abe, too, and +so does Ann, but it ain't the hope to die, marryin' love. It's like a +man's love for a man or a woman's love for a woman. John McNeil is +handsome--he's just plum handsome, and smart, too. He's bought a big farm +and is going into the grocery business. Mr. Rutledge says he'll be a rich +man." + +"I wouldn't wonder. Is he going to the spelling school?" + +"No, he went off to Richland to-day with my father to join the company. +They're going to fight the Injuns, too." + +Harry stood smoothing the new coat of Colonel with his hand, while Bim +was thinking how she would best express what was on her mind. She did not +try to say it, but there was something in the look of her eyes which the +boy remembered. + +He was near telling her that he loved her, but he looked down at his +muddy boots and soiled overalls. They were like dirt thrown on a flame. +How could one speak of a sweet and noble passion in such attire? Clean +clothes and white linen for that! The shell sounded for dinner. Bim +started for the road at a gallop, waving her hand. He unhitched his team +and followed it slowly across the black furrows toward the barn. + +He did not go to the spelling school. Abe came at seven and said that he +and Harry would have to walk to Springfield that night and get their +equipment and take the stage in the morning. Abe said if they started +right away they could get to the Globe tavern by midnight. In the hurry +and excitement Harry forgot the spelling school. To Bim it was a tragic +thing. Before he went to bed that night he wrote a letter to her. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +IN WHICH BIM KELSO MAKES HISTORY, WHILE ABE AND HARRY AND OTHER GOOD +CITIZENS OF NEW SALEM ARE MAKING AN EFFORT TO THAT END IN THE INDIAN WAR. + + +Many things came with the full tide of the springtime--innumerable +flowers and voices, the flowers filled with glowing color, the voices +with music and delight. Waves of song swept over the limitless meadows. +They went on and on as if they traveled a shoreless sea in a steady wind. +Bob-whites, meadow-larks, bobolinks, song sparrows, bluebirds, competed +with the crowing of the meadow cocks. This joyous tumult around the +Traylor cabin sped the day and emphasized the silence of the night. + +In the midst of this springtime carnival there came also cheering news +from the old home in Vermont--a letter to Sarah from her brother, which +contained the welcome promise that he was coming to visit them and +expected to be in Beardstown about the fourth of May. Samson drove across +country to meet the steamer. He was at the landing when _The Star of the +North_ arrived. He saw every passenger that came ashore, and Eliphalet +Biggs, leading his big bay mare, was one of them, but the expected +visitor did not arrive. There would be no other steamer bringing +passengers from the East for a number of days. + +Samson went to a store and bought a new dress and sundry bits of finery +for Sarah. He returned to New Salem with a heavy heart. He dreaded to +meet his faithful partner and bring her little but disappointment. The +windows were lighted when he got back, long after midnight. Sarah stood +in the open door as he drove up. + +"Didn't come," he said mournfully. + +Without a word, Sarah followed him to the barn, with the tin lantern in +her hand. He gave her a hug as he got down from the wagon. He was little +given to like displays of emotion. + +"Don't feel bad," he said. + +She tried bravely to put a good face on her disappointment, but, while he +was unharnessing and leading the weary horses into their stalls, it was a +wet face and a silent one. + +"Come," he said, after he had thrown some hay into the mangers. "Let's go +into the house. I've got something for ye." + +"I've given them up--I don't believe we shall ever see them again," said +Sarah, as they were walking toward the door. "I think I know how the dead +feel who are so soon forgotten." + +"Ye can't blame 'em," said Samson. "They've probably heard about the +Injun scare and would expect to be massacreed if they came." + +Indeed the scare, now abating, had spread through the border settlements +and kept the people awake o' nights. Samson and other men, left in New +Salem, had met to consider plans for a stockade. + +"And then there's the fever an' ague," Samson added. + +"Sometimes I feel sorry I told 'em about it because they'll think it +worse than it is. But we've got to tell the truth if it kills us." + +"Yes: we've got to tell the truth," Samson rejoined. "There'll be a +railroad coming through here one of these days and then we can all get +back and forth easy. If it comes it's going to make us rich. Abe says he +expects it within three or four years." + +Sarah had a hot supper ready for him. As he stood warming himself by the +fire she put her arms around him and gave him a little hug. + +"You poor tired man!" she said. "How patient and how good you are!" + +There was a kind of apology for this moment of weakness in her look and +manner. Her face seemed to say: "It's silly but I can't help it." + +"I've been happy all the time for I knew you was waiting for me," Samson +remarked. "I feel rich every time I think of you and the children. Say, +look here." + +He untied the bundle and put the dress and finery in her lap. + +"Well, I want to know!" she exclaimed, as she held it up to the +candlelight. "That must have cost a pretty penny." + +"I don't care what it cost--it ain't half good enough--not half," said +Samson. + +As he sat down to his supper he said: + +"I saw that miserable slaver, Biggs, get off the boat with his big bay +mare. There was a darky following him with another horse." + +"Good land!" said Sarah. "I hope he isn't coming here. Mrs. Onstot told +me to-day that Bim Kelso has been getting letters from him." + +"She's such an odd little critter and she's got a mind of her +own--anybody could see that," Samson reflected. "She ought to be looked +after purty careful. Her parents are so taken up with shooting and +fishing and books they kind o' forget the girl. I wish you'd go down +there to-morrow and see what's up. Jack is away you know." + +"I will," said Sarah. + +It was nearly two o'clock when Samson, having fed and watered his horses, +got into bed. Yet he was up before daylight, next morning, and singing a +hymn of praise as he kindled the fire and filled the tea kettle and +lighted his candle lantern and went out to do his chores while Sarah, +partly reconciled to her new disappointment, dressed and began the work +of another day. So they and Abe and Harry and others like them, each +under the urge of his own ambition, spent their great strength in the +building and defense of the republic and grew prematurely old. Their +work began and ended in darkness and often their days were doubled by +the burdens of the night. So in the reckoning of their time each year +was more than one. + +Sarah went down to the village in the afternoon of the next day. When +Samson came in from the fields to his supper she said: + +"Mr. Biggs is stopping at the tavern. He brought a new silk dress and +some beautiful linen to Mrs. Kelso. He tells her that Bim has made a new +man of him. Claims he has quit drinking and gone to work. He looks like a +lord--silver spurs and velvet riding coat and ruffled shirt and silk +waistcoat. A colored servant rode into the village with him on a +beautiful brown horse, carrying big saddle-bags. Bim and her mother are +terribly excited. He wants them to move to St. Louis and live on his big +plantation in a house next to his--rent free." + +Samson knew that Biggs was the type of man who weds Virtue for her dowry. + +"A man's judgment is needed there," said he. "It's a pity Jack is gone. +Biggs will take that girl away with him sure as shooting if we don't look +out." + +"Oh, I don't believe he'd do that," said Sarah. "I hope he has turned +over a new leaf and become a gentleman." + +"We'll see," said Samson. + +They saw and without much delay the background of his pretensions, for +one day within the week he and Bim, the latter mounted on the beautiful +brown horse, rode away and did not return. Soon a letter came from Bim to +her mother, mailed at Beardstown. It told of their marriage in that place +and said that they would be starting for St. Louis in a few hours on _The +Star of the North_. She begged the forgiveness of her parents and +declared that she was very happy. + +"Too bad! Isn't it?" said Sarah when Mrs. Waddell, who had come out with +her husband one evening to bring this news, had finished the story. + +"Yes, it kind o' spyles the place," said Samson. "Bim was a wonderful +girl--spite of all her foolishness--like the birds that sing among the +flowers on the prairie--kind o'--yes, sir--she was. I'm afraid for +Jack Kelso-'fraid it'll bust his fiddle if it don't break his heart. His +wife is alone now. We must ask her to come and stay with us." + +"The Allens have taken her in," said Mrs. Waddell. + +"That's good," said Sarah. "I'll go down there to-morrow and offer to do +anything we can." + +When Mr. and Mrs. Waddell had gone Sarah said: + +"I can't help thinking of poor Harry. He was terribly in love with her." + +"Well, he'll have to get over it--that's all," said Samson. "He's young +and the wound will heal." + +It was well for Harry that he was out of the way of all this, and entered +upon adventures which absorbed his thought. As to what was passing with +him we have conclusive evidence in two letters, one from Colonel Zachary +Taylor in which he says: + +"Harry Needles is also recommended for the most intrepid conduct as a +scout and for securing information of great value. Compelled to abandon +his wounded horse he swam a river under fire and under the observation of +three of our officers, through whose help he got back to his command, +bringing a bullet in his thigh." + +With no knowledge of military service and a company of untrained men, Abe +had no chance to win laurels in the campaign. His command did not get in +touch with the enemy. He had his hands full maintaining a decent regard +for discipline among the raw frontiersmen of his company. + +He saved the life of an innocent old Indian, with a passport from General +Cass, who had fallen into their hands and whom, in their excitement and +lust for action, they desired to hang. This was the only incident of his +term of service which gave him the least satisfaction. + +Early in the campaign Harry had been sent with a message to headquarters, +where he won the regard of Colonel Taylor and was ordered to the front +with a company of scouts. No member of the command had been so daring. +He had the recklessness of youth and its wayward indifferences to peril. +William Boone, a son of Daniel, used to speak of "the luck of that +daredevil farmer boy." + +One day in passing mounted through a thick woods on the river, near the +enemy, he suddenly discovered Indians all around him. They sprang out of +the bushes ahead and one of them opened fire. He turned and spurred his +horse and saw the painted warriors on every side. He rode through them +under a hot fire. His horse fell wounded near the river shore and Harry +took to the water and swam beneath it as far as he could. When he came up +for breath bullets began splashing and whizzing around him. It was then +that he got his wound. He dove and reached the swift current which +greatly aided his efforts. Some white men in a boat about three hundred +yards away witnessed his escape and said that the bullets "tore the +river surface into rags" around him as he came up. Courage and his skill +as a diver and swimmer saved his life. Far below, the boat, in which were +a number of his fellow Scouts overtook him and helped him back to camp. +So it happened that a boy won a reputation in the "Black Hawk War" which +was not lavish in its bestowal of honors. + +When the dissatisfied volunteers were mustered out late in May, Kelso and +McNeil, being sick with a stubborn fever, were declared unfit for service +and sent back to New Salem as soon as they were able to ride. Abe and +Harry joined Captain Iles' Company of Independent Rangers and a month or +so later Abe re-enlisted to serve with Captain Early, Harry being under +a surgeon's care. The latter's wound was not serious and on July third he +too joined Early's command. + +This company was chiefly occupied in the moving of supplies and the +burying of a few men who had been killed in small engagements with the +enemy. It was a band of rough-looking fellows in the costume of the +frontier farm and workshop--ragged, dirty and unshorn. The company was +disbanded July tenth at Whitewater, Wisconsin, where, that night, the +horses of Harry and Abe were stolen. From that point they started on +their long homeward tramp with a wounded sense of decency and justice. +They felt that the Indians had been wronged: that the greed of land +grabbers had brutally violated their rights. This feeling had been +deepened by the massacre of the red women and children at Bad Ax. + +A number of mounted men went with them and gave them a ride now and then. +Some of the travelers had little to eat on the journey. Both Abe and +Harry suffered from hunger and sore feet before they reached Peoria where +they bought a canoe and in the morning of a bright day started down the +Illinois River. + +They had a long day of comfort in its current with a good store of bread +and butter and cold meat and pie. The prospect of being fifty miles +nearer home before nightfall lightened their hearts and they laughed +freely while Abe told of his adventures in the campaign. To him it was +all a wild comedy with tragic scenes dragged into it and woefully out of +place. Indeed he thought it no more like war than a pig sticking and that +was the kind of thing he hated. At noon they put ashore and sat on a +grassy bank in the shade of a great oak, to escape the withering sunlight +of that day late in July, while they ate their luncheon. + +"I reckon that the Black Hawk peril was largely manufactured," said Abe +as they sat in the cool shade. "If they had been let alone I don't +believe the Indians would have done any harm. It reminds me a little of +the story of a rich man down in Lexington who put a cast iron buck in his +dooryard. Next morning all the dogs in the neighborhood got together and +looked him over from a distance. He had invaded their territory and they +reckoned that he was theirs. They saw a chance for war. One o' their +number volunteered to go and scare up the buck. So he raised the hair on +his back and sneaked up from behind and when he was about forty feet away +made hell bent for the buck's heels. The buck didn't move and the dog +nearly broke his neck on that pair o' cast iron legs. He went limping +back to his comrades. + +"'What's the trouble?' they asked. + +"'It's nary buck,' said the dog. + +"'What is it then?' + +"'Darned if I know. It kicks like a mule an' smells like a gate post.' + +"'Come on, you fellers. It looks to me like a good time to go home,' said +a wise old dog. 'I've learned that ye can't always believe yerself.' + +"It's a good thing for a man or a government to learn," Abe went on as +they resumed their journey. "I've learned not to believe everything I +hear, The first command I gave, one o' the company hollered 'Go to h--l.' +Every one before me laughed. It was a chance to get mad. I didn't for I +knew what it meant. I just looked sober and said: "'Well, boys, I haven't +far to go and I reckon we'll all get there if we don't quit fooling an' +'tend to business.' + +"They agreed with me." + +Harry had not heard from home since he left it. Abe had had a letter from +Rutledge which gave him the news of Bim's elopement The letter had said: + +"I was over to Beardstown the day Kelso and McNeil got off the steamer. +I brought them home with me. Kelso was bigger than his trouble. Said that +the ways of youth were a part of the great plan. 'Thorns! Thorns!' he +said. 'They are the teachers of wisdom and who am I that I should think +myself or my daughter too good for the like since it is written that +Jesus Christ did not complain of them.'" + +"Have you heard from home?" Abe asked as they paddled on. + +"Not a word," said Harry. + +"You're not expecting to meet Bim Kelso?" + +"That's the best part of getting home for me," said Harry, turning with a +smile. + +"Let her drift for a minute," said Abe. "I've got a letter from James +Rutledge that I want to read to you. There's a big lesson in it for both +of us--something to remember as long as we live." + +Abe read the letter. Harry sat motionless. Slowly his head bent forward +until his chin touched his breast. + +Abe said with a tender note in his voice as he folded the letter: + +"This man is well along in life. He hasn't youth to help him as you have. +See how he takes it and she's the only child he has. There are millions +of pretty girls in the world for you to choose from." + +"I know it but there's only one Bim Kelso in the world," Harry answered +mournfully. "She was the one I loved." + +"Yes, but you'll find another. It looks serious but it isn't--you're so +young. Hold up your head and keep going. You'll be happy again soon." + +"Maybe, but I don't see how," said the boy. + +"There are lots of things you can't see from where you are at this +present moment. There are a good many miles ahead o' you I reckon and one +thing you'll see plainly, by and by, that it's all for the best. I've +suffered a lot myself but I can see now it has been a help to me. There +isn't an hour of it I'd be willing to give up." + +They paddled along in silence for a time. + +"It was my fault," said Harry presently. "I never could say the half I +wanted to when she was with me. My tongue is too slow. She gave me a +chance and I wasn't man enough to take it. That's all I've got to say on +that subject." + +He seemed to find it hard to keep his word for in a moment he added: + +"I wouldn't have been so good a scout if it hadn't been for her. I guess +the Injuns would have got me but when I thought of her I just kept +going." + +"I think you did it just because you were a brave man and had a duty to +perform," said Abe. + +Some time afterward in a letter to his father the boy wrote: + + * * * * * + +"I often think of that ride down the river and the way he talked to me. +It was so gentle. He was a big, powerful giant of a man who weighed over +two hundred pounds, all of it bone and muscle. But under his great +strength was a woman's gentleness; under the dirty, ragged clothes and +the rough, brown skin grimy with dust and perspiration, was one of the +cleanest souls that ever came to this world. I don't mean that he was +like a minister. He could tell a story with pretty rough talk in it but +always for a purpose. He hated dirt on the hands or on the tongue. If +another man had a trouble Abe took hold of it with him. He would put a +lame man's pack on top of his own and carry it. He loved flowers like a +woman. He loved to look at the stars at night and the colors of the +sunset and the morning dew on the meadows. I never saw a man so much in +love with fun and beauty." + + * * * * * + +They reached Havana that evening and sold their canoe to a man who kept +boats to rent on the river shore. They ate a hot supper at the tavern and +got a ride with a farmer who was going ten miles in their direction. From +his cabin some two hours later they set out afoot in the darkness. + +"I reckon it will be easier under the stars than under the hot sun," said +Abe. "Our legs have had a long rest anyhow." + +They enjoyed the coolness and beauty of the summer night. + +"Going home is the end of all journeys," said Abe as they tramped along. +"Did it ever occur to you that every living creature has its home? The +fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field and +forest, the creepers in the grass, all go home. Most of them turn toward +it when the day wanes. The call of home is the one voice heard and +respected all the way down the line of life. And, ye know, the most +wonderful and mysterious thing in nature is the power that fool animals +have to go home through great distances, like the turtle that swam from +the Bay of Biscay to his home off Van Dieman's Land. Somehow coming over +in a ship he had blazed a trail through the pathless deep more than ten +thousand miles long. It's the one miraculous gift--the one call that's +irresistible. Don't you hear it now? I never lie down in the darkness +without thinking of home when I am away." + +"And it's hard to change your home when you're wonted to it," said Harry. + +"Yes, it's a little like dying when you pull up the roots and move. It's +been hard on your folks." + +This remark brought them up to the greatest of mysteries. They tramped in +silence for a moment. Abe broke in upon it with these words: + +"I reckon there must be another home somewhere to go to after we have +broke the last camp here and a kind of a bird's compass to help us find +it. I reckon we'll hear the call of it as we grow older." + +He stopped and took off his hat and looked up at the stars and added: + +"If it isn't so I don't see why the long procession of life keeps harping +on this subject of home. I think I see the point of the whole thing. It +isn't the place or the furniture that makes it home, but the love and +peace that's in it. By and by our home isn't here any more. It has moved. +Our minds begin to beat about in the undiscovered countries looking for +it. Somehow we get it located--each man for himself." + +For another space they hurried along without speaking. + +"I tell you, Harry, whatever a large number of intelligent folks have +agreed upon for some generations is so--if they have been allowed to do +their own thinking," said Abe. "It's about the only wisdom there is." + +He had sounded the keynote of the new Democracy. + +"There are some who think that Reason is the only guide but in the one +problem of going home it don't compare with the turtle's wisdom," Abe +added. "His head isn't bigger than a small apple. But I reckon the +scientist can't teach him anything about navigation. Reminds me o' Steve +Nuckles. His head is full of ignorance but he'll know how to get home +when the time comes." + +"My stars! How we're hurrying!" Harry exclaimed at length. + +"I didn't realize it--I'm so taken up with the thought of getting back," +said Abe. "It's as if my friends had a rope around me and were pulling +it." + +So under the lights of heaven, speaking in the silence of the night, of +impenetrable mysteries, they journeyed on toward the land of plenty. + +"It's as still as a graveyard," Harry whispered when they had climbed the +bluff by the mill long after midnight and were near the little village. + +"They're all buried in sleep," said Abe. "We'll get Rutledge out of bed. +He'll give us a shake-down somewhere." + +His loud rap on the door of the tavern signalized more than a desire for +rest in the weary travelers, for just then a cycle of their lives had +ended. + + + + +BOOK TWO + + + + +CHAPTER X + +IN WHICH ABE AND SAMSON WRESTLE AND SOME RAIDERS COME TO BURN AND STAY TO +REPENT + + +Within a week after their return the election came off and Abe was +defeated, although in his precinct two hundred and twenty-seven out of a +total of three hundred votes had been cast for him. He began to consider +which way to turn. He thought seriously of the trade of the blacksmith +which many advised. Burns and Shakespeare, who had been with him in +recent vicissitudes seemed to disagree with him. Jack Kelso, who had +welcomed the returning warriors in the cheery fashion of old, vigorously +opposed his trying "to force the gates of fortune with the strong arm." +They were far more likely to yield, he said, to a well trained intellect +of which mighty sinews were a poor tool but a good setting. Moreover, +Major John T. Stuart--a lawyer of Springfield--who had been his comrade +in the "war" had encouraged him to study law and, further, had offered to +lend him books. So he looked for an occupation which would give him +leisure for study. Offut, his former employer, had failed and cleared +out. The young giant regarded thoughtfully the scanty opportunities of +the village. He could hurl his great strength into the ax-head and make +a good living but he had learned that such a use of it gave him a better +appetite for sleep than study. + +John McNeil, who for a short time had shared his military adventures, had +become a partner of Samuel Hill in a store larger and better stocked than +any the village had known. But Hill and McNeil had no need of a clerk. +Rowan Herndon and William Berry--he of the morning-glory shirt--had +opened a general store. Mr. Herndon offered to sell his interest to Abe +and take notes for his pay. It was not a proposition that promised +anything but loss. The community was small and there were three other +stores and there was no other "Bill" Berry, who was given to drink and +dreams as Abe knew. He was never offensive. Drink begat in Bill Berry a +benevolent form of intemperance. It imparted to him a feeling of pity for +the human race and a deep sense of obligation to it. In his cups he +acquired a notable generosity and politeness. In the words of Jack Kelso +he was then "as placid as a mill pond and as full of reflection." He had +many friends and no one had questioned his honesty. + +Abe Lincoln had not been trained to weigh the consequences of a business +enterprise. The store would give him leisure for study and New Salem +could offer him nothing else save consuming toil with the axe or the saw. +He could not think of leaving the little cabin village. There were Ann +Rutledge and Jack Kelso and Samson Traylor and Harry Needles. Every +ladder climber in the village and on the plain around it was his friend. + +Upon these people who knew and respected him Abe Lincoln based his hopes. +Among them he had found his vision and failure had not diminished or +dimmed it. He would try again for a place in which he could serve them +and if he could learn to serve Sangamon County he could learn to serve +the state and, possibly, even the Republic. With this thought and a +rather poor regard for his own interest his name fell into bad company +on the sign board of Berry and Lincoln. Before he took his place in the +store he walked to Springfield and borrowed a law book from his friend +Major Stuart. + +The career of the firm began on a hot day late in August with Bill Berry +smoking his pipe in a chair on the little veranda of the store and Abe +Lincoln sprawled in the shade of a tree that partly overhung its roof, +reading a law book. The latter was collarless and without coat or +waistcoat. His feet were in yarn socks and heavy cloth slippers. Mr. +Berry was looking intently at nothing. He was also thinking of nothing +with a devotion worthy of the noblest cause. No breeze touched the mill +pond of his consciousness. He would have said that he "had his traps set +for an idea and was watching them." Generally he was watching his traps +with a look of dreamy contemplation. He, too, wore no coat or waistcoat. +His calico shirt was decorated with diminutive roses in pink ink. His +ready tied necktie was very red and fastened on his collar button with an +elastic loop. A nugget of free gold which, he loved to explain, had come +from the Rocky Mountains and had ten dollars' worth of the root of evil +in it, adorned his shirt-front--dangling from a pin bar on a tiny chain. + +The face of Mr. Berry suddenly assumed a look of animation. A small, +yellow dog which had been lying in repose beside him rose and growled, +his hair rising, and with a little cry of alarm and astonishment fled +under the store. + +"Here comes Steve Nuckles on his old mare with a lion following him," +said Berry. + +Abe closed his book and rose and looked at the approaching minister and +his big dog. + +"If we ain't careful we'll git prayed for plenty," said Berry. + +"If the customers don't come faster I reckon we'll need it," said Abe. + +"Howdy," said the minister as he stopped at the hitching bar, dismounted +and tied his mare. "Don't be skeered o' this 'ere dog. He were tied when +I left home but he chawed his rope an' come a'ter me. I reckon if nobody +feeds him he'll patter back to-night." + +"He's a whopper!" said Abe. + +"He's the masteris' dog I ever did see," said the minister, a tall, lank, +brawny, dark-skinned man with gray eyes, sandy whiskers on the point of +his chin, and clothes worn and faded. "Any plug tobaccer?" + +"A back load of it," said Berry, going into the store to wait on the +minister. + +When they came out the latter carved off a corner of the plug with his +jack-knife, put it into his mouth and sat down on the door-step. + +"Mr. Nuckles, how did you happen to become a minister?" Abe asked. + +"Well, sur, I done had a dream," said the Reverend Mr. Nuckles, as he +clasped his hands over a knee and chewed vigorously. "I done dreamt that +I had swallered a double wagon and that the tongue o' the wagon were +stickin' out o' my mouth. It were a cur'ous dream an' I cain't tell what +you'd make of it, but I done tuk it for a sign that my tongue were to be +used on the gospel." + +"It shows that a man who can swaller a wagon can swaller anything," said +Abe. "But I'm glad you took it for a sign. You've done a lot of good in +this country. I've seen you out in all weather and you've made over many +a man and broke and bitted some of the wildest colts on the prairie." + +"I jes' keep watch an' when ol' Satan comes snoopin' eround I'm right +thar to ketch holt an' flop him. It done come to pass frequent I've laid +it on till he were jest a hollerin' fer mercy. Where do Samson Traylor +live?" + +Abe took him to the road and pointed the way. + +"There be goin' to be a raid," said Nuckles. "I reckon, by all I've +heard, it'll come on to-night." + +"A raid! Who's going to be raided?" Abe asked. + +"Them Traylor folks. A lady done tol' me yesterday. Soon as ever I got +her soul saved she blabbed it. Thar be a St. Louis man name o' Biggs, +done stirred up the folks from Missourey and Tennessee on the south road +'bout the Yankee who holps the niggers out o' bondage. Them folks'd have +slavery in this here county if they could. They be right hot I reckon. A +stranger done been goin' eround with whisky in his bags startin' a band +o' regulators. Held a meetin' las' Sunday. They be goin' to do some +regulatin' to-night. Ol' Satan'll break loose. Ef you don't wa'ch out +they'll come over an' burn his house sartin." + +"We'll watch out," said Abe. "They don't know Traylor. He's one of the +best men in this country." + +"I've heered he were a he man an' a right powerful, God-fearin' man," +said the minister. + +"He's one of the best men that ever came to this country and any one that +wants to try his strength is welcome to; I don't," said Abe. "Are you +going over there?" + +"I were goin' to warn 'em an' holp 'em ef I cain." + +"Well, go on, but don't stir 'em up," Abe cautioned him. "Don't say a +word about the raid. I'll be over there with some other fellers soon +after sundown. We'll just tell 'em it's a he party come over for a +story-tellin' an' a rassle. I reckon we'll have some fun. Ride on over +and take supper with 'em. They're worth knowing." + +In a few minutes the minister mounted his horse and rode away followed by +his big dog. + +"If I was you I wouldn't go," said Berry. + +"Why not?" + +"It'll hurt trade. Let the rest of Traylor's friends go over. There's +enough of 'em." + +"We must all stand as one man for law and order," said Abe. "If we don't +there won't be any." + +As soon as Abe had had his supper he went from house to house and asked +the men to come to his store for a piece of important business. When they +had come he told them what was in the wind. Soon after that hour Abe and +Philemon Morris, and Alexander Ferguson, and Martin Waddell and Robert +Johnson and Joshua Miller and Jack Kelso and Samuel Hill and John McNeil +set out for the Traylor cabin. Doctors Allen and Regnier and James +Rutledge and John Cameron and Isaac Gollaher, being older men, were +requested to remain in the village and to use their guns, if necessary, +to prevent a demonstration there. Samson greeted the party with a look +of surprise. + +"Have you come out to hang me?" he asked. + +"No just to hang around ye," said Abe. + +"This time it's a heart warmin'," Jack Kelso averred. "We left our wives +at home so that we could pay our compliments to Mrs. Traylor without +reserve knowing you to be a man above jealousy." + +"It's what we call a he party on the prairies," said Ferguson. "For one +thing I wanted to see Abe and the minister have a rassle." + +The Reverend Stephen Nuckles stood in front of the door with Sarah and +Harry and the children. He was a famous wrestler. Forthwith he playfully +jumped into the air clapping his heels together three times before he +touched the ground. + +"I cain't rassle like I used to could but I be willin' to give ye a try, +Abe," said the minister. + +"You'd better save your strength for ol' Satan," said Abe. + +"Go on, Abe," the others urged. "Give him a try." + +Abe modestly stepped forward. In the last year he had grown less inclined +to that kind of fun. The men took hold of each other, collar and elbow. +They parried with their feet for an instant. Suddenly Abe's long right +leg caught itself behind the left knee of the minister. It was the hip +lock as they called it those days. Once secured the stronger man was +almost sure to prevail and quickly. The sturdy circuit rider stood +against it for a second until Abe sprang his bow. Then the heels of the +former flew upward and his body came down to the grass, back first. + +"That ar done popped my wind bag," said the minister as he got up. + +"Call in," said John McNeil and the others echoed it. + +"I call you," said the minister turning to McNeil. + +"McNeil!" the onlookers called. + +The stalwart young Irishman stepped forward and said: + +"I don't mind measuring my length on the grass." + +This he did in less than half a moment. As the young man rose from the +grass he said: + +"I call in Samson Traylot." + +At last the thing which had long been a subject of talk and argument in +the stores and houses of New Salem was about to come to pass--a trial of +strength and agility between the two great lions of Sangamon County. +Either of them would have given a month's work to avoid it. + +"I reckon we better begin our story-tellin'," said Abe. + +"I think so too," Samson declared. "It's purty dusk now." + +"A rassle--a rassle," their neighbors shouted. + +"I'd rather give ten bushel o' wheat than miss seein' you fellers take +hold o' each other," said Alexander Ferguson. + +"I would too," said Martin Waddell. + +So it happened that these friendly giants, each dreading the ordeal, +faced each other for a contest. + +"Now we shall see which is the son of Peleus and which the son of +Telemon," Kelso shouted. + +"How shall we rassle?" Samson asked. + +"I don't care," said Abe. + +"Rough and tumble," Ferguson proposed. + +Both men agreed. They bent low intently watching each other, their great +hands outreaching. They stood braced for a second and suddenly both +sprang forward. Their shoulders came together with a thud. It was like +two big bison bulls hurling their weight in the first shock of battle. +For a breath each bore with all his strength and then closed with his +adversary. Each had an under hold with one arm, the other hooked around a +shoulder. Samson lifted Abe from his feet but the latter with tremendous +efforts loosened the hold of the Vermonter, and regained the turf. They +struggled across the dooryard, the ground trembling beneath their feet. +They went against the side of the house shaking it with the force of +their impact. Samson had broken the grip of one of Abe's hands and now +had his feet in the air again but the young giant clung to hip and +shoulder and wriggled back to his foothold. Those lesser men were +thrilled and a little frightened by the mighty struggle. Knowing the +strength of the wrestlers they felt a fear of broken bones. Each had torn +a rent in the coat of the other. If they kept on there was danger that +both would be stripped. The children had begun to cry. Sarah begged the +struggling men to stop and they obeyed her. + +"If any of you fellers think that's fun you can have my place," said Abe. +"Samson, I declare you elected the strongest man in this county. You've +got the muscle of a grizzly bear. I'm glad to be quit o' ye." + +"It ain't a fair election, Abe," Samson laughed. "If you were rassling +for the right you could flop me. This little brush was nothing. Your +heart wasn't in it, and by thunder, Abe! when it comes to havin' fun +I rather guess we'd both do better to let each other alone." + +"'Tain't exactly good amusement, not for us," Abe agreed. + +It was growing dark. Ann Rutledge arrived on her pony, and called Abe +aside and told him that the raiders were in the village and were breaking +the windows of Radford's store because he had refused to sell them +liquor. + +"Have they any guns with them?" Abe asked. + +"No," Ann answered. + +"Don't say anything about it," Abe cautioned her. + +"Just go into the house with Sarah Traylor and sit down and have a good +visit. We'll look after the raiders." + +Then Abe told Samson what was up. The men concealed themselves in some +bushes by the roadside while the minister sat close against an end of the +house with his blood hound beside him. Before they were settled in their +places they heard the regulators coming. The horses of the latter were +walking as they approached. Not a sound came from the men who rode them. +They proceeded to the grove just beyond the cabin and hitched their +horses. There were eight men in the party according to Abe's count as +they passed. The men, in concealment, hurried to the cabin and surrounded +it, crouched against the walls. In a moment they could see a big spot, +blacker than the darkness, moving toward them. It was the massed raiders. +They came on with the stealth of a cat nearing its prey. A lion-like roar +broke the silence. The blood hound leaped forward. The waiting men sprang +to their feet and charged. The raiders turned and ran, pell mell, in a +panic toward their horses. Suddenly the darkness seemed to fill with +moving figures. One of the fleeing men, whose coat tails the dog had +seized, was yelling for help. The minister rescued him and the dog went +on roaring after the others. When the New Salemites got to the edge of +the grove they could hear a number of regulators climbing into the tree +tops. Samson had a man in each hand; Abe had another, while Harry Needles +and Alexander Ferguson were in possession of the man whom the dog had +captured. The minister was out in the grove with his blood hound that was +barking and growling under a tree. Jack Kelso arrived with a lantern. One +of Samson's captives began swearing and struggling to get away. Samson +gave him a little shake and bade him be quiet. The man uttered a cry of +fear and pain and offered no more resistance. Stephen Nuckles came out +of the grove. + +"The rest o' that ar party done gone up-stairs to roost," said the +minister. "I reckon my dog'll keep 'em thar. We better jest tote these +men inter the house an' have a prayin' bee. I've got a right smart good +chanct, now, to whop ol' Satan." + +They moved the raiders' horses. Then the party--save Harry Needles, who +stayed in the grove to keep watch--took its captives into the cabin. + +"You set here with this gun and if any o' them tries to get away you take +a crack at him," said Samson, as they were leaving, in a voice intended +for the men in the tree-tops. + +The men and the four dejected raiders crowded into the cabin. + +Sarah, who had heard the disturbance and wondered what it meant, met them +at the door with a look of alarm. + +"These men came to do us harm," Samson said to Sarah. "They are good +fellows but they got an idea in their heads that we are bad folks. I hear +that young Mr. Biggs set them up against us. Let's give them a bite to +eat the first thing we do." + +They took a look at the captives. Three of them were boys from eighteen +to twenty years of age. The other was a lanky, bearded Tennessean some +forty years old. One of the young lads had hurt his hand in the evening's +frolic. Blood was dripping from it. The four sat silent and fearful and +ashamed. + +Sarah made tea and put it with meat and milk and doughnuts and bread and +butter on the table for them. Samson washed and bandaged the boy's wound. +The captives ate as if they were hungry while the minister went out to +feed his dog. When the men had finished eating Samson offered them +tobacco. The oldest man filled his pipe and lighted it with a coal. Not +one of the captives had said a word until this tall Tennessean remarked +after his pipe was going: + +"Thankee, mister. You done been right good to us." + +"Who told you to come here?" Samson demanded. + +"'Twere a man from St. Louis. He done said you hated the South an' were +holpin' niggers to run away." + +"And he offered to pay you to come here and burn this house and run +Traylor out of the county, didn't he?" Abe asked. + +"He did--yes, suh--he suah did," answered the man--like a child in his +ignorance and simplicity. + +"I thought so," Abe rejoined. "You tackled a big job, my friend. Did you +know that every one of you could be sent to prison for a term of years +and I've a good mind to see that you go there. You men have got to begin +right now to behave yourselves mighty proper or you'll begin to sup +sorrow." + +Stephen Nuckles returned as Abe was speaking. + +"You jest leave 'em to me, Mr. Lincoln," he said. "These be good men but +ol' Satan done got his hooks on 'em. Mis' Traylor, ef you don't mind I be +goin' to do a job o' prayin' right now. Men, you jest git down on yo' +knees right hyar along o' me." + +The men and the minister knelt on the puncheon floor while the latter +prayed long and loudly for the saving of their souls. Every one who heard +it felt the simple, moving eloquence of the prayer. Kelso said that +Christ's love of men was in it. When the prayer was ended the minister +asked permission to go with the raiders to the barn and spend the night +with them. Of this curious event Samson wrote in his diary: + + * * * * * + +"Of what was done in the barn I have no knowledge but when Nuckles came +back to the house with them in the morning the minister said that they +had come into the fold and that he would promise for them that they would +be good citizens in the future. They got their breakfast, fed and watered +their horses and rode away. We found five men up in the tree-tops and the +dog on watch. The minister went out and preached to them for about half +an hour and then prayed for their souls. When that was over he said: + +"'Now, boys, be you ready to accept Christ and a good breakfast? If not +you'll have to git a new grip on yer pews an' set right thar while I +preach another sermon. Thar ain't nary one of us goin' to break our fast +till you're willin' to be saved.' + +"They caved in. + +"'I couldn't stan' another sermon no how,' said one in a sorrowful voice. +'I feel like a wownded bird. Send up a charge o' buck shot if you keer +to, but don't preach no more sermons to me. It's jest a waste o' breath. +I reckon we're all on the monah's bench.' + +"When they had come down out of the tree-tops not one of them could stand +on his legs for a little while." + + * * * * * + +The gentleman of the sorrowful voice and the broken spirit said: + +"'Pears like I'll have to be tuk down an' put together again." + +They were meek and sore when they limped to the cabin and washed on the +stand by the doorside and went in to breakfast. After they had eaten the +minister prayed some more and rode away with them. + +It is recorded later in the diary that the rude Shepherd of the prairies +worked with these men on their farms for weeks until he had them wonted +to the fold. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +IN WHICH ABE, ELECTED TO THE LEGISLATURE, GIVES WHAT COMFORT HE CAN TO +ANN RUTLEDGE IN THE BEGINNING OF HER SORROWS. ALSO HE GOES TO SPRINGFIELD +FOR NEW CLOTHES AND IS ASTONISHED BY ITS POMP AND THE CHANGE IN ELI. + + +Radford's grocery had been so wrecked by the raiders that its owner was +disheartened. Reenforced by John Cameron and James Rutledge he had +succeeded in drawing them away before they could steal whisky enough to +get drunk. But they had thrown many of his goods into the street. Radford +mended his windows and offered his stock for sale. After a time Berry and +Lincoln bought it, giving notes in payment, and applied for a license to +sell the liquors they had thus acquired. + +The Traylors had harvested a handsome crop of corn and oats and wheat +only to find that its value would be mostly consumed by threshing and +transportation to a market. Samson was rather discouraged. + +"It's the land of plenty but it's an awful ways from the land of money," +he said. "We've got to hurry up and get Abe into the Legislature or this +community can't last. We've got to have some way to move things." + +None of their friends had come out to them and only one letter from home +had reached the cabin since April. + +Late that autumn a boy baby arrived in their home. Mrs. Onstott, Mrs. +Waddell and Mrs. Kelso came to help and one or the other of them did the +nursing and cooking while Sarah was in bed and for a little time +thereafter. The coming of the baby was a comfort to this lonely mother of +the prairies. Joe and Betsey asked their father in whispers while Sarah +was lying sick where the baby had come from. + +"I don't know," he answered. + +"Don't you know?" Joe asked with a look of wonder. + +"No, sir, I don't--that's honest," said Samson. "But there's some that +say they come on the back of a big crane and at the right home the ol' +crane lights an' pecks on the door and dumps 'em off, just as gentle as +he can." + +Joe examined the door carefully to find where the crane had pecked on it. + +That day he confided to Betsey that in his opinion the baby didn't amount +to much. + +"Why?" Betsey asked. + +"Can't talk or play with any one or do anything but just make a noise +like a squirrel. Nobody can do anything but whisper an' go 'round on his +tiptoes." + +"He's our little brother and we must love him," said Betsey. + +"Yes; we've got to love him," said Joe. "But it's worse 'n pickin' up +potatoes. I wisht he'd gone to some other house." + +That day Sarah awoke from a bad dream with tears flowing down her cheeks. +She found the little lad standing by her pillow looking very troubled. He +kissed her and whispered: + +"God help us all and make His face to shine upon us." + +There is a letter from Sarah to her brother dated May, 10, 1833, in which +she sums up the effect of all this and some months of history in the +words that follow: + +"The Lord has given us a new son. I have lived through the ordeal--thanks +to His goodness--and am strong again. The coming of the baby has +reconciled us to the loss of our old friends as much as anything could. +It has made this little home dear to us and proved the quality of our new +friends. Nothing is too much for them to do. I don't wonder that Abe +Lincoln has so much confidence in the people of this country. They are +sound at heart both the northerners and the southerners 'though some of +the latter that we see here are awfully ignorant and prejudiced. We have +had wonderful fun with the children since the baby was born. It has been +like a play or a story book to hear the talk of Joe and Betsey. She loves +to play mother to this wonderful new doll and is quite a help to me. +Harry Needles is getting over his disappointment. He goes down to the +store often to sit with Abe and Jack Kelso and hear them talk. He and +Samson are getting deeply interested in politics. Abe lets Harry read the +books that he borrows from Major Stuart of Springfield. The boy is bent +on being a lawyer and improving his mind. Samson found him the other day +making a speech to the horses and to poor Sambo out in the barn. Bim +Kelso writes to her mother that she is very happy in her new home but +there is something between the lines which seems to indicate that she is +trying to put a good face on a bad matter. What a peril it is to be young +and pretty and a girl! Berry and Lincoln have got a license and are +selling liquor in their store but nobody thinks anything of that here. +Abe has been appointed Postmaster. Everytime he leaves the store he +takes the letters in his hat and delivers them as he gets a chance. +We have named the new baby Samuel." + +The firm of Lincoln and Berry had not prospered. After they had got their +license things went from bad to worse with them. Mr. Berry, who handled +the liquors, kept himself in a genial stage of inebriation and sat in +smiles and loud calico talking of gold mines and hidden treasure. Jack +Kelso said that a little whisky converted Berry's optimism into opulence. + +"It is the opulence that tends to poverty," Abe answered. "Berry gets so +rich, at times, that he will have nothing to do with the vulgar details +of trade." + +"And he exhibits such a touching sympathy for the poor," said Kelso, "you +can't help loving him. I have never beheld such easy and admirable +grandeur." + +The addition of liquors to its stock had attracted some rather tough +characters to the store. One of them who had driven some women out of it +with profanity was collared by Abe and conducted out of the door and +thrown upon the grass where his face was rubbed with smart weed until he +yelled for mercy. After that the rough type of drinking man chose his +words with some care in the store of Berry and Lincoln. + +One evening, of that summer, Abe came out to the Traylors' with a letter +in his hat for Sarah. + +"How's business?" Samson asked. + +"Going to peter out I reckon," Abe answered with a sorrowful look. "It +will leave me badly in debt. I wanted something that would give me a +chance for study and I got it. By jing! It looks as if I was going to +have years of study trying to get over it. I've gone and jumped into a +mill pond to get out of the rain. I'd better have gone to Harvard College +and walked all the way. Have you got any work to give me? You know I can +split rails about as fast as the next man and I'll take my pay in wheat +or corn." + +"You may give me all the time you can spend outside the store," said +Samson. + +That evening they had a talk about the whisky business and its relation +to the character of Eliphalet Biggs and to sundry infractions of law and +order in their community. Samson had declared that it was wrong to sell +liquor. + +"All that kind of thing can be safely left to the common sense of our +people," said Abe. "The remedy is education, not revolution. Slowly the +people will have to set down all the items in the ledger of common sense +that passes from sire to son. By and by some generation will strike a +balance. That may not come in a hundred years. Soon or late the majority +of the people will reach a reckoning with John Barleycorn. If there's too +much against him they will act. You might as well try to stop a glacier +by building a dam in front of it. They have opened an account with +Slavery too. By and by they'll decide its fate." + +Such was his faith in the common folk of America whose way of learning +and whose love of the right he knew as no man has known it. + +In this connection the New Englander wrote in his diary: + + * * * * * + +"He has spent his boyhood in the South and his young manhood in the +North. He has studied the East and lived in the West. He is the people--I +sometimes think--and about as slow to make up his mind. As Isaiah says: +'He does not judge after the sight of his eyes neither reprove after the +hearing of his ears.' Abe has to think about it." + + * * * * * + +Many days thereafter Abe and Harry and Samson were out in the woods +together splitting rails and making firewood. Abe always took his book +with him and read aloud to Harry and Samson in the noon-hour. He liked to +read aloud and thought that he remembered better what he had read with +both eye and ear taking it in. + +One day while they were at work Pollard Simmons came out to them and said +that John Calhoun the County Surveyor wanted Abe to be his assistant. + +"I don't know how to survey," said Abe. + +"But I reckon you can learn it," Simmons answered. "You're purty quick to +learn." + +Abe thought a moment. Calhoun was a Democrat. + +"Would I have to sacrifice any of my principles?" he asked. + +"Nary a one," said Simmons. + +"Then I'll try and see if I can get the hang of it," Abe declared. "I +reckon Mentor Graham could help me." + +"Three dollars a day is not to be sneezed at," said Simmons. + +"No, sir--not if you can get it honest," Abe answered. "I'm not so +careless with my sneezing as some men. Once when Eb Zane was out on the +Ohio in a row-boat Mike Fink the river pirate got after him. Eb had a ten +dollar gold piece in his pocket. For fear that he would be captured he +clapped it into his mouth. Eb was a good oarsman and got away. He was no +sooner out of danger than he fetched a sneeze and blew the gold piece +into the river. After that he used to say that he had sneezed himself +poor and that if he had a million dollars it wouldn't bother him to +sneeze 'em away. Sneezing is a form of dissipation which has not cost me +a cent so far and I don't intend to yield to it." + +Immediately after that Abe got Flint and Gibson's treatise on surveying +and began to study it day and night under the eye of the kindly +schoolmaster. In about six weeks he had mastered the book and reported +for duty. + +In April Abe wrote another address to the voters announcing that he was +again a candidate for a seat in the Legislature. Late that month Harry +walked with him to Pappsville where a crowd had assembled to attend a +public sale. When the auctioneer had finished Abe made his first stump +speech. A drunken man tried to divert attention to himself by sundry +interruptions. Harry asked him to be quiet, whereupon the ruffian and a +friend pitched upon the boy and began to handle him roughly. Abe jumped +down, rushed into the crowd, seized the chief offender and raising him +off his feet flung him into the air. He hit the ground in a heap some +four yards from where Abe stood. The latter resumed his place and went +on with his speech. The crowd cheered him and there was no further +disturbance at that meeting. The speech was a modest, straightforward +declaration of his principles. When he was leaving several voices called +for a story. Abe raised a great laugh with a humorous anecdote in which +he imitated the dialect and manners of a Kentucky backwoodsman. They +kept him on the auctioneer's block for half an hour telling the wise and +curious folk tales of which he knew so many. He had won the crowd by his +principles, his humor and good nature as well as by the brave and +decisive exhibition of his great strength. + +Abe and Harry went to a number of settlements in the county with a like +result save that no more violence was needed. At one place there were men +in the crowd who knew Harry's record in the war. They called on him for a +speech. He spoke on the need of the means of transportation in Sangamon +County with such insight and dignity and convincing candor that both Abe +and the audience hailed him as a coming man. Abe and he were often seen +together those days. + +In New Salem they were called the disappointed lovers. It was known there +that Abe was very fond of Ann Rutledge although he had not, as yet, +openly confessed to any one--not even to Ann--there being no show of hope +for him. Ann was deeply in love with John McNeil--the genial, handsome +and successful young Irishman. The affair had reached the stage of +frankness, of an open discussion of plans, of fond affection expressing +itself in caresses quite indifferent to ridicule. + +For Ann it had been like warm sunlight on the growing rose. She was +neater in dress, lovelier in form and color, more graceful in movement +and sweeter-voiced than ever she had been. It is the old way that Nature +has of preparing the young to come out upon the stage of real life and to +act in its moving scenes. Abe manfully gave them his best wishes and when +he spoke of Ann it was done very tenderly. The look of sadness, which all +had noted in his moments of abstraction, deepened and often covered his +face with its veil. That is another way that Nature has of preparing the +young. For these the roses have fallen and only the thorns remain. They +are not lured; they seem to be driven to their tasks, but for all, soon +or late, her method changes. + +On a beautiful morning of June, 1834, John McNeil left the village. Abe +Lincoln and Harry and Samson and Sarah and Jack Kelso and his wife stood +with the Rutledges in the dooryard of the tavern when he rode away. He +was going back to his home in the far East to return in the autumn and +make Ann his bride. The girl wept as if her heart would break when he +turned far down the road and waved his hand to her. + +"Oh, my pretty lass! Do you not hear the birds singing in the meadows?" +said Jack Kelso. "Think of the happiness all around you and of the +greater happiness that is coming when he returns. Shame on you!" + +"I'm afraid he'll never come back," Ann sobbed. + +"Nonsense! Don't get a maggot in your brain and let the crows go walking +over your face. Come, we'll take a ride in the meadows and if I don't +bring you back laughing you may call me no prophet." + +So the event passed. + +Harry traveled about with Abe a good deal that summer, "electioneering," +as they called it, from farm to farm. Samson and Sarah regarded the +association as a good school for the boy who had a taste for politics. +Abe used to go into the fields, with the men whose favor he sought, and +bend his long back over a scythe or a cradle and race them playfully +across the field of grain cutting a wider swath than any other and always +holding the lead. Every man was out of breath at the end of his swath and +needed a few minutes for recuperation. That gave Abe a chance for his +statement of the county's needs and his plan of satisfying them. He had +met and talked with a majority of the voters before the campaign ended in +his election in August. Those travels about the county had been a source +of education to the candidate and the voters. + +At odd times that summer he had been surveying a new road with Harry +Needles for his helper. In September they resumed their work upon it in +the vicinity of New Salem and Abe began to carry the letters in his hat +again. Every day Ann was looking for him as he came by in the dim light +of the early morning on his way to work. + +"Anything for me?" she would ask. + +"No mail in since I saw you, Ann," was the usual answer. + +Often he would say: "I'm afraid not, but here--you take these letters and +look through 'em and make sure." + +Ann would take them in her hands, trembling with eagerness, and run +indoors to the candlelight, and look them over. Always she came back with +the little bundle of letters very slowly as if her disappointment were a +heavy burden. + +"There'll he one next mail if I have to write it myself," Abe said one +morning in October as he went on. + +To Harry Needles who was with him that morning he said: + +"I wonder why that fellow don't write to Ann. I couldn't believe that he +has been fooling her but now I don't know what to think of him. Every day +I have to deliver a blow that makes her a little paler and thinner. It +hurts me like smashing a finger nail. I wonder what has happened to the +fellow." + +The mail stage was late that evening. As it had not come at nine Mr. Hill +went home and left Abe in the store to wait for his mail. The stage +arrived a few minutes later. It came as usual in a cloud of dust and a +thunder of wheels and hoofs mingled with the crack of the lash, the +driver saving his horses for this little display of pride and pomp on +arriving at a village. Abe examined the little bundle of letters and +newspapers which the driver had left with him. Then he took a paper and +sat down to read in the firelight. While he was thus engaged the door +opened softly and Ann Rutledge entered. The Postmaster was not aware +of her presence until she touched his arm. + +"Please give me a letter," she said. + +"Sit down, Ann," said he, very gently, as he placed a chair in the +fire-glow. + +She took it, turning toward him with a look of fear and hope. Then he +added: + +"I'm sorry but the truth is it didn't come." + +"Don't--don't tell me that again," she pleaded in a broken voice, as she +leaned forward covering her face with her hands. + +"It is terrible, Ann, that I have to help in this breaking of your heart +that is going on. I seem to be the head of the hammer that hits you so +hard but the handle is in other hands. Honestly, Ann, I wish I could do +the suffering for you--every bit of it--and give your poor heart a rest. +Hasn't he written you this summer?" + +"Not since July tenth," she answered. Then she confided to Abe the fact +that her lover had told her before he went away that his name was not +McNeil but McNamar; that he had changed his name to keep clear of his +family until he had made a success; that he had gone east to get his +father and mother and bring them back with him; lastly she came to the +thing that worried her most--the suspicion of her father and mother that +John was not honest. + +"They say that nobody but a liar would live with a false name," Ann told +him. "They say that he probably had a wife when he came here--that that +is why he don't write to me." + +Then after a little silence she pleaded: "You don't think that, do you, +Abe?" + +"No," said the latter, giving her the advantage of every doubt. "John did +a foolish thing but we must not condemn him without a knowledge of the +facts. The young often do foolish things and sickness would account for +his silence. But whatever the facts are you mustn't let yourself be slain +by disappointment. It isn't fair to your friends. John McNamar may be the +best man in the world still the fact remains that it would be a pretty +good world even if he were not in it and I reckon there'd be lots of men +whose love would be worth having too. You go home and go to sleep and +stop worrying, Ann. You'll get that letter one of these days." + +A day or two later Abe and Harry went to Springfield. Their reason for +the trip lay in a talk between the Postmaster and Jack Kelso the night +before as they sat by the latter's fireside. + +"I've been living where there was no one to find fault with my parts of +speech or with the parts of my legs which were not decently covered," +said Abe. "The sock district of my person has been without representation +in the legislature of my intellect up to its last session. Then we got a +bill through for local improvements and the Governor has approved the +appropriation. Suddenly we discovered that there was no money in the +treasury. But Samson Traylor has offered to buy an issue of bonds of the +amount of fifteen dollars." + +"I'm glad to hear you declare in favor of external improvements," said +Kelso. "We've all been too much absorbed by internal improvements. You're +on the right trail, Abe. You've been thinking of the public ear and too +little of the public eye. We must show some respect for both." + +"Sometimes I think that comely dress ought to go with comely diction," +said Abe. "But that's a thing you can't learn in books. There's no +grammarian of the language of dress. Then I'm so big and awkward. It's +a rather hopeless problem." + +"You're in good company," Kelso assured him. "Nature guards her best men +with some sort of singularity not attractive to others. Often she makes +them odious with conceit or deformity or dumbness or garrulity. Dante +was such a poor talker that no one would ever ask him to dinner. If it +had not been so I presume his muse would have been sadly crippled by +indigestion. If you had been a good dancer and a lady's favorite I +wonder if you would have studied Kirkham and Burns and Shakespeare and +Blackstone and Starkie, and the science of surveying and been elected to +the Legislature. I wonder if you could even have whipped Jack Armstrong." + +"Or have enjoyed the friendship of Bill Berry and acquired a national +debt, or have saved my imperiled country in the war with Black Hawk," Abe +laughed. + +In the matter of dress the Postmaster had great confidence in the taste +and knowledge of his young friend, Harry Needles, whose neat appearance +Abe regarded with serious admiration. So he asked Harry to go with him on +this new mission and help to choose the goods and direct the tailoring, +for it seemed to him a highly important enterprise. + +"It's a difficult problem," said Abe. "Given a big man and a small sum +and the large amount of respectability that's desired. We mustn't make +a mistake." + +They got a ride part of the way with a farmer going home from Rutledge's +Mill. + +"Our appropriation is only fifteen dollars," said Abe as they came in +sight of "the big village" on a warm bright day late in October. "Of +course I can't expect to make myself look like the President of the +United States with such a sum but I want to look like a respectable +citizen of the United States if that is possible. I'll give the old Abe +and fifteen dollars to boot for a new one and we'll see what comes of +it." + +Springfield had been rapidly changing. It was still small and crude but +some of the best standards of civilization had been set up in that +community. Families of wealth and culture in the East had sent their +sons and a share of their capital to this little metropolis of the land +of plenty to go into business. The Edwardses in their fine top boots +and ruffled shirts were there. So were certain of the Ridgleys of +Maryland--well known and successful bankers. The Logans and the Conklings +and the Stuarts who had won reputations at the bar before they arrived +were now settled in Springfield. Handsome, well groomed horses, in +silver mounted harness, drawing carriages that shone "so you could see +your face in them," to quote from Abe again, were on its streets. + +"My conscience! What a lot of jingling and high stepping there is here in +the street and on the sidewalk," said Abe as they came into the village. +"I reckon there's a mile of gold watch chains in this crowd." + +A public sale was on and the walks were thronged. Women in fine silks and +millinery; men in tall beaver hats and broadcloth and fine linen touched +elbows with the hairy, rough clad men of the prairies and their worn +wives in old-fashioned bonnets and faded coats. + +The two New Salem men stopped and studied a big sign in front of a large +store on which this announcement had been lettered: + + "Cloths, cassinettes, cassimeres, velvet silks, satins, + Marseilles waistcoating, fine, calf boots, seal and morocco + pumps for gentlemen, crepe lisse, lace veils. + Thibet shawls, fine prunella shoes." + +"Reads like a foreign language to me," said Abe. "The pomp of the East +has got here at last. I'd like to know what seal and morocco pumps are. I +reckon they're a contrivance that goes down into a man's pocket and sucks +it dry. I wonder what a cassinette is like, and a prunella shoe. How +would you like a little Marseilles waistcoating?" + +Suddenly a man touched his shoulder with a hearty "Howdy, Abe?" + +It was Eli, "the wandering Jew," as he had been wont to call himself in +the days when he carried a pack on the road through Peter's Bluff and +Clary's Grove and New Salem to Beardstown and back. + +"Dis is my store," said Eli. + +"Your store!" Abe exclaimed. + +"Ya, look at de sign." + +The Jew pointed to his sign-board, some fifty feet long under the +cornice, on which they read the legend: + + "Eli Fredenberg's Emporium." + +Abe looked him over from head to foot and exclaimed: + +"My conscience! You look as if you had been fixed up to be sold to the +highest bidder." + +The hairy, dusty, bow-legged, threadbare peddler had been touched by some +miraculous hand. The lavish hand of the West had showered her favors on +him. They resembled in some degree the barbaric pearl and gold of the +East. He glowed with prosperity. Diamonds and ruffled linen and Scotch +plaid and red silk on his neck and a blue band on his hat and a +smooth-shorn face and perfumery were the glittering details that +surrounded the person of Eli. + +"Come in," urged the genial proprietor of the Emporium. "I vould like to +show you my goots and introduce you to my brudder." + +They went in and met his brother and had their curiosity satisfied as to +the look and feel of cassinettes and waistcoatings and seal and morocco +pumps and prunella shoes. + +In the men's department after much thoughtful discussion they decided +upon a suit of blue jeans--that being the only goods which, in view of +the amount of cloth required, came within the appropriation. Eli advised +against it. + +"You are like Eli already," he said. "You haf got de pack off your back. +Look at me. Don't you hear my clothes say somet'ing?" + +"They are very eloquent," said Abe. + +"Vell dey make a speech. Dey say 'Eli Fredenberg he is no more a poor +devil. You can not sneeze at him once again. Nefer. He has climb de +ladder up.' Now you let me sell you somet'ing vat makes a good speech for +you." + +"If you'll let me dictate the speech I'll agree," said Abe. + +"Vell-vat is it?" Eli asked. + +"I would like my clothes to say in a low tone of voice: 'This is humble +Abraham Lincoln about the same length and breadth that I am. He don't +want to scare or astonish anybody. He don't want to look like a beggar +or a millionaire. Just put him down for a hard working man of good +intentions who is badly in debt.'" + +That ended all argument. The suit of blue jeans was ordered and the +measures taken. As they were about to go Eli said: + +"I forgot to tell you dot I haf seen Bim Kelso de odder day in St. Louis. +I haf seen her on de street. She has been like a queen so grand! De hat +and gown from Paris and she valk so proud! But she look not so happy like +she usit to be. I speak to her. Oh my, she vas glad and so surprised! She +tolt me dot she vould like to come home for a visit but her husband he +does not vant her to go dere--nefer again. My jobber haf tolt me dot Mr. +Biggs is git drunk efery day. Bim she t'ink de place no good. She haf +tolt me dey treat de niggers awful. She haf cry ven she tolt me dot." + +"Poor child!" said Abe. "I'm afraid she's in trouble." + +"I've been thinking for some time that I'd go down there and try to see +her," said Harry as they were leaving the store. "Now, I'll have to go." + +"Maybe I'll go with you," said Abe. + +They got a ride part of the way back and had a long tramp again under the +starlight. + +"I don't believe you had better go down to St. Louis," Abe remarked as +they walked along. "It might make things worse. I'm inclined to think +that I'd do better alone with that problem." + +"I guess you're right," said Harry. "It would be like me to do something +foolish." + +"And do it very thoroughly," Abe suggested. "You're in love with the +girl. I wouldn't trust your judgment in St. Louis." + +"She hasn't let on to her parents that she's unhappy. Mother Traylor told +me that they got a letter from her last week that told of the good times +she was having." + +"We know what that means. She can't bear to acknowledge to them that she +has made a mistake and she don't want to worry them. Her mother is in +part responsible for the marriage. Bim don't want her to be blamed. Eli +caught her off her guard and her heart and her face spoke to him." + +In a moment Abe added: "Her parents have begun to suspect that something +is wrong. They have never been invited to go down there and visit the +girl. I reckon we'd better say nothing to any one of what we have heard +at present." + +They reached New Salem in the middle of the night and went into +Rutledge's barn and lay down on the haymow between two buffalo hides +until morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +WHICH CONTINUES THE ROMANCE OF ABE AND ANN UNTIL THE FORMER LEAVES NEW +SALEM TO BEGIN HIS WORK IN THE LEGISLATURE. ALSO IT DESCRIBES THE +COLONELING OF PETER LUKINS. + + +The next day after his return, Abe received a letter for Ann. She had +come over to the store on the arrival of the stage and taken her letter +and run home with it. That Saturday's stage brought the new suit of +clothes from Springfield. Sunday morning Abe put it on and walked over to +Kelso's. Mrs. Kelso was sweeping the cabin. + +"We shall have to stand outside a moment," said Jack. "I have an +inappeasable hatred of brooms. A lance in the hand of the Black Knight +was not more terrible than a broom in the hands of a righteous woman. I +had to flee from _The Life and Adventures of Duncan Campbell_ when I saw +the broom flashing in a cloud of dust and retreated." + +He stepped to the door and said: "A truce, madam! Here is the Honorable +Abraham Lincoln in his new suit." + +Mrs. Kelso came out-of-doors and she and her husband surveyed the tall +young Postmaster. + +"Well it is, at least, sufficient," said Kelso. + +"The coat ought to be a little longer," Mrs. Kelso suggested. + +"It will be long enough before I get another," said Abe. + +"It is not what one would call an elegant suit but it's all right," Kelso +added. + +"The fact is, elegance and I wouldn't get along well together," Abe +answered. "It would be like going into partnership with Bill Berry." + +"Next month you'll be off at the capital and we shall be going to +Tazewell County," said Kelso. + +"To Tazewell County!" + +"Aye. It's a changing world! We should always remember that things can +not go on with us as they are. The Governor has given me a job." + +"And me a great sadness," said Abe. "You must always let me know where to +find you." + +"Aye! Many a night you and I shall hear the cock crowing." + +It was an Indian summer day of the first week in November. That afternoon +Abe went to the tavern and asked Ann to walk out to the Traylors' with +him. She seemed to be glad to go. She was not the cheerful, quick footed, +rosy cheeked Ann of old. Her face was pale, her eyes dull and listless, +her step slow. Neither spoke until they had passed the Waddell cabin and +were come to the open fields. + +"I hope your letter brought good news," said Abe. + +"It was very short," Ann answered. "He took a fever in Ohio and was sick +there four weeks and then he went home. In two months he never wrote a +word to me. And this one was only a little bit of a letter with no love +in it. I don't believe he will ever come back. I don't think he cares for +me now or, perhaps, he is married. I don't know. I'm not going to cry +about it any more. I can't. I've no more tears to shed. I've given him +up." + +"Then I reckon the time has come for me to tell you what is on my heart," +said Abe. "I love you, Ann. I have loved you for years. I would have told +you long ago but I could not make myself believe that I was good enough +for you. I love you so much that if you can only be happy with John +McNamar I will pray to God that he may turn out to be a good and faithful +man and come back and keep his promise." She looked up at him with a kind +of awe in her face. + +"Oh, Abe!" she whispered. "I had made up my mind that men were all bad +but my father. I was wrong. I did not think of you." + +"Men are mostly good," said Abe. "But it's very easy to misunderstand +them. In my view it's quite likely that John McNamar is better than you +think him. I want you to be fair to John. If you conclude that you can +not be happy with him give me a chance. I would do my best to bring back +the joy of the old days. Sometimes I think that I am going to do +something worth while. Sometimes I think that I can see my way far ahead +and it looks very pleasant, and you, Ann, are always walking beside me in +it." + +They proceeded in silence for a moment. A great flock of wild pigeons +darkened the sky above them and filled it with the whirr of their wings. +The young man and woman stopped to look up at them. + +"They are going south," said Abe. "It's a sign of bad weather." + +They stood talking for a little time. + +"I'm glad they halted us for we have not far to go," Abe remarked. +"Before we take another step I wish you could give me some hope to live +on--just a little straw of hope." + +"You are a wonderful man, Abe," said Ann, touched by his appeal. "My +father says that you are going to be a great man." + +"I can not hold out any such hope to you," Abe answered. "I'm rather +ignorant and badly in debt but I reckon that I can make a good living and +give you a comfortable home. Don't you think, taking me just as I am, you +could care for me a little?" + +"Yes; sometimes I think that I could love you, Abe," she answered. "I do +not love you yet but I may--sometime. I really want to love you." + +"That is all I can ask now," said Abe as they went on. "Do you hear from +Bim Kelso?" + +"I have not heard from her since June." + +"I wish you would write to her and tell her that I am thinking of going +down to St. Louis and that I would like to go and see her." + +"I'll write to her to-morrow," said Ann. + +They had a pleasant visit and while Ann was playing with the baby she +seemed to have forgotten her troubles. They stayed to supper, after which +the whole family walked to the tavern with them, Joe and Betsey drawing +the baby in their "bumble wagon," which Samson had made for them. When +Ann began to show weariness, Abe gently lifted her in his arms and +carried her. + +That evening Mrs. Peter Lukins called upon Abe at Sam Hill's store where +he sat alone, before the fire, reading with two candles burning on the +end of a dry goods box at his elbow. + +There was an anxious look in her one eye as she accepted his invitation +to sit down in the firelight. + +"I wanted to see you private 'bout Lukins," she began. "There's them that +calls him Bony Lukins but I reckon he ain't no bonier than the everidge +run o' men--not a bit--an' if he was I don't reckon his bones orto be +throwed at him every time he's spoke to that away." + +Peter Lukins was a slim, sober faced, quiet little man with a long nose +who worked in the carding mill. He never spoke, save when spoken to, and +then with a solemn look as if the matter in hand, however slight, were +likely to affect his eternal welfare. In his cups he was speechless and, +in a way, dumb with merriment. He answered no questions, he expressed no +opinions, he told no stories. He only smiled and broke into roars of +laughter, even if there was no one to share his joy, as if convinced, at +last, of the hopeless absurdity of life. Some one told of following him +from Springfield to New Salem and of hearing him laugh all the way. Many +had noted another peculiarity in the man. He seemed always to have a +week's growth of beard on his face. + +"What can I do about it?" Abe asked. + +"I've been hopin' an' wishin' some kind of a decent handle could be put +on to his name," said Mrs. Lukins, with her eye upon a knot hole in the +counter. "Something with a good sound to it. You said that anything you +could do for the New Salem folks you was goin' to do an' I thought maybe +you could fix it." + +Abe smiled and asked: "Do you want a title?" + +"If it ain't plum owdacious I wisht he could be made a Colonel." + +"That's a title for fighting men," said Abe. + +"An' that man has fit for his life ever since he was born," said Mrs. +Lukins. "He's fit the measles an' the smallpox an' the fever an' ager an' +conquered 'em." + +"I reckon he deserves the title," Abe remarked. + +"I ain't sayin' but what there is purtier men," she said, reflectively, +as she stuck her finger into the knot hole and felt its edges. "I ain't +sayin' but what there is smarter men but I do say that the name o' Bony +ain't hardly fit to be heard in company." + +"A little whitewash wouldn't hurt it any," said Abe. "I'd gladly give him +my title of Captain if I could unhitch it someway." + +"Colonel is a more grander name," she insisted. "I call it plum +coralapus." + +She had thus expressed her notion of the limit of human grandeur. + +"Do you like it better than Judge?" + +"Wall, Judge has a good sound to it but I'm plum sot on Colonel. If you +kin give that name to a horse, which Samson Traylor has done it, I don't +see why a man shouldn't be treated just as well." + +"I'll see what can be done but if he gets that title he'll have to live +up to it." + +"I'll make him walk a chalk line--you see," the good woman promised as +she left the store. + +That evening Abe wrote a playful commission as Colonel for Peter Lukins +which was signed in due time by all his friends and neighbors and +presented to Lukins by a committee of which Abe was chairman. + +Coleman Smoot--a man of some means who had a farm on the road to +Springfield--was in the village that evening. Abe showed him the +commission and asked him to sign it. + +"I'll sign it on one condition," said Smoot. + +"What is that?" Abe asked. + +"That you'll give me a commission." + +"A man like you can't expect too much. Would you care to be a General?" + +"I wouldn't give the snap of my finger for that. What I want to be is +your friend." + +"You are that now, aren't you?" Abe asked. + +"Yes, but I haven't earned my commission. You haven't given me a chance +yet. What can I do to help you along?" + +Abe was much impressed by these kindly words. "My friends do not often +ask what they can do for me," he said. "I suppose they haven't thought of +it. I'll think it over and let you know." + +Three days later he walked out to Coleman Smoot's after supper. As they +sat together by the fireside Abe said: + +"I've been thinking of your friendly question. It's dangerous to talk +that way to a man like me. The fact is I need two hundred dollars to pay +pressing debts and give me something in my pocket when I go to Vandalia. +If you can not lend it to me I shall think none the less of you." + +"I can and will," said Smoot. "I've been watching you for a long time. +A man who tries as hard as you do to get along deserves to be helped. I +believe in you. I'll go up to Springfield and get the money and bring it +to you within a week or so." + +Abe Lincoln had many friends who would have done the like for him if they +could, and he knew it. + +"Every one has faith in you," said Smoot. "We expect much of you and we +ought to be willing to do what we can to help." + +"Your faith will be my strength if I have any," said Abe. + +On his way home that night he thought of what Jack Kelso had said of +democracy and friendship. + +On the twenty-second of November a letter came to Ann from Bim Kelso +which announced that she was going to New Orleans for the winter with her +husband. Thereupon Abe gave up the idea of going to St. Louis and six +days later took the stage for the capital, at Rutledge's door, where all +the inhabitants of the village had assembled to bid him good-by. Ann +Rutledge with a flash of her old playfulness kissed him when he got into +the stage. Abe's long arm was waving in the air as he looked back at his +cheering friends while the stage rumbled down the road toward the great +task of his life upon which he was presently to begin in the little +village of Vandalia. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +WHEREIN THE ROUTE OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD IS SURVEYED AND SAMSON AND +HARRY SPEND A NIGHT IN THE HOME OF HENRY BRIMSTEAD AND HEAR SURPRISING +REVELATIONS, CONFIDENTIALLY DISCLOSED, AND ARE CHARMED BY THE PERSONALITY +OF HIS DAUGHTER ANNABEL. + + +Early in the autumn of that year the Reverend Elijah Lovejoy of Alton had +spent a night with the Traylors on his way to the North. Sitting by the +fireside he had told many a vivid tale of the cruelties of slavery. + +"I would not have you think that all slave-holders are wicked and +heartless," he said. "They are like other men the world over. Some are +kind and indulgent. If all men were like them, slavery could be +tolerated. But they are not. Some men are brutal in the North as well as +in the South. If not made so by nature they are made so by drink. To give +them the power of life and death over human beings, which they seem to +have in parts of the South, is a crime against God and civilization. Our +country can not live and prosper with such a serpent in its bosom. No +good man should rest until the serpent is slain." + +"I agree with you," said Samson. + +"I knew that you would," the minister went on. "We have already had some +help from you but we need more. I take it as a duty which God has laid +upon me to help every fugitive that reaches my door. Thousands of New +Englanders have come into Illinois in the last year. They will help the +good work of mercy and grace. If you hear three taps upon your window +after dark or the hoot of an owl in your dooryard you will know what it +means. Fix some place on your farm where these poor people who are +seeking the freedom which God wills for all His children, may find rest +and refreshment and security until they have strength to go on." + +Within a week after the visit of Mr. Lovejoy, Samson and Harry built a +hollow haystack about half-way from the house to the barn. The stack had +a comfortable room inside of it about eight feet by seven and some six +feet in height. Its entrance was an opening near the bottom of the stack +well screened by the pendant hay. But no fugitive came to occupy it that +winter. + +Early in March Abe wrote a letter to Samson in which he said: + + * * * * * + +"I have not been doing much. I have been getting the hang of things. +There are so many able men here that I feel like being modest for a +while. It's good practice if it is a little hard on me. Here are such men +as Theodore Ford, William L. D. Ewing, Stephen T. Logan, Jesse K. Dubois +and Governor Duncan. You can not wonder that I feel like lying low until +I can see my way a little more clearly. I have met here a young man from +your state of the name of Stephen A. Douglas. He is twenty-one years old +and about the least man I ever saw to look at but he is bright and very +ambitious. He has taught school and studied law and been admitted to the +bar and is bristling up to John J. Hardin in a contest for the office of +State's Attorney. Some pumpkins for a boy of twenty-one I reckon. No +chance for internal improvements this session. Money is plenty and next +year I think we can begin harping on that string. More than ever I am +convinced that it is no time for anti-slavery agitation much as we may +feel inclined to it. There's too much fire under the pot now." + + * * * * * + +Soon after the new year of 1835 Samson and Harry moved the Kelsos to +Tazewell County. Mr. Kelso had received an appointment as Land Agent and +was to be stationed at the little settlement of Hopedale near the home of +John Peasley. + +"I hate to be taking you so far away," said Samson. + +"Hush, man," said Kelso. "It's a thing to be thought about only in the +still o' the night." + +"I shall be lonesome." + +"But we live close by the wells of wisdom and so shall not be +comfortless." + +Late in the afternoon Harry and Samson left the Kelsos and their effects +at a small frame house in the little village of Hopedale. The men had no +sooner begun to unload than its inhabitants came to welcome the newcomers +and help them in the work of getting settled. When the goods were +deposited in The dooryard Samson and Harry drove to John Peasley's farm. +Mr. Peasley recognized the big, broad-shouldered Vermonter at the first +look. + +"Do I remember you?" he said. "Well, I guess I do. So does my barn door. +Let me take hold of that right hand of yours again. Yes, sir. It's the +same old iron hand. Many Ann!" he called as his wife came out of the +door. "Here's the big man from Vergennes who tossed the purty slaver." + +"I see it is," she answered. "Ain't ye comin' in?" + +"We've been moving a man to Hopedale and shall have to spend the night +somewhere in this neighborhood," said Samson. "Our horses are played +out." + +"If you try to pass this place I'll have ye took up," said Peasley. +"There's plenty of food in the house an' stable." + +"Look here-that's downright selfish," said his wife, "If we tried to keep +you here Henry Brimstead would never forgive us. He talks about you +morning, noon and night. Any one would think that you was the Samson that +slew the Philistines." + +"How is Henry?" Samson asked. + +"He married my sister and they're about as happy as they can be this +side the river Jordan," she went on. "They've got one o' the best farms +in Tazewell County and they're goin' to be rich. They've built 'em a +splendid house with a big spare room in it. Henry would have a spare room +because he said that maybe the Traylors would be comin' here to visit 'em +some time." + +"Yes, sir; I didn't think o' that," said Peasley. "Henry and his wife +would holler if we didn't take ye over there. It's only a quarter of a +mile. I'll show ye the way and we'll all come over this evening and have +a talkin' bee." + +Samson was pleased and astonished by the look of Brimstead and his home +and his family and the account of his success. The man from the sand +flats had built a square, two-story house with a stairway and three rooms +above it and two below. He was cleanly shaved, save for a black mustache, +and neatly dressed and his face glowed with health and high spirits. A +handsome brown-eyed miss of seventeen came galloping up the road on her +pony and stopped near them. + +"Annabel, do you remember this man?" Brimstead asked. + +The girl looked at Samson. + +"He is the man who helped us out of Flea Valley," said the girl. + +Brimstead leaned close to the ear of Samson and said in a low tone: + +"Say, everything knew how to jump there. I had a garden that could hop +over the fence and back ag'in. Sometimes it was there and sometimes it +was off on a vacation. I jumped as soon as I got the chance." + +"We call it No Santa Claus Land," said Samson. "Do ye remember how the +little girl clung to the wagon?" + +"That was me," said a small miss of ten who ran out of the door into the +arms of the big man and kissed him. + +"Would you mind if I kissed you?" Annabel asked. + +"I would be sorry if you didn't," said Samson. "Here's my boy, Harry +Needles. You wouldn't dare kiss him I guess?' + +"I would be sorry, too, if you didn't," Harry laughed as he took her +hand. + +"I'm afraid you'll have to stay sorry," said Annabel turning red with +embarrassment. "I never saw you before." + +"Better late than never," Samson assured her. "You don't often see a +better fellow." + +The girl laughed, with a subtle look of agreement in her eyes. Then came +up from the barn the ragged little lad of No Santa Claus Land--now a +sturdy, bright eyed, handsome boy of eight. + +The horses were put out and all went in to supper. + +"I have always felt sorry for any kind of a slave?" said Samson as they +sat down. "When I saw you on the sand plains you were in bondage." + +"Say, I'll tell ye," said Brimstead, as he leaned toward Samson, seeming +to be determined at last to make a clean breast of it. "Say, I didn't own +that farm. It owned me. I got a sandy intellect. Couldn't get anything +out of it but disappointment. My farm was mortgaged to the bank and I was +mortgaged to the children. I couldn't even die." + +Samson wrote in his diary that night: + + * * * * * + +"When Brimstead brings his sense of humor into play he acts as if he +was telling a secret. When he says anything that makes me laugh, he's +terribly confidential. Seems so he was kind of ashamed of it. He never +laughs himself unless he does it inside. His voice always drops, too, +when he talks business." + + * * * * * + +"The man that's a fool and don't know it is a good deal worse off," said +Samson. + +"Say, I'll tell ye he's worse off but he's happier. If it hurts there's +hope for ye." + +"They tell me you've prospered," said Samson. + +Brimstead spoke in a most confidential tone as he answered: "Say, I'll +tell ye--no wise man is ever an idiot but once. I wouldn't care to spread +it around much but we're gettin' along. I've built this house and got my +land paid for. You see we are only four miles from the Illinois River on +a good road. I can ship my grain to Alton or St. Louis or New Orleans +without much trouble. I've invented a machine to cut it and a double plow +and I expect to have them both working next year. They ought to treble my +output at least." + +After supper Brimstead showed models of a mowing machine with a cut bar +six feet long, and a plow which would turn two furrows. + +"That's what we need on these prairies," said Samson. "Something that'll +turn 'em over and cut the crop quicker." + +"Say, I'll tell ye," said Brimstead as if about to disclose another +secret. "I found after I looked the ground over here that I needed a +brain. I began to paw around an' discovered a rusty old brain among my +tools. It hadn't been used for years. I cleaned an' oiled the thing an' +got it workin'. On a little Vermont farm you could git along without it +but here the ground yells for a brain. We don't know how to use our +horses. They have power enough to do all the hard work, if we only knew +how to put it into wheels and gears. We must begin to work our brains as +well as our muscles on a farm miles long an' wide." + +"It ain't fair to expect the land to furnish all the fertility," said +Samson. + +Brimstead's face glowed as he outlined his vision: + +"These great stretches of smooth, rich land just everlastingly ram the +spurs into you and keep your brain galloping. Mine is goin' night and +day. The prairies are a new thing and you've got to tackle 'em in a new +way. I tell you the seeding and planting and mowing and reaping and +threshing is all going to be done by machinery and horses. The wheel will +be the foundation of the new era." + +"You're right," said Samson. + +"How are you gettin' along?" + +"Rather slow," Samson answered. "It's hard to get our stuff to market +down in the Sangamon country. Our river isn't navigable yet. We hope that +Abe Lincoln, who has just been elected to the Legislature, will be able +to get it widened and straightened and cleaned up so it will be of some +use to us down there." + +"I've heard of him. They call him Honest Abe, don't they?" + +"Yes; and he is honest if a man ever was." + +"That's the kind we need to make our laws," said Mrs. Brimstead. "There +are not many men who get a reputation for honesty. It ought to be easy, +but it isn't." + +"Men are pretty good in the main," said Samson. "But ye know there are +not so many who can exactly toe the mark. They don't know how or they're +too busy or something. I guess I'm a little careless, and I don't believe +I'm a bad fellow either. Abe's conscience don't ever sit down to rest. He +traveled three miles one night to give back four cents that he had +overcharged a customer. I'd probably have waited to have her come back, +and by that time it might have slipped my mind or maybe she would have +moved away. I suppose that in handling dollars we're mostly as honest +as Abe, but we're apt to be a little careless with the cents. Abe toed +the penny mark, and that's how he got his reputation. The good God has +given him a sense of justice that is like a chemist's balance. It can +weigh down to a fraction of a grain. Now he don't care much about +pennies. He can be pretty reckless with 'em. But when they're a measure +on the balance, he counts 'em careful, I can tell ye." + +"Say, I'll tell ye," said Brimstead. "Honesty is like Sapington's pills. +There's nothing that's so well recommended. It has a great many friends. +But Honesty has to pay prompt. We don't trust it long. It has poor +credit. When we have to give a dollar's worth of work to correct an error +of four cents, we're apt to decide that Honesty don't pay. But that's +when it pays best. We've heard the jingle o' them four cents 'way up here +in Tazewell County, an' long before you told us. They say he's a smart +talker an' that he can split ye wide open laughin'." + +"He's a great story-teller, but that's a small part of him," said Samson. +"He's a kind of a four horse team. He knows more than any man I ever saw +and can tell it and he can wrestle like old Satan and swing a scythe or +an axe all day an' mighty supple. He's one of us common folks and don't +pretend to be a bit better. He is, though, and we know it, but I don't +think he knows it." + +"Say, there ain't many of us smart enough to keep that little piece +of ignorance in our heads," said Brimstead. "It's worth a fortune, +now--ain't it?" + +"Is he going to marry the Rutledge girl?" was the query of Mrs. +Brimstead. + +"I don't think so," Samson answered, a little surprised at her knowledge +of the attachment. "He's as humly as Sam Hill and dresses rough and ain't +real handy with the gals. Some fellers are kind o' fenced in with +humliness and awkwardness." + +Brimstead expressed his private opinion in a clearly audible whisper: +"Say, that kind o' protection is better'n none. A humly boy don't git +tramped on an' nibbled too much." + +Annabel and Harry sat in a corner playing checkers. They seemed to be +much impressed by the opinion of Mr. Brimstead. For a moment their game +was forgotten. + +"That boy has a way with the gals," Samson laughed. "There's no such +fence around either of them." + +"They're both liable to be nibbled some," said Brimstead. + +"I like to see 'em have a good time," said his wife. "There are not many +boys to play with out here." + +"The boys around here are all fenced in," said Annabel. "There's nobody +here of my age but Lanky Peters, who looks like a fish, and a red-headed +Irish boy with a wooden leg." + +"Say, she's like a woodpecker in a country where there ain't any trees," +said Brimstead, in his confidential tone. + +"No I'm not," the girl answered. "A woodpecker has wings and the right to +use them." + +"Cheer up. A lot of people will be moving in here this spring--more boys +than you could shake a stick at," Mrs. Brimstead remarked, cheerfully. + +"If I shake any stick at them, it will be a stick of candy, for fear of +scaring them away," said Annabel, with a laugh. + +Brimstead said to Samson: "Say, I'll tell ye, you're back in a cove. You +must get out into the current." + +"And give the young folks a chance to play checkers together," said +Samson. + +"Say, I'll tell ye," said Brimstead. "This country is mostly miles. They +can be your worst enemy unless you get on the right side of 'em. Above +all, don't let 'em get too thick between you an' your market. When you +know about where it is, keep the miles behind ye. Great markets will be +springin' up in the North. You'll see a big city growin' on the southern +shore of Lake Michigan before long. I think there will be better markets +to the north than there are to the south of us." + +"By jingo!" Samson exclaimed. "Your brain is about as busy as a beehive +on a bright summer day." + +"Say, don't you mention that to a livin' soul," said Brimstead. "My brain +began to chase the rainbow when I was a boy. It drove me out o' Vermont +into the trail to the West and landed me in Flea Valley. Now I'm in a +country where no man's dreams are goin' to be big enough to keep up with +the facts. We're right under the end o' the rainbow and there's a pot o' +gold for each of us." + +"The railroad will be a help in our fight with the miles," said Samson. + +"All right. You get the miles behind ye and let the land do the waiting. +It won't hurt the land any, but you'd be spoilt if you had to wait twenty +years." + +The Peasleys arrived and the men and women spent a delightful hour +traveling without weariness over the long trail to beloved scenes and the +days of their youth. Every day's end thousands were going east on that +trail, each to find his pot of gold at the foot of the rainbow of memory. + +Before they went to bed that night Brimstead paid his debt to Samson, +with interest, and very confidentially. + +At daylight in the morning the team was at the door ready to set out for +the land of plenty. As Samson and Harry were making their farewells, +Annabel asked the latter: + +"May I whisper something in your ear?" + +"I was afraid you wouldn't," he said. + +He bent his head to her and she kissed his cheek and ran away into the +house. + +"That means come again," she called from the door, with a laugh. + +"I guess I'll have to--to get even," he answered. + +"That's a pretty likely girl," said Samson, as they were driving away. + +"She's as handsome as a picture." + +"She is--no mistake!" Samson declared. "She's a good-hearted girl, too. +You can tell that by her face and her voice. She's as gentle as a kitten, +and about as wide awake as a weasel." + +"I don't care much for girls these days," Harry answered. "I guess I'll +never get married." + +"Nonsense! A big, strapping, handsome young feller like you, only twenty +years old! Of course you'll get married." + +"I don't see how I'm ever going to care much for another girl," the boy +answered. + +"There are a lot o' things in the world that you don't see, boy. It's a +big world and things shift around a good deal and some of our opinions +are apt to move with the wind like thistledown." + +It was a long, wearisome ride back to the land of plenty, over frozen +ground, with barely an inch of snow upon it, under a dark sky, with a +chilly wind blowing. + +"After all, it's home," said Samson, when late in the evening they saw +the lighted windows of the cabin ahead. When they had put out their +horses and come in by the glowing fire, Samson lifted Sarah in his arms +again and kissed her. + +"I'm kind o' silly, mother, but I can't help it--you look so temptin'," +said Samson. + +"She looks like an angel," said Harry, as he improved his chance to +embrace and kiss the lady of the cabin. + +"The wind has been peckin' at us all day," said Samson. "But it's worth +it to get back home and see your face and this blazin' fire." + +"And the good, hot supper," said Harry, as they sat down at the table. + +They told of the Brimsteads and their visit. + +"Well, I want to know!" said Sarah. "Big house and plenty o' money! If +that don't beat all!" + +"That oldest girl is the thing that beats all," said Samson. "She's as +handsome as Bim." + +"I suppose Harry fell in love with her," Sarah suggested, with a smile. + +"I've lost my ability to fall in love," said the young man. + +"It will come back--you see," said Sarah. "I'm going to get her to pay us +a visit in the spring." + +Harry went out to feed and water the horses. + +"Did you get along all right?" Samson asked. + +"Colonel Lukins did the chores faithfully, night and morning," Sarah +answered. "His wife helped me with the sewing yesterday. She talked all +day about the 'Colonel.' Mrs. Beach, that poor woman from Ohio on the +west road who has sent her little girl so often to borrow tea and sugar, +came to-day and wanted to borrow the baby. Her baby is sick and her +breasts were paining her." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +IN WHICH ABE RETURNS FROM VANDALIA AND IS ENGAGED TO ANN, AND THREE +INTERESTING SLAVES ARRIVE AT THE HOME OF SAMSON TRAYLOR, WHO, WITH HARRY +NEEDLES, HAS AN ADVENTURE OF MUCH IMPORTANCE ON THE UNDERGROUND ROAD. + + +Again spring had come. The great meadows were awake and full of color. +Late in April their green floor was oversown with golden blossoms lying +close to the warming breast of the earth. Then came the braver flowers of +May lifting their heads to the sunlight in the lengthening grasses--red +and white and pink and blue--and over all the bird songs. They seemed to +voice the joy in the heart of man. Sarah Traylor used to say that the +beauty of the spring more than paid for the loneliness of the winter. + +Abe came back from the Legislature to resume his duties as postmaster and +surveyor. The evening of his arrival he went to see Ann. The girl was in +poor health. She had had no news of McNamar since January. Her spirit +seemed to be broken. They walked together up and down the deserted street +of the little village that evening. Abe told her of his life in Vandalia +and of his hopes and plans. + +"My greatest hope is that you will feel that you can put up with me," he +said. "I would try to learn how to make you happy. I think if you would +help me a little I could do it." + +"I don't think I am worth having," the girl answered. "I feel like a +little old woman these days." + +"It seems to me that you are the only one in the world worth having," +said Abe. + +"If you want me to, I will marry you, Abe," said she. "I can not say that +I love you, but my mother and father say that I would learn to love you, +and sometimes I think it is true. I really want to love you." + +They were on the bluff that overlooked the river and the deserted mill. +They were quite alone looking down at the moonlit plains. A broken sigh +came from the lips of the tall young man. He wiped his eyes with his +handkerchief. He took her hand in both of his and pressed it against his +breast and looked down into her face and said: + +"I wish I could tell you what is in my heart. There are things this +tongue of mine could say, but not that. I shall show you, but I shall +not try to tell you. Words are good enough for politics and even for the +religion of most men, but not for this love I feel. Only in my life shall +I try to express it." + +He held her hand as they walked on in silence for a moment. + +"About a year from now we can be married," he said. "I shall be able to +take care of you then, I think. Meanwhile we will all help you to take +care of yourself. You don't look well." + +She kissed his cheek and he kissed hers when they parted at the door of +the tavern. + +"I am sure I shall love you," she whispered. + +"Those are the best words that ever came to my ears," he answered, and +left her with a solemn sense of his commitment. + +Soon after that Abe went to the north line of the county to do some +surveying, and on his return, in the last week of May, came out for a +talk with the Traylors. + +"I've been up to the Kelsos' home and had a wonderful talk with him and +Brimstead," said Abe. "They have discovered each other. Kelso lives in a +glorious past and Brimstead in a golden future. They're both poets. Kelso +is translating the odes of Pindar. Brimstead is constructing the future +of Illinois. They laugh at each other and so create a fairly agreeable +present." + +"Did you see Annabel?" Harry asked. + +"About sixty times a minute while I was there. So pretty you can't help +looking at her. She's coming down to visit Ann, I hope. If you don't see +her every day she's here, I shall lose my good opinion of you. It will be +a sure sign that your eyes don't know how, to enjoy themselves." + +"We shall all see her and fall in love with her, too, probably," said +Sarah. + +"She's made on the right pattern of the best material," Abe went on. +"She's full of fun and I thought it would be a great thing for Ann. She +hasn't had any one to play with of her own age and standing since Bim +went away. I was thinking of Harry, too. He needs somebody to play with." + +"Much obliged!" the young man exclaimed. "I was thinking that I'd have to +take a trip to Hopedale, myself." + +"I knew he'd come around," Sarah laughed. + +But all unknown to these good people, the divinities were at that moment +very busy. + +That was the 26th of May, 1835, a date of much importance in the calendar +of the Traylors. It had been a clear, warm day, followed by a cloudless, +starry night, with a chilly breeze blowing. Between eleven and twelve +o'clock Sarah and Samson were awakened by the hoot of an owl in the +dooryard. In a moment they heard three taps on a window-pane. They knew +what it meant. Both got out of bed and into their clothes as quickly as +possible. Samson lighted a candle and put some wood on the fire. Then he +opened the door with the candle in his hand. A stalwart, good-looking +mulatto man, with a smooth shaven face, stood in the doorway. + +"Is the coast clear?" he whispered. + +"All clear," Samson answered, in a low tone. + +"I'll be back in a minute," said the negro, as he disappeared in the +darkness, returning presently with two women, both very black. They sat +down in the dim light of the cabin. + +"Are you hungry?" Sarah asked. + +"We have had only a little bread and butter to-day, madame," said the +mulatto, whose speech and manners were like those of an educated white +man of the South. + +"I'll get you something," said Sarah, as she opened the cupboard. + +"I think we had better not stop to eat now, madame," said the negro. "We +will be followed and they may reach here any minute." + +Harry, who had been awakened by the arrival of the strangers, came down +the ladder. + +"These are fugitive slaves on their way north," said Samson. "Take them +out to the stack. I'll bring some food in a few minutes." + +Harry conducted them to their hiding-place, and when they had entered it, +he brought a ladder and opened the top of the stack. A hooped shaft in +the middle of it led to a point near its top and provided ventilation. +Then he crawled in at the entrance, through which Samson passed a pail +of food, a jug of water and some buffalo hides. Harry sat with them for +a few moments in the black darkness of the stack room to learn whence +they had come and whither they wished to go. + +"We are from St. Louis, suh," the mulatto answered. "We are on our way to +Canada. Our next station is the house of John Peasley, in Tazewell +County." + +"Do you know a man of the name of Eliphalet Biggs who lives in St. +Louis?" Harry asked. + +"Yes, suh; I see him often, suh," the negro answered. + +"What kind of a man is he?" + +"Good when he is sober, suh, but a brute when he is drunk." + +"Is he cruel to his wife?" + +"He beats her with a whip, suh." + +"My God!" Harry exclaimed. "Why don't she leave him?" + +"She has left him, suh. She is staying with a friend. It has been hard +for her to get away. She has been a slave, too." + +Harry's voice trembled with emotion when he answered: + +"I am sure that none of her friends knew how she was being treated." + +"I suppose that she was hoping an' praying, suh, that he would change." + +"I think that one of us will take you to Peasley's to-morrow night," said +Harry. "Meanwhile I hope you get a good rest." + +With that he left them, filled the mouth of the cave with hay and went +into the house. There he told his good friends of what he had heard. + +"I shall go down to St. Louis," he said. "I read in the paper that there +was a boat Monday." + +"The first thing to do is to go to bed," said Sarah. "There's not much +left of the night." + +They went to bed, but the young man could not sleep. Bim had possession +of his heart again. In a kind of half sleep he got the notion that she +was sitting by his bedside and trying to comfort him. Then he thought +that he heard her singing in the sweet voice of old: + + "Come sit yourself down + With me on the ground + On this bank where the primroses grow. + We will hear the fond tale + Of the sweet nightingale, + As she sings in the valleys below, + As she sings in the valleys below." + +He roused himself and thought that he saw her form receding in the +darkness. + +Fortunately, the spring's work was finished and there was not much to be +done next day. Samson went to "Colonel" Lukins' cabin and arranged with +him and his wife to come and stay with Sarah and made other preparations +for the journey to the north. Soon after nightfall they put their guests +on a small load of hay, so that they could quickly cover themselves if +necessary, and set out for Peasley's farm. As they rode along Samson had +a frank talk with Harry. + +"I think you ought to get over being in love with Bim," he said. + +"I've told myself that a dozen times, but it don't do any good," said the +boy. + +"She's another man's wife and you have no right to love her." + +"She's another man's slave, and I can't stand the thought of it," Harry +answered. "If she was happy I could mind my business and get over +thinking of her, by and by, maybe, but now she needs a friend, if she +ever did, and I intend to do what I can for her." + +"Of course, we'll all do what we can for her," said Samson. "But you must +get over being in love with a married woman." + +"If a man's sister were in such trouble, I think he'd have the right to +help her, and she's more than a sister to me." + +"I'll stand with you on the sister platform," said Samson. + +In the middle of the night they stopped by a stream of water to feed the +horses and take a bite of luncheon. The roads were heavy from recent +rains and daylight came before they could make their destination. At +sunrise they stopped to give their horses a moment to rest. In the +distance they could see Brimstead's house and the harrowed fields around +it. The women were lying covered by the hay; the man was sitting up and +looking back down the road. + +"They're coming," he exclaimed, suddenly, as he got under the hay. + +Samson and Harry could see horsemen following at a gallop half a mile or +so down the road. It looked like trouble, for at that hour men were not +likely to be abroad in the saddle and riding fast on any usual errand. +Our friends hurried their team and got to Brimstead's door ahead of the +horsemen. A grove of trees screened the wagon from the view of the latter +for a moment. Henry Brimstead stood in the open door. + +"Take these slaves into the house and get them out of sight as quick as +you can," said Samson. "There's going to be a quarrel here in a minute." + +The slaves slid off the load and ran into the house. + +This was all accomplished in a few seconds. The team started on toward +Peasley's farm as if nothing had happened, with Harry and Samson standing +on the load. In a moment they saw, to their astonishment, Biggs and a +colored servant coming at a slow trot. Were the slaves they carried the +property of Biggs? + +"Stop that wagon," the latter shouted. + +Samson kept on, turning out a little to let them pass. + +"Stop or we'll shoot your horses," Biggs demanded. + +"They'll have to pass close to the load," Harry whispered. "I'll jump on +behind Biggs as he goes by." + +The words were scarcely out of his mouth when Harry sprang off the load, +catching Biggs's shoulders and landing squarely on the rump of his horse. +It was a rough minute that followed. The horse leaped and reared and +Biggs lost his seat, and he and Harry rolled to the ground and into a +fence corner, while the horse ran up the road, with the pistols in their +holsters on his back. They rose and fought until Harry, being quicker and +stronger, got the best of it. The slaver was severely punished. The +negro's horse, frightened by the first move in the fracas, had turned and +run back down the road. + +Biggs swore bitterly at the two Yankees. + +"I'll have you dirty suckers arrested if there's any law in this state," +he declared, as he stood leaning against the fence, with an eye badly +swollen and blood streaming from his nose. + +"I suppose you can do it," said Samson. "But first let's see if we can +find your horse. I think I saw him turn in at the house above." + +Samson drove the team, while Biggs and Harry walked up the road in +silence. The negro followed in the saddle. Peasley had caught Biggs's +horse and was standing at the roadside. + +"I want to find a Justice of the Peace," said Biggs. + +"There's one at the next house above. I'll send my boy for him," Peasley +answered. + +The Justice arrived in a few minutes and Biggs lodged a complaint founded +on the allegation that his slaves were concealed in the hay on Samson's +wagon. The hay was removed and no slaves were discovered. + +"I suppose they left my niggers at the house below," said Biggs as he +mounted his horse and, with his companion, started at a gallop in the +direction of Brimstead's. Samson remained with Peasley and the Justice. + +"You had better go down and see what happens," he said to Harry. "We'll +follow you in a few minutes." + +So Harry walked down to Brimstead's. + +He found the square house in a condition of panic. Biggs and his helper +had discovered the mulatto and his wife hiding in the barn. The negroes +and the children were crying. Mrs. Brimstead met Harry outside the door. + +"What are we to do?" she asked, tearfully. + +"Just keep cool," said Harry. "Father Traylor and Mr. Peasley will be +here soon." + +Biggs and his companion came out of the door with Brimstead. + +"We will take the niggers to the river and put them on a boat," Biggs was +saying. + +His face and shirt and bosom were smeared with blood. He asked Mrs. +Brimstead for a basin of water and a towel. The good woman took him to +the washstand and supplied his needs. + +In a few moments Samson and Peasley arrived, with the latter's team +hitched to a Conestoga wagon. + +"Well, you've found them, have you?" Peasley asked. + +"They were here, as I thought," said Biggs. + +"Well, the Justice says we must surrender the negroes and take them to +the nearest landing for you. We've come to do it." + +"It's better treatment than I expected," Biggs answered. + +"You'll find that we have a good deal of respect for the law," said +Peasley. + +Biggs and his friend went to the barn for their horses. The others +conferred a moment with the two slaves and Mrs. Brimstead. Then the +latter went out into the garden lot to a woman in a sunbonnet who was +working with a hoe some fifteen rods from the house. Mrs. Brimstead +seemed to be conveying a message to the woman by signs. Evidently the +latter was deaf and dumb. + +"That is the third slave," Brimstead whispered. "I don't believe they'll +discover her." + +Soon Peasley and Samson got into the wagon with the negroes and drove +away, followed by the two horsemen. + +In a little village on the river they stopped at a low frame house. +A woman came to the door. + +"Is Freeman Collar here?" Peasley demanded. + +"He is back in the garden," the woman answered. + +"Please ask him to come here." + +In a moment Collar came around the house with a hoe on his shoulder. He +was a slim, sandy bearded, long-haired man of medium height, with keen +gray eyes. + +"Good morning, Mr. Constable," said Peasley. "This is Eliphalet Biggs of +St. Louis, and here is a warrant for his arrest." + +He passed a paper to the officer. + +"For my arrest!" Biggs exclaimed. "What is the charge?" + +"That you hired a number of men to burn the house of Samson Henry +Traylor, near the village of New Salem, in Sangamon County, and, by +violence, to compel him to leave said county; that, on the 29th of +August, said men--the same being eight in number--attempted to carry out +your design and, being captured and overpowered, all confessed their +guilt and your connection with it, their sworn confessions being now in +the possession of one Stephen Nuckles, a minister of this county. I do +not need to remind you that it is a grave offense and likely to lead to +your confinement for a term of years." + +"Well, by G--," Biggs shouted, in anger. "You suckers will have some +traveling to do before you arrest me." + +He struck the spurs in his horse and galloped away, followed by his +servant. Samson roared with laughter. + +"Now, Collar, get on your horse and hurry 'em along, but don't ketch up +with 'em if you can help it," said Peasley. "We've got them on the run +now. They'll take to the woods an' be darn careful to keep out of sight." + +When the Constable had gone, Peasley said to Samson: "We'll drop these +slaves at Nate Haskell's door. He'll take care of 'em until dark and +start 'em on the north road. Late in the evening I'll pick 'em up an' +get 'em out o' this part o' the country." + +Meanwhile Brimstead and Harry had stood for a moment in the dooryard of +the former, watching the party on its way up the road. Brimstead blew out +his breath and said in a low tone: + +"Say, I'll tell ye, I ain't had so much excitement since Samson Traylor +rode into Flea Valley. The women need a chance to wash their faces and +slick up a little. Le's you and me go back to the creek and go in +swimmin' an' look the farm over." + +"What become of the third nigger?" Harry asked. + +"She went out in the field in a sunbonnet an' went to work with a hoe and +they didn't discover her," said Brimstead. + +"It must have been a nigger that didn't belong to him," Harry declared. + +"I guess it was one that the others picked up on the road." + +They set out across the sown fields, while Brimstead, in his most +divulging mood, confided many secrets to the young man. Suddenly he +asked: + +"Say, did you take partic'lar notice o' that yaller nigger?" + +"I didn't see much of him." + +"Well, I'll tell ye, he was about as handsome a feller as you'd see in +a day's travel--straight as an arrow and about six feet tall and well +spoken and clean faced. He told me that another master had taught him to +read and write and cipher. He's read the Bible through, and many of the +poems of Scott and Byron and Burns. Don't it rile ye up to think of a man +like that bein' bought and sold and pounded around like a steer? It ain't +decent." + +"It's king work; it isn't democracy," Harry answered. "We've got to put +an end to it." + +"Say, who's that?" Brimstead asked, as he pointed to a pair of horsemen +hurrying down the distant road. + +"It's Biggs and his servant," Harry answered. + +"Whew! They ain't lettin' the grass grow under their feet. They'll kill +them horses." + +"Biggs is a born killer. I'd like to give him one more licking." + +In a moment they saw another horseman a quarter of a mile behind the +others and riding fast. + +"Ha, ha! That explains their haste," said Brimstead. "It's ol' Free +Collar on his sorrel mare. Say, I'll tell ye," Brimstead came close to +Harry and added in a low tone: "If Biggs tries any fightin' business +with Collar he'll git killed sure. That man loves excitement. He don't +take no nonsense at all, and he can put a bullet into a gimlet hole at +ten rods." + +They had their swim in the creek and got back to the house at dinner +time. Samson had returned and, as they sat down at the table, he told +what had happened at the Constable's house and learned of the passing +of Biggs and his friend in the road, followed by Collar on his sorrel +mare. + +"We must hurry back, but we will have to give the horses a rest," said +Samson. + +"And the young people a chance to play checkers?" said Mrs. Brimstead. + +"I have no heart for play," said Annabel, with a sigh. + +"The excitement and the sight o' those poor slaves have taken all the fun +out of her," the woman remarked. + +Then Harry asked: "What have you done with the third slave?" + +"She's been up-stairs, getting washed and dressed," said Mrs. Brimstead. + +As she spoke, the stairway door opened and Bim entered the room--in a +silk gown and slippers. Sorrow had put its mark upon her face, but had +not extinguished her beauty. All rose from the table. Harry walked toward +her. She advanced to meet him. Face to face, they stopped and looked into +each other's eyes. The moment long desired, the moment endeared and +sublimated by the dreams of both, the moment toward which their thoughts +had been wont to hasten, after the cares of the day, like brooks coming +down from the mountains, had arrived suddenly. She was in a way prepared +for it. She had taken thought of what she would do and say. He had not. +Still it made no difference. This little point of time had been so filled +with the power which had flowed into it out of their souls there was no +foretelling what they would do when it touched them. Scarcely a second of +that moment was wasted in hesitation, as a matter of fact. Quickly they +fell into each other's embrace, and the depth of their feeling we may +guess when we read in the diary of the rugged and rather stoical Samson +that no witness of the scene spoke or moved "until I turned my back upon +it for shame of my tears." + +Soon Bim came and kissed Samson's cheek and said: + +"I am not going to make trouble. I couldn't help this. I heard what he +said to you last night. It made me happy in spite of all my troubles. I +love him but above all I shall try to keep his heart as clean and noble +as it has always been. I really meant to be very strong and upright. It +is all over now. Forgive us. We are going to be as respectable as--as we +can." + +Samson pressed her hand and said: + +"You came with the slaves and I guess you heard our talk in the wagon." + +"Yes, I came with the slaves, and was as black as either of them. We +had all suffered. I should have come alone, but they had been good and +faithful to me. I could not bear to leave them to endure the violence of +that man. We left together one night when he was in a drunken stupor. We +took a boat to Alton and caught The Star of the North to Beardstown--they +traveling as my servants. There I hired a team and wagon. It brought us +to the grove near your house." + +"Why did you disguise yourself before you came in?" + +"I longed to see Harry, but I did not want him to see me. I did not know +that he would care to see me," she answered. "I longed to see all of +you." + +"Isn't that like Bim?" Samson asked. + +"I am no longer the fool I was," she answered. "It was not just a +romantic notion. I wanted to share the lot of a runaway slave for a few +days and know what it means. That mulatto--Roger Wentworth--and his +wife are as good as I am, but I have seen them kicked and beaten like +dogs. I know slavery now and all the days of my life I am going to fight +against it. Now I am ready to go to my father's house--like the Prodigal +Son coming back after his folly." + +"But you will have some dinner first," said Mrs. Brimstead. + +"No, I can not wait--I will walk. It is not far to Hopedale." + +"Percy is at the door now with his buggy," said Brimstead. + +Bim kissed Samson's cheek and embraced Annabel and her mother and hurried +out of the house. Harry carried her bag to the buggy and helped her in. + +"Harry, I want you to fall in love with this pretty girl," she said. +"Don't you dare think of me any more or come near me. If you do, I'll +shoo you away. Go on, Percy." + +She waved her hand as the buggy went up the road. + +"It's the same old Bim," Harry said to himself, as he stood watching her. +"But I think she's lovelier than she ever was." + +The next day Samson wrote in his diary: + + * * * * * + +"Bim was handsomer, but different. She had a woman's beauty. I noticed +her loose clothes and that gentle look in her face that used to come to +Sarah's when her time was about half over. I am glad she got away before +she was further along." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +WHEREIN HARRY AND ABE RIDE UP TO SPRINGDALE AND VISIT KELSO'S AND LEARN +OF THE CURIOUS LONESOMENESS OF ELIPHALET BIGGS. + + +Illinois was growing. In June score of prairie schooners, loaded with old +and young, rattled over the plains from the East. There were many Yankees +from Ohio, New York and New England in this long caravan. There were +almost as many Irish, who had set out for this land of golden promise as +soon as they had been able to save money for a team and wagon, after +reaching the new world. There were some Germans and Scandinavians in the +dust clouds of the National Road. Steamers on the Illinois River +scattered their living freight along its shores. These were largely from +Kentucky, southern Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. The call of +the rich and kindly lands had traveled far and streams of life were +making toward them, to flow with increasing speed and volume for many +years. + +People in Sangamon County had begun to learn of the thriving village of +Chicago in the North. Abe said that Illinois would be the Empire State of +the West; that a new era of rapid development and great prosperity was +near. Rumors of railroad and canal projects and river improvements were +on every tongue. Samson and Sarah took new heart of the prospect and +decided to try another year in New Salem, although an Irishman had made a +good offer for their farm. Land was in great request and there were many +transfers of title. Abe had more surveying to do than he was able to +accomplish that summer. Harry was with him for some weeks. He could earn +two dollars a day with Abe, whereas Samson was able to hire a helper for +half that sum. Harry made a confident of his friend, and when they were +working at the northern end of the county they borrowed a pair of horses +and rode up to Kelso's house and spent a Sunday there. + +Bim met them down the road a mile or so from Hopedale. She, too, was on +the back of a horse. She recognized them before they were in hailing +distance and waved her hand and hurried toward them with a happy face. + +"Where are you going?" she asked. + +"To see you and your father and mother," said Harry. + +A sad look came into her eyes. + +"If I had a stone I would throw it at you," she said. + +"Why?" Harry asked. + +"Because I have to get used to being miserable, and just as I begin to be +resigned to it, you come along and make me happy, and I have it all to do +over again." + +The young man stopped his horse. + +"I hadn't thought of that," he said, with a sad face. "It isn't fair to +you, is it? It's rather--selfish." + +"Why don't you go to Brimstead's," Bim suggested. "A beautiful girl over +there is in love with you. Honestly, Harry, there isn't a sweeter girl in +all the world." + +"I ought not to go there, either," said the young man. + +"Why?" + +"Because I mustn't let her think that I care for her. I'll go over to +Peasley's and wait for Abe there." + +"Look here," said the latter. "You both remind me of a man in a Kentucky +village who couldn't bear to hear a rooster crow. It kept him awake +nights, for the roosters did a lot o' crowing down there. He moved from +one place to another, trying to find a cockless town. He couldn't. There +was no such place in Kentucky. He thought of taking to the woods, but he +hated loneliness more than he hated roosters. So he did a sensible thing. +He started a chicken farm and got used to it. He found that a little +crowing was too much, and that a lot of it was just what he needed. You +two have got to get used to each other. What you need is more crowing. If +you saw each other every day you wouldn't look so wonderful as when you +don't." + +"I reckon that's a good idea," said Bim. "Come on, Harry, let's get used +to crowing. We'll start in to-day to fall out of love with each other. We +must be very cold and distant and haughty and say every mean thing we can +think of." + +So it happened that Harry went on with Bim and Abe to the little house in +Hopedale. Jack Kelso sat reading in the shade of a tree by his door-step. + +"I hope you feel as good as you look," Abe called, as they rode up. + +"I've been feeling like a fly in a drum," Jack answered. "I've just heard +a sermon by Peter Cartwright." + +"What do you think of him?" + +"He is saturated in the statistics of vice. His Satan is too busy; his +hell is too big, too hot and too durable. He is a kind of human onion +designed to make women weep." + +Abe answered with a laugh: + +"It is said that General Jackson went into his church one Sunday and that +a deacon notified Mr. Cartwright of the presence of the great man. They +say that the stern preacher exclaimed in a clearly audible tone: General +Jackson! What does God care for General Jackson? If he don't repent, God +will damn him as quick as he would damn a Guinea nigger.'" + +"He's just that thumping, downright kind of a man," Kelso remarked. "How +are you getting on with the books?" + +"I have _Chitty on Contracts_ strapped to the pommel," said Abe. "I did +my stint coming over, but I had to walk and lead the pony." + +"Every book you read gets a baptism of Democracy," said Kelso. "An idle +aristocracy of the shelves loafing in fine coats and immaculate linen is +not for the wise man. Your book has to roll up its sleeves and go to work +and know the touch of the sweaty hand. Swift used to say that some men +treat books as they do Lords--learn their titles and then brag of having +been in their company. There are no Lords and Ladies among your books. +They are just men and women made for human service." + +"I don't read long at once," Abe remarked. "I scratch into a book, like a +hen on a barn floor, until my crop is full, and then I digest what I have +taken." + +Harry and Bim had put out the horses. Now the girl came and sat on her +father's knee. Harry sat down by the side of Abe on the grass in the +oak's shadow. + +"It is a joy to have the little girl back again," said Kelso, as he +touched her hair with his hand. "It is still as yellow as a corn tassel. +I wonder it isn't gray." + +"Her eyes look as bright as ever to-day," said Harry. + +"No compliments, please. I want you to be downright mean," Bim protested. + +Kelso looked up with a smile: "My boy, it was Leonardo da Vinci who said +that a man could have neither a greater nor a less dominion than that +over himself." + +"What a cruel-looking villain he is!" Bim exclaimed, with a smile. +"I wouldn't dare say what I think of him." + +"If you keep picking on me I'll cut loose and express my opinion of you," +he retorted. + +"Your opinions have ceased to be important," she answered, with a look of +indifference. + +"I think this is a clear case of assault and flattery," said Kelso. + +"It pains me to look at you," Bim went on. + +"Wait until I learn to play the flute and the snare drum," Harry +threatened. + +"I'm glad that New Salem is so far away," she sighed. + +"I'll go and look at the new moon through a knot hole," he laughed. + +"My dears, no more of this piping," said Kelso. "Bim must tell us what +she has learned of the great evil of slavery. It is most important that +Abe should hear it." + +Bim told of revolting scenes she had witnessed in St. Louis and New +Orleans--of flogging and buying and selling and herding. It was a painful +story, the like of which had been traveling over the prairies of Illinois +for years. Some had accepted these reports; many, among whom were the +most judicious men, had thought they detected in them the note of gross +exaggeration. Here, at last, was a witness whose word it was impossible +for those who knew her to doubt. Abe put many questions and looked very +grave when the testimony was all in. + +"If you have any doubt," said Bim, "I ask you to look at that mark on my +arm. It was made by the whip of Mr. Eliphalet Biggs." + +The young men looked with amazement at a scar some three or four inches +long on her forearm. + +"If he would do that to his wife, what treatment could you expect for his +niggers?" Bim asked. "There are many Biggses in the South." + +"What so vile as a cheap, rococo aristocracy--growing up in idleness, too +noble to be restrained, with every brutal passion broad blown as flush as +May?" Kelso growled. + +"Nothing is long sacred in the view of any aristocracy--not even God," +Abe answered. "They make a child's plaything of Him and soon cast Him +aside." + +"But I hold that if our young men are to be trained to tyranny in a lot +of little nigger kingdoms, our Democracy will die." + +Abe made no answer. He was always slow to commit himself. + +"The North is partly to blame for what has come," said Samson. "I guess +our Yankee captains brought over most of the niggers and sold them to the +planters of the South." + +"There was a demand for them, or those Yankee pirates wouldn't have +brought the niggers," Harry answered. "Both seller and buyer were +committing a crime." + +"They established a great wrong and now the South is pushing to extend +and give it the sanction of law," said Abe. "There is the point of +irritation and danger." + +"I hear that in the next Legislature an effort will be made to endorse +slavery," said Kelso. "It would be like endorsing Nero and Caligula." + +"It is a dangerous subject," Abe answered. "Whatever happens, I shall not +fail to express my opinion of slavery if I go back." + +"The time is coming when you will take the bull by the horns," said +Kelso. "There's no fence that will keep him at home." + +"I hope that isn't true," Abe answered. + +Soon Mrs. Kelso called Bim to set the table. She and Harry brought it out +under the tree, where, in the cool shade, they had a merry dinner. + +When the dishes were put away Percy Brimstead arrived with his sister +Annabel in their buggy. Bim went out to meet them and came into the +dooryard with her arm around Annabel's waist. + +"Did any one ever see a lovelier girl than this?" Bim asked, as they +stood up before the dinner party. + +"Her cheeks are like wild roses, her eyes like the dew on them when the +sun is rising," said Kelso. + +"But look at her mouth and the teeth in it the next time she smiles," Bim +went on. + +"Aye, they are well wrought," her father answered. + +"If you don't stop, I shall run," Annabel protested. + +"I haven't said a word, but I want you to know that I am deeply +impressed," said Harry. "No girl has a right to be as handsome as you are +and come and look into the face of a young man who has resolved to look +at the new moon through a knot bole." + +"Well, who would have thought it!" Bim exclaimed. "Such a wonderful +compliment, and from Harry Needles!" + +"Of course he didn't mean it," said Annabel, whose cheeks were now very +red. + +"Of course I mean it," Harry declared. "That's why I keep away from your +house. I am bound to stay single." + +"Did you ever see a fairy going to mill on a butterfly's back?" Bim +asked, looking at Harry. + +"Not as I remember," he answered. + +"If you had, you wouldn't expect us to believe it," Bim asserted. + +"There was a soldier in Colonel Taylor's regiment who always ran when the +enemy was in sight," Abe began. "When he was brought up for discipline, +he said 'My heart is as brave as Julius Cæsar's but my legs can't be +trusted.' I know Harry's legs are all right, but I don't believe his +heart can be trusted in a battle of this kind." + +"I've heard all about his brave adventures in the war," said Bim. "He'll +find that girls are worse than Indians." + +"If they're as well armed as you two, I guess you're right," said Samson. + +Abe rose and said: "The day is passing. I'll start on with Parsons and +the pony and read my stint afoot. You come along in a few minutes. By the +time you overtake me I'll be ready to get into the saddle." + +Half an hour or so after Abe had gone, Harry's horse, which had been +whinnying for his mate, bounded out of the stable and went galloping down +the road, having slipped his halter. + +"He will not stop until he overtakes the other horse," said Harry. + +"You can ride with us," Annabel suggested. + +So the young man brought his saddle and bridle and put it under the seat +of the buggy and got in with Annabel and her small brother. + +"Don't let us go too far," said Bim, as she stood by the side of the +buggy. "You haven't offered to shake hands." + +"It was a deliberate slight--just to please you," Harry answered, as they +shook hands. + +"You are behaving terribly well," Bim exclaimed, merrily. "Now, Annabel, +here is your chance to convert him." + +She laughed and shook her hand, as they rode away, and went into the +house and sat down and for a time was like one whose heart is broken. + +"Oh, the troubles of the young!" her mother exclaimed, as she kissed her. + +"They are ever the wonder of the old!" said Kelso, who stood near. + +"I love him! I love him!" the girl moaned. + +"I don't wonder," her father answered. "He is a big, brave, clean lad, +and handsome as a Greek god. He will love you all the better for your +self-restraint. It makes me proud of you, my daughter--proud of you! Be +of good cheer. The day of your emancipation may not be long delayed." + +Some two miles down the road Harry found Abe standing between the horses, +holding the runaway by his forelock. The latter was saddled and bridled, +while the buggy went on ahead. + +"That is a wonderful girl," said Harry, as he and Abe were riding along +together. "She is very modest and gentle hearted." + +"And as pleasant to look at as the flowery meadows," Abe answered. + +"I have promised to stop there a few minutes on our way back." + +"It is possible Bim could get a divorce," said Abe, looking down +thoughtfully at the mane of his horse. "I'll ask Stuart what he thinks +about it when I see him again." + +"I hope you'll see him soon." + +"As soon as I can get to Springfield." + +Brimstead and Abe had a talk together, while Harry went into the house. + +"Say, there's a good many kinds o' trouble," said the former, in a low +tone, "but one o' the worst is skunks. Say, I'll tell ye, there's a +feller lives over in the woods a few miles from here that had a skunk in +a pen. His name is Hinge. Somebody had been stealin' his grain, so the +other night he hitched that skunk right under the barn door. The thief +came and the skunk punished him tolerable severe. The next day Free +Collar, the famous Constable, was comin' up the road from Sangamon County +and met that man Biggs on a horse. Say--" + +Brimstead looked about him and stepped close to Abe and added in a tone +of extreme confidence: "Biggs had left a streak behind him a mile long. +Its home was Biggs. It had settled down and gone into business on him and +was doin' well and gettin' a reputation. Collar coughed and backed away. +For four days he had been chasin' that man to arrest him. Biggs had been +hid in the woods near Hinge's cabin an' had stole grain for his horses. + +"'Here I am,' said Biggs. 'You can have me. I'm lonesome.' + +"'You'll be lonesomer 'fore I go near ye,' says Collar. + +"'I thought you wanted to arrest me,' says Biggs. + +"'Say, man, I'd 'a' been glad to see you go to prison for a year or two, +but now I'm plum sorry for ye,' says Collar. 'A constable who wouldn't +run if he smelt you comin' would be a durn fool.' + +"They started in opposite directions. In half a minute the Constable +hollered to Biggs: + +"'Say, they've got a railroad train on a track over in Ohio, but they +can't make it run. I wouldn't wonder if you could help 'em.'" + +Brimstead added in a half whisper: + +"Biggs went on, but the poor devil is livin' a God lonesome life. He +can't sleep in a buildin' an' his food'll have to be throwed to him. It's +a new way to defeat justice." + +Abe's laughter was like the neigh of a horse. It brought Harry out of the +house. He mounted his pony and, as they rode away, Abe told him of the +fate of Biggs. + +"I don't believe he'll take another Illinois girl away with him," Abe +laughed. + +"Talk about the chains of bondage! He's buried in 'em," Harry exclaimed. + +In a moment he said: "That lovely girl gave me a necktie and a pair of +gloves that she has knit with her own hands. I'll never forget the way +she did it and the look of her. It rather touched my heart." + +"She's as innocent as a child," said Abe. "It's hard on a girl like that +to have to live in this new country. Her father and mother have promised +to let her come for a visit with Ann. I'll go up next Saturday and take +her down to New Salem with me." + +This kindly plan of Abe's--so full of pleasant possibilities--fell into +hopeless ruin next day, when a letter came from Dr. Allen, telling him +that Ann was far gone with a dangerous fever. Both Abe and Harry dropped +their work and went home. Ann was too sick to see her lover. + +The little village was very quiet those hot summer days. The sorrow of +the pretty maiden had touched the hearts of the simple kindly folk who +lived there. They would have helped her bear it--if that had been +possible--as readily as they would have helped at a raising. For a year +or more there had been a tender note in their voices when they spoke of +Ann. They had learned with great gladness of her engagement to marry Abe. +The whole community were as one family with its favorite daughter about +to be crowned with good fortune greater than she knew. Now that she was +stricken down, their feeling was more than sympathy. The love of justice, +the desire to see a great wrong righted, in a measure, was in their +hearts when they sought news of the little sufferer at the tavern. + +There was no shouting in the street, no story-telling in the dooryards, +no jesting in the stores and houses, no merry parties, gladdened by the +notes of the violin, in the days and nights of Ann's long illness. + +Samson writes in his diary that Abe went about like a man in a dream, +with no heart for work or study. He spent much time at the Doctor's +office, feeling for some straw of hope. + +One day late in August, as he stood talking with Samson Traylor in the +street, Dr. Allen called him from his door-step. Abe turned very pale as +he obeyed the summons. + +"I've just come from her bedside," said Dr. Allen. "She wants to see you. +I've talked it over with her parents, and we've decided to let you and +her have a little visit together. You must be prepared for a great change +in Ann. There's not much left of the poor girl. A breath would blow her +away. But she wants to see you. It may be better than medicine. Who +knows?" + +The two men went across to the tavern. Mrs. Rutledge and Abe tiptoed up +the stairway. The latter entered the room of the sick girl. The woman +closed the door. Ann Rutledge was alone with her lover. There were none +who knew what happened in that solemn hour save the two--one of whom was +on the edge of eternity, and the other was never to speak of it. The only +record of that hour is to be found in the face and spirit of a great man. + +Years later Samson wrote in a letter. + + * * * * * + +"I saw Abe when he came out of the tavern that day. He was not the Abe we +had all known. He was different. There were new lines in his face. It was +sorrowful. His steps were slow. He had passed out of his young manhood. +When I spoke to him, he answered with that gentle dignity now so familiar +to all who know him. From that hour he was Abraham Lincoln." + + * * * * * + +Ann passed away before the month ended and became, like many of her kind, +an imperishable memory. In her presence the spirit of the young man had +received such a baptism that henceforward, taking thought of her, he was +to love purity and all cleanness, and no Mary who came to his feet with +tears and ointment was ever to be turned away. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +WHEREIN YOUNG MR. LINCOLN SAFELY PASSES TWO GREAT DANGER POINTS AND TURNS +INTO THE HIGHWAY OF HIS MANHOOD. + + +For days thereafter the people of New Salem were sorely troubled. Abe +Lincoln, the ready helper in time of need, the wise counselor, the friend +of all--"old and young, dogs and horses," as Samson was wont to say--the +pride and hope of the little cabin village, was breaking down under his +grief. He seemed to care no more for work or study or friendship. He +wandered out in the woods and upon the prairies alone. Many feared that +he would lose his reason. + +There was a wise and merry-hearted man who lived a mile or so from the +village. His name was Bowlin Green. Every one on Salem Hill and in the +country round about it laid claim to the friendship of this remarkable +man. Those days when one of middle age had established himself in the +affections of a community, its members had a way of adopting him. So +Mr. Green had been adopted into many families from Beardstown to +Springfield. He was everybody's "Uncle Bowlin." He had a most unusual +circumference and the strength to carry it. He was indeed a man of +extended boundaries, embracing noble gifts, the best of which was good +nature. His jests, his loud laughter and his quaking circumference were +the three outstanding factors in his popularity. The loss of either would +have been a misfortune to himself and neighbors. His ruddy cheeks and +curling locks and kindly dark eyes and large head were details of +importance. Under all were a heart with the love of men, a mind of +unusual understanding and a hand skilled in all the arts of the Kentucky +pioneer. He could grill a venison steak and roast a grouse and broil a +chicken in a way which had filled the countryside with fond recollections +of his hospitality; he could kindle a fire with a bow and string, a pine +stick and some shavings; he could make anything from a splint broom to +a rocking horse with his jack-knife. Abe Lincoln was one of the many men +who knew and loved him. + +On a warm, bright afternoon early in September, Bowlin Green was going +around the pasture to put his fence in repair, when he came upon young +Mr. Lincoln. The latter sat in the shade of a tree on the hillside. He +looked "terribly peaked," as Uncle Bowlin, has said in a letter. + +"Why, Abe, where have you been?" he asked. "The whole village is scared. +Samson Traylor was here last night lookin' for ye." + +"I'm like a deer that's been hurt," said the young man. "I took to the +woods. Wanted to be alone. You see, I had a lot of thinking to do--the +kind of thinking that every man must do for himself. I've got the brush +cleared away, at last, so I can see through. I had made up my mind to go +down to your house for the night and was trying to decide whether I have +energy enough to do it." + +"Come on; it's only a short step," urged the big-hearted Bowlin. "The +wife and babies are over to Beardstown. We'll have the whole place to +ourselves. The feather beds are ladder high. I've got a haunch of venison +buried in the hide and some prairie chickens that I killed yesterday, +and, besides, I'm lonesome." + +"What I feel the need of, just now, is a week or two of sleep," said Mr. +Lincoln, as he rose and started down the long hill with his friend. + +Some time later Bowlin Green gave Samson this brief account of what +happened in and about the cabin: + +"He wouldn't eat anything. He wanted to go down to the river for a dip, +and I went with him. When we got back, I induced him to take off his +clothes and get into bed. He was fast asleep in ten minutes. When night +came I went up the ladder to bed. He was still asleep when I came down in +the morning. I went out and did my chores. Then I cut two venison steaks, +each about the size o' my hand, and a half moon of bacon. I pounded the +venison to pulp with a little salt and bacon mixed in. I put it on the +broiler and over a bed o' hickory coals. I got the coffee into the pot +and up next to the fire and some potatoes in the ashes. I basted a bird +with bacon strips and put it into the roaster and set it back o' the +broiling bed. Then I made some biscuits and put 'em into the oven. I tell +you, in a little while the smell o' that fireplace would have 'woke the +dead--honest! Abe began to stir. In a minute I heard him call: + +"'Say, Uncle Bowlin, I'm goin' to get up an' eat you out o' house and +home. I'm hungry and I feel like a new man. What time is it?' + +"'It'll be nine o'clock by the time you're washed and dressed,' I says. + +"'Well, I declare,' says he, 'I've had about sixteen hours o' solid +sleep. The world looks better to me this morning.' + +"He hurried into his clothes and we sat down at the table with the steak +and the chicken and some wild grape jelly and baked potatoes, with new +butter and toffee and cream and hot biscuit and clover honey, and say, we +both et till we was ashamed of it. + +"At the table I told him a story and got a little laugh out of him. He +stayed with me three weeks, choring around the place and taking it easy. +He read all the books I had, until you and Doc Allen came with the law +books. Then he pitched into them. I think he has changed a good deal +since Ann died. He talks a lot about God and the hereafter." + +In October young Mr. Lincoln returned to his surveying, and in the last +month of the year to Vandalia for an extra session of the Legislature, +where he took a stand against the convention system of nominating +candidates for public office. Samson went to Vandalia for a visit with +him and to see the place before the session ended. The next year, in a +letter to his brother, he says: + +"Vandalia is a small, crude village. It has a strong flavor of whisky, +profanity and tobacco. The night after I got there I went to a banquet +with Abe Lincoln. Heard a lot about the dam nigger-loving Yankees who +were trying to ruin the state and country with abolition. There were some +stories like those we used to hear in the lumber camp, and no end of +powerful talk, in which the names of God and the Savior were roughly +handled. A few of the statesmen got drunk, and after the dinner was over +two of them jumped on the table and danced down the whole length of it, +shattering plates and cups and saucers and glasses. Nobody seemed to be +able to stop them. I hear that they had to pay several hundred dollars +for the damage done. You will be apt to think that there is too much +liberty here in the West, and perhaps that is so, but the fact is these +men are not half so bad as they seem to be. Lincoln tells me that they +are honest almost to a man and sincerely devoted to the public good as +they see it. I asked Abe Lincoln, who all his life has associated with +rough tongued, drinking men, how he had managed to hold his own course +and keep his talk and habits so clean. + +"'Why, the fact is,' said he, 'I have associated with the people who +lived around me only part of the time, but I have never stopped +associating with myself and with Washington and Clay and Webster and +Shakespeare and Burns and DeFoe and Scott and Blackstone and Parsons. On +the whole, I've been in pretty good company.' + +"He has not yet accomplished much in the Legislature. I don't think that +he will until some big issue comes along. 'I'm not much of a hand at +hunting squirrels,' he said to me the other day. 'Wait till I see a +bear.' The people of Vandalia and Springfield have never seen him yet. +They don't know him as I do. But they all respect him--just for his good +fellowship, honesty and decency. I guess that every fellow with a foul +mouth hates himself for it and envies the man who isn't like him. They +begin to see his skill as a politician, which has shown itself in the +passage of a bill removing the capitol to Springfield. Abe Lincoln was +the man who put it through. But he has not yet uncovered his best +talents. Mark my word, some day Lincoln will be a big man. + +"The death of his sweetheart has aged and sobered him. When we are +together he often sits looking down with a sad face. For a while not a +word out of him. Suddenly he will begin saying things, the effect of +which will go with me to my grave, although I can not call back the words +and place them as he did. He is what I would call a great Captain of +words. Seems as if I heard the band playing while they march by me as +well dressed and stepping as proud and regular as The Boston Guards. In +some great battle between Right and Wrong you will hear from him. I hope +it may be the battle between Slavery and Freedom, although at present he +thinks they must avoid coming to a clinch. In my opinion, it can not be +done. I expect to live to see the fight and to take part in it." + +Late in the session of 1836-1837 the prophetic truth of these words began +to reveal itself. A bill was being put through the Legislature denouncing +the growth of abolition sentiment and its activity in organized societies +and upholding the right of property in slaves. + +Suddenly Lincoln had come to a fork in the road. Popularity, the urge of +many friends, the counsel of Wealth and Power, and Public Opinion, the +call of good politics pointed in one direction and the crowd went that +way. It was a stampede. Lincoln stood alone at the corner. The crowd +beckoned, but in vain. One man came back and joined him. It was Dan +Stone, who was not a candidate for re-election. His political career was +ended. There were three words on the sign-board pointing toward the +perilous and lonely road that Lincoln proposed to follow. They were the +words Justice and Human Rights. Lincoln and Dan Stone took that road in a +protest, declaring that they "believed the institution of slavery was +founded upon injustice and bad policy." Lincoln had followed his +conscience, instead of the crowd. At twenty-eight years of age he had +safely passed the great danger point in his career. The declaration +at Decatur, the speeches against Douglas, the miracle of turning +4,000,000 beasts into 4,000,000 men, the sublime utterance at Gettysburg, +the wise parables, the second inaugural, the innumerable acts of mercy, +all of which lifted him into undying fame, were now possible. Henceforth +he was to go forward with the growing approval of his own spirit and the +favor of God. + + + + +BOOK THREE + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +WHEREIN YOUNG MR. LINCOLN BETRAYS IGNORANCE OF TWO HIGHLY IMPORTANT +SUBJECTS, IN CONSEQUENCE OF WHICH HE BEGINS TO SUFFER SERIOUS +EMBARRASSMENT. + + +There were two subjects of which Mr. Lincoln had little understanding. +They were women and finance. Up to this time his tall, awkward, ill clad +figure had been a source of amusement to those unacquainted with his +admirable spirit. Until they had rightly appraised the value of his +friendship, women had been wont to regard him with a riant curiosity. He +had been aware of this, and for years had avoided women, save those of +old acquaintance. When he lived at the tavern in the village often he had +gone without a meal rather than expose himself to the eyes of strange +women. The reason for this was well understood by those who knew him. The +young man was an exceedingly sensitive human being. No doubt he had +suffered more than any one knew from ill concealed ridicule, but he had +been able to bear it with composure in his callow youth. Later nothing +roused his anger like an attempt to ridicule him. No man who came in his +way in after life was so quickly and completely floored as one George +Forquer, who, in a moment of folly, had attempted to make light of him. + +Two women he had regarded with great tenderness--his foster mother, the +second wife of Thomas Lincoln, and Ann Rutledge. Others had been to him, +mostly, delightful but inscrutable beings. The company of women and of +dollars had been equally unfamiliar to him. He had said more than once in +his young manhood that he felt embarrassed in the presence of either, and +knew not quite how to behave himself--an exaggeration in which there was +no small amount of truth. + +In 1836 the middle frontier had entered upon a singular phase of its +development. Emigrants from the East and South and from overseas had been +pouring into it. The summer before the lake and river steamers had been +crowded with them, and their wagons had come in long processions out of +the East Chicago had begun its phenomenal growth. A frenzied speculation +in town lots had been under way in that community since the autumn of +'35. It was spreading through the state. Imaginary cities were laid out +or the lonely prairies and all the corner lots sold to eager buyers and +paid for with promises. Fortunes of imaginary wealth were created by +sales of future greatness. Millions of conversational, promissory +dollars, based upon the gold at the foot of the rainbow, were changing +hands day by day. The Legislature, with an empty treasury behind it, +voted twelve millions for river improvements and imaginary railroads and +canals, for which neither surveys nor estimates had been made, to serve +the dream-built cities of the speculator. If Mr. Lincoln had had more +experience in the getting and use of dollars and more acquaintance with +the shrinking timidity of large sums, he would have tried to dissipate +these illusions of grandeur. But he went with the crowd, every member of +which had a like inexperience. + +In the midst of the session Samson Traylor arrived in Vandalia on his +visit to Mr. Lincoln. + +"I have sold my farm," said Samson to his old friend the evening of his +arrival. + +"Did you get a good price?" Mr. Lincoln asked. + +"All that my conscience would allow me to take," said Samson. "The man +offered me three dollars an acre in cash and ten dollars in notes. We +compromised on seven dollars, all cash." + +"It's a mistake to sell now. The river is going to be deepened and +improved for navigation." + +"I've made up my mind that it can't be done, unless you can invent a way +to run a steamboat on moist ground," said Samson. "You might as well try +to make a great man out of 'Colonel Lukins.' It hasn't the water-shed. +To dig a deep channel for the Sangamon would be like sending 'Colonel +Lukins' to Harvard. We're going too fast. We have little to sell yet but +land. The people are coming to us in great numbers, but most of them are +poor. We must give them time to settle down and create something and +increase the wealth of the state. Then we shall have a solid base to +build upon; then we shall have the confidence of the capital we require +for improvements. Now I fear that we are building on the sands." + +"Don't you think that our bonds would sell in the East?" + +"No; because we have only used our lungs in all these plans of ours. No +one has carefully considered the cost. For all we know, it may cost more +than the entire wealth of the state to put through the improvements +already planned. The eastern capitalists will want to know about costs +and security. Undoubtedly Illinois is sure to be a great state. But +we're all looking at the day of greatness through a telescope. It seems +to be very near. It isn't. It's at least ten years in the future." + +Young Mr. Lincoln looked very grave for a moment. Then he laughed and +said: "I don't know but we're all a lot of fools. I begin to suspect +myself. The subject of finance is new to me. I don't know much about +it, but I'm sure if I were to say what you have said, in the House of +Representatives, they would throw me out-of-doors." + +"Just at present the House is a kind of insane asylum," said Samson. +"You'll have to stick to the procession now. The road is so crowded that +nobody can turn around. The folly of the state is so unanimous no one +will be more to blame than another when the crash comes. You have meant +well, anyhow." + +"You make me feel young and inexperienced." + +"You are generally wise, Abe, but there's one thing you don't +know--that's the use of capital. For two years Sarah and I have +been studying the subject of finance." + +"I've seen too little of you in the last year or so," said the young +statesman. "What are you going to do now that you have sold out?" + +"I was thinking of going up to Tazewell County." + +"Why don't you go to the growing and prosperous town of Springfield," Mr. +Lincoln asked. "The capitol will be there, and so will I. It is going to +be a big city. Men who are to make history will live in Springfield. +You must come and help. The state will need a man of your good sense. It +would be a great comfort to me to have you and Sarah and Harry and the +children near me. I shall need your friendship, your wisdom and your +sympathy. I shall want to sit often by your fireside. You'll find a good +school there for the children. If you'll think of it seriously, I'll try +to get you into the public service." + +"We need you plenty," Samson answered. "We kind o' think o' you as one o' +the family. I'll talk it over with Sarah and see. Never mind the job. If +I keep you behavin' yourself, it'll be job enough. Anyway, I guess we can +manage to get along. Sarah's uncle in Boston died last month and left her +a little money. If we can get what we have well invested, all I shall +need will be a few acres and a few tools and some friends to swap stories +with." + +"I've had a talk with Stuart and have some good news for Harry and Bim," +said young Mr. Lincoln. "Stuart thinks she can get a divorce under the +law of 1827. I suppose they are still interested in each other." + +"He's like most of the Yankees. Once he gets set, it's hard to change +him. The Kelsos have moved to Chicago, and I don't know how Bim stands. +If Harry knows, he hasn't said a word to us about it." + +"I'm interested in that little romance," said the legislator. "It's our +duty to do what we can to secure the happiness of these young lovers. We +mustn't neglect that in the pressure of other things. They and their +friends are dear to me. Tell Harry to come over here. I want to talk with +him." + +This dialogue was about the last incident in the visit of Samson Traylor. + +Late in the historic session of that spring, wherein the Whigs adopted +the convention system of nominations and many plans were made for the +expenditure of visionary millions, young Mr. Lincoln received a letter +from his friend, Mrs. Bennet Able of New Salem, which conveyed a shock to +his nerves. Before, he had gone to the session, Mrs. Able had said to him +lightly: + +"Abe, I'll ask my sister Mary to come up here for a visit if you'll agree +to marry her." + +"All right," the young man had answered playfully. He remembered Mary. +When he had left Kentucky, years before, Mary--a slender, sweet-faced +girl--had been one of those who bade him good-by. + +The letter had said among other things: "Mary has come, and now we expect +you to keep your word." + +No knight of old had a keener sense of chivalry than the young statesman +of Salem Hill. It was almost as Quixotic as the excesses at which +Cervantes aimed his ridicule. An appalling fear took possession of +him--a fear that Mrs. Able and the girl had taken him seriously. It +worried him. + +About this time Harry Needles arrived in Vandalia. The Legislature had +adjourned for a week-end. It was a warm, bright Saturday, early in March. +The two friends went out for a stroll in the woods. + +"Have you seen Mrs. Able's sister, Mary Owens?" Abe Lincoln asked. + +"I've seen her often." + +"What kind of a girl is she?" + +"A good kind, but-heavy." + +"Fat?" + +"Massive and most of her front teeth gone." Lincoln looked thoughtful. + +"You look as if she had stepped on your foot," Harry remarked. + +"The fact is I'm engaged to her in a kind of a way." + +"Of course that's a joke." + +"You're right; it's a joke, but I'm afraid she and her sister have taken +it seriously. A man must be careful of the heart of a young woman. After +all, it isn't a thing to play with. As usual, when I try to talk with +women, I make a fool of myself." + +"It would be easier to make a whistle out of a pig's tail than a fool out +of you," said Harry. "I have joked like that with Annabel and other +girls, but they knew that it was only fun." + +"Still true to your old love?" + +"As firm as a nail driven in oak," said Harry. "I seem to be built that +way. I shall never care much for any other girl." + +"Do you hear from Bim?" + +"Once in a while I get a long, playful letter from her, full of things +that only Bim could write." + +"Stuart says she can get a divorce. We know the facts pretty well. If you +say so, we'll prepare the papers and you can take them up to Chicago and +get them signed and attested. Stuart tells me that we can serve them by +advertising." + +"Good!" Harry exclaimed. "Get the papers ready as soon as you can and +send them up to me. When they come I'll mount that new pony of mine and +start for Chicago. If she won't have me, let her take a better man." + +"In my opinion Bim will want you," said the legislator. "I'll be coming +home in a few days and will bring the papers with me. The session is +about over. If the rich men refuse to back our plans, there's going to be +a crowd of busted statesmen in Illinois, and I'll be one of 'em." + +"Shall you spend the summer in New Salem?" + +"I don't know yet what I shall do. First I must tackle the delicate task +of getting disengaged from Mary." + +"I shouldn't think it would take long," said Harry, with a smile. + +"I can tell better after a preliminary survey." + +"No doubt Mrs. Able would like to have you marry her sister. She knows +that you have a promising future ahead of you. But don't allow her to +look serious over that little joke." + +Abe Lincoln laughed and said: "Mary would be like the man who traded +horses unsight and unseem and drew a saw horse." + +Harry returned to New Salem. After the session, young Mr. Lincoln went to +Springfield and did not reach New Salem until the first week of May. When +he arrived there, Mrs. Able met the stage from which he alighted and +asked him to come to supper at her house that evening. Not a word was +said of Mary in the excitement, about all the folk of the village having +assembled to meet and cheer the triumphant Captain of Internal +Improvements. Abe Lincoln went to supper and met Mary, who had a cheerful +heart and good manners, and a schooled and active intellect, as well as +the defects which Harry had mentioned. She and the young statesman had a +pleasant visit together, recalling scenes and events which both +remembered from beyond the barrier of a dozen years. On the whole, he was +agreeably impressed. The neighbors came in after supper. Mrs. Able kept +the comedy moving along by a playful reference to the pseudo engagement +of the young people. Mr. Lincoln laughed with the others and said that it +reminded him a little of the boy who decided to be president and only +needed the consent of the United States. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +IN WHICH MR. LINCOLN, SAMSON AND HARRY TAKE A LONG RIDE TOGETHER AND THE +LATTER VISIT THE FLOURISHING LITTLE CITY OF CHICAGO. + + +Mr. Lincoln had brought the papers which Harry was to take to Bim, and +made haste to deliver them. The boy was eager to be off on his mission. +The fields were sown. The new buyer was coming to take possession in two +weeks. Samson and Harry had finished their work in New Salem. + +"Wait till to-morrow and maybe I'll go with ye," said Samson. "I'm +anxious to see the country clear up to the lake and take a look at that +little mushroom city of Chicago." + +"And buy a few corner lots?" Abe Lincoln asked, with a smile. + +"No; I'll wait till next year. They'll be cheaper then. I believe in +Chicago. It's placed right--on the waterway to the north and east, with +good country on three sides and transportation on the other. It can go +into partnership with Steam Power right away and begin to do business. +Your grain and pork can go straight from there to Albany and New York and +Boston and Baltimore without being rehandled. When railroads come--if +they ever do--Steam Power will be shoving grain and meat and passengers +into Chicago from every point of the compass." + +Abe Lincoln turned to Sarah and said: "This is a growing country. You +ought to see the cities springing up there in the Legislature. I was +looking with great satisfaction at the crop when Samson came along one +day and fell on it. He was like a frost in midsummer." + +"The seed was sown too early," Samson rejoined. "You and I may live to +see all the dreams of Vandalia come true." + +"And all the nightmares, too," said the young statesman. + +"Yes, we're going to wake up and find a cold morning and not much to eat +in the house and the wolf at the door, but we'll live through it." + +Then the young statesman proposed: "If you are going with Harry, I'll go +along and see what they've done on the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Some +contractors who worked on the Erie Canal will start from Chicago Monday +to look the ground over and bid on the construction of the southern end +of it. I want to talk with them when they come along down the line." + +"I guess a few days in the saddle would do you good," said Samson. + +"I reckon it would. I've been cloyed on house air and oratory and future +greatness. The prairie wind and your pessimism will straighten me up." + +Harry rode to the village that afternoon to get "Colonel" and Mrs. Lukins +to come out to the farm and stay with Sarah while he and Samson were +away. Harry found the "Colonel" sitting comfortably in a chair by the +door of his cabin, roaring with laughter. He had not lived up to his +title and was still generally known as "Bony" Lukins. + +"What are you roaring at?" Harry demanded. + +The "Colonel" was dumb with joy for a moment. Then, with an effort, he +straightened his face and managed to say: "Laughin' just 'cause I'm +alive." The words were followed by a kind of spiritual explosion followed +by a silent ague of merriment. It would seem that his brain had +discovered in the human comedy some subtle and persuasive jest which had +gone over the heads of the crowd. Yet Harry seemed to catch it, for he, +too, began to laugh with the fortunate "Colonel." + +"You see," said the latter, as, with great difficulty, he restrained +himself for half a moment, "this is my busy day." + +Again he roared and shook in a fit of ungovernable mirth. In the midst of +it Mrs. Lukins arrived. + +"Don't pay no 'tention to him," she said. "The 'Colonel' is wearin' +himself out restin'. He's kep' his head bobbin' all day like a +woodpecker's. Jest laughs till he's sick every time he an' ol' John gits +together. It's plum ridic'lous." + +The "Colonel" turned serious long enough to give him time to explain in a +quivering, joyous tone: "0l' John, he just sets beside me and says the +gol' darndest funniest things!" + +He could get no further. His last words were blown out in a gale of +laughter. Mrs. Lukins had sat down with her knitting. + +"Ol' John Barleycorn will leave to-night, an' to-morrow the 'Colonel' +will be the soberest critter in Illinois--kind o' lonesome like an' +blubberin' to himself," she explained. The faithful soul added in a +whisper of confidence: "He's a good man. There don't nobody know how deep +an' kind o' coralapus like he is." + +She now paused as if to count stitches. For a long time the word +"coralapus" had been a prized possession of Mrs. Lukins. Like her +feathered bonnet, it was used only on special occasions by way of putting +her best foot forward. It was indeed a family ornament of the same +general character as her husband's title. Just how she came by it nobody +could tell, but of its general significance, as it fell from her lips; +there could be no doubt whatever in any but the most obtuse intellect. +For her it had a large and noble, although a rather indefinite meaning, +entirely favorable to the person or the object to which it was applied. +There was one other word in her lexicon which was in the nature of a +jewel to be used only on special occasions. It was the word "copasetic." +The best society of Salem Hill understood perfectly that it signalized +an unusual depth of meaning. + +In half a moment she added: "He's got some grand idees. If they was ever +drawed out an' spread on the ground so that folks could see them, I +reckon they'd be surprised." + +"I'm sorry to find him in this condition," said Harry. "We wanted you and +him to come out and help Mrs. Traylor to look after the place while we +are gone to Chicago." + +"You needn't worry about Ol' John," said she. + +"He'll git lonesome an' toddle off when the 'Colonel' goes to bed an' +won't come 'round ag'in till snow flies. That man will be just as steady +as an ox all the summer an' fall--not a laugh out o' him--you see." + +"Can you be there at six in the morning?" + +"We'll be there--sure as sunrise--an' ready to go to work." + +They were on hand at the hour appointed, the "Colonel" having acquired, +meanwhile, his wonted look of solemnity. + +Josiah, now a sturdy boy of thirteen, stood in the dooryard, holding the +two saddle ponies from Nebraska which Samson had bought of a drover. +Betsey, a handsome young miss almost fifteen years old, stood beside him. +Sambo, a sober old dog with gray hairs in his head, sat near, looking at +the horses. Sarah, whose face had begun to show the wear of years full of +loneliness and hard work, was packing the saddle-bags, now nearly filled, +with extra socks and shirts and doughnuts and bread and butter. As the +travelers were saying good-by, Mrs. Lukins handed a package to Samson. + +"I heard Philemon Morris readin' 'bout Chicago in the paper," said she. +"I want you to take that money an' buy me some land thar--jest as much as +ye kin. There's two hundred an' fifty dollars in the foot o' that ol' +sock, and most of it shiny gold." + +"I wouldn't risk my savings that way," Samson advised. "It's too much +like gambling. You couldn't afford to lose your money." + +"You do as I tell ye," the "Colonel's" wife insisted. "I alwus obey your +orders. Now I want you to take one from me." + +"All right," the man answered. "If I see anything that looks good to me, +I'll buy it if I can." + +As the two men were riding toward the village, Samson said: "Kind o' +makes my heart ache to leave home even for a little while these days. +We've had six long, lonesome years on that farm. Not one of our friends +have been out to see us. Sarah was right. Movin' west is a good deal like +dyin' and goin' to another world. It's a pity we didn't settle further +north, but we were tired of travel when we got here. We didn't know which +way to turn and felt as if we'd gone far enough. When we settle down +again, it'll be where we can take some comfort and see lots o' folks +every day." + +"Have you decided where to go?" Harry asked. + +"I think we shall go with Abe to Springfield." + +"That's good. Next year I hope to be admitted to the bar, and I'd like to +settle in Springfield." + +For nearly two years Abe Lincoln had been passing the law books that he +had read to Harry before they went back to John T. Stuart. + +The gray horses, Colonel and Pete, stood by the fence in the pasture lot +and whinnied as the men passed. + +"They know us all right," said Samson. "I guess they feel slighted, but +they've had their last journey. They're about worn out. We'll give 'em a +vacation this summer. I wouldn't sell 'em. They're a part o' the family. +You can lay yer hand on either one and say that no better boss was ever +wrapped in a surcingle." + +They met Abe Lincoln at the tavern, where he was waiting on a big horse +which he had borrowed for the trip from James Rutledge. Without delay, +the three men set out on the north road in perfect weather. From the +hill's edge they could look over a wooded plain running far to the east. + +"It's a beautiful place to live up here, but on this side you need a +ladder to get to it. The little village is going to die--too much +altitude. It's a horse killer. No team can draw anything but its breath +going up that hill. It's all right for a generation of walkers, but the +time has come when we must go faster than a walk and carry bigger burdens +than a basket or a bundle. Every one will be moving--mostly to +Petersburg." + +As they rode on, the young statesman repeated a long passage from one of +the sermons of Dr. William Ellery Channing on the Instability of Human +Affairs. + +"I wish that I had your memory," Samson remarked. + +"My memory is like a piece of metal," said the young legislator. +"Learning is not easy for me. It's rather slow work--like engraving with +a tool. But when a thing is once printed on my memory it seems to stay +there. It doesn't rub out. When I run across a great idea, well +expressed, I like to put it on the wall of my mind where I can live with +it. In this way every man can have his own little art gallery and be in +the company of great men." + +They forded a creek in deep water, where a bridge had been washed away. + +As they came out dripping on the farther shore. Lincoln remarked: "The +thing to do in fording a deep stream is to keep watch o' your horse's +ears. As long as you can see 'em you're all right." + +"Mr. Lincoln, I'm sorry--you got into a hole," said Samson. + +"I don't mind that, but while we're traveling together, please don't call +me 'Mr. Lincoln.' I don't think I've done anything to deserve such lack +of respect" + +Samson answered: "If you're nice to us, I don't know but we'll call ye +'Abe' again, just for a few days. You can't expect us to go too far with +a man who associates with Judges and Generals and Governors and such +trash. If you keep it up, you're bound to lose standing in our +community." + +"I know I've changed," said Abe. "I've grown older since Ann died--years +older--but I don't want you fellows to throw me over. I'm on the same +level that you are and I intend to stay there. It's a fool notion that +men go up some heavenly stairway to another plane when they begin to do +things worth while. That's a kind of feudalistic twaddle. The wise man +keeps his feet on the ground and lifts his mind as high as possible. The +higher he lifts it, the more respect he will have for the common folk. +Have either of you seen McNamar since he got back?" + +"I saw him the day he drove into the village," Harry answered. "He was +expecting to find Ann and make good his promise to marry her." + +"Poor fool! It's a sad story all around," said Abe Lincoln. "He's not a +bad fellow, I reckon, but he broke Ann's heart. Didn't realize what a +tender thing it was. I can't forgive him." + +In the middle of the afternoon they came in sight of the home of Henry +Brimstead. + +"Here's where we stop and feed, and listen to Henry's secrets," said +Samson. + +The level fields were cut into squares outlined by wooden stakes. + +Brimstead was mowing the grass in his dooryard. He dropped his scythe and +came to welcome the travelers. + +"Say, don't you know that you are standing in the center of a large and +promising city?" he said to Samson. "You fellers ought to dress up a +little when ye come to town." + +"Boys, we've stumbled on to a dream city, paved with gold and arched with +rainbows," said Samson. + +"You are standing at the corner of Grand Avenue and Empire Street, in the +growing city of El Dorado, near the great water highway of Illinois," +Brimstead declaimed. + +"Where's the growin'?" Samson demanded. + +Brimstead came closer and said in a confidential tone: "If you stand +right where you are an' listen, you'll hear it growin'." + +"It sounds a good deal like a turnip growin' in a garden," Samson +remarked, thoughtfully. + +"Give it a fair chance," Brimstead went on. "Two cellars have been dug +over there in the pasture. One is for the Town Hall and the other for the +University which the Methodists are going to build. A railroad has been +surveyed and is expected this summer." + +"That same railroad has been expected in a thousand places since '32," +said Samson. + +"I know, it's the most expected thing in the United States but that won't +scare it away," Brimstead went on. "Everybody is yellin' for it." + +"You can't call a railroad as you would a dog by whistling," Abe warned +him. + +"But it's got beyond Buffalo on its way," said Brimstead. + +"A team of healthy snails would get here soouer," Samson insisted. + +"El Dorado can make out with a canal to Lake Michigan, carrying its +manufactures and the product of the surrounding country straight to the +big cities of the East," said Brimstead. "Every corner lot in my city has +been sold and paid for, half cash and half notes." + +"The brokers in Chicago got the cash and you got the notes?" + +"You've said it. I've got a drawer full of notes." + +"And you've quit farmin'?" + +"Say, I'll tell ye the land has gone up so it wouldn't pay. Peasley an' +I cal'ate that we're goin' to git rich this summer sellin' lots." + +"Wake up, man. You're dreamin'," said Samson. + +Henry came dose to Samson and said in a confidential tone: "Say, mebbe +the whole state is dreamin' an' yellin' in its sleep 'bout canals an' +schools an' factories an' mills an' railroads. We're havin' a good +time anyway." + +This reminded Abe Lincoln of the story: + +"There was a man in Pope County who came home one evening and sat down in +the middle of the barn floor and began to sing. His wife asked him: + +"'Are you drunk or crazy or a fool?' + +"'I don't know what you'd call it, but I know I ain't got a darn bit to +spare,' he answered, with a whoop of joy." + +"You're all goin' to roll out o' bed and hit the floor with a bump," said +Samson. + +Brimstead declared in his usual tone of confidence: + +"The worst part o' bein' a fool is lonesomeness. I was the only one in +Flea Valley. Now I shall be in the company of a Governor an' dozens o' +well known statesmen. You'll be the only lonesome man in Illinois." + +"I sometimes fear that he will enjoy the loneliness of wisdom," said +Honest Abe. + +"In some parts of the state every farmer owns his own private city," +Samson declared. "I hope Henry Brimstead does as well raising cities as +he did raising grain. He was a very successful farmer." + +"I knew you'd make fun o' me but when you come again you'll see the +towers an' steeples," said Brimstead. "Put up your horses and come into +the house and see the first lady of El Dorado." + +Mrs. Brimstead had their dinner cooking before the horses were cared for. +Samson went into the house while Henry was showing his El Dorado map to +the others. + +"Well, what do you think of Henry's plans?" she asked. + +"I like the farm better." + +"So do I," the woman declared. "But the men around here have gone crazy +with dreams of sudden wealth. I kept Henry busy on the farm as long as I +could." + +"I've only a word of advice about it. If those Chicago men sell any more +of your land make them take the notes and you take the money. Where is +Annabel?" + +"Teaching the school at Hopedale." + +"We're going up to Chicago to see the Kelsos," said Samson. + +"Glad you are. Some rich feller up there by the name of Davis has fallen +in love with Bim an' he don't give her any peace. He left here last night +goin' north. Owns a lot o' land in Tazewell County an' wears a diamond in +his shirt as big as your thumb nail. Bim has been teaching school in +Chicago this winter. It must be a wonderful place. Every one has loads +of money. The stores an' houses are as thick as the hair on a dog's +back-some of 'em as big as all outdoors." + + +She added in a moment as she stirred her pudding: "Something ought to be +done for Bim to get her free." + +"We're going to see about that," Samson assured her. + +"Harry had better look out," said Mrs. Brimstead. + +"Abe is going to get a divorce for her an' I guess from now on the grass +won't have a chance to grow under Harry's feet. The boy has worried a +good deal lately. Wouldn't wonder if he'd heard o' those rich fellers but +he hasn't let on about it." + +Abe Lincoln and Harry entered with their host and the travelers sat down +to a luncheon of pudding and milk and doughnuts and pie. + +"There's no El Dorado about this," said Samson. "Women have to have +something more than hopes to work with." + +"The women in this country have to do all their dreaming at night," said +Mrs. Brimstead. + +"El Dorado will not stay long," Samson averred. + +"It wouldn't cost much to shoo it off your land," Abe laughed. + +"You can't either shoo or shoot it," said Brimstead. + +"I look for it just to take the rickets an' die," was the comment of his +wife. + +"How far do you call it to the sycamore woods?" Lincoln asked as they +rose from the table. + +"About thirty mile," said Brimstead. + +"We must be off if we are to get there before dark," the young statesman +declared. + +They saddled their horses and mounted and rode up to the door. After +their acknowledgments and farewells Brimstead came close to Samson and +said in confidence: "I enjoy bein' a millionaire for a few minutes now +an' then. It's as good as goin' to a circus an' cheaper." + +"The feelings of a millionaire are almost as good as the money while they +last," said Abe Lincoln with a laugh. + +Brimstead came up to him and whispered: "They're better 'cause if you can +keep away from Samson Traylor you don't have any fear o' bein' robbed." + +"It reminds me o' the time I used to play I was a horse," said Samson as +they rode away. In a moment he added: "Abe, the state is getting in a bad +way." + +"It looks as if you were right," said the member from Sangamon County. +"It's a bad sign to find men like Peasley and Brimstead going crazy." + +Up the road they passed many farms unsown and staked into streets and +avenues. The hand of industry had been checked by dreams of wealth. + +"The land that once laughed with fatness now has a lean and solemn look," +Abe admitted. "But I reckon you'll find that kind of thing going on all +over the country-east and west." + +"It reminds me of those fellers that danced on the table an' smashed the +dishes at the banquet," said Samson. + +"They had the same kind o' feelin's that Brimstead has," said the +legislator. "I wish we had had you in the House." + +"They would have thrown me out of a window." + +"I wouldn't wonder but I reckon the time is near when they would urge you +to come in at the door. You've got more good sense than all of us put +together. I've heard you accuse me of growing but your own growth has +astonished me." + +"No one can stand still in this country especially if he's got a wife +like mine," Samson answered. "Even Mr. and Mrs. Peter Lukins want to be +movin' on, an' a city is likely to come an' sit down beside ye when ye +ain't lookin'." + +"Your wife is a wonderful woman," said Abe. + +"She's been a great help to me," Samson declared. "We read together and +talk the matter over. She's got better sense than I have." + +"And yet they say women ought not to vote," said Lincoln. "That's another +relic of feudalism. I think that the women you and I know are as well +qualified to vote as the men." + +"On the whole better. They are more industrious, thrifty and dependable. +Have you ever seen a 'Colonel' Lukins or a Bap McNoll in woman's dress?" + +"Never. Democracy has much ground to win. For my part I believe that the +Declaration of Independence is a practical document. My ambition is to +see its truth accepted everywhere. As a contribution to human welfare its +principles are second only to the law of Moses. It should be our work to +keep the structure of America true to the plan of its architects." + +After a moment of silence Lincoln added: "What is your ambition?" + +"It is very modest," said Samson. "I've been thinking that I'd like to go +into some kind of business and help develop the West." + +"Well some one has got to provide our growing population with food and +clothing and tools and transportation." + +"And see that they don't get El Doradoed," said Harry. + +At early candlelight they reached the sycamore woods very hungry. It was +a beautiful grove-like forest on the shore of a stream. The crossing was +a rough bridge of corduroy. A crude log tavern and a cruder store stood +on the farther shore of the creek. The tavern was a dirty place with a +drunken proprietor. Three ragged, shiftless farmers and a half-breed +Indian sat in its main room in varying stages of inebriacy. A well +dressed, handsome, young man with a diamond in his shirt-front was +leading a horse back and forth in the stable yard. The diamond led Samson +to suspect that he was the man Davis of whom Mrs. Brimstead had spoken. +Our travelers, not liking the look of the place, got some oats and rode +on, camping near the farther edge of the woods, where they built a fire, +fed and tethered their horses and sat down and ate from the store in +their saddle-bags. + +"I was hankering for a hot supper," said Abe as they began eating. +"Washington Irving wrote in his journal that if he couldn't get a dinner +to suit his taste he endeavored to get a taste to suit his dinner. That +is what we must do." + +They made out very well in the undertaking and then with their knives Abe +and Samson cut big armfuls of grass from the near prairie for the horses +and a bed upon which the three men lay down for the night. Harry had +dried out their saddle-blankets by the fire and these were their bed +clothing. + +"This hay may have some bugs in it but they won't tickle so bad as those +in the tavern," Abe laughed. + +Then Harry remarked: "There was lots of bad company in that tavern. The +towel that hung over the washstand was as black as the ground." + +"It reminded me of the tavern down in Pope County," Abe yawned. "A +traveler found fault with the condition of its one towel and the landlord +said: 'Go to h--ll, stranger. More than fifty men have used that towl +to-day an' you're the first one that's complained of it.'" + +Samson had that gift of "sleeping with one eye open" which the perils of +the wilderness had conferred upon the pioneer. He had lain down on the +side of their bed near the horses, which, were tethered to trees only a +few feet away. He had gone to sleep with his pistol under his right hand. +Since the beginning of that long journey overland from Vermont Samson had +been wont to say that his right hand never slept. Late in the night ha +was awakened by an unusual movement among the horses. In the dim light of +the fire he could see a man in the act of bridling Abe's horse. + +"Hold up your hands," Samson shouted as he covered the man with his +pistol. "If ye stir a foot I'll bore a hole in ye." + +The man threw up his hands and stood still. + +In half a moment Abe Lincoln and Harry had got up and captured the man +and the loosed horse. + +This is part of the entry which Samson made in his diary a week or so +later: + + * * * * * + +"Harry put some wood on the fire while Abe and I led him up into the +light. He was one of the dirty white men we had seen at the tavern. + +"'I'll give ye four hundred dollars for a hogs in good Michigan money,' +he said. + +"'If ye can't steal a horse you're willin' to buy one,' I says. + +"'No, sir. I only come to buy,' says he. + +"I flopped him sudden and asked him why he was putting on the bridle. + +"He owned up then. Said a man had hired him to steal the horse. + +"'That man has got to have a hoss,' he said. 'He'll give ye any price ye +want to ask. If you'll give me a few dollars I'll take ye to him.' + +"'You go and bring him here and I'll talk to him,' I said. + +"I let the feller go. I didn't suppose he'd come back but he did. Came a +little before sunrise with that well dressed feller we saw at the tavern. + +"'Do you want to buy a horse?' I says. + +"'Yes, sir, I've got to get to Chicago to-day if possible.' + +"'What's your hurry?' + +"'I have engagements to-morrow and land to sell.' + +"'How did ye get here?' + +"'Came up from Tazewell County to-day on a horse. It died last evening.' + +"'What's your name?' I says. + +"He handed me a card on which I read the words 'Lionel Davis, Real +Estate, Loans and Insurance, 14 South Water Street, Chicago, Ill.' + +"'There's one branch o' your business that isn't mentioned on the card,' +I says. + +"'What's that?' says he. + +"'Horse-thief,' says I. 'You sent that feller here to steal a horse and +he got caught.' + +"'Well I told him if he'd get me a good horse I'd give him five hundred +dollars and that I didn't care how he got him. The fact is I'm desperate. +I'll give you a thousand dollars for one of your horses.' + +"'You couldn't buy one of 'em at any price,' I said. 'There's two +reasons. I wouldn't do business with a horse-thief and no money would +tempt me to sell an animal to be ridden to death.' + +"The two thieves had had enough of us and they got out." + + * * * * * + +That night our party camped on the shore of the Kankakee and next day +they met the contractors. Lincoln joined the latter party and Harry and +Samson went on alone. Late that afternoon they crossed the nine mile +prairie, beyond which they could see the shimmer of the lake and the +sunlit structures of the new city. Pink and white moccasin flowers and +primroses were thick in the grass. On the lower ground the hoofs of their +horses plashed in wide stretches of shallow water. + +Chicago looked very bare on the high prairie above the lake. It was Mr. +William Cullen Bryant who said that it had the look of a huckster in his +shirt-sleeves. + +"There it is," said Samson. "Four thousand, one hundred and eighty people +live there. It looks like a sturdy two-year-old." + +The houses were small and cheaply built and of many colors. Some were +unpainted. Near the prairie they stood like people on the outer edge of +a crowd, looking over one another's shoulders and pushing in a disordered +mass toward the center of interest. Some seemed to have straggled away as +if they had given up trying to see or hear. So to one nearing it the +town had a helter-skelter look. + +Our travelers passed rough boarded houses with grand-looking people in +their dooryards and on their small porches--men in broadcloth and tall +hats and ladies in silk dresses. It was six o'clock and the men had come +home to supper. As the horsemen proceeded larger buildings surrounded +them, mostly two stories high. There were some stores and houses built of +red brick. Beyond the scatter of cheap, wooden structures they came to +streets well laid out and crowded and busy and "very soft" to quote a +phrase from the diary. Teams were struggling in the mud, drivers shouting +and lashing. Agents for hotels and boarding-houses began to solicit the +two horsemen from the plank sidewalks. The latter were deeply impressed +by a negro in scarlet clothes, riding a horse in scarlet housings. He +carried a scarlet banner and was advertising in a loud voice the hour and +place of a great land sale that evening. + +A sound of many hammers beating upon boards could be heard above the +noises of the street and behind all was the constant droning of a big +steam saw and the whir of the heavy stones in the new grist mill. It was +the beginning of that amazing diapason of industry which accompanied the +building of the cities of the West. + +They got out in the livery stable of the City Hotel and at the desk of +the latter asked about the price of board. It was three dollars a day and +no politeness in the offer. + +"It's purty steep," said Samson. "But I'm too hungry for argument or +delay and I guess we can stand it to be nabobs for a day or so." + +"I shall have to ask you to pay in advance," the clerk demanded. + +Samson drew out the pig's bladder in which he carried his money and paid +for a day's board. + +Samson writes that Harry spent half an hour washing and dressing himself +in the clean clothes and fine shoes which he had brought in his +saddle-bags and adds: + + * * * * * + +"He was a broad-shouldered, handsome chap those days, six feet and an +inch high and straight as an arrow with a small blond mustache. His +clothes were rumpled up some and he wore a gray felt hat instead of +a tall one but there was no likelier looking lad in the new city." + + * * * * * + +After supper the office of the hotel was crowded with men in tall hats +and tail coats smoking "seegars" and gathered in groups. The earnestness +of their talk was signalized by little outbursts of profanity coupled +with the name of Jackson. Some denounced the President as a traitor. One +man stood in the midst of a dozen others delivering a sort of oration, +embellished with noble gestures, on the future of Illinois. His teeth +were clenched on his "seegar" that tilted out of the corner of his mouth +as he spoke. Now and then he would pause and by a deft movement of his +lips roll the "seegar" to the other corner of his mouth, take a fresh +grip on it and resume his oration. + +Samson wrote in his diary: + + "He said a lot of foolish things that made us laugh." + +Twenty years later he put this note under that entry: + + "The funny thing about it was really this; they all came true." + +The hotel clerk had a _Register of the Residents of the City of Chicago_ +wherein they found the name and address of John Kelso. They went out to +find the house. Storekeepers tried to stop them as they passed along the +street with offers of land at bargains which would make them millionaires +in a week. In proceeding along the plank sidewalks they were often +ascending or descending steps to another level. + +They went to a barber shop and got "trimmed and shaved." For change the +barber gave them a sort of shinplaster money, each piece of which bore +the legend: "Good for one shave or ten cents at the Palace Shaving +Parlors, 16 Dearborn Street, Chicago, Ill." The barber assured them it +was as good as coin anywhere in the city which they found to be true. The +town was flooded with this "red dog money" issued by stores or work-shops +and finding general acceptance among its visitors and inhabitants. On the +sidewalks were emigrant families the older members of which carried heavy +bags and bundles. They were followed by troops of weary, dirty children. + +On La Salle Street they found the home of Jack Kelso. It was a rough +boarded small house a story and a half high. It had a little porch and +dooryard enclosed by an unpainted picket fence. Bim in a handsome, blue +silk gown came running out to meet them. + +"If you don't mind I'm going to kiss you," she said to Harry. + +"I'd mind if you didn't," said the young man as he embraced her. + +"We must be careful not to get the habit," she laughed. + +"It grows on one." + +"It also grows on two," she answered. + +"I'd enjoy being careless for once," said Harry. + +"Women can be extravagant with everything but carelessness," she +insisted. "Do you like this gown?" + +"It is lovely--like yourself." + +"Then perhaps you will be willing to take me to the party to-night. My +mother will chaperon us." + +"With these clothes that have just been hauled out of a saddle-bag?" said +Harry with a look of alarm. + +"Even rags could not hide the beauty of him," said Kelso as he came down +from the porch to greet them. "And look at her," he went on. "Was there +ever a fairer maid in spite of all her troubles? See the red in her +cheeks and the diamond glow of youth and health in her eyes. You should +see the young men sighing and guitaring around her." + +"You'll hear me tuning up," Harry declared. + +"That is father's way of comforting my widowhood," said Bim. "He has made +a wonderful beauty mask and often he claps it on me and whistles up a +band of sighing lovers. As a work of the imagination I am a great +success." + +"The look of you sets my heart afire again," the boy exclaimed. + +"Come--put up your guitar and take mother and me to the party at Mrs. +Kinzie's," said Bim. "A very grand young man was coming to take us in a +wonderful carriage but he's half an hour late now. We won't wait for +him." + +So the three set out together afoot for Mrs. Kinzie's, while Samson sat +down for a visit with Jack Kelso. + +"Mrs. Kinzie enjoys the distinction of owning a piano," said Bim as they +went on. "There are only three pianos In the city and so far we have +discovered only two people who can play on them--the music teacher and a +young gentleman from Baltimore. When they are being played on people +gather around the houses where they are." + +The Kinzies' house was of brick and larger and more pretentious than any +in Chicago. Its lawn, veranda and parlor were crowded with people in a +curious variety of costumes. + +Nearly all the festive company wore diamonds. They scintillated on +fingers, some of which were knotted with toil; they glowed on shirt +bosoms and morning as well as evening gowns; on necks and ears which +should have been spared the emphasis of jewels. They were the accepted +badge and token of success. People who wore them not were either new +arrivals or those of questionable wealth and taste. So far had this +singular vanity progressed that a certain rich man, who had lost a finger +in a saw mill, wore an immense solitaire next to the stub, it may be +presumed, as a memorial to the departed. + +Colonel Zachary Taylor, who had laterly arrived from Florida and was +presently returning with a regiment of recruits for the Seminole War, was +at Mrs. Kinzie's party. He was then a man of middle age with iron gray +hair and close cropped side whiskers. A splendid figure he was in his +uniform. He remembered Harry and took him in hand and introduced him to +many of his friends as the best scout in the Black Hawk War, and, in +spite of his dress, the young man became one of the lions of the evening. + +"I reckon I could tell you some things about this boy," the Colonel said +to Bim. + +"He may not be afraid of guns or Indians but he has always been scared of +women," said she. + +"Which shows that he has a just sense of the relative importance of +perils," the Colonel answered. "A man of the highest chivalry is ever +afraid in the presence of a lovely woman and chiefly for her sake. I +once held a beautiful vase in my hands. They said it was worth ten +thousand dollars. I was afraid until I had put it down." + +"A great piano player from New York" was introduced. She played on Mrs. +Kinzie's instrument, after which Bim sang a number of Scottish ballads +and "delightfully" if one may believe a chronicler so partial as Harry +Needles, the value of whose judgment is somewhat affected by the +statement in his diary that as she stood by the piano her voice and +beauty set his heart thumping in his breast. However of the charm and +popularity of this young lady there is ample evidence in copies of The +Democrat which are still preserved and in sundry letters and journals of +that time. + +The refreshment table was decorated with pyramids of quartered oranges in +nets of spun sugar and large frosted cakes. There were roasted pigeons +and turkeys and chickens and a big ham, served with jelly, and platters +of doughnuts and bread and butter and cabbage salad. Every one ate +heartily and was served often, for the supper was thought to be the most +important feature of a party those days. + +After refreshments the men went outside to smoke and talk--some with +pipes--of canals, railroads and corner lots while the younger people were +dancing and being proudly surveyed by their mothers. + +As Harry and the ladies were leaving Colonel Taylor came to them and +said: + +"Young man, I am the voice of your country. I call you to Florida. Will +you go with us next week?" + +Harry looked into Bim's eyes. + +"The campaign will be over in a year and I need you badly," the Colonel +urged. + +"I can not say no to the call of my country," Harry answered. "I will +join your regiment at Beardstown on its way down the river." + +That night Harry and Bim stood by the gate talking after Mrs. Kelso had +gone into the house. + +"Bim, I love you more than ever," said the boy. "Abe says you can get a +divorce. I have brought the papers for you to sign. They will make you +free. I have done it for your sake. You will be under no obligation. I +want you to be free to marry whom you will. I would be the happiest man +in the world if you were to choose me. I haven't the wealth of some of +these city men. I can only offer you my love." + +"Be careful and please let go of my hand," she said. "The time has come +when it would be possible to spoil our story. I'm not going to say a word +of love to you. I am not free yet. We couldn't marry if we wanted to. I +wish you to be under no sense of obligation to me. Many things may happen +in a year. I am glad you are going to see more of the world before you +settle down, Harry. You will stop in New Orleans and see some of its +beautiful women. It will help you to be sure to know yourself a little +better and to be sure of what you want to do." + +There was a note of sadness in her voice as she spoke these words which +be recalled with a sense of comfort on many a lonely day. + +"I think that I know myself fairly well," he answered. "There are so many +better men who want to marry you! I shall go away with a great fear in +me." + +"There are no better men," she answered. "When you get back we shall see +what comes of our little romance. Meanwhile I'm going to pray for you." + +"And I for you," he said as he followed her into the house where the +older people sat waiting for them. Harry gave the papers to Bim to be +signed and attested and forwarded to Mr. Stuart in Springfield. + +On their way to the hotel Samson said to Harry: + +"I don't believe Bim is going to be carried away by any of these +high-flyers. She's getting to be a very sensible person. Jack is +disgusted by what he calls 'the rank commercialism of the place.' I told +him about that horse-thief Davis. He was the man who was going to the +party to-night with the ladies. He's in love with Bim. Jack says that the +men here are mostly of that type. They seem to have gone crazy in the +scramble for riches. Their motto is: 'Get it; do it honestly if you can, +but get it.' I guess that was exactly the plan of Davis in trying to get +a horse. + +"Poor Jack has caught the plague. He has invested in land. Thinks it will +make him rich. He's in poor health too--kidney trouble--and Bim has a +baby with all the rest--a beautiful boy. I went up-stairs and saw him +asleep in his cradle. Looks like her. Hair as yellow as gold, light +complexion, blue eyes, handsome as a picture." + +That night in the office of the City Hotel they found Mr. Lionel Davis +in the midst of a group of excited speculators. In some way he had got +across the prairies and was selling his land and accepting every offer on +the plea that he was going into the grain business in St. Louis and had +to leave Chicago next day. Samson and Harry watched him while he +exercised the arts of the auctioneer in cleaning his slate. Diamonds and +gold watches were taken and many thousands of dollars in bank bills and +coin came into his hands. He choked the market with bargains. The buyers +began to back off. They were like hungry dogs laboring with a difficult +problem of mastication. Mr. Davis closed his carpet bag and left. + +"It was a kind of horse stealin'," said Samson as they were going to bed. +"He got news down there on the main road by pony express on its way to +St. Louis. I'll bet there's been a panic in the East. He's awake and the +others are still dreamin'." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +WHEREIN IS ONE OF THE MANY PRIVATE PANICS WHICH FOLLOWED THE BURSTING OF +THE BUBBLE OF SPECULATION. + + +Samson and Harry saw the bursting of the great bubble of '37. Late that +night Disaster, loathsome and thousand legged, crept into the little +city. It came on a steamer from the East and hastened from home to home, +from tavern to tavern. It bit as it traveled. Great banks had suspended +payment; New York had suffered a panic; many large business enterprises +in the East had failed; certain agents for the bonds of Illinois had +absconded with the state's money; in the big cities there had been an +ominous closing of doors and turning of locks; a great army of men were +out of employment. Those of sound judgment in Chicago knew that all the +grand schemes of the statesmen and speculators of Illinois were as the +visions of an ended dream. The local banks did not open their doors next +day. The little city was in a frenzy of excitement. The streets were +filled with a shouting, half crazed throng. New fortunes had shrunk to +nothing and less than nothing in a night. Lots in the city were offered +for a tithe of what their market value had been. Davis had known that the +storm would arrive with the first steamer and in the slang of business +had put on a life-preserver. Samson knew that the time to buy was when +every one wanted to sell. He wore a belt with some two thousand dollars +of gold coin tucked away in its pockets. He bought two corner lots for +himself in the city and two acres for Mrs. Lukins on the prairie half a +mile from town. They got their deeds and went to the Kelsos to bid them +good-by. + +"Is there anything I can do for you?" Samson asked. + +"Just give us a friendly thought now and then," said Kelso. + +"You can have my horse or my wallet or the strength of my two hands." + +"I have heard you called a damned Yankee but I can think of no greater +blessing than to be damned in a like manner," Kelso answered. "Keep your +largess for those who need it more, good friend." + +After these hearty farewells Samson and Harry set out for their home. +They were not again to see the gentle face and hear the pleasant talk of +Jack Kelso. He had once said, in the presence of the writer, that it is +well to remember, always, that things can not go on with us as they are. +Changes come--slowly and quite according to our calculations or so +swiftly and Unexpectedly that they fill us with confusion. Learned and +wise in the weighty problems of humanity he had little prudence in +regulating the affairs of his own family. + +Kelso had put every dollar he had and some that he hoped to have into +land. Bim, who had been teaching in one of the schools, had invested all +her savings in a dream city on the shore of an unconstructed canal. + +Like many who had had no experience with such phenomena they +underestimated the seriousness of the panic. They thought that, in a week +or so, its effect would pass and that Illinois would then resume its +triumphal march toward its high destiny. Not even Samson Traylor had +a correct notion of the slowness of Time. + +The effect of the panic paralyzed the city. Men whose "red dog money" +was in every one's pocket closed their shops and ran away. The wild +adventurers cleared out. Their character may be judged by the words of +one of them reported by the editor of _The Democrat_. + +"I failed for a hundred thousand dollars and could have failed for a +million if Jackson had kept his hands off." + +Hard times hung like a cloud over the city. Its population suffered some +diminishment in the next two years in spite of its position on the main +highway of trade. Dream cities, canals and railroads built without hands +became a part of the poetry of American commerce. Indeed they had come of +the prophetic vision and were therefore entitled to respect in spite of +the fact that they had been smirched and polluted by speculators. + +That autumn men and women who had come to Mrs. Kinzie's party in jewels +and in purple and fine linen had left or turned their hands to hard +labor. The Kelsos suffered real distress, the schools being closed and +the head of the house having taken to his bed with illness. Bim went to +work as a seamstress and with the help of Mrs. Kinzie and Mrs. Hubbard +was able to keep the family from want. The nursing and the care of the +baby soon broke the health of Mrs. Kelso, never a strong woman. Bim came +home from her work one evening and found her mother ill. + +"Cheer up, my daughter," said Jack. "An old friend of ours has returned +to the city. He is a rich man--an oasis in the desert of poverty. He has +loaned me a hundred dollars in good coin." + +"Who has done this?" Bim asked. + +"Mr. Lionel Davis. He has just come from New Orleans. He is a successful +speculator in grain." + +"We must not take his money," said Bim. + +"I had a long talk with him," Kelso went on. "He has explained that +unfortunate incident of the horse. It was a bit of offhand folly born of +an anxious moment." + +"But the man wants to marry me." + +"He said nothing of such a purpose." + +"He will be in no hurry about that," said Bim. "He is a shrewd operator. +Every one hates him. They say that he knew what was coming when he sold +out." + +That evening Bim wrote a long letter to Samson Traylor telling of the +evil days which had come to them. This letter, now in the possession of a +great grandson of Samson and Sarah Traylor, had a singular history. It +reached the man to whom it was addressed in the summer of 1844. It was +found with many others that summer in Tazewell County under a barn which +its owner was removing. It brought to mind the robbery of the stage from +Chicago, south of the sycamore woods, in the autumn of '37, by a man who +had ridden with the driver from Chicago and who, it was thought, had been +in collusion with him. A curious feature of the robbery had been revealed +by the discovery of the mail sack. It was unopened, its contents +undisturbed, its rusty padlock still in place. The perpetrator of the +crime had not soiled his person with any visible evidence of guilt and so +was never apprehended. + +Then for a time Bim entered upon great trials. Jack Kelso weakened. +Burning with fever, his mind wandered in the pleasant paths he loved and +saw in its fancy the deeds of Ajax and Achilles and the topless towers of +Illium and came not back again to the vulgar and prosaic details of life. +The girl knew not what to do. A funeral was a costly thing. She had no +money. The Kinzies had gone on a hunting trip in Wisconsin. Mrs. Hubbard +was ill and the Kelsos already much in her debt. Mr. Lionel Davis came. + +He was a good-looking young man of twenty-nine, those days, rather stout +and of middle stature with dark hair and eyes. He was dressed in the +height of fashion. He used to boast that he had only one vice--diamonds. +But he had ceased to display them on his shirt-front or his fingers. He +carried them in his pockets and showed them by the glittering handful +to his friends. They had come to him through trading in land where they +were the accepted symbol of success and money was none too plentiful. He +had melted their settings and turned them into coin. The stones he kept +as a kind of surplus--a half hidden evidence of wealth and of superiority +to the temptation to vulgar display. Mr. Davis was a calculating, +masterful, keen-minded man, with a rather heavy jaw. In his presence Bim +was afraid for her soul that night. He was gentle and sympathetic. He +offered to lend her any amount she needed. She made no answer but sat +trying to think what she would best do. The Traylors had paid no +attention to her letter although a month had passed since it was written. + +In a moment she rose and gave him her hand. + +"It is very kind of you," said she. "If you can spare me five hundred +dollars for an indefinite time I will take it." + +"Let me lend you a thousand," he urged. "I can do it without a bit of +inconvenience." + +"I think that five hundred will be enough," she said. + +It carried her through that trouble and into others of which her woman's +heart had found abundant signs in the attitude of Mr. Davis. He gave the +most assiduous attention to the comfort of Bim and her mother. He had had +a celebrated physician come down from Milwaukee to see Mrs. Kelso and had +paid the bill in advance. He bought a new and wonderful swinging crib of +burnished steel for the baby. + +"I can not let you be doing these things for us," Bim said one evening +when he had called to see them. + +"And I can not help loving you and doing the little I can to express it," +he answered. "There is no use in my trying to keep it from you when I +find myself lying awake nights planning for your comfort. I would like to +make every dollar I have tell you in some way that I love you. That's how +I feel and you might as well know it." + +"You have been kind to us," Bim answered. "We feel it very deeply but I +can not let you talk to me like that. I am a married woman." + +"We can fix that all right. It will be easy for you to get a divorce." + +"But I do not love you, Mr. Davis." + +"Let me try to make you love me," he pleaded. "Is there any reason why I +shouldn't?" + +"Yes. If there were no other reason, I love a young soldier who is +fighting in the Seminole War in Florida under Colonel Taylor." + +"Well, at least, you can let me take the place of your father and shield +you from trouble when I can." + +"You are a most generous and kindly man!" Bim exclaimed with tears in her +eyes. + +So he seemed to be, but he was one of those men who weave a spell like +that of an able actor. He excited temporary convictions that began to +change as soon as the curtain fell. He was in fact a performer. That +little midnight scene at the City Hotel had sounded the keynote of his +character. He was no reckless villain of romance. If he instigated the +robbery of the south-bound mail wagon, of which the writer of this little +history has no shadow of doubt, he was so careful about it that no +evidence which would satisfy a jury has been discovered to this day. + +On account of the continued illness of her mother Bim was unable to +resume her work in the academy. She took what sewing she could do at home +and earned enough to solve the problems of each day. But the payment +coming due on the house in December loomed ahead of them. It was natural, +in the circumstances, that Mrs. Kelso should like Mr. Davis and favor his +aims. Now and then he came and sat with her of an evening while Bim went +out to the shops--an act of accommodation which various neighbor women +were ever ready to perform. + +Mrs. Kelso's health had improved slowly so that she was able then to +spend most of each day in her chair. + +One evening when Davis sat alone with her, she told him the story of Bim +and Harry Needles--a bit of knowledge he was glad to have. Their talk was +interrupted by the return of Bim. She was in a cheerful mood. When Mr. +Davis had gone she said to her mother: + +"I think our luck has turned. Here's a letter from John T. Stuart. The +divorce has been granted." + +"Thank the Lord," Mrs. Kelso exclaimed. "Long ago I knew bad luck was +coming; since the day your father carried an axe through the house." + +"Pshaw! I don't believe in that kind of nonsense." + +"My father would sooner break his leg than carry an edged tool through +the house," Mrs. Kelso affirmed. "Three times I have known it to bring +sickness. I hope a change has come." + +"No. Bad luck comes when you carry all your money through the house and +spend it for land. I am going to write to Harry and tell him to hurry +home and marry me if he wants to. Don't say a word about the divorce to +our friend Davis. I want to make him keep his distance. It is hard enough +now." + +Before she went to bed that night she wrote a long letter to Harry and +one to Abe Lincoln thanking him for his part in the matter and telling +him of her father's death, of the payment coming due and of the hard +times they were suffering. Two weeks passed and brought no answer from +Mr. Lincoln. + +The day before the payment came due in December, a historic letter from +Tampa, Fla., was published in _The Democrat_. It was signed "Robert +Deming, private, Tenth Cavalry." It gave many details of the campaign in +the Everglades in which the famous scout Harry Needles and seven of his +comrades had been surrounded and slain. When Mr. Davis called at the +little home in La Salle Street that evening he found Bim in great +distress. + +"I throw up my hands," she said. "I can not stand any more. We shall be +homeless to-morrow." + +"No, not that--so long as I live," he answered. "I have bought the claim. +You can pay me when you get ready." + +He was very tender and sympathetic. + +When he had left them Bim said to her mother: "Our old friends do not +seem to care what becomes of us. I have no thought now save for you and +the baby. I'll do whatever you think best for you two. I don't care for +myself. My heart is as dead as Harry's." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +WHICH TELLS OF THE SETTLING OF ABE LINCOLN AND THE TRAYLORS IN THE +VILLAGE OF SPRINGFIELD AND OF SAMSON'S SECOND VISIT TO CHICAGO. + + +Bim's judgment of her old friends was ill founded. It was a slow time in +which she lived. The foot of the horse, traveling and often mired in a +rough muddy highway, was its swiftest courier. Letters carried by horses +or slow steamboats were the only media of communication between people +separated by wide distances. The learned wrote letters of astonishing +length and literary finish--letters which were passed from hand to hand +and read aloud in large and small assemblies. They presented the news and +the comment it inspired. In these old and generous letters, which +antedate the railroad and the telegraph, critics have discovered one of +the most delicate and informing of the lost arts--the epistolary. But to +the average hand, wearied by heavy tools, the lightsome goose quill, +committing its owner to dubious spelling and clumsy penmanship, and +exposing the interior of his intellect, was a dreaded thing. When old +Black Hawk signed a treaty he was wont to say that he had "touched it +with the goose quill." He made only a little mark whereupon a kind of +sanctity was imparted to the document. Every man unaccustomed to its use +stood in like awe of this implement. When he "took his pen in hand" he +had entered upon an adventure so unusual that his letter always mentioned +it as if, indeed, it were an item of news not to be overlooked. So it is +easy to understand that many who had traveled far were as the dead, in a +measure, to the friends they had left behind them and that those +separated by only half a hundred miles had to be very enterprising +to keep acquainted. + +In March Abe Lincoln had got his license to practise law. On his return +from the North he had ridden to Springfield to begin his work as a lawyer +in the office of John T. Stuart. His plan was to hire and furnish a room +arid get his meals at the home of his friend, Mr. William Butler. He went +to the store of Joshua Speed to buy a bed and some bedding. He found that +they would cost seventeen dollars. + +"The question is whether you would trust a man owing a national debt and +without an asset but good intentions and a license to practise law for so +much money," said Honest Abe. "I don't know when I could pay you." + +Speed was also a young man of good intentions and a ready sympathy f or +those who had little else. He had heard of the tall representative from +Sangamon County. + +"I have a plan which will give you a bed for nothing if you would care to +share my room above the store and sleep with me," he answered. + +"I'm much obliged but for you it's quite a contract." + +"You're rather long," Speed laughed. + +"Yes, I could lick salt off the top of your hat. I'm about a man and a +half but by long practice I've learned how to keep the half out of the +way of other people. They say that when Long John Wentworth got to +Chicago he slept with his feet sticking out of a window and that they had +to take down a partition because he couldn't stand the familiarity of the +woodpeckers, but he is eight inches taller than I am." + +"I'm sure we shall get along well enough together," said Speed. + +They went up to the room. In a moment Mr. Lincoln hurried away for his +saddle-bags and returned shortly. + +"There are all my earthly possessions," he said as he threw the bags on +the floor. + +So his new life began in the village of Springfield. Early in the autumn +Samson arrived and bought a small house and two acres of land on the edge +of the village and returned to New Salem to move his family and +furniture. When they drove along the top of Salem Hill a number of the +houses were empty and deserted, their owners having moved away. Two of +the stores were closed. Only ten families remained. They stopped at +Rutledge's tavern whose entertainment was little sought those days. +People from the near houses came to bid them good-by. Dr. John Allen was +among them. + +"Sorry to see you going," he said. "With you and Abe and Jack Kelso gone +it has become a lonely place. There's not much left for me but the long +view from the end of the hill and the singing in the prairie grass." + +Pete and Colonel, invigorated by their long rest, but whitened by age and +with drooping heads, drew the wagon. Sambo and the small boy rode between +Sarah and Samson. Betsey and Josiah walked ahead of the wagon, the latter +leading a cow. That evening they were comfortably settled in their new +home. Moving was not such a complicated matter those days. Abe Lincoln +was on hand to bid them welcome and help get their goods in place. He had +borrowed fire and cut some wood and there was a cheering blaze in the +fireplace on the arrival of the newcomers. When the beds were set up and +ready for the night Sarah made some tea to go with the cold victuals she +had brought. Mr. Lincoln ate with them and told of his new work. + +"So far I've had nothing more important to do than proving damage in +cases of assault and battery," he said. "There is many a man who, when he +thinks he has been wronged, proceeds to take it out of the hide of the +other feller. The hides of Illinois have suffered a good deal in that +way. It is very annoying. Generally I stand for the hides. They need a +friend and protector. When people take the law in their hands it gets +badly worn and mussed up. In a little while there isn't any law. Next +week I begin my first turn on the circuit." + +"It seems good to see folks around us," said Sarah. "I believe we shall +enjoy ourselves here." + +"It's a wonderful place," Lincoln declared with enthusiasm. "There are +fine stores and churches and sociables and speeches and theater shows." + +"Yes. It's bigger than Vergennes," said Sarah. + +"And you're goin' to have time to enjoy it," Samson broke in. "There'll +be no farm work and Betsey and Josiah are old enough to be quite a help." + +"How the girl is developing!" Abe exclaimed. "I believe she will look +like Bim in a year or two." + +Betsey was growing tall and slim. She had the blonde hair and fair skin +of Samson and the dark eyes of her mother. Josiah had grown to be a +bronzed, sturdy, good-looking lad, very shy and sensitive. + +"There's a likely boy!" said Samson as he clapped the shoulder of his +eldest son. "He's got a good heart In him." + +"You'll spoil him with praise," Sarah protested and then asked as she +turned to the young statesman. "Have you heard from Bim or any of the +Kelsos?" + +"Not a word. I often think of them." + +"There's been a letter in the candle every night for a week or so, but we +haven't heard a word from Harry or from them," said Sarah. "I wonder how +they're getting along in these hard times." + +"I told Jack to let me know if I could do anything to help," Samson +assured them. + +Sarah turned to Abe Lincoln with a smile and said: "As we were coming +through the village Mary Owens asked me to tell you that on account of +the hard times she was not going to have a public wedding." + +The chairman of the finance committee laughed and answered: "That old +joke is still alive. She writes me now and then and tells me what she is +doing in the way of preparation. It's really a foolish little farce we +have been playing in--a kind of courtship to avoid marriage. We have gone +too far with it." + +A bit later he wrote a playful letter to Mary and told her that there was +so much flourishing about in carriages and the like in Springfield he +could not recommend it to a lady of good sense as a place of residence. +He said that owing to certain faults in his disposition he could not +recommend himself as a husband; that he felt sure she could never be +happy with him. But he manfully offered to marry her as soon as his +circumstances would allow if, after serious consideration, she decided +that she cared to accept him. It was, on the whole, one of the most +generous acts in the history of human affairs. + +There is some evidence that Mary was displeased with these and other +lines in the little drama and presently rang down the curtain. Some of +the spectators were informed by her that Abe Lincoln was crude and +awkward and without a word to please a lady of her breeding. But she had +achieved the credit, with certain people, of having rejected a young +man for whom great honors were thought to be in store. + +Late in November Mr. Lincoln went out on the circuit with the +distinguished John T. Stuart who had taken him into partnership. Bim's +letter to him bears an endorsement on its envelope as follows: + + * * * * * + +"This letter was forwarded from Vandalia the week I went out on the +circuit and remained unopened in our office until my return six weeks +later.--A. Lincoln." + + * * * * * + +The day of his return he went to Sarah and Samson with the letter. + +"I'll get a good horse and start for Chicago to-morrow morning," said +Samson. "They have had a double blow. Did you read that Harry had been +killed?" + +"Harry killed!" Mr. Lincoln exclaimed. "You don't mean to tell me that +Harry has been killed?" + +"The Chicago Democrat says so but we don't believe it," said Samson. +"Here's the article copied into The Sangamon Journal. Read it and then +I'll tell you why I don't think it's so." + +Abe Lincoln read the article. + +"You see it was dated in Tampa, November the fifth," said Samson. "Before +we had read that article we had received a letter from Harry dated +November the seventh. In the letter he says he is all right and I +calculate that he ought to know as much about it as any one." + +"Thank God! Then it's a mistake," said Lincoln. "We can't afford to lose +Harry. I feel rather poor with Jack Kelso gone. It will comfort me to do +what I can for his wife and daughter. I'll give you every dollar I can +spare to take to them." + +A moment of sorrowful silence followed. + +"I'll never forget the kindly soul of Jack or his wit or his sayings, +many of which are in my notebook," said Lincoln as he sat looking sadly +into the fire. + +They talked much of the great but humble man who had so loved honor and +beauty and whose life had ended in the unholy turmoil of the new city. + +"The country is in great trouble," was a remark of Abe Lincoln inspired +by the reflections of the hour. "We tried to allay it in the special +session of July. Our efforts have done no good. The ail is too deep +seated. We must first minister to a mind diseased and pluck from the +heart a rooted sorrow. You were right about it, Samson. We have been +dreaming. Some one must invent a new system. Wildcat money will do no +good. These big financial problems are beyond my knowledge. I don't know +how to think in those terms. Next session I propose to make a clean +breast of it. We're all wrong but I fear that not all of us will be brave +enough to say so." + +Samson hired horses for the journey and set out early next morning with +his son, Josiah, bound for the new city. The boy had begged to go and +both Samson and Sarah thought it would be good for him to take a better +look at Illinois than his geography afforded. + +"Joe is a good boy," his mother said as she embraced him. He was, indeed, +a gentle-hearted, willing-handed, brown-eyed youth who had been a great +help to his father. Every winter morning he and Betsey had done the +chores and ridden on the back of Colonel to Mentor Graham's school where +they had made excellent progress. + +Joe and his father set out on a cold clear morning in February. They got +to Brimstead's in time for dinner. + +"How d'y do?" Samson shouted as Henry came to the door. + +"Better!" the latter answered. He put his hand on, Samson's pommel and +said in a confidential toner "El Dorado was one of the wickedest cities +in history. It was like Tyre and Babylon. It robbed me. Look at that pile +of stakes." + +Samson saw a long cord of stakes along the road in the edge of the +meadow. + +"They are the teeth of my city," said Brimstead in a low voice. "I've +drawed 'em out. They ain't goin' to bite me no more." + +"They are the towers and steeples of El Dorado," Samson laughed. "Have +any of the notes been paid?" + +"Not one and I can't get a word from my broker about the men who drew the +notes--who they are or where they are." + +"I'm going to Chicago and if you wish I'll try to find him and see what +he says." + +"That's just what I wish," said Brimstead. "His name is Lionel Davis. His +address is 14 South Water Street. He put the opium in our pipes here in +Tazewell County. It was his favorite county. He spent two days with us +here. I sold him all the land I had on the river shore and he gave me his +note for it." + +"If you'll let me take the note I'll see what can be done to get the +money," Samson answered. + +"Say, I'll tell ye," Brimstead went on. "It's for five thousand dollars +and I don't suppose it's worth the paper it was wrote on. You take it +and if you find it's no good you lose it just as careful as you can. I +don't want to see it again. Come into the house. The woman is making a +johnny-cake and fryin' some sausage." + +They had a happy half-hour at the table, Mrs. Brimstead being in better +spirits since her husband had got back to his farming. Annabel, her form +filling with the grace and charm of womanhood, was there and more comely +than ever. + +They had been speaking of Jack Kelso's death. + +"I heard him say once that when he saw a beautiful young face it reminded +him of noble singing and the odor of growing corn," said Samson. + +"I'd rather see the face," Joe remarked, whereupon they all laughed and +the boy blushed to the roots of his blond hair. + +"He's become a man of good judgment," said Brimstead. + +Annabel's sister Jane who had clung to the wagon in No Santa Claus Land +was a bright-eyed, merry-hearted girl of twelve. The boy Robert was a +shy, good-looking lad a little younger than Josiah. + +"Well, what's the news?" Samson asked. + +"Nothin' has happened since we saw you but the fall of El Dorado," +Brimstead answered. + +"There was the robbery of the mail stage last summer a few miles north of +here," said Mrs. Brimstead. "Every smitch of the mail was stolen. I guess +that's the reason we haven't had no letter from Vermont in a year." + +"Maybe that's why we haven't heard from home," Samson echoed. + +"Why don't you leave Joe here while you're gone to Chicago?" Annabel +asked. + +"It would help his education to rassle around with Robert an' the girls," +said Brimstead. + +"Would you like to stay?" Samson asked. + +"I wouldn't mind," said Josiah who, on the lonely prairie, had had few +companions of his own age. So it happened that Samson went on alone. As +he was leaving, Brimstead came close to his side and whispered: + +"Don't you ever let a city move into you and settle down an' make itself +to home. If you do you want to keep your eye on its leading citizens." + +"Nobody can tell what'll happen when he's dreamin'," Samson remarked with +a laugh as he rode away, waving his hand to the boy Josiah who stood +looking up the road with a growing sense of loneliness. + +Near the sycamore woods Samson came upon a gray-haired man lying by the +roadside with a horse tethered near him. The stranger was sick with a +fever. Samson got down from his horse. + +"What can I do for you?" he asked. + +"The will of God," the stranger feebly answered. "I prayed for help and +you have come. I am Peter Cartwright, the preacher. I was so sick and +weak I had to get off my horse and lie down. If you had not come I think +that I should have died here." + +Samson gave him some of the medicine for chills and fever which he always +carried in his pocket, and water from his canteen. The sun shone warm but +the ground was damp and cold and there was a chilly breeze. He wrapped +the stricken man in his coat and sat down beside him and rubbed his +aching head. + +"Is there any house where I could find help and shelter for you?" he +asked presently. + +"No, but I feel better--glory to God!" said the preacher. "If you can +help me to the back of my horse I will try to ride on with you. There is +to be a quarterly meeting ten miles up the road to-night. With the help +of God I must get there and tell the people of His goodness and mercy to +the children of men. Nothing shall keep me from my duty. I may save a +dozen souls from hell--who knows?" + +Samson was astonished at the iron will and holy zeal of this +lion-hearted, strong-armed, fighting preacher of the prairies of whom he +had heard much. He looked at the rugged head covered with thick, bushy, +gray hair, at the deep-lined face, smooth-shaven, save for a lock in +front of each ear, with its keen, dark eyes and large, firm mouth and +jaw. Samson lifted the preacher and set him on the back of his horse. + +"God blessed you with great strength," said the latter. "Are you a +Christian?" + +"I am." + +They rode on in silence. Presently Samson observed that the preacher was +actually asleep and snoring in the saddle. They proceeded for an hour or +more in this manner. When the horses were wallowing through a swale the +preacher awoke. + +"Glory be to God!" he shouted. "I am better. I shall be able to preach +to-night. A little farther on is the cabin of Brother Cawkins. He has +been terribly pecked up by a stiff-necked, rebellious wife. We'll stop +there for a cup of tea and if she raises a rumpus you'll see me take her +by the horns." + +Mrs. Cawkins was a lean, sallow, stern-eyed woman of some forty years +with a face like bitter herbs; her husband a mild mannered, shiftless man +who, encouraged by Mr. Cartwright, had taken to riding through the upper +counties as a preacher--a course of conduct of which his wife heartily +disapproved. Solicited by her husband she sullenly made tea for the +travelers. When it had been drunk the two preachers knelt in a corner of +the room and Mr. Cartwright began to pray in a loud voice. Mrs. Cawkins +shoved the table about and tipped over the chairs and dropped the +rolling-pin as a counter demonstration. The famous circuit rider, being +in no way put out by this, she dashed a dipper of cold water on the head +of her husband. The praying stopped. Mr. Cartwright rose from his knees +and commanded her to desist. On her declaration that she would not he +laid hold of the woman and forced her out of the door and closed and +bolted it and resumed his praying. + +Having recorded this remarkable incident in his diary Samson writes: + + * * * * * + +"Many of these ignorant people in the lonely, prairie cabins are like +children. Cartwright leads them on like a father and sometimes with the +strong hand. If any of them deserve a spanking they get it. He and others +like him have helped to keep the cabin people clean and going up hill +instead of down. They have established schools and missions and scattered +good books and comforted sorrows and kindled good desire in the hearts of +the humble." + + * * * * * + +As they were leaving Mr. Cawkins told them that the plague had broken out +in the settlement on Honey Creek, where the quarterly meeting was to be +held, and that the people had been rapidly "dyin' off." Samson knew from +this that the smallpox--a dreaded and terrible scourge of pioneer days +had come again. + +"It's dangerous to go there," said Cawkins. + +"Where is sorrow there is my proper place," Cartwright answered. "Those +people need comfort and the help of God." + +"But are you not afraid of the plague?" Samson asked. + +"I fear only the wrath of my Master." + +"I got a letter from a lady there," Cawkins went on. "As nigh as I can +make out they need a minister. I can read print handy but writin' bothers +me. You read it, brother." + +Mr. Cartwright took the letter and read as follows: + + * * * * * + +"Dear Sir: Mr. Barman gave me your name. We need a minister to comfort +the sick and help bury the dead. It is a good deal to ask of you but if +you feel like taking the chance of coming here I am sure you could do a +lot of good. We have doctors enough and it seems a pity that the church +should fail these people when they need it most. The ministers in Chicago +seem to be too busy to come. One of them came out for a funeral and +unfortunately took the disease. If you have the courage to come you would +win the gratitude of many people. For a month I have been taking care of +the sick and up to now no harm has come to me. + +Yours respectfully, +"Bim Kelso." + + * * * * * + +"'A man's heart deviseth his way but the Lord directeth his steps,'" said +Cartwright. "For three days I have felt that He was leading me." + +"I begin to think that He has been leading me," Samson declared. "Bim +Kelso is the person I seek." + +"I would have gone but my wife took on so I couldn't get away," said +Cawkins. + +"I'll come back some day soon and you and I will pry the Devil out of her +with the crowbar of God's truth and mercy," Cartwright assured him as he +and Samson took the road to the north. + +On their way to the Honey Creek settlement the lion-hearted minister told +of swimming through flooded rivers, getting lost on the plains and +suffering for food and water, of lying down to rest at night in wet +clothes with no shelter but the woods, of hand to hand fights with +rowdies who endeavored to sell drink or create a disturbance at his +meetings. Such was the zeal for righteousness woven by many hands into +the fabric of the West. A little before sundown they reached the +settlement. + +Samson asked a man in the road if he knew where they could find the nurse +Bim Kelso. + +"Do ye mean that angel o' God in a white dress that takes keer o' the +sick?" the man asked. + +"I guess that would be Bim," said Samson. + +"She's over in yon' house," the other answered, pointing with his pipe to +a cabin some twenty rods beyond them. "Thar's two children sick thar an' +the mammy dead an' buried in the ground." + +"Is the plague getting worse?" Cartwright asked. + +"No, I reckon it's better. Nobody has come down since the day before +yestiddy. Thar's the doctor comin'. He kin tell ye." + +A bearded man of middle age was approaching them in the saddle. + +"Gentlemen, you must not stop in this neighborhood," he warned them. +"There's an epidemic of smallpox here. We are trying to control it and +every one must help." + +"I am Peter Cartwright, the preacher sent of God to comfort the sick and +bury the dead," said Samson's companion. + +"We welcome you, but if you stop here you will have to stay until the +epidemic is over." + +"That I am prepared to do." + +"Then I shall take you where you can find entertainment, such as it is." + +"First, this man wishes to speak to Miss Kelso, the nurse," said +Cartwright. "He is a friend of hers." + +"You can see her but only at a distance," the Doctor answered. "I must +keep you at least twenty feet away from her. Come with me." + +They proceeded to the stricken house. The Doctor entered and presently +Bim came out. Her eyes filled with tears and for a moment she could not +speak. She wore a white dress and cap and was pale and weary. "But still +as I looked at her I thought of the saying of her father that her form +and face reminded him of the singing of birds in the springtime, she +looked so sweet and graceful," Samson writes in his diary. + +"Why didn't you let me know of your troubles?" he asked. + +"Early last summer I wrote a long letter to you," she answered. + +"It didn't reach me. One day in June the stage was robbed of its mail +down in Tazewell County. Your letter was probably on that stage." + +"Harry's death was the last blow. I came out here to get away from my +troubles--perhaps to die. I didn't care." + +"Harry is not dead," said Samson. + +Her right hand touched her forehead; her lips fell apart; her eyes took +on a look of tragic earnestness. + +"Not dead!" she whispered. + +"He is alive and well." + +Bim staggered toward him and fell to her knees and lay crouched upon the +ground, in the dusky twilight, shaking and choked with sobs, and with +tears streaming from her eyes but she was almost as silent as the shadow +of the coming night. She looked like one searching in the dust for +something very precious. The strong heart of Samson was touched by the +sorrowful look of her so that he could not speak. + +Soon he was able to say in a low, trembling voice: + +"In every letter he tells of his love for you. That article in the paper +was a cruel mistake." + +After a little silence Bim rose from the ground. She stood, for a moment, +wiping her eyes. Her form straightened and was presently erect. Her soul +resented the injustice she had suffered. There was a wonderful and +touching dignity in her voice and manner when she asked: "Why didn't he +write to me?" + +"He must have written to you." + +Sadly, calmly, thoughtfully, she spoke as she stood looking off at the +fading glow in the west: + +"It is terrible how things can work together to break the heart and will +of a woman. Write to Harry and tell him that he must not come to see me +again. I have promised to marry another man." + +"I hope it isn't Davis," said Samson. + +"It is Davis." + +"I don't like him. I don't think he's honest." + +"But he has been wonderfully kind to us. Without his help we couldn't +have lived. We couldn't even have given my father a decent burial. I +suppose he has his faults. I no longer look for perfection in human +beings." + +"Has he been out here to see you?" + +"And he won't come. That man knows how to keep out of danger. I don't +believe you'll marry him." + +"Why?" + +"Because I intend to be a father to you and pay all your debts," said +Samson. + +The Doctor called from the door of the cabin. + +Bim said: "God bless you and Harry!" as she turned away to take up her +task again. + +That night both of them began, as they say, to put two and two together. +While he rode on in the growing dusk the keen intellect of Samson saw a +convincing sequence of circumstances--the theft of the mail sack, the +false account of Harry's death, the failure of his letters to reach their +destination, and the fact that Bim had accepted money from Davis in time +of need. A strong suspicion of foul play grew upon him and he began to +consider what he could do in the matter. + +Having forded a creek he caught the glow of a light in the darkness a +little way up the road. It was the lighted window of a cabin, before +whose door he stopped his horse and hallooed. + +"I am a belated and hungry traveler on my way to Chicago," he said to the +man who presently greeted him from the open doorway. + +"Have you come through Honey Creek settlement?" the latter asked. + +"Left there about an hour ago." + +"Sorry, mister, but I can't let you come into the house. If you'll move +off a few feet I'll lay some grub on the choppin' block an' up the road +about a half-mile you'll find a barn with some hay in it where you and +your horse can spend the night under cover." + +Samson moved away and soon the man brought a package of food and laid it +on the block and ran back to the door. + +"I'll lay a piece of silver on the block," Samson called. + +"Not a darned cent," the man answered. "I hate like p'ison to turn a +feller away in the night, but we're awful skeered here with children in +the house. Good-by. You can't miss the barn. It's close ag'in' the road." + +Samson ate his luncheon in the darkness, as he rode, and presently came +upon the barn and unsaddled and hitched and fed his horse in one end +of it--the beast having drunk his fill at the creek they had lately +forded--and lay down to rest, for the night, with the saddle blanket +beneath him and his coat for a cover. A wind from the north began to wail +and whistle through the cracks in the barn and over its roof bringing +cold weather. Samson's feet and legs had been wet in the crossing so that +he found it difficult to keep warm. He crept to the side of his horse, +which had lain down, and found a degree of comfort in the heat of the +animal. But it was a bad night, at best, with only a moment, now and +then, of a sort of one-eyed sleep in it. + +"I've had many a long, hard night but this is the worst of them," Samson +thought. + +There's many a bad night in the history of the pioneers, its shadows +falling on lonely, ill-marked roads cut by rivers, creeks and marshes +and strung through unnumbered miles of wild country. Samson was up and +off at daylight in a bitter wind and six inches of snow. It was a kind +of work he would not have undertaken upon any call less commanding than +that of friendship. He reached Chicago at noon having had nothing to eat +that day. There was no such eager, noisy crowd in the streets as he had +seen before. The fever of speculation had passed. Some of the stores +were closed; he counted a score of half-built structures getting +weather-stained inside and out. But there were many people on the main +thoroughfares, among whom were Europeans who had arrived the autumn +before. They were changing but the marks of the yoke were still upon +them. In Chicago were the vitals of the West and they were very much +alive in spite of the panic. + +Samson bought some new clothes and had a bath and a good dinner at the +City Hotel. Then he went to the office of Mr. Lionel Davis. There to his +surprise he met his old acquaintance, Eli Fredenberg, who greeted him +with great warmth and told of having settled in Chicago. + +A well-dressed young man came out of an inner office and informed Eli +that Mr. Davis could not see him that day. + +"I'd like to see Mr. Davis," said Samson as Eli went away. + +"I'm Mr. Davis's secretary," the young man politely informed him. + +"What's a secretary?" Samson asked. + +"It's a man who helps another with his work." + +"I don't need any help myself--thank you," said Samson. "You tell him +that I've got some money that belongs to him and that I'm ready to +deliver it." + +The young man disappeared through the door of the private office and soon +returned and conducted Samson into the presence of Mr. Davis who sat at +a handsome desk, smoking, in a room with fine old mahogany furnishings +brought up from New Orleans. The two men recognized each other. + +"Well, sir, what is it about?" the young speculator demanded. + +"The daughter of my old friend, Jack Kelso, owes you some money and I +want to pay it," said Samson. + +"Oh, that is a matter between Miss Kelso and me." Mr. Davis spoke +politely and with a smile. + +"Not exactly--since I knew about it," Samson answered. + +"I refuse to discuss her affairs with you," Davis declared. + +"I suppose you mistrust me," said Samson. "Well, I've offered to pay you +and I'm going to make it plain to them that they don't have to worry any +more about the money you loaned them." + +"Very well, I bid you good morning." + +"Don't be in a hurry," Samson answered. "I have a note of five thousand +dollars against you. It is endorsed to me by Henry Brimstead and I want +to collect it." + +"I refuse to pay it," Davis promptly answered. + +"Then I shall have to put it in the hands of a lawyer," said Samson. + +"Put it where you like but don't consume any more of my time." + +"But you'll have to hear me say that I don't think you're honest." + +"I have heard you," Davis answered calmly. + +Samson withdrew and went to the home of Mrs. Kelso. He found her with +Bim's boy in her lap--a handsome little lad, then a bit over two years +old,--at the house on La Salle Street. The good woman gave Samson an +account of the year filled with tearful praise of the part Mr. Davis had +played in it. Samson told of the failure of Bim's letter to reach him and +of his offer to return the money which Davis had paid for their relief. + +"I don't like the man and I don't want you to be under obligation to +him," said Samson. "The story of Harry's death was false and I think that +he is responsible for it. He wanted her to marry him right away after +that--of course. And she went to the plague settlement to avoid marriage. +I know her better than you do. She has read him right. Her soul has +looked into his soul and it keeps her away from him." + +But Mrs. Kelso could believe no evil of her benefactor, nor would she +promise to cease depending on his bounty. + +Samson was a little disheartened by the visit. He Went to see John +Wentworth, the editor of _The Democrat_, of whose extreme length Mr. +Lincoln had humorously spoken in his presence. The young New Englander +was seven feet tall. He welcomed the broad-shouldered man from Sangamon +County and began at once to question him about Honest Abe and "Steve" +Douglas and O.H. Browning and E.D. Baker and all the able men of the +middle counties. Then he wanted to know of the condition of the people +since the collapse of the land boom. The farmer's humorous comment and +sane views delighted the young editor. At the first opportunity Samson +came to the business of his call--the mischievous lie regarding Harry's +death which had appeared in _The Democrat_. Mr. Wentworth went to the +proof room and found the manuscript of the article. + +"We kept it because we didn't know and do not now know the writer," said +Wentworth. + +Samson told of the evil it had wrought and conveyed his suspicions to the +editor. + +"Davis is rather unscrupulous," said Wentworth. "We know a lot about him +in this office." + +Samson looked at the article and presently said: "Here is a note that he +gave to a friend of mine. It looks to me as if the note and the article +were written by the same hand." + +Mr. Wentworth compared the two and said: "You are right. The same person +wrote them. But it was not Davis." + +When Samson left the office of _The Democrat_ he had accomplished little +save the confirmation of his suspicions. There was nothing he could do +about it. + +He went to Eli Fredenberg. Eli, having sold out at the height of the boom +in Springfield, had been back to Germany to visit his friends. + +"I haf money--plendy money," said Eli. "In de ol' country I vas rich. I +thought maybe I stay dere an' make myself happy. It vas one big job. Mein +frients dey hate me becos I haf succeed so much. De odders hate me becos +de butcher haf mein fadder been. Dey laugh at my good close. Nobody likes +me not. I come avay. Dey don't blame you here becos you vos born." + +"What has Davis done to you?" Samson asked, recalling where he had met +Eli that morning. + +Eli explained that he had borrowed money from Davis to tide him over the +hard times and was paying twelve per cent. for it. + +"Dis morning I get dot letter from his secretary," he said as he passed +a letter to Samson. + +It was a demand for payment in the handwriting of the Brimstead note and +had some effect on this little history. It conveyed definite knowledge of +the authorship of a malicious falsehood. It aroused the anger and +sympathy of Samson Traylor. In the conditions then prevailing Eli was +unable to get the money. He was in danger of losing his business. Samson +spent a day investigating the affairs of the merchant. His banker and +others spoke well of him. He was said to be a man of character and credit +embarrassed by the unexpected scarcity of good money. So it came about +that, before he left the new city, Samson bought a fourth interest in the +business of Eli Fredenberg. The lots he owned were then worth less than +when he had bought them, but his faith in the future of Chicago had not +abated. + +He wrote a long letter to Bim recounting the history of his visit and +frankly stating the suspicions to which he had been led. He set out on +the west road at daylight toward the Riviere des Plaines, having wisely +decided to avoid passing the plague settlement. Better weather had come. +In the sunlight of a clear sky he fared away over the vast prairies, +feeling that it was a long road ahead and a most unpromising visit behind +him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +WHEREIN A REMARKABLE SCHOOL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE BEGINS ITS SESSIONS IN +THE REAR OF JOSHUA SPEED'S STORE. ALSO AT SAMSON'S FIRESIDE HONEST ABE +TALKS OF THE AUTHORITY OF THE LAW AND THE RIGHT OF REVOLUTION, AND LATER +BRINGS A SUIT AGAINST LIONEL DAVIS. + + +The boy Joe had had a golden week at the home of the Brimsteads. The fair +Annabel knowing not the power that lay in her beauty had captured his +young heart scarcely fifteen years of age. He had no interest in her +younger sister, Jane. But Annabel with her long skirts and full form and +glowing eyes and gentle dignity had stirred him to the depths. When he +left he carried a soul heavy with regret and great resolutions. Not that +he had mentioned the matter to her or to any one. It was a thing too +sacred for speech. To God in his prayers he spoke of it but to no other. + +He asked to be made and to be thought worthy. He would have had the whole +world stopped and put to sleep for a term until he was delivered from the +bondage of his tender youth. That being impossible it was for him a sad +but not a hopeless world. Indeed he rejoiced in his sadness. Annabel was +four years older than he. If he could make her to know the depth of his +passion perhaps she would wait for him. He sought for self-expression in +_The Household Book of Poetry_--a sorrowful and pious volume. He could +find no ladder of rhyme with an adequate reach. He endeavored to build +one. He wrote melancholy verses and letters, confessing his passion, to +Annabel, which she did not encourage but which she always kept and valued +for their ingenuous and noble ardor. Some of these Anacreontics are among +the treasures inherited by her descendants. They were a matter of slight +importance, one would say, but they mark the beginning of a great career. +Immediately after his return to the new home in Springfield the boy +Josiah set out to make himself honored of his ideal. In the effort he +made himself honored of many. His eager brain had soon taken the footing +of manhood. + +A remarkable school of political science had begun its sessions in that +little western village. The world had never seen the like of it. Abraham +Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, E.D. Baker, O.H. Browning, Jesse B. Thomas, +and Josiah Lamborn--a most unusual array of talent as subsequent history +has proved--were wont to gather around the fireplace in the rear of +Joshua Speed's store, evenings, to discuss the issues of the time. Samson +and his son Joe came often to hear the talk. Douglas looked like a dwarf +among those long geared men. He was slight and short, being only about +five feet tall, but he had a big, round head covered with thick, +straight, dark hair, a bull-dog look and a voice like thunder. The first +steamboat had crossed the Atlantic the year before and The Future of +Transportation was one of the first themes discussed by this remarkable +group of men. Douglas and Lincoln were in a heated argument over the +admission of slavery to the territories the first night that Samson and +Joe sat down with them. + +"We didn't like that little rooster of a man, he had such a high and +mighty way with him and so frankly opposed the principles we believe in. +He was an out and out pro-slavery man. He would have every state free to +regulate its domestic institutions, in its own way, subject only to the +Constitution of the United States. Lincoln held that it amounted to +saying 'that if one man chose to enslave another no third party shall be +allowed to object.'" + +In the course of the argument Douglas alleged that the Whigs were the +aristocrats of the country. + +"That reminds me of a night when I was speaking at Havana," said Honest +Abe. "A man with a ruffled shirt and a massive gold watch chain got up +and charged that the Whigs were aristocrats. Douglas in his broadcloth +and fine linen reminds me of that man. I'm going to answer Douglas as I +answered him. Most of the Whigs I know are my kind of folks. I was a poor +boy working on a flat boat at eight dollars a month and had only one pair +of breeches and they were buckskin. If you know the nature of buckskin, +you know that when it is wet and dried by the sun it will shrink and my +breeches kept shrinking and deserting the sock area of my legs until +several inches of them were bare above my shoes. Whilst I was growing +longer they were growing shorter and so much tighter that they left a +blue streak around my legs which can be seen to this day. If you call +that aristocracy I know of one Whig that is an aristocrat." + +"But look at the New England type of Whig exemplified by the imperious +and majestic Webster," said Douglas. + +"Webster was another poor lad," Lincoln answered. "His father's home was +a log cabin in a lonely land until about the time Daniel was born when +the family moved to a small frame house. His is the majesty of a great +intellect." + +There was much talk of this sort until Mr. Lincoln excused himself to +walk home with his two friends who had just returned from the North, +being eager to learn of Samson's visit. The latter gave him a full +account of it and asked him to undertake the collection of Brimstead's +note. + +"I'll get after that fellow right away," said Lincoln. + +"I'm glad to get a chance at one of those men who have been skinning the +farmers. I suppose he has other creditors in Tazewell County?" + +"I presume there are many of them." + +"I'll find out about that," said Lincoln. + +They sat down by the fireside in Samson's house. + +"Joe has decided that he wants to be a lawyer," said Samson. + +"Well, Joe, we'll all do what we can to keep you from being a shot-gun +lawyer," Abe Lincoln began. "I've got a good first lesson for you. I +found it in a letter which Rufus Choate had written to Judge Davis. In +it he says that we rightly have great respect for the decisions of the +majority, but that the law is something vastly greater and more sacred +than the verdict of any majority. 'It is a thing,' says he, 'which has +stood the test of long experience--a body of digested rules and processes +bequeathed to us by all the ages of the past. The inspired wisdom of the +primeval east, the robust genius of Athens and Rome, the keener modern +sense of righteousness are in it. The law comes down to us one mighty and +continuous stream of wisdom and experience accumulated, ancestral, +widening and deepening and washing itself clearer as it runs on, the +agent of civilization, the builder of a thousand cities. To have lived +through ages of unceasing trial with the passions, interests, and affairs +of men, to have lived through the drums and tramplings of conquest, +through revolution and reform and all the changing cycles of opinion, to +have attended the progress of the race and gathered unto itself the +approbation of civilized humanity is to have proved that it carries in +it some spark of immortal life.'" + +The face of Lincoln changed as he recited the lines of the learned and +distinguished lawyer of Massachusetts. + +"His face glowed like a lighted lantern when he began to say those +eloquent words," Samson writes in his diary. "He wrote them down so that +Josiah could commit them to memory." + +"That is a wonderful statement," Samson remarked. + +Abe answered: "It suggests to me that the voice of the people in any one +generation may or may not be inspired, but that the voice of the best men +of all ages, expressing their sense of justice and of right, in the law, +is and must be the voice of God. The spirit and body of its decrees are +as indestructible as the throne of Heaven. You can overthrow them but +until their power is reestablished as surely it will be, you will live +in savagery." + +"You do not deny the right of revolution." + +"No, but I can see no excuse for it in America. It has remained for us to +add to the body of the law the idea that men are created free and equal. +The lack of that saving principle in the codes of the world has been the +great cause of injustice and oppression. The voice of revolution here +would be like that of Iago in the play and worse. It would be like the +unscrupulous lawyer, anxious for a fee, who says to a client, living +happily with his wife: 'I know she is handsome and virtuous and +intelligent and loving but she has her faults. There are lovelier women. +I could easily get a divorce for you.' We would quickly throw such a man +out of the door. A man's country is like his wife. If she is virtuous and +well-disposed he should permit no meddling, odious person to come between +them, or to suggest to him that he put poison into her tea. Least of all +should he look for perfection in her, knowing that it is not to be found +in this world of ours." + +Honest Abe rose and walked up and down the room in silence for a moment. +Then he added: + +"Choate phrased it well when he said 'We should beware of awaking the +tremendous divinities of change from their long sleep. Let us think of +that when we consider what we shall do with the evils that afflict us.'" + +The boy Joe has been deeply interested in this talk. + +"If you'll lend me a book I'd like to begin studying," he said. + +"There's time enough for that," said Lincoln. "First I want you to +understand what the law is and what the lawyer should be. You wouldn't +want to be a pettifogger. Choate is the right model. He has a dignity +suited to the greatness of his chosen master. They say that before a +Justice of the Peace in a room no bigger than a shoemaker's shop his work +is done with the same dignity and care that he would show in the supreme +court of Massachusetts. A newspaper says that in a dog case at Beverly he +treated the dog as if he were a lion and the crabbed old squire with the +consideration due a chief justice." + +"He knows how to handle the English language," Samson observed. + +"He got that by reading. He is the best read man at the American bar and +the best Bible student. There's a lot of work ahead of you, Joe, before +you are a lawyer and when you're admitted success comes only of the +capacity for work. Brougham wrote the peroration of his speech in defense +of Queen Caroline nineteen times." + +"I want to be a great orator," the boy exclaimed with engaging frankness. + +"Then you must remember that character is the biggest part of it," Honest +Abe declared. "Great thoughts come out of a great character and only out +of that. They will come even if you have little learning and none of the +graces which attract the eye. But you must have a character that is ever +speaking even when your lips are silent. It must show in your life and +fill the spaces between your words. It will help you to choose and charge +them with the love of great things that carry conviction. + +"I remember when I was a boy over in Gentryville a shaggy, plain-dressed +man rode up to the door one day. He had a cheerful, kindly face. His +character began to speak to us before he opened his mouth to ask for a +drink of water. + +"'I don't know who you are,' my father said. 'But I'd like it awful well +if you'd light an' talk to us.' He did and we didn't know till he had +gone that he was the Governor of the state. A good character shines like +a candle on a dark night. You can't mistake it. A firefly can't hold his +light long enough to compete with it. + +"Webster said in the Knapp trial: 'There is no evil that we can not +either face or fly from but the consciousness of duty disregarded.' + +"A great truth like that makes wonderful music on the lips of a sincere +man. An orator must be a lover and discoverer of such unwritten laws." + +It was nearing midnight when they heard footsteps on the board walk in +front of the house. In a moment Harry Needles entered in cavalry uniform +with fine top boots and silver spurs, erect as a young Indian brave and +bronzed by tropic suns. + +"Hello!" he said as he took off his belt and clanking saber. "I hang up +my sword. I have had enough of war." + +He had ridden across country from the boat landing and arriving so late +had left his horse at a livery stable. + +"I'm lucky to find you and Abe and Joe all up and waiting for me," he +said as he shook their hands "How is mother?" + +"I'm well," Sarah called from the top of the stairway. "I'll be down in +a minute." + +For an hour or more they sat by the fireside while Harry told of his +adventures in the great swamps of Southern Florida. + +"I've done my share of the fighting," he said at length. "I'm going north +to-morrow to find Bim and her mother." + +"I shall want you to serve a complaint on one Lionel Davis," said Mr. +Lincoln. + +"I have one of my own to serve on him," Harry answered. "But I hope that +our case can be settled out of court." + +"I think that I'll go with you as far as Tazewell County and draw the +papers there," said Lincoln. + +When the latter had left for his lodgings and Joe and his mother had gone +to bed, Samson told Harry the details of his visit to Chicago. + +"She may have taken the disease and died with it before now," said the +young man. "I'll be on my way to Honey Creek in the morning. If she's +sick I'll take care of her. I'm not going to worry about Davis. But when +I get there I wouldn't wonder if he'd have to worry a little about me." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +WHEREIN ABE LINCOLN REVEALS HIS METHOD OF CONDUCTING A LAWSUIT IN THE +CASE OF HENRY BRIMSTEAD ET AL., VS. LIONEL DAVIS. + + +They found many of Davis's notes in Tazewell County. Abe Lincoln's +complaint represented seven clients and a sum exceeding twenty thousand +dollars. + +"Now, Harry, you don't like Davis and I can't blame you for it," said +Honest Abe before they parted. "Don't spoil our case by trying to take it +out of his hide. First we've got to take it out of his pocket. When I get +through there may not be any hide on him worth speaking of, but if there +is you can have it and welcome." + +With the papers in his pocket Harry went on to the Honey Creek +settlement. There he found that the plague had spent itself and that Bim +had gone to a detention camp outside the city of Chicago. He rode on to +the camp but was not permitted to see her, the regulations having become +very strict. In the city he went to the store of Eli Fredenberg. The +merchant received him with enthusiasm. Chicago had begun to recover from +the panic. Trade was lively. Eli wanted Harry to go to work in the store +until he was prepared for the law. + +"You must stay here until you haf got a wife already," said the +thoughtful Eli. "It is bat for you and Bim to be not marrit so much." + +The young man favored both the commercial and the sentimental suggestions +of Eli. He had long felt the lure of that promising little city on the +lake shore. + +"I wish you'd take this complaint and serve it on Davis," he said. "I +don't want to see him if I can help it. If you don't mind, you can tell +him that I've come to life and am here in the city and that if he kills +me again he'd better do it while I'm looking. It would be more decent." + +Eli was delighted with a task which promised a degree of discomfort to +the man who had endeavored to ruin him. Harry spent the afternoon with +Mrs. Kelso and Bim's baby boy. The good woman was much excited by the +arrival of the young soldier. + +"We have had a terrible year," she said. "We couldn't have lived through +it without the help of a friend. Bim went away to take care of the sick +in the smallpox neighborhood. She was rather discouraged. Our friend, Mr. +Davis, is in love with her. She promised to marry him. It seemed to be +the only way out of our troubles. But she will not even write to him +now. I think that she is very unhappy." + +"I shall not try to increase her troubles, but I shall prevent her from +marrying Davis if I can," said Harry. + +"Why?" + +"Because I think he is dishonest." + +"He has convinced me that all the reports are wrong," Mrs. Kelso +declared. "I think that he is one of the kindest and best of men." + +"I shall not argue with you as to the character of my rival," Harry +answered. "The facts will be on record one of these days and then you can +form your own judgment. I hope you won't mind my coming here to see you +and the baby now and then." + +"You are always welcome. But Mr. Davis comes often and feeling as you do +it might be unpleasant for you to meet him." + +"It would. I'll keep away until the air clears," said Harry. + +He wrote a very tender letter to Bim that day. He told her that he had +come to Chicago to live so that he might be near her and ready to help +her if she needed help. "The same old love is in my heart that made me +want you for my wife long ago, that has filled my letters and sustained +me in many an hour of peril," he wrote. "If you really think that you +must marry Davis, I ask you at least to wait for the developments of a +suit which Abe Lincoln is bringing in behalf of many citizens of Tazewell +County. It is likely that we shall know more than we do now before that +case ends. I saw your beautiful little boy. He looks so much like you +that I long to steal him and keep him with me." + +In a few days he received this brief reply: + + * * * * * + +"Dear Harry: Your letter pleased and pained me. I have been so tossed +about that I don't know quite where I stand. My brain is like a bridge +that has been washed out by floods. I am picking up the fragments and +trying to rebuild it. For a long time my life has been nothing but a +series of emotions. What Honest Abe may be able to prove I know not, but +I am sure that he can not disprove the fact that Mr. Davis has been kind +and generous to me. For that I can not ever cease to be grateful. I +should have married him before now but for one singular circumstance. +My little boy can not be made to like him. He will have nothing to do +with Mr. Davis. He will not be bribed or coerced. Time and kindness do +not seem to diminish his dislike. My soul has been drugged with argument +and--I can not help saying it--bribed with favors. But the boy has been +steadfast. He has kept his frankness and honesty. I saw in this a +prophecy of trouble. I left home and went down into the very shadow of +death. It may be that we have been saved for each other by the wisdom of +childhood. I must not see you now. Nor shall I see him until I have found +my way. Even your call can not make me forget that I am under a solemn +promise. I must keep it without much more delay unless something happens +to release me. + +"I'm glad you like the boy. He is a wonderful child. I named him Nehemiah +for his grandfather. We call him Nim and sometimes 'Mr. Nimble' because +he is so lively. I'm homesick to see him and you. I am going to Dixon to +teach and earn money for mother and the baby. Don't tell any one where I +am and above all don't come to see me until in good heart I can ask you +to come. + +"God bless you! + +"Bim." + + * * * * * + +In a few weeks the suit came on. It was tried in the new brick +Court-House in Chicago. Davis's defense, as given in the answer, alleged +that the notes were to be paid out of the proceeds of the sale of lots +and that in consequence of the collapse of the boom there had been no +such proceeds. His claim was supported by the testimony of his secretary +and another and by certain letters of his, promising payment as soon as +the land was sold, and by letters from the plaintiffs allowing that +grace. As to the understanding upon which the notes were drawn, there was +a direct issue of veracity for which Abe Lincoln was exceedingly well +prepared. He had gained possession of many facts in the history of the +young speculator, including the important one that he had been convicted +of fraud in New Orleans. Mr. Lincoln's cross-examination was as merciless +as sunlight "falling round a helpless thing." It was kindly and polite in +tone but relentless in its searching. When it ended, the weight of +Davis's character had been accurately established. In his masterly +summing up Mr. Lincoln presented every circumstance in favor of the +defendant's position. With remarkable insight he anticipated the +arguments of his attorney. He presented them fairly and generously to the +court and jury. According to Samson the opposing lawyers admitted in a +private talk that Lincoln had thought of presumptions in favor of Davis +which had not occurred to them. Therein lay the characteristic of Mr. +Lincoln's method in a lawsuit. + + * * * * * + +"It was a safe thing for him to do for he never took a case in which +justice was not clearly on his side," Samson writes. "If he had been +deceived as to the merits of a case he would drop it. With the sword +of justice in his hand he was invincible." + + * * * * * + +First he put the thing to be weighed on the scale fully and fairly. Then, +one by one, he put the units of gravity on the other side so that the +court and jury saw the turning of the balance. + +He covered the point at issue with a few words "every one of which drew +blood," to quote a phrase from the diary. He showed that the validity of +such claims rested wholly on the character of the man who made them, +especially when they were opposed to the testimony of people whose +honesty had been questioned only by that man. + +"Now as to the secretary," said Mr. Lincoln, "I honestly regret that he +has disagreed with himself. A young man ought not to disagree with +himself as to the truth and especially when he contradicts the oath of +witnesses whom we have no reason to discredit. I want to be kind to him +on account of his youth. He reminds me of the young man who hired out to +a Captain in Gloucester and shipped for the China coast and learned +presently that he was on a pirate vessel. He had been a young man of good +intentions but he had to turn to and help the business along. When the +ship was captured he said: + +"I didn't want to be a pirate, but there was only one kind o' politics on +that ship and the majority was so large I thought that the vote might as +well be unanimous. At first I was in favor of reform but the walkin' was +that bad I had to decide between a harp and a cutlass.' + +"This parable serves to illustrate the history of most young men who fall +into bad company. The walking becomes more or less bad for them. They get +into the bondage of Fear. We know not how it may have influenced the +action of Cap'n Davis's First Mate. Probably since the hard times began, +the walking has looked bad to him but still there was walking. I am sorry +it must be said that there was walking and I hope that he will now make +some use of it." + +He did and in time confessed to Samson Traylor that Mr. Lincoln's +reproach had been the saving of him. A judgment was rendered in favor of +the plaintiffs for the full amount of their claim with costs. The +character of Lionel Davis had been sufficiently revealed. Even the +credulous Mrs. Kelso turned against him. Mr. Lincoln's skill as a lawyer +was recognized in the north as well as in the middle counties. From +that day forth no man enjoyed a like popularity in Tazewell County. + +When Samson and Harry Needles left the Court-House, there seemed to be no +obstacle between the young man and the consummation of his wishes. +Unfortunately, as they were going down the steps Davis, who blamed Samson +for his troubles, flung an insult at the sturdy Vermonter. Samson, who +had then arrived at years of firm discretion, was little disturbed by the +anger of a man so discredited. But Harry, on the sound of the hateful +words, had leaped forward and dealt the speculator a savage blow in the +face which for a few seconds had deprived him of the power of speech. +That evening a friend of Davis called at the City Hall with a challenge. +The hot-blooded young soldier accepted it against the urgent counsel of +Samson Traylor, Mr. Lincoln having left the city. It was a fashion of the +time for gentlemen to stand up and shoot at each other after such a +quarrel. But Davis, since the trial, had no character to defend and +therefore no right to enter the field of honor with a man of Harry's +standing. But the young officer had promised to fight and was not to be +dissuaded. + +As to the details of the tragic scene that followed next day, the +writer has little knowledge. Samson was not the type of man for such +a chronicle. The diary speaks of his part in it with shame and sorrow +and remorse. His mind seems to have been too much engaged with its own +fears and thoughts to take note of the color. We may infer from one +remark in it that the sky was clear. We know, too, that it was +at day-break when he and Harry rode to a point on the prairie "something +more than a mile from the city limits." There he tells us they met Davis +and one friend of the latter and two surgeons who had driven to the scene +in a box wagon. It is evident, too, that great secrecy had been observed +in the plan and its execution and that, until sometime after the last +act, Lincoln knew nothing of the later developments in the drama of +Davis's downfall. For the rest of the deplorable scene the historian must +content himself with the naked details in the diary of a puritan pioneer. +They are, at least, direct and derive a certain vividness from their +haste to be done with it as a proceeding of which the less said the +better. + + * * * * * + +"I went because there was no escape from it and with the shadow of God's +wrath in my soul," Samson writes. "The sun rose as we halted our horses. +We paced the field. The two men took their places twenty yards apart. +Harry was a little pale but he stood up as straight and steady as a +hitching post. The pistols rang out at the command to fire and both men +fell. Davis had been hit in the left shoulder. My handsome boy lay on his +face. The bullet had bored through his right lung. Before I could reach +him he had risen to his feet ready to go on with the battle. Davis lay +like one paralyzed by the shock of the bullet. His seconds declared they +were satisfied. The surgeons began their work. I saw them take the bullet +out of Harry's back where it had lodged under his skin. I helped them put +the wounded men into the wagon and rode to the house of one of the +doctors near the city wherein were rooms for the accommodation of +critical cases, leading Harry's horse and praying for God's help and +forgiveness. I took care of the boy until Steve Nuckles came to help me. +Bim arrived when Harry was out of his head and didn't know her. She was +determined to stay and do the nursing but I wouldn't let her. She did not +look strong. I loaned her the money to pay the debt to Davis and +persuaded her to go back to her work in Dixon. She went and was rather +heart-broken about it. + +"As she was leaving she looked into my face and said: 'Don't tell him or +any one what has happened to me. I want to tell him.' + +"I promised to keep her secret and did it. Soon I learned that she was +down sick of her worries. I sent her mother to her and kept the small boy +with me. + +"The surgeon said that Harry would live if lung fever didn't set in. It +set in but he pulled through. He mended slowly. I had some fear of arrest +but the conspiracy of silence kept the facts under cover. It was partly +due, I guess, to the friendship of John Wentworth for me and Honest Abe. +He kept it out of the papers. There were no complaints and the rumors +soon fell into silence. I spent about six weeks at Harry's bedside and in +the store which has begun to prosper. + +"The boy, 'Mr. Nimble,' is a cunning little man. When he began to get +better, Harry loved to play with him and listen to his talk about +fairies. The young man was able to leave his bed, by and by, but he +didn't get over his weakness and pallor. He had no appetite. I sent him +with Nuckles into the Wisconsin woods to live in the open. Then I took +the small boy to Dixon with me in the saddle. Bim had just got back to +her work. She was distressed by the news of Harry's condition. + +"'I fear he has got his death-blow,' she said with a sad look in her +face. 'I had hoped that we could be married this autumn. But something +comes between us always. First it was my folly and now it is his folly. +It seems as if we hadn't sense enough to get married when there's nothing +in the way of it.' + +"She told me that Eliphalet Biggs had been there. He had heard of the boy +and wished to see him and demanded to know where he was. For fear that +Biggs would try to get possession of 'Mr. Nimble' I took him with me to +Springfield in the saddle. + +"I learn that Davis has recovered his health and left the city. A man can +not do business without friends and after the trial Chicago was no place +for him." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +WHICH PRESENTS THE PLEASANT COMEDY OF INDIVIDUALISM IN THE NEW CAPITAL, +AND THE COURTSHIP OF LINCOLN AND MARY TODD. + + +Samson, with "Mr. Nimble" on a pad stuffed with straw in front of him, +jogged across the prairies and waded the creeks and sloughs on his way to +Springfield. The little lad was in his fourth year that summer. He slept +and talked much on the way and kept Samson busy with queries about the +sky and the creeks and the great flowery meadows. They camped the first +night in a belt of timber and Samson writes that the boy "slept snug +against me with his head on my arm. He went to sleep crying for his +mother." He adds: + + * * * * * + +"It reminded me of the old days of my young fatherhood. 'Mr. Nimble' +wanted to pick all the the flowers and splash his bare feet in every +stream. In the evening he would talk to the stars as if he were playing +with them. To him the whole world is a plaything. He is like some of the +grown folks in Chicago. He would sit hanging on to the reins and talk to +the horse and to God by the hour. He used to tell me that God was a +friend of his and I think he was right. It was good luck to get back to +Sarah and the children. They took the little stranger into their hearts. +'Heart room, house room' is the motto of this part of the country." + + * * * * * + +It was a new town to which Samson returned. The Governor and the state +officers had moved to Springfield. The new Capitol was nearing +completion. The hard times which had followed the downfall of '37 +had unjustly diminished Mr. Lincoln's confidence in his ability as a +legislator. He enjoyed the practice of the law which had begun to turn +his interest from the affairs of state. But the pot of political science +boiled before the fireplace in the rear of Joshua Speed's store every +evening that Lincoln and his associates were in Springfield. The wit and +wisdom which bubbled into its vapors and the heat that surrounded it were +the talk of the town. Many came to witness the process and presently it +was moved, for a time, to more accommodating quarters. Before a crowd of +people in the Presbyterian Church, Lincoln, Logan, Baker and Browning for +the Whigs, and Douglas, Calhoun, Lamborn and Thomas for the Democrats, +having assiduously prepared for the trial, debated the burning issues of +the time. The effort of each filled an evening and Lincoln's speech gave +him new hope of himself. Wise men began to have great confidence in his +future. He had taken the style of Webster for his model. He no longer +used the broad humor which had characterized his efforts on the stump. +A study of the best speeches of the great New Englander had made him +question its value in a public address. Dignity, clear reasoning and +impressiveness were the chief aims of his new method, the latter of +which is aptly illustrated by this passage from his speech in reply to +Douglas in the debate mentioned: + + * * * * * + +"If I ever feel the soul within me elevate and expand to those dimensions +not wholly unworthy of its Almighty Architect it is when I contemplate +the cause of my country deserted by all the world besides, and I standing +up boldly and alone and hurling defiance at her victorious oppressors. +Here without contemplating consequences before high heaven and in the +face of the world I swear eternal fidelity to the just cause, as I deem +it, of the land of my life, my liberty and my love." + + * * * * * + +In these perfervid utterances one may find little to admire save a great +spirit seeking to express itself and lacking as yet the refinement of +taste equal to his undertaking. He was no heaven-born genius "sprung in +full panoply from the head of Jove." He was just one of the slow, common +folk, with a passion for justice and human rights, slowly feeling his way +upward. His spirit was growing. Strong in its love and knowledge of +common men and of the things necessary to their welfare, it was beginning +to seek and know "the divine power of words." Every moment of leisure he +gave to the study of Webster and Burke and Byron and Shakespeare and +Burns. He had begun to study the art of Irving and Walter Scott and of a +new writer of the name of Dickens. There were four men who slept with +him, in the room above Speed's store, and one of them has told how he +used to lie sprawled on the floor, with his pillow and candle, reading +long after the others had gone to sleep. Samson writes that he never knew +a man who understood the art of using minutes as he did. A detached +minute was to him a thing to be filled with value. Yet there were few +men so deeply in love with fun. He loved to laugh at a story-telling and +to match his humor with Thompson Campbell--a famous raconteur--and to +play with children. Fun was as necessary to him as sleep. He searched for +it in people and in books. + +He came often to Samson's house to play with "Mr. Nimble" and to talk +with Joe. Some of his best thoughts came when he was talking with Joe and +some of his merriest moments when he was playing with "Mr. Nimble." He +confessed that it was the latter that reminded him that he had better be +looking for a wife. + +But Lincoln was only one of many remarkable personalities in Springfield +who had discovered themselves and were seeking to be discovered. Sundry +individuals were lifting their heads above the crowd but not with the +modesty and self-distrust of Honest Abe. "Steve" Douglas, whom Samson had +referred to as "that little rooster of a man," put on the stilts of a +brave and ponderous vigor. His five-foot stature and his hundred pounds +of weight did not fit the part of Achilles. But he would have no other. +He blustered much with a spear too heavy for his hands. Lincoln used to +call him a kind of popgun. + +This free-for-all joust of individualism--one of the first fruits of +Freedom in the West--gave to the life of the little village a rich flavor +of comedy. The great talents of Douglas had not been developed. His +character was as yet shifty and shapeless. Some of the leading citizens +openly distrusted him. He sought to command respect by assaulting men of +full size and was repeatedly and soundly thumped for his presumption. He +had endeavored publicly to chastise the sturdy Simeon Francis and had +been bent over a market cart and severely wigged by the editor. Lincoln +used to call these affairs "the mistakes of Douglas due wholly to the +difference between the size of his body and the size of his feelin's." He +never liked this little man, in opposing whom he was to come to the +fulness of his power on the platform. It is evident that Lincoln regarded +him as an able advocate of small sincerity looking chiefly for personal +advancement. + +There is a passage in the diary which illustrates the character of +Douglas and Lincoln's knowledge of it. The passage relates to a day in +the famous debates of 1858. Lincoln had not reached Havana in time to +hear the speech of his opponent. A great crowd had come by train and in +wagons. Taking advantage of his absence Douglas had called Lincoln "a +liar, a coward and a sneak" and declared that he was going to fight him. + +Lincoln heard of this and said in his speech: + +"I shall not fight with Judge Douglas. A fight could prove nothing at +issue in this campaign. It might prove that he is a more muscular man +than I or that I am a more muscular man than he, but this subject is not +mentioned in either platform. Again he and I are really very good friends +and when we are together he would no more think of fighting me than of +fighting his wife. Therefore when the Judge talked about fighting he was +not giving vent to any ill feeling but was trying to excite--well, let us +say enthusiasm against me on the part of his audience." + +Justice accomplished her ends now and then with comic displays of +violence in the prairie capital. One night Abe Lincoln and certain of his +friends captured a shoe-maker who had beaten his wife and held him at the +village pump while the aggrieved woman gave him a sound thrashing. So +this phase of imperialism was cured in Springfield by "hair off the same +dog" as Lincoln put it. + +One evening while E.D. Baker was speaking in the crowded village court +room above Lincoln's office and was rudely interrupted and in danger of +assault, the long legs of Honest Abe suddenly appeared through a scuttle +hole in the ceiling above the platform. He leaped upon it and seizing a +stone water pitcher defied any one to interfere with the right of free +speech in a worthy cause. + +So it will be seen that there were zestful moments in these sundry +vindications of the principles of Democracy in the prairie capital. + +About this time Miss Mary Todd, the daughter of a Kentucky banker, +arrived in Springfield to visit her sister, Mrs. Ninian W. Edwards. She +was a fashionably dressed, good-looking girl of blue-gray eyes and dark +hair. She had been well educated in the schools of Lexington and could +speak French as well as English. + +"Well, Mary, haven't you found the fortunate young man yet?" Mr. Edwards +playfully asked the day of her coming. + +"You know my husband is going to be President of the United States and +I hoped that I would find him in Springfield," Mary answered in a like +vein. + +"There's great fishing here," said Mr. Edwards. "I know the very man +you are looking for. He has come up from the ranks and is now the most +popular member of the Legislature. He can make a stirring speech and they +say he is going to be the President of the United States. He's wise and +witty and straight as a string but a rough diamond--big, awkward and +homely. You're just the girl to take him in hand and give him a little +polish and push him along. His name is Abraham Lincoln." + +Speed knew the Todds--a distinguished Kentucky family with a Governor of +Virginia and other historic figures in its record. When he called upon +Mary she asked about Mr. Lincoln and said she would like to meet him. + +"She's just the girl for you, Abe," Speed said to him that evening. "She +is bright and well educated and her family has influence. She could be a +great help to you." + +This interested the member from Sangamon County who was indeed eager to +get along. The companionship of a refined young lady was the very thing +he needed. + +"Let's go over and pay our respects to her," Speed suggested. They went, +Lincoln being carefully dressed in his first suit of black clothes. +Miss Todd was a bright, vivacious girl of middle stature, twenty-two +years old. She was fashionably dressed and carried her head proudly--a +smart-looking, witty, well spoken girl but not especially handsome. She +was most agreeable to the young men. Honest Abe was deeply impressed by +her talk and fine manners and general comeliness. He felt her grace and +charm and spoke of it, with enthusiasm. But to him and to her there +seemed to be an impassable gulf between them. She changed her mind about +that, however, when she heard him speak and felt the power of his +personality and saw his face lighted by the candle of his spirit. It was +a handsome face in those moments of high elation. Hardship and malarial +poison had lined and sallowed his skin. He used to say that every time +the fever and ague walked over him, they left a track on his face. The +shadows of loneliness and sorrow were in its sculpturing. But when his +eyes glowed with passion one saw not the rough mask which the life of +the pioneer had given him. His form lost its awkwardness; his face took +on a noble and impressive beauty. Those times every eye looked longingly +upon him because of the great and wonderful things with which he was +interfused. To quote his own words to the boy, Josiah Traylor, his +character was speaking as well as his lips. Mary had the insight to +recognize his power. She felt the strength of his spirit. She agreed with +her friends that here was a man of great promise. She felt the need of +him. + +To one who loved beauty and respected women as he did the grace and +refinement of this young lady had a singular appeal coupled as it was +with the urge of his strong, masculine nature. It was a revelation. He +was like a young poet going out into the open and seeing for the first +time the mysterious beauty of the mountains or "the exquisite, delicate, +thin curve of the new moon in spring." He began to seek and study +refinement of thought, of manner, of dress, of expression. He knew that +he needed Mary but had the feeling that she was not for him. + +A woman who lived near the Edwards's house had a small, hairy, poodle +dog. One day as Abe and Mary were walking along the street, they met this +woman who asked if they had seen her dog. + +"I wouldn't wonder if some one down the street had got him tied to the +end of a pole and is using him to swab off his windows," said Abe Lincoln +with a good-natured laugh. "I'll try to find him for you." + +Mary enjoyed fun and this and like sallies of the young legislator added +a certain zest to their friendship. Women are like children in their love +of humor. + +The diminutive Douglas saw in Miss Todd an asset of much value and his +attentions began to be assiduous. Mary was indifferent to his lofty +manner and sonorous vocalism. Abe Lincoln liked her better for that. + +She encouraged the visits of the latter and invited his confidence. The +fact filled him with a great joy. They went about together. In the +Edwards parlor he modestly told her of his work and his life plan. +She differed with him on certain subjects which were unfortunately +fundamental. He did not love her as he had loved Ann. But her personality +pleased and fascinated the young legislator. One evening under the +spell of it he asked her to be his wife. She consented. Then he began to +think it over. + +It was like Lincoln in his relations with women to get the cart before +the horse so to speak. The points upon which they disagreed came up for +consideration. She could not think as he did on the subject of slavery +and the kindred one of State Rights. His manners were not like hers. He +was thirty-one years old that summer. It was rather late in life to +undertake any great change in his manners. They grew naturally out of +one's history and character. He could be kind and gentle in his way. But, +mainly, his manners would have to be like the rugged limbs of the oak. +The grace and elegance of the water-willow and the white birch were not +for him. It saddened him to conclude that he would have to be for a long +time just what he was--crude, awkward, unlearned in the graces and +amenities of cultivated people. He rightly judged that his crudeness +would be a constant source of irritation to the proud Mary. As their +acquaintance progressed the truth of his conviction grew more apparent. +This, however, did not so much concern him as her lack of sympathy with +some of his deepest motives. He decided that, after all, he did not love +her and that to marry her would be committing a great Wrong. + +Some of the unhappiest days of his life followed. His conscience gave him +no rest. He knew not what to do. He told a friend that if his misery were +equally distributed to the whole human race each would have a troublesome +burden. He was wont to take long walks into the country with "Mr. Nimble" +those days often carrying the boy on his shoulders. It is likely that the +little lad was a great comfort to him. He wrote a letter to Miss Todd in +which he reviewed the history of his thinking on the subject of their +marriage and frankly but tenderly stated his conviction that it would +imperil her happiness to marry him. Before sending it he submitted the +letter to his friend Speed. + +The latter read it over and looked very grave. + +"What do you think of it?" Lincoln asked. + +"I would never send a letter like that to a lady," Speed answered. "If +you feel as you say go and tell her so, but don't put it in a letter." + +Lincoln went to see her that evening and returned to his friend in a more +cheerful mood. + +"Did you tell her?" Speed asked. + +"Yes, I told her." + +"What happened?" + +"She burst out crying and I threw my arms around her and kissed her and +that settled it. We are going to be married." + +What an illustration of the humanity and chivalry of Honest Abe was in +the proceeding! + +"I'm sure you'll get along all right together," said Speed. "Your spirit +is jealous of any one likely to get in its way. But she won't. She'll +fall in line and do what she can to help you." + +Now a little before this time Henry Brimstead and other creditors of +Davis had gone to Chicago in the matter of the satisfaction of their +judgment against him. Henry had driven a wagon across the prairies and, +returning, had brought Bim and her mother to his home and then to +Springfield. It was while they were there that Harry had come down to +Chicago out of the woods in a condition of health which had alarmed his +physician. The latter had put him on a steamboat and sent him east. He +was bound for the mountain country in northern New York. + +Bim and her mother returned to Chicago on the stage, the former to take +a place in the store as the representative of Samson's interest. + +Harry was three years in the wilderness trying to regain his health. +Success came to him in the last year of his banishment. + +Toward the end of it he received a letter from Mr. Lincoln. It was +written soon after that curious climax in the courting of Mary Todd. In +this letter he said: + + * * * * * + +"I am serving my last term in the Legislature. I learn that you are in +better health and I hope that you will have the strength and inclination +to return soon and be a candidate for my seat in the house. Samson will +not do it, being so busy with large affairs. You are young. You have won +distinction in the service of your country. You have studied the problems +of the county and the state. Samson and Baker and Logan and Browning +agree with me that you are the man for the place. + +"As for myself I am going to be married in a year or so. I shall have to +give all my time to the practice of the law. I am now in partnership with +Stephen T. Logan and am slowly clearing my conscience of debt. I have +done what I could for the state and for Sangamon County. It hasn't been +much. I want you to take up the burden, if you can, until I get free of +my debts at least. By and by I may jump into the ring again." + + * * * * * + +Harry was glad to obey the summons. Soon after the arrival of Mr. +Lincoln's letter his doctor gave the young man what he called "an +honorable discharge." The magic of youth and its courage and of good air +had wrought a change of which the able doctor had had little hope in the +beginning. + +In his travels through the great forest Harry had met David Parish and +Stephen Van Renssalaer at whose homes on the shore of the St. Lawrence he +had spent many a happy, summer day. Three years had passed since that +fateful morning on the prairie. Through the winters he had lived in a +comfortable hunter's camp on the shore of Lake Placid. Summers he had +wandered with a guide and canoe through the lakes and rivers of the +wilderness hunting and fishing and reading the law books which he had +borrowed from Judge Fine of Ogdensburg. Each summer he worked down the +Oswegatchie to that point for a visit with his new friends. The history +of every week had been written to Bim and her letters had reached him at +the points where he was wont to rest in his travels. The lovers had not +lost their ardor. Theirs was the love "that hopes and endures and is +patient." + +On a day in June, 1841, he boarded a steamboat at Ogdensburg on his way +to Chicago. He arrived in the evening and found Samson at the home of Bim +and her mother--a capacious and well-furnished house on Dearborn Street. +Bim was then a little over twenty-five years old. A letter from John +Wentworth says that she was "an exquisite bit of womanhood learned in the +fine arts of speech and dress and manner." He spoke also of her humor and +originality and of her gift for business "which amounted to absolute +genius." + +The store had doubled in size under her management and with the help +of the capital of Samson and Sarah Traylor. Its wholesale and retail +business was larger than any north of St. Louis. The epidemic had seized +her toward the last of her nursing and left the marks of its scourge upon +her. It had marred her beauty but Samson writes, "the girl was still very +handsome. She was well filled out and stood as straight as an arrow and +was always dressed as neat as a pin. I fear she was a little extravagant +about that. She carried her head like a sleek, well-fed Morgan colt. +She was kind of scared to meet Harry for fear of what he'd think of those +little marks on her face but I told her not to worry." + +"You are the smartest and loveliest looking creature that I ever saw in +my life," said Harry after he had held her in his arms a moment. + +"But see what has happened to me--look at my face," she answered. + +"It is more beautiful than ever," he said. "Those marks have doubled my +love for you. They are medals of honor better than this one that I wear." + +"Then I think that I'll take you off and marry you before you have a +chance to fight another duel or find another war to go to," said Bim. +"There is the mustache that I used to long for and which wouldn't come," +she added with a smile. + +"Is there anything else that I seem to need?" Harry asked. "I could grow +whiskers now." + +"Don't," she answered. "The great need of the West is shears and razors +and a law to compel their use. There can be little romance in the midst +of so much hair." + +"I shall be careful not to offend you," Harry laughed. "I want to marry +you as soon as possible. I've been looking forward to that since I was +sixteen." + +"I don't hear of anything but love and marriage," said Samson. "We've +been rassling down at our house to keep Josiah from running off and +getting married. He's engaged already." + +"Engaged! To whom?" Harry asked. + +"To Annabel Brimstead. She's a little older than he is. She laughed at +him and promised to marry him as soon as he was nominated for President +by all his friends. She would now vote for him herself. He has become a +good athlete and the best scholar in school. He has every boy and girl in +the village working for him evenings and Saturdays." + +"What are they doing?" Harry asked. + +"Making those newfangled things they call lucifers. You can build a fire +in a second with 'em. They cut splinters out of soft wood, dip their ends +in brimstone--which Joe learned how to make--and put them in a hot oven +until the brimstone is baked. Then a scratch will bring a flame. Joe puts +them up in bundles and sells them to the merchants and calls them lucifer +matches. He has invented a machine that will cut and dip a thousand +splinters an hour. I tell you Annabel is in danger." + +He took a lucifer out of his pocket and scratched it on the bottom of his +boot. The party looked with wonder at its flame which quickly consumed +the slender thread of pine in his fingers. + +"I have always thought that Joe would make a whale of a man," said Harry. + +"We all seem to be threatened with immediate and overwhelming happiness," +Bim exclaimed. + +"The only thing in the way of mine is the national debt that I have +accumulated," Harry remarked. + +"I knew he'd think of something," said Bim ruefully. "If I wanted to +abolish the noble institution of marriage I'd make him chairman of the +ways and means committee." + +"Harry, your credit is still good with me, and I'm prosperous," Samson +began. "I want you to know that Bim's energy and skill are mostly +responsible for my success. I guess we owe more to your sickness than +you're aware of. If it hadn't been for that we would be plodding along at +the same old pace. We would not have felt the need of speeding up. It was +your misfortune that brought Bim into the store. If she wants to retire +and marry you I rather think she is entitled to do it. I don't want any +more fooling around about this matter. Sarah and I couldn't stand it. +She's kept me awake nights talking about it. The thing has worried us +plenty. We rebel and demand action before anything else happens. We feel +as if we had some rights in this case." + +"I concede them and second your demand," Harry answered. "Bim must name +a near day. I only need a week to get some clothes made and to go up to +Milwaukee on a little matter of business." + +"I don't know whether we'll give him a week or not," said Bim playfully. +"A great many things may happen to him in a week." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +WHICH DESCRIBES A PLEASANT HOLIDAY AND A PRETTY STRATAGEM. + + +Two days later Bim suggested that they should take a day's ride in the +open and spend the night at the home of a friend of hers in a settlement +known as Plain's End, Harry having expressed a wish to get out on the +prairies in the saddle after his long term of travel on a steamboat. + +"Are you sure that you can stand an all day's journey?" Bim asked. + +"I! I could kill a bear with my hands and carry him home on my back and +eat him for dinner," the young man boasted. + +"I've got enough of the wild West in me to like a man who can eat bears +if there's nothing better," said Bim. "I didn't know but you'd been +spoiled in the homes of those eastern millionaires. If you're willing to +take what comes and make the best of it, I'll give you a day that you +will remember. You will have to put up with a very simple hospitality but +I wouldn't wonder if you'd enjoy it." + +"I can put up with anything so long as I have your help," the young man +answered. + +"Then I shall send word that we are coming. We will leave here day after +to-morrow. Our horses will be at the door at eight o'clock in the +morning. We shall take some luncheon and reach our destination late in +the afternoon and return next day. It will give us a good long visit with +each other and you'll know me better before we get back." + +"I want to know you as well as I love you," he said. "I suppose it will +be like studying law--one never gets through with it." + +"I've found myself a rather abstruse subject--as bad as Coke, of which +Abe used to talk so much with my father," she declared. "I shall be glad +if it doesn't discourage you." + +"The mystery of woman can not be solved by intellectual processes," the +young man remarked. "Observation is the only help and mine has been +mostly telescopic. We have managed to keep ourselves separated by a great +distance even when we were near each other. It has been like looking at a +star with a very limited parallax. It's a joy to be able to see you with +the naked eye." + +"You will have little to look at on this holiday but me and the +prairies," said Bim. + +"I think the prairies will be neglected. I shall wear my cavalry uniform +and try to get a pair of the best horses in Chicago for the trip." + +"Then you would have to get mine. I have a handsome pair of black young +horses from Ohio--real high steppers. It is to be my party. You will have +to take what comes and make the best of it." + +The day of their journey arrived--a warm, bright, cloudless day in +September 1841. The long story of those years of separation was told as +they rode along. Biggs had been killed in a drunken brawl at Alton. +Davis had gone to the far West--a thoroughly discredited man. Henry +Brimstead had got his new plow on the market and was prospering beyond +all his hopes. Eli had become a merchant of unusual ability and vision. +His square dealing and good sense had done much to break down prejudice +against the Jews in the democracy of the West. Agents of the store were +traveling in Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana selling its goods to country +dealers. They carried with them the progressive and enlightened spirit of +the city and the news. Everywhere they insisted upon a high standard of +honesty in business. A man who had no respect for his contract was struck +off the list. They spread the every-day religion of the counting room. +They were a welcome, unifying and civilizing force in the middle country. +Samson Traylor was getting wealth and a reputation for good sense. He had +made the plan on which the business had developed. He had proved himself +a wise and far-seeing man. Sarah's friends had been out in Springfield +for a visit. They had invested money in the business. Her brother had +decided to bring his family West and settle in Sangamon County. + +The lovers stopped in a grove at noon and fed their horses and Harry, +who had a bundle of Joe's lucifer matches in his pocket--a gift from +Samson--built a fire and made a broach of green sticks on which he +broiled beef steak. + +A letter from Harry to Sarah Traylor tells of the beauty of the day--of +blue bells and scarlet lilies in the meadow grass, of the whistling +quail, of pigeons and wild geese flying across the sky and of his great +joy in seeing again the vast sunlit reaches of the level, virgin lands. + + * * * * * + +"It was my great day of fulfillment, all the dearer because I had come +back to health and youth and beloved scenes out of those years shadowed +with loneliness and despair," he writes. "The best part of it, I assure +you, was the face I loved and that musical voice ringing like a bell in +merry laughter and in the songs which had stirred my heart in the days +of its tender youth. You--the dear and gentle mother of my later +boyhood--are entitled to know of my happiness when I heard that voice +tell me in its sweeter tone of the love which has endured through all +these years of stern trial. We talked of our plans as we sat among the +ferns and mosses in the cool shade sweetened by the incense of burning +fagots, over that repast to which we shall be returning often for +refreshment in poorer days. We had thought of you and of the man so well +beloved of you and us in all these plans. We shall live in Springfield so +that we may be near you and him and our friend, Honest Abe." + + * * * * * + +It is a long letter presenting minute details in the history of that +sentimental journey and allusion to matters which have no part in this +record. Its substance being fully in the consciousness of the writer, he +tenderly folds it up and returns it to the package--yellow and brittle +and faded and having that curious fragrance of papers that have lain for +scores of years in the gloom and silence of a locked mahogany drawer. So +alive are these letters with the passion of youth in long forgotten years +that the writer ties the old ribbon and returns them to their tomb with a +feeling of sadness, finding a singular pathos in the contrast of their +look and their contents. They are turning to dust but the soul of them +has gone into this little history. + +The young man and woman mounted their horses and resumed their journey. +It was after two o'clock. The Grand Prairie lay ahead of them. The +settlement of Plain's End was twenty-one miles away on its farther +side. They could just see its tall oak trees in the dim distance. + +"We must hurry if we get there before dark," said the girl. "Above all we +must be careful to keep our direction. It's easy to get lost down in the +great prairie." + +They heard a cat-bird singing in a near thicket as they left their camp. +It reminded Bim of her favorite ballad and she sang it with the spirit of +old: + + "My sweetheart, come along-- + Don't you hear the glad song + As the notes of the nightingale flow? + Don't you hear the fond tale of the sweet nightingale + As she sings in the valleys below? + As she sings in the valleys below?" + +They went on shoulder-deep in the tall grass on the lower stretches of +the prairie. Here and there it gave Harry the impression that he was +swimming his horse in "noisy, vivid green water." They startled a herd +of deer and a number of wild horses. When they lost sight of the woods at +Plain's End the young man, with his cavalry training, was able to ride +standing on his saddle until he had got it located. It reminded him +of riding in the Everglades and he told of his adventures there as they +went on, but very modestly. He said not a word of his heroic fight the +day that he and sixty of his comrades were cut off and surrounded in +the "land of the grassy waters." But Bim had heard the story from other +lips. + +Late in the afternoon the woods loomed in front of them scarcely a mile +off. Near the end of the prairie they came to a road which led them past +the door of a lonely cabin. It seemed to be deserted, but its windows +were clean and a faint column of smoke rose from its chimney. There +were hollyhocks and sunflowers in its small and cleanly dooryard. A +morning-glory vine had been trained around the windows. + +"Broad Creek is just beyond," said Bim. "I don't know how the crossing +will be." + +They came presently to the creek, unexpectedly swollen. A man stood on +the farther shore with some seventy feet of deep and rapid water between +him and the travelers. + +"That man looks like Stephen Nuckles," said Harry. + +"It is Stephen Nuckles," Bim answered. + +"Hello, Steve!" the young soldier called. + +"Howdy, boy!" said the old minister. "That ar creek is b'ilin' over. +I reckon you'll have to swim the hosses." + +"They're young city horses and not broke to deep water but we'll try +them," said Bim. + +They tried but Bim's horse refused to go beyond good footing. + +"You kin light at that ar house an' spend the night but the folks have +gone erway," the minister called. + +"I guess you'll have to marry us right here and now," Harry proposed. +"Night is coming and that house is our only refuge." + +"Poor boy! There seems to be no escape for you!" Bim exclaimed with a +sigh. "Do you really and honestly want to marry me? If there's any doubt +about it I'll leave the horses with you and swim the creek. You could put +them in the barn and swim with me or spend the night in the cabin." + +He embraced and kissed her in a way that left no doubt of his wishes. + +"It's a cool evening and the creek is very wet," he answered. "I'm going +to take this matter in my own hands." + +He called to the minister: "Steve, this is the luckiest moment of my life +and you are just the man of all others I would have chosen for its most +important job. Can you stand right where you are and marry us?" + +"You bet I kin, suh," the minister answered. "I've often said I could +marry any one half a mile erway if they would only talk as loud as I kin. +I've got the good book right hyah in my pocket, suh. My ol' woman is +comin'. She'll be hyah in a minute fer to witness the perceedin's." + +Mrs. Nuckles made her appearance on the river bank in a short time. + +Then the minister shouted: "We'll begin by readin' the nineteenth chapter +of Matthew." + +He shouted the chapter and the usual queries, knelt and prayed and +pronounced them man and wife. + +The young man and woman walked to the cabin and put their horses in its +barn, where they found an abundance of hay and oats. They rapped at the +cabin door but got no response. They lifted its latch and entered. + +A table stood in the middle of the room set for two. On its cover of +spotless white linen were plates and cups and saucers and a big platter +of roasted prairie chickens and a great frosted cake and preserves and +jellies and potato salad and a pie and a bottle of currant wine. A clock +was ticking on the shelf. There were live embers in the fireplace and +wood in the box, and venison hanging in the chimney. + +The young soldier looked about him and smiled. + +"This is wonderful!" he exclaimed. "To whom are we indebted?" + +"You don't think I'd bring you out here on the plains and marry you and +not treat you well," Bim laughed. "I warned you that you'd have to take +what came and that the hospitality would be simple." + +"It's a noble and benevolent conspiracy that has turned this cabin into +a Paradise and brought all this happiness upon me," he said as he kissed +her. "I thought it strange that Mr. Nuckles should be on hand at the +right moment." + +"The creek was a harder thing to manage," she answered with a smile. "I +told my messenger to see that the gate of the reservoir was opened at +four o'clock. So, you see, you had to marry or swim. Now I've made a +clean breast of it. I felt sure something would happen before you got +back from Milwaukee. I was plum superstitious about it." + +The young man shook with laughter and said: "You are the new woman born +of the democracy of the West." + +"I began to fear that I should be an old woman before I got to be Mrs. +Needles." + +"Whose house is this?" he asked in a moment. + +"It is the home of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Lukins. Their land near Chicago is +now used for a cattle yard and slaughter-house and is paying them a good +income. They moved here some time ago. He looks after the reservoir. Mrs. +Lukins is a famous cook as you will see. We can stay here as long as we +want to. We shall find everything we need in the well, the chimney, the +butt'ry and the cellar. And here is the wedding supper all ready for us +and I as hungry as a bear." + +"In the words of Mrs. Lukins 'it is very copasetic,' and I begin to feel +that I have made some progress in the study of Bim Kelso. Come, let's +have our supper." + +"Not until you have broiled a piece of venison. It will take a lot of +food to satisfy me. I'll get the cream and butter out of the well and +make a pot of coffee. Hurry up, Harry, I'm starving." + +Darkness fell upon the busy lovers and soon the firelight and the glow of +many candles filled the homely cabin with flickering shadows and a soft +beautiful color. + +"Supper is ready," she said, when the venison steak had been deposited on +the platter. + +"Bim, I love you not as most men love," he said as They stood a moment by +the side of the table. "From the bottom of my heart I do respect you for +your honor and good faith and when I think of that and of all you have +suffered for my sake I bow my head and ask God to make me worthy of such +a helper." + +They sat down to this unusual wedding feast and as we leave them the +windows of the little cabin fling their light far out upon the level +plain; we hear the sound of merry laughter and of the tall grasses +rustling and reeling joyously in the breeze. The moon in mid-heaven and +the innumerable host around it seem to know what is passing on the edge +of the Grand Prairie and to be well pleased. Surely there is nothing +that finds a quicker echo in the great heart of the world than human +happiness! + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +BEING A BRIEF MEMOIR BY THE HONORABLE AND VENERABLE MAN KNOWN IN THESE +PAGES AS JOSIAH TRAYLOR, WHO SAW THE GREAT PROCESSION OF EVENTS BETWEEN +ANDREW JACKSON AND WOODROW WILSON AND ESPECIALLY THE MAKING AND THE END +OF LINCOLN. + + +Now, as I have done often sitting in the chimney corner at the day's end, +I look back at my youth and manhood and tell, with one eye upon the +clock, of those years of fulfillment in the progress of our beloved +pilgrim. There are four and twenty of them that I shall try to review in +as many minutes. At this distance I see only the high places--one looming +above another like steps in a stairway. + +The years of building and sentiment ended on the fourth of November, +1842, when he and Mary Todd were joined in marriage. Now, like one having +taken note of the storm clouds, he strengthens the structure. + +Mary tried to teach him fine manners. It was a difficult undertaking. +Often, as might have been expected, she lost her patience. Mary was an +excellent girl, but rather kindlesome and pragmatic. Like most of the +prairie folk, for instance, Abe Lincoln had been accustomed to reach +for the butter with his own knife, and to find rest in attitudes +extremely indolent and unbecoming. He enjoyed sprawling on the floor in +his shirt-sleeves and slippers with a pillow under his head and a book in +his hand. He had a liking for ample accommodation not fully satisfied by +a bed or a lounge. Mary undertook to turn him into new ways and naturally +there was irritation in the house, but I think they got along very well +together for all that. Mary grew fond of him and proud of his great +talents and was a devoted wife. For years she did the work of the house +and bore him children. He milked the cow and took care of the horse when +he was at home. + +Annabel and I, having just been married, went with him to Washington on +our wedding-tour in 1847. He was taking his seat in Congress that year. +We were with him there when he met Webster. Lincoln was deeply impressed +by the quiet dignity of the great man. We went together to hear Emerson +lecture. It was a motley audience--business men, fashionable ladies and +gentlemen, statesmen, politicians, women with their knitting, and +lion-hunters. The tall, awkward orator ascended the platform, took off +his top-coat and drew a manuscript from his pocket. He had a narrow, +sloping forehead, a prominent nose, gray eyes and a skin of singular +transparency. His voice was rich and mellow but not strong. Lincoln +listened with rapt attention to his talk about Democracy. It was a +memorable night. He spoke of it often. Such contact with the great +spirits of that time, of which he studiously availed himself in +Washington, was of great value to the statesman from Illinois. His +experiences on the floor were in no way important to him, but since 1914 +I have thought often of what he said there, regarding Polk's invasion of +Mexico, unauthorized by Congress as it was: + +"The Provision of the Constitution giving the war-making power to +Congress was dictated, as I understand it, by the following reasons: +kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, +pretending generally that the good of the people was the object. This our +convention understood to be the most oppressive of all kingly oppressions +and they proposed to so frame the constitution that no man should hold +the power of bringing this oppression upon _us_." + +The next year he stumped Massachusetts for "Zach" Taylor and heard +Governor Seward deliver his remarkable speech on Slavery which contained +this striking utterance: + +"Congress has no power to inhibit any duty commanded by God on Mount +Sinai or by His Son on the Mount of Olives." + +On his return home Lincoln confessed that we had soon to deal with that +question. + +I was in his office when Herndon said: + +"I tell you that slavery must be rooted out." + +"What makes you think so?" Mr. Lincoln asked. + +"I feel it in my bones," was Herndon's answer. + +After that he used to speak with respect of "Bill Herndon's bone +philosophy." + +His term in Congress having ended, he came back to the law in partnership +with William H. Herndon--a man of character and sound judgment. Those +days Lincoln wore black trousers, coat and stock, a waistcoat of satin +and a Wellington high hat. He was wont to carry his papers in his hat. +Mary had wrought a great change in his external appearance. + +They used to call him "a dead square lawyer." I remember that once +Herndon had drawn up a fictitious plea founded on a shrewd assumption. +Lincoln carefully examined the papers. + +"Is it founded on fact?" he asked. + +"No," Herndon answered. + +Lincoln scratched his head thoughtfully and asked: + +"Billy, hadn't we better withdraw that plea? You know it's a sham and +generally that's another name for a lie. Don't let it go on record. The +cursed thing may come staring us in the face long after this suit has +been forgotten." + +On the whole he was not so communicative as he had been in his young +manhood. He suffered days of depression when he said little. Often, in +good company, be seemed to be thinking of things in no way connected +with the talk. Many called him a rather "shut-mouthed man." + +Herndon used to say that the only thing he had against Lincoln was his +habit of coming in mornings and sprawling on the lounge and reading aloud +from the newspaper. + +The people of the town loved him. One day as we were walking along the +street together we came upon a girl dressed up and crying in front of her +father's door. + +"What's the matter?" Lincoln asked. + +"I want to take the train and the wagon hasn't come for my trunk," said +she. + +Lincoln went in and got the trunk and carried it to the station on his +back, with people laughing and throwing jokes at him as he strode along. +When I think of him his chivalry and kindness come first to mind. + +He read much, but his days of book study were nearly ended. His learning +was now got mostly in the school of experience. Herndon says, and I think +it is true, that he never read to the end of a law book those days. The +study of authorities was left to the junior partner. His reading was +mostly outside the law. His knowledge of science was derived from +Chambers's _Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation_. + +He was still afraid of the Abolition Movement in 1852 and left town to +avoid a convention of its adherents. He thought the effort to resist by +force the laws of Kansas was criminal and would hurt the cause of +freedom. "Let us have peace and revolutionize through the ballot-box," +he urged. + +In 1854 a little quarrel in New York began to weave the thread of +destiny. Seward, Weed and Greeley had wielded decisive power in the party +councils of that state. Seward was a high headed, popular idol. His plans +and his triumphant progress absorbed his thought. Weed was dazzled by the +splendor of this great star. Neither gave a thought to their able +colleague--a poor man struggling to build up a great newspaper. An +office, with fair pay, would have been a help to him those days. But he +got no recognition of his needs and talents and services. Suddenly he +wrote a letter to Weed in which he said: + + "The firm of Seward, Weed and Greeley is hereby dissolved by the + resignation of its junior member." + +When Greeley had grown in power and wisdom until his name was known and +honored from ocean to ocean, they tried to make peace with him, but in +vain. + +Then suddenly a new party and a new Lincoln were born on the same day in +1856 at a great meeting in Bloomington, Illinois. There his soul was to +come into its stateliest mansion out of its lower vaulted past. For him +the fulness of time had arrived. He was prepared for it. His intellect +had also reached the fulness of its power. Now his great right hand was +ready for the thunderbolts which his spirit had been slowly forging. God +called him in the voices of the crowd. He was quick to answer. He went up +the steps to the platform. I saw, as he came forward, that he had taken +the cross upon him. Oh, it was a memorable thing to see the smothered +flame of his spirit leaping into his face. His hands were on his hips. He +seemed to grow taller as he advanced. The look of him reminds me now of +what the famous bronze founder in Paris said of the death-mask, that it +was the most beautiful head and face he had ever seen. What shall I say +of his words save that it seemed to me that the voice of God was in them? +I never saw an audience so taken up and swept away. The reporters forgot +to report. It is a lost speech. There is no record of it. I suppose it +was scribbled with a pencil on scraps of paper and on the backs of +envelopes at sundry times, agreeably with his habit, and committed to +memory. So this great speech, called by some the noblest effort of his +life, was never printed. I remember one sentence relating to the Nebraska +bill: + +"Let us use ballots, not bullets, against the weapons of violence, which +are those of kingcraft. Their fruits are the dying bed of the fearless +Sumner, the ruins of the Free State Hotel, the smoking timbers of the +Herald of Freedom, the Governor of Kansas chained to a stake like a +horse-thief." + +In June, 1858, he took the longest step of all. The Republican State +Convention had endorsed him for the United States Senate. It was then +that he wrote on envelopes and scraps of paper at odd moments, when +his mind was off duty, the speech beginning: + + "A house divided against itself must fall. Our Government can not long + endure part slave and part free." + +I was among the dozen friends to whom he read that speech in the +State House library. One said of those first sentences: "It is a fool +utterance." Another: "It is ahead of its time." Another declared that it +would drive away the Democrats who had lately joined the party. Herndon +and I were the only ones who approved it. + +Lincoln had come to another fork in the road. For a moment I wondered +which way he would go. + +Immediately he rose and said with an emphasis that silenced opposition: + +"Friends, this thing has been held back long enough. The time has come +when these sentiments should be uttered, and if it is decreed that I +shall go down because of this speech, then let me go down linked to +the truth." + +His conscience had prevailed. The speech was delivered. Douglas, the +Democratic candidate, came on from Washington to answer it. That led to +Lincoln's challenge to a joint debate. I was with him through that long +campaign. Douglas was the more finished orator. Lincoln spoke as he split +rails. His conscience was his beetle. It drove his arguments deep into the +souls of his hearers. The great thing about him was his conscience. +Unless his theme were big enough to give it play in noble words he could +be as commonplace as any one. He was built for a tool of God in +tremendous moral issues. He was awkward and diffident in beginning a +speech. Often his hands were locked behind him. He gesticulated more with +his head than his hands. He stood square-toed always. He never walked +about on the platform. He scored his points with the long, bony, index +finger of his right hand. Sometimes he would hang a hand on the lapel +of his coat as if to rest it. Perspiration dripped from his face. His +voice, high pitched at first, mellowed into a pleasant sound. + +One sentence in Lincoln's speech at Ottawa thrust "The Little Giant" of +Illinois out of his way forever. It was this pregnant query: + +"Can the people of a United States territory in any lawful way and +against the wish of any citizen of the United States exclude slavery from +its limits prior to the formation of a state constitution?" + +He knew that Douglas would answer yes and that, doing so, he would +alienate the South and destroy his chance to be President two years +later. That is exactly what came to pass. "The Little Giant's" answer +was the famous "Freeport Heresy." He was elected to the Senate but was +no longer possible as a candidate for the Presidency. + +I come now to the last step in the career of my friend and beloved +master. It was the Republican convention of 1860 in Chicago. I was a +delegate. The New Yorkers came in white beaver hats enthusiastic for +Seward, their favorite son. He was the man we dreaded most. Many in the +great crowd were wearing his colors. The delegations were in earnest +session the night before the balloting began. The hotel corridors were +thronged with excited men. My father had become a man of wealth and great +influence in Illinois. I was with him when he went into the meeting of +the Michigan delegates and talked to them. He told how he came West in a +wagon and saw the spirit of America in the water floods of Niagara and +went on to the cabin village of New Salem and saw again the spirit of +America in the life of the boy, Abe Lincoln, then flowing toward its +manhood. When he sat down the Honorable Dennis Flanagan arose and told of +meeting the Traylor party at the Falls when he was driving an ox-team, in +a tall beaver hat; how he had remembered their good advice and cookies +and jerked venison. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "I am willing to take the word of a man whose name +is hallowed by my dearest recollections. And believing what he has said +of Abraham Lincoln I am for him on the second ballot." + +The green Irish lad, whom I remember dimly, had become a great political +chieftain and his words had much effect. There was a stir among the +delegates. I turned and saw the tall form of Horace Greeley entering +the door. His big, full face looked rather serious. He wore gold-bowed +spectacles. He was smooth-shaven save for the silken, white, throat beard +that came out from under his collar. His head was bald on top with soft, +silvered locks over each ear. He was a picturesque and appealing figure. +They called on him to speak. He stepped forward and said slowly in a +high-pitched drawl: + +"Gentlemen, this is my speech: On your second ballot vote for Abraham +Lincoln of Illinois." + +He bowed and left the room and visited many delegations, and everywhere +expressed his convictions in this formula. Backed by his tremendous +personality and influence the simple words were impressive. I doubt not +they turned scores of men from Seward to the great son of Illinois. + +Then--the campaign with its crowds, its enthusiasm, its Vesuvian +mutterings. There was a curious touch of humor and history in its +banners. Here are three of them: + +"Menard County for the Tall Sucker." + +"We are for old Abe the Giant-Killer." + +"Link on to Lincoln." + +Then--those last days in Springfield. + +He came to the office the afternoon before he left and threw himself on +the lounge and talked of bygone days with Herndon. + +"Billy, how long have we been together?" he asked. + +"Sixteen years." + +"Never a cross word." + +"Never." + +"Keep the old sign hanging. A little thing like the election of a +President should make no change in the firm of Lincoln and Herndon. If +I live I'm coming back some time and then we'll go right on with the +practice of the law as if nothing had happened." + +Then--that Monday morning in Springfield when at eight o'clock on the +eleventh of February the train bore him toward the great task of his +life. Hannah Armstrong, who had foxed his trousers in New Salem, and +the venerable Doctor Allen and the Brimsteads, and Aleck Ferguson, bent +with age, and Harry Needles and Bim and their four handsome children, and +my father and mother, and Betsey, my maiden sister, and Eli Fredenberg +were there in the crowd to bid him good-by. + +A quartet sang. Mr. Lincoln asked his friends and neighbors to pray for +his success. He was moved by the sight of them and could not have said +much if he had tried. The bell rang. The train started. He waved his hand +and was gone. Not many of us who stood trying to see through our tears +were again to look upon him. The years of preparation were ended and +those of sacrifice had begun. + +Now, we are at the foot of the last hill. For a long time I had seen it +looming in the distance. Those days it filled my heart with a great fear. +Now, how beautiful, how lonely it seems! Oh, but what a vineyard in that +very fruitful hill! I speak low when I think of it. Harry Needles and I +were on our way to Washington that fateful night of April 14, 1865. We +reached there at an early hour in the morning. We made our way through +the crowded streets to the little house opposite Ford's Theatre. An +officer who knew me cleared a way for us to the door. Reporters, +statesmen, citizens and their families were massed in the street waiting +with tear-stained faces for the end. Some of them were sobbing as we +passed. We were admitted without delay. A minister and the doctor sat by +the bedside. The latter held an open watch in his hand. I could hear it +ticking the last moments in an age of history. What a silence as the +great soul of my friend was "breaking camp to go home." Friends of the +family and members of the Cabinet were in the room. Through the open door +of a room beyond I saw Mrs. Lincoln and the children and others. We +looked at our friend lying on the bed. His kindly face was pale and +haggard. He breathed faintly and at long intervals. His end was near. + +"Poor Abe!" Harry whispered as be looked down at him. "He has had to die +on the cross." + +To most of those others Lincoln was the great statesman. To Harry he was +still the beloved Abe who had shared his fare and his hardships in many a +long, weary way. + +The doctor put his ear against the breast of the dying man. There was a +moment in which we could hear the voices in the street. The doctor rose +and said: "He is gone." + +Secretary Stanton, who more than once had spoken lightly of him, came to +the bedside and tenderly closed the eyes of his master, saying: + +"Now, he belongs to the ages." + +We went out of the door. The sound of mourning was in the streets. A +dozen bells were tolling. On the corner of Tenth Street a quartet of +negroes was singing that wonderful prayer: + +"Swing low, sweet chariot, comin' for to carry me home." + +One of them, whose rich, deep bass thrilled me and all who heard it, was +Roger Wentworth, the fugitive, who had come to our house with Bim, in the +darkness of the night, long before. + + +THE END + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Man for the Ages, by Irving Bacheller + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A MAN FOR THE AGES *** + +***** This file should be named 17237-8.txt or 17237-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/2/3/17237/ + +Produced by Rick Niles, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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