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diff --git a/38483-8.txt b/38483-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..82c6124 --- /dev/null +++ b/38483-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9536 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 1 (of 2), by +William H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik + +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: Abraham Lincoln, Volume 1 (of 2) + The True Story Of A Great Life + +Author: William H. Herndon + Jesse W. Weik + +Commentator: Horace White + +Release Date: January 3, 2012 [EBook #38483] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ABRAHAM LINCOLN, VOLUME 1 (OF 2) *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +ABRAHAM LINCOLN + +THE TRUE STORY OF A GREAT LIFE + +By William H. Herndon And Jesse W. Weik + +With An Introduction By Horace White + +In Two Volumes, Vol. I + +1888 + + +TO + +THE MEN AND WOMEN OF AMERICA + +WHO HAVE GROWN UP SINCE HIS TRAGIC DEATH, AND WHO HAVE YET TO LEARN +THE STORY OF HIS LIFE, THIS RECORD OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN IS FAITHFULLY +INSCRIBED + +[Illustration: frontispiece] + +From a photograph by Alexander Hesler, Chicago, 1868 + +ORIGINAL PREFACE TO HERNDON'S LINCOLN. + +A quarter of a century has well-nigh rolled by since the tragic death of +Abraham Lincoln. The prejudice and bitterness with which he was assailed +have disappeared from the minds of men, and the world is now beginning +to view him as a great historical character. Those who knew and walked +with him are gradually passing away, and ere long the last man who ever +heard his voice or grasped his hand will have gone from earth. With +a view to throwing a light on some attributes of Lincoln's character +heretofore obscure, and thus contributing to the great fund of history +which goes down to posterity, these volumes are given to the world. + +If Mr. Lincoln is destined to fill that exalted station in history or +attain that high rank in the estimation of the coming generations which +has been predicted of him, it is alike just to his memory and the proper +legacy of mankind that the whole truth concerning him should be known. +If the story of his life is truthfully and courageously told-nothing +colored or suppressed; nothing false either written or suggested-the +reader will see and feel the presence of the living man. He will, in +fact, live with him and be moved to think and act with him. If, on the +other hand, the story is colored or the facts in any degree suppressed, +the reader will be not only misled, but imposed upon as well. At last +the truth will come, and no man need hope to evade it. + +"There is but one true history in the world," said one of Lincoln's +closest friends to whom I confided the project of writing a history of +his life several years ago, "and that is the Bible. It is often said +of the old characters portrayed there that they were bad men. They are +contrasted with other characters in history, and much to the detriment +of the old worthies. The reason is, that the Biblical historian told +the whole truth-the inner life. The heart and secret acts are brought +to light and faithfully photographed. In other histories virtues are +perpetuated and vices concealed. If the life of King David had been +written by an ordinary historian the affair of Uriah would at most have +been a quashed indictment with a denial of all the substantial facts. +You should not forget there is a skeleton in every house. The finest +character dug out thoroughly, photographed honestly, and judged by that +standard of morality or excellence which we exact for other men is never +perfect. Some men are cold, some lewd, some dishonest, some cruel, and +many a combination of all. The trail of the serpent is over them all! +Excellence consists, not in the absence of these attributes, but in the +degree in which they are redeemed by the virtues and graces of life. +Lincoln's character will, I am certain, bear close scrutiny. I am not +afraid of you in this direction. Don't let anything deter you from +digging to the bottom; yet don't forget that if Lincoln had some faults, +Washington had more--few men have less. In drawing the portrait tell the +world what the skeleton was with Lincoln. What gave him that peculiar +melancholy? What cancer had he inside?" + +Some persons will doubtless object to the narration of certain facts +which appear here for the first time, and which they contend should have +been consigned to the tomb. Their pretense is that no good can come from +such ghastly exposures. To such over-sensitive souls, if any such exist, +my answer is that these facts are indispensable to a full knowledge of +Mr. Lincoln in all the walks of life. In order properly to comprehend +him and the stirring, bloody times in which he lived, and in which he +played such an important part, we must have all the facts--we must be +prepared to take him as he was. + +In determining Lincoln's title to greatness we must not only keep in +mind the times in which he lived, but we must, to a certain extent, +measure him with other men. Many of our great men and our statesmen, it +is true, have been self-made, rising gradually through struggles to the +topmost round of the ladder; but Lincoln rose from a lower depth than +any of them. His origin was in that unknown and sunless bog in which +history never made a foot-print. I should be remiss in my duty if I did +not throw the light on this part of the picture, so that the world +may realize what marvellous contrast one phase of his life presents to +another. + +The purpose of these volumes is to narrate facts, avoiding as much as +possible any expression of opinion, and leaving the reader to form his +own conclusions. Use has been made of the views and recollections of +other persons, but only those known to be truthful and trustworthy. A +thread of the narrative of Lincoln's life runs through the work, but +an especial feature is an analysis of the man and a portrayal of his +attributes and characteristics. The attempt to delineate his qualities, +his nature and its manifestations, may occasion frequent repetitions of +fact, but if truthfully done this can only augment the store of matter +from which posterity is to learn what manner of man he was. + +The object of this work is to deal with Mr. Lincoln individually and +domestically; as lawyer, as citizen, as statesman. Especial attention is +given to the history of his youth and early manhood; and while dwelling +on this portion of his life the liberty is taken to insert many +things which would be omitted or suppressed in other places, where the +cast-iron rules that govern magazine-writing are allowed to prevail. +Thus much is stated in advance, so that no one need be disappointed in +the scope and extent of the work. The endeavor is to keep Lincoln +in sight all the time; to cling close to his side all the way +through--leaving to others the more comprehensive task of writing a +history of his times. I have no theory of his life to establish or +destroy. Mr. Lincoln was my warm, devoted friend. + +I always loved him, and I revere his name to this day. My purpose to +tell the truth about him need occasion no apprehension; for I know that +"God's naked truth," as Carlyle puts it, can never injure the fame +of Abraham Lincoln. It will stand that or any other test, and at last +untarnished will reach the loftiest niche in American history. + +My long personal association with Mr. Lincoln gave me special facilities +in the direction of obtaining materials for these volumes. Such were +our relations during all that portion of his life when he was rising to +distinction, that I had only to exercise a moderate vigilance in order +to gather and preserve the real data of his personal career. Being +strongly drawn to the man, and believing in his destiny, I was not +unobservant or careless in this respect. It thus happened that I +became the personal depositary of the larger part of the most valuable +_Lincolniana_ in existence. Out of this store the major portion of the +materials of the following volumes has been drawn. I take this, my +first general opportunity, to return thanks to the scores of friends in +Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and elsewhere for the information they have +so generously furnished and the favors they have so kindly extended me. +Their names are too numerous for separate mention, but the recompense of +each one will be the consciousness of having contributed a share towards +a true history of the "first American." + +Over twenty years ago I began this book; but an active life at the bar +has caused me to postpone the work of composition, until, now, being +somewhat advanced in years, I find myself unable to carry out the +undertaking. Within the past three years I have been assisted in the +preparation of the book by Mr. Jesse W. Weik, of Greencastle, Ind., +whose industry, patience, and literary zeal have not only lessened my +labors, but have secured for him the approbation of Lincoln's friends +and admirers. Mr. Weik has by his personal investigation greatly +enlarged our common treasure of facts and information. He has for +several years been indefatigable in exploring the course of Lincoln's +life. In no particular has he been satisfied with anything taken at +second hand. He has visited--as I also did in 1865--Lincoln's birthplace +in Kentucky, his early homes in Indiana and Illinois, and together, so +to speak, he and I have followed our hero continuously and attentively +till he left Springfield in 1861 to be inaugurated President. We have +retained the original MSS. in all cases, and they have never been out of +our hands. In relating facts therefore, we refer to them in most cases, +rather than to the statements of other biographers. + +This brief preliminary statement is made so that posterity, in so far +as posterity may be interested in the subject, may know that the +vital matter of this narrative has been deduced directly from the +consciousness, reminiscences, and collected data of + +William H. Herndon. + +Springfield, Ill., + +November 1, 1888. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + +I was called upon during the lifetime of Mr. Herndon to write for the +second edition of this work a chapter on the Lincoln-Douglas campaign +of 1858. After this had been done and the book had been revised for the +press, I was requested by the publishers to add something in the nature +of a character sketch of Mr. Lincoln as I knew him before his fame had +spread much beyond the confines of Illinois, and to tell what were those +qualities that made him so attractive then. Of course, they were the +same qualities which made him attractive afterward on a wider scale. The +popular judgment of him is, in the main, correct and unshakable. I say +in the main, because there is in this judgment a tendency to apotheosis +which, while pardonable, is not historical, and will not last. + +At the time when he was preparing himself unconsciously to be the +nation's leader in a great crisis the only means of gaining public +attention was by public speech. The press did not exist for him, or for +the people among whom he lived. The ambitious young men of the day +must make their mark by oratory, or not at all. There was no division +of labor between the speaker and the editor. If a man was to gain any +popularity he must gain it by talking into the faces of the people. He +must have a ready tongue, and must be prepared to meet all comers and +to accept all challenges. Stump-speaking, wrestling, story-telling, and +horse-racing were the only amusements of the people. In the first three +of these Mr. Lincoln excelled. He grew up in this atmosphere, as did all +his rivals. It was a school to develop all the debating powers that the +community possessed, and to bring them to a high degree of perfection. +Polish was not necessary to success, but plainness of diction was. The +successful speaker was he who could make himself best understood by the +common people, and in turn could best understand them. + +Among the earliest accounts that we get of Mr. Lincoln we find him +talking to other boys from some kind of a platform. He had a natural +gift, and he exercised it as opportunity came to him. When he arrived +at man's estate these opportunities came as often as could be desired. +Other young men gifted in the same way were growing up around him. +Douglas, Baker, Trumbull, Hardin, Browning, Yates, Archibald Williams, +Josiah Lamborn, and Lisle Smith were among them. All these had the same +kind of training for public preferment that Lincoln had; some of them +had more book learning, but not much more. We have his own word for it +that he was as ambitious of such preferment as Douglas was; and this was +putting it in the superlative degree. + +The popular conception of Mr. Lincoln as one not seeking public honors, +but not avoiding public duties, is a _post bellum_ growth, very wide +of the mark. He was entirely human in this regard, but his desire for +political preferment was hedged about by a sense of obligation to the +truth which nothing could shake. This fidelity to truth was ingrained +and unchangeable. In all the speeches I ever heard him make--and they +were many--he never even insinuated an untruth, nor did he ever fail +when stating his opponent's positions to state them fully and fairly. +He often stated his opponent's position better than his opponent did or +could. To say what was false, or even to leave his hearers under a wrong +impression, was impossible to him. Within this high inclosure he was as +ambitious of earthly honors as any man of his time. Furthermore, he +was an adept at log-rolling or any political game that did not involve +falsity. I was Secretary of the Republican State Committee of Illinois +during some years when he was in active campaign work. He was often +present at meetings of the committee, although not a member, and took +part in the committee work. His judgment was very much deferred to in +such matters. He was one of the shrewdest politicians of the State. +Nobody had had more experience in that way, nobody knew better than he +what was passing in the minds of the people. Nobody knew better how to +turn things to advantage politically, and nobody was readier to take +such advantage, provided it did not involve dishonorable means. He could +not cheat people out of their votes any more than out of their money. +The Abraham Lincoln that some people have pictured to themselves, +sitting in his dingy law office, working over his cases till the voice +of duty roused him, never existed. If this had been his type he never +would have been called at all. It was precisely because he was up and +stirring, and in hot, incessant competition with his fellows for earthly +honors, that the public eye became fixed upon him and the public ear +attuned to his words. Fortunate was it for all of us that he was no +shrinking patriot, that he was moved as other men are moved, so that his +fellows might take heed of him and know him as one of themselves, and as +fit to be their leader in a crisis. + +Let me repeat and emphasize what I have here said. Mr. Lincoln never +gave his assent, so far as my knowledge goes, to any plan or project for +getting votes that would not have borne the full light of day. At the +same time, he had no objection to the getting of votes by the pledge of +offices, nor was he too particular what kind of men got the offices. +His preference was always for good men; but he could not resist pressure +where persons were concerned, even though his conscience told him that +he was doing wrong. + +We have seen what kind of debating school Mr. Lincoln grew up in. It was +the best possible school for him, and it was an advantage to him that he +had able men for his competitors. Among them was Stephen A. Douglas, +the most versatile, indomitable, and unscrupulous of all of them. He was +Lincoln's rival, as is shown in these pages, for almost everything, from +the hand of Mary Todd to the presidency of the United States. He had +the strength and presence of a lion, with all the cunning of a fox. He +possessed every quality which wins popular favor and high station except +veracity, and I know of nothing in the pages of history more cheering +to pious souls than the eventual triumph of Honest Abe over the Little +Giant. + +It was by restless competition and rough-and-tumble with Douglas and +others that Mr. Lincoln acquired that rare power of expression, by mouth +and pen, which drew to himself the attention of the State and afterward +of the nation and the world. He rarely used ornament in his speeches. +Although gifted with the power of humor to an extraordinary degree, he +seldom employed it in his later years except in private circles. Thus it +came about that this growing master of logic, this profound and earnest +debater of the most serious questions of the day, was the most popular +of tavern loungers, and could draw more people together and hold them +longer by mere drollery and _cameraderie_ than any other man I ever +knew. Mr. Lincoln's nature was one of almost child-like sweetness. He +did not "put you at your ease" when you came into his presence. You felt +at your ease without being put there. He never assumed superiority over +anybody in the ordinary intercourse of life. + +A good test of this trait in his character was furnished in my own +experience. When I was first thrown into his society I was just out of +college, and was as callow and as self-confident as boys usually are at +that time of life. Mr. Lincoln was at the maturity of his powers. I was +often with him when he had no other companion. In our intercourse he +always paid marked deference to my opinions, and if we differed he would +argue the point with me as earnestly as though I had been the opposing +counsel in a lawsuit. And this he would do with anybody, young or old, +ignorant or learned. I never heard him express contempt for any man's +honest errors, although he would sometimes make a droll remark or tell +a funny story about them. Deference to other people's opinions was +habitual to him. There was no calculation, no politics in it. It was +part and parcel of his sense of equal rights. His democracy was of the +unconscious kind--he did not know anything different from it. Coupled +with this was a habit of unselfishness and kindly temper most engaging +to all who knew him or had any dealings with him. At the same time he +knew when he was imposed upon, and it was unsafe for anybody to presume +upon his good nature or to take him for a flat. + +But more than intellectual gifts, more than good-fellowship, did the +sense of justice give him his hold on others. That was a magnetic field +whose influences could not be escaped. He carried it as unconsciously +as he carried his hair. The Athenians would never have ostracized +him--indeed, they would never have called him the Just. They would have +taken him as they took the bees on Hymettus--as one naturally searching +after sweet things. + +To say that Mr. Lincoln was a man who had the courage of his convictions +would be rather an under-statement. This was part and parcel of his +sense of justice. He wore it as he wore his clothes, except that it +fitted him much better than his garments usually did. At the time I +first knew him it was irksome to very many of his friends to be told +that there ought to be an efficient fugitive slave law. But it was his +conviction as a lawyer that there ought to be one, and he never failed +to say so when interrogated, or when occasion required that that subject +should be touched upon. And it is a fact that abolitionists like Lovejoy +and Codding would take this from Lincoln without murmuring, when they +would not take it from anybody else. He never would echo the popular +cry, "No more slave States!" Whenever this subject was discussed he +would say that if a Territory having the requisite population and +belonging to us should apply for admission to the Union without fraud or +constraint, yet with slavery, he could not see any other disposition to +be made of her than to admit her. And when he had said this, even to an +audience of radical antislavery men, there would be no protestations. +Those who were not convinced would observe a respectful silence. + +Mr. Lincoln's facial expression when in repose and when animated +presented most remarkable contrasts. I have before me a photograph of +him taken at Pittsfield, Illinois, during the campaign of 1858. It looks +as I have seen him a hundred times, his lantern jaws and large mouth +and solid nose firmly set, his sunken eyes looking at nothing yet not +unexpressive, his wrinkled and retreating forehead cut off by a mass +of tousled hair, with a shade of melancholy drawn like a veil over +his whole face. Nothing more unlike this can be imagined than the same +Lincoln when taking part in a conversation, or addressing an audience, +or telling a story. The dull, listless features dropped like a mask. The +melancholy shadow disappeared in a twinkling. The eye began to sparkle, +the mouth to smile, the whole countenance was wreathed with animation, +so that a stranger would have said: "Why, this man, so angular and +somber a moment ago, is really handsome." + +What more can be said of the qualities that first made Mr. Lincoln +attractive to his contemporaries? These were debating power, honesty of +purpose, a child-like temper, purity of life, and courage of conviction. +All these traits will be seen in the following pages, rising, unfolding, +expanding in a regular, orderly, human way as the young Lincoln grew to +mature years. + +What Mr. Lincoln was after he became President can be best understood +by knowing what he was before. The world owes more to William H. Herndon +for this particular knowledge than to all other persons taken together. +It is no exaggeration to say that his death, which took place at his +farm near Springfield, Illinois, March 18, 1891, removed from earth the +person who, of all others, had most thoroughly searched the sources of +Mr. Lincoln's biography and had most attentively, intelligently, and +also lovingly studied his character. He was generous in imparting his +information to others. Almost every life of Lincoln published since the +tragedy at Ford's Theatre has been enriched by his labors. He was nine +years the junior of Mr. Lincoln. Their partnership began in 1843, and +it continued until it was dissolved by the death of the senior member. +Between them there was never an unkind word or thought. When Mr. Lincoln +became President, Mr. Herndon could have had his fortunes materially +advanced under the new Administration by saying a word. He was a poor +man then and always, but he chose to remain in his more humble station +and to earn his bread by his daily labor. + +Some six years ago Mr. Herndon conceived the project of writing a series +of magazine articles intended to portray the youth and early manhood of +Lincoln. Being somewhat infirm, he called Mr. Weik to his assistance, +as he has explained in his preface. The magazine articles expanded +insensibly to the present volumes. Lincolniana is increasing and is +destined to increase. It has been enriched within recent years by the +indispensable but too massive work of Nicolay and Hay, by the masterly +essay of Schurz, and by the posthumous lecture of Greeley, which latter, +being in reality if not in terms a hearty, ungrudging confession that +he had underestimated Lincoln in his lifetime, is doubly welcome. As a +portraiture of the man Lincoln--and this is what we look for above all +things in a biography--I venture to think that Mr. Herndon's work will +never be surpassed. + +Horace White. + +New York, February, 1892. + + + + + +[Illustration: Herndon 039] + +THE LIFE OF LINCOLN. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +BEYOND the fact that he was born on the 12th day of February, 1809, in +Hardin county, Kentucky, Mr. Lincoln usually had but little to say of +himself, the lives of his parents, or the history of the family before +their removal to Indiana. If he mentioned the subject at all, it was +with great reluctance and significant reserve. There was something +about his origin he never cared to dwell upon. His nomination for +the Presidency in 1860, however, made the publication of his life a +necessity, and attracted to Springfield an army of campaign biographers +and newspaper men. They met him in his office, stopped him in his walks, +and followed him to his house. Artists came to paint his picture, and +sculptors to make his bust. His autographs were in demand, and people +came long distances to shake him by the hand. This sudden elevation to +national prominence found Mr. Lincoln unprepared in a great measure for +the unaccustomed demonstrations that awaited him. While he was easy of +approach and equally courteous to all, yet, as he said to me one evening +after a long day of hand-shaking, he could not understand why people +should make so much over him. + +Among the earliest newspaper men to arrive in Springfield after the +Chicago convention was the late J. L. Scripps of the Chicago _Tribune_, +who proposed to prepare a history of his life. Mr. Lincoln deprecated +the idea of writing even a campaign biography. "Why, Scripps," said he, +"it is a great piece of folly to attempt to make anything out of me or +my early life. It can all be condensed into a single sentence, and that +sentence you will find in Gray's Elegy, + + 'The short and simple annals of the poor.' + +That's my life, and that's all you or anyone else can make out of it." + +He did, however, communicate some facts and meagre incidents of his +early days, and, with the matter thus obtained, Mr. Scripps prepared his +book. Soon after the death of Lincoln I received a letter from Scripps, +in which, among other things, he recalled the meeting with Lincoln, and +the view he took of the biography matter. + +"Lincoln seemed to be painfully impressed," he wrote, "with the extreme +poverty of his early surroundings, and the utter absence of all romantic +and heroic elements. He communicated some facts to me concerning his +ancestry, which he did not wish to have published then, and which I have +never spoken of or alluded to before." + +What the facts referred to by Mr. Scripps were we do not know; for he +died several years ago without, so far as is known revealing them to +anyone. + +On the subject of his ancestry and origin I only remember one time when +Mr. Lincoln ever referred to it. It was about 1850, when he and I were +driving in his one-horse buggy to the court in Menard county, Illinois. +The suit we were going to try was one in which we were likely, either +directly or collaterally, to touch upon the subject of hereditary +traits. During the ride he spoke, for the first time in my hearing, +of his mother, dwelling on her characteristics, and mentioning or +enumerating what qualities he inherited from her. He said, among other +things, that she was the daughter of Lucy Hanks and a well-bred but +obscure Virginia farmer or planter; and he argued that from this last +source came his power of analysis, his logic, his mental activity, his +ambition, and all the qualities that distinguished him from the other +members and descendants of the Hanks family. + +In only two instances did Mr. Lincoln over his own hand leave any record +of his history or family descent. One of these was the modest bit of +autobiography furnished to Jesse W. Fell, in 1859, in which, after +stating that his parents were born in Virginia of "undistinguished or +second families," he makes the brief mention of his mother, saying that +she came "of a family of the name of Hanks."* The other record was the +register of marriages, births, and deaths which he made in his father's +Bible. The latter now lies before me. That portion of the page which +probably contained the record of the marriage of his parents, Thomas +Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, has been lost; but fortunately the records of +Washington county, Kentucky, and the certificate of the minister who +performed the marriage ceremony--the Rev. Jesse Head--fix the fact and +date of the latter on the 12th day of June, 1806. + + * If anyone will take the pains to read the Fell + autobiography they will be struck with Lincoln's meagre + reference to his mother. He even fails to give her maiden or + Christian name, and devotes but three lines to her family. A + history of the Lincolns occupies almost an entire page. + +On the 10th day of February in the following year a daughter Sarah* was +born, and two years later, on the 12th of February, the subject of these +memoirs came into the world. After him came the last child, a boy--named +Thomas after his father--who lived but a few days. No mention of his +existence is found in the Bible record. + + * Most biographers of Lincoln, in speaking of Mr. Lincoln's + sister, call her Nancy, some--notably Nicolay and Hay-- + insisting that she was known by that name among her family + and friends. In this they are in error. I have interviewed + the different members of the Hanks and Lincoln families who + survived the President, and her name was invariably given as + Sarah. The mistake, I think, arises from the fact that, in + the Bible record referred to, all that portion relating to + the birth of "Sarah, daughter of Thomas and Nancy Lincoln," + down to the word Nancy has been torn away, and the latter + name has therefore been taken erroneously for that of the + daughter. Reading the entry of Abraham's birth below + satisfies one that it must refer to the mother. + +Abraham Lincoln, the grandfather of the President, emigrated to +Jefferson county, Kentucky, from Virginia, about 1780, and from that +time forward the former State became an important one in the history +of the family, for in it was destined to be born its most illustrious +member. About five years before this, a handful of Virginians had +started across the mountains for Kentucky, and in the company, besides +their historian, William Calk,--whose diary recently came to light,--was +one Abraham Hanks. They were evidently a crowd of jolly young men +bent on adventure and fun, but their sport was attended with frequent +disasters. Their journey began at "Mr. Priges' tavern on the Rapidan." +When only a few days out "Hanks' Dog's leg got broke." Later in the +course of the journey, Hanks and another companion became separated from +the rest of the party and were lost in the mountains for two days; in +crossing a stream "Abraham's saddle turned over and his load all fell in +Indian creek"; finally they meet their brethren from whom they have +been separated and then pursue their way without further interruption. +Returning emigrants whom they meet, according to the journal of Calk, +tell such "news of the indians" that certain members of the company +are "afrade to go aney further." The following day more or less +demoralization takes place among the members of this pioneer party when +the announcement is made, as their chronicler so faithfully records it, +that "Philip Drake Bakes bread without washing his hands." This was an +unpardonable sin, and at it they revolted. A day later the record shows +that "Abram turns Back." Beyond this we shall never know what became +of Abraham Hanks, for no further mention of him is made in this or any +other history. He may have returned to Virginia and become, for aught +we know, one of the President's ancestors on the maternal side of the +house; but if so his illustrious descendant was never able to establish +the fact or trace his lineage satisfactorily beyond the first generation +which preceded him. He never mentioned who his maternal grandfather was, +if indeed he knew. + +His paternal grandfather, Abraham Lincoln,* the pioneer from Virginia, +met his death within two years after his settlement in Kentucky at the +hands of the Indians; "not in battle," as his distinguished grandson +tells us, "but by stealth, when he was laboring to open a farm in the +forest." The story of his death in sight of his youngest son Thomas, +then only six years old, is by no means a new one to the world. In +fact I have often heard the President describe the tragedy as he had +inherited the story from his father. The dead pioneer had three sons, +Mordecai, Josiah, and Thomas, in the order named. When the father fell, +Mordecai, having hastily sent Josiah to the neighboring fort after +assistance, ran into the cabin, and pointing his rifle through a +crack between the logs, prepared for defense. Presently an Indian came +stealing up to the dead father's body. Beside the latter sat the little +boy Thomas. Mordecai took deliberate aim at a silver crescent which +hung suspended from the Indian's breast, and brought him to the ground. +Josiah returned from the fort with the desired relief, and the savages +were easily dispersed, leaving behind one dead and one wounded. + + * "They [the Lincolns] were also called Linkhorns. The old + settlers had a way of pronouncing names not as they were + spelled, but rather, it seemed, as they pleased. Thus they + called Medcalf 'Medcap,' and Kaster they pronounced + 'Custard.'"--MS. letter, Charles Friend, March 19,1866. + +The tragic death of his father filled Mordecai with an intense hatred of +the Indians--a feeling from which he never recovered. It was ever +with him like an avenging spirit. From Jefferson county he removed to +Grayson, where he spent the remainder of his days. A correspondent* from +there wrote me in 1865: "Old Mordecai was easily stirred up by the sight +of an Indian. One time, hearing of a few Indians passing through the +county, he mounted his horse, and taking his rifle on his shoulder, +followed on after them and was gone two days. When he returned he said +he left one lying in a sink hole. The Indians, he said, had killed his +father, and he was determined before he died to have satisfaction." +The youngest boy, Thomas, retained a vivid recollection of his father's +death, which, together with other reminiscences of his boyhood, he was +fond of relating later in life to his children to relieve the tedium of +long winter evenings. Mordecai and Josiah,** both remaining in Kentucky, +became the heads of good-sized families, and although never known or +heard of outside the limits of the neighborhoods in which they lived, +were intelligent, well-to-do men. + + * W. T. Claggett, unpublished MS. + + ** "I knew Mordecai and Josiah Lincoln intimately. They were + excellent men, plain, moderately educated, candid in their + manners and intercourse, and looked upon as honorable as any + men I have ever heard of. Mordecai was the oldest son, and + his father having been killed by the Indians before the law + of primogeniture was repealed, he inherited a very competent + estate. The others were poor. Mordecai was celebrated for + his bravery, and had been in the early campaigns of the + West"-Henry Pirtle, letter, June 17,1865, MS. + +In Thomas, roving and shiftless, to whom was "reserved the honor of an +illustrious paternity," are we alone interested. He was, we are told, +five feet ten inches high, weighed one hundred and ninety-five pounds, +had a well-rounded face, dark hazel eyes, coarse black hair, and was +slightly stoop-shouldered. His build was so compact that Dennis Hanks +used to say he could not find the point of separation between his ribs. +He was proverbially slow of movement, mentally and physically; was +careless, inert, and dull; was sinewy, and gifted with great strength; +was inoffensively quiet and peaceable, but when roused to resistance a +dangerous antagonist. He had a liking for jokes and stories, which was +one of the few traits he transmitted to his illustrious son; was fond +of the chase, and had no marked aversion for the bottle, though in the +latter case he indulged no more freely than the average Kentuckian of +his day. At the time of his marriage to Nancy Hanks he could neither +read nor write; but his wife, who was gifted with more education, and +was otherwise his mental superior, taught him, it is said, to write his +name and to read--at least, he was able in later years to spell his way +slowly through the Bible. In his religious belief he first affiliated +with the Free-Will Baptists. After his removal to Indiana he changed his +adherence to the Presbyterians--or Predestinarians, as they were +then called--and later united with the Christian--vulgarly called +Campbellite Church, in which latter faith he is supposed to have died. +He was a carpenter by trade, and essayed farming too; but in this, as in +almost every other undertaking, he was singularly unsuccessful. He was +placed in possession of several tracts of land at different times in his +life, but was never able to pay for a single one of them. The farm on +which he died was one his son purchased, providing a life estate therein +for him and his wife. He never fell in with the routine of labor; was +what some people would call unfortunate or unlucky in all his business +ventures--if in reality he ever made one--and died near the village of +Farmington in Coles county, Illinois, on the 17th day of January, 1851. +His son, on account of sickness in his own family, was unable to be +present at his father's bedside, or witness his death. To those who +notified him of his probable demise he wrote: "I sincerely hope that +father may yet recover his health; but at all events tell him to +remember to call upon and confide in our great and good and merciful +Maker, who will not turn away from him in any extremity. He notes the +fall of a sparrow, and numbers the hairs of our heads; and He will not +forget the dying man who puts his trust in him. Say to him that if we +could meet now it is doubtful whether it would not be more painful than +pleasant; but that if it be his lot to go now he will soon have a joyous +meeting with the many loved ones gone before, and where the rest of us, +through the help of God, hope ere long to join them." * + + * MS. letter to John Johnston, Jan. 12, 1851. + +Nancy Hanks, the mother of the President, at a very early age was taken +from her mother Lucy--afterwards married to Henry Sparrow--and sent to +live with her aunt and uncle, Thomas and Betsy Sparrow. Under this same +roof the irrepressible and cheerful waif, Dennis Hanks*--whose name will +be frequently seen in these pages--also found a shelter. At the time of +her marriage to Thomas Lincoln, Nancy was in her twenty-third year. She +was above the ordinary height in stature, weighed about 130 pounds, +was slenderly built, and had much the appearance of one inclined to +consumption. Her skin was dark; hair dark brown; eyes gray and small; +forehead prominent; face sharp and angular, with a marked expression of +melancholy which fixed itself in the memory of everyone who ever saw +or knew her. Though her life was seemingly beclouded by a spirit of +sadness, she was in disposition amiable and generally cheerful. Mr. +Lincoln himself said to me in 1851, on receiving the news of his +father's death, that whatever might be said of his parents, and however +unpromising the early surroundings of his mother may have been, she was +highly intellectual by nature, had a strong memory, acute judgment, and +was cool and heroic. From a mental standpoint she no doubt rose above +her surroundings, and had she lived, the stimulus of her nature would +have accelerated her son's success, and she would have been a much more +ambitious prompter than his father ever was. + + * Dennis Hanks, still living at the age of ninety years in + Illinois, was the son of another Nancy Hanks--the aunt of + the President's mother. He furnished Mr. Weik and me with + much interesting information, especially facts and incidents + relating to early life in Indiana. + +As a family the Hankses were peculiar to the civilization of early +Kentucky. Illiterate and superstitious, they corresponded to that +nomadic class still to be met with throughout the South, and known as +"poor whites." They are happily and vividly depicted in the description +of a camp-meeting held at Elizabethtown, Kentucky, in 1806, which was +furnished me in August, 1865, by an eye-witness.* + + * J. B. Helm, MS. + +"The Hanks girls," narrates the latter, "were great at camp-meetings. I +remember one in 1806. I will give you a scene, and if you will then +read the books written on the subject you may find some apology for the +superstition that was said to be in Abe Lincoln's character. It was at +a camp-meeting, as before said, when a general shout was about to +commence. Preparations were being made; a young lady invited me to stand +on a bench by her side where we could see all over the altar. To the +right a strong, athletic young man, about twenty-five years old, was +being put in trim for the occasion, which was done by divesting him of +all apparel except shirt and pants. On the left a young lady was being +put in trim in much the same manner, so that her clothes would not be +in the way, and so that, when her combs flew out, her hair would go into +graceful braids. She, too, was young--not more than twenty perhaps. The +performance commenced about the same time by the young man on the right +and the young lady on the left. Slowly and gracefully they worked +their way towards the centre, singing, shouting, hugging and kissing, +generally their own sex, until at last nearer and nearer they came. The +centre of the altar was reached, and the two closed, with their arms +around each other, the man singing and shouting at the top of his voice, + + "'I have my Jesus in my arms + Sweet as honey, strong as bacon ham.' + +"Just at this moment the young lady holding to my arm whispered, 'They +are to be married next week; her name is Hanks.' There were very few who +did not believe this true religion, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and +the man who could not believe it, did well to keep it to himself. The +Hankses were the finest singers and shouters in our country." + +Here my informant stops, and on account of his death several years ago +I failed to learn whether the young lady shouter who figured in the +foregoing scene was the President's mother or not. The fact that Nancy +Hanks did marry that year gives color to the belief that it was she. As +to the probability of the young man being Thomas Lincoln it is difficult +to say; such a performance as the one described must have required a +little more emotion and enthusiasm than the tardy and inert carpenter +was in the habit of manifesting. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +Sarah, the sister of Abraham Lincoln, though in some respects like her +brother, lacked his stature. She was thick-set, had dark-brown hair, +deep-gray eyes, and an even disposition. In contact with others she +was kind and considerate. Her nature was one of amiability, and God had +endowed her with that invincible combination--modesty and good sense. +Strange to say, Mr. Lincoln never said much about his sister in after +years, and we are really indebted to the Hankses--Dennis and John--for +the little we have learned about this rather unfortunate young woman. +She was married to Aaron Grigsby, in Spencer county, Indiana, in +the month of August, 1826, and died January 20, 1828. Her brother +accompanied her to school while they lived in Kentucky, but as he was +only seven, and as she had not yet finished her ninth year when their +father removed with them to Indiana, it is to be presumed that neither +made much progress in the matter of school education. Still it is +authoritatively stated that they attended two schools during this short +period. One of these was kept by Zachariah Riney, the other by Caleb +Hazel. It is difficult at this late day to learn much of the boy +Abraham's life during those seven years of residence in Kentucky. One +man, * who was a clerk in the principal store in the village where the +Lincolns purchased their family supplies, remembers him as a "small boy +who came sometimes to the store with his mother. He would take his seat +on a keg of nails, and I would give him a lump of sugar. He would sit +there and eat it like any other boy; but these little acts of kindness," +observes my informant, in an enthusiastic statement made in 1865, "so +impressed his mind that I made a steadfast friend in a man whose +power and influence have since been felt throughout the world." A +school-mate** of Lincoln's at Hazel's school, speaking of the master, +says: "He perhaps could teach spelling and reading and indifferent +writing, and possibly could cipher to the rule of three; but he had no +other qualification of a teacher, unless we accept large size and bodily +strength. Abe was a mere spindle of a boy, had his due proportion of +harmless mischief, but as we lived in a country abounding in hazel +switches, in the virtue of which the master had great faith, Abe of +course received his due allowance." + +This part of the boy's history is painfully vague and dim, and even +after arriving at man's estate Mr. Lincoln was significantly +reserved when reference was made to it. It is barely mentioned in the +autobiography furnished to Fell in 1859. John Duncan,*** afterwards a +preacher of some prominence in Kentucky, relates how he and Abe on one +occasion ran a ground-hog into a crevice between two rocks, and after +working vainly almost two hours to get him out, "Abe ran off about a +quarter of a mile to a blacksmith shop, and returned with an iron hook +fastened to the end of a pole," and with this rude contrivance they +virtually "hooked" the animal out of his retreat. Austin Gollaher of +Hodgensville, claims to have saved Lincoln from drowning one day as they +were trying to "coon it" across Knob creek on a log. The boys were +in pursuit of birds, when young Lincoln fell into the water, and his +vigilant companion, who still survives to narrate the thrilling story, +fished him out with a sycamore branch. + + * John B. Helm, June 20,1865. + + ** Samuel Haycraft, December 6,1866. + + *** Letter, February 21, 1867. + +Meanwhile Thomas Lincoln was becoming daily more dissatisfied with his +situation and surroundings. He had purchased, since his marriage, on the +easy terms then prevalent, two farms or tracts of land in succession; +no terms were easy enough for him, and the land, when the time for the +payment of the purchase-money rolled around, reverted to its former +owner. Kentucky, at that day, afforded few if any privileges, and +possessed fewer advantages to allure the poor man; and no doubt so it +seemed to Thomas Lincoln. The land he occupied was sterile and broken. +A mere barren glade, and destitute of timber, it required a persistent +effort to coax a living out of it; and to one of his easy-going +disposition, life there was a never-ending struggle. Stories of vast +stretches of rich and unoccupied lands in Indiana reaching his ears, and +despairing of the prospect of any betterment in his condition so long +as he remained in Kentucky, he resolved, at last, to leave the State +and seek a more inviting lodgment beyond the Ohio. The assertion made by +some of Mr. Lincoln's biographers, and so often repeated by sentimental +writers, that his father left Kentucky to avoid the sight of or contact +with slavery, lacks confirmation. In all Hardin county--at that time +a large area of territory--there were not over fifty slaves; and it +is doubtful if he saw enough of slavery to fill him with the righteous +opposition to the institution with which he has so frequently been +credited. Moreover, he never in later years manifested any especial +aversion to it. + +Having determined on emigrating to Indiana, he began preparations for +removal in the fall of 1816 by building for his use a flat-boat. Loading +it with his tools and other personal effects, including in the invoice, +as we are told, four hundred gallons of whiskey, he launched his "crazy +craft" on a tributary of Salt creek known as the Rolling Fork. Along +with the current he floated down to the Ohio river, but his rudely-made +vessel, either from the want of experience in its navigator, or because +of its ill adaptation to withstand the force and caprices of the +currents in the great river, capsized one day, and boat and cargo went +to the bottom. The luckless boatman set to work however, and by dint of +great patience and labor succeeded in recovering the tools and the bulk +of the whiskey. Righting his boat, he continued down the river, landing +at a point called Thompson's Ferry, in Perry county, on the Indiana +side. Here he disposed of his vessel, and placing his goods in the care +of a settler named Posey, he struck out through the interior in search +of a location for his new home. Sixteen miles back from the river he +found one that pleased his fancy, and he marked it off for himself. +His next move in the order of business was a journey to Vincennes to +purchase the tract at the Land Office--under the "two-dollar-an-acre +law," as Dennis Hanks puts it--and a return to the land to identify it +by blazing the trees and piling up brush on the corners to establish the +proper boundary lines. Having secured a place for his home he trudged +back to Kentucky--walking all the way--for his family. Two horses +brought them and all their household effects to the Indiana shore. Posey +kindly gave or hired them the use of a wagon, into which they packed not +only their furniture and carpenter tools, but the liquor, which it +is presumed had lain undisturbed in the former's cellar. Slowly and +carefully picking their way through the dense woods, they at last +reached their destination on the banks of Little Pigeon creek. There +were some detentions on the way, but no serious mishaps. + +The head of the household now set resolutely to work to build a shelter +for his family. + +The structure, when completed, was fourteen feet square, and was built +of small unhewn logs. In the language of the day, it was called a +"half-faced camp," being enclosed on all sides but one. It had neither +floor, door, nor windows. In this forbidding hovel these doughty +emigrants braved the exposure of the varying seasons for an entire year. +At the end of that time Thomas and Betsy Sparrow followed, bringing +with them Dennis Hanks; and to them Thomas Lincoln surrendered the +"half-faced camp," while he moved into a more pretentious structure--a +cabin enclosed on all sides. The country was thickly covered with +forests of walnut, beech, oak, elm, maple, and an undergrowth of +dog-wood, sumac, and wild grape-vine. In places where the growth was not +so thick grass came up abundantly, and hogs found plenty of food in the +unlimited quantity of mast the woods afforded. The country abounded in +bear, deer, turkey, and other wild game, which not only satisfied the +pioneer's love for sport, but furnished his table with its supply of +meat. + +Thomas Lincoln, with the aid of the Hankses and Sparrows, was for a time +an attentive farmer. The implements of agriculture then in use were as +rude as they were rare, and yet there is nothing to show that in spite +of the slow methods then in vogue he did not make commendable speed. "We +raised corn mostly"--relates Dennis--"and some wheat--enough for a cake +Sunday morning. Hog and venison hams were a legal tender, and coon skins +also. We raised sheep and cattle, but they did not bring much. Cows and +calves were only worth six to eight dollars; corn ten cents, and wheat +twenty-five cents, a bushel." So with all his application and frugality +the head of this ill-assorted household made but little headway in the +accumulation of the world's goods. We are told that he was indeed a poor +man, and that during his entire stay in Indiana his land barely yielded +him sufficient return to keep his larder supplied with the commonest +necessaries of life. His skill as a hunter--though never brought into +play unless at the angered demand of a stomach hungry for meat--in no +slight degree made up for the lack of good management in the cultivation +of his land. His son Abraham* never evinced the same fondness for +hunting, although his cousin Dennis with much pride tells us how he +could kill a wild turkey on the wing. "At that time," relates one of the +latter's playmates** descanting on the abundance of wild game, "there +were a great many deer-licks; and Abe and myself would go to these licks +sometimes and watch of nights to kill deer, though Abe was not so fond +of a gun or the sport as I was."*** + + * "Abe was a good boy--an affectionate one--a boy who loved + his parents well and was obedient to their every wish. + Although anything but an impudent or rude boy he was + sometimes uncomfortably inquisitive. When strangers would + ride along or pass by his father's fence he always--either + through boyish pride or to tease his father--would be sure + to ask the first question. His father would sometimes knock + him over. When thus punished he never bellowed, but dropped + a kind of silent, unwelcome tear as evidence of his + sensitiveness or other feelings."--Dennis Hanks, MS., June + 13,1865. + + ** David Turnham, MS. letter, June 10, 1866. + + *** Mr. Lincoln used to relate the following "coon" story: + His father had at home a little yellow house-dog, which + invariably gave the alarm if the boys undertook to slip away + unobserved after night had set in--as they oftentimes did-- + to go coon hunting. One evening Abe and his step-brother, + John Johnston, with the usual complement of boys required in + a successful coon hunt, took the insignificant little cur + with them. They located the coveted coon, killed him, and + then in a sportive vein sewed the hide on the diminutive + yellow dog. The latter struggled vigorously during the + operation of sewing on, and being released from the hands of + his captors made a bee-line for home. Other large and more + important canines, on the way, scenting coon, tracked the + little animal home, and possibly mistaking him for real + coon, speedily demolished him. The next morning old Thomas + Lincoln discovered lying in his yard the lifeless remains of + yellow "Joe," with strong proof of coon-skin accompaniment. + + "Father was much incensed at his death," observed Mr. + Lincoln, in relating the story, "but as John and I, scantily + protected from the morning wind, stood shivering in the + doorway, we felt assured little yellow Joe would never be + able again to sound the call for another coon hunt." + +The cabin to which the Lincoln family removed after leaving the little +half-faced camp to the Sparrows was in some respects a pretentious +structure. It was of hewed logs, and was eighteen feet square. It +was high enough to admit of a loft, where Abe slept, and to which +he ascended each night by means of pegs driven in the wall. The rude +furniture was in keeping with the surroundings. Three-legged stools +answered for chairs. The bedstead, made of poles fastened in the cracks +of the logs on one side, and supported by a crotched stick driven in +the ground floor on the other, was covered with skins, leaves, and old +clothes. A table of the same finish as the stools, a few pewter dishes, +a Dutch oven, and a skillet completed the household outfit. In this +uninviting frontier structure the future President was destined to pass +the greater part of his boyhood. Withal his spirits were light, and it +cannot be denied that he must have enjoyed unrestrained pleasure in his +surroundings. It is related that one day the only thing that graced the +dinner-table was a dish of roasted potatoes. The elder Lincoln, true +to the custom of the day, returned thanks for the blessing. The boy, +realizing the scant proportions of the meal, looked up into his father's +face and irreverently observed, "Dad, I call these"--meaning the +potatoes--"mighty poor blessings." Among other children of a similar age +he seemed unconsciously to take the lead, and it is no stretch of the +truth to say that they, in turn, looked up to him. He may have been a +little precocious--children sometimes are--but in view of the summary +treatment received at the hands of his father it cannot truthfully be +said he was a "spoiled child." One morning when his mother was at work +he ran into the cabin from the outside to enquire, with a quizzical +grin, "Who was the father of Zebedee's children?" As many another mother +before and since has done, she brushed the mischievous young inquirer +aside to attend to some more important detail of household concern.* + + * Harriet Chapman, MS. letter. + +The dull routine of chores and household errands in the boy's every-day +life was brightened now and then by a visit to the mill. I often in +later years heard Mr. Lincoln say that going to mill gave him the +greatest pleasure of his boyhood days. + +"We had to go seven miles to mill," relates David Turnham, the friend +of his youth, "and then it was a hand-mill that would only grind from +fifteen to twenty bushels of corn in a day. There was but little wheat +grown at that time, and when we did have wheat we had to grind it in the +mill described and use it without bolting, as there were no bolts in the +country. Abe and I had to do the milling, frequently going twice to get +one grist." + +In his eleventh year he began that marvellous and rapid growth in +stature for which he was so widely noted in the Pigeon creek settlement. +"As he shot up," says Turnham, "he seemed to change in appearance and +action. Although quick-witted and ready with an answer, he began to +exhibit deep thoughtfulness, and was so often lost in studied reflection +we could not help noticing the strange turn in his actions. He disclosed +rare timidity and sensitiveness, especially in the presence of men and +women, and although cheerful enough in the presence of the boys, he did +not appear to seek our company as earnestly as before."* It was only +the development we find in the history of every boy. Nature was a +little abrupt in the case of Abraham Lincoln; she tossed him from the +nimbleness of boyhood to the gravity of manhood in a single night. + + * D. Turnham, MS. letter. + +In the fall of 1818, the scantily settled region in the vicinity of +Pigeon creek--where the Lincolns were then living--suffered a visitation +of that dread disease common in the West in early days, and known in the +vernacular of the frontier as "the milk-sick." It hovered like a spectre +over the Pigeon creek settlement for over ten years, and its fatal +visitation and inroads among the Lincolns, Hankses, and Sparrows finally +drove that contingent into Illinois. To this day the medical profession +has never agreed upon any definite cause for the malady, nor have they +in all their scientific wrangling determined exactly what the disease +itself is. A physician, who has in his practice met a number of cases, +describes the symptoms to be "a whitish coat on the tongue, burning +sensation of the stomach, severe vomiting, obstinate constipation of the +bowels, coolness of the extremities, great restlessness and jactitation, +pulse rather small, somewhat more frequent than natural, and slightly +chorded. In the course of the disease the coat on the tongue becomes +brownish and dark, the countenance dejected, and the prostration of the +patient is great. A fatal termination may take place in sixty hours, +or life may be prolonged for a period of fourteen days. These are the +symptoms of the disease in an acute form. Sometimes it runs into the +chronic form, or it may assume that form from the commencement, and +after months or years the patient may finally die or recover only a +partial degree of health." + +When the disease broke out in the Pigeon creek region it not only +took off the people, but it made sad havoc among the cattle. One man +testifies that he "lost four milch cows and eleven calves in one week." +This, in addition to the risk of losing his own life, was enough, he +declared, to ruin him, and prompted him to leave for "points further +west." + +Early in October of the year 1818, Thomas and Betsy Sparrow fell ill +of the disease and died within a few days of each other. Thomas Lincoln +performed the services of undertaker. With his whipsaw he cut out the +lumber, and with commendable promptness he nailed together the rude +coffins to enclose the forms of the dead. The bodies were borne to a +scantily cleared knoll in the midst of the forest, and there, without +ceremony, quietly let down into the grave. Meanwhile Abe's mother had +also fallen a victim to the insidious disease. Her sufferings, however, +were destined to be of brief duration. Within a week she too rested from +her labors. "She struggled on, day by day," says one of the household, +"a good Christian woman, and died on the seventh day after she was +taken sick. Abe and his sister Sarah waited on their mother, and did the +little jobs and errands required of them. There was no physician nearer +than thirty-five miles. The mother knew she was going to die, and called +the children to her bedside. She was very weak, and the children leaned +over while she gave her last message. Placing her feeble hand on little +Abe's head she told him to be kind and good to his father and sister; +to both she said, 'Be good to one another,' expressing a hope that they +might live, as they had been taught by her, to love their kindred +and worship God." Amid the miserable surroundings of a home in the +wilderness Nancy Hanks passed across the dark river. Though of lowly +birth, the victim of poverty and hard usage, she takes a place in +history as the mother of a son who liberated a race of men. At her side +stands another Mother whose son performed a similar service for all +mankind eighteen hundred years before. + +After the death of their mother little Abe and his sister Sarah began a +dreary life--indeed, one more cheerless and less inviting seldom falls +to the lot of any child. In a log-cabin without a floor, scantily +protected from the severities of the weather, deprived of the comfort of +a mother's love, they passed through a winter the most dismal either +one ever experienced. Within a few months, and before the close of the +winter, David Elkin, an itinerant preacher whom Mrs. Lincoln had known +in Kentucky, happened into the settlement, and in response to the +invitation from the family and friends, delivered a funeral sermon +over her grave. No one is able now to 'remember the language of Parson +Elkin's discourse, but it is recalled that he commemorated the virtues +and good phases of character, and passed in silence the few shortcomings +and frailties of the poor woman sleeping under the winter's snow. +She had done her work in this world. Stoop-shouldered, thin-breasted, +sad,--at times miserable,--groping through the perplexities of life, +without prospect of any betterment in her condition, she passed from +earth, little dreaming of the grand future that lay in store for the +ragged, hapless little boy who stood at her bedside in the last days of +her life. + +Thomas Lincoln's widowerhood was brief. He had scarcely mourned the +death of his first wife a year until he reappeared in Kentucky at +Elizabethtown in search of another. His admiration had centred for a +second time on Sally Bush, the widow of Daniel Johnston, the jailer of +Hardin county, who had died several years before of a disease known +as the "cold plague." The tradition still kept alive in the Kentucky +neighborhood is that Lincoln had been a suitor for the hand of the lady +before his marriage to Nancy Hanks, but that she had rejected him for +the hand of the more fortunate Johnston. However that may have been, it +is certain that he began his campaign in earnest this time, and after +a brief siege won her heart. "He made a very short courtship," wrote +Samuel Haycraft* to me in a letter, December 7, 1866. "He came to see +her on the first day of December, 1819, and in a straightforward +manner told her that they had known each other from childhood. '_Miss_ +Johnston,' said he, 'I have no wife and you no husband. I came a-purpose +to marry you. I knowed you from a gal and you knowed me from a boy. I've +no time to lose; and if you're willin' let it be done straight off.' She +replied that she could not marry him right off, as she had some little +debts which she wanted to pay first. He replied, 'Give me a list of +them.' He got the list and paid them that evening. Next morning I issued +the license, and they were married within sixty yards of my house." +Lincoln's brother-in-law, Ralph Krume, and his four horses and spacious +wagon were again brought into requisition. With commendable generosity +he transported the newly married pair and their household effects to +their home in Indiana. The new Mrs. Lincoln was accompanied by her three +children, John, Sarah, and Matilda. Her social status is fixed by the +comparison of a neighbor, who observed that "life among the Hankses, the +Lincolns, and the Enlows was a long ways below life among the Bushes." + + * Clerk of the Court. MS. + +In the eyes of her spouse she could not be regarded as a poor widow. +She was the owner of a goodly stock of furniture and household goods; +bringing with her among other things a walnut bureau valued at fifty +dollars. What effect the new family, their collection of furniture, +cooking utensils, and comfortable bedding must have had on the +astonished and motherless pair who from the door of Thomas Lincoln's +forlorn cabin watched the well-filled wagon as it came creaking through +the woods can better be imagined than described. Surely Sarah and Abe, +as the stores of supplies were rolled in through the doorless doorways, +must have believed that a golden future awaited them. The presence and +smile of a motherly face in the cheerless cabin radiated sunshine into +every neglected corner. If the Lincoln mansion did not in every respect +correspond to the representations made by its owner to the new Mrs. +Lincoln before marriage, the latter gave no expression of disappointment +or even surprise. With true womanly courage and zeal she set resolutely +to work to make right that which seemed wrong. Her husband was made to +put a floor in the cabin, as well as to supply doors and windows. The +cracks between the logs were plastered up. A clothes-press filled the +space between the chimney jamb and the wall, and the mat of corn husks +and leaves on which the children had slept in the corner gave way to the +comfortable luxuriance of a feather bed. She washed the two orphans, and +fitted them out in clothes taken from the stores of her own. The work of +renovation in and around the cabin continued until even Thomas Lincoln +himself, under the general stimulus of the new wife's presence, caught +the inspiration, and developed signs of intense activity. The advent of +Sarah Bush was certainly a red-letter day for the Lincolns. She was not +only industrious and thrifty, but gentle and affectionate; and her +newly adopted children for the first time, perhaps, realized the benign +influence of a mother's love. Of young Abe she was especially fond, and +we have her testimony that her kindness and care for him were warmly +and bountifully returned. Her granddaughter furnished me* in after years +with this description of her: + + * Harriet Chapman. MS. + +"My grandmother is a very tall woman, straight as an Indian, of +fair complexion, and was, when I first remember her, very handsome, +sprightly, talkative, and proud. She wore her hair curled till gray; +is kind-hearted and very charitable, and also very industrious." In +September, 1865, I visited the old lady* and spent an entire day with +her. She was then living on the farm her stepson had purchased and given +her, eight miles south of the town of Charleston, in Illinois. She died +on the 10th of April, 1869. + + * During my interview with this old lady I was much and + deeply impressed with the sincerity of her affection for her + illustrious stepson. She declined to say much in answer to + my questions about Nancy Hanks, her predecessor in the + Lincoln household, but spoke feelingly of the latter's + daughter and son. Describing Mr. Lincoln's last visit to her + in February, 1861, she broke into tears and wupt bitterly. + "I did not want Abe to run for President," she sobbed, "and + did not want to see him elected. I was afraid that something + would happen to him, and when he came down to see me, after + he was elected President, I still felt, and my heart told + me, that something would befall him, and that I should never + see him again. Abe and his father are in heaven now, I am + sure, and I expect soon to go there and meet them." + +[Illustration: Sarah Bush Lincoln 070] + +After photograph taken in 1865. + +The two sets of children in the Lincoln household--to their credit be it +said--lived together in perfect accord. Abe was in his tenth year, and +his stepmother, awake to the importance of an education, made a way for +him to attend school. To her he seemed full of promise; and although not +so quick of comprehension as other boys, yet she believed in encouraging +his every effort. He had had a few weeks of schooling under Riney and +Hazel in Kentucky, but it is hardly probable that he could read; he +certainly could not write. As illustrating his moral make-up, I diverge +from the chronological order of the narrative long enough to relate an +incident which occurred some years later. In the Lincoln family, Matilda +Johnston, or Tilda, as her mother called her, was the youngest child. +After Abe had reached the estate of manhood, she was still in her 'teens. +It was Abe's habit each morning one fall, to leave the house early, his +axe on his shoulder, to clear a piece of forest which lay some distance +from home. He frequently carried his dinner with him, and remained all +day. Several times the young and frolicsome 'Tilda sought to accompany +him, but was each time restrained by her mother, who firmly forbade +a repetition of the attempt. One morning the girl escaped maternal +vigilance, and slyly followed after the young woodman, who had gone some +distance from the house, and was already hidden from view behind the +dense growth of trees and underbrush. Following a deer-path, he went +singing along, little dreaming of the girl in close pursuit. The latter +gained on him, and when within a few feet, darted forward and with +a cat-like leap landed squarely on his back. With one hand on +each shoulder, she planted her knee in the middle of his back, and +dexterously brought the powerful frame of the rail-splitter to the +ground. It was a trick familiar to every schoolboy. Abe, taken by +surprise, was unable at first to turn around or learn who his assailant +was. In the fall to the ground, the sharp edge of the axe imbedded +itself in the young lady's ankle, inflicting a wound from which there +came a generous effusion of blood. With sundry pieces of cloth torn from +Abe's shirt and the young lady's dress, the flow of blood was stanched, +and the wound rudely bound up. The girl's cries having lessened +somewhat, her tall companion, looking at her in blank astonishment, +knowing what an in-fraction the whole thing was of her mother's +oft-repeated instructions, asked; "'Tilda, what are you going to tell +mother about getting hurt?" "Tell her I did it with the axe," she +sobbed. "That will be the truth, won't it?" To which last inquiry Abe +manfully responded, + +"Yes, that's the truth, but it's not all the truth. Tell the whole +truth,'Tilda, and trust your good mother for the rest." + +This incident was, many years afterward, related to me by'Tilda, who was +then the mother of a devoted and interesting family herself. + +Hazel Dorsey was Abe's first teacher in Indiana. He held forth a mile +and a half from the Lincoln farm. The school-house was built of round +logs, and was just high enough for a man to stand erect under the loft. +The floor was of split logs, or what were called puncheons. The chimney +was made of poles and clay; and the windows were made by cutting out +parts of two logs, placing pieces of split boards a proper distance +apart, and over the aperture thus formed pasting pieces of greased +paper to admit light. At school Abe evinced ability enough to gain him a +prominent place in the respect of the teacher and the affections of his +fellow-scholars.* + + * "He always appeared to be very quiet during playtime; never + was rude; seemed to have a liking for solitude; was the one + chosen in almost every case to adjust difficulties between + boys of his age and size, and when appealed to, his decision + was an end of the trouble. He was also rather noted for + keeping his clothes clean longer than any of the others, and + although considered a boy of courage, had few, if any, + difficulties."--E. R. Burba, letter, March 31, 1866. + +Elements of leadership in him seem to have manifested themselves +already. Nathaniel Grigsby--whose brother, Aaron, afterwards married +Abe's sister, Sarah--attended the same school. He certifies to Abe's +proficiency and worth in glowing terms. + +"He was always at school early," writes Grigsby, "and attended to his +studies. He was always at the head of his class, and passed us rapidly +in his studies. He lost no time at home, and when he was not at work was +at his books. He kept up his studies on Sunday, and carried his books +with him to work, so that he might read when he rested from labor." Now +and then, the family exchequer running low, it would be found necessary +for the young rail-splitter to stop school, and either work with his +father on the farm, or render like service for the neighbors. These +periods of work occurred so often and continued so long, that all his +school days added together would not make a year in the aggregate. When +he attended school, his sister Sarah usually accompanied him. "Sally was +a quick-minded young woman," is the testimony of a school-mate. "She was +more industrious than Abe, in my opinion. I can hear her good-humored +laugh now. Like her brother, she could greet you kindly and put you at +ease. She was really an intelligent woman." * + + * Nat Grigsby, Sept. 12,1865, MS. + +Abe's love for books, and his determined effort to obtain an education +in spite of so many obstacles, induced the belief in his father's mind, +that book-learning was absorbing a greater proportion of his energy and +industry than the demands of the farm. The old gentleman had but little +faith in the value of books or papers,* and hence the frequent drafts +he made on the son to aid in the drudgery of daily toil. He undertook +to teach him his own trade**--he was a carpenter and joiner--but Abe +manifested such a striking want of interest that the effort to make a +carpenter of him was soon abandoned. + + * "I induced my husband to permit Abe to read and study at + home as well as at school. At first he was not easily + reconciled to it, but finally he too seemed willing to + encourage him to a certain extent. Abe was a dutiful son to + me always, and we took particular care when he was reading + not to disturb him--would let him read on and on till he + quit of his own accord."--Mrs. Thomas Lincoln, Sept. 8, + 1865. + + ** A little walnut cabinet, two feet high, and containing + two rows of neat drawers, now in the possession of Captain + J. W. Wartmann, clerk of the United States Court in + Evansville, Ind., is carefully preserved as a specimen of + the joint work of Lincoln and his father at this time. + +At Dorsey's school Abe was ten years old; at the next one, Andrew +Crawford's, he was about fourteen; and at Swaney's he was in his +seventeenth year. The last school required a walk of over four miles, +and on account of the distance his attendance was not only irregular but +brief. Schoolmaster Crawford introduced a new feature in his school, and +we can imagine its effect on his pupils, whose training had been +limited to the social requirements of the backwoods settlement. It was +instruction in manners. One scholar was required to go outside, and +re-enter the room as a lady or gentleman would enter a drawing-room or +parlor. Another scholar would receive the first party at the door, and +escort him or her about the room, making polite introductions to each +person in the room. How the gaunt and clumsy Abe went through this +performance we shall probably never know. If his awkward movements gave +rise to any amusement, his school-mates never revealed it. + +The books used at school were Webster's Spelling Book and the American +Speller. All the scholars learned to cipher, and afterwards used Pike's +Arithmetic. Mr. Lincoln told me in later years that Murray's English +Reader was the best school-book ever put into the hands of an American +youth. I conclude, therefore, he must have used that also. At Crawford's +school Abe was credited with the authorship of several literary +efforts--short dissertations in which he strove to correct some +time-honored and wanton sport of the schoolboy. While in Indiana I met +several persons who recalled a commendable and somewhat pretentious +protest he wrote against cruelty to animals. The wholesome effects of a +temperate life and the horrors of war were also subjects which claimed +the services of his pen then, as they in later years demanded the +devoted attention of his mind and heart. + +He was now over six feet high and was growing at a tremendous rate, for +he added two inches more before the close of his seventeenth year, thus +reaching the limit of his stature. He weighed in the region of a hundred +and sixty pounds; was wiry, vigorous, and strong. His feet and hands +were large, arms and legs long and in striking contrast with his slender +trunk and small head. "His skin was shrivelled and yellow," declares one +of the girls* who attended Crawford's school. "His shoes, when he had +any, were low. He wore buckskin breeches, linsey-woolsey shirt, and a +cap made of the skin of a squirrel or coon. His breeches were baggy and +lacked by several inches meeting the tops of his shoes, thereby exposing +his shinbone, sharp, blue, and narrow." In one branch of school learning +he was a great success; that was spelling. We are indebted to Kate Roby, +a pretty miss of fifteen, for an incident which illustrates alike his +proficiency in orthography and his natural inclination to help another +out of the mire. The word "defied" had been given out by Schoolmaster +Crawford, but had been misspelled several times when it came Miss Roby's +turn. "Abe stood on the opposite side of the room" (related Miss Roby** +to me in 1865) "and was watching me. I began d-e-f--and then I stopped, +hesitating whether to proceed with an 'i' or a 'y.' Looking up I beheld +Abe, a grin covering his face, and pointing with his index finger to his +eye. I took the hint, spelled the word with an 'i,' and it went through +all right." + + * Kate Gentry. + + ** Miss Roby afterward married Allen Gentry. + +There was more or less of an attachment between Miss Roby and Abe, +although the lady took pains to assure me that they were never in +love. She described with self-evident pleasure, however, the delightful +experience of an evening's stroll down to the river with him, where they +were wont to sit on the bank and watch the moon as it slowly rose over +the neighboring hills. Dangling their youthful feet in the water, they +gazed on the pale orb of night, as many a fond pair before them had done +and will continue to do until the end of the world. One evening, when +thus engaged, their conversation and thoughts turned on the movement of +the planets. "I did not suppose that Abe, who had seen so little of the +world, would know anything about it, but he proved to my satisfaction +that the moon did not go down at all; that it only seemed to; that the +earth, revolving from west to east, carried us under, as it were. 'We +do the sinking,' he explained; 'while to us the moon is comparatively +still. The moon's sinking is only an illusion.' I at once dubbed him a +fool, but later developments convinced me that I was the fool, not +he. He was well acquainted with the general laws of astronomy and the +movements of the heavenly bodies, but where he could have learned so +much, or how to put it so plainly, I never could understand." + +[Illustration: Lines Written by Lincoln 081] + +Lines written by Lincoln on the Leaf of his School-book in his +Fourteenth Year. Preserved by his Step-mother. Original in possession of +J. Weik. + +Absalom Roby is authority for the statement that even at that early day +Abe was a patient reader of a Louisville newspaper, which some one +at Gentryville kindly furnished him. Among the books he read were +the Bible, "Æsop's Fables," "Robinson Crusoe," Bunyan's "Pilgrim's +Progress," a "History of the United States," and Weems' "Life of +Washington." A little circumstance attended the reading of the +last-named book, which only within recent years found its way into +public print. The book was borrowed from a close-fisted neighbor, Josiah +Crawford, and one night, while lying on a little shelf near a crack +between two logs in the Lincoln cabin during a storm, the covers were +damaged by rain. Crawford--not the schoolmaster, but old "Blue Nose," +as Abe and others called him--assessed the damage to his book at +seventy-five cents, and the unfortunate borrower was required to pull +fodder for three days at twenty-five cents a day in settlement of +the account. While at school it is doubtful if he was able to own an +arithmetic. His stepmother was unable to remember his ever having owned +one. She gave me, however, a few leaves from a book made and bound +by Abe, in which he had entered, in a large, bold hand, the tables of +weights and measures, and the "sums" to be worked out in illustration of +each table. Where the arithmetic was obtained I could not learn. On one +of the pages which the old lady gave me, and just underneath the table +which tells how many pints there are in a bushel, the facetious young +student had scrawled these four lines of schoolboy doggerel: + + "Abraham Lincoln, + His hand and pen, + He will be good, + But God knows when." + +On another page were found, in his own hand, a few lines which it is +also said he composed. Nothing indicates that they were borrowed, and +I have always, therefore, believed that they were original with him. +Although a little irregular in metre, the sentiment would, I think, do +credit to an older head. + + Time, what an empty vapor 'tis, + And days how swift they are: + Swift as an Indian arrow, + Fly on like a shooting star. + + The present moment just is here, + Then slides away in haste, + That we can never say they're ours, + But only say they're past." + +His penmanship, after some practice, became so regular in form that it +excited the admiration of other and younger boys. One of the latter, +Joseph C. Richardson, said that "Abe Lincoln was the best penman in the +neighborhood." At Richardson's request he made some copies for practice. +During my visit to Indiana I met Richardson, who showed these two lines +which Abe had prepared for him: + + "Good boys who to their books apply + Will all be great men by and by." + +To comprehend Mr. Lincoln fully we must know in substance not only the +facts of his origin, but also the manner of his development. It will +always be a matter of wonder to the American people, I have no +doubt--as it has been to me--that from such restricted and unpromising +opportunities in early life, Mr. Lincoln grew into the great man he was. +The foundation for his education was laid in Indiana and in the little +town of New Salem in Illinois, and in both places he gave evidence of a +nature and characteristics that distinguished him from every associate +and surrounding he had. He was not peculiar or eccentric, and yet +a shrewd observer would have seen that he was decidedly unique and +original. Although imbued with a marked dislike for manual labor, it +cannot be truthfully said of him that he was indolent. From a mental +standpoint he was one of the most energetic young men of his day. +He dwelt altogether in the land of thought. His deep meditation and +abstraction easily induced the belief among his horny-handed companions +that he was lazy. In fact, a neighbor, John Romine, makes that charge. +"He worked for me," testifies the latter, "but was always reading and +thinking. I used to get mad at him for it. I say he was awfully lazy. +He would laugh and talk--crack his jokes and tell stories all the time; +didn't love work half as much as his pay. He said to me one day that his +father taught him to work, but he never taught him to love it." Verily +there was but one Abraham Lincoln! + +His chief delight during the day, if unmolested, was to lie down under +the shade of some inviting tree to read and study. At night, lying on +his stomach in front of the open fireplace, with a piece of charcoal he +would cipher on a broad wooden shovel. When the latter was covered over +on both sides he would take his father's drawing knife or plane and +shave it off clean, ready for a fresh supply of inscriptions the next +day. He often moved about the cabin with a piece of chalk, writing and +ciphering on boards and the flat sides of hewn logs. When every bare +wooden surface had been filled with his letters and ciphers he would +erase them and begin anew. Thus it was always; and the boy whom dull +old Thomas Lincoln and rustic John Romine conceived to be lazy was in +reality the most tireless worker in all the region around Gentryvllle. +His stepmother told me he devoured everything in the book line within +his reach. If in his reading he came across anything that pleased his +fancy, he entered it down in a copy-book--a sort of repository, in which +he was wont to store everything worthy of preservation. "Frequently," +related his stepmother, "he had no paper to write his pieces down on. +Then he would put them with chalk on a board or plank, sometimes only +making a few signs of what he intended to write. When he got paper he +would copy them, always bringing them to me and reading them. He would +ask my opinion of what he had read, and often explained things to me in +his plain and simple language." How he contrived at the age of fourteen +to absorb information is thus told by John Hanks: "When Abe and I +returned to the house from work he would go to the cupboard, snatch a +piece of corn bread, sit down, take a book, cock his legs up as high +as his head, and read. We grubbed, plowed, mowed, and worked together +barefooted in the field. Whenever Abe had a chance in the field while +at work, or at the house, he would stop and read." He kept the Bible and +"Æsop's Fables" always within reach, and read them over and over again. +These two volumes furnished him with the many figures of speech and +parables which he used with such happy effect in his later and public +utterances. + +Amid such restricted and unromantic environments the boy developed into +the man. The intellectual fire burned slowly, but with a steady and +intense glow. Although denied the requisite training of the school-room, +he was none the less competent to cope with those who had undergone that +discipline. No one had a more retentive memory. If he read or heard +a good thing it never escaped him. His powers of concentration were +intense, and in the ability through analysis to strip bare a proposition +he was unexcelled. His thoughtful and investigating mind dug down after +ideas, and never stopped till bottom facts were reached. With such a +mental equipment the day was destined to come when the world would need +the services of his intellect and heart. That he was equal to the great +task when the demand came is but another striking proof of the grandeur +of his character. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +The first law book Lincoln ever read was "The Statutes of Indiana." He +obtained the volume from his friend David Tumham, who testifies that he +fairly devoured the book in his eager efforts to abstract the store of +knowledge that lay between the lids. No doubt, as Tumham insists, the +study of the statutes at this early day led Abe to think of the law +as his calling in maturer years. At any rate he now began to evince no +little zeal in the matter of public speaking--in compliance with the +old notion, no doubt, that a lawyer can never succeed unless he has the +elements of the orator or advocate in his construction--and even when +at work in the field he could not resist the temptation to mount the +nearest stump and practise on his fellow laborers. The latter would +flock around him, and active operations would cease whenever he began. +A cluster of tall and stately trees often made him a most dignified +and apreciative audience during the delivery of these maiden forensic +efforts. He was old enough to attend musters, log-rollings, and +horse-races, and was rapidly becoming a favored as well as favorite +character. "The first time I ever remember of seeing Abe Lincoln," is +the testimony of one of his neighbors,* "was when I was a small boy and +had gone with my father to attend some kind of an election. One of our +neighbors, James Larkins, was there. Larkins was a great hand to brag on +anything he owned. This time it was his horse. He stepped up before Abe, +who was in the crowd, and commenced talking to him, boasting all the +while of his animal. + +"'I have got the best horse in the country'" he shouted to his young +listener. "'I ran him three miles in exactly nine minutes, and he never +fetched a long breath.'" + +"'I presume,' said Abe, rather dryly, 'he fetched a good many short ones +though.'" + + * John W. Lamar, MS. letter, June 29, 1866. + +With all his peaceful propensities Abe was not averse to a contest +of strength, either for sport or in settlement--as in one memorable +case--of grievances. Personal encounters were of frequent occurrence +in Gentryville in those days, and the prestige of having thrashed an +opponent gave the victor marked social distinction. Green B. Taylor, +with whom Abe worked the greater part of one winter on a farm, furnished +me with an account of the noted fight between John Johnston, Abe's +stepbrother, and William Grigsby, in which stirring drama Abe himself +played an important rôle before the curtain was rung down. Taylor's +father was the second for Johnston, and William Whitten officiated in +a similar capacity for Grigsby. "They had a terrible fight," relates +Taylor, "and it soon became apparent that Grigsby was too much for +Lincoln's man, Johnston. After they had fought a long time without +interference, it having been agreed not to break the ring, Abe burst +through, caught Grigsby, threw him off and some feet away. There he +stood, proud as Lucifer, and swinging a bottle of liquor over his head +swore he was 'the big buck of the lick.' 'If any one doubts it,' +he shouted, 'he has only to come on and whet his horns.'" A general +engagement followed this challenge, but at the end of hostilities the +field was cleared and the wounded retired amid the exultant shouts of +their victors. + +Much of the latter end of Abe's boyhood would have been lost in the +midst of tradition but for the store of information and recollections I +was fortunate enough to secure from an interesting old lady whom I met +in Indiana in 1865. She was the wife of Josiah Crawford*--"Blue Nose," +as Abe had named him--and possessed rare accomplishments for a woman +reared in the backwoods of Indiana. She was not only impressed with +Abe's early efforts, but expressed great admiration for his sister +Sarah, whom she often had with her at her own hospitable home and +whom she described as a modest, industrious, and sensible sister of a +humorous and equally sensible brother. From Mrs. Crawford I obtained +the few specimens of Abe's early literary efforts and much of the matter +that follows in this chapter. The introduction here of the literary +feature as affording us a glimpse of Lincoln's boyhood days may to a +certain extent grate harshly on over-refined ears; but still no apology +is necessary, for, as intimated at the outset, I intend to keep close +to Lincoln all the way through. Some writers would probably omit +these songs and backwoods recitals as savoring too strongly of the +Bacchanalian nature, but that would be a narrow view to take of history. +If we expect to know Lincoln thoroughly we must be prepared to take him +as he really was. + + * In one of her conversations with me Mrs. Crawford told me + of the exhibitions with which at school they often + entertained the few persons who attended the closing day. + Sometimes, in warm weather, the scholars made a platform of + clean boards covered overhead with green boughs. Generally, + however, these exhibitions took place in the school-room. + The exercises consisted of the varieties offered at this day + at the average seminary or school--declamations and + dialogues or debates. The declamations were obtained + principally from a book called "The Kentucky Preceptor," + which volume Mrs. Crawford gave me as a souvenir of my + visit. Lincoln had often used it himself, she said. The + questions for discussion were characteristic of the day and + age. The relative merits of the "Bee and the Ant," the + difference in strength between "Wind and Water," taxed their + knowledge of physical phenomena; and the all-important + question "Which has the most right to complain, the Indian + or the Negro?" called out their conceptions of a great moral + or national wrong. In the discussion of all these grave + subjects Lincoln took a deep interest. + +In 1826 Abe's sister Sarah was married to Aaron Grigsby, and at the +wedding the Lincoln family sang a song composed in honor of the event +by Abe himself. It is a tiresome doggerel and full of painful rhymes. I +reproduce it here from the manuscript furnished me by Mrs. Crawford. The +author and composer called it "Adam and Eve's Wedding Song." + + "When Adam was created + He dwelt in Eden's shade, + As Moses has recorded, + And soon a bride was made. + + Ten thousand times ten thousand + Of creatures swarmed around + Before a bride was formed, + And yet no mate was found. + + The Lord then was not willing + That man should be alone, + But caused a sleep upon him, + And from him took a bone. + + Then Adam he rejoiced + To see his loving bride + A part of his own body, + The product of his side. + + The woman was not taken + From Adam's feet we see, + So he must not abuse her, + The meaning seems to be. + + The woman was not taken + From Adam's head, we know, + To show she must not rule him, + 'Tis evidently so. + + The woman she was taken + From under Adam's arm, + So she must be protected + From injuries and harm." + +Poor Sarah, at whose wedding this song was sung, never lived to see the +glory nor share in the honor that afterwards fell to the lot of her tall +and angular brother. Within two years after her marriage she died in +childbirth. + +Although devoid of any natural ability as a singer Abe nevertheless made +many efforts and had great appreciation of certain songs. In after years +he told me he doubted if he really knew what the harmony of sound was. +The songs in vogue then were principally of the sacred order. They were +from Watts' and Dupuy's hymn-books. David Tumham furnished me with a +list, marking as especial favorites the following: "Am I a Soldier of +the Cross"; "How Tedious and Tasteless the Hours"; "There is a Fountain +Filled with Blood," and, "Alas, and did my Saviour Bleed?" One song +pleased Abe not a little. "I used to sing it for old Thomas Lincoln," +relates Turnham, "at Abe's request. The old gentleman liked it and made +me sing it often. I can only remember one couplet: + + "'There was a Romish lady + She was brought up in Popery.'" + +Dennis Hanks insists that Abe used to try his hand and voice at "Poor +old Ned," but never with any degree of success. "Rich, racy verses" were +sung by the big boys in the country villages of that day with as keen a +relish as they are to-day. There is no reason and less evidence for the +belief that Abe did not partake of this forbidden fruit along with other +boys of the same age and condition in life. Among what Dennis called +"field songs" are a few lines from this one: + + "The turbaned Turk that scorns the world + And struts about with his whiskers curled, + For no other man but himself to see." + +Of another ballad we have this couplet: + + "Hail Columbia, happy land, + If you aint drunk then I'll be damned." + +We can imagine the merry Dennis, hilarious with the exhilaration of deep +potations at the village grocery, singing this "field song" as he and +Abe wended their way homeward. A stanza from a campaign song which Abe +was in the habit of rendering, according to Mrs. Crawford, attests his +earliest political predilections: + + "Let auld acquaintance be forgot + And never brought to mind, + May Jackson be our president, + And Adams left behind." + +A mournful and distressing ballad, "John Anderson's Lamentation," as +rendered by Abe, was written out for me by Mrs. Crawford, but the first +lines, + + "Oh, sinners, poor sinners, take warning by me, + The fruits of transgression behold now and see," + +will suffice to indicate how mournful the rest of it was. + +The centre of wit and wisdom in the village of Gentryville was at the +store. This place was in charge of one Jones, who soon after embarking +in business seemed to take quite a fancy to Abe. He took the only +newspaper--sent from Louisville--and at his place of business gathered +Abe, Dennis Hanks, Baldwin the blacksmith, and other kindred spirits to +discuss such topics as are the exclusive property of the store lounger. +Abe's original and ridiculous stories not only amused the crowd, but the +display of his unique faculties made him many friends. One who saw him +at this time says: + +"Lincoln would frequently make political speeches to the boys; he was +always calm, logical, and clear. His jokes and stories were so odd, +original, and witty all the people in town would gather around him. He +would keep them till midnight. Abe was a good talker, a good reasoner, +and a kind of newsboy." He attended all the trials before the "squire," +as that important functionary was called, and frequently wandered off +to Boonville, a town on the river, distant fifteen miles, and the county +seat of Warrick County, to hear and see how the courts were conducted +there. On one occasion, at the latter place, he remained during the +trial of a murderer and attentively absorbed the proceedings. A lawyer +named Breckenridge represented the defense, and his speech so pleased +and thrilled his young listener that the latter could not refrain +from approaching the eloquent advocate at the close of his address and +congratulating him on his signal success. How Breckenridge accepted +the felicitations of the awkward, hapless youth we shall probably never +know. The story is told that during Lincoln's term as President, he +was favored one day at the White House with a visit by this same +Breckenridge, then a resident of Texas, who had called to pay his +respects. In a conversation about early days in Indiana, the President, +recalling Breckenridge's argument in the murder trial, remarked, "If I +could, as I then thought, have made as good a speech as that, my soul +would have been satisfied; for it was up to that time the best speech I +had ever heard." + +No feature of his backwoods life pleased Abe so well as going to mill. +It released him from a day's work in the woods, besides affording him a +much desired opportunity to watch the movement of the mill's primitive +and cumbersome machinery. It was on many of these trips that David +Tumham accompanied him. In later years Mr. Lincoln related the following +reminiscence of his experience as a miller in Indiana; One day, taking a +bag of corn, he mounted the old flea-bitten gray mare and rode leisurely +to Gordon's mill. Arriving somewhat late, his turn did not come till +almost sundown. In obedience to the custom requiring each man to furnish +his own power he hitched the old mare to the arm, and as the animal +moved round, the machinery responded with equal speed. Abe was mounted +on the arm, and at frequent intervals made use of his whip to urge the +animal on to better speed. With a careless "Get up, you old hussy," +he applied the lash at each revolution of the arm. In the midst of the +exclamation, or just as half of it had escaped through his teeth, the +old jade, resenting the continued use of the goad, elevated her shoeless +hoof and striking the young engineer in the forehead, sent him sprawling +to the earth. Miller Gordon hurried in, picked up the bleeding, +senseless boy, whom he took for dead, and at once sent for his father. +Old Thomas Lincoln came--came as soon as embodied listlessness +could moveloaded the lifeless boy in a wagon and drove home. Abe lay +unconscious all night, but towards break of day the attendants noticed +signs of returning consciousness. The blood beginning to flow normally, +his tongue struggled to loosen itself, his frame jerked for an instant, +and he awoke, blurting out the words "you old hussy," or the latter half +of the sentence interrupted by the mare's heel at the mill. + +Mr. Lincoln considered this one of the remarkable incidents of his life. +He often referred to it, and we had many discussions in our law office +over the psychological phenomena involved in the operation. Without +expressing my own views I may say that his idea was that the latter half +of the expression, "Get up, you old hussy," was cut off by a suspension +of the normal flow of his mental energy, and that as soon as life's +forces returned he unconsciously ended the sentence; or, as he in +a plainer figure put it: "Just before I struck the old mare my +will through the mind had set the muscles of my tongue to utter the +expression, and when her heels came in contact with my head the whole +thing stopped half-cocked, as it were, and was only fired off when +mental energy or force returned." + +By the time he had reached his seventeenth year he had attained the +physical proportions of a full-grown man. He was employed to assist +James Taylor in the management of a ferry-boat across the Ohio river +near the mouth of Anderson's creek, but was not allowed a man's +wages for the work. He received thirty-seven cents a day for what he +afterwards told me was the roughest work a young man could be made to +do. In the midst of whatever work he was engaged on he still found +time to utilize his pen. He prepared a composition on the American +Government, calling attention to the necessity of preserving the +Constitution and perpetuating the Union, which with characteristic +modesty he turned over to his friend and patron, William Woods, for +safe-keeping and perusal. Through the instrumentality of Woods it +attracted the attention of many persons, among them one Pitcher,* a +lawyer at Rockport, who with faintly concealed enthusiasm declared +"the world couldn't beat it." An article on Temperance was shown under +similar circumstance to Aaron Farmer, a Baptist preacher of local +renown, and by him furnished to an Ohio newspaper for publication. The +thing, however, which gave him such prominence--a prominence too which +could have been attained in no other way--was his remarkable physical +strength, for he was becoming not only one of the longest, but one of +the strongest men around Gentryville. He enjoyed the brief distinction +his exhibitions of strength gave him more than the admiration of +his friends for his literary or forensic efforts. Some of the feats +attributed to him almost surpass belief. One witness declares he was +equal to three men, having on a certain occasion carried a load of six +hundred pounds At another time he walked away with a pair of logs which +three robust men were skeptical of their ability to carry. "He could +strike with a maul a heavier blow--could sink an axe deeper into wood +than any man I ever saw," is the testimony of another witness. + + * This gentleman, Judge John Pitcher, ninety-three years + old, is still living in Mount Vernon, Indiana. He says that + young Lincoln often called at his office and borrowed books + to read at home during leisure hours. On one occasion he + expressed a desire to study law with Pitcher, but explained + that his parents were so poor that he could not be spared + from the farm on which they lived. "He related to me in my + office one day," says Pitcher, "an account of his payment to + Crawford of the damage done to the latter's book--Weems' + 'Life of Washington.' Lincoln said, "You see, I am tall and + long-armed, and I went to work in earnest. At the end of the + two days there was not a corn-blade left on a stalk in the + field. I wanted to pay full damage for all the wetting the + book got, and I made a clean sweep." + +After he had passed his nineteenth year and was nearing his majority +he began to chafe and grow restless under the restraints of home rule. +Seeing no prospect of betterment in his condition, so long as his +fortune was interwoven with that of his father, he at last endeavored to +strike out into the broad world for himself. Having great faith in the +judgment and influence of his fast friend Wood, he solicited from him +a recommendation to the officers of some one of the boats plying up and +down the river, hoping thereby to obtain employment more congenial than +the dull, fatiguing work of the farm. To this project the judicious Wood +was much opposed, and therefore suggested to the would-be boatman the +moral duty that rested on him to remain with his father till the law +released him from that obligation. With deep regret he retraced his +steps to the paternal mansion, seriously determined not to evade the +claim from which in a few weary months he would be finally released. +Meanwhile occurred his first opportunity to see the world. In March, +1828, James Gentry, for whom he had been at work, had fitted out a boat +with a stock of grain and meat for a trading expedition to New Orleans, +and placed his son Allen in charge of the cargo for the voyage. Abe's +desire to make a river trip was at last satisfied, and he accompanied +the proprietor's son, serving as "bow hand." His pay was eight dollars +a month and board. In due course of time the navigators returned from +their expedition with the evidence of profitable results to gladden the +heart of the owner. The only occurrence of interest they could relate +of the voyage was the encounter with a party of marauding negroes at the +plantation of Madame Duchesne, a few miles below Baton Rouge. Abe and +Gentry, having tied up for the night, were fast asleep on their boat +when aroused by the arrival of a crowd of negroes bent on plunder. +They set to work with clubs, and not only drove off the intruders, but +pursued them inland, then hastily returning to their quarters they cut +loose their craft and floated down-stream till daylight. + +Before passing on further it may not be amiss to glance for a moment at +the social side of life as it existed in Gentryville in Abe's day. "We +thought nothing," said an old lady whom I interviewed when in Indiana, +"of going eight or ten miles to church. The ladies did not stop for the +want of a shawl, cloak, or riding-dress in winter time, but would put on +their husbands' old overcoats and wrap up their little ones and take one +or two of them on their beasts. Their husbands would walk, and thus they +would go to church, frequently remaining till the second day before they +returned home." + +The old men starting from the fields and out of the woods would carry +their guns on their shoulders and go also. They dressed in deer-skin +pants, moccasins, and coarse hunting shirts--the latter usually fastened +with a rope or leather strap. Arriving at the house where services were +to be held they would recite to each other thrilling stories of their +hunting exploits, and smoke their pipes with the old ladies. They were +treated, and treated each other, with the utmost kindness. A bottle of +liquor, a pitcher of water, sugar, and glasses were set out for them; +also a basket of apples or turnips, with, now and then, a pie or cakes. +Thus they regaled themselves till the preacher found himself in a +condition to begin. The latter, having also partaken freely of the +refreshments provided, would "take his stand, draw his coat, open +his shirt collar, read his text, and preach and pound till the sweat, +produced alike by his exertions and the exhilarating effects of the +toddy, rolled from his face in great drops. Shaking hands and singing +ended the service." + +The houses were scattered far apart, but the people travelled great +distances to participate in the frolic and coarse fun of a log-rolling +and sometimes a wedding. Unless in mid-winter the young ladies carried +their shoes in their hands, and only put them on when the scene of +the festivities was reached. The ladies of maturer years drank whiskey +toddy, while the men took the whiskey straight. They all danced merrily, +many of them barefooted, to the tune of a cracked fiddle the night +through. We can imagine the gleeful and more hilarious swaggering home +at daybreak to the tune of Dennis Hanks' festive lines: + + "Hail Columbia, happy land, + If you ain't drunk then I'll be damned." + +Although gay, prosperous, and light-hearted, these people were brimming +over with superstition. It was at once their food and drink. They +believed in the baneful influence of witches, pinned their faith to the +curative power of wizards in dealing with sick animals, and shot the +image of a witch with a silver ball to break the spell she was supposed +to have over human beings. They followed with religious minuteness the +directions of the water-wizard, with his magic divining rod, and the +faith doctor who wrought miraculous cures by strange sounds and signals +to some mysterious agency. The flight of a bird in at the window, the +breath of a horse on a child's head, the crossing by a dog of a hunter's +path, all betokened evil luck in store for some one. The moon exercised +greater influence on the actions of the people and the growth of +vegetation than the sun and all the planetary system combined. Fence +rails could only be cut in the light of the moon, and potatoes planted +in the dark of the moon. Trees and plants which bore their fruit above +ground could be planted when the moon shone full. Soap could only be +made in the light of the moon, and it must only be stirred in one way +and by one person. They had the horror of Friday which with many exists +to this day. Nothing was to be begun on that unlucky day, for if the +rule were violated an endless train of disasters was sure to follow. + +Surrounded by people who believed in these things, Lincoln grew to +manhood. With them he walked, talked, and labored, and from them he also +absorbed whatever of superstition showed itself in him thereafter. His +early Baptist training made him a fatalist up to the day of his death, +and, listening in boyish wonder to the legends of some toothless old +dame led him to believe in the significance of dreams and visions. His +surroundings helped to create that unique character which in the eyes of +a great portion of the American people was only less curious and amusing +than it was august and noble. + +The winter of 1829 was marked by another visitation of that dreaded +disease, "the milk-sick." It was making the usual ravages among the +cattle. Human victims were falling before it every day, and it caused +the usual stampede in southern Indiana. Dennis Hanks, discouraged by +the prospect and grieving over the loss of his stock, proposed a move +further westward. Returning emigrants had brought encouraging news of +the newly developed state of Illinois. Vast stretches of rich alluvial +lands were to be had there on the easiest of terms. + +Besides this, Indiana no longer afforded any inducements to the poor +man. The proposition of Dennis met with the general assent of the +Lincoln family, and especially suited the roving and migratory spirit of +Thomas Lincoln. He had been induced to leave Kentucky for the hills of +Indiana by the same rosy and alluring reports. He had moved four times +since his marriage and in point of worldly goods was no better off than +when he started in life. His land groaned under the weight of a long +neglected incumbrance and, like many of his neighbors, he was ready for +another change. Having disposed of his land to James Gentry, and his +grain and stock to young David Turnham, he loaded his household effects +into a wagon drawn by two yoke of oxen, and in March, 1830, started for +Illinois. The two daughters of Mrs. Lincoln had meanwhile married +Dennis Hanks and Levi Hall, and with these additions the party numbered +thirteen in all. Abe had just passed his twenty-first birthday. + +The journey was a long and tedious one; the streams were swollen and the +roads were muddy almost to the point of impassability. The rude, heavy +wagon, with its primitive wheels, creaked and groaned as it crawled +through the woods and now and then stalled in the mud. Many were the +delays, but none ever disturbed the equanimity of its passengers. They +were cheerful in the face of all adversity, hopeful, and some of them +determined; but none of them more so than the tall, ungainly youth in +buckskin breeches and coon-skin cap who wielded the gad and urged the +patient oxen forward. As these humble emigrants entered the new State +little did the curious people in the towns through which they passed +dream that the obscure and penniless driver who yelled his commands to +the oxen would yet become Chief Magistrate of the greatest nation of +modern times.* + + * Mr. Lincoln once described this journey to me. He said the + ground had not yet yielded up the frosts of winter; that + daring the day the roads would thaw out on the surface and + at night freeze over again, thus making travelling, + especially with oxen, painfully slow and tiresome. There + were, of course, no bridges, and the party were consequently + driven to ford the streams, unless by a circuitous route + they could avoid them. In the early part of the day the + latter were also frozen slightly, and the oxen would break + through a square yard of thin ice at every step. Among other + things which the party brought with them was a pet dog, + which trotted along after the wagon. One day the little + fellow fell behind and failed to catch up till after they + had crossed the stream. Missing him they looked back, and + there, on the opposite bank, he stood, whining and jumping + about in great distress. The water was running over the + broken edges of the ice, and the poor animal was afraid to + cross. It would not pay to turn the oxen and wagon back and + ford the stream again in order to recover a dog, and so the + majority, in their anxiety to move forward, decided to go on + without him. "But I could not endure the idea of abandoning + even a dog," related Lincoln. "Pulling off shoes and socks I + waded across the stream and triumphantly returned with the + shivering animal under my arm. His frantic leaps of joy and + other evidences of a dog's gratitude amply repaid me for all + the exposure I had undergone." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +[Illustration: House of Thomas Lincoln 107] + +House near Farmington, Coles County, Illinois, in which Thomas Lincoln +died. Photographed in 1886. + +After a fortnight of rough and fatiguing travel the colony of Indiana +emigrants reached a point in Illinois five miles north-west of the town +of Decatur in Macon county. John Hanks, son of that Joseph Hanks in +whose shop at Elizabethtown Thomas Lincoln had learned what he knew +of the carpenter's art, met and sheltered them until they were safely +housed on a piece of land which he had selected for them five miles +further westward. He had preceded them over a year, and had in the +meantime hewed out a few timbers to be used in the construction of their +cabin. The place he had selected was on a bluff overlooking the Sangamon +river,--for these early settlers must always be in sight of a running +stream,--well supplied with timber. It was a charming and picturesque +site, and all hands set resolutely to work to prepare the new abode. +One felled the trees; one hewed the timbers for the cabin; while another +cleared the ground of its accumulated growth of underbrush. All was +bustle and activity. Even old Thomas Lincoln, infused with the spirit of +the hour, was spurred to unwonted exertion. What part of the work fell +to his lot our only chronicler, John Hanks, fails to note; but it is +conjectured from the old gentleman's experience in the art of building +that his services corresponded to those of the more modern supervising +architect. With the aid of the oxen and a plow John and Abe broke +up fifteen acres of sod, and "Abe and myself," observes Hanks in a +matter-of-fact way, "split rails enough to fence the place in." As +they swung their axes, or with wedge and maul split out the rails, how +strange to them the thought would have seemed that those self-same rails +were destined to make one of them immortal. If such a vision flashed +before the mind of either he made no sign of it, but each kept steadily +on in his simple, unromantic task. + +Abe had now attained his majority and began to throw from his shoulders +the vexations of parental restraint. He had done his duty to his father, +and felt able to begin life on his own account. As he steps out into the +broad and inviting world we take him up for consideration as a man. +At the same time we dispense with further notice of his father, Thomas +Lincoln. In the son are we alone interested. The remaining years of his +life marked no change in the old gentleman's nature. He still listened +to the glowing descriptions of prosperity in the adjoining counties, +and before his death moved three times in search of better times and a +healthy location. In 1851 we find him living on forty acres of land on +Goose Nest prairie, in Coles county, Illinois. The land bore the +usual incumbrance--a mortgage for two hundred dollars, which his son +afterwards paid. On the 17th of January, after suffering for many weeks +from a disorder of the kidneys, he passed away at the ripe old age--as +his son tells us--of "seventy-three years and eleven days." For a long +time after beginning life on his own account Abe remained in sight +of the parental abode. He worked at odd jobs in the neighborhood, or +wherever the demand for his services called him. As late as 1831 he was +still in the same parts, and John Hanks is authority for the statement +that he "made three thousand rails for Major Warnick" walking daily +three miles to his work. During the intervals of leisure he read the few +books obtainable, and continued the practice of extemporaneous speaking +to the usual audience of undemonstrative stumps and voiceless trees. +His first attempt at public speaking after landing in Illinois is thus +described to me by John Hanks, whose language I incorporate: "After Abe +got to Decatur, or rather to Macon county, a man by the name of Posey +came into our neighborhood and made a speech. It was a bad one, and I +said Abe could beat it. I turned down a box and Abe made his speech. +The other man was a candidate--Abe wasn't. Abe beat him to death, his +subject being the navigation of the Sangamon river. The man, after Abe's +speech was through, took him aside and asked him where he had learned +so much and how he could do so well. Abe replied, stating his manner +and method of reading, and what he had read. The man encouraged him to +persevere." + +For the first time we are now favored with the appearance on the scene +of a very important personage--one destined to exert no little +influence in shaping Lincoln's fortunes. It is Denton Offut, a brisk +and venturesome business man, whose operations extended up and down +the Sangamon river for many miles. Having heard glowing reports of John +Hanks' successful experience as a boatman in Kentucky he had come down +the river to engage the latter's services to take a boatload of stock +and provisions to New Orleans. "He wanted me to go badly," observes +Hanks, "but I waited awhile before answering. I hunted up Abe, and I +introduced him and John Johnston, his step-brother, to Offut. After some +talk we at last made an engagement with Offut at fifty cents a day and +sixty dollars to make the trip to New Orleans. Abe and I came down the +Sangamon river in a canoe in March, 1831; landed at what is now called +Jamestown, five miles east of Springfield, then known as Judy's Ferry." +Here Johnston joined them, and, leaving their canoe in charge of one +Uriah Mann, they walked to Springfield, where after some inquiry they +found the genial and enterprising Offut regaling himself with the good +cheer dispensed at "The Buckhorn" inn. This hostelry, kept by Andrew +Elliot, was the leading place of its kind in the then unpretentious +village of Springfield. The figure of a buck's head painted on a sign +swinging in front of the house gave rise to its name. Offut had agreed +with Hanks to have a boat ready for him and his two companions at the +mouth of Spring creek on their arrival, but too many deep potations with +the new-comers who daily thronged about the "Buckhorn" had interfered +with the execution of his plans, and the boat still remained in the +womb of the future. Offut met the three expectant navigators on their +arrival, and deep were his regrets over his failure to provide the boat. +The interview resulted in the trio engaging to make the boat themselves. +From what was known as "Congress land" they obtained an abundance of +timber, and by the aid of the machinery at Kirkpatrick's mill they +soon had the requisite material for their vessel. While the work of +construction was going on a shanty was built in which they were lodged. +Lincoln was elected cook, a distinction he never underestimated for a +moment. Within four weeks the boat was ready to launch. Offut was sent +for, and was present when she slid into the water. It was the occasion +of much political chat and buncombe, in which the Whig party and Jackson +alike were, strangely enough, lauded to the skies. It is difficult +to account for the unanimous approval of such strikingly antagonistic +ideas, unless it be admitted that Offut must have brought with him some +substantial reminder of the hospitality on draught at the "Buckhorn" +inn. Many disputes arose, we are told, in which Lincoln took part and +found a good field for practice and debate. + +A travelling juggler halted long enough in Sangamontown, where the boat +was launched, to give an exhibition of his art and dexterity in the loft +of Jacob Carman's house. In Lincoln's low-crowned, broad-brimmed hat the +magician cooked eggs. As explanatory of the delay in passing up his hat +Lincoln drolly observed, "It was out of respect for the eggs, not care +for my hat." + +Having loaded the vessel with pork in barrels, corn, and hogs, these +sturdy boatmen swung out into the stream. On April 19 they reached +the town of New Salem, a place destined to be an important spot in the +career of Lincoln. There they met with their first serious delay. The +boat stranded on Rutledge's mill-dam and hung helplessly over it a day +and a night. "We unloaded the boat," narrated one of the crew to explain +how they obtained relief from their embarrassing situation; "that is, +we transferred the goods from our boat to a borrowed one. We then rolled +the barrels forward; Lincoln bored a hole in the end [projecting] over +the dam; the water which had leaked in ran out and we slid over." Offut +was profoundly impressed with this exhibition of Lincoln's ingenuity. In +his enthusiasm he declared to the crowd who covered the hill and who +had been watching Lincoln's operation that he would build a steamboat to +plow up and down the Sangamon, and that Lincoln should be her Captain. +She would have rollers for shoals and dams, runners for ice, and with +Lincoln in charge, "By thunder, she'd have to go!" + +After release from their embarrassing, not to say perilous, position the +boat and her crew floated away from New Salem and passed on to a point +known as Blue Banks, where as the historian of the voyage says: "We +had to load some hogs bought of Squire Godbey. We tried to drive +them aboard, but could not. They would run back past us. Lincoln then +suggested that we sew their eyes shut. Thinking to try it, we caught +them, Abe holding their heads and I their tails while Offut sewed up +their eyes. Still they wouldn't drive. At last, becoming tired, we +carried them to the boat. Abe received them and cut open their eyes, +Johnston and I handing them to him." After thus disposing of the +hog problem they again swung loose and floated down-stream. From the +Sangamon they passed to the Illinois. At Beardstown their unique craft, +with its "sails made of planks and cloth," excited the amusement and +laughter of those who saw them from the shore. Once on the bosom of the +broad Mississippi they glided past Alton, St. Louis, and Cairo in +rapid succession, tied up for a day at Memphis, and made brief stops at +Vicksburg and Natchez. Early in May they reached New Orleans, where they +lingered a month, disposing of their cargo and viewing the sights which +the Crescent City afforded. + +In New Orleans, for the first time Lincoln beheld the true horrors of +human slavery. He saw "negroes in chains--whipped and scourged." Against +this inhumanity his sense of right and justice rebelled, and his mind +and conscience were awakened to a realization of what he had often heard +and read. No doubt, as one of his companions has said, "Slavery ran the +iron into him then and there." One morning in their rambles over the +city the trio passed a slave auction. A vigorous and comely mulatto girl +was being sold. She underwent a thorough examination at the hands of the +bidders; they pinched her flesh and made her trot up and down the room +like a horse, to show how she moved, and in order, as the auctioneer +said, that "bidders might satisfy themselves" whether the article they +were offering to buy was sound or not. The whole thing was so +revolting that Lincoln moved away from the scene with a deep feeling +of "unconquerable hate." Bidding his companions follow him he said, "By +God, boys, let's get away from this. If ever I get a chance to hit that +thing [meaning slavery], I'll hit it hard." This incident was furnished +me in 1865, by John Hanks. I have also heard Mr. Lincoln refer to it +himself. + +In June the entire party, including Offut, boarded a steamboat going up +the river. At St. Louis they disembarked, Offut remaining behind +while Lincoln, Hanks, and Johnston started across Illinois on foot. At +Edwardsville they separated, Hanks going to Springfield, while Lincoln +and his stepbrother followed the road to Coles county, to which point +old Thomas Lincoln had meanwhile removed. Here Abe did not tarry long, +probably not over a month, but long enough to dispose most effectually +of one Daniel Needham, a famous wrestler who had challenged the returned +boatman to a test of strength. The contest took place at a locality +known as "Wabash Point." Abe threw his antagonist twice with comparative +ease, and thereby demonstrated such marked strength and agility as to +render him forever popular with the boys of that neighborhood. + +In August the waters of the Sangamon river washed Lincoln in to +New Salem. This once sprightly and thriving village is no longer in +existence. Not a building, scarcely a stone, is left to mark the place +where it once stood. To reach it now the traveller must ascend a bluff +a hundred feet above the general level of the surrounding country. The +brow of the ridge, two hundred and fifty feet broad where it overlooks +the river, widens gradually as it extends westwardly to the forest and +ultimately to broad pastures. Skirting the base of the bluff is the +Sangamon river, which, coming around a sudden bend from the south-east, +strikes the rocky hill and is turned abruptly north. Here is an old +mill, driven by water-power, and reaching across the river is the +mill-dam on which Offut's vessel hung stranded in April, 1831. As the +river rolled her turbid waters over the dam, plunging them into the +whirl and eddy beneath, the roar of waters, like low, continuous, +distant thunder, could be distinctly heard through the village day and +night. + +The country in almost every direction is diversified by alternate +stretches of hills and level lands, with streams between each struggling +to reach the river. The hills are bearded with timber--oak, hickory, +walnut, ash, and elm. Below them are stretches of rich alluvial bottom +land, and the eye ranges over a vast expanse of foliage, the monotony +of which is relieved by the alternating swells and depressions of the +landscape. Between peak and peak, through its bed of limestone, sand, +and clay, sometimes kissing the feet of one bluff and then hugging the +other, rolls the Sangamon river. The village of New Salem, which once +stood on the ridge, was laid out in 1828; it became a trading place, and +in 1836 contained twenty houses and a hundred inhabitants. In the days +of land offices and stage-coaches it was a sprightly village with a busy +market. Its people were progressive and industrious. Propitious winds +filled the sails of its commerce, prosperity smiled graciously on +its every enterprise, and the outside world encouraged its social +pretensions. It had its day of glory, but, singularly enough, +cotemporaneous with the departure of Lincoln from its midst it went +into a rapid decline. A few crumbling stones here and there are all that +attest its former existence. "How it vanished," observes one writer, +"like a mist in the morning, to what distant places its inhabitants +dispersed, and what became of the abodes they left behind, shall be +questions for the local historian." + +Lincoln's return to New Salem in August, 1831, was, within a few days, +contemporaneous with the reappearance of Offut, who made the gratifying +announcement that he had purchased a stock of goods which were to follow +him from Beardstown. He had again retained the services of Lincoln +to assist him when his merchandise should come to hand. The tall +stranger--destined to be a stranger in New Salem no longer--pending the +arrival of his employer's goods, lounged about the village with nothing +to do. Leisure never sat heavily on him. To him there was nothing +uncongenial in it, and he might very properly have been dubbed at the +time a "loafer." He assured those with whom he came in contact that he +was a piece of floating driftwood; that after the winter of deep snow, +he had come down the river with the freshet; borne along by the swelling +waters, and aimlessly floating about, he had accidentally lodged at +New Salem. Looking back over his history we are forced to conclude that +Providence or chance, or whatever power is responsible for it, could not +have assigned him to a more favorable refuge. + +His introduction to the citizens of New Salem, as Mentor Graham* the +school-teacher tells us, was in the capacity of clerk of an election +board. Graham furnishes ample testimony of the facility, fairness, and +honesty which characterized the new clerk's work, and both teacher and +clerk were soon bound together by the warmest of ties. During the day, +when votes were coming in slowly, Lincoln began to entertain the crowd +at the polls with a few attempts at story-telling. My cousin, J. R. +Herndon, was present and enjoyed this feature of the election with the +keenest relish. He never forgot some of Lincoln's yarns, and was fond of +repeating them in after years. The recital of a few stories by Lincoln +easily established him in the good graces of all New Salem. Perhaps he +did not know it at the time, but he had used the weapon nearest at hand +and had won. + + * Nicolay and Hay in the Century make the mistake of + spelling this man's name "Menton" Graham. In all the letters + and papers from him he signs himself "Mentor" in every + case.--J. W. W. + + ** "In the afternoon, as things were dragging a little, + Lincoln the new man, began to spin out a stock of Indiana + yarns. One that amused me more than any other he called the + lizard story. 'The meeting-house,'" he said, "was in the + woods and quite a distance from any other house. It was only + used once a month. The preacher--an old line Baptist--was + dressed in coarse linen pantaloons, and shirt of the same + material. The pants, manufactured after the old fashion, + with, baggy legs and a flap in front, were made to attach to + his frame without the aid of suspenders. A single button + held his shirt in position, and that was at the collar. He + rose up in the pulpit and with a loud voice announced his + text thus: 'I am the Christ, whom I shall represent to-day.' + About this time a little blue lizard ran up underneath his + roomy pantaloons. The old preacher, not wishing to interrupt + the steady flow of his sermon, slapped away on his legs, + expecting to arrest the intruder; but his efforts were + unavailing, and the little fellow kept on ascending higher + and higher. Continuing the sermon, the preacher slyly + loosened the central button which graced the waist-band of + his pantaloons and with a kick off came that easy-fitting + garment. But meanwhile Mr. Lizard had passed the equatorial + line of waist-band and was calmly exploring that part of the + preacher's anatomy which lay underneath the back of his + shirt. Things were now growing interesting, but the sermon + was still grinding on. The next movement on the preacher's + part was for the collar button, and with one sweep of his + arm off came the tow linen shirt. The congregation sat for + an instant as if dazed; at length one old lady in the rear + of the room rose up and glancing at the excited object in + the pulpit, shouted at the top of her voice: 'If you + represent Christ then I'm done with the Bible.'"--J. R. + Herndon, MS., July 2, 1865. + +A few days after the election Lincoln found employment with one Dr. +Nelson, who after the style of dignitaries of later days started with +his family and effects in his "private" conveyance--which in this +instance was a flat-boat--for Texas. Lincoln was hired to pilot the +vessel through to the Illinois river. Arriving at Beardstown the pilot +was discharged, and returned on foot across the sand and hills to New +Salem. In the meantime Offut's long expected goods had arrived, and +Lincoln was placed in charge. Offut relied in no slight degree on the +business capacity of his clerk. In his effusive way he praised him +beyond reason. He boasted of his skill as a business man and his +wonderful intellectual acquirements. As for physical strength and +fearlessness of danger, he challenged New Salem and the entire world to +produce his equal. In keeping with his widely known spirit of enterprise +Offut rented the Rutledge and Cameron mill, which stood at the foot +of the hill, and thus added another iron to keep company with the +half-dozen already in the fire. As a further test of his business +ability Lincoln was placed in charge of this also. William G. Greene was +hired to assist him, and between the two a life-long friendship sprang +up. They slept in the store, and so strong was the intimacy between them +that "when one turned over the other had to do likewise." At the head of +these varied enterprises was Offut, the most progressive man by all +odds in the village. He was certainly an odd character, if we accept the +judgment of his cotemporaries. By some he is given the character of a +clear-headed, brisk man of affairs. By others he is variously described +as "wild, noisy, and reckless," or "windy, rattle-brained, unsteady, and +improvident." Despite the unenviable traits ascribed to him he was good +at heart and a generous friend of Lincoln. His boast that the latter +could outrun, whip, or throw down any man in Sangamon county was soon +tested, as we shall presently see, for, as another has truthfully +expressed it, "honors such as Offut accorded to Abe were to be won +before they were worn at New Salem." In the neighborhood of the village, +or rather a few miles to the south-west, lay a strip of timber called +Clary's Grove. The boys who lived there were a terror to the entire +region--seemingly a necessary product of frontier civilization. They +were friendly and good-natured; they could trench a pond, dig a bog, +build a house; they could pray and fight, make a village or create +a state. They would do almost anything for sport or fun, love or +necessity. Though rude and rough, though life's forces ran over the edge +of the bowl, foaming and sparkling in pure deviltry for deviltry's sake, +yet place before them a poor man who needed their aid, a lame or sick +man, a defenceless woman, a widow, or an orphaned child, they melted +into sympathy and charity at once. They gave all they had, and willingly +toiled or played cards for more. Though there never was under the sun a +more generous parcel of rowdies, a stranger's introduction was likely to +be the most unpleasant part of his acquaintance with them. They conceded +leadership to one Jack Armstrong, a hardy, strong, and well-developed +specimen of physical manhood, and under him they were in the habit of +"cleaning out" New Salem whenever his order went forth to do so. +Offut and "Bill" Clary--the latter skeptical of Lincoln's strength and +agility--ended a heated discussion in the store one day over the new +clerk's ability to meet the tactics of Clary's Grove, by a bet of ten +dollars that Jack Armstrong was, in the language of the day, "a better +man than Lincoln." The new clerk strongly opposed this sort of an +introduction, but after much entreaty from Offut, at last consented to +make his bow to the social lions of the town in this unusual way. He was +now six feet four inches high, and weighed, as his friend and confidant, +William Greene, tells us with impressive precision, "two hundred and +fourteen pounds." The contest was to be a friendly one and fairly +conducted. All New Salem adjourned to the scene of the wrestle. Money, +whiskey, knives, and all manner of property were staked on the result. +It is unnecessary to go into the details of the encounter. Everyone +knows how it ended; how at last the tall and angular rail-splitter, +enraged at the suspicion of foul tactics, and profiting by his height +and the length of his arms, fairly lifted the great bully by the throat +and shook him like a rag; how by this act he established himself solidly +in the esteem of all New Salem, and secured the respectful admiration +and friendship of the very man whom he had so thoroughly vanquished.* + + * Mr. Lincoln's remarkable strength resulted not so much + from muscular power as from the toughness of his sinews. He + could not only lift from the ground enormous weight, but + could throw a cannon-ball or a maul farther than anyone else + in New Salem. I heard him explain once how he was enabled + thus to excel others. He did not attribute it to a greater + proportion of physical strength, but contended that because + of the unusual length of his arms the ball or projectile had + a greater swing and therefore acquired more force and + momentum than in the hands of an average man. + +From this time forward Jack Armstrong, his wife Hannah, and all the +other Armstrongs became his warm and trusted friends. None stood readier +than they to rally to his support, none more willing to lend a helping +hand. Lincoln appreciated their friendship and support, and in after +years proved his gratitude by saving one member of the family from the +gallows. + +The business done over Offut's counter gave his clerk frequent intervals +of rest, so that, if so inclined, an abundance of time for study +was always at his disposal. Lincoln had long before realized the +deficiencies of his education, and resolved, now that the conditions +were favorable, to atone for early neglect by a course of study. Nothing +was more apparent to him than his limited knowledge of language, and +the proper way of expressing his ideas. Moreover, it may be said that +he appreciated his inefficiency in a rhetorical sense, and therefore +determined to overcome all these obstacles by mastering the intricacies +of grammatical construction. Acting on the advice of Mentor Graham he +hunted up one Vaner, who was the reputed owner of Kirkham's Grammar, +and after a walk of several miles returned to the store with the coveted +volume under his arm. With zealous perseverance he at once applied +himself to the book. Sometimes he would stretch out at full length on +the counter, his head propped up on a stack of calico prints, studying +it; or he would steal away to the shade of some inviting tree, and there +spend hours ar a time in a determined effort to fix in his mind the +arbitrary rule that "adverbs qualify verbs, adjectives, and other +adverbs." From the vapidity of grammar it was now and then a great +relaxation to turn to the more agreeable subject of mathematics; and he +might often have been seen lying face downwards, stretched out over six +feet of grass, figuring out on scraps of paper some problem given for +solution by a quizzical store lounger, or endeavoring to prove that, +"multiplying the denominator of a fraction divides it, while dividing +the denominator multiplies it." Rather a poor prospect one is forced to +admit for a successful man of business. + +At this point in my narrative I am pained to drop from further notice +our buoyant and effusive friend Offut. His business ventures failing +to yield the extensive returns he predicted, and too many of his +obligations maturing at the same time, he was forced to pay the penalty +of commercial delinquency and went to the wall. He soon disappeared from +the village, and the inhabitants thereof never knew whither he went. In +the significant language of Lincoln he "petered out." As late as 1873 I +received a letter from Dr. James Hall, a physician living at St. Dennis, +near Baltimore, Maryland, who, referring to the disappearance of Offut, +relates the following reminiscence: "Of what consequence to know or +learn more of Offut I cannot imagine; but be assured he turned up after +leaving New Salem. On meeting the name it seemed familiar, but I could +not locate him. Finally I fished up from memory that some twenty-five +years ago one "Denton Offut" appeared in Baltimore, hailing from +Kentucky, advertising himself in the city papers as a veterinary surgeon +and horse tamer, professing to have a secret to whisper in the horse's +ear, or a secret manner of whispering in his ear, which he could +communicate to others, and by which the most refractory and vicious +horse could be quieted and controlled. For this secret he charged five +dollars, binding the recipient by oath not to divulge it. I know several +persons, young fancy horsemen, who paid for the trick. Offut advertised +himself not only through the press, but by his strange attire. He +appeared in the streets on horseback and on foot, in plain citizens' +dress of black, but with a broad sash across his right shoulder, of +various colored ribbons, crossed on his left hip under a large +rosette of the same material, the whole rendering his appearance +most ludicrously conspicuous. Having occasion to purchase a horse I +encountered him at several of our stables and was strongly urged to +avail myself of his secret. So much for Offut; but were he living in +'61, I doubt not Mr. Lincoln would have heard of him." + +The early spring of 1832 brought to Springfield and New Salem a most +joyful announcement. It was the news of the coming of a steamboat down +the Sangamon river--proof incontestable that the stream was navigable. +The enterprise was undertaken and carried through by Captain Vincent +Bogue, of Springfield, who had gone to Cincinnati to procure a vessel +and thus settle the much-mooted question of the river's navigability. +When, therefore, he notified the people of his town that the steamboat +_Talisman_ would put out from Cincinnati for Springfield, we can well +imagine what great excitement and unbounded enthusiasm followed the +announcement. Springfield, New Salem, and all the other towns along the +now interesting Sangamon* were to be connected by water with the outside +world. + + *The final syllable of this name was then pronounced to + rhyme with "raw." In later days the letter "n" was added-- + probably for euphony's sake. + +Public meetings, with the accompaniment of long subscription lists, +were held; the merchants of Springfield advertised the arrival of goods +"direct from the East per steamer _Talisman_;" the mails were promised +as often as once a week from the same direction; all the land adjoining +each enterprising and aspiring village along the river was subdivided +into town lots--in fact, the whole region began to feel the stimulating +effects of what, in later days, would have been called a "boom." I +remember the occasion well, for two reasons. It was my first sight of +a steamboat, and also the first time I ever saw Mr. Lincoln--although +I never became acquainted with him till his second race for the +Legislature in 1834. In response to the suggestion of Captain +Bogue, made from Cincinnati, a number of citizens--among the number +Lincoln--had gone down the river to Beardstown to meet the vessel as +she emerged from the Illinois. These were armed with axes having long +handles, to cut away, as Bogue had recommended, "branches of trees +hanging over from the banks." After having passed New Salem, I and other +boys on horseback followed the boat, riding along the river's bank as +far as Bogue's mill, where she tied up. There we went aboard, and lost +in boyish wonder, feasted our eyes on the splendor of her interior +decorations. The _Sangamon Journal_ of that period contains numerous +poetical efforts celebrating the _Talisman's_ arrival. A few lines under +date of April 5, 1832, unsigned, but supposed to have been the product +of a local poet--one Oliphant*--were sung to the tune of "Clar de +Kitchen." I cannot refrain from inflicting a stanza or two of this ode +on the reader: + + * E. P. Oliphant, a lawyer. + + "O, Captain Bogue he gave the load, + And Captain Bogue he showed the road; + And we came up with a right good will, + And tied our boat up to his mill. + Now we are up the Sangamo, + And here we'll have a grand hurra, + So fill your glasses to the brim, + Of whiskey, brandy, wine, and gin. + Illinois suckers, young and raw, + Were strung along the Sangamo, + To see a boat come up by steam + They surely thought it was a dream." + +On its arrival at Springfield, or as near Springfield as the river +ran, the crew of the boat were given a reception and dance in the +court-house. The cream of the town's society attended to pay their +respects to the newly arrived guests. The captain in charge of the +boat--not Captain Bogue, but a vainly dressed fellow from the East--was +accompanied by a woman, more gaudily attired than himself, whom he +introduced as his wife. Of course the most considerate attention was +shown them both, until later in the evening, when it became apparent +that the gallant officer and his fair partner had imbibed too +freely--for in those days we had plenty of good cheer--and were becoming +unpleasantly demonstrative in their actions. This breach of good manners +openly offended the high-toned nature of Springfield's fair ladies; but +not more than the lamentable fact, which they learned on the following +day, that the captain's partner was not his wife after all, but a woman +of doubtful reputation whom he had brought with him from some place +further east. But to return to the _Talisman_. That now interesting +vessel lay for a week longer at Bogue's mill, when the receding waters +admonished her officers that unless they purposed spending the remainder +of the year there they must head her down-stream. In this emergency +recourse was had to my cousin Rowan Herndon, who had had no little +experience as a boatman, and who recommended the employment of Lincoln +as a skilful assistant. These two inland navigators undertook therefore +the contract of piloting the vessel--which had now become elephantine +in proportions--through the uncertain channel of the Sangamon to the +Illinois river. The average speed was four miles a day. At New Salem +safe passage over the mill-dam was deemed impossible unless the same +could be lowered or a portion removed.* + + * The affair at New Salem is thus described by Oliphant in + the poem before referred to: + +To this, Cameron and Rutledge, owners of the mill, entered their most +strenuous protest. The boat's officers responded that under the Federal +Constitution and laws no one had the right to dam up or in any way +obstruct a navigable stream, and they argued that, as they had just +demonstrated that the Sangamon was navigable (?), they proposed to +remove enough of the obstruction to let the boat through. Rowan Herndon, +describing it to me in 1865, said: "When we struck the dam she hung. We +then backed off and threw the anchor over. We tore away part of the +dam and raising steam ran her over on the first trial." The entire +proceeding stirred up no little feeling, in which mill owners, boat +officers, and passengers took part. The effect the return trip of the +_Talisman_ had on those who believed in the successful navigation of +the Sangamon is shrewdly indicated by the pilot, who with laconic +complacency adds: "As soon as she was over, the company that chartered +her was done with her." Lincoln and Herndon, in charge of the vessel, +piloted her through to Beardstown. There they were paid forty dollars +each, according to contract, and bidding adieu to the _Talisman's_ +officers and crew, set out on foot for New Salem again. A few months +later the Talisman caught fire at the wharf in St. Louis and went up in +flames. The experiment of establishing a steamboat line to Springfield +proved an unfortunate venture for its projector, Captain Bogue. Finding +himself unable to meet his rapidly maturing obligations, incurred in +aid of the enterprise, it is presumed that he left the country, for the +Journal of that period is filled with notices of attachment proceedings +brought by vigilant creditors who had levied on his goods. + + "And when we came to Salem dam, + Up we went against it jam: + We tried to cross with all our might, + But found we couldn't and staid all night." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +The departure of the _Talisman_ for deeper waters, the downfall of +Denton Offut's varied enterprises and his disappearance from New Salem, +followed in rapid succession, and before the spring of 1832 had merged +into summer Lincoln found himself a piece of "floating driftwood" again. +Where he might have lodged had not the Black Hawk war intervened can +only be a matter of conjecture. A glance at this novel period in his +life may not be out of keeping with the purpose of this book. The great +Indian chief, Black Hawk, who on the 30th of June, 1831, had entered +into an agreement, having all the solemnity of a treaty, with Governor +Reynolds and General Gaines that none of his tribe should ever cross the +Mississippi "to their usual place of residence, nor any part of their +old hunting grounds east of the Mississippi, without permission of +the President of the United States or the governor of the State of +Illinois," had openly broken the compact. On the 6th of April, 1832, he +recrossed the Mississippi and marched up Rock River Valley, accompanied +by about five hundred warriors on horseback; while his women and +children went up the river in canoes. The great chief was now +sixty-seven years old, and believed that his plots were all ripe and +his allies fast and true. Although warned by General Atkinson, then +in command of Fort Armstrong, against this aggression, and ordered to +return, he proudly refused, claiming that he had "come to plant corn." +On being informed of the movement of Black Hawk Governor Reynolds called +for a thousand mounted volunteers to co-operate with the United States +forces under command of General Atkinson, and drive the wily Indian back +across the Mississippi. The response to the governor's call was prompt +and energetic. In the company from Sangamon county Lincoln enlisted, +and now for the first time entered on the vicissitudinous and dangerous +life of a soldier. That he in fact regarded the campaign after the +Indians as a sort of holiday affair and chicken-stealing expedition is +clearly shown in a speech he afterwards made in Congress in exposure of +the military pretensions of General Cass. However, in grim, soldierly +severity he marched with the Sangamon county contingent to Rushville,* +in Schuyler county, where, much to his surprise, he was elected captain +of the company over William Kirkpatrick. A recital of the campaign that +followed, in the effort to drive the treacherous Indians back, or a +description of the few engagements--none of which reached the dignity +of a battle--which took place, have in no wise been overlooked by the +historians of Illinois and of the Black Hawk war. With the exception +of those things which relate to Lincoln alone I presume it would be +needless to attempt to add anything to what has so thoroughly and +truthfully been told. + + * While at the rendezvous at Rushville and on the march to + the front Lincoln of course drilled his men, and gave them + such meager instruction in military tactics as he could + impart. Some of the most grotesque things he ever related + were descriptions of these drills. In marching one morning + at the head of the company, who were following in lines of + twenty abreast, it became necessary to pass through a gate + much narrower than the lines. The captain could not remember + the proper command to turn the company endwise, and the + situation was becoming decidedly embarrassing, when one of + those thoughts born of the depths of despair came to his + rescue. Facing the lines, he shouted: "Halt! This company + will break ranks for two minutes and form again on the other + side of the gate." The manouvre was successfully executed. + +On being elected captain, Lincoln replied in a brief response of modest +and thankful acceptance. It was the first official trust ever turned +over to his keeping, and he prized it and the distinction it gave him +more than any which in after years fell to his lot. His company savored +strongly of the Clary's Grove order, and though daring enough in the +presence of danger, were difficult to bring down to the inflexibilities +of military discipline. Each one seemed perfectly able and willing to +care for himself, and while the captain's authority was respectfully +observed, yet, as some have said, they were none the less a crowd of +"generous ruffians." I heard Mr. Lincoln say once on the subject of his +career as captain in this company and the discipline he exercised over +his men, that to the first order given one of them he received the +response, "Go to the devil, sir!" Notwithstanding the interchange of +many such unsoldierlike civilities between the officer and his men, +a strong bond of affection united them together, and if a contest had +arisen over the conflict of orders between the United States authorities +and those emanating from Captain Lincoln or some other Illinois +officer--as at one time was threatened--we need not be told to which +side the Sangamon county company to a man would have gone. A general +order forbidding the discharge of firearms within fifty yards of the +camp was disobeyed by Captain Lincoln himself. For this violation of +rule he was placed under arrest and deprived of his sword for a day. But +this and other punishments in no way humiliated him in the esteem of +his men; if anything, they only clung the closer, and when Clary's Grove +friendship asserted itself, it meant that firm and generous attachment +found alone on the frontier--that bond, closer than the affinity of +blood, which becomes stronger as danger approaches death. + +A soldier of the Sangamon county company broke into the officers' +quarters one night, and with the aid of a tomahawk and four buckets, +obtained by stealth a good supply of wines and liquors, which he +generously distributed to his appreciative comrades. The next morning at +daybreak, when the army began to move, the Sangamon county company, +much to their captain's astonishment, were unfit for the march. Their +nocturnal expedition had been too much for them, and one by one they +fell by the wayside, until but a mere handful remained to keep step with +their gallant and astounded captain. Those who fell behind gradually +overcame the effects of their carousal, but were hard pressed to +overtake the command, and it was far into the night when the last one +straggled into camp. The investigation which followed resulted only in +the captain suffering the punishment for the more guilty men. For this +infraction of military law he was put under arrest and made to carry +a wooden sword for two days, "and this too," as one of his company has +since assured me, "although he was entirely blameless in the matter." + +Among the few incidents of Lincoln's career in the Black Hawk war that +have found a place in history was his manly interference to protect an +old Indian who strayed, hungry and helpless, into camp one day, and whom +the soldiers were conspiring to kill on the ground that he was a spy. +A letter from General Cass, recommending him for his past kind and +faithful services to the whites, which the trembling old savage drew +from beneath the folds of his blanket failed in any degree to appease +the wrath of the men who confronted him. They had come out to fight the +treacherous Indians, and here was one who had the temerity even to steal +into their camp. "Make an example of him," they exclaimed. "The letter +is a forgery and he is a spy." They might have put their threats into +execution had not the tall form of their captain, his face "swarthy +with resolution and rage," interposed itself between them and their +defenseless victim. Lincoln's determined look and demand that "it +must not be done" were enough. They sullenly desisted, and the Indian, +unmolested, continued on his way. + +Lincoln's famous wrestling match with the redoubtable Thompson, a +soldier from Union county, who managed to throw him twice in succession, +caused no diminution in the admiration and pride his men felt in their +captain's muscle and prowess. They declared that unfair advantage had +been taken of their champion, that Thompson had been guilty of foul +tactics, and that, in the language of the sporting arena, it was a +"dog-fall." Lincoln's magnanimous action, however, in according his +opponent credit for fair dealing in the face of the wide-spread and +adverse criticism that prevailed, only strengthened him in the esteem of +all.* + + * William L. Wilson, a survivor of the war, in a letter + under date of February 3, 1882, after detailing + reminiscences of Stillman's defeat, says: "I have during + that time had much fun with the afterwards President of the + United States, Abraham Lincoln. I remember one time of + wrestling with him, two best in three, and ditched him. He + was not satisfied, and we tried it in a foot-race for a + five-dollar bill. I won the money, and 'tis spent long ago. + And many more reminiscences could I give, but am of the + Quaker persuasion, and not much given to writing." + +At times the soldiers were hard pressed for food, but by a combination +of ingenuity and labor in proportions known only to a volunteer soldier, +they managed to avoid the unpleasant results of long-continued and +unsatisfied hunger. "At an old Winnebago town called Turtle Village," +narrates a member of the company, "after stretching our rations over +nearly four days, one of our mess, an old acquaintance of Lincoln, G. B. +Fanchier, shot a dove, and having a gill of flour left we made a gallon +and a half of delicious soup in an old tin bucket that had been lost by +Indians. This soup we divided among several messes that were hungrier +than we were and our own mess, by pouring in each man's cup a portion of +the esculent. Once more, at another time, in the extreme northern part +of Illinois, we had been very hungry for two days, but suddenly came +upon a new cabin at the edge of the prairie that the pioneer sovereign +squatter family had vacated and 'skedaddled' from for fear of losing +their scalps. There were plenty of chickens about the cabin, much +hungrier than we ourselves were, if poverty is to test the matter, +and the boys heard a voice saying 'Slay and eat.' They at once went to +running, clubbing, and shooting them as long as they could be found. +Whilst the killing was going on I climbed to the ridge-pole of the +smoke-house to see distinctly what I saw obscurely from the ground, +and behold! the cleanest, sweetest jole I ever saw--alone, half hid by +boards and ridge-pole, stuck up no doubt for future use. By this time +many of the chickens were on the fire, broiling, for want of grease or +gravy to fry them in. Some practical fellow proposed to throw in with +the fowls enough bacon to convert broiling into frying; the proposition +was adopted, and they were soon fried. We began to eat the tough, dry +chickens with alternating mouthfuls of the jole, when Lincoln came to +the repast with the query, 'Eating chicken, boys?' 'Not much, sir,' I +responded, for we had operated principally on the jole, it being +sweeter and more palatable than the chickens. 'It is much like eating +saddlebags,' he responded; 'but I think the stomach can accomplish much +to-day; but what have you got therewith the skeletons, George? 'We did +have a sweet jole of a hog, sir,' I answered, 'but you are nearly too +late for your share,' at the same time making room for him to approach +the elm-bark dish. He ate the bacon a moment, then commenced dividing by +mouthfuls to the boys from other messes, who came to 'see what Abe was +at,' and saying many quaint and funny things suited to the time and +the jole." The captain, it will be seen, by his "freedom without +familiarity" and his "courtesy without condescension," was fast +making inroads on the respect of his rude but appreciative men. He +was doubtless looking a long way ahead, when both their friendship +and respect would be of avail, for as the chronicler last quoted from +continues: "He was acquainted with everybody, and he had determined, +as he told me, to become a candidate for the next Legislature. The mess +immediately pitched on him as our standard-bearer, and he accepted." + +The term for which the volunteers had enlisted had now expired, and the +majority, tiring of the service, the novelty of which had worn off, and +longing for the comforts and good cheer of their homes, refused +either to re-enlist or render further service. They turned their faces +homeward, each with his appetite for military glory well satiated. But +the war was not over, and the mighty Black Hawk was still east of the +Mississippi. A few remained and re-enlisted. Among them was Lincoln. +This time, eschewing the responsibility of a captaincy, and to avoid the +possible embarrassment of dragging about camp a wooden sword, he entered +the company of Elijah Iles as a dignified private. It has pleased some +of Mr. Lincoln's biographers to attribute this re-enlistment to pure +patriotism on his part and a conscientious desire to serve his country. +From the standpoint of sentiment that is a comfortable view to take +of it; but I have strong reason to believe that Mr. Lincoln never +entertained such serious notions of the campaign. In fact, I may say +that my information comes from the best authority to be had in the +matter--the soldier himself. Mr. Lincoln had no home; he had cut loose +from his parents, from the Hankses and the Johnstons; he left behind +him no anxious wife and children; and no chair before a warm fireside +remained vacant for him. "I was out of work," he said to me once, "and +there being no danger of more fighting, I could do nothing better than +enlist again." + +After his discharge from this last and brief period of service, along +with the remainder of the Sangamon county soldiers, he departed from the +scenes of recent hostilities for New Salem again. His soldier days had +ended, and he returned now to enter upon a far different career. However +much in later years he may have pretended to ridicule the disasters +of the Black Hawk war, or the part he took in it, yet I believe he +was rather proud of it after all. When Congress, along in the fifties, +granted him a land warrant he was greatly pleased. He located it on some +land in Iowa, and declared to me one day that he would die seized of +that land, and although the tract never yielded him anything he never, +so far as my knowledge extends parted with its ownership.* + + * "In regard to the Bounty Land Warrants issued to Abraham + Lincoln for military services during the Black Hawk war as + Captain of 4th Illinois Volunteers, the first warrant, No. + 52,076, for forty acres (Act of 1850), was issued to Abraham + Lincoln, Captain, etc. on the 16th of April, 1852, and was + located in his name by his duly appointed attorney, John P. + Davis, at Dubuque, Iowa, July 21, 1854, on the north-west + quarter of the south-west quarter of section 20, in Township + 84, north of Range 39, west, Iowa. A patent as recorded in + volume 280, page 21, was issued for this tract to Abraham + Lincoln on the 1st of June, 1855, and transmitted the 26th + October, 1855, to the Register of delivery. + + "Under the Act of 1855, another Land Warrant, No. 68,465, + for 120 acres, was issued to Abraham Lincoln, Captain + Illinois Militia, Black Hawk war, on the 22d April, 1856, + and was located by himself at Springfield, Illinois, + December 27, 1859, on the east half of the north-east + quarter and the north-west quarter of the north-east quarter + of section 18, in Township 84, north of Range 39, west; for + which a patent, as recorded in volume 468, page 53, was + issued September 10, 1860, and sent October 30, 1860, to the + Register for delivery."--Letter Jos. S. Wilson Acting + Commissioner Land Office, June 27, 1865. + +The return of the Black Hawk warriors to New Salem occurred in the +month of August, but a short time before the general election. A +new Legislature was to be chosen, and as Lincoln had declared to +his comrades in the army he would, and in obedience to the effusive +declaration of principles which he had issued over his signature in +March, before he went to the war, he presented himself to the people of +his newly adopted county as a candidate for the Legislature. It is +not necessary to enter into an account of the political conditions in +Illinois at that time, or the effect had on the same by those who had +in charge the governmental machinery. Lincoln's course is all that +interests us. Though he may not have distinctly avowed himself a +Whig, yet, as one of his friends asserted, "he stood openly on Whig +principles." He favored a national bank, a liberal system of internal +improvements, and a high protective tariff. The handbill or circular +alluded to announcing his candidacy was a sort of literary fulmination, +but on account of its length I deem it unnecessary to insert the whole +of it here. I have been told that it was prepared by Lincoln, but purged +of its most glaring grammatical errors by James McNamar, who afterwards +became Lincoln's rival in an important love affair.* + + * In a letter dated May 5, 1866, McNamar says: + + "I corrected at his request some of the grammatical errors + in his first address to the voters of Sangamon county, his + principal hobby being the navigation of the Sangamon river." + +The circular is dated March 9, 1832, and addressed to the "People of +Sangamon County." In it he takes up all the leading questions of the +day: railroads, river navigation, internal improvements, and usury. He +dwells particularly on the matter of public education, alluding to it as +the most important subject before the people. Realizing his own defects +arising from a lack of school instruction he contends that every man +and his children, however poor, should be permitted to obtain at least +a moderate education, and thereby be enabled "to read the Scriptures and +other works both of a moral and religious nature for themselves." The +closing paragraph was so constructed as to appeal to the chivalrous +sentiments of Clary's Grove. "I was born and have ever remained," +he declares, "in the most humble walks of life. I have no wealthy +or popular relatives or friends to recommend me. My case is thrown +exclusively upon the independent voters of the county; and if +elected they will have conferred a favor upon me for which I shall be +unremitting in my labors to compensate. But if," he dryly concludes, +"the good people in their wisdom shall see fit to keep me in the +background, I have been too familiar with disappointments to be very +much chagrined." + +The election being near at hand only a few days remained for his +canvass. One * who was with him at the time describing his appearance, +says: "He wore a mixed jeans coat, clawhammer style, short in the +sleeves and bobtail--in fact it was so short in the tail he could not +sit on it; flax and tow-linen pantaloons, and a straw hat. I think +he wore a vest, but do not remember how it looked. He wore pot-metal +boots." His maiden effort on the stump was a speech on the occasion of +a public sale at Pappsville, a village eleven miles west of Springfield. +After the sale was over and speech-making had begun, a fight--a "general +fight," as one of the bystanders relates--ensued, and Lincoln, noticing +one of his friends about to succumb to the energetic attack of +an infuriated ruffian, interposed to prevent it. He did so most +effectually. + + * A. Y. Ellis, letter, June 5, 1866, MS. + +Hastily descending from the rude platform he edged his way through the +crowd, and seizing the bully by the neck and seat of his trowsers, +threw him by means of his strength and long arms, as one witness stoutly +insists, "twelve feet away." Returning to the stand and throwing aside +his hat he inaugurated his campaign with the following brief but juicy +declaration: + +"Fellow Citizens, I presume you all know who I am. I am humble Abraham +Lincoln. I have been solicited by many friends to become a candidate for +the Legislature. My politics are short and sweet, like the old woman's +dance. I am in favor of a national bank. I am in favor of the internal +improvement system and a high protective tariff. These are my sentiments +and political principles. If elected I shall be thankful; if not it will +be all the same." + +I obtained this speech from A. Y. Ellis, who in 1865 wrote it out. +Ellis was his friend and supporter, and took no little interest in his +canvass. "I accompanied him," he relates, "on one of his electioneering +trips to Island Grove, and he made a speech which pleased his party +friends very well indeed, though some of the Jackson men tried to make +sport of it. He told several anecdotes, and applied them, as I thought, +very well. He also told the boys several stories which drew them after +him. I remember them, but modesty and my veneration for his memory +forbid me to relate them." His story-telling propensity, and the +striking fitness of his yarns--many of them being of the bar-room +order--in illustrating public questions, as we shall see further along +in these chapters, was really one of the secrets of his popularity and +strength. The election, as he had predicted, resulted in his defeat--the +only defeat, as he himself afterward stated, that he ever suffered at +the hands of the people. But there was little defeat in it after all. +Out of the eight unsuccessful candidates he stood third from the head +of the list, receiving 657 votes. Five others received less. The most +gratifying feature of it all was the hearty support of his neighbors at +New Salem. Of the entire 208 votes in the precinct he received every one +save three. + +It may not be amiss to explain the cause of this remarkable endorsement +of Lincoln by the voters in New Salem. It arose chiefly from his +advocacy of the improvement of the Sangamon river. He proposed the +digging of a canal a few miles east of the point where the Sangamon +enters the Illinois river, thereby giving the former two mouths. +This, he explained to the farmers, would prevent the accumulation of +back-water and consequent overflow of their rich alluvial bottom lands +in the spring. It would also avert the sickness and evil results +of stagnant pools, which formed in low places after the high waters +receded. His scheme--that is the name by which it would be known +to-day--commended itself to the judgment of his neighbors, and the +flattering vote he received shows how they endorsed it. + +The unsuccessful result of the election did not dampen his hopes nor +sour his ambition. The extensive acquaintance, the practice in public +speaking, the confidence gained with the people, together with what was +augmented in himself, made a surplus of capital on which he was free to +draw and of which he afterwards frequently availed himself. The election +being over, however, he found himself without money, though with a +goodly supply of experience, drifting again. His political experience +had forever weaned him from the dull routine of common labor. +Labor afforded him no time for study and no incentive to profitable +reflection. What he seemed to want was some lighter work, employment in +a store or tavern where he could meet the village celebrities, exchange +views with strangers, discuss politics, horse-races, cock-fights, and +narrate to listening loafers his striking and significant stories. +In the communities where he had lived, the village store-keeper held +undisturbed sway. He took the only newspapers, owned the only collection +of books and half the property in the village; and in general was the +social, and oftentimes the political head of the community. Naturally, +therefore the prominence the store gave the merchant attracted Lincoln. +But there seemed no favorable opening for him--clerks in New Salem were +not in demand just then. + +My cousins, Rowan and James Herndon, were at that time operating +a store, and tiring of their investment and the confinement it +necessitated, James sold his interest to an idle, shiftless fellow named +William Berry. Soon after Rowan disposed of his to Lincoln. That the +latter, who was without means and in search of work, could succeed to +the ownership of even a half interest in a concern where but a few days +before he would in all probability gladly have exchanged his services +for his board, doubtless seems strange to the average young business +man of to-day. I once asked Rowan Herndon what induced him to make such +liberal terms in dealing with Lincoln, whom he had known for so short a +time. + +"I believed he was thoroughly honest," was the reply, "and that +impression was so strong in me I accepted his note in payment of the +whole. He had no money, but I would have advanced him still more had he +asked for it." + +Lincoln and Berry had been installed in business but a short time until +one Reuben Radford, the proprietor of another New Salem grocery, who, +happening to incur the displeasure of the Clary's Grove boys, decided +suddenly one morning, in the commercial language of later days, to +"retire from business." A visit by night of the Clary's Grove contingent +always hastened any man's retirement from business. The windows were +driven in, and possession taken of the stock without either ceremony +or inventory. If, by break of day, the unfortunate proprietor found any +portion of his establishment standing where he left it the night before, +he might count himself lucky. In Radford's case, fearing "his bones +might share the fate of his windows," he disposed of his stock and +good-will to William Greene for a consideration of four hundred dollars. +The latter employed Lincoln to make an inventory of the goods, and when +completed, the new merchant, seeing in it something of a speculation, +offered Greene an advance of two hundred and fifty dollars on his +investment. The offer was accepted, and the stock and fixtures passed +into the ownership and control of the now enterprising firm of Lincoln +& Berry. They subsequently absorbed the remnant of a store belonging +to one Rutledge, which last transaction cleared the field of all +competitors and left them in possession of the only mercantile concern +in New Salem. + +To effect these sales not a cent of money was required--the buyer giving +the seller his note and the latter assigning it to someone else in +another trade. Berry gave his note to James Herndon, Lincoln his +to Rowan Herndon, while Lincoln & Berry as a firm, executed their +obligation to Greene, Radford, and Rutledge in succession. Surely Wall +Street at no time in its history has furnished a brace of speculators +who in so brief a period accomplished so much and with so little money. +A few weeks only were sufficient to render apparent Lincoln's ill +adaptation to the requirements of a successful business career. Once +installed behind the counter he gave himself up to reading and study, +depending for the practical management of the business on his partner. +A more unfortunate selection than Berry could not have been found; +for, while Lincoln at one end of the store was dispensing political +information, Berry at the other was disposing of the firm's liquors, +being the best customer for that article of merchandise himself. To put +it more plainly, Lincoln's application to Shakespeare and Bums was only +equalled by Berry's attention to spigot and barrel. That the latter in +the end succeeded in squandering a good portion of their joint assets, +besides wrecking his own health, is not to be wondered at. By the +spring of 1833 they, like their predecessors, were ready to retire. +Two brothers named Trent coming along, they sold to them on the liberal +terms then prevalent the business and good-will; but before the latter's +notes fell due, they in turn had failed and fled. The death of Berry +following soon after, released him from the payment of any notes or +debts, and thus Lincoln was left to meet the unhonored obligations +of the ill-fated partnership, or avoid their payment by dividing the +responsibility and pleading the failure of the business. That he assumed +all the liability and set resolutely to work to pay everything, was +strictly in keeping with his fine sense of honor and justice. He was a +long time meeting these claims, even as late as 1848 sending to me from +Washington portions of his salary as Congressman to be applied on the +unpaid remnant of the Berry & Lincoln indebtedness--but in time he +extinguished it all, even to the last penny. + +Conscious of his many shortcomings as a merchant, and undaunted by the +unfortunate complications from which he had just been released, Lincoln +returned to his books. Rowan Herndon, with whom he had been living, +having removed to the country, he became for the first time a sojourner +at the tavern, as it was then called--a public-house kept by Rutledge, +Onstatt, and Alley in succession. "It was a small log house," he +explained to me in later years, "covered with clapboards, and contained +four rooms." It was second only in importance to the store, for there +he had the opportunity of meeting passing strangers--lawyers and others +from the county seat, whom he frequently impressed with his knowledge +as well as wit. He had, doubtless, long before determined to prepare +himself for the law; in fact, had begun to read Blackstone while in the +store, and now went at it with renewed zeal. He borrowed law-books +of his former comrade in the Black Hawk war, John T. Stuart, who was +practicing law in Springfield, frequently walking there to return one +and borrow another. His determination to master any subject he undertook +and his application to study were of the most intense order. On the +road to and from Springfield he would read and recite from the book he +carried open in his hand, and claimed to have mastered forty pages of +Blackstone during the first day after his return from Stuart's office. +At New Salem he frequently sat barefooted under the shade of a tree near +the store, poring over a volume of Chitty or Blackstone; sometimes lying +on his back, putting his feet up the tree, which provokes one of his +biographers to denote the latter posture as one which might have been +"unfavorable to mental application, in the case of a man with shorter +extremities." + +That Lincoln's attempt to make a lawyer of himself under such adverse +and unpromising circumstances excited comment is not to be wondered at. +Russell Godby, an old man who still survives, told me in 1865, that he +had often employed Lincoln to do farm work for him, and was surprised +to find him one day sitting barefoot on the summit of a woodpile and +attentively reading a book. "This being an unusual thing for farm hands +in that early day to do, I asked him," relates Godby, "what he was +reading." 'I'm not reading,' he answered. 'I'm studying.' 'Studying +what?' I enquired. 'Law, sir,' was the emphatic response. It was really +too much for me, as I looked at him sitting there proud as Cicero. +'Great God Almighty!' I exclaimed, and passed on. + +But Lincoln kept on at his studies. Wherever he was and whenever he +could do so the book was brought into use. He carried it with him in his +rambles through the woods and his walks to the river. When night came +he read it by the aid of any friendly light he could find. Frequently +he went down to the cooper's shop and kindled a fire out of the waste +material lying about, and by the light it afforded read until far into +the night. + +One of his companions at this time relates that, "while clerking in the +store or serving as postmaster he would apply himself as opportunity +offered to his studies, if it was but five minutes time--would open his +book which he always kept at hand, study it, reciting to himself; then +entertain the company present or wait on a customer without apparent +annoyance from the interruption. Have frequently seen him reading while +walking along the streets. Occasionally he would become absorbed with +his book; would stop and stand for a few moments, then walk on, or pass +from one house to another or from one crowd or squad of men to another. +He was apparently seeking amusement, and with his thoughtful face and +ill-fitting clothes was the last man one would have singled out for +a student. If the company he was in was unappreciative, or their +conversation at all irksome, he would open his book and commune with +it for a time, until a happy thought suggested itself and then the book +would again return to its wonted resting-place under his arm. He never +appeared to be a hard student, as he seemed to master his studies with +little effort, until he commenced the study of the law. In that he +became wholly engrossed, and began for the first time to avoid the +society of men, in order that he might have more time for study. He was +not what is usually termed a quick-minded man, although he would usually +arrive at his conclusions very readily. He seemed invariably to reflect +and deliberate, and never acted from impulse so far as to force a wrong +conclusion on a subject of any moment." * + + * R. B. Rutledge, letter, Nov. 30. 1866, MS. + +It was not long until he was able to draw up deeds, contracts, +mortgages, and other legal papers for his neighbors. He figured +conspicuously as a pettifogger before the justice of the peace, but +regarding it merely as a kind of preliminary practice, seldom made any +charge for his services. Meanwhile he was reading not only law books but +natural philosophy and other scientific subjects. He was a careful +and patient reader of newspapers, the _Sangamon Journal_--published at +Springfield--_Louisville Journal, St. Louis Republican, and Cincinnati +Gazette_ being usually within his reach. He paid a less degree of +attention to historical works, although he read Rollin and Gibbon while +in business with Berry. He had a more pronounced fondness for fictitious +literature, and read with evident relish Mrs. Lee Hentz's novels, which +were very popular books in that day, and which were kindly loaned him +by his friend A. Y. Ellis. The latter was a prosperous and shrewd young +merchant who had come up from Springfield and taken quite a fancy to +Lincoln. The two slept together and Lincoln frequently assisted him in +the store. He says that Lincoln was fond of short, spicy stories one and +two columns long, and cites as specimens, "Cousin Sally Dillard," "Becky +William's Courtship," "The Down-Easter and the Bull," and others, the +very titles suggesting the character of the productions. He remembered +everything he read, and could afterwards without apparent difficulty +relate it. In fact, Mr. Lincoln's fame as a storyteller spread far and +wide. Men quoted his sayings, repeated his jokes, and in remote places +he was known as a story-teller before he was heard of either as lawyer +or politician. + +It has been denied as often as charged that Lincoln narrated vulgar +stories; but the truth is he loved a story however extravagant or +vulgar, if it had a good point. If it was merely a ribald recital and +had no sting in the end, that is, if it exposed no weakness or pointed +no moral, he had no use for it either in conversation or public speech; +but if it had the necessary ingredients of mirth and moral no one could +use it with more telling effect. As a mimic he was unequalled, and +with his characteristic gestures, he built up a reputation for +story-telling--although fully as many of his narratives were borrowed as +original--which followed him through life. One who listened to his +early stories in New Salem says: "His laugh was striking. Such awkward +gestures belonged to no other man. They attracted universal attention, +from the old sedate down to the schoolboy. Then in a few moments he was +as calm and thoughtful as a judge on the bench, and as ready to give +advice on the most important matters; fun and gravity grew on him +alike." + +Lincoln's lack of musical adaptation has deprived us of many a song. For +a ballad or doggerel he sometimes had quite a liking. He could memorize +or recite the lines but some one else had to do the singing. Listen to +one in which he shows "_How St. Patrick Came to be Born on the 17th of +March_." Who composed it or where Lincoln obtained it I have never +been able to learn. Ellis says he often inflicted it on the crowds who +collected in his store of winter evenings. Here it is: + + "The first factional fight in old Ireland, they say, + Was all on account of Saint Patrick's birthday, + It was somewhere about midnight without any doubt, + And certain it is, it made a great rout. + + On the eighth day of March, as some people say, + St Patrick at midnight he first saw the day; + While others assert 'twas the ninth he was born, + Twas all a mistake--between midnight and morn. + + Some blamed the baby, some blamed the clock; + Some blamed the doctor, some the crowing cock. + With all these close questions sure no one could know, + Whether the babe was too fast or the clock was too slow. + + Some fought for the eighth, for the ninth some would die; + He who wouldn't see right would have a black eye. + At length these two factions so positive grew, + They each had a birthday, and Pat he had two. + + Till Father Mulcahay who showed them their sins, + He said none could have two birthdays but as twins. + 'Now Boys, don't be fighting for the eight or the nine + Don't quarrel so always, now why not combine.' + + Combine eight with nine. It is the mark; + Let that be the birthday. Amen! said the clerk. + So all got blind drunk, which completed their bliss, + And they've kept up the practice from that day to this." * + + * From MS., furnished by Ellis in August, 1866. + +As a salesman, Lincoln was lamentably deficient. He was too prone to +lead off into a discussion of politics or morality, leaving someone else +to finish the trade which he had undertaken. One of his employers says: +"He always disliked to wait on the ladies, preferring, he said, to +wait on the men and boys. I also remember he used to sleep on the store +counter when they had too much company at the tavern. He wore flax +and tow linen pantaloons--I thought about five inches too short in the +legs--and frequently had but one suspender, no vest or coat. He wore a +calico shirt, such as he had in the Black Hawk war; coarse brogans, tan +color; blue yarn socks and straw hat, old style, and without a band." +His friend Ellis attributed his shyness in the presence of the ladies +to the consciousness of his awkward appearance and the unpretentious +condition of his wearing apparel. It was more than likely due to pure +bashfulness. "On one occasion," continues Ellis, "while we boarded at +the tavern, there came a family consisting of an old lady, her son, and +three stylish daughters, from the State of Virginia, who stopped there +for two or three weeks, and during their stay I do not remember of Mr. +Lincoln's ever appearing at the same table with them." + +As a society man, Lincoln was singularly deficient while he lived in New +Salem, and even during the remainder of his life. He never indulged +in gossip about the ladies, nor aided in the circulation of village +scandal. For woman he had a high regard, and I can testify that during +my long acquaintance with him his conversation was free from injurious +comment in individual cases--freer from unpleasant allusions than that +of most men. At one time Major Hill charged him with making defamatory +remarks regarding his wife. Hill was insulting in his language to +Lincoln who never lost his temper. When he saw a chance to edge a word +in, Lincoln denied emphatically using the language or anything like that +attributed to him. He entertained, he insisted, a high regard for Mrs. +Hill, and the only thing he knew to her discredit was the fact that she +was Major Hill's wife. + +At this time in its brief history New Salem was what in the parlance of +large cities would be called a fast place; and it was difficult for a +young man of ordinary moral courage to resist the temptations that beset +him on every hand. It remains a matter of surprise that Lincoln was able +to retain his popularity with the hosts of young men of his own age, +and still not join them in their drinking bouts and carousals. "I am +certain," contends one of his companions, "that he never drank any +intoxicating liquors--he did not even in those days smoke or chew +tobacco." In sports requiring either muscle or skill he took no little +interest. He indulged in all the games of the day, even to a horse-race +or cock-fight. At one eventful chicken fight, where a fee of twenty-five +cents for the entrance of each fowl was assessed, one Bap. McNabb +brought a little red rooster, whose fighting qualities had been well +advertised for days in advance by his owner. Much interest was naturally +taken in the contest. As the outcome of these contests was generally a +quarrel, in which each man, charging foul play, seized his victim, they +chose Lincoln umpire, relying not only on his fairness but his ability +to enforce his decisions. In relating what followed I cannot improve on +the description furnished me in February, 1865, by one* who was present. + + * A. Y. Ellis, MS. + +"They formed a ring, and the time having arrived, Lincoln, with one hand +on each hip and in a squatting position, cried, 'Ready.' Into the ring +they toss their fowls, Bap's red rooster along with the rest. But no +sooner had the little beauty discovered what was to be done than +he dropped his tail and ran. The crowd cheered, while Bap. in +disappointment picked him up and started away, losing his quarter and +carrying home his dishonored fowl. Once arrived at the latter place he +threw his pet down with a feeling of indignation and chagrin. The little +fellow, out of sight of all rivals, mounted a wood pile and proudly +flirting out his feathers, crowed with all his might. Bap. looked on +in disgust. 'Yes, you little cuss,' he exclaimed, irreverently, 'you're +great on dress parade, but not worth a d----n in a fight.'" It is +said--how truthfully I do not know--that at some period during the late +war Mr. Lincoln in conversation with a friend likened McClellan to Bap. +McNabb's rooster. So much for New Salem sports. + +While wooing that jealous-eyed mistress, the law, Lincoln was earning +no money. As another has said, "he had a running board bill to pay, and +nothing to pay it with." By dint of sundry jobs here and there, helping +Ellis in his store to-day, splitting rails for James Short to-morrow, +he managed to keep his head above the waves. His friends were firm--no +young man ever had truer or better ones--but he was of too independent +a turn to appeal to them or complain of his condition. He never at any +time abandoned the idea of becoming a lawyer. That was always a spirit +which beckoned him on in the darkest hour of his adversity. Someone, +probably a Democrat who voted for him in the preceding fall, recommended +him to John Calhoun, then surveyor of the county, as suitable material +for an assistant. This office, in view of the prevailing speculation +in lands and town lots, was the most important and possibly the most +profitable in the county. Calhoun, the incumbent, was a Yankee and +a typical gentleman. He was brave, intellectual, self-possessed, and +cultivated. He had been educated for the law, but never practiced much +after coming to Illinois--taught school in preference. As an instructor +he was the popular one of his day and age. I attended the school he +taught when I was a boy, in Springfield, and was in later years clerk of +the city under his administration as Mayor. Lincoln, I know, respected +and admired him. After Lincoln's removal to Springfield they frequently +held joint debates on political questions. At one time I remember they +discussed the tariff question in the court house, using up the better +part of two evenings in the contest. Calhoun was polite, affable, and an +honest debater, never dodging any question. This made him a formidable +antagonist in argumentative controversy. I have heard Lincoln say that +Calhoun gave him more trouble in his debates than Douglas ever did, +because he was more captivating in his manner and a more learned man +than Douglas. + +But to resume. The recommendation of Lincoln's friends was sufficient +to induce Calhoun to appoint him one of his deputies. At the time he +received notice of his selection by Calhoun, Lincoln was out in the +woods near New Salem splitting rails. A friend named Pollard Simmons, +who still survives and has related the incident to me, walked out to the +point where he was working with the cheering news. Lincoln, being a Whig +and knowing Calhoun's pronounced Democratic tendencies, enquired if he +had to sacrifice any principle in accepting the position. "If I can +be perfectly free in my political action I will take the office," he +remarked; "but if my sentiments or even expression of them is to be +abridged in any way I would not have it or any other office." A young +man hampered by poverty as Lincoln was at this time, who had the courage +to deal with public office as he did, was certainly made of unalloyed +material. No wonder in after years when he was defeated by Douglas he +could inspire his friends by the admonition not to "give up after one +nor one hundred defeats." + +After taking service with Calhoun, Lincoln found he had but little +if any practical knowledge of surveying--all that had to be learned. +Calhoun furnished him with books, directing him to study them till he +felt competent to begin work. He again invoked the assistance of Mentor +Graham, the schoolmaster, who aided him in his efforts at calculating +the results of surveys and measurements. Lincoln was not a mathematician +by nature, and hence, with him, learning meant labor. Graham's daughter +is authority for the statement that her father and Lincoln frequently +sat up till midnight engrossed in calculations, and only ceased when +her mother drove them out after a fresh supply of wood for the fire. +Meanwhile Lincoln was keeping up his law studies. "He studied to see +the subject-matter clearly," says Graham, "and to express it truly and +strongly. I have known him to study for hours the best way of three to +express an idea." He was so studious and absorbed in his application +at one time, that his friends, according to a statement made by one* +of them, "noticed that he was so emaciated we feared he might bring on +mental derangement." It was not long, however, until he had mastered +surveying as a study, and then he was sent out to work by his +superior--Calhoun. It has never been denied that his surveys were exact +and just, and he was so manifestly fair that he was often chosen to +settle disputed questions of comers and measurements. It is worthy of +note here that, with all his knowledge of lands and their value and the +opportunities that lay open to him for profitable and safe investments, +he never made use of the information thus obtained from official +sources, nor made a single speculation on his own account. The high +value he placed on public office was more fully emphasized when as +President, in answer to a delegation of gentlemen who called to press +the claims of one of his warm personal friends for an important office, +he declined on the ground that "he did not regard it as just to the +public to pay the debts of personal friendship with offices that +belonged to the people." + + * Henry McHenry, MS., Oct. 5, 1865. + +As surveyor under Calhoun he was sent for at one time to decide or +locate a disputed corner for some persons in the northern part of +the county. Among others interested was his friend and admirer Henry +McHenry. "After a good deal of disputing we agreed," says the latter, +"to send for Lincoln and to abide by his decision. He came with compass, +flag-staff, and chain. He stopped with me three or four days and +surveyed the whole section. When in the neighborhood of the disputed +corner by actual survey he called for his staff and driving it in the +ground at a certain spot said, 'Gentlemen, here is the corner.' We dug +down into the ground at the point indicated and, lo! there we found +about six or eight inches of the original stake sharpened at the end, +and beneath which was the usual piece of charcoal placed there by Rector +the surveyor who laid the ground off for the government many years +before." So fairly and well had the young surveyor done his duty that +all parties went away completely satisfied. As late as 1865 the corner +was preserved by a mark and pointed out to strangers as an evidence +of the young surveyor's skill. Russell Godby, mentioned in the earlier +pages of this chapter, presented to me a certificate of survey given +to him by Lincoln. It was written January 14,1834, and is signed "J. +Calhoun, S. S. C., by A. Lincoln." "The survey was made by Lincoln," +says Godby, "and I gave him as pay for his work two buckskins, which +Hannah Armstrong 'foxed' on his pants so that the briers would not wear +them out." + +Honors were now crowding thick and fast upon him. On May 7, 1833, he +was commissioned postmaster at New Salem, the first office he ever held +under the Federal Government. The salary was proportionate to the amount +of business done. Whether Lincoln solicited the appointment himself, or +whether it was given him without the asking, I do not know; but certain +it is his "administration" gave general satisfaction. The mail arrived +once a week, and we can imagine the extent of time and labor required +to distribute it, when it is known that "he carried the office around in +his hat." Mr. Lincoln used to tell me that when he had a call to go to +the country to survey a piece of land, he placed inside his hat all the +letters belonging to people in the neighborhood and distributed them +along the way. He made head-quarters in Samuel Hill's store, and there +the office may be said to have been located, as Hill himself had +been postmaster before Lincoln. Between the revenue derived from +the post-office and his income from land surveys Lincoln was, in the +expressive language of the day, "getting along well enough." Suddenly, +however, smooth sailing ceased and all his prospects of easy times ahead +were again brought to naught. One Van Bergen brought suit against him +and obtained judgment on one of the notes given in payment of the store +debt--a relic of the unfortunate partnership with Berry. His personal +effects were levied on and sold, his horse and surveying instruments +going with the rest. But again a friend, one James Short, whose favor +he had gained, interposed; bought in the property and restored it to +the hope-less young surveyor. It will be seen now what kind of friends +Lincoln was gaining. The bonds he was thus making were destined to stand +the severest of tests. His case never became so desperate but a friend +came out of the darkness to relieve him. + +There was always something about Lincoln in his earlier days to +encourage his friends. He was not only grateful for whatever aid +was given him, but he always longed to help some one else. He had an +unfailing disposition to succor the weak and the unfortunate, and was +always, in his sympathy, struggling with the under dog in the fight. +He was once overtaken when about fourteen miles from Springfield by one +Chandler, whom he knew slightly, and who, having already driven twenty +miles, was hastening to reach the land office before a certain other man +who had gone by a different road. Chandler explained to Lincoln that he +was poor and wanted to enter a small tract of land which adjoined his, +that another man of considerable wealth had also determined to have it, +and had mounted his horse and started for Springfield. "Meanwhile, my +neighbors," continued Chandler, "collected and advanced me the necessary +one hundred dollars, and now, if I can reach the land office first, I +can secure the land." Lincoln noticed that Chandler's horse was too +much fatigued to stand fourteen miles more of a forced march, and he +therefore dismounted from his own and turned him over to Chandler, +saying, "Here's my horse--he is fresh and full of grit; there's no time +to be lost; mount him and put him through. When you reach Springfield +put him up at Herndon's tavern and I'll call and get him." Thus +encouraged Chandler moved on, leaving Lincoln to follow on the jaded +animal. He reached Springfield over an hour in advance of his rival +and thus secured the coveted tract of land. By nightfall Lincoln rode +leisurely into town and was met by the now radiant Chandler, jubilant +over his success. Between the two a friendship sprang up which all the +political discords of twenty-five years never shattered nor strained. + +About this time Lincoln began to extend somewhat his system--if he +really ever had a system in anything--of reading.' He now began to read +the writings of Paine, Volney, and Voltaire. A good deal of religious +skepticism existed at New Salem, and there were frequent discussions +at the store and tavern, in which Lincoln took part. What views he +entertained on religious questions will be more fully detailed in +another place. + +No little of Lincoln's influence with the men of New Salem can be +attributed to his extraordinary feats of strength. By an arrangement of +ropes and straps, harnessed about his hips, he was enabled one day at +the mill to astonish a crowd of village celebrities by lifting a box of +stones weighing near a thousand pounds. There is no fiction either, +as suggested by some of his biographers, in the story that he lifted +a barrel of whisky from the ground and drank from the bung; but in +performing this latter almost incredible feat he did not stand erect +and elevate the barrel, but squatted down and lifted it to his knees, +rolling it over until his mouth came opposite the bung. His strength, +kindness of manner, love of fairness and justice, his original and +unique sayings, his power of mimicry, his perseverance---all made a +combination rarely met with on the frontier. Nature had burnt him in her +holy fire, and stamped him with the seal of her greatness. + +In the summer of 1834 Lincoln determined to make another race for the +legislature; but this time he ran distinctly as a Whig. He made, it +is presumed, the usual number of speeches, but as the art of newspaper +reporting had not reached the perfection it has since attained, we are +not favored with even the substance of his efforts on the stump. I have +Lincoln's word for it that it was more of a hand-shaking campaign than +anything else. Rowan Herndon relates that he came to his house during +harvest, when there were a large number of men at work in the field. +He was introduced to them, but they did not hesitate to apprize him +of their esteem for a man who could labor; and their admiration for a +candidate for office was gauged somewhat by the amount of work he could +do. Learning these facts, Lincoln took hold of a cradle, and handling +it with ease and remarkable speed, soon distanced those who undertook to +follow him. The men were satisfied, and it is presumed he lost no votes +in that crowd. One Dr. Barrett, seeing Lincoln, enquired of the latter's +friends: "Can't the party raise any better material than that?" but +after hearing his speech the doctor's opinion was considerably altered, +for he declared that Lincoln filled him with amazement; "that he knew +more than all of the other candidates put together." The election took +place in August. Lincoln's friend, John T. Stuart, was also a candidate +on the legislative ticket. He encouraged Lincoln's canvas in every way, +even at the risk of sacrificing his own chances. But both were elected. +The four successful candidates were Dawson, who received 1390 votes,* +Lincoln 1376, Carpenter 1170, and Stuart 1164. + + * In all former biographies of Lincoln, including the + Nicolay and Hay history in the "Century Magazine," Dawson's + vote is fixed at 1370, and Lincoln is thereby made to lead + the ticket; but in the second issue of the Sangamon Journal + after the election--August 16, 1834--the count is corrected, + and Dawson's vote is increased to 1390. Dr. A. W. French, of + Springfield, is the possessor of an official return of the + votes cast at the New Salem precinct, made out in the + handwriting of Lincoln, which also gives Dawson's vote at + 1390. + +At last Lincoln had been elected to the legislature, and by a very +flattering majority. In order, as he himself said, "to make a decent +appearance in the legislature," he had to borrow money to buy suitable +clothing and to maintain his new dignity. Coleman Smoot, one of his +friends, advanced him "two hundred dollars, which he returned, relates +the generous Smoot, according to promise." Here we leave our rising +young statesman, to take up a different but very interesting period of +his history. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Since the days when Indiana Lincoln sat on the river's bank with +little Kate Roby, dangling his bare feet in the water, there has been +no hint in these pages of tender relations with any one of the opposite +sex. Now we approach in timely order the "grand passion" of his life--a +romance of much reality, the memory of which threw a melancholy shade +over the remainder of his days. For the first time our hero falls in +love. The courtship with Anne Rutledge and her untimely death form +the saddest page in Mr. Lincoln's history. I am aware that most of his +biographers have taken issue with me on this phase of Mr. Lincoln's +life. Arnold says: "The picture has been somewhat too highly colored, +and the story made rather too tragic." Dr. Holland and others omit +the subject altogether, while the most recent biography--the admirable +history by my friends Nicolay and Hay.--devotes but five lines to it. +I knew Miss Rutledge myself, as well as her father and other members of +the family, and have been personally acquainted with every one of the +score or more of witnesses whom I at one time or another interviewed on +this delicate subject. From my own knowledge and the information thus +obtained, I therefore repeat, that the memory of Anne Rutledge was the +saddest chapter in Mr. Lincoln's life.* + + * In a letter dated Dec. 4, 1866, one of Miss Rutledge's + brothers writes: "When he first came to New Salem and up to + the day of Anne's death Mr. Lincoln was all life and + animation. He seemed to see the bright side of every + picture." + +James Rutledge, the father of this interesting girl, was one of the +founders of New Salem, having come there from Kentucky in 1829. He was +born in South Carolina and belonged to the noted Rutledge family of +that State. I knew him as early as 1833, and have often shared the +hospitality of his home. My father was a politician and an extensive +stock dealer in that early day, and he and Mr. Rutledge were great +friends. The latter was a man of no little force of character; those +who knew him best loved him the most. Like other Southern people he was +warm,--almost to impulsiveness,--social, and generous. His hospitality, +an inherited quality that flashed with him before he was born, developed +by contact with the brave and broadminded people whom he met in +Illinois. Besides his business interests in the store and mill at New +Salem, he kept the tavern where Lincoln came to board in 1833. His +family, besides himself and wife, consisted of nine children, three of +whom were born in Kentucky, the remaining six in Illinois. Anne, the +subject of this chapter, was the third child. She was a beautiful girl, +and by her winning ways attached people to her so firmly that she soon +became the most popular young lady in the village. She was quick of +apprehension, industrious, and an excellent housekeeper. She had a +moderate education, but was not cultured except by contrast with those +around her. One of her strong points was her womanly skill. She was +dexterous in the use of the needle--an accomplishment of far more value +in that day than all the acquirements of art in china painting and +hammered brass are in this--and her needle-work was the wonder of the +day. At every "quilting" Anne was a necessary adjunct, and her nimble +fingers drove the needle more swiftly than anyone's else. Lincoln used +to escort her to and from these quilting-bees, and on one occasion even +went into the house--where men were considered out of place--and sat by +her side as she worked on the quilt. + +He whispered into her ear the old, old story. Her heart throbbed and +her soul was thrilled with a joy as old as the world itself. Her fingers +momentarily lost their skill. In her ecstasy she made such irregular and +uneven stitches that the older and more sedate women noted it, and +the owner of the quilt, until a few years ago still retaining it as a +precious souvenir, pointed out the memorable stitches to such persons as +visited her. + +L. M. Greene, who remembered Anne well, says, "She was amiable and of +exquisite beauty, and her intellect was quick, deep, and philosophic as +well as brilliant. She had a heart as gentle and kind as an angel, and +full of love and sympathy. Her sweet and angelic nature was noted by +every one who met her. She was a woman worthy of Lincoln's love." This +is a little overstated as to beauty--Greene writes as if he too had been +in love with her--but is otherwise nearly correct. + +"Miss Rutledge," says a lady* who knew her, "had auburn hair, blue eyes, +fair complexion. She was pretty, slightly slender, but in everything a +good hearted young woman. She was about five feet two inches high, and +weighed in the neighborhood of a hundred and twenty pounds. She was +beloved by all who knew her. She died as it were of grief. In speaking +of her death and her grave Lincoln once said to me, 'My heart lies +buried there.'" + + * Mrs. Hardin Bale. + +Before narrating the details of Lincoln's courtship with Miss Rutledge, +it is proper to mention briefly a few facts that occurred before their +attachment began. + +About the same time that Lincoln drifted into New Salem there came in +from the Eastern States John McNeil, a young man of enterprise and great +activity, seeking his fortune in the West. He went to work at once, and +within a short time had accumulated by commendable effort a comfortable +amount of property. Within three years he owned a farm, and a half +interest with Samuel Hill in the leading store. He had good capacity +for business, and was a valuable addition to that already pretentious +village--New Salem. It was while living at James Cameron's house that +this plucky and industrious young business man first saw Anne Rutledge. +At that time she was attending the school of Mentor Graham, a pedagogue +of local renown whose name is frequently met with in these pages, and +who flourished in and around New Salem from 1829 to 1860. McNeil fell +deeply in love with the school-girl--she was then only seventeen--and +paid her the usual unremitting attentions young lovers of that age had +done before him and are still doing to-day. His partner in the store, +Samuel Hill, a young man of equal force of character, who afterwards +amassed a comfortable fortune, and also wielded no little influence as +a local politician, laid siege to the heart of this same attractive +maiden, but he yielded up the contest early. Anne rejected him, and he +dropped from the race. McNeil had clear sailing from this time forward. +He was acquiring property and money day by day. As one of the pioneers +puts it, "Men were honest then, and paid their debts at least once a +year. The merchant surrounded by a rich country suffered little from +competition. As he placed his goods on the shelf he added an advance of +from seventy-five to one hundred and fifty per cent over cost price, +and thus managed to get along." After "managing" thus for several years, +McNeil, having disposed of his interest in the store to Hill, determined +to return to New York, his native State, for a visit. He had accumulated +up to this time, as near as we can learn, ten or possibly twelve +thousand dollars. Before leaving he made to Anne a singular revelation. +He told her the name McNeil was an assumed one; that his real name was +McNamar. + +"I left behind me in New York," he said, "my parents and brothers and +sisters. They are poor, and were in more or less need when I left them +in 1829. I vowed that I would come West, make a fortune, and go back to +help them. I am going to start now and intend, if I can, to bring +them with me on my return to Illinois and place them on my farm." He +expressed a sense of deep satisfaction in being able to clear up all +mysteries which might have formed in the mind of her to whom he confided +his love. He would keep nothing, he said, from her. They were engaged +to be married, and she should know it all. The change of his name was +occasioned by the fear that if the family in New York had known where +he was they would have settled down on him, and before he could have +accumulated any property would have sunk him beyond recovery. Now, +however, he was in a condition to help them, and he felt overjoyed at +the thought. As soon as the journey to New York could be made he would +return. Once again in New Salem he and his fair one could consummate +the great event to which they looked forward with undisguised joy and +unbounded hope. Thus he explained to Anne the purpose of his journey--a +story with some remarkable features, all of which she fully believed. + +"She would have believed it all the same if it had been ten times as +incredible. A wise man would have rejected it with scorn, but the girl's +instinct was a better guide, and McNamar proved to be all that he said +he was, although poor Anne never saw the proof which others got of it."* + + * Lamon, p. 161. + +At last McNamar, mounting an old horse that had participated in the +Black Hawk war, began his journey. In passing through Ohio he became +ill with a fever. For almost a month he was confined to his room, and a +portion of the time was unconscious. As he approached a return to good +health he grew nervous over the delay in his trip. He told no one around +him his real name, destination, or business. He knew how his failure to +write to New Salem would be construed, and the resulting irritation gave +way to a feeling of desperation. In plainer language, he concluded it +was "all up with him now." Meanwhile a different view of the matter +was taken by Miss Rutledge. Her friends encouraged the idea of cruel +desertion. The change of McNeil to McNamar had wrought in their minds a +change of sentiment. Some contended that he had undoubtedly committed +a crime in his earlier days, and for years had rested secure from +apprehension under the shadow of an assumed name; while others with +equal assurance whispered in the unfortunate girl's ear the old story of +a rival in her affections. Anne's lady friends, strange to relate, did +more to bring about a discordant feeling than all others. Women are +peculiar creatures. They love to nettle and mortify one another; and +when one of their own sex has fallen, how little sympathy they seem +to have! But under all this fire, in the face of all these insidious +criticisms, Anne remained firm. She had faith, and bided her time. + +McNamar, after much vexatious delay, finally reached his birthplace +in New York, finding his father in the decline of years and health. +He provided for his immediate needs, and by his assiduous attentions +undertook to atone for the years of his neglect; but all to no purpose. +The old gentleman gradually faded from the world, and early one winter +morning crossed the great river. McNamar was thus left to settle up the +few unfinished details of his father's estate, and to provide for the +pressing needs of the family. His detention necessitated a letter +to Anne, explaining the nature and cause of the delay. Other letters +followed; but each succeeding one growing less ardent in tone, and more +formal in phraseology than its predecessor, Anne began to lose faith. +Had his love gradually died away like the morning wind? was a question +she often asked herself. She had stood firm under fire before, but +now her heart grew sick with hope deferred. At last the correspondence +ceased altogether. + +At this point we are favored with the introduction of the ungainly +Lincoln, as a suitor for the hand of Miss Rutledge. Lincoln had learned +of McNamar's strange conduct, and conjecturing that all the silken +ties that bound the two together had been sundered, ventured to step in +himself. He had seen the young lady when a mere girl at Mentor Graham's +school, and he, no doubt, then had formed a high opinion of her +qualities. + +But he was too bashful, as his friend Ellis declares, to tell her of +it. No doubt, when he began to pay her attentions she was the most +attractive young lady whom up to that time he had ever met. She was +not only modest and winning in her ways, and full of good, womanly +common-sense, but withal refined, in contrast with the uncultured people +who surrounded both herself and Lincoln. "She had a secret, too, and +a sorrow,--the unexplained and painful absence of McNamar,--which, no +doubt, made her all the more interesting to him whose spirit was often +even more melancholy than her own." + +In after years, McNamar himself, describing her to me, said: "Miss +Rutledge was a gentle, amiable maiden, without any of the airs of your +city belles, but winsome and comely withal; a blonde in complexion, with +golden hair, cherry-red lips, and a bonny blue eye. As to her literary +attainments, she undoubtedly was as classic a scholar as Mr Lincoln. She +had at the time she met him, I believe, attended a literary institution +at Jacksonville, in company with her brother." + +McNamar seems to have considered Lincoln's bashfulness as proof against +the alluring charms of Miss Rutledge or anybody else, for he continues: + +"Mr. Lincoln was not to my knowledge paying particular attention to any +of the young ladies of my acquaintance when I left for my home in New +York. There was no rivalry between us on that score; on the contrary, I +had every reason to believe him my warm, personal friend. But by-and-by +I was left so far behind in the race I did not deem my chances worthy +of notice. From this time forward he made rapid strides to that +imperishable fame which justly fills a world." + +Lincoln began to court Miss Rutledge in dead earnest. Like David +Copperfield, he soon realized that he was in danger of becoming deeply +in love, and as he approached the brink of the pit he trembled lest he +should indeed fall in. As he pleaded and pressed his cause the Rutledges +and all New Salem encouraged his suit. McNamar's unexplained absence and +apparent neglect furnished outsiders with all the arguments needed to +encourage Lincoln and convince Anne. Although the attachment was +growing and daily becoming an intense and mutual passion, the young lady +remained firm and almost inflexible. She was passing through another +fire. A long struggle with her feelings followed; but at length the +inevitable moment came. She consented to have Lincoln, provided he gave +her time to write to McNamar and obtain his release from her pledge. +The slow-moving mails carried her tender letter to New York. Days +and weeks--which to the ardent Lincoln must have seemed painfully +long--passed, but the answer never came. In a half-hearted way she +turned to Lincoln, and her looks told him that he had won. She accepted +his proposal. Now that they were engaged he told her what she already +knew, that he was poverty itself. She must grant him time to gather +up funds to live on until he had completed his law studies. After this +trifling delay "nothing on God's footstool," argued the emphatic lover, +could keep them apart. To this the thoughtful Anne consented. To one of +her brothers, she said: "As soon as his studies are completed we are +to be married." But the ghost of another love would often rise unbidden +before her. Within her bosom raged the conflict which finally undermined +her health. Late in the summer she took to her bed. A fever was burning +in her head. Day by day she sank, until all hope was banished. During +the latter days of her sickness, her physician had forbidden visitors to +enter her room, prescribing absolute quiet. But her brother relates that +she kept enquiring for Lincoln so continuously, at times demanding to +see him, that the family at last sent for him. On his arrival at her +bedside the door was closed and he was left alone with her. What was +said, what vows and revelations were made during this sad interview, +were known only to him and the dying girl. A few days afterward she +became unconscious and remained so until her death on the 25th day of +August, 1835. She was buried in what is known as the Concord grave-yard, +about seven miles north-west of the town of Petersburg.* + + * "I have heard mother say that Anne would frequently sing + for Lincoln's benefit. She had a clear, ringing voice. Early + in her illness he called, and she sang a hymn for which he + always expressed a great preference. It begins.. + + 'Vain man, thy fond pursuits forbear.' + + You will find it in one of the standard hymn-books. It was + likewise the last thing she ever sung."--Letter, John M. + Rutledge, MS., Nov. 25, 1866. + +The most astonishing and sad sequel to this courtship was the disastrous +effect of Miss Rutledge's death on Mr. Lincoln's mind. It operated +strangely on one of his calm and stoical make-up. As he returned from +the visit to the bedside of Miss Rutledge, he stopped at the house of +a friend, who relates that his face showed signs of no little mental +agony. "He was very much distressed," is the language of this friend, +"and I was not surprised when it was rumored subsequently that his +reason was in danger." One of Miss Rutledge's brothers* says: "The +effect upon Mr. Lincoln's mind was terrible. He became plunged in +despair, and many of his friends feared that reason would desert her +throne. His extraordinary emotions were regarded as strong evidence +of the existence of the tenderest relations between himself and the +deceased." The truth is Mr. Lincoln was strangely wrought up over the +sad ending of the affair. He had fits of great mental depression, +and wandered up and down the river and into the woods woefully +abstracted--at times in the deepest distress. If, when we read what +the many credible persons who knew him at the time tell us, we do not +conclude that he was deranged, we must admit that he walked on that +sharp and narrow line which divides sanity from insanity. To one friend +he complained that the thought "that the snows and rains fall upon her +grave filled him with indescribable grief."** + + * R. B. Rutledge, MS., letter, Oct. 21,1866. + + ** Letter, Wm. Greene, MS., May 29, 1865. + +He was watched with especial vigilance during damp, stormy days, under +the belief that dark and gloomy weather might produce such a depression +of spirits as to induce him to take his own life. His condition finally +became so alarming, his friends consulted together and sent him to the +house of a kind friend, Bowlin Greene, who lived in a secluded spot +hidden by the hills, a mile south of town. Here he remained for some +weeks under the care and ever watchful eye of this noble friend, who +gradually brought him back to reason, or at least a realization of his +true condition. In the years that followed Mr. Lincoln never forgot the +kindness of Greene through those weeks of suffering and peril. In 1842, +when the latter died, and Lincoln was selected by the Masonic lodge to +deliver the funeral oration, he broke down in the midst of his address. +"His voice was choked with deep emotion; he stood a few moments while +his lips quivered in the effort to form the words of fervent praise +he sought to utter, and the tears ran down his yellow and shrivelled +cheeks. Every heart was hushed at the spectacle. After repeated efforts +he found it impossible to speak, and strode away, bitterly sobbing, to +the widow's carriage and was driven from the scene." + +It was shortly after this that Dr. Jason Duncan placed in Lincoln's +hands a poem called "Immortality." The piece starts out with the line, +"Oh! why should the spirit of mortal be proud." Lincoln's love for this +poem has certainly made it immortal. He committed these lines to memory, +and any reference to or mention of Miss Rutledge would suggest them, +as if "to celebrate a grief which lay with continual heaviness on his +heart." There is no question that from this time forward Mr. Lincoln's +spells of melancholy became more intense than ever. In fact a tinge +of this desperate feeling of sadness followed him to Springfield. He +himself was somewhat superstitious about it, and in 1840-41 wrote to +Dr. Drake, a celebrated physician in Cincinnati, describing his mental +condition in a long letter. Dr. Drake responded, saying substantially, +"I cannot prescribe in your case without a personal interview." Joshua +F. Speed, to whom Lincoln showed the letter addressed to Dr. Drake, +writing to me from Louisville, November 30, 1866, says: "I think he +(Lincoln) must have informed Dr. Drake of his early love for Miss +Rutledge, as there was a part of the letter which he would not read." +It is shown by the declaration of Mr. Lincoln himself made to a fellow +member* of the Legislature within two years after Anne Rutledge's death +that "although he seemed to others to enjoy life rapturously, yet when +alone he was so overcome by mental depression he never dared to carry a +pocket knife." + + * Robert L. Wilson, MS., letter, Feb. 10, 1866 + +It may not be amiss to suggest before I pass from mention of McNamar +that, true to his promise, he drove into New Salem in the fall of 1835 +with his mother and brothers and sisters. They had come through from +New York in a wagon, with all their portable goods. Anne Rutledge had +meanwhile died, and McNamar could only muse in silence over the fading +visions of "what might have been." On his arrival he met Lincoln, who, +with the memory of their mutual friend, now dead, constantly before him, +"seemed desolate and sorely distressed." The little acre of ground in +Concord cemetery contained the form of his first love, rudely torn from +him, and the great world, throbbing with life but cold and heartless, +lay spread before him. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Before taking up an account of Lincoln's entry into the Legislature, +which, following strictly the order of time, properly belongs here, I +beg to digress long enough to narrate what I have gathered relating to +another courtship--an affair of the heart which culminated in a sequel +as amusing as the one with Anne Rutledge was sad. I experienced much +difficulty in obtaining the particulars of this courtship. After +no little effort I finally located and corresponded with the lady +participant herself, who in 1866 furnished me with Lincoln's letters and +her own account of the affair, requesting the suppression of her name +and residence. Since then, however, she has died, and her children have +not only consented to a publication of the history, but have furnished +me recently with more facts and an excellent portrait of their mother +made shortly after her refusal of Lincoln's hand. + +Mary S. Owens--a native of Green county, Kentucky, born September 29, +1808--first became acquainted with Lincoln while on a visit to a sister, +the wife of Bennet Able, an early settler in the country about New +Salem. Lincoln was a frequent visitor at the house of Able, and a warm +friend of the family. During the visit of Miss Owens in 1833, though +only remaining a month, she lingered long enough to make an impression +on Lincoln; but returned to Kentucky and did not reappear in New Salem +till 1836. Meanwhile Anne Rutledge had died, and Lincoln's eyes began to +wander after the dark-haired visitor from Kentucky. Miss Owens differed +from Miss Rutledge in early education and the advantages of wealth. +She had received an excellent education, her father being one of the +wealthiest and most influential men of his time and locality. A portion +of her schooling was obtained in a Catholic convent, though in religious +faith she was a Baptist. According to a description furnished me by +herself she "had fair skin, deep blue eyes, and dark curling hair; +height five feet, five inches; weight about a hundred and fifty pounds." +She was good-looking in girlhood; by many esteemed handsome, but became +fleshier as she grew older. At the time of her second visit she reached +New Salem on the day of the Presidential election, passing the polls +where the men had congregated, on the way to her sister's house. One +man in the crowd who saw her then was impressed with her beauty. Years +afterwards, in relating the incident, * he wrote me: + +"She was tall, portly, had large blue eyes and the finest trimmings I +ever saw. She was jovial, social, loved wit and humor, had a liberal +English education, and was considered wealthy. None of the poets or +romance writers have ever given us a picture of a heroine so beautiful +as a good description of Miss Owens in 1836 would be." + + * L. M. Greene. + +A lady friend* says she was "handsome, truly handsome, matronly-looking, +over ordinary size in height and weight." + +A gentleman** who saw her a few years before her death describes her as +"a nervous, muscular woman, very intellectual, with a forehead massive +and angular, square, prominent, and broad." + + * Mrs. Hardin Bale. + + ** Johnson G. Greene. + +At the time of her advent into the society of New Salem she was polished +in her manners, pleasing in her address, and attractive in many ways. +She had a little dash of coquetry in her intercourse with that class +of young men who arrogated to themselves claims of superiority, but she +never yielded to this disposition to an extent that would willingly lend +encouragement to an honest suitor sincerely desirous of securing her +hand, when she felt she could not in the end yield to a proposal of +marriage if he should make the offer. She was a good conversationalist +and a splendid reader, very few persons being found to equal her in this +accomplishment. She was light-hearted and cheery in her disposition, +kind and considerate for those with whom she was thrown in contact. + +One of Miss Owens' descendants is authority for the statement that +Lincoln had boasted that "if Mary Owens ever returned to Illinois a +second time he would marry her;" that a report of this came to her ears, +whereupon she left her Kentucky home with a pre-determination to show +him if she met him that she was not to be caught simply by the asking. +On this second visit Lincoln paid her more marked attention than before, +and his affections became more and more enlisted in her behalf. During +the earlier part of their acquaintance, following the natural bent of +her temperament she was pleasing and entertaining to him. Later on he +discovered himself seriously interested in the blue-eyed Kentuckian, whom +he had really underestimated in his preconceived opinions of her. +In the meantime she too had become interested, having discovered the +sterling qualities of the young man who was paying her such devoted +attention; yet while she admired she did not love him. He was ungainly +and angular in his physical make-up, and to her seemed deficient in the +nicer and more delicate attentions which she felt to be due from the +man whom she had pictured as an ideal husband. He had given her to +understand that she had greatly charmed him; but he was not himself +certain that he could make her the husband with whom he thought she +would be most happy. Later on by word and letter he told her so. His +honesty of purpose showed itself in all his efforts to win her hand. He +told her of his poverty, and while advising her that life with him meant +to her who had been reared in comfort and plenty, great privation and +sacrifice, yet he wished to secure her as a wife. She, however, felt +that she did not entertain for him the same feeling that he professed +for her and that she ought to entertain before accepting him, and so +declined his offer. Judging from his letters alone it has been +supposed by some that she, remembering the rumor she had heard of his +determination to marry her, and not being fully certain of the sincerity +of his purposes, may have purposely left him in the earlier stages of +his courtship somewhat in uncertainty. Later on, however, when by his +manner and repeated announcement to her that his hand and heart were +at her disposal, he demonstrated the honesty and sincerity of his +intentions, she declined his offer kindly but with no uncertain meaning. + +The first letter I received from Mrs. Vineyard--for she was married to +Jesse Vineyard, March 27, 1841--was written at Weston, Mo., May 1, 1866. +Among other things she says: "After quite a struggle with my feelings I +have at last decided to send you the letters in my possession written +by Mr. Lincoln, believing as I do that you are a gentleman of honor and +will faithfully abide by all you have said. My associations with your +lamented friend were in Menard county whilst visiting a sister who then +resided near Petersburg. I have learned that my maiden name is now in +your possession; and you have ere this, no doubt, been informed that I +am a native Kentuckian." + +[Illustration: Mary Owens 186] + +From a daguerreotype loaned by her son. + +The letters written by Lincoln not revealing enough details of the +courtship, I prepared a list of questions for the lady to answer in +order that the entire history of their relations might be clearly shown. +I perhaps pressed her too closely in such a delicate matter, for she +responded in a few days as follows: + +"Weston, Mo., May 22, 1866. + +"Mr. W. H. Herndon, + +"My Dear Sir: Really, you catechise me in true lawyer style; but I feel +you will have the goodness to excuse me if I decline answering all your +questions in detail, being well assured that few women would have ceded +as much as I have under all the circumstances. + +"You say you have heard why our acquaintance terminated as it did. I +too have heard the same bit of gossip; but I never used the remark which +Madame Rumor says I did to Mr. Lincoln. I think I did on one occasion +say to my sister, who was very anxious for us to be married, that I +thought Mr. Lincoln was deficient in those little links which make up +the chain of woman's happiness--at least it was so in my case. Not +that I believed it proceeded from a lack of goodness of heart; but +his training had been different from mine; hence there was not that +congeniality which would otherwise have existed. + +"From his own showing you perceive that his heart and hand were at my +disposal; and I suppose that my feelings were not sufficiently enlisted +to have the matter consummated. About the beginning of the year 1838 I +left Illinois, at which time our acquaintance and correspondence ceased, +without ever again being renewed. + +"My father, who resided in Green county, Kentucky, was a gentleman of +considerable means; and I am persuaded that few persons placed a higher +estimate on education than he did. + +"Respectfully yours, + +"Mary S. Vineyard." + +The reference to Lincoln's deficiency "in those little links which make +up the chain of woman's happiness" is of no little significance. It +proved that his training had indeed been different from hers. In a short +time I again wrote Mrs. Vineyard to enquire as to the truth of a story +current in New Salem, that one day as she and Mrs. Bowlin Greene were +climbing up the hill to Abie's house they were joined by Lincoln; that +Mrs. Greene was obliged to carry her child, a fat baby boy, to the +summit; that Lincoln strolled carelessly along, offering no assistance +to the woman who bent under the load. Thereupon Miss Owens, censuring +him for his neglect, reminded him that in her estimation he would not +make a good husband. In due time came her answer: + +"Weston, Mo., July 22, 1866. + +"Mr. W. H. Herndon: + +"Dear Sir: I do not think you are pertinacious in asking the question +relative to old Mrs. Bowlin Greene, because I wish to set you right on +that question. Your information, no doubt, came through my cousin, Mr. +Gaines Greene, who visited us last winter. Whilst here, he was laughing +at me about Mr. Lincoln, and among other things spoke about the +circumstance in connection with Mrs. Greene and child. My impression is +now that I tacitly admitted it, for it was a season of trouble with me, +and I gave but little heed to the matter. We never had any hard feelings +towards each other that I know of. On no occasion did I say to Mr. +Lincoln that I did not believe he would make a kind husband, because he +did not tender his services to Mrs. Greene in helping of her carry her +babe. As I said to you in a former letter, I thought him lacking in +smaller attentions. One circumstance presents itself just now to my +mind's eye. There was a company of us going to Uncle Billy Greene's. Mr. +Lincoln was riding with me, and we had a very bad branch to cross. The +other gentlemen were very officious in seeing that their partners got +safely over. We were behind, he riding in, never looking back to see how +I got along. When I rode up beside him, I remarked, 'You are a nice +fellow! I suppose you did not care whether my neck was broken or not.' +He laughingly replied (I suppose by way of compliment), that he knew I +was plenty smart to take care of myself. + +"In many things he was sensitive almost to a fault. He told me of an +incident: that he was crossing a prairie one day and saw before him, 'a +hog mired down,' to use his own language. He was rather 'fixed up,' and +he resolved that he would pass on without looking at the shoat. After +he had gone by, he said the feeling was irresistible; and he had to look +back, and the poor thing seemed to say wistfully, 'There now, my last +hope is gone;' that he deliberately got down and relieved it from its +difficulty. + +"In many things we were congenial spirits. In politics we saw eye to +eye, though since then we differed as widely as the South is from the +North. But methinks I hear you say, 'Save me from a political woman!' So +say I. + +"The last message I ever received from him was about a year after we +parted in Illinois. Mrs. Able visited Kentucky, and he said to her in +Springfield, 'Tell your sister that I think she was a great fool because +she did not stay here and marry me.' Characteristic of the man! + +"Respectfully yours, + +"Mary S. Vineyard." + + +We have thus been favored with the lady's side of this case, and it is +but fair that we should hear the testimony of her honest but ungainly +suitor. Fortunately for us and for history we have his view of the case +in a series of letters which have been preserved with zealous care by +the lady's family.* + + * The copies of these letters were carefully made by Mr. + Weik from the originals, now in the possession of B. R. + Vineyard, St. Joseph, Mo. + +The first letter was written from Vandalia, December 13, 1836, where +the Legislature to which he belonged was in session. After reciting the +progress of legislation and the flattering prospect that then existed +for the removal of the seat of government to Springfield, he gets down +to personal matters by apprising her of his illness for a few days, +coupled with the announcement that he is mortified by daily trips to the +post-office in quest of her letter, which it seemed never would arrive. +"You see," he complains, "I am mad about that old letter yet. I don't +like to risk you again. I'll try you once more, anyhow." Further along +in the course of the missive, he says: "You recollect, I mentioned at +the outset of this letter, that I had been unwell. That is the fact, +though I believe I am about well now; but that, with other things I +cannot account for, have conspired, and have gotten my spirits so low +that I feel that I would rather be in any place in the world than here. +I really cannot endure the thought of staying here ten weeks. Write back +as soon as you get this, and if possible, say something that will please +me; for really, I have not been pleased since I left you." + +"This letter is so dry and stupid," he mournfully concludes, "that I +am ashamed to send it, but with my present feelings I cannot do any +better." + +After the adjournment of the Legislature he returned to Springfield, +from which point it was a matter of easy driving to reach New Salem, +where his lady-love was sojourning, and where he could pay his addresses +in person. It should be borne in mind that he had by this time removed +to Springfield, the county seat, and entered on the practice of the +law. In the gloom resulting from lack of funds and the dim prospect for +business, he found time to communicate with the friend whose case was +constantly uppermost in his mind. Here is one characteristic letter: + +"Springfield, May 7, 1837. + +"Friend Mary: + +"I have commenced two letters to send you before this, both of which +displeased me before I got half done, and so I tore them up. The first I +thought wasn't serious enough, and the second was on the other extreme. +I shall send this, turn out as it may. + +"This thing of living in Springfield is rather a dull business after +all--at least it is so to me. I am quite as lonesome here as [I] ever +was anywhere in my life. I have been spoken to by but one woman since +I've been here, and should not have been by her if she could have +avoided it. I've never been to church yet, and probably shall not be +soon. I stay away because I am conscious I should not know how to behave +myself. I am often thinking of what we said of your coming to live at +Springfield. I am afraid you would not be satisfied. There is a great +deal of flourishing about in carriages here, which it would be your +doom to see without sharing in it. You would have to be poor without +the means of hiding your poverty. Do you believe you could bear that +patiently? Whatever woman may cast her lot with mine, should anyone ever +do so, it is my intention to do all in my power to make her happy and +contented, and there is nothing I can imagine that would make me more +unhappy than to fail in the effort. I know I should be much happier with +you than the way I am, provided I saw no signs of discontent in you. + +"What you have said to me may have been in jest or I may have +misunderstood it. If so, then let it be forgotten; if otherwise I much +wish you would think seriously before you decide. For my part I have +already decided. What I have said I will most positively abide by, +provided you wish it. My opinion is you had better not do it. You have +not been accustomed to hardship, and it may be more severe than you +imagine. I know you are capable of thinking correctly on any subject; +and if you deliberate maturely upon this before you decide, then I am +willing to abide your decision. + +"You must write me a good long letter after you get this. You have +nothing else to do, and though it might not seem interesting to you +after you have written it, it would be a good deal of company in this +busy wilderness. Tell your sister I don't want to hear any more about +selling out and moving. That gives me the hypo whenever I think of it. + +"Yours, etc. + +"Lincoln." + + +Very few if any men can be found who in fond pursuit of their love would +present their case voluntarily in such an unfavorable light. In one +breath he avows his affection for the lady whose image is constantly +before him, and in the next furnishes her reasons why she ought not +to marry him! During the warm, dry summer months he kept up the siege +without apparent diminution of zeal. He was as assiduous as ever, and +in August was anxious to force a decision. On the 16th he had a meeting +with her which terminated much like a drawn battle--at least it seems +to have afforded him but little encouragement, for on his return to +Springfield he immediately indulged in an epistolary effusion stranger +than any that preceded it. + +"Friend Mary: + +"You will no doubt think it rather strange that I should write you a +letter on the same day on which we parted; and I can only account for +it by supposing that seeing you lately makes me think of you more than +usual, while at our late meeting we had but few expressions of thoughts. +You must know that I cannot see you or think of you with entire +indifference; and yet it may be that you are mistaken in regard to what +my real feelings towards you are. If I knew you were not, I should not +trouble you with this letter. Perhaps any other man would know enough +without further information, but I consider it my peculiar right to +plead ignorance and your bounden duty to allow the plea. + +"I want in all cases to do right; and most particularly so in all cases +with women. I want, at this particular time, more than anything else, +to do right with you, and if I knew it would be doing right, as I rather +suspect it would, to let you alone, I would do it. And for the purpose +of making the matter as plain as possible, I now say, that you can now +drop the subject, dismiss your thoughts (if you ever had any) from me +forever, and leave this letter unanswered, without calling forth one +accusing murmur from me. And I will even go farther, and say, that if +it will add anything to your comfort or peace of mind to do so, it is my +sincere wish that you should. Do not understand by this that I wish to +cut your acquaintance. I mean no such thing. What I do wish is that +our further acquaintance shall depend upon yourself. If such further +acquaintance would contribute nothing to your happiness, I am sure it +would not to mine. If you feel yourself in any degree bound to me, I am +now willing to release you, provided you wish it; while, on the other +hand, I am willing and even anxious to bind you faster if I can be +convinced that it will in any considerable degree add to your happiness. +This, indeed, is the whole question with me. Nothing would make me more +miserable, nothing more happy, than to know you were so. + +"In what I have now said, I think I cannot be misunderstood; and to make +myself understood is the sole object of this letter. + +"If it suits you best to not answer this--farewell--a long life and +a merry one attend you. But if you conclude to write back, speak as +plainly as I do. There can be neither harm nor danger in saying to me +anything you think, just in the manner you think it. + +"My respects to your sister. + +"Your friend, + +"Lincoln." + + +For an account of the final outcome of this _affaire du cour_ the reader +is now referred to the most ludicrous letter Mr. Lincoln ever wrote. It +has been said, but with how much truth I do not know, that during his +term as President the lady to whom it was written--Mrs. O. H. Browning, +wife of a fellow-member of the Legislature--before giving a copy of it +to a biographer, wrote to Lincoln asking his consent to the publication, +but that he answered warning her against it because it was too full of +truth. The only biographer who ever did insert it apologized for its +appearance in his book, regarding it for many reasons as an extremely +painful duty. "If it could be withheld," he laments, "and the act +decently reconciled to the conscience of a biographer* professing to +be honest and candid, it should never see the light in these pages. Its +grotesque humor, its coarse exaggerations in describing the person of a +lady whom the writer was willing to marry; its imputation of toothless +and weatherbeaten old age to a woman really young and handsome; its +utter lack of that delicacy of tone and sentiment which one naturally +expects a gentleman to adopt when he thinks proper to discuss the merits +of his late mistress--all these, and its defective orthography, it would +certainly be more agreeable to suppress than to publish. But if we begin +by omitting or mutilating a document which sheds so broad a light upon +one part of his life and one phase of his character, why may we not do +the like as fast and as often as the temptation arises? and where shall +the process cease?" + + * Lamon, p. 181. + +I prefer not to take such a serious view of the letter or its +publication. My idea is, that Mr. Lincoln got into one of his +irresistible moods of humor and fun--a state of feeling into which +he frequently worked himself to avert the overwhelming effects of his +constitutional melancholy--and in the inspiration of the moment penned +this letter, which many regard as an unfortunate composition. The class +who take such a gloomy view of the matter should bear in mind that the +letter was written by Mr. Lincoln in the fervor of early manhood, just +as he was emerging from a most embarrassing situation, and addressed to +a friend who, he supposed, would keep it sacredly sealed from the +public eye. As a matter of fact Mr. Lincoln was not gifted with a ready +perception of the propriety of things in all cases. Nothing with him was +intuitive. To have profound judgment and just discrimination he required +time to think; and if facts or events were forced before him in too +rapid succession the machinery of his judgment failed to work. A +knowledge of this fact will account for the letter, and also serve to +rob the offence--if any was committed--of half its severity. + +The letter was written in the same month Miss Owens made her final +departure from Illinois. + +"Springfield, April 1, 1838. + +"Dear Madam:-- + +"Without apologizing for being egotistical, I shall make the history of +so much of my life as has elapsed since I saw you the subject of this +letter. And, by the way, I now discover that, in order to give a full +and intelligible account of the things I have done and suffered since I +saw you, I shall necessarily have to relate some that happened before. + +"It was, then, in the autumn of 1836 that a married lady of my +acquaintance and who was a great friend of mine, being about to pay a +visit to her father and other relatives residing in Kentucky, proposed +to me that on her return she would bring a sister of hers with her on +condition that I would engage to become her brother-in-law with all +convenient despatch. I, of course, accepted the proposal, for you know +I could not have done otherwise, had I really been averse to it; but +privately, between you and me I was most confoundedly well pleased with +the project. I had seen the said sister some three years before, thought +her intelligent and agreeable, and saw no good objection to plodding +life through hand in hand with her. Time passed on, the lady took her +journey, and in due time returned, sister in company sure enough. This +astonished me a little; for it appeared to me that her coming so +readily showed that she was a trifle too willing; but, on reflection, +it occurred to me that she might have been prevailed on by her married +sister to come, without anything concerning me ever having been +mentioned to her; and so I concluded that, if no other objection +presented itself, I would consent to waive this. All this occurred to me +on hearing of her arrival in the neighborhood; for, be it remembered, +I had not yet seen her, except about three years previous, as above +mentioned. In a few days we had an interview; and, although I had seen +her before, she did not look as my imagination had pictured her. I knew +she was over-size, but she now appeared a fair match for Falstaff. I +knew she was called an 'old maid,' and I felt no doubt of the truth of +at least half of the appellation; but now, when I beheld her, I Could +not for my life avoid thinking of my mother; and this, not from withered +features, for her skin was too full of fat to permit of its contracting +into wrinkles, but from her want of teeth, weather-beaten appearance +in general, and from a kind of notion that ran in my head that nothing +could have commenced at the size of infancy and reached her present bulk +in less than thirty-five or forty years; and, in short, I was not at +all pleased with her. But what could I do? I had told her sister I +would take her for better or for worse; and I made a point of honor and +conscience in all things to stick to my word, especially if others had +been induced to act on it, which in this case I had no doubt they had; +for I was now fairly convinced that no other man on earth would have +her, and hence the conclusion that they were bent on holding me to my +bargain. 'Well,' thought I, 'I have said it, and, be the consequences +what they may, it shall not be my fault if I fail to do it.' At once +I determined to consider her my wife; and, this done, all my powers of +discovery were put to work in search of perfections in her which might +be fairly set off against her defects. I tried to imagine her handsome, +which, but for her unfortunate corpulency, was actually true. Exclusive +of this, no woman that I have ever seen has a finer face. I also tried +to convince myself that the mind was much more to be valued than the +person; and in this she was not inferior, as I could discover, to any +with whom I had been acquainted. + +"Shortly after this, without coming to any positive understanding with +her, I set out for Vandalia, when and where you first saw me. During +my stay there I had letters from her which did not change my opinion of +either her intellect or intention, but on the contrary confirmed it in +both. + +"All this while, although I was fixed, 'firm as the surge-repelling +rock,' in my resolution, I found I was continually repenting the +rashness which had led me to make it. Through life, I have been in no +bondage, either real or imaginary, from the thraldom of which I so much +desired to be free. After my return home, I saw nothing to change my +opinions of her in any particular. She was the same, and so was I. I now +spent my time in planning how I might get along through life after my +contemplated change of circumstances should have taken place, and how I +might procrastinate the evil day for a time, which I really dreaded as +much, perhaps more, than an Irishman does the halter. + +"After all my suffering upon this deeply interesting subject, here I am, +wholly, unexpectedly, completely, out of the 'scrape;; and now I want to +know if you can guess how I got out of it--out, clear, in every sense +of the term; no violation of word, honor, or conscience. I don't believe +you can guess, and so I might as well tell you at once. As the lawyer +says, it was done in the manner following, to-wit: After I had delayed +the matter as long as I thought I could in honor do (which, by the way, +had brought me round into the last fall), I concluded I might as well +bring it to a consummation without further delay; and so I mustered +my resolution, and made the proposal to her direct; but, shocking to +relate, she answered, No. At first I supposed she did it through an +affectation of modesty, which I thought but ill became her under the +peculiar circumstances of her case; but on my renewal of the charge, +I found she repelled it with greater firmness than before. I tried it +again and again, but with the same success, or rather with the same want +of success. + +"I finally was forced to give it up; at which I very unexpectedly found +myself mortified almost beyond endurance. I was mortified, it seemed +to me, in a hundred different ways. My vanity was deeply wounded by the +reflection that I had been too stupid to discover her intentions, and at +the same time never doubting that I understood them perfectly; and also +that she, whom I had taught myself to believe nobody else would have, +had actually rejected me with all my fancied greatness. And, to cap the +whole, I then for the first time began to suspect that I was really a +little in love with her. But let it all go. I'll try and outlive it. +Others have been made fools of by the girls; but this can never with +truth be said of me. I most emphatically, in this instance, made a fool +of myself. I have now come to the conclusion never again to think of +marrying, and for this reason: I can never be satisfied with any one who +would be blockhead enough to have me. + +"When you receive this, write me a long yarn about something to amuse +me. Give my respects to Mr. Browning. + +"Your sincere friend, + +"A. Lincoln" + +Mrs. O. H. Browning. + + +As before mentioned Miss Owens was afterwards married and became the +mother of five children. Two of her sons served in the Confederate army. +She died July 4, 1877. Speaking of Mr. Lincoln a a short time before her +death she referred to him as "a man with a heart full of kindness and a +head full of sense." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +In December, 1834, Lincoln prepared himself for the Legislature to +which he had been elected by such a complimentary majority. Through the +generosity of his friend Smoot he purchased a new suit of clothes, and +entering the stage at New Salem, rode through to Vandalia, the seat of +government. He appreciated the dignity of his new position, and instead +of walking to the capitol, as some of his biographers have contended, +availed himself of the usual mode of travel. At this session of the +Legislature he was anything but conspicuous. In reality he was very +modest, but shrewd enough to impress the force of his character on those +persons whose influence might some day be of advantage to him. He made +but little stir, if we are to believe the record, during the whole of +this first session. Made a member of the committee on Public Accounts +and Expenditures, his name appears so seldom in the reports of the +proceedings that we are prone to conclude that he must have contented +himself with listening to the flashes of border oratory and absorbing +his due proportion of parliamentary law. He was reserved in manner, but +very observant; said little, but learned much; made the acquaintance of +all the members and many influential persons on the outside. The lobby +at that day contained the representative men of the state--men of +acknowledged prominence and respectability, many of them able lawyers, +drawn thither in advocacy of some pet bill. Schemes of vast internal +improvements attracted a retinue of log-rollers, who in later days seem +to have been an indispensable necessity in the movement of complicated +legislative machinery. Men of capital and brains were there. He +early realized the importance of knowing all these, trusting to the +inspiration of some future hour to impress them with his skill as an +organizer or his power as an orator. Among the members of the outside or +"third body" was Stephen A. Douglas, whom Lincoln then saw for the +first time. Douglas had come from Vermont only the year before, but was +already undertaking to supplant John J. Hardin in the office of States +Attorney for the district in which both lived. What impression he made +on Lincoln, what opinions each formed of the other, or what the extent +of their acquaintance then was, we do not know. It is said that +Lincoln afterwards in mentioning their first meeting observed of the +newly-arrived Vermonter that he was the "least man he had ever seen." +The Legislature proper contained the youth and blood and fire of the +frontier. Some of the men who participated in these early parliamentary +battles were destined to carry the banners of great political parties, +some to lead in war and some in the great council chamber of the nation. +Some were to fill the Governor's office, others to wear the judicial +ermine, and one was destined to be Chief Magistrate and die a martyr to +the cause of human liberty. + +The society of Vandalia and the people attracted thither by the +Legislature made it, for that early day, a gay place indeed. Compared to +Lincoln's former environments, it had no lack of refinement and polish. +That he absorbed a good deal of this by contact with the men and women +who surrounded him there can be no doubt. The "drift of sentiment and +the sweep of civilization" at this time can best be measured by the +character of the legislation. There were acts to incorporate banks, +turnpikes, bridges, insurance companies, towns, railroads, and female +academies. The vigor and enterprise of New England fusing with the +illusory prestige of Kentucky and Virginia was fast forming a new +civilization to spread over the prairies! At this session Lincoln +remained quietly in the background, and contented himself with the +introduction of a resolution in favor of securing to the State a part of +the proceeds of sales of public lands within its limits. With this brief +and modest record he returned to his constituents at New Salem. With +zealous perseverance, he renewed his application to the law and to +surveying, continuing his studies in both departments until he became, +as he thought, reliable and proficient. By reason of a change in the +office of Surveyor for the county he became a deputy under Thomas M. +Neale, who had been elected to succeed John Calhoun. The speculation +in lands made a brisk business for the new surveyor, who even added +Calhoun, his predecessor, to the list of deputies. Lincoln had now +become somewhat established in the good-will and respect of his +constituents. His bashfulness and timidity was gradually giving way to +a feeling of self-confidence, and he began to exult over his ability to +stand alone. The brief taste of public office which he had just enjoyed, +and the distinction it gave him only whetted his appetite for further +honors. Accordingly, in 1836 we find him a candidate for the Legislature +again. I well remember this campaign and the election which followed, +for my father, Archer G. Herndon, was also a candidate, aspiring to a +seat in the State Senate. The Legislature at the session previous had in +its apportionment bill increased the delegation from Sangamon county to +seven Representatives and two Senators. Party conventions had not yet +been invented, and there being no nominating machinery to interfere, +the field was open for any and all to run. Lincoln again resorted, in +opening his canvass, to the medium of the political handbill. Although +it had not operated with the most satisfactory results in his first +campaign, yet he felt willing to risk it again. Candidates of that day +evinced far more willingness to announce their position than political +aspirants do now. Without waiting for a convention to construct a +platform, or some great political leader to "sound the key-note of the +campaign," they stepped to the forefront and blew the bugle themselves. +This custom will account for the boldness of Lincoln's utterances and +the unequivocal tone of his declarations. His card--a sort of political +fulmination--was as follows: + +"New Salem, June 13, 1836. + +"_To the Editor of The Journal_: + +"In your paper of last Saturday I see a communication over the signature +of "Many Voters" in which the candidates who are announced in the +Journal are called upon to 'show their hands.' Agreed. Here's mine: +"I go for all sharing the privileges of the government who assist in +bearing its burdens. Consequently, I go for admitting all whites to +the right of suffrage who pay taxes or bear arms (by no means excluding +females). + +"If elected I shall consider the whole people of Sangamon my +constituents, as well those that oppose as those that support me. + +"While acting as their Representative, I shall be governed by their will +on all subjects upon which I have the means of knowing what their will +is; and upon all others I shall do what my own judgment teaches me +will best advance their interests. Whether elected or not, I go for +distributing the proceeds of the sales of public lands to the several +States to enable our State, in common with others, to dig canals and +construct railroads without borrowing money and paying the interest on +it. + +"If alive on the first Monday in November, I shall vote for Hugh L. +White, for President. + +"Very respectfully, + +"A. Lincoln" + +It is generally admitted that the bold and decided stand Lincoln +took--though too audacious and emphatic for statesmen of a later +day--suited the temper of the times. Leaving out of sight his expressed +preference for White of Tennessee,--on whom all the anti-Jackson forces +were disposed to concentrate, and which was but a mere question of +men,--there is much food for thought in the second paragraph. His broad +plan for universal suffrage certainly commends itself to the ladies, and +we need no further evidence to satisfy our minds of his position on the +subject of "Woman's Rights," had he lived. In fact, I cannot refrain +from noting here what views he in after years held with reference to +the great questions of moral and social reforms, under which he classed +universal suffrage, temperance, and slavery. "All such questions," he +observed one day, as we were discussing temperance in the office, "must +first find lodgment with the most enlightened souls who stamp them with +their approval. In God's own time they will be organized into law and +thus woven into the fabric of our institutions." + +The canvass which followed this public avowal of creed, was more +exciting than any which had preceded it. There were joint discussions, +and, at times, much feeling was exhibited. Each candidate had his +friends freely distributed through the crowd, and it needed but a +few angry interruptions or insinuating rejoinders from one speaker to +another to bring on a conflict between their friends. Frequently the +speakers led in the battle themselves, as in the case of Ninian W. +Edwards--afterwards a brother-in-law of Lincoln--who, in debate, drew +a pistol on his opponent Achilles Morris, a prominent Democrat. An +interesting relic of this canvass recently came to light, in a letter +which Mr. Lincoln wrote a week after he had announced his candidacy. It +is addressed to Colonel Robert Allen, a Democratic politician of local +prominence, who had been circulating some charges intended to affect +Lincoln's chances of election. The affair brought to the surface what +little satire there was in Lincoln's nature, and he administers--by +way of innuendo--such a flaying as the gallant colonel doubtless never +wanted to have repeated. The strangest part of it all is that the letter +was recently found and given to the public by Allen's own son.* It is as +follows: + + * The MS. is now in possession of the Lincoln Monument + Association of Springfield. + +"New Salem, June 21, 1836. + +"Dear Colonel: + +"I am told that during my absence last week you passed through the place +and stated publicly that you were in possession of a fact or facts, +which if known to the public would entirely destroy the prospects of N. +W. Edwards and myself at the ensuing election, but that through favor to +us you would forbear to divulge them. No one has needed favors more than +I, and generally few have been less unwilling to accept them, but in +this case favor to me would be injustice to the public, and therefore I +must beg your pardon for declining it. That I once had the confidence +of the people of Sangamon county is sufficiently evident; and if I have +done anything, either by design or misadventure, which if known would +subject me to a forfeiture of that confidence, he that knows of that +thing, and conceals it, is a traitor to his country's interest. + +"I find myself wholly unable to form any conjecture of what fact or +facts, real or supposed, you spoke; but my opinion of your veracity will +not permit me for a moment to doubt that you at least believed what you +said. I am flattered with the personal regard you manifested for me; but +I do hope that on mature reflection you will view the public interest as +a paramount consideration and therefore let the worst come. + +"I assure you that the candid statement of facts on your part, however +low it may sink me, shall never break the ties of personal friendship +between us. + +"I wish an answer to this, and you are at liberty to publish both if you +choose. + +"Very respectfully, + +"A. Lincoln." + +Col. Robert Allen. + + +Lincoln was sure the letter never would be published or answered, +because Allen had no facts whatever upon which to base any such charges. +He also knew that Allen, who was a hide-bound Democrat, was in politics +the most unreliable man in Sangamon county. A vein of irony runs all +through the letter, especially where in such a delicate way he pays +tribute to the veracity of Allen, who, although a generous fellow in +the ordinary sense of the term, was unlimited in exaggeration and a +veritable bag of wind. The effort to smoke him out seems to have been +of little effect, but enough appears in Lincoln's letter to show that he +was thoroughly warmed up. + +A joint debate in which all the candidates participated, took place +on the Saturday preceding the election. "The speaking began in the +forenoon," says one of the participants, "the candidates speaking +alternately until everyone who could speak had had his turn, generally +consuming the whole afternoon." Dr. Early, a Democratic candidate, in +his speech took issue with Ninian W. Edwards, stigmatizing some of the +latter's statements as untrue. This brought Edwards to his feet with +a similar retort. His angry tone and menacing manner, as he mounted +a table and with clenched fist hurled defiance at his challenger, +foreboded a tumultuous scene. "The excitement that followed," relates +another one of the candidates,* "was intense--so much so that fighting +men thought a duel must settle the difficulty. Mr. Lincoln by the +programme followed Early. Taking up the subject in dispute, he handled +it so fairly and with such ability, all were astonished and pleased." +The turbulent spirits were quieted and the difficulty was easily +overcome. + +Lincoln's friend Joshua F. Speed relates that during this campaign he +made a speech in Springfield a few days before the election. "The crowd +was large," says Speed, "and great numbers of his friends and admirers +had come in from the country. I remember that his speech was a very able +one, using with great power and originality all the arguments used to +sustain the principles of the Whig party as against its great rival, +the Democratic party of that day. The speech produced a profound +impression--the crowd was with him." + +George Forquer, an old citizen, a man of recognized prominence and +ability as a lawyer, was present. Forquer had been a Whig--one of the +champions of the party--but had then recently joined the Democratic +party, and almost simultaneous with the change had been appointed +Register of the Land Office, which office he then held. Just about that +time Mr. Forquer had completed a neat frame house--the best house then +in Springfield--and over it had erected a lightning rod, the only one +in the place and the first one Mr. Lincoln had ever seen. He afterwards +told me that seeing Forquer's lightning rod had led him to the study of +the properties of electricity and the utility of the rod as a conductor. +At the conclusion of Lincoln's speech the crowd was about dispersing, +when Forquer rose and asked to be heard. He commenced by saying that the +young man would have to be taken down, and was sorry the task devolved +on him. He then proceeded to answer Lincoln's speech in a style which, +while it was able and fair, in his whole manner asserted and claimed +superiority. Lincoln stood a few steps away with arms folded, carefully +watching the speaker and taking in everything he said. He was laboring +under a good deal of suppressed excitement. Forquer's sting had roused +the lion within him. At length Forquer concluded, and he mounted the +stand to reply. + +"I have heard him often since," continued Speed, "in the courts and +before the people, but never saw him appear and acquit himself so well +as upon that occasion. His reply to Forquer was characterized by great +dignity and force. I shall never forget the conclusion of that speech: +'Mr. Forquer commenced his speech by announcing that the young man would +have to be taken down. It is for you, fellow citizens, not for me to +say whether I am up or down. The gentleman has seen fit to allude to my +being a young man; but he forgets that I am older in years than I am +in the tricks and trades of politicians. I desire to live, and I +desire place and distinction; but I would rather die now than, like the +gentleman, live to see the day that I would change my politics for an +office worth three thousand dollars a year, and then feel compelled to +erect a lightning rod to protect a guilty conscience from an offended +God,'" The effect of this rejoinder was wonderful, and gave Forquer and +his lightning rod a notoriety the extent of which no one envied him. + +In the election which followed, Sangamon county in a political sense was +entirely turned over. Hitherto the Democrats had always carried it, but +now the Whigs gained control by an average majority of four hundred. +This time Lincoln led his ticket. The nine elected were, Abraham +Lincoln, Ninian W. Edwards, John Dawson, Andrew McCormick, Dan Stone, +Wm. F. Elkin, Robert L. Wilson, Job Fletcher, and Archer G. Herndon. The +last two were senators. On assembling at Vandalia they were at once, +on account of their stature, dubbed the "Long Nine." In height they +averaged over six feet, and in weight over two hundred pounds. "We were +not only noted," says one* of them, "for our number and length, but for +our combined influence. All the bad or objectional laws passed at that +session of the Legislature and for many years afterwards were chargeable +to the management and influence of the 'Long Nine.'" It is not my +purpose to enter into a detailed account of legislation at this period +or to rehearse the history of the political conditions. Many and +ingenious were the manoeuvres, but it would fill page after page to +narrate them. One thing which deserves mention in passing was "that +Yankee contrivance," the convention system, which for the first time was +brought into use. The Democrats, in obedience to the behests of Jackson, +had adopted it, and, singularly enough, among the very first named for +office under the operation of the new system was Stephen A. Douglas, who +was elected to the Legislature from Morgan county. Its introduction was +attributed to Ebenezer Peck, of Chicago, a Democrat who had once, it was +said, served in the Canadian Parliament. This latter supposed connection +with a monarchical institution was sufficient to bring down on his +head the united hostility of the Whigs, a feeling in which even Lincoln +joined. But after witnessing for a time the wonderful effects of its +discipline in Democratic ranks, the Whigs too fell in, and resorted to +the use of the improved machinery. + + * 'DeWitt Clinton of Illinois.'" + +The Legislature of which Mr. Lincoln thus became a member was one that +will never be forgotten in Illinois. Its legislation in aid of the +so-called internal improvement system was significantly reckless and +unwise. The gigantic and stupendous operations of the scheme dazzled the +eyes of nearly everybody, but in the end it rolled up a debt so enormous +as to impede the otherwise marvelous progress of Illinois. The burdens +imposed by this Legislature under the guise of improvements became +so monumental in size it is little wonder that at intervals for years +afterward the monster of repudiation often showed its hideous face above +the waves of popular indignation. These attempts at a settlement of the +debt brought about a condition of things which it is said led the Little +Giant, in one of his efforts on the stump, to suggest that "Illinois +ought to be honest if she never paid a cent." However much we may regret +that Lincoln took part and aided in this reckless legislation, we must +not forget that his party and all his constituents gave him their united +endorsement. They gave evidence of their approval of his course by two +subsequent elections to the same office. It has never surprised me in +the least that Lincoln fell so harmoniously in with the great system of +improvement. He never had what some people call "money sense." By reason +of his peculiar nature and construction he was endowed with none of the +elements of a political economist. He was enthusiastic and theoretical +to a certain degree; could take hold of, and wrap himself up in, a +great moral question; but in dealing with the financial and commercial +interests of a community or government he was equally as inadequate as +he was ineffectual in managing the economy of his own household. In this +respect alone I always regarded Mr. Lincoln as a weak man. + +One of his biographers, describing his legislative career at this time, +says of him: "He was big with prospects: his real public service was +just now about to begin. In the previous Legislature he had been silent, +observant, studious. He had improved the opportunity so well that of all +men in this new body, of equal age in the service, he was the smartest +parliamentarian and cunningest 'log roller.' He was fully determined +to identify himself conspicuously with the liberal legislation in +contemplation, and dreamed of a fame very different from that which he +actually obtained as an anti-slavery leader. It was about this time he +told his friend Speed that he aimed at the great distinction of being +called the 'DeWitt Clinton of Illinois.’" + +The representatives in the Legislature from Sangamon county had been +instructed by a mass convention of their constituents to vote "for +a general system of internal improvements." Another convention of +delegates from all the counties in the State met at Vandalia and made +a similar recommendation to the members of the Legislature, specifying +that it should be "commensurate with the wants of the people." Provision +was made for a gridiron of railroads. The extreme points of the State, +east and west, north and south, were to be brought together by thirteen +hundred miles of iron rails. Every river and stream of the least +importance was to be widened, deepened, and made navigable. A canal to +connect the Illinois River and Lake Michigan was to be dug, and thus the +great system was to be made "commensurate with the wants of the people." +To effect all these great ends, a loan of twelve million dollars +was authorized before the session closed. Work on all these gigantic +enterprises was to begin at the earliest practicable moment; cities were +to spring up everywhere; capital from abroad was to come pouring +in; attracted by the glowing reports of marvelous progress and great +internal wealth, people were to come swarming in by colonies, until in +the end Illinois was to outstrip all the others, and herself become the +Empire State of the Union. + +Lincoln served on the Committee on Finance, and zealously labored +for the success of the great measures proposed, believing they would +ultimately enrich the State, and redound to the glory of all who aided +in their passage. In advocating these extensive and far-reaching plans +he was not alone. Stephen A. Douglas, John A. McClernand, James Shields, +and others prominent in the subsequent history of the State, were +equally as earnest in espousing the cause of improvement, and sharing +with him the glory that attended it. Next in importance came the bill +to remove the seat of government from Vandalia. Springfield, of course, +wanted it. So also did Alton, Decatur, Peoria, Jacksonville, and +Illiopolis. But the Long Nine, by their adroitness and influence, were +too much for their contestants. They made a bold fight for Springfield, +intrusting the management of the bill to Lincoln. The friends of other +cities fought Springfield bitterly, but under Lincoln's leadership the +Long Nine contested with them every inch of the way. The struggle +was warm and protracted. "Its enemies," relates one of Lincoln's +colleagues,* "laid it on the table twice. In those darkest hours when +our bill to all appearances was beyond resuscitation, and all our +opponents were jubilant over our defeat, and when friends could see no +hope, Mr. Lincoln never for one moment despaired; but collecting his +colleagues to his room for consultation, his practical common-sense, his +thorough knowledge of human nature, then made him an overmatch for his +compeers and for any man that I have ever known." The friends of the +bill at last surmounted all obstacles, and only a day or two before the +close of the session secured its passage by a joint vote of both houses. + + * R. S. Wilson, MS. + +Meanwhile the great agitation against human slavery, which like a rare +plant had flourished amid the hills of New England in luxuriant growth, +began to make its appearance in the West. Missionaries in the great +cause of human liberty were settling everywhere. Taunts, jeers, +ridicule, persecution, assassination even, were destined to prove +ineffectual in the effort to suppress or exterminate these pioneers of +Abolitionism. These brave but derided apostles carried with them the +seed of a great reform. Perhaps, as was then said of them, they were +somewhat in advance of their season, and perhaps too, some of the +seed might be sown in sterile ground and never come to life, but they +comforted themselves with the assurance that it would not all die. A +little here and there was destined to grow to life and beauty. + +It is not surprising, I think, that Lincoln should have viewed this New +England importation with mingled suspicion and alarm. Abstractly, and +from the standpoint of conscience, he abhorred slavery. But born +in Kentucky, and surrounded as he was by slave-holding influences, +absorbing their prejudices and following in their line of thought, it +is not strange, I repeat, that he should fail to estimate properly the +righteous indignation and unrestrained zeal of a Yankee Abolitionist. On +the last day but one of the session, he solicited his colleagues to sign +with him a mild and carefully worded protest against certain resolutions +on the subject of domestic slavery, which had been passed by both houses +of the Legislature. They all declined, however, save one, Dan Stone,* +who with his associate will probably be known long after mention of all +other members of the Long Nine has dropped from history. + + * Following are the resolutions against the passage of which + Lincoln and Stone made their protest: + + Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Illinois: + That we highly disapprove of the formation of Abolition + societies and of the doctrines promulgated by them, + + That the right of property in slaves is sacred to the slave- + holding States by the Federal Constitution, and that they + cannot be deprived of that right without their consent, + + That the General Government cannot abolish slavery in the + District of Columbia against the consent of the citizens of + said District, without a manifest breach of good faith, + + That the Governor be requested to transmit to the States of + Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, New York, and Connecticut, a + copy of the foregoing report and resolutions. + +The language and sentiment are clearly Lincolnian, and over twenty years +afterward, when it was charged that Lincoln was an Abolitionist, and +this protest was cited as proof, it was only necessary to call for +a careful reading of the paper for an unqualified and overwhelming +refutation of the charge. The records of the Legislature for March 3, +1837, contain this entry: + +"Resolutions upon the subject of domestic slavery having passed both +branches of the General Assembly at its present session, the undersigned +hereby protest against the passage of the same. + +"They believe that the institution of slavery is founded on both +injustice and bad policy, but that the promulgation of abolition +doctrines tends rather to increase than abate its evils. + +"They believe that the Congress of the United States has no power under +the Constitution to interfere with the institution of slavery in the +different States. + +"They believe that the Congress of the United States has the power under +the Constitution to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, but +that the power ought not to be exercised unless at the request of the +people of the District. The difference between these opinions and, those +contained in the above resolutions is their reason for entering this +protest. + +"Dan Stone, + +"A. Lincoln, + +"Representatives from the county of Sangamon." + + +This document so adroitly drawn and worded, this protest pruned of any +offensive allusions, and cautiously framed so as to suit the temper of +the times, stripped of its verbal foliage reveals in naked grandeur +the solemn truth that "the institution of slavery is founded on both +injustice and bad policy." A quarter of a century later finds one of +these protesters righting the injustice and correcting the bad policy of +the inhuman and diabolical institution. + +The return of the "Long Nine" to Springfield was the occasion of much +enthusiasm and joy. The manifestations of public delight had never been +equalled before, save when the steamer _Talisman_ made its famous trip +down the Sangamon in 1831. The returning legislators were welcomed with +public dinners and the effervescent buncombe of local orators. Amid the +congratulations of warm friends and the approval of their enthusiastic +constituents, in which Lincoln received the lion's share of praise, they +separated, each departing to his own home. + +After his return from the Legislature, Lincoln determined to remove to +Springfield, the county seat, and begin the practice of the law. Having +been so instrumental in securing the removal of the State Capital from +Vandalia, and having received such encouraging assurances from Major +John T. Stuart and other leading citizens, he felt confident of a good +start.* + + * "Lincoln used to come to our office--Stuart's and mine--in + Springfield from New Salem and borrow law-books. Sometimes + he walked but generally rode. He was the most uncouth + looking young man I ever saw. He seemed to have but little + to say; seemed to feel timid, with a tinge of sadness + visible in the countenance, but when he did talk all this + disappeared for the time and he demonstrated that he was + both strong and acute. He surprised us more and more at + every visit."--Henry E. Dummer, Statement, Sept 16th, 1865. + +He had little, if any, money, but hoped to find in Springfield, as he +had in New Salem, good and influential friends, who, recognizing alike +his honesty and his nobility of character, would aid him whenever a +crisis came and their help was needed. In this hope he was by no means +in error, for his subsequent history shows that he indeed united his +friends to himself with hooks of steel. I had up to this time frequently +seen Mr. Lincoln--had often, while visiting my cousins, James and +Rowan Herndon, at New Salem, met him at their house--but became warmly +attached to him soon after his removal to Springfield. There was +something in his tall and angular frame, his ill-fitting garments, +honest face, and lively humor that imprinted his individuality on my +affection and regard. What impression I made on him I had no means of +knowing till many years afterward. He was my senior by nine years, and +I looked up to him, naturally enough, as my superior in everything--a +thing I continued to do till the end of his days. + +[Illustration: Springfield Court House 222] + +Stuart and Lincoln's Office (in 1839), Second Floor, over +Furniture-Store. Photographed in 1888. + +Now that the State capital was to be located at Springfield, that place +began, by way of asserting its social superiority, to put on a good +many airs. Wealth made its gaudy display, and thus sought to attain a +pre-eminence from which learning and refinement are frequently cut off. +Already, people had settled there who could trace their descent down +a long line of distinguished ancestry. The established families were +mainly from Kentucky. They re-echoed the sentiments and reflected the +arrogance and elegance of a slave-holding aristocracy. "The Todds, +Stuarts, and Edwardses were there, with priests, dogs, and servants;" +there also were the Mathers, Lambs, Opdykes, Forquers, and Fords. Amid +all "the flourishing about in carriages" and the pretentious elegance of +that early day was Lincoln. Of origin, doubtful if not unknown; "poor, +without the means of hiding his poverty," he represented yet another +importation from Kentucky which is significantly comprehended by the +term, "the poor whites." Springfield, containing between one and two +thousand people, was near the northern line of settlement in Illinois. +Still it was the center of a limited area of wealth and refinement. Its +citizens were imbued with the spirit of push and enterprise. Lincoln +therefore could not have been thrown into a better or more appreciative +community. + +In March, 1837, he was licensed to practice law. His name appears for +the first time as attorney for the plaintiff in the case of Hawthorne +vs. Woolridge. He entered the office and became the partner of his +comrade in the Black Hawk war, John T. Stuart, who had gained rather +an extensive practice, and who, by the loan of sundry textbooks several +years before, had encouraged Lincoln to continue in the study of law. +Stuart had emigrated from Kentucky in 1828, and on account of his +nativity, if for no other reason, had great influence with the leading +people in Springfield. He used to relate that on the next morning after +his arrival in Springfield he was standing in front of the village +store, leaning against a post in the sidewalk and wondering how +to introduce himself to the community, when he was approached by a +well-dressed old gentleman, who, interesting himself in the newcomer's +welfare, enquired after his history and business. "I'm from Kentucky," +answered Stuart, "and my profession is that of a lawyer, sir. What is +the prospect here?" Throwing his head back and closing his left eye the +old gentleman reflected a moment. "Young man, d------d slim chance for +that kind of a combination here," was the response. + +At the time of Lincoln's entry into the office, Stuart was just +recovering from the effects of a congressional race in which he had been +the loser. He was still deeply absorbed in politics, and was preparing +for the next canvass, in which he was finally successful--defeating the +wily and ambitious Stephen A. Douglas. In consequence of the political +allurements, Stuart did not give to the law his undivided time or the +full force of his energy and intellect. Thus more or less responsibility +in the management of business and the conduct of cases soon devolved +on Lincoln. The entries in the account books of the firm are all in the +handwriting of Lincoln. Most of the declarations and pleas were written +by him also. This sort of exercise was never congenial to him, and it +was the only time, save a brief period under Judge Logan, that he served +as junior partner and performed the labor required of one who serves in +that rather subordinate capacity. He had not yet learned to love work. +The office of the firm was in the upper story of a building opposite +the north-west corner of the present Court-house Square. In the room +underneath, the county court was held. The furniture was in keeping with +the pretensions of the firm--a small lounge or bed, a chair containing +a buffalo robe, in which the junior member was wont to sit and study, +a hard wooden bench, a feeble attempt at a book-case, and a table +which answered for a desk. Lincoln's first attempt at settlement in +Springfield, which preceded a few days his partnership with Stuart, +has been graphically described by his friend, Joshua F. Speed, who +generously offered to share his quarters with the young legal aspirant. +Speed, who was a prosperous young merchant, reports that Lincoln's +personal effects consisted of a pair of saddle-bags containing two or +three lawbooks and a few pieces of clothing. "He had ridden into town +on a borrowed horse," relates Speed, "and engaged from the only +cabinet-maker in the village a single bedstead. He came into my store, +set his saddle-bags on the counter, and enquired what the furniture +for a single bedstead would cost. I took slate and pencil, made a +calculation, and found the sum for furniture complete would amount to +seventeen dollars in all. Said he: 'It is probably cheap enough; but I +want to say that, cheap as it is, I have not the money to pay. But if +you will credit me until Christmas, and my experiment here as a lawyer +is a success, I will pay you then. If I fail in that I will probably +never pay you at all.' The tone of his voice was so melancholy that I +felt for him. I looked up at him and I thought then, as I think now, +that I never saw so gloomy and melancholy a face in my life. I said +to him, 'So small a debt seems to affect you so deeply, I think I can +suggest a plan by which you will be able to attain your end without +incurring any debt. I have a very large room and a very large double bed +in it, which you are perfectly welcome to share with me if you choose.' +'Where is your room?' he asked. + +"'Upstairs,' said I, pointing to the stairs leading from the store to +my room. Without saying a word he took his saddle-bags on his arm, went +upstairs, set them down on the floor, came down again, and with a face +beaming with pleasure and smiles, exclaimed, 'Well, Speed, I'm moved.'" + +William Butler, who was prominent in the removal of the capital from +Vandalia to Springfield, took no little interest in Lincoln, while a +member of the Legislature. After his removal to Springfield, Lincoln +boarded at Butler's house for several years. He became warmly attached +to the family, and it is probable the matter of pay never entered +Butler's mind. He was not only able but willing to befriend the young +lawyer in this and many other ways. + +Stephen T. Logan was judge of the Circuit court, and Stephen A. Douglas +was prosecuting attorney. Among the attorneys we find many promising +spirits. Edward D. Baker, John T. Stuart, Cyrus Walker, Samuel H. Treat, +Jesse B. Thomas, George Forquer, Dan Stone, Ninian W. Edwards, John J. +Hardin, Schuyler Strong, A. T. Bledsoe, and Josiah Lamborn--a galaxy of +names, each destined to shed more or less lustre on the history of +the State. While I am inclined to believe that Lincoln did not, after +entering Stuart's office, do as much deep and assiduous studying as +people generally credit him with, yet I am confident he absorbed not a +little learning by contact with the great minds who thronged about the +courts and State Capitol. The books of Stuart and Lincoln, during 1837, +show a practice more extensive than lucrative, for while they received a +number of fees, only two or there of them reached fifty dollars; and one +of these has a credit of: "Coat to Stuart, $15.00," showing that they +were compelled, now and then, even to "trade out" their earnings. The +litigation was as limited in importance as in extent. There were no +great corporations, as in this progressive day, retaining for counsel +the brains of the bar in every county seat, but the greatest as well +as the least had to join the general scramble for practice. The courts +consumed as much time deciding who had committed an assault or a +trespass on a neighbor's ground, as it spent in the solution +of questions arising on contracts, or unravelling similar legal +complications. Lawyers depended for success, not on their knowledge of +the law or their familiarity with its under-lying principles, but placed +their reliance rather on their frontier oratory and the influence of +their personal bearing before the jury. + +Lincoln made Speed's store headquarters. There politics, religion, and +all other subjects were discussed. There also public sentiment was made. +The store had a large fire-place in the rear, and around it the lights +of the town collected every evening. As the sparks flew from the +crackling logs, another and more brilliant fire flashed when these great +minds came into collision. Here were wont to gather Lincoln, Douglas, +Baker, Calhoun, Browning, Lamborn, Jesse B. Thomas and others. Only +those who were present and listened to these embryonic statesmen and +budding orators will ever be able to recall their brilliant thoughts and +appreciate their youthful enthusiasm. In the fall and winter of 1837, +while I was attending college at Jacksonville, the persecution and death +of Elijah P. Lovejoy at Alton took place. This cruel and uncalled for +murder had aroused the anti-slavery sentiment everywhere. It penetrated +the college, and both faculty and students were loud and unrestrained +in their denunciation of the crime. My father, who was thoroughly +pro-slavery in his ideas, believing that the college was too strongly +permeated with the virus of Abolitionism, forced me to withdraw from the +institution and return home. But it was too late. My soul had absorbed +too much of what my father believed was rank poison. The murder of +Lovejoy filled me with more desperation than the slave scene in New +Orleans did Lincoln; for while he believed in non-interference with +slavery, so long as the Constitution permitted and authorized its +existence, I, although acting nominally with the Whig party up to 1853, +struck out for Abolitionism pure and simple. + +On my return to Springfield from college, I hired to Joshua F. Speed +as clerk in his store. My salary, seven hundred dollars per annum, was +considered good pay then. Speed, Lincoln, Charles R. Hurst, and I slept +in the room upstairs over the store. I had worked for Speed before going +to college, and after hiring to him this time again, continued in his +employ for several years. The young men who congregated about the store +formed a society for the encouragement of debate and literary efforts. +Sometimes we would meet in a lawyer's office and often in Speed's room. +Besides the debates, poems and other original productions were read. +Unfortunately we ruled out the ladies. I am free to admit I would not +encourage a similar thing nowadays; but in that early day the young men +had not the comforts of books and newspapers which are within the reach +of every boy now. Some allowance therefore should be made for us. I have +forgotten the name of the society--if it had any--and can only recall a +few of its leading spirits. Lincoln, James Matheney, Noah Rickard, Evan +Butler, Milton Hay, and Newton Francis were members. I joined also. +Matheney was secretary.* We were favored with all sorts of literary +productions. Lincoln one night entertained us with a few lines of rhyme +intended to illustrate some weakness in woman--her frailty, perhaps. +Unfortunately, the manuscript has not been preserved. Matheney was able, +several years ago, to repeat a single stanza, but claimed that after the +lapse of so many years it was all he could recall. Perhaps in the end it +is best his memory was no more retentive. Reproduced here exactly as +in the original, it might suggest more than one construction or offend +against the canons of approved taste; in either event I shall omit it. + + * Near Hoffman's Row, where the Courts were held in 1839-40, + lived a shoemaker who frequently would get drunk and + invariably whipped his wife. Lincoln, hearing of this, told + the man if he ever repeated it he would thrash him soundly + himself. Meanwhile he told Evan Butler, Noah Rickard, and + myself of it, and we decided if the offense occurred again + to join with Lincoln in suppressing it. In due course of + time we heard of it. We dragged the offender up to the + court-house, stripped him of his shirt, and tied him to a + post or pump which stood over the well in the yard back of + the building. Then we sent for his wife and arming her with + a good limb bade her "light in." We sat on our haunches and + watched the performance. The wife did her work lustily and + well. When we thought the culprit had had enough Lincoln + released him; we helped him on with his shirt and he crept + sorrowfully homeward. Of course he threatened vengeance, but + still we heard no further reports of wife-whipping from + him.--James H. Matheney. + +Besides this organization we had a society in Springfield, which +contained and commanded all the culture and talent of the place. Unlike +the other one its meetings were public, and reflected great credit on +the community. We called it the "Young Men's Lyceum." Late in 1837, +Lincoln delivered before the society a carefully prepared address on the +"Perpetuation of Our Free Institutions."* + + *Mr. Lincoln's speech was brought out by the burning of a + negro in St. Louis a few weeks before by a mob. Lincoln took + this incident as a sort of text for his remarks. James + Matheney was appointed by the Lyceum to request of Lincoln a + copy of his speech and see to its publication. + +The inspiration and burthen of it was law and order. It has been printed +in full so often, and is always to be found in the list of Lincoln's +public speeches, that I presume I need not reproduce it here. It was +highly sophomoric in character and abounded in striking and lofty +metaphor. In point of rhetorical effort it excels anything he ever +afterward attempted. Probably it was the thing people expect from a +young man of twenty-eight. The address was published in the _Sangamon +Journal_ and created for the young orator a reputation which soon +extended beyond the limits of the locality in which he lived. As +illustrative of his style of oratory, I beg to introduce the concluding +paragraph of the address. Having characterized the surviving soldiers +of the Revolution as "living histories," he closes with this thrilling +flourish: "But these histories are gone. They can be read no more +forever. They were a fortress of strength; but what invading foeman +never could do, the silent artillery of time has--the levelling of +its walls. They are gone. They were a forest of giant oaks; but the +all-resistless hurricane has swept over them, and left only here and +there a lonely trunk, despoiled of its verdure, shorn of its foliage, +unshading and unshaded, to murmur in a few more gentle breezes, and to +combat with its mutilated limbs a few more rude storms, then to sink +and be no more. They were pillars of the temple of liberty, and now +that they have crumbled away, that temple must fall, unless we, their +descendants, supply their places with other pillars hewn from the same +solid quarry of sober reason. Passion has helped us, but can do so +no more. It will in future be our enemy. Reason--cold, calculating, +unimpassioned reason--must furnish all the materials for our future +support and defense. Let these materials be moulded into general +intelligence, sound morality, and in particular, a reverence for the +Constitution and the laws. * * * Upon these let the proud fabric of +freedom rest as the rock of its basis, and as truly as has been said +of the only greater institution, 'The gates of hell shall not prevail +against it.'" + +In time Lincoln's style changed: he became more eloquent but with less +gaudy ornamentation. He grew in oratorical power, dropping gradually the +alliteration and rosy metaphor of youth, until he was able at last to +deliver that grandest of all orations--the Gettysburg address. + +One evening, while the usual throng of loungers surrounded the inviting +fireplace in Speed's store, the conversation turned on political +matters. The disputants waxed warm and acrimonious as the discussion +proceeded. Business being over for the day, I strolled back and seating +myself on a keg listened with eager interest to the battle going on +among these would-be statesmen. Douglas, I recollect, was leading on the +Democratic side. He had already learned the art of dodging in debate, +but still he was subtle, fiery, and impetuous. He charged the Whigs with +every blunder and political crime he could imagine. No vulnerable spot +seemed to have escaped him. At last, with great vehemence, he sprang up +and abruptly made a challenge to those who differed with him to discuss +the whole matter publicly, remarking that, "This store is no place to +talk politics," In answer to Douglas's challenge the contest was entered +into. It took place in the Presbyterian Church. Douglas, Calhoun, +Lamborn, and Thomas represented the Democrats; and Logan, Baker, +Browning, and Lincoln, in the order named, presented the Whig side +of the question. One evening was given to each man, and it therefore +required over a week to complete the tournament. Lincoln occupied the +last evening, and although the people by that time had necessarily grown +a little tired of the monotony and well-worn repetition, yet Lincoln's +manner of presenting his thoughts and answering his Democratic opponents +excited renewed interest. So deep was the impression he created that +he was asked to furnish his speech to the _Sangamon Journal_ for +publication, and it afterwards appeared in the columns of that organ. + +[Illustration: First Presbyterian in Springfield 237] + +Photographed in 1888. + +Meanwhile Mr. Lincoln had attended one special session of the +Legislature in July, 1837. The session was called to take some action +with regard to the financial condition of the State. The Bank of the +United States and the New York and Philadelphia Banks had suspended +specie payments. This action had precipitated general ruin among +business men and interests over the entire country. The called session +of the Legislature was intended to save the Illinois banks from +impending dissolution. Lincoln retained his position on the Committee on +Finance, and had lost none of his enthusiasm over the glorious prospects +of internal improvements. The Legislature, instead of abridging, only +extended the already colossal proportions of the great system. In +this they paid no heed to the governor, whose head seems to have been +significantly clear on the folly of the enterprise. + +In 1838 Mr. Lincoln was again elected to the Legislature. At this +session, as the nominee of the Whig party, he received thirty-eight +votes for Speaker. Wm. L. D. Ewing, his successful competitor, the +Democratic candidate, received forty-three votes, and was elected. +Besides retaining his place on the Finance Committee, Lincoln was +assigned to the Committee on Counties. The enthusiasm and zeal of the +friends of internal improvements began to flag now in view of the fact +that the bonds issued were beginning to find their true level in point +of value. Lincoln, together with others of kindred views, tried to +bolster the "system" up; but soon the discouraging fact became apparent +that no more money could be obtained, and the Legislature began +to descant on what part of the debt was lawful and what unlawful. +Repudiation seemed not far off. Mr. Lincoln despaired now of ever +becoming the "DeWitt Clinton of Illinois." We find him admitting +"his share of the responsibility in the present crisis," and finally +concluding that he was "no financier" after all. No sooner had the +Legislature adjourned than he decided--if he had not already so +determined--to run for the same place again. He probably wanted it for +a vindication. He was pursued now more fiercely than ever, and he was +better able to endure the vilification of a political campaign than when +he first offered himself to the voters in New Salem. + +Among the Democratic orators who stumped the county at this time was one +Taylor--commonly known as Col. Dick Taylor. He was a showy, bombastic +man, with a weakness for fine clothes and other personal adornments. +Frequently he was pitted against Lincoln, and indulged in many bitter +flings at the lordly ways and aristocratic pretensions of the Whigs. He +had a way of appealing to "his horny-handed neighbors," and resorted to +many other artful tricks of a demagogue. When he was one day expatiating +in his accustomed style, Lincoln, in a spirit of mischief and, as he +expressed it, "to take the wind out of his sails," slipped up to the +speaker's side, and catching his vest by the lower edge gave it a sharp +pull. The latter instantly opened and revealed to his astonished hearers +a ruffled shirt-front glittering with watch-chain, seals, and other +golden jewels. The effect was startling. The speaker stood confused +and dumbfounded, while the audience roared with laughter. When it came +Lincoln's turn to answer he covered the gallant colonel over in this +style: "While Colonel Taylor was making these charges against the Whigs +over the country, riding in fine carriages, wearing ruffled shirts, kid +gloves, massive gold watch-chains with large gold seals, and flourishing +a heavy gold-headed cane, I was a poor boy, hired on a flat-boat at +eight dollars a month, and had only one pair of breeches to my back, and +they were buckskin. Now if you know the nature of buckskin when wet and +dried by the sun, it will shrink; and my breeches kept shrinking until +they left several inches of my legs bare between the tops of my socks +and the lower part of my breeches; and whilst I was growing taller they +were becoming shorter, and so much tighter that they left a blue +streak around my legs that can be seen to this day. If you call this +aristocracy I plead guilty to the charge."* + + * From MS. of Ninian W. Edwards. + +It was during this same canvass that Lincoln by his manly interference +protected his friend E. D. Baker from the anger of an infuriated crowd. +Baker was a brilliant and effective speaker, and quite as full too of +courage as invective. He was addressing a crowd in the court room, which +was immediately underneath Stuart and Lincoln's office. Just above the +platform on which the speaker stood was a trap door in the floor, which +opened into Lincoln's office. Lincoln at the time, as was often his +habit, was lying on the floor looking down through the door at the +speaker. I was in the body of the crowd. Baker was hot-headed and +impulsive, but brave as a lion. Growing warm in his arraignment of the +Democratic party, he charged that "wherever there was a land office +there was a Democratic newspaper to defend its corruptions." This +angered the brother of the editor of our town paper, who was present, +and who cried out, "Pull him down," at the same time advancing from +the crowd as if to perform the task himself. Baker, his face pale with +excitement, squared himself for resistance. A shuffling of feet, a +forward movement of the crowd, and great confusion followed. Just then +a long pair of legs were seen dangling from the aperture above, and +instantly the figure of Lincoln dropped on the platform. Motioning +with his hands for silence and not succeeding, he seized a stone +water-pitcher standing near by, threatening to break it over the head of +the first man who laid hands on Baker. "Hold on, gentlemen," he shouted, +"this is the land of free speech. Mr. Baker has a right to speak and +ought to be heard. I am here to protect him, and no man shall take him +from this stand if I can prevent it." His interference had the desired +effect. Quiet was soon restored, and the valiant Baker was allowed +to proceed. I was in the back part of the crowd that night, and an +enthusiastic Baker man myself. I knew he was a brave man, and even if +Lincoln had not interposed, I felt sure he wouldn't have been pulled +from the platform without a bitter struggle. + +This canvass--1840--was Mr. Lincoln's last campaign for the Legislature. +Feeling that he had had enough honor out of the office he probably +aspired for a place of more distinction. Jesse B. Thomas, one of the +men who had represented the Democratic side in the great debate in +the Presbyterian Church, in a speech at the court-house during this +campaign, indulged in some fun at the expense of the "Long Nine," +reflecting somewhat more on Lincoln than the rest. The latter was +not present, but being apprised by his friends of what had been said, +hastened to the meeting, and soon after Thomas closed, stepped upon the +platform and responded. The substance of his speech on this occasion +was not so memorable as the manner of its delivery. He felt the sting of +Thomas's allusions, and for the first time, on the stump or in public, +resorted to mimicry for effect. In this, as will be seen later along, he +was without a rival. He imitated Thomas in gesture and voice, at times +caricaturing his walk and the very motion of his body. Thomas, like +everybody else, had some peculiarities of expression and gesture, and +these Lincoln succeeded in rendering more prominent than ever. The crowd +yelled and cheered as he continued. Encouraged by these demonstrations, +the ludicrous features of the speaker's performance gave way to intense +and scathing ridicule. Thomas, who was obliged to sit near by and +endure the pain of this unique ordeal, was ordinarily sensitive; but the +exhibition goaded him to desperation. He was so thoroughly wrought up +with suppressed emotion that he actually gave way to tears. I was not a +witness of this scene, but the next day it was the talk of the town, and +for years afterwards it was called the "skinning" of Thomas. Speed was +there, so were A. Y. Ellis, Ninian W. Edwards, and David Davis, who was +just then coming into prominence. The whole thing was so unlike Lincoln, +it was not soon forgotten either by his friends or enemies. I heard him +afterwards say that the recollection of his conduct that evening filled +him with the deepest chagrin. He felt that he had gone too far, and to +rid his good-nature of a load, hunted up Thomas and made ample apology. +The incident and its sequel proved that Lincoln could not only be +vindictive but manly as well. + +He was selected as an Elector on the Harrison ticket for President in +1840, and as such stumped over a good portion of the State. In debate he +frequently met Douglas, who had already become the standard-bearer and +exponent of Democratic principles. These joint meetings were spirited +affairs sometimes; but at no time did he find the Little Giant averse +to a conflict. "He was very sensitive," relates one of his colleagues on +the stump, "where he thought he had failed to meet the expectations of +his friends. I remember a case. He was pitted by the Whigs in 1840 to +debate with Mr. Douglas, the Democratic champion. Lincoln did not come +up to the requirements of the occasion. He was conscious of his failure, +and I never saw any man so much distressed. He begged to be permitted +to try it again, and was reluctantly indulged; and in the next effort he +transcended our highest expectations.* I never heard and never expect to +hear such a triumphant vindication as he then gave of Whig measures or +policy. He never after, to my knowledge, fell below himself." + + * Joseph Gillespie, MS. letter, June 5, '66. + +The campaign ended in his election to the Legislature. He was again the +caucus nominee of the Whigs for Speaker, receiving thirty-six votes; but +his former antagonist, William L. D. Ewing, was elected by a majority +of ten votes over him. The proceedings of, and laws enacted by, this +Legislature are so much a matter of history and so generally known that +it seems a needless task on my part to enter into details. It is proper +to note, however, in passing, that Mr. Lincoln was neither prompt nor +constant in his attendance during the session. He had been to a certain +extent "upset" by another love affair, the particulars of which must be +assigned to a future chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +The year 1840 finds Mr. Lincoln entering his thirty-second year and +still unmarried. "I have come to the conclusion," he suggests in a +facetious letter, two years before, "never again to think of marrying." +But meanwhile he had seen more of the world. The State Capital had been +removed to Springfield, and he soon observed the power and influence +one can exert with high family and social surroundings to draw upon. The +sober truth is that Lincoln was inordinately ambitious. He had already +succeeded in obtaining no inconsiderable political recognition, and +numbered among his party friends men of wealth and reputation; but +he himself was poor, besides lacking the graces and ease of bearing +obtained through mingling in polite society--in fact, to use the +expressive language of Mary Owens, he was "deficient in those little +links which make up the chain of woman's happiness." Conscious, +therefore, of his humble rank in the social scale, how natural that he +should seek by marriage in an influential family to establish strong +connections and at the same time foster his political fortunes! This +may seem an audacious thing to insinuate, but on no other basis can +we reconcile the strange course of his courtship and the tempestuous +chapters in his married life. It is a curious history, and the facts, +long chained down, are gradually coming to the surface. When all is at +last known, the world I believe will divide its censure between Lincoln +and his wife. + +Mary Todd, who afterwards became the wife of Mr. Lincoln, was born +in Lexington, Kentucky, December 13, 1818. "My mother," related Mrs. +Lincoln to me in 1865, "died when I was still young. I was educated by +Madame Mantelli, a lady who lived opposite Mr. Clay's, and who was an +accomplished French scholar. Our conversation at school was carried on +entirely in French--in fact we were allowed to speak nothing else. I +finished my education at Mrs. Ward's Academy, an institution to which +many people from the North sent their daughters. In 1837 I visited +Springfield, Illinois, remaining three months. I returned to Kentucky, +remaining till 1839, when I again set out for Illinois, which State +finally became my home." + +The paternal grandfather of Mary Todd, General Levi Todd, was born in +1756, was educated in Virginia, and studied law in the office of General +Lewis of that State. He emigrated to Kentucky, was a lieutenant in the +campaigns conducted by General George Rogers Clark against the Indians, +and commanded a battalion in the battle of Blue Licks, August 18, 1782, +where his brother, John Todd, was killed. He succeeded Daniel Boone in +command of the militia, ranking as major-general, and was one of the +first settlers in Lexington, Ky. February 25, 1779, he married Miss Jane +Briggs. The seventh child of this union, born February 25, 1791, was +Robert S. Todd, the father of Mrs. Lincoln. On her maternal side Mrs. +Lincoln was highly connected. Her great-grandfather, General Andrew +Porter, was in the war of the Revolution. He succeeded Peter Muhlenberg +as major-general of the Pennsylvania militia. Her great uncles, George +B. Porter, who was governor of Michigan, James Madison Porter, secretary +of the navy under President Tyler, and David R. Porter, governor of +Pennsylvania, were men of ability and distinction. Her mother, Anne +Eliza Parker, was a cousin of her father, Robert S. Todd. The latter had +served in both houses of the Kentucky Legislature, and for over twenty +years was president of the Bank of Kentucky at Lexington. He died July +16, 1849. + +To a young lady in whose veins coursed the blood that had come down from +this long and distinguished ancestral line, who could even go back in +the genealogical chart to the sixth century, Lincoln, the child of Nancy +Hanks, whose descent was dimmed by the shadow of tradition, was finally +united in marriage. + +When Mary Todd came to her sister's house in Springfield in 1839, +she was in her twenty-first year. She was a young woman of strong, +passionate nature and quick temper, and had "left her home in Kentucky +to avoid living under the same roof with a stepmother."* She came to +live with her oldest sister, Elizabeth, who was the wife of Lincoln's +colleague in the Legislature, Ninian W. Edwards. She had two other +sisters, Frances, married to Dr. William Wallace, and Anne, who +afterwards became the wife of C. M. Smith, a prominent and wealthy +merchant. They all resided in Springfield. She was of the average +height, weighing when I first saw her about a hundred and thirty pounds. +She was rather compactly built, had a well rounded face, rich dark-brown +hair, and bluish-gray eyes. In her bearing she was proud, but handsome +and vivacious. Her education had been in no wise defective; she was a +good conversationalist, using with equal fluency the French and English +languages. When she used a pen, its point was sure to be sharp, and she +wrote with wit and ability. She not only had a quick intellect but an +intuitive judgment of men and their motives. Ordinarily she was affable +and even charming in her manners; but when offended or antagonized, her +agreeable qualities instantly disappeared beneath a wave of stinging +satire or sarcastic bitterness, and her entire better nature was +submerged. In her figure and physical proportions, in education, +bearing, temperament, history--in everything she was the exact reverse +of Lincoln. + + * Mrs. Edwards, statement, Aug. 3, 1887. + +On her return to Springfield she immediately entered society, and soon +became one of the belles, leading the young men of the town a merry +dance. She was a very shrewd observer, and discreetly and without +apparent effort kept back all the unattractive elements in her +unfortunate organization. Her trenchant wit, affability, and +candor pleased the young men not less than her culture and varied +accomplishments impressed the older ones with whom she came in contact. +The first time I met her was at a dance at the residence of Col. Robert +Allen, a gentleman mentioned in the preceding chapter. I engaged her for +a waltz, and as we glided through it I fancied I never before had danced +with a young lady who moved with such grace and ease. A few moments +later, as we were promenading through the hall, I thought to compliment +her graceful dancing by telling her that while I was conscious of my own +awkward movements, she seemed to glide through the waltz with the +ease of a serpent. The strange comparison was as unfortunate as it was +hideous. I saw it in an instant, but too late to recall it. She halted +for a moment, drew back, and her eyes flashed as she retorted: "Mr. +Herndon, comparison to a serpent is rather severe irony, especially to a +newcomer." + +[Illustration: Joshua Speed and Wife 251] + +Through the influence of Joshua F. Speed, who was a warm friend of the +Edwardses, Lincoln was led to call on Miss Todd. He was charmed with +her wit and beauty, no less than by her excellent social qualities +and profound knowledge of the strong and weak points in individual +character. One visit succeeded another. It was the old story. Lincoln +had again fallen in love. "I have often happened in the room where they +were sitting," relates Mrs. Edwards, describing this courtship, "and +Mary invariably led the conversation. Mr. Lincoln would sit at her side +and listen. He scarcely said a word, but gazed on her as if irresistibly +drawn towards her by some superior and unseen power. He could not +maintain himself in a continued conversation with a lady reared as Mary +was. He was not educated and equipped mentally to make himself either +interesting or attractive to the ladies. He was a good, honest, and +sincere young man whose rugged, manly qualities I admired; but to me he +somehow seemed ill-constituted by nature and education to please such +a woman as my sister. Mary was quick, gay, and in the social world +somewhat brilliant. She loved show and power, and was the most ambitious +woman I ever knew. She used to contend when a girl, to her friends in +Kentucky, that she was destined to marry a President. I have heard +her say that myself, and after mingling in society in Springfield she +repeated the seemingly absurd and idle boast. Although Mr. Lincoln +seemed to be attached to Mary, and fascinated by her wit and sagacity, +yet I soon began to doubt whether they could always be so congenial. In +a short time I told Mary my impression that they were not suited, or, +as some persons who believe matches are made in heaven would say, not +intended for each other." But Mrs. Edwards' advice was seed, sown on +rocky soil. The courtship ran on smoothly to the point of engagement, +when a new and disturbing element loomed up ahead in their paths. It +was no less than the dashing and handsome Stephen A. Douglas, who now +appeared on the scene in the guise of a rival. As a society man Douglas +was infinitely more accomplished, more attractive and influential than +Lincoln, and that he should supplant the latter in the affections of +the proud and aristocratic Miss Todd is not to be marveled at. He +was unremitting in his attentions to the lady, promenaded the streets +arm-in-arm with her--frequently passing Lincoln--and in every way made +plain his intention to become the latter's rival. There are those who +believe this warm reciprocation of young Douglas' affection was a mere +flirtation on Mary Todd's part, intended to spur Lincoln up, to make +him more demonstrative, and manifest his love more positively and with +greater fervor. But a lady relative who lived with Lincoln and his wife +for two years after their marriage is authority for the statement coming +from Mrs. Lincoln herself that "she loved Douglas, and but for her +promise to marry Lincoln would have accepted him." The unfortunate +attitude she felt bound to maintain between these two young men ended in +a spell of sickness. Douglas, still hopeful, was warm in the race, but +the lady's physician,--her brother-in-law,--Dr. William Wallace, to whom +she confided the real cause of her illness, saw Douglas and induced him +to end his pursuit,* which he did with great reluctance. + + * Mrs. Harriett Chapman, statement, Nov. 8, 1887. + +If Miss Todd intended by her flirtation with Douglas to test Lincoln's +devotion, she committed a grievous error. If she believed, because he +was ordinarily so undemonstrative, that he was without will-power and +incapable of being aroused, she certainly did not comprehend the man. +Lincoln began now to feel the sting. Miss Todd's spur had certainly +operated and with awakening effect. One evening Lincoln came into our +store and called for his warm friend Speed. Together they walked back +to the fireplace, where Lincoln, drawing from his pocket a letter, asked +Speed to read it. "The letter," relates Speed, "was addressed to Mary +Todd, and in it he made a plain statement of his feelings, telling her +that he had thought the matter over calmly and with great deliberation, +and now felt that he did not love her sufficiently to warrant her in +marrying him. This letter he desired me to deliver. Upon my declining +to do so he threatened to intrust it to some other person's hand. I +reminded him that the moment he placed the letter in Miss Todd's hand, +she would have the advantage over him. 'Words are forgotten,' I said, +'misunderstood, unnoticed in a private conversation, but once put your +words in writing and they stand a living and eternal monument against +you.' Thereupon I threw the unfortunate letter in the fire. 'Now,' I +continued, 'if you have the courage of manhood, go see Mary yourself; +tell her, if you do not love her, the facts, and that you will not marry +her. Be careful not to say too much, and then leave at your earliest +opportunity.' Thus admonished, he buttoned his coat, and with a rather +determined look started out to perform the serious duty for which I had +just given him explicit directions." + +That night Speed did not go upstairs to bed with us, but under pretense +of wanting to read, remained in the store below. He was waiting for +Lincoln's return. Ten o'clock passed, and still the interview with Miss +Todd had not ended. At length, shortly after eleven, he came stalking +in. Speed was satisfied, from the length of Lincoln's stay, that his +directions had not been followed. + +"Well, old fellow, did you do as I told you and as you promised?" were +Speed's first words. + +"Yes, I did," responded Lincoln, thoughtfully, "and when I told Mary +I did not love her, she burst into tears and almost springing from her +chair and wringing her hands as if in agony, said something about the +deceiver being himself deceived." Then he stopped. + +"What else did you say?" inquired Speed, drawing the facts from him. + +"To tell you the truth, Speed, it was too much for me. I found the tears +trickling down my own cheeks. I caught her in my arms and kissed her," +"And that's how you broke the engagement," sneered Speed. "You not only +acted the fool, but your conduct was tantamount to a renewal of the +engagement, and in decency you cannot back down now." + + * Statement, Joshua F. Speed, Sep. 17, 1866, MS. + +"Well," drawled Lincoln, "if I am in again, so be it. It's done, and +I shall abide by it." Convinced now that Miss Todd regarded the +engagement ratified,--instead of broken, as her tall suitor had at first +intended,--Lincoln continued his visits, and things moved on smoothly as +before. Douglas had dropped out of the race, and everything pointed to +an early marriage. It was probably at this time that Mr. and Mrs. +Edwards began to doubt the wisdom of the marriage, and now and then to +intimate the same to the lady; but they went no farther in their +opposition and placed no obstacle in their paths. + +The time fixed for the marriage was the first day in January, 1841. +Careful preparations for the happy occasion were made at the Edwards +mansion. The house underwent the customary renovation; the furniture was +properly arranged, the rooms neatly decorated, the supper prepared, and +the guests invited. The latter assembled on the evening in question, and +awaited in expectant pleasure the interesting ceremony of marriage. The +bride, bedecked in veil and silken gown, and nervously toying with the +flowers in her hair, sat in the adjoin-ing room. Nothing was lacking but +the groom. For some strange reason he had been delayed. An hour passed, +and the guests as well as the bride were becoming restless. But they +were all doomed to disappointment. Another hour passed; messengers were +sent out over town, and each returning with the same report, it became +apparent that Lincoln, the principal in this little drama, had purposely +failed to appear! The bride, in grief, disappeared to her room; the +wedding supper was left untouched; the guests quietly and wonderingly +withdrew; the lights in the Edwards mansion were blown out, and +darkness settled over all for the night. What the feelings of a lady +as sensitive, passionate, and proud as Miss Todd were we can only +imagine--no one can ever describe them. By daybreak, after persistent +search, Lincoln's friends found him. Restless, gloomy, miserable, +desperate, he seemed an object of pity. His friends, Speed among the +number, fearing a tragic termination, watched him closely in their rooms +day and night. "Knives and razors, and every instrument that could be +used for self-destruction were removed from his reach."* Mrs. Edwards +did not hesitate to regard him as insane, and of course her sister Mary +shared in that view. But the case was hardly so desperate. His condition +began to improve after a few weeks, and a letter written to his partner +Stuart, on the 23d of January; 1841, three weeks after the scene at +Edwards' house, reveals more perfectly how he felt. He says: "I am now +the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed +to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on +earth. Whether I shall ever be better, I cannot tell; I awfully forebode +I shall not. To remain as I am is impossible. I must die or be better, +as it appears to me... I fear I shall be unable to attend to any +business here, and a change of scene might help me. If I could be myself +I would rather remain at home with Judge Logan. I can write no more." + + * J. F. Speed, MS. letter, January 6, 1866, + +During all this time the Legislature to which Lincoln belonged was in +special session, but for a time he was unable to attend.* Towards the +close of the session, however, he resumed his seat. He took little if +any part in the proceedings, made no speeches, and contented himself +with answers to the monotonous roll-call, and votes on a few of the +principal measures. After the adjournment of the Legislature, his warm +friend Speed, who had disposed of his interests in Springfield, induced +Lincoln to accompany him to Kentucky. Speed's parents lived in a +magnificent place a few miles from Louisville. Their farm was well +stocked, and they, in the current phrase, "lived well." Thither he was +taken, and there amid the quiet surroundings he found the "change of +scene" which he told Stuart might help him. He was living under the +cloud of melancholia, and sent to the _Sangamon Journal_ a few lines +under the gloomy title of "Suicide." They were published in the paper, +and a few years since I hunted over the files, and coming across the +number containing them, was astonished to find that some one had cut +them out. I have always supposed it was done by Lincoln or by some one +at his instigation. + + * His illness and consequent incapacity for duty in the + Legislature, continued for almost three weeks. On the 19th + of January, 1841, John J. Hardin announced his illness in + the House. Four days afterward he wrote the letter to Stuart + from which I have quoted a few lines. + +Speed's mother was much impressed with the tall and swarthy stranger +her son had brought with him. She was a God-fearing mother, and besides +aiding to lighten his spirits, gave him a Bible, advising him to read it +and by adopting its precepts obtain a release from his troubles which no +other agency, in her judgment, could bring him. "He was much depressed. +At first he almost contemplated suicide. In the deepest of his +depression he said one day he had done nothing to make any human being +remember that he had lived; and that to connect his name with the events +transpiring in his day and generation, and so impress himself upon them +as to link his name with something that would redound to the interest +of his fellow-men, was what he desired to live for."* The congenial +associations at the Speed farm,** the freedom from unpleasant reminders, +the company of his staunch friend, and above all the motherly care +and delicate attentions of Mrs. Speed exerted a marked influence over +Lincoln. + + * Letter, J. F. Speed, February 9, 1866, MS. + + ** At the time of Lincoln's visit at the Speed mansion, + James Speed, a brother of Joshua, and afterward Attorney- + General in Lincoln's Cabinet, was practicing law in + Louisville. Lincoln came into his office daily. "He read my + books," related Mr. Speed in after years; "talked with me + about his life, his reading, his studies, his aspirations." + Mr. Speed discredits the thought that Lincoln was insane at + the time, although he understood he was saddened and + melancholy over an unfortunate love affair. + +He improved gradually, day by day gaining strength and confidence in +himself, until at last the great cloud lifted and passed away. In the +fall he and Speed returned to Springfield. At this point, as affording +us the most reliable account of Mr. Lincoln's condition and views, it +is proper to insert a portion of his correspondence with Mr. Speed. For +some time Mr. Speed was reluctant to give these letters to the world. +After some argument, however, he at last shared my view that they were +properly a matter of history, and sent them to me, accompanied by a +letter, in which he says: + +"I enclose you copies of all the letters of any interest from Mr. +Lincoln to me. Some explanation may be needed that you may rightly +understand their import. In the winter of 1840 and 1841, he was unhappy +about his engagement to his wife--not being entirely satisfied that his +heart was going with his hand. How much he suffered then on that account +none knew so well as myself; he disclosed his whole heart to me.* + + * Lincoln wrote a letter--a long one which he read to me--to + Dr. Drake of Cincinnati, descriptive of his case. Its date + would be in December, 1840, or early in January, 1841. I + think that he must have informed Dr. Drake of his early love + for Miss Rutledge, as there was a part of the letter which + he would not read... I remember Dr. Drake's reply, which + was, that he would not undertake to prescribe for him + without a personal interview."--Joshua F. Speed, MS. letter, + November 30, 1866. + +"In the summer of 1841 I became engaged to my wife. He was here on a +visit when I courted her; and, strange to say, something of the same +feeling which I regarded as so foolish in him took possession of me and +kept me very unhappy from the time of my engagement until I was married. +This will explain the deep interest he manifested in his letters on my +account. + +"One thing is plainly discernible; if I had not been married and +happy--far more happy than I ever expected to be--he would not have +married." + +The first of these letters is one which he gave Speed when the latter +started on his journey from Illinois to Kentucky. It bears no date, +but was handed him January 1, 1842, as Speed has testified, in another +letter to me, that he left Springfield on that day. It is full of +consolation and advice how best to conduct himself when the periods of +gloom which he feels sure will follow come upon his friend. "I know," +he says, "what the painful point with you is at all times when you are +unhappy; it is an apprehension that you do not love her as you should. +What nonsense! How came you to court her?... Did you court her for her +wealth? Why, you say she had none. But you say you reasoned yourself +into it. What do you mean by that? Was it not that you found yourself +unable to reason yourself out of it? Did you not think, and partly form +the purpose, of courting her the first time you ever saw her or heard +of her? What had reason to do with it at that early stage? There was +nothing at that time for reason to work upon. Whether she was moral, +amiable, sensible, or even of good character, you did not nor could then +know, except perhaps you might infer the last from the company you found +her in.... Say candidly, were not those heavenly black eyes the whole +basis of all your reasoning on the subject? After you and I had once +been at the residence, did you not go and take me all the way to +Lexington and back for no other purpose but to get to see her again on +our return on that evening to take a trip for that express object?" + +The next paragraph is significant as affording us an idea of how the +writer perhaps viewed Miss Todd's flirtation with Douglas: "What earthly +consideration," he asks, "would you take to find her scouting and +despising you and giving herself up to another? But of this you need +have no apprehension, and therefore you cannot bring it home to your +feelings." + +February 3, he writes again, acknowledging receipt of a letter dated +January 25. The object of Speed's affection had been ill, and her +condition had greatly intensified his gloomy spirits. Lincoln proffers +his sympathy. "I hope and believe," he continues, "that your present +anxiety about her health and her life must and will forever banish those +horrid doubts which I know you sometimes felt as to the truth of your +affection for her. If they can once and forever be removed (and I almost +feel a presentiment that the Almighty has sent your present affliction +expressly for that object), surely nothing can come in their stead to +fill their immeasurable measure of misery... It really appears to me +that you yourself ought to rejoice and not sorrow at this indubitable +evidence of your undying affection for her. Why, Speed, if you did +not love her, although you might not wish her death, you would most +certainly be resigned to it. Perhaps this point is no longer a question +with you, and my pertinacious dwelling upon it is a rude intrusion +upon your feelings. If so you must pardon me. You know the hell I have +suffered on that point, and how tender I am upon it. You know I do not +mean wrong. I have been quite clear of hypo since you left, even better +than I was along in the fall." + +The next letter, February 13, was written on the eve of Speed's +marriage. After assurances of his desire to befriend him in everything, +he suggests: "But you will always hereafter be on ground that I have +never occupied, and consequently, if advice were needed, I might advise +wrong. I do fondly hope, however, that you will never again need any +comfort from abroad... I incline to think it probable that your nerves +will occasionally fail you for awhile; but once you get them firmly +graded now, that trouble is over forever. If you went through the +ceremony calmly or even with sufficient composure not to excite alarm in +any present, you are safe beyond question, and in two or three months, +to say the most, will be the happiest of men." + +Meanwhile Lincoln had been duly informed of Speed's marriage, and on the +25th he responds: + +"Yours of the 16th, announcing that Miss Fanny and you are 'no more +twain, but one flesh,' reached me this morning. I have no way of telling +how much happiness I wish you both, though I believe you both can +conceive it. I feel somewhat jealous of both of you now. You will be +so exclusively concerned for one another that I shall be forgotten +entirely... I shall be very lonesome without you. How miserably things +seem to be arranged in this world! If we have no friends we have no +pleasure; and if we have them we are sure to lose them, and be doubly +pained by the loss." + +In another letter, written the same day, he says, "I have no doubt it +is the peculiar misfortune of both you and me to dream dreams of Elysium +far exceeding all that anything earthly can realize. Far short of your +dreams as you may be, no woman could do more to realize them than +that same blackeyed Fanny. If you could but contemplate her through my +imagination, it would appear ridiculous to you that any one should for +a moment think of being unhappy with her. My old father used to have a +saying, that, 'If you make a bad bargain hug it all the tighter,' and +it occurs to me that if the bargain just closed can possibly be called a +bad one it is certainly the most pleasant one for applying that maxim to +which my fancy can by any effort picture." + +Speed having now safely married, Lincoln's mind began to turn on things +nearer home. His relations with Mary Todd were still strained, but +reminders of his period of gloom the year before began now to bring her +again into view. In a letter to Speed, March 27, he says: + +"It cannot be told how it thrills me with joy to hear you say you +are 'far happier than you ever expected to be.' That much, I know, is +enough. I know you too well to suppose your expectations were not at +least sometimes extravagant, and if the reality exceeds them all, I say, +'Enough, dear Lord.' I am not going beyond the truth when I tell you +that the short space it took me to read your last letter gave me more +pleasure than the total sum of all I have enjoyed since that fatal first +of January, 1841. Since then it seems to me I should have been entirely +happy but for the never-absent idea that there is one still unhappy whom +I have contributed to make so. That kills my soul. I cannot but +reproach myself for even wishing to be happy while she is otherwise. +She accompanied a large party on the railroad cars to Jacksonville +last Monday, and on her return spoke, so that I heard of it, of having +enjoyed the trip exceedingly. God be praised for that!" + +The last paragraph of this letter contains a bit of sentiment by Lincoln +in acknowledgment of a violet. In the margin of the letter which he gave +me, Speed made this note in pencil: "The violet was sent by my wife, +who dropped it in the letter as I was in the act of sealing it. How +beautiful the acknowledgment!" This is the paragraph: "The sweet violet +you enclosed came safely to hand, but it was so dry, and mashed so flat, +that it crumbled to dust at the first attempt to handle it. The juice +that mashed out of it stained a place in the letter, which I mean to +preserve and cherish for the sake of her who procured it to be sent. My +renewed good wishes to her." + +Meanwhile the coldness that existed between Lincoln and his "Mary" was +gradually passing away, and with it went all of Lincoln's resolution +never to renew the engagement. In a letter, July 4, he says: "I must +gain confidence in my own ability to keep my resolves when they are +made. In that ability I once prided myself as the only chief gem of my +character; that gem I lost, how and where you know too well. I have not +regained it; and until I do I cannot trust myself in any matter of much +importance. I believe now that had you understood my case at the time as +well as I understood yours afterwards, by the aid you would have given +me I should have sailed through clear; but that does not now afford +me sufficient confidence to begin that or the like of that again.... I +always was superstitious; I believe God made me one of the instruments +of bringing Fanny and you together, which union I have no doubt he had +foreordained. Whatever he designs he will do for me yet. 'Stand still +and see the salvation of the Lord,' is my text just now. If, as you say, +you have told Fanny all, I should have no objection to her seeing this +letter, but for its reference to our friend here; let her seeing it +depend upon whether she has ever known anything of my affairs; and if +she has not, do not let her. I do not think I can come to Kentucky this +season. I am so poor and make so little headway in the world that I drop +back in a month of idleness as much as I gain in a year's sowing." + +The last letter, and the one which closes this series, was written +October 5, 1842. In it he simply announces his "duel with Shields," and +then goes on to "narrate the particulars of the duelling business, +which still rages in this city." This referred to a challenge from +the belligerent Shields to William Butler, and another from General +Whitesides to Dr. Merryman. In the latter, Lincoln acted as the "friend +of Merryman," but in neither çase was there any encounter, and both +ended in smoke. The concluding paragraph of this letter is the most +singular in the entire correspondence. I give it entire without further +comment: + +"But I began this letter not for what I have been writing, but to +say something on that subject which you know to be of such infinite +solicitude to me. The immense sufferings you endured from the first days +of September till the middle of February you never tried to conceal from +me, and I well understood. You have now been the husband of a lovely +woman nearly eight months. That you are happier now than the day you +married her, I well know, for without, you could not be living. But +I have your word for it, too, and the returning elasticity of spirits +which is manifested in your letters. But I want to ask a close question: +'Are you in _feeling_ as well as _judgment_ glad you are married as you +are?' From anybody but me this would be an impudent question, not to +be tolerated, but I know you will pardon it in me. Please answer it +quickly, as I am impatient to know." Lincoln again applied himself to +the law. He re-entered the practice, after the long hiatus of rest, with +renewed vigor. He permitted the memory of his engagement with Mary Todd +to trouble him no longer. Their paths had diverged, the pain of the +separation was over, and the whole thing was a history of the past. And +so it might ever have remained but for the intervention of a very shrewd +and sagacious lady--one who was capable of achieving success anywhere +in the ranks of diplomacy. This lady was the wife of Simeon Francis, the +editor of the _Sangamon Journal_. She was a warm friend of Mary Todd and +a leader in society. Her husband was warmly attached to Lincoln. He ran +the Whig organ, and entertained great admiration for Lincoln's brains +and noble qualities. The esteem was mutual, and it is no stretch of the +truth to say that for years Lincoln exercised undisputed control of the +columns of the _Journal_ himself. Whatever he wrote or had written, +went into the editorial page without question. Mrs. Francis, sharing her +husband's views of Lincoln's glorious possibilities, and desiring to do +Mary Todd a kindly act, determined to bring about a reconciliation. She +knew that Miss Todd had by letter a few days after "that fatal first of +January, 1841," as Lincoln styled it, released him from the engagement, +and that since then their relations had been strained, if not entirely +broken off. As she viewed it, a marriage between a man as promising +in the political world as Lincoln, and a woman as accomplished +and brilliant in society as Mary Todd, would certainly add to the +attractions of Springfield and reflect great credit on those who +brought the union about. She was a great social entertainer, and one day +arranged a gathering at her house for the express purpose of bringing +these two people together. Both were invited and both attended; but +neither suspected the other's presence. Having arranged things so +ingeniously and with so much discretion, it was no difficult task for +the hostess to bring the couple together by a warm introduction and the +encouraging admonition, "Be friends again." Much to the surprise of both +they found the web woven around them. They entered into the spirit of +the reconciliation, and found Mrs. Francis' roof an inviting place for +many succeeding meetings. A wall reared itself between them and the +past, and they started again under the auspicious omens of another +engagement. The tact of a woman and the diplomacy of society had +accomplished what love had long since despaired of ever doing or seeing +done. + +The meetings in the parlor of Mrs. Francis' house were conducted with +no little privacy. At first even Mrs. Edwards knew nothing of it, but +presently it came to her ears. "I asked Mary," said this lady, "why she +was so secretive about it. She said evasively that after all that had +occurred, it was best to keep the courtship from all eyes and ears. +Men and women and the whole world were uncertain and slippery, and if +misfortune befell the engagement all knowledge of it would be hidden +from the world." * + + * Statement, January 10, 1866, MS. + +It is unnecessary to prolong the account of this strange and checkered +courtship. The intervention of the affair with Shields, which will +be detailed in a subsequent chapter, in no way impeded, if it did not +hasten the marriage. One morning in November, Lincoln, hastening to the +room of his friend James H. Matheney before the latter had arisen from +bed, informed him that he was to be married that night, and requested +him to attend as best man.* That same morning Miss Todd called on her +friend Julia M. Jayne, who afterward married Lyman Trumbull, and made +a similar request. The Edwardses were notified, and made such meager +preparations as were possible on so short notice. License was obtained +during the day, the minister, Charles N. Dresser,** was sent for, and +in the evening of November 4, 1842, "as pale and trembling as if being +driven to slaughter," Abraham Lincoln was at last married to Mary Todd.* + + * "Marriages in Springfield up to that time had been rather + commonplace affairs. Lincoln's was perhaps the first one + ever performed with all the requirements of the Episcopal + ceremony. A goodly number of friends had gathered, and while + witnessing the ceremony one of the most amusing incidents + imaginable occurred. No description on paper can do it + justice. Among those present was Thomas C. Brown, one of the + judges of the Supreme Court. He was in truth an "old-timer," + and had the virtue of saying just what he thought, without + regard to place or surroundings. He had been on the bench + for many years and was not less rough than quaint and + curious. There was, of course, a perfect hush in the room as + the ceremony progressed. Brown was standing just behind + Lincoln. Old Parson Dresser, in canonical robes, with much + and impressive solemnity recited the Episcopal service. He + handed Lincoln the ring, who, placing it on the bride's + finger, repeated the Church formula, 'With this ring I thee + endow with all my goods and chattels, lands and tenements.' + Brown, who had never witnessed such a proceeding, was struck + with its utter absurdity. 'God Almighty! Lincoln,' he + ejaculated, loud enough to be heard by all, 'the statute + fixes all that!' This unlooked-for interruption almost upset + the old parson; he had a keen sense of the ridiculous, and + for the moment it seemed as if he would break down; but + presently recovering his gravity, he hastily pronounced them + husband and wife."--Letter, James H. Matheney, MS., Aug. + 21,1888. + + ** "My father, Rev. Charles Dresser, was a graduate of Brown + University, Providence, R. I., of the class of 1823."-- + Thomas W. Dresser, MS. letter, Sept. 17, 1888. + +[Illustration: Edwards Residence where Lincoln Married 273] + +In which Lincoln and Mary Todd were married, and in which the latter +died. Photographed in 1886. + +One great trial of his life was now over, and another still greater +one was yet to come. To me it has always seemed plain that Mr. Lincoln +married Mary Todd to save his honor, and in doing that he sacrificed his +domestic peace. He had searched himself subjectively, introspectively, +thoroughly: he knew he did not love her, but he had promised to marry +her! The hideous thought came up like a nightmare. As the "fatal first +of January, 1841," neared, the clouds around him blackened the heavens +and his life almost went out with the storm. But soon the skies cleared. +Friends interposed their aid to avert a calamity, and at last he stood +face to face with the great conflict between honor and domestic peace. +He chose the former, and with it years of self-torture, sacrificial +pangs, and the loss forever of a happy home.* + + * While dressing for the wedding in his room at Butler's + house, the latter's little boy, Speed, seeing Lincoln so + handsomely attired, in boyish innocence asked him where he + was going? "To hell, I suppose," was Lincoln's reply. + +With Miss Todd a different motive, but one equally as unfortunate, +prompted her adherence to the union. To marry Lincoln meant not a life +of luxury and ease, for Lincoln was not a man to accumulate wealth; but +in him she saw position in society, prominence in the world, and +the grandest social distinction. By that means her ambition would be +satisfied. Until that fatal New Year's day in 1841 she may have loved +him, but his action on that occasion forfeited her affection. He had +crushed her proud, womanly spirit. She felt degraded in the eyes of the +world. Love fled at the approach of revenge. Some writer--it is Junius, +I believe--has said that, "Injuries may be forgiven and forgotten, +but insults admit of no compensation: they degrade the mind in its own +self-esteem and force it to recover its level by revenge." Whether Mrs. +Lincoln really was moved by the spirit of revenge or not she acted along +the lines of human conduct. She led her husband a wild and merry +dance. If, in time, she became soured at the world it was not without +provocation, and if in later years she unchained the bitterness of a +disappointed and outraged nature, it followed as logically as an effect +does the cause. + +I have told this sad story as I know and have learned it. In rehearsing +the varied scenes of the drama,* I have unearthed a few facts that seem +half-buried, perhaps, but they were not destined to lay buried deep or +long. The world will have the truth as long as the name of Lincoln is +remembered by mankind. + + * For many years I had reason to believe that Sarah Rickard, + who was a sister of Mrs. William Butler, had been the + recipient of some attentions at the hand of Mr. Lincoln. The + lady, long since married, is now living in a Western State. + I applied to her for information recently, and after some + entreaty received this answer in her own handwriting: "As an + old friend I will answer the question propounded to me, + though I can scarcely see what good it can do history. Mr. + Lincoln did make a proposal of marriage to me in the summer, + or perhaps later, in the year of 1840. He brought to my + attention the accounts in the Bible of the patriarch + Abraham's marriage to Sarah, and used that historical union + as an argument in his own behalf. My reason for declining + his proposal was the wide difference in our ages. I was then + only sixteen, and had given the subject of matrimony but + very little, if any, thought. I entertained the highest + regard for Mr. Lincoln. He seemed almost like an older + brother, being, as it were, one of my sister's family." + +There were two things Mr. Lincoln always seemed willing to forget. +One was his unparliamentary escape with Joseph Gillespie from the +Legislature by jumping through the church window, in 1839, and the +other was the difficulty with James Shields, or, as he expressed it in a +letter to Speed, the "duel with Shields." Other incidents in his career +he frequently called up in conversation with friends, but in after +years he seldom if ever referred to the affair with Shields. People in +Illinois did gradually forget or, at least, cease mention of it, but in +more remote quarters where Mr. Lincoln was less extensively known, the +thing, much to his regret, kept rising to the surface. During a visit +which I made to the Eastern States in 1858, I was often asked for an +account of the so-called duel; so often, in fact, that on my return home +I told Mr. Lincoln of it. "If all the good things I have ever done," +he said regretfully, "are remembered as long and well as my scrape with +Shields, it is plain I shall not soon be forgotten." + +James Shields, a "gallant, hot-headed bachelor from Tyrone county, +Ireland," and a man of inordinate vanity, had been elected Auditor of +State. Encouraged somewhat by the prominence the office gave him, he at +once assumed a conspicuous position in the society of Springfield. He +was extremely sensitive by nature, but exposed himself to merciless +ridicule by attempting to establish his supremacy as a beau among the +ladies. Blind to his own defects, and very pronounced in support of +every act of the Democratic party, he made himself the target for all +the bitterness and ridicule of the day. It happened that the financial +resources of the State, owing to the collapse of the great internal +improvement system, were exceedingly limited, and people were growing +restless under what they deemed excessive taxation. The State officers +were all Democrats, and during the summer they issued an order declining +to receive any more State Banknotes or bills in payment of taxes. This +made the tax-payer's burdens greater than ever, as much of this paper +remained outstanding in the hands of the people. The order met with +opposition from every quarter--the Whigs of course losing no opportunity +to make it as odious as possible. It was perfectly natural, therefore, +that such an ardent Whig as Lincoln should join in the popular +denunciation. Through the columns of the _Springfield Journal_, of which +he had the undisputed use, he determined to encourage the opposition +by the use of his pen. No object seemed to merit more ridicule and +caricature than the conspicuous figure of the Auditor of State. At this +time Lincoln was enjoying stolen conferences under the hospitable roof +of Mrs. Francis with Mary Todd and her friend Julia M. Jayne. These two +young ladies, to whom he confided his purpose, encouraged it and offered +to lend their aid. Here he caught the idea of puncturing + +Shields. The thing took shape in an article published in that Journal, +purporting to have come from a poor widow, who with her pockets full of +State Bank paper was still unable to obtain the coveted receipt for her +taxes. It was written by Lincoln and was headed: + +A Letter from the Lost Townships. + +Lost Townships, August 27,1842. + +Dear Mr. Printer, + +I see you printed that long letter I sent you a spell ago. I'm quite +encouraged by it, and can't keep from writing again. I think the +printing of my letters will be a good thing all round--it will give +me the benefit of being known by the world, and give the world the +advantage of knowing what's going on in the Lost Townships, and give +your paper respectability besides. So here comes another. Yesterday +afternoon I hurried through cleaning up the dinner dishes and stepped +over to neighbor S------ to see if his wife Peggy was as well as mout be +expected, and hear what they called the baby. Well, when I got there and +just turned round the corner of his log cabin, there he was, setting on +the doorstep reading a newspaper. "How are you, Jeff?" says I. He sorter +started when he heard me, for he hadn't seen me before. "Why," says he, +"I'm mad as the devil, Aunt 'Becca!" "What about?" says I; "ain't +its hair the right color? None of that nonsense, Jeff; there ain't an +honester women in the Lost Townships than"--"Than who?" says he; "what +the mischief are you about?" I began to see I was running the wrong +trail, and so says I, "Oh! nothing: I guess I was mistaken a little, +that's all. But what is it you're mad about?" + +"Why," says he, "I've been tugging ever since harvest, getting out wheat +and hauling it to the river to raise State Bank paper enough to pay my +tax this year and a little school debt I owe; and now, just as I've got +it, here I open this infernal _Extra Register_, expecting to find it +full of 'Glorious Democratic Victories' and 'High Comb'd Cocks,' when, +lo and behold! I find a set of fellows, calling themselves officers of +the State, have forbidden the tax collectors and school commissioners to +receive State paper at all; and so here it is dead on my hands. I don't +now believe all the plunder I've got will fetch ready cash enough to pay +my taxes and that school debt." + +I was a good deal thunderstruck myself; for that was the first I had +heard of the proclamation, and my old man was pretty much in the same +fix with Jeff. We both stood a moment staring at one another without +knowing what to say. At last says I, "Mr. S------, let me look at that +paper." He handed it to me, when I read the proclamation over. + +"There now," says he, "did you ever see such a piece of impudence and +imposition as that?" I saw Jeff was in a good tune for saying some +ill-natured things, and so I tho't I would just argue a little on the +contrary side, and make him rant a spell if I could. "Why," says I, +looking as dignified and thoughtful as I could, "it seems pretty tough, +to be sure, to have to raise silver where there's none to be raised; but +then, you see, 'there will be danger of loss' if it ain't done." + +"Loss! damnation!" says he. "I defy Daniel Webster, I defy King Solomon, +I defy the world--I defy--I defy--yes, I defy even you, Aunt 'Becca, +to show how the people can lose anything by paying their taxes in State +paper." + +"Well," says I, "you see what the officers of State say about it, and +they are a desarnin' set of men. But," says I, "I guess you're mistaken +about what the proclamation says. It don't say the people will lose +anything by the paper money being taken for taxes. It only says 'there +will be danger of loss'; and though it is tolerable plain that the +people can't lose by paying their taxes in something they can get easier +than silver, instead of having to pay silver; and though it's just as +plain that the State can't lose by taking State Bank paper, however low +it may be, while she owes the bank more than the whole revenue, and can +pay that paper over on her debt, dollar for dollar;--still there is +danger of loss to the 'officers of State'; and you know, Jeff, we can't +get along without officers of State." + +"Damn officers of State!" says he; "that's what Whigs are always +hurrahing for." + +"Now, don't swear so, Jeff," says I; "you know I belong to the meetin', +and swearin' hurts my feelings." + +"Beg pardon, Aunt 'Becca," says he; "but I do say it's enough to make Dr. +Goddard swear, to have tax to pay in silver, for nothing only that Ford +may get his two thousand a year, and Shields his twenty-four hundred a +year, and Carpenter his sixteen hundred a year, and all without 'danger +of loss' by taking it in State paper. Yes, yes: it's plain enough now +what these officers of State mean by 'danger of loss.' Wash, I s'pose, +actually lost fifteen hundred dollars out of the three thousand that two +of these 'officers of State' let him steal from the treasury, by +being compelled to take it in State paper. Wonder if we don't have a +proclamation before long, commanding us to make up this loss to Wash in +silver." + +And so he went on till his breath run out, and he had to stop. I +couldn't think of anything to say just then, and so I begun to look over +the paper again. "Ay! here's another proclamation, or something like +it." + +"Another?" says Jeff; "and whose egg is it, pray?" + +I looked to the bottom of it, and read aloud, "Your obedient servant, +James Shields, Auditor." "Aha!" says Jeff, "one of them same three +fellows again. Well, read it, and let's hear what of it." + +I read on till I came to where it says, "The object of this measure is +to suspend the collection of the revenue for the current year." + +"Now stop, now stop!" says he; "that's a lie a'ready, and I don't want +to hear of it." + +"Oh! may be not," says I. + +"I say it--is--a--lie. Suspend the collection, indeed! Will the +collectors, that have taken their oaths to make the collection, dare +to suspend it? Is there anything in law requiring them to perjure +themselves at the bidding of James Shields? + +"Will the greedy gullet of the penitentiary be satisfied with swallowing +him instead of all of them, if they should venture to obey him? And +would he not discover some 'danger of loss,' and be off about the time +it came to taking their places? + +"And suppose the people attempt to suspend, by refusing to pay; what +then? The collectors would just jerk up their horses and cows, and the +like, and sell them to the highest bidder for silver in hand, without +valuation or redemption. Why, Shields didn't believe that story himself: +it was never meant for the truth. If it was true, why was it not writ +till five days after the proclamation? Why didn't Carlin and Carpenter +sign it as well as Shields? Answer me that, Aunt 'Becca. I say it's a +lie, and not a well told one at that. It grins out like a copper dollar. +Shields is a fool as well as a liar. With him truth is out of the +question; and as for getting a good, bright, passable lie out of him, +you might as well try to strike fire from a cake of tallow. I stick to +it, it's all an infernal Whig lie!" + +"A Whig lie! Highty tighty!" + +"Yes, a Whig lie; and it's just like everything the cursed British Whigs +do. First they'll do some divilment, and then they'll tell a lie to hide +it. And they don't care how plain a lie it is: they think they can cram +any sort of a one down the throats of the ignorant Locofocos, as they +call the Democrats." + +"Why, Jeff, you're crazy: you don't mean to say Shields is a Whig!" + +"Yes, I do." + +"Why, look here! the proclamation is in your own Democratic paper, as +you call it." + +"I know it; and what of that? They only printed it to let us Democrats +see the deviltry the Whigs are at." + +"Well, but Shields is the auditor of this Loco--I mean this Democratic +State." + +"So he is, and Tyler appointed him to office." + +"Tyler appointed him?" + +"Yes (if you must chaw it over), Tyler appointed him; or, if it wasn't +him, it was old Granny Harrison, and that's all one. I tell you, Aunt +'Becca, there's no mistake about his being a Whig. Why, his very looks +shows it; everything about him shows it: if I was deaf and blind, I +could tell him by the smell. I seed him when I was down in Springfield +last winter. They had a sort of a gatherin' there one night among the +grandees, they called a fair. All the gals about town was there, and all +the handsome widows and married women, finickin' about trying to look +like gals, tied as tight in the middle, and puffed out at both ends, +like bundles of fodder that hadn't been stacked yet, but wanted stackin' +pretty bad. And then they had tables all around the house kivered over +with [ ] caps and pincushions and ten thousand such little knic-knacks, +tryin' to sell'em to the fellows that were bowin' and scrapin' and +kungeerin' about'em. They wouldn't let no Democrats in, for fear they'd +disgust the ladies, or scare the little gals, or dirty the floor. I +looked in at the window, and there was this same fellow Shields floatin' +about on the air, without heft or earthly substances, just like a lock +of cat fur where cats had been fighting. + +"He was paying his money to this one, and that one, and t'other one, and +sufferin' great loss because it wasn't silver instead of State paper; +and the sweet distress he seemed to be in,--his very features, in the +ecstatic agony of his soul, spoke audibly and distinctly, 'Dear girls, +it is distressing, but I cannot marry you all. Too well I know how +much you suffer; but do, do remember, it is not my fault that I am so +handsome and so interesting.' + +"As this last was expressed by a most exquisite contortion of his face, +he seized hold of one of their hands, and squeezed, and held on to it +about a quarter of an hour. 'Oh, my good fellow!' says I to myself, 'if +that was one of our Democratic gals in the Lost Townships, the way +you'd get a brass pin let into you would be about up to the head.' He +a Democrat! Fiddlesticks! I tell you, Aunt 'Becca, he's a Whig, and no +mistake: nobody but a Whig could make such a conceity dunce of himself." + +"Well," says I, "maybe he is; but, if he is, I'm mistaken the worst +sort. Maybe so, maybe so; but, if I am, I'll suffer by it; I'll be a +Democrat if it turns out that Shields is a Whig, considerin' you shall +be a Whig if he turns out a Democrat." + +"A bargain, by jingoes!" says he; "but how will we find out?" + +"'Why," says I, "we'll just write and ax the printer." + +"Agreed again!" says he; "and by thunder! if it does turn out that +Shields is a Democrat, I never will"-- + +"Jefferson! Jefferson!" + +"What do you want, Peggy?" + +"Do get through your everlasting clatter some time, and bring me a gourd +of water; the child's been crying for a drink this livelong hour." + +"Let it die, then; it may as well die for water as to be taxed to death +to fatten officers of State." + +Jeff run off to get the water, though, just like he hadn't been saying +anything spiteful for he's a raal good-hearted fellow, after all, once +you get at the foundation of him. + +I walked into the house, and, "Why, Peggy," says I, "I declare we like +to forgot you altogether." "Oh, yes," says she, "when a body can't help +themselves, everybody soon forgets'em; but, thank God! by day after +to-morrow I shall be well enough to milk the cows, and pen the calves, +and wring the contrary ones' tails for'em, and no thanks to nobody." + +"Good evening, Peggy," says I, and so I sloped, for I seed she was mad +at me for making Jeff neglect her so long. + +And now, Mr. Printer, will you be sure to let us know in your next paper +whether this Shields is a Whig or a Democrat? I don't care about it +for my self, for I know well enough how it is already; but I want to +convince Jeff. It may do some good to let him, and others like him, +know who and what these officers of State are. It may help to send the +present hypocritical set to where they belong, and to fill the places +they now disgrace, with men who will do more work for less pay, and take +a fewer airs while they are doing it. It ain't sensible to think that +the same men who get us into trouble will change their course; and yet +it's pretty plain if some change for the better is not made, it's not +long that either Peggy or I or any of us will have a cow left to milk, +or a calf's tail to wring. + +Yours truly, + +Rebecca ------. + +Within a week another epistle from Aunt Rebecca appeared, in which, +among other things, she offered the gallant Shields her hand. This one +was written by Miss Todd and Miss Jayne. I insert it without further +comment: + +Lost Townships, September 8, 1842. Dear Mr. Printer: + +I was a-standin' at the spring yesterday a-wash-in' out butter when I +seed Jim Snooks a-ridin' up towards the house for very life, when, jist +as I was a-wonderin' what on airth was the matter with him, he stops +suddenly, and ses he, "Aunt 'Becca, here's somethin' for you and with +that he hands out your letter. Well, you see, I steps out towards him, +not thinkin' that I had both hands full of butter; and seein' I couldn't +take the letter, you know, without greasin' it, I ses, "Jim, jist you +open it, and read it for me." Well, Jim opens it and reads it; and would +you believe it, Mr. Editor, I was so completely dumfounded and turned +into stone that there I stood in the sun a-workin' the butter, and it +a-running on the ground, while he read the letter, that I never thunk +what I was about till the hull on't run melted on the ground and was +lost. Now, sir, it's not for the butter, nor the price of the butter, +but, the Lord have massy on us, I wouldn't have sich another fright for +a whole firkin of it. Why, when I found out that it was the man what +Jeff seed down to the fair that had demanded the author of my letters, +threatnin' to take personal satisfaction of the writer, I was so skart +that I tho't I should quill-wheel right where I was. + +You say that Mr. S------ is offended at being compared to cats' fur, +and is as mad as a March hare (that ain't fur), because I told about the +squeezin'. + +Now I want you to tell Mr. S------ that, rather than fight, I'll make +any apology; and, if he wants personal satisfaction, let him only come +here, and he may squeeze my hand as hard as I squeezed the butter, and, +if that ain't personal satisfaction, I can only say that he is the fust +man that was not satisfied with squeezin' my hand. If this should +not answer, there is one thing more that I would rather do than get a +lickin'. I have long expected to die a widow; but, as Mr. S------ +is rather goodlooking than otherwise, I must say I don't care if +we compromise the matter by--really, Mr. Printer, I can't help +blushin'--but I--it must come out--I--but widowed modesty--well, if I +must, I must--wouldn't he--may be sorter let the old grudge drap if I +was to consent to be--be--h-i-s w-i-f-e? I know he's a fightin' man, and +would rather fight than eat; but isn't marryin' better than fightin', +though it does sometimes run in to it? And I don't think, upon the +whole, that I'd be sich a bad match neither: I'm not over sixty, and +am jist four feet three in my bare feet, and not much more around the +girth; and for color, I wouldn't turn my back to nary a gal in the Lost +Townships. But, after all, maybe I'm countin' my chickins before they +are hatched, and dreamin' of matrimonial bliss when the only alternative +reserved for me may be a lickin'. Jeff tells me the way these +fire-eaters do is to give the challenged party choice of weapons, etc., +which bein' the case, I'll tell you in confidence that I never fights +with anything but broomsticks or hot water or a shovelful of coals or' +some such thing; the former of which, being somewhat like a shillalah, +may not be very objectional to him. I will give him choice, however, in +one thing, and that is, whether, when we fight, I shall wear breeches or +he petticoats, for, I presume that change is sufficient to place us on +an equality. + +Yours, etc., + +Rebecca ------. + +P. S.--Jist say to your friend, if he concludes to marry rather than +fight, I shall only inforce one condition, that is, if he should ever +happen to gallant any young gals home of nights from our house, he must +not squeeze their hands. + +Not content with their epistolary efforts, the ladies invoked the muse. +"Rebecca" deftly transformed herself into "Cathleen," and in jingling +rhyme sang the praises of Shields, and congratulated him over the +prospect of an early marriage to the widow. Following are the verses, +rhyme, metre, and all: + + Ye Jew's-harps awake! The Auditor's won. + Rebecca the widow has gained Erin's son; + The pride of the north from Emerald Isle + Has been wooed and won by a woman's smile. + The combat's relinquished, old loves all forgot: + To the widow he's bound. Oh, bright be his lot! + + In the smiles of the conquest so lately achieved. + Joyful be his bride, "widowed modesty" relieved, + The footsteps of time tread lightly on flowers, + May the cares of this world ne'er darken his hours! + But the pleasures of life are fickle and coy + As the smiles of a maiden sent off to destroy. + + Happy groom! in sadness far distant from thee + The fair girls dream only of past times of glee + Enjoyed in thy presence; whilst the soft blarnied stone + Will be fondly remembered as relics of yore, + And hands that in rapture you oft would have pressed, + In prayer will be clasped that your lot may be blest. + + Cathleen. + +The satire running through these various compositions, and the publicity +their appearance in the _Journal_ gave them, had a most wonderful effect +on the vain and irascible Auditor of State. He could no longer endure +the merriment and ridicule that met him from every side. A man of +cooler head might have managed it differently, but in the case of a +high-tempered man like Shields he felt that his integrity had been +assailed and that nothing but an "affair of honor" would satisfy him. +Through General John D. Whiteside he demanded of editor Francis the name +of the author. The latter hunted up Lincoln, who directed him to give +his name and say nothing about the ladies. The further proceedings in +this grotesque drama were so graphically detailed by the friends of both +parties in the columns of the _Journal_ at that time, that I copy their +letters as a better and more faithful narrative than can be obtained +from any other source. The letter of Shields' second, General Whiteside, +appearing first in the _Journal_, finds the same place in this chapter: + +"_To the Editor of the Sangamon Journal_: Springfield, Oct. 3, 1842. + +"SIR: To prevent misrepresentation of the recent affair between Messrs. +Shields and Lincoln, I think it proper to give a brief narrative of the +facts of the case, as they came within my knowledge; for the truth +of which I hold myself responsible, and request you to give the same +publication. An offensive article in relation to Mr. Shields appeared +in the _Sangamon Journal_ of the 2d of September last; and, on demanding +the author, Mr. Lincoln was given up by the editor. Mr. Shields, +previous to this demand, made arrangements to go to Quincy on public +business; and before his return Mr. Lincoln had left for Tremont to +attend the court, with the intention, as we learned, of remaining on +the circuit several weeks. Mr. Shields, on his return, requested me +to accompany him to Tremont; and, on arriving there, we found that Dr. +Merryman and Mr. Butler had passed us in the night, and got there before +us. We arrived in Tremont on the 17th ult., and Mr. Shields addressed a +note to Mr. Lincoln immediately, informing him that he was given up as +the author of some articles that appeared in the Sangamon Journal (one +more over the signature having made its appearance at this time), and +requesting him to retract the offensive allusions contained in said +articles in relation to his private character. Mr. Shields handed this +note to me to deliver to Mr. Lincoln, and directed me, at the same time, +not to enter into any verbal communication, or be the bearer of any +verbal explanation, as such were always liable to misapprehension. This +note was delivered by me to Mr. Lincoln, stating, at the same time, +that I would call at his convenience for an answer. Mr. Lincoln, in the +evening of the same day, handed me a letter addressed to Mr. Shields. In +this he gave or offered no explanation, but stated therein that he could +not submit to answer further, on the ground that Mr. Shields's note +contained an assumption of facts and also a menace. Mr. Shields then +addressed him another note, in which he disavowed all intention to +menace, and requested to know whether he (Mr. Lincoln) was the author +of either of the articles which appeared in the _Journal_, headed 'Lost +Townships,' and signed 'Rebecca'; and, if so, he repeated his request +of a retraction of the offensive matter in relation to his private +character; if not, his denial would be held sufficient. This letter was +returned to Mr. Shields unanswered, with a verbal statement 'that there +could be no further negotiation between them until the first note +was withdrawn.' Mr. Shields thereupon sent a note designating me as a +friend, to which Mr. Lincoln replied by designating Dr. Merryman. These +three last notes passed on Monday morning, the 19th. Dr. Merryman handed +me Mr. Lincoln's last note when by ourselves. I remarked to Dr. Merryman +that the matter was now submitted to us, and that I would propose that +he and myself should pledge our words of honor to each other to try to +agree upon terms of amicable arrangement, and compel our principals to +accept of them. To this he readily assented, and we shook hands upon +the pledge. It was then mutually agreed that we should adjourn to +Springfield, and there procrastinate the matter, for the purpose of +effecting the secret arrangement between him and myself. All this I kept +concealed from Mr. Shields. Our horse had got a little lame in going +to Tremont, and Dr. Merryman invited me to take a seat in his buggy. I +accepted the invitation the more readily, as I thought that leaving +Mr. Shields in Tremont until his horse would be in better condition to +travel would facilitate the private agreement between Dr. Merryman and +myself. I travelled to Springfield part of the way with him, and part +with Mr. Lincoln; but nothing passed between us on the journey in +relation to the matter in hand. We arrived in Springfield on Monday +night. About noon on Tuesday, to my astonishment, a proposition was made +to meet in Missouri, within three miles of Alton, on the next Thursday! +The weapons, cavalry broadswords of the largest size; the parties to +stand on each side of a barrier, and to be confined to a limited space. +As I had not been consulted at all on the subject, and considering the +private understanding between Dr. Merryman and myself, and it being +known that Mr. Shields was left at Tremont, such a proposition took me +by surprise. However, being determined not to violate the laws of +the State, I declined agreeing upon the terms until we should meet in +Missouri. Immediately after, I called upon Dr. Merryman and withdrew +the pledge of honor between him and myself in relation to a secret +arrangement. I started after this to meet Mr. Shields, and met him about +twenty miles from Springfield. It was late on Tuesday night when we both +reached the city and learned that Dr. Merryman had left for Missouri, +Mr. Lincoln having left before the proposition was made, as Dr. Merryman +had himself informed me. The time and place made it necessary to +start at once. We left Springfield at eleven o'clock on Tuesday night, +travelled all night, and arrived in Hillsborough on Wednesday morning, +where we took in General Ewing. From there we went to Alton, where we +arrived on Thursday; and, as the proposition required three friends on +each side, I was joined by General Ewing and Dr. Hope, as the friends of +Mr. Shields. We then crossed to Missouri, where a proposition was made +by General Hardin and Dr. English (who had arrived there in the mean +time as mutual friends) to refer the matter to, I think, four friends +for a settlement. This I believed Mr. Shields would refuse, and declined +seeing him; but Dr. Hope, who conferred with him upon the subject, +returned and stated that Mr. Shields declined settling the matter +through any other than the friends he had selected to stand by him on +that occasion. The friends of both the parties finally agreed to +withdraw the papers (temporarily) to give the friends of Mr. Lincoln an +opportunity to explain. Whereupon the friends of Mr. Lincoln, to wit, +Messrs. Merryman, Bledsoe, and Butler, made a full and satisfactory +explanation in relation to the article which appeared in the _Sangamon +Journal_ of the 2d, the only one written by him. This was all done +without the knowledge or consent of Mr. Shields, and he refused to +accede to it, until Dr. Hope, General Ewing, and myself declared the +apology sufficient, and that we could not sustain him in going further. +I think it necessary to state further, that no explanation or apology +had been previously offered on the part of Mr. Lincoln to Mr. Shields, +and that none was ever communicated by me to him, nor was any even +offered to me, unless a paper read to me by Dr. Merryman after he had +handed me the broadsword proposition on Tuesday. I heard so little of +the reading of the paper, that I do not know fully what it purported to +be; and I was the less inclined to inquire, as Mr. Lincoln was then gone +to Missouri, and Mr. Shields not yet arrived from Tremont. In fact, I +could not entertain any offer of the kind, unless upon my own +responsibility; and that I was not disposed to do after what had already +transpired. + +"I make this statement, as I am about to be absent for some time, and +I think it due to all concerned to give a true version of the matter +before I leave. + +"Your obedient servant, + +"John D. Whiteside." + +Springfield, October 8, 1842. + +Editors of the Journal: + +Gents:--By your paper of Friday, I discover that General Whiteside has +published his version of the late affair between Messrs. Shields and +Lincoln, I now bespeak a hearing of my version of the same affair, which +shall be true and full as to all material facts. + +On Friday evening, the 16th of September, I learned that Mr. Shields +and General Whiteside had started in pursuit of Mr. Lincoln, who was at +Tremont, attending court. I knew that Mr. Lincoln was wholly unpractised +both as to the diplomacy and weapons commonly employed in similar +affairs; and I felt it my duty, as a friend, to be with him, and, so far +as in my power, to prevent any advantage being taken of him as to either +his honor or his life. Accordingly, Mr. Butler and myself started, +passed Shields and Whiteside in the night, and arrived at Tremont ahead +of them on Saturday morning. I told Mr. Lincoln what was brewing, and +asked him what course he proposed to himself. He stated that he was +wholly opposed to duelling, and would do anything to avoid it that might +not degrade him in the estimation of himself and friends; but, if such +degradation or a fight were the only alternatives, he would fight. + +In the afternoon Shields and Whiteside arrived, and very soon the former +sent to Mr. Lincoln, by the latter, the following note or letter:-- + +Tremont, September 17, 1842. + +A. Lincoln, Esq.:-- + +I regret that my absence on public business compelled me to postpone a +matter of private consideration a little longer than I could have +desired. It will only be necessary, however, to account for it by +informing you that I have been to Quincy on business that would not +admit of delay. I will now state briefly the reasons of my troubling you +with this communication, the disagreeable nature of which I regret, as I +had hoped to avoid any difficulty with any one in Springfield while +residing there, by endeavoring to conduct myself in such a way amongst +both my political friends and opponents, as to escape the necessity of +any. Whilst thus abstaining from giving provocation, I have become the +object of slander, vituperation, and personal abuse which, were I +capable of submitting to, I would prove myself worthy of the whole of +it. + +In two or three of the last numbers of the Sangamon Journal, articles of +the most personal nature, and calculated to degrade me, have made their +appearance. On inquiring, I was informed by the editor of that paper, +through the medium of my friend, General Whiteside, that you are the +author of those articles. This information satisfies me that I have +become, by some means or other, the object of secret hostility. I will +not take the trouble of inquiring into the reason of all this, but +I will take the liberty of requiring a full, positive, and +absolute retraction of all offensive allusions used by you in these +communications, in relation to my private character and standing as a +man, as an apology for the insults conveyed in them. + +This may prevent consequences which no one will regret more than myself. + +Your ob't serv't, + +Jas. Shields. + +About sunset, General Whiteside called again, and secured from Mr. +Lincoln the following answer to Mr. Shields's note:-- + +Tremont, September 17, 1842. + +Jas. Shields, Esq.:-- + +Your note of to-day was handed me by General Whiteside. In that note you +say you have been informed, through the medium of the editor of the +Journal, that I am the author of certain articles in that paper which +you deem personally abusive of you; and, without stopping to inquire +whether I really am the author, or to point out what is offensive in +them, you demand an unqualified retraction of all that is offensive, and +then proceed to hint at consequences. + +Now, sir, there is in this so much assumption of facts, and so much of +menace as to consequences, that I cannot submit to answer that note +any further than I have, and to add, that the consequences to which +I suppose you allude would be matter of as great regret to me as it +possibly could to you. + +Respectfully, + +A. Lincoln. + +[Illustration: James Shields 297] + +In about an hour, General Whiteside called again with another note from +Mr. Shields; but after conferring with Mr. Butler for a long time, say +two or three hours, returned without presenting the note to Mr. Lincoln. +This was in consequence of an assurance from Mr. Butler that Mr. Lincoln +could not receive any communication from Mr. Shields, unless it were a +withdrawal of his first note, or a challenge. Mr. Butler further stated +to General Whiteside, that, on the withdrawal of the first note, and a +proper and gentlemanly request for an explanation, he had no doubt one +would be given. General Whiteside admitted that that was the course Mr. +Shields ought to pursue, but deplored that his furious and intractable +temper prevented his having any influence with him to that end. General +Whiteside then requested us to wait with him until Monday morning, that +he might endeavor to bring Mr. Shields to reason. + +On Monday morning he called and presented Mr. Lincoln the same note as +Mr. Butler says he had brought on Saturday evening. It was as follows:-- + +Tremont, September 17, 1842. + +A. Lincoln, Esq.:-- + +In your reply to my note of this date, you intimate that I assume facts +and menace consequences, and that you cannot submit to answer it +further. As now, sir, you desire it, I will be a little more particular. +The editor of the _Sangamon Journal_ gave me to understand that you are +the author of an article which appeared, I think, in that paper of the +2d September inst., headed "The Lost Townships" and signed Rebecca or +'Becca. I would therefore take the liberty of asking whether you are the +author of said article, or any other of the same signature which has +appeared in any of the late numbers of that paper. If so, I repeat my +request of an absolute retraction of all offensive allusions contained +therein in relation to my private character and standing. + +If you are not the author of any of the articles, your denial will be +sufficient. I will say further, it is not my intention to menace, but to +do myself justice. + +Your ob't serv't, + +Jas. Shields. + +This Mr. Lincoln perused, and returned to General Whiteside, telling +him verbally, that he did not think it consistent with his honor to +negotiate for peace with Mr. Shields, unless Mr. Shields would withdraw +his former offensive letter. + +In a very short time General Whiteside called with a note from Mr. +Shields, designating General Whiteside as his friend, to which Mr. +Lincoln instantly replied designating me as his. On meeting General +Whiteside, he proposed that we should pledge our honor to each other +that we would endeavor to settle the matter amicably; to which I agreed, +and stated to him the only conditions on which it could be settled; +viz., the withdrawal of Mr. Shields's first note, which he appeared to +think reasonable, and regretted that the note had been written, saying +however, that he had endeavored to prevail on Mr. Shields to write a +milder one, but had not succeeded. He added, too, that I must promise +not to mention it, as he would not dare to let Mr. Shields know that he +was negotiating peace; for, said he, "He would challenge me next, and +as soon cut my throat as not." Not willing that he should suppose my +principal less dangerous than his own, I promised not to mention our +pacific intentions to Mr. Lincoln or any other person; and we started +for Springfield forthwith. + +We all, except Mr. Shields, arrived in Springfield late at night on +Monday. We discovered that the affair had, somehow, got great publicity +in Springfield, and that an arrest was probable. To prevent this, it was +agreed by Mr. Lincoln and myself that he should leave early on Tuesday +morning. Accordingly, he prepared the following instructions for my +guide, on a suggestion from Mr. Butler that he had reason to believe +that an attempt would be made by the opposite party to have the matter +accommodated: + +In case Whiteside shall signify a wish to adjust this affair without +further difficulty, let him know that, if the present papers be +withdrawn, and a note from Mr. Shields asking to know if I am the author +of the articles of which he complains, and asking that I shall make him +gentlemanly satisfaction if I am the author, and this without menace or +dictation as to what that satisfaction shall be, a pledge is made that +the following answer shall be given: + +"I did write the 'Lost Township' letter which appeared in the Journal of +the 2d inst., but had no participation in any form in any other article +alluding to you. I wrote that wholly for political effect. I had no +intention of injuring your personal or private character, or standing +as a man or a gentleman; and I did not then think, and do not now think, +that that article could produce, or has produced, that effect against +you; and had I anticipated such an effect, I would have forborne to +write it. And I will add, that your conduct towards me, so far as I +knew, had always been gentlemanly, and that I had no personal pique +against you, and no cause for any." + +If this should be done, I leave it with you to manage what shall and +what shall not be published. + +If nothing like this is done, the preliminaries of the fight are to be: + +1st. Weapons:--Cavalry broadswords of the largest size, precisely +equal in all respects, and such as now used by the cavalry company at +Jacksonville. + +2d. Position:--A plank ten feet long, and from nine to twelve inches +broad, to be firmly fixed on edge on the ground as the lines between us, +which neither is to pass his foot over upon forfeit of his life. Next, +a line drawn on the ground on either side of said plank and parallel +with it, each at the distance of the whole length of the sword and three +feet additional from the plank; and the passing of his own such line +by either party during the fight shall be deemed a surrender of the +contest. + +3d. Time:--On Thursday evening at five o'clock, if you can get it so; +but in no case to be at a greater distance of time than Friday evening +at 5 o'clock. + +4th. Place:--Within three miles of Alton, on the opposite side of the +river, the particular spot to be agreed on by you. + +Any preliminary details coming within the above rules, you are at +liberty to make at your discretion; but you are in no case to swerve +from these rules, or to pass beyond their limits. + +In the course of the forenoon I met General Whiteside, and he again +intimated a wish to adjust the matter amicably. I then read to him Mr. +Lincoln's instructions to an adjustment, and the terms of the hostile +meeting, if there must be one, both at the same time. + +He replied that it was useless to talk of an adjustment, if it could +only be effected by the withdrawal of Mr. Shields's paper, for such +withdrawal Mr. Shields would never consent to; adding, that he would as +soon think of asking Mr. Shields to "butt his brains out against a +brick wall as to withdraw that paper." He proceeded: "I see but one +course--that is a desperate remedy: 'tis to tell them, if they will not +make the matter up, they must fight us." I replied, that, if he chose to +fight Mr. Shields to compel him to do right, he might do so; but as for +Mr. Lincoln, he was on the defensive, and, I believe, in the right, and +I should do nothing to compel him to do wrong. Such withdrawal having +been made indispensable by Mr. Lincoln, I cut the matter short as to an +adjustment, and I proposed to General Whiteside to accept the terms of +the fight, which he refused to do until Mr. Shields' arrival in town, +but agreed, verbally, that Mr. Lincoln's friends should procure the +broadswords, and take them to the ground. In the afternoon he came to +me, saying that some persons were swearing out affidavits to have us +arrested, and that he intended to meet Mr. Shields immediately, and +proceed to the place designated, lamenting, however, that I would not +delay the time, that he might procure the interference of Governor +Ford and General Ewing to mollify Mr. Shields. I told him that an +accommodation, except upon the terms I mentioned, was out of question; +that to delay the meeting was to facilitate our arrest; and, as I +was determined not to be arrested, I should leave the town in fifteen +minutes. I then pressed his acceptance of the preliminaries, which he +disclaimed upon the ground that it would interfere with his oath of +office as Fund Commissioner. I then, with two other friends, went to +Jacksonville, where we joined Mr. Lincoln about 11 o'clock on Tuesday +night. Wednesday morning we procured the broadswords, and proceeded to +Alton, where we arrived about 11 o'clock A. M., on Thursday. The other +party were in town before us. We crossed the river, and they soon +followed. Shortly after, General Hardin and Dr. English presented to +General Whiteside and myself the following note: + +Alton, September 22, 1842. + +Messrs. Whiteside and Merryman: As the mutual personal friends of +Messrs. Shields and Lincoln, but without authority from either, we +earnestly desire to see a reconciliation of the misunderstanding +which exists between them. Such difficulties should always be arranged +amicably, if it is possible to do so with honor to both parties. + +Believing, ourselves, that such an arrangement can possibly be effected, +we respectfully but earnestly submit the following proposition for your +consideration: + +Let the whole difficulty be submitted to four or more gentlemen, to +be selected by ourselves, who shall consider the affair, and report +thereupon for your consideration. John J. Hardin, + +R. W. English. + +To this proposition General Whiteside agreed: I declined doing so +without consulting Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln remarked that, as they had +accepted the proposition, he would do so, but directed that his friends +should make no terms except those first proposed. Whether the adjustment +was finally made upon these very terms and no other, let the following +documents attest: + +Missouri, September 22, 1842. + +Gentlemen:--All papers in relation to the matter in controversy between +Mr. Shields and Mr. Lincoln having been withdrawn by the friends of the +parties concerned, the friends of Mr. Shields ask the friends of Mr. +Lincoln to explain all offensive matter in the articles which appeared +in the Sangamon Journal of the 2d, 9 th, and 16th of September, under +the signature of "Rebecca," and headed "Lost Townships." + +It is due General Hardin and Mr. English to state that their +interference was of the most courteous and gentlemanly character. + +John D. Whiteside. + +Wm. Lee D. Ewing. + +T. M. Hope. + +Missouri, September 22, 1842. + +Gentlemen:--All papers in relation to the matter in controversy between +Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Shields having been withdrawn by the friends of +the parties concerned, we, the undersigned, friends of Mr. Lincoln, +in accordance with your request that explanation of Mr. Lincoln's +publication in relation to Mr. Shields in the Sangamon Journal of the +2d, 9th, and 16th of September be made, take pleasure in saying, that, +although Mr. Lincoln was the writer of the article signed "Rebecca" +in the Journal of the 2d, and that only, yet he had no intention of +injuring the personal or private character or standing of Mr. Shields +as a gentleman or a man, and that Mr. Lincoln did not think, nor does he +now think, that said article could produce such an effect; and, had Mr. +Lincoln anticipated such an effect, he would have forborne to write +it. We will state further, that said article was written solely for +political effect, and not to gratify any personal pique against Mr. +Shields, for he had none and knew of no cause for any. It is due to +General Hardin and Mr. English to say that their interference was of the +most courteous and gentlemanly character. + +E. H. Merryman. + +A. T. Bledsoe. + +Wm. Butler. + +Let it be observed now, that Mr. Shields's friends, after agreeing to +the arbitrament of four disinterested gentlemen, declined the contract, +saying that Mr. Shields wished his own friends to act for him. They then +proposed that we should explain without any withdrawal of papers. +This was promptly and firmly refused, and General Whiteside himself +pronounced the papers withdrawn. They then produced a note requesting +us to "disavow" all offensive intentions in the publications, etc., etc. +This we declined answering, and only responded to the above request for +an explanation. + +These are the material facts in relation to the matter, and I think +present the case in a very different light from the garbled and +curtailed statement of General Whiteside. Why he made that statement +I know not, unless he wished to detract from the honor of Mr. Lincoln. +This was ungenerous, more particularly as he on the ground requested us +not to make in our explanation any quotations from the "Rebecca papers;" +also, not to make public the terms of reconciliation, and to unite with +them in defending the honorable character of the adjustment. + +General Whiteside, in his publication, says: "The friends of both +parties agreed to withdraw the papers (temporarily) to give the friends +of Mr. Lincoln an opportunity to explain." This I deny. I say the papers +were withdrawn to enable Mr. Shields's friends to ask an explanation; +and I appeal to the documents for proof of my position. + +By looking over these documents, it will be seen that Mr. Shields +had not before asked for an explanation, but had all the time been +dictatorially insisting on a retraction. + +General Whiteside, in his communication, brings to light much of Mr. +Shields's manifestations of bravery behind the scenes. I can do nothing +of the kind for Mr. Lincoln. He took his stand when I first met him at +Tremont, and maintained it calmly to the last, without difficulty or +difference between himself and his friends. + +I cannot close this article, lengthy as it is, without testifying to +the honorable and gentlemanly conduct of General Ewing and Dr. Hope, +nor indeed can I say that I saw anything objectionable in the course +of General Whiteside up to the time of his communication. This is so +replete with prevarication and misrepresentation, that I cannot accord +to the General that candor which I once supposed him to possess. He +complains that I did not procrastinate time according to agreement. He +forgets that by his own act he cut me off from that chance in inducing +me, by promise, not to communicate our secret contract to Mr. Lincoln. +Moreover, I could see no consistency in wishing for an extension of +time at that stage of the affair, when in the outset they were in so +precipitate a hurry that they could not wait three days for Mr. Lincoln +to return from Tremont, but must hasten there, apparently with the +intention of bringing the matter to a speedy issue. He complains, too, +that, after inviting him to take a seat in the buggy I never broached +the subject to him on our route here. But was I, the defendant in the +case, with a challenge hanging over me, to make advances, and beg a +reconciliation? + +Absurd! Moreover, the valorous General forgets that he beguiled the +tedium of the journey by recounting to me his exploits in many a +well-fought battle,--dangers by "flood and field," in which I don't +believe he ever participated,--doubtless with a view to produce a +salutary effect on my nerves, and impress me with a proper notion of his +fire-eat-ing propensities.. + +One more main point of his argument and I have done. The General seems +to be troubled with a convenient shortness of memory on some occasions. +He does not remember that any explanations were offered at any time, +unless it were a paper read when the "broadsword proposition" was +tendered, when his mind was so confused by the anticipated clatter of +broadswords, or something else, that he did "not know fully what it +purported to be." The truth is, that, by unwisely refraining from +mentioning it to his principal, he placed himself in a dilemma which he +is now endeavoring to shuffle out of. By his inefficiency and want of +knowledge of those laws which govern gentlemen in matters of this +kind, he has done great injustice to his principal, a gentleman who, I +believe, is ready at all times to vindicate his honor manfully, but who +has been unfortunate in the selection of his friends, and this fault he +is now trying to wipe out by doing an act of still greater injustice to +Mr. Lincoln. + +E. H. Merryman. + + * The following letter from Lincoln to his friend Speed + furnishes the final outcome of the "duelling business." + + "Springfield, October 5, 1842. + + "Dear Speed:- + + "You have heard of my duel with Shields, and I have now to + inform you that the duelling business still rages in this + city. Day before yesterday Shields challenged Butler, who + accepted, proposed fighting next morning at sunrising in Bob + Allen's meadow, one hundred yards distance, with rifles. To + this Whiteside, Shields's second, said 'no' because of the + law. Thus ended duel No. 2. Yesterday Whiteside chose to + consider himself insulted by Dr. Merryman, so sent him a + kind of quasi-challenge inviting him to meet him at the + Planter's House in St. Louis, on the next Friday, to settle + their difficulty. Merryman made me his friend, and sent + Whiteside a note, inquiring to know if he meant his note as + a challenge, and if so, that he would, according to the law + in such case made and provided, prescribe the terms of the + meeting. Whiteside returned for answer that if Merryman + would meet him at the Planter's House as desired, he would + challenge him. Merryman replied in a note, that he denied + Whiteside's right to dictate time and place, but that he + (Merryman) would waive the question of time, and meet him at + Louisiana, Mo. Upon my presenting this note to Whiteside, + and stating verbally its contents, he declined receiving it, + saying he had business in St. Louis, and it was as near as + Louisiana. Merryman then directed me to notify Whiteside + that he should publish the correspondence between them, with + such comments as he saw fit. This I did. Thus it stood at + bed-time last night. This morning Whiteside, by his friend + Shields, is praying for a new trial, on the ground that he + was mistaken in Merryman's proposition to meet him at + Louisiana, Mo., thinking it was the State of Louisiana. This + Merryman hoots at, and is preparing his publication; while + the town is in a ferment, and a street-fight somewhat + anticipated. + + "Yours forever, + + "Lincoln." + +Dr. Merryman's elaborate and graphic account of the meeting at the +duelling ground and all the preliminary proceedings is as full and +complete a history of this serio-comic affair as any historian could +give. Mr. Lincoln, as mentioned in the outset of this chapter, in the +law office and elsewhere, as a rule, refrained from discussing it. I +only remember of hearing him say this, in reference to the duel: "I did +not intend to hurt Shields unless I did so clearly in self-defense. If +it had been necessary I could have split him from the crown of his head +to the end of his backbone," and when one takes into into consideration +the conditions of weapons and position required in his instructions to +Dr. Merryman the boast does not seem impossible. + +The marriage of Lincoln in no way diminished his love for politics; in +fact, as we shall see later along, it served to stimulate his zeal in +that direction. He embraced every opportunity that offered for a speech +in public. Early in 1842 he entered into the Washingtonian movement +organized to suppress the evils of intemperance. At the request of the +society he delivered an admirable address, on Washington's birthday, in +the Presbyterian Church, which, in keeping with former efforts, has +been so often published that I need not quote it in full. I was then an +ardent temperance reformer myself, and remember well how one paragraph +of Lincoln's speech offended the church members who were present. +Speaking of certain Christians who objected to the association of +drunkards, even with the chance of reforming them, he said: "If they +(the Christians) believe, as they profess, that Omnipotence condescended +to take on himself the form of sinful man, and as such die an +ignominious death, surely they will not refuse submission to the +infinitely lesser condescension, for the temporal and perhaps +eternal salvation of a large, erring, and unfortunate class of their +fellow-creatures. Nor is the condescension very great. In my judgment +such of us as have never fallen victims have been spared more from the +absence of appetite than from any mental or moral superiority over those +who have. Indeed, I believe, if we take habitual drunkards as a class, +their heads and their hearts will bear an advantageous comparison with +those of any other class." The avowal of these sentiments proved to be +an unfortunate thing for Lincoln. The professing Christians regarded +the suspicion suggested in the first sentence as a reflection on the +sincerity of their belief, and the last one had no better effect in +reconciling them to his views. I was at the door of the church as the +people passed out, and heard them discussing the speech. Many of them +were open in the expression of their displeasure. "It's a shame," I +heard one man say, "that he should be permitted to abuse us so in the +house of the Lord." The truth was the society was composed mainly of the +roughs and drunkards of the town, who had evinced a desire to reform. +Many of them were too fresh from the gutter to be taken at once into the +society of such people as worshipped at the church where the speech was +delivered. Neither was there that concert of effort so universal to-day +between the churches and temperance societies to rescue the fallen. The +whole thing, I repeat, was damaging to Lincoln, and gave rise to the +opposition on the part of the churches which confronted him several +years afterwards when he became a candidate against the noted Peter +Cartwright for Congress. The charge, therefore, that in matters of +religion he was a skeptic was not without its supporters, especially +where his opponent was himself a preacher. But, nothing daunted, +Lincoln kept on and labored zealously in the interest of the temperance +movement. He spoke often again in Springfield, and also in other places +over the country, displaying the same courage and adherence to principle +that characterized his every undertaking. + +Meanwhile, he had one eye open for politics as he moved along. He was +growing more self-reliant in the practice of law every day, and felt +amply able to take charge of and maintain himself in any case that +happened to come into his hands. His propensity for the narration of +an apt story was of immeasurable aid to him before a jury, and in cases +where the law seemed to lean towards the other side won him many a case. +In 1842, Martin Van Buren, who had just left the Presidential chair, +made a journey through the West. He was accompanied by his former +Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Paulding, and in June they reached the +village of Rochester, distant from Springfield six miles. It was evening +when they arrived, and on account of the muddy roads they decided to +go no farther, but to rest there for the night. Word was sent into +Springfield, and of course the leading Democrats of the capital hurried +out to meet the distinguished visitor. Knowing the accommodations at +Rochester were not intended for or suited to the entertainment of an +ex-President, they took with them refreshments in quantity and variety, +to make up for all deficiencies. Among others, they prevailed on +Lincoln, although an ardent and pronounced Whig, to accompany them. +They introduced him to the venerable statesman of Kinderhook as a +representative lawyer, and a man whose wit was as ready as his store of +anecdotes was exhaustless. How he succeeded in entertaining the visitor +and the company, those who were present have often since testified. Van +Buren himself entertained the crowd with reminiscences of politics in +New York, going back to the days of Hamilton and Burr, and many of the +crowd in turn interested him with graphic descriptions of early life on +the western frontier. But they all yielded at last to the piquancy +and force of Lincoln's queer stories. "Of these," relates one of the +company,* "there was a constant supply, one following another in +rapid succession, each more irresistible than its predecessor. The fun +continued until after midnight, and until the distinguished traveller +insisted that his sides were sore from laughing." The yarns which +Lincoln gravely spun out, Van Buren assured the crowd, he never would +forget. + + * Jos. Gillespie, MS. letter, September 6, 1866. + +[Illustration: Court House, Springfield 1850-1860 312] + +Lincoln and Logan's Office on Third Floor. Photographed in 1886. + +After April 14, 1841, when Lincoln retired from the partnership with +Stuart, who had gone to Congress, he had been associated with Stephen T. +Logan, a man who had, as he deserved, the reputation of being the best +_nisi prius_ lawyer in the State. Judge Logan was a very orderly but +somewhat technical lawyer. He had some fondness for politics, and +made one race for Congress, but he lacked the elements of a successful +politician. He was defeated, and returned to the law. He was assiduous +in study and tireless in search of legal principles. He was industrious +and very thrifty, delighted to make and save money, and died a rich man. +Lincoln had none of Logan's qualities. He was anything but studious, +and had no money sense. He was five years younger, and yet his mind and +makeup so impressed Logan that he was invited into the partnership with +him. Logan's example had a good effect on Lincoln, and it stimulated him +to unusual endeavors. For the first time he realized the effectiveness +of order and method in work, but his old habits eventually overcame him. +He permitted his partner to do all the studying in the preparation of +cases, while he himself trusted to his general knowledge of the law and +the inspiration of the surroundings to overcome the judge or the +jury. Logan was scrupulously exact, and used extraordinary care in the +preparation of papers. His words were well chosen, and his style of +composition was stately and formal. This extended even to his letters. +This Lincoln lacked in every particular. I have before me a letter +written by Lincoln at this time to the proprietors of a wholesale store +in Louisville, for whom suit had been brought, in which, after notifying +the latter of the sale of certain real estate in satisfaction of their +judgment, he adds: "As to the real estate we cannot attend to it. We are +not real estate agents, we are lawyers. We recommend that you give the +charge of it to Mr. Isaac S. Britton, a trustworthy man, and one whom +the Lord made on purpose for such business." He gravely signs the firm +name, Logan and Lincoln, to this unlawyerlike letter and sends it on +its way. Logan never would have written such a letter. He had too much +gravity and austere dignity to permit any such looseness of expression +in letters to his clients or to anyone else. + +In 1843, Logan and Lincoln both had their eyes set on the race for +Congress. Logan's claim to the honor lay in his age and the services he +had rendered the Whig party, while Lincoln, overflowing with ambition, +lay great stress on his legislative achievements, and demanded it +because he had been defeated in the nominating conventions by both +Hardin and Baker in the order named. That two such aspiring politicians, +each striving to obtain the same prize, should not dwell harmoniously +together in the same office is not strange. Indeed, we may reasonably +credit the story that they considered themselves rivals, and that +numerous acrimonious passages took place between them. I was not +surprised, therefore, one morning, to see Mr. Lincoln come rushing +up into my quarters and with more or less agitation tell me he had +determined to sever the partnership with Logan. I confess I was +surprised when he invited me to become his partner. I was young in the +practice and was painfully aware of my want of ability and experience; +but when he remarked in his earnest, honest way, "Billy, I can trust +you, if you can trust me," I felt relieved, and accepted the generous +proposal. It has always been a matter of pride with me that during our +long partnership, continuing on until it was dissolved by the bullet +of the assassin Booth, we never had any personal controversy or +disagreement. I never stood in his way for political honors or office, +and I believe we understood each other perfectly. In after years, +when he became more prominent, and our practice grew to respectable +proportions, other ambitious practitioners undertook to supplant me in +the partnership. One of the latter, more zealous than wise, charged +that I was in a certain way weakening the influence of the firm. I am +flattered to know that Lincoln turned on this last named individual +with the retort, "I know my own business, I reckon. I know Billy Herndon +better than anybody, and even if what you say of him is true I intend to +stick by him." Lincoln's effort to obtain the Congressional nomination +in 1843 brought out several unique and amusing incidents. He and Edward +D. Baker were the two aspirants from Sangamon county, but Baker's long +residence, extensive acquaintance, and general popularity were obstacles +Lincoln could not overcome; accordingly, at the last moment, Lincoln +reluctantly withdrew from the field. In a letter to his friend Speed, +dated March 24, 1843, describes the situation as follows: "We had a +meeting of the Whigs of the county here on last Monday, to appoint +delegates to a district convention; and Baker beat me, and got the +delegation instructed to go for him. The meeting, in spite of my attempt +to decline it, appointed me one of the delegates; so that in getting +Baker the nomination I shall be fixed a good deal like a fellow who is +made groomsman to a man that has cut him out, and is marrying his own +dear gal." Only a few days before this he had written a friend anent the +Congressional matter, "Now if you should hear any one say that Lincoln +don't want to go to Congress, I wish you, as a personal friend of mine, +would tell him you have reason to believe he is mistaken. The truth is +I would like to go very much. Still, circumstances may happen which may +prevent my being a candidate. If there are any who be my friends in such +an enterprise, what I now want is that they shall not throw me away just +yet."* To another friend in the adjoining county of Menard a few days +after the meeting of the Whigs in Sangamon, he explains how Baker +defeated him. + + * Letter to R. S. Thomas, Virginia, Ill., Feb. 14, '43, MS. + +The entire absence of any feeling of bitterness, or what the politicians +call revenge, is the most striking feature of the letter. "It is truly +gratifying," he says, "to me to learn that while the people of Sangamon +have cast me off, my old friends of Menard, who have known me longest +and best, stick to me. It would astonish if not amuse the older citizens +to learn that I (a strange, friendless, uneducated, penniless boy, +working on a flat-boat at ten dollars per month) have been put down here +as the candidate of pride, wealth, and aristocratic family distinction. +Yet so, chiefly, it was. There was, too, the strangest combination of +church influence against me. Baker is a Campbellite, and therefore as +I suppose, with few exceptions, got all that church. My wife has some +relations in the Presbyterian churches and some with the Episcopalian +churches, and therefore, wherever it would tell, I was set down as +either the one or the other, while it was everywhere contended that +no Christian ought to go for me, because I belonged to no church, was +suspected of being a deist, and had talked about fighting a duel. With +all these things Baker, of course, had nothing to do; nor do I complain +of them. As to his own church going for him I think that was right +enough; and as to the influences I have spoken of in the other, though +they were very strong, it would be grossly untrue and unjust to charge +that they acted upon them in a body, or were very near so. I only +mean that those influences levied a tax of considerable per cent, and +throughout the religious controversy." To a proposition offering to +instruct the Menard delegation for him he replies: "You say you shall +instruct your delegates for me unless I object. I certainly shall not +object. That would be too pleasant a compliment for me to tread in the +dust. And besides, if anything should happen (which, however, is not +probable) by which Baker should be thrown out of the fight, I would be +at liberty to accept the nomination if I could get it. I do, however, +feel myself bound not to hinder him in any way from getting the +nomination. I should despise myself were I to attempt it." + +Baker's friends had used as an argument against Lincoln that he belonged +to a proud and aristocratic family, referring doubtless to some of the +distinguished relatives who were connected with him by marriage. The +story reaching Lincoln's ears, he laughed heartily over it one day in a +Springfield store and remarked: + +"That sounds strange to me, for I do not remember of but one who ever +came to see me, and while he was in town he was accused of stealing a +jew's-harp."* In the convention which was held shortly after at the town +of Pekin neither Baker nor Lincoln obtained the coveted honor; but +John J. Hardin, of Morgan, destined to lose his life at the head of +an Illinois regiment in the Mexican war, was nominated, and in the +following August, elected by a good majority. Lincoln bore his defeat +manfully. He was no doubt greatly disappointed, but by no means soured. +He conceived the strange notion that the publicity given his so-called +"aristocratic family distinction" would cost him the friendship of his +humbler constituents--his Clary's Grove friends. He took his friend +James Matheney out into the woods with him one day and, calling up the +bitter features of the canvass, protested "vehemently and with great +emphasis" that he was anything but aristocratic and proud. "Why, Jim," +he said, "I am now and always shall be the same Abe Lincoln I was when +you first saw me." + + * Letter, A. Y. Ellis, July 16,'66, MS. + +In the campaign of 1844 Lincoln filled the honorable post of +Presidential Elector, and he extended the limits of his acquaintance by +stumping the State. This was the year the gallant and magnetic Clay went +down in defeat. Lincoln, in the latter end of the canvass, crossed over +into Indiana and made several speeches. He spoke at Rockport and also at +Gentryville, where he met the Grigsbys, the Gentrys, and other friends +of his boyhood. The result of the election was a severe disappointment +to Mr. Lincoln as well as to all other Whigs. No election since the +foundation of the Government created more widespread regret than the +defeat of Clay by Polk. Men were never before so enlisted in any man's +cause, and when the great Whig chieftain went down his followers fled +from the field in utter demoralization. Some doubted the success of +popular government, while others, more hopeful still in the face of the +general disaster, vowed they would never shave their faces or cut their +hair till Henry Clay became President. As late as 18801 saw one man who +had lived up to his insane resolution. One political society organized +to aid Clay's election sent the defeated candidate an address, in which +they assured him that, after the smoke of battle had cleared away, he +would ever be remembered as one "whose name honored defeat and gave it +a glory which victory could not have brought." In Lincoln's case his +disappointment was no greater than that of any other Whig. Many persons +have yielded to the impression that Mr. Lincoln visited Clay at his home +in Lexington and felt a personal loss in his defeat, but such is not the +case. He took no more gloomy view of the situation than the rest of his +party. He had been a leading figure himself in other campaigns, and was +fully inured to the chilling blasts of defeat. They may have driven him +in, but only for a short time, for he soon evinced a willingness to test +the temper of the winds again. + +[Illustration: Lincoln and Herndon Law Office 321] + +No sooner had Baker been elected to Congress in August, 1844, than +Lincoln began to manifest a longing for the tempting prize to be +contended for in 1846. Hardin and Baker both having been required to +content themselves with a single term each, the struggle among Whig +aspirants narrowed down to Logan and Lincoln.* + + * The Whig candidates for Congress in the Springfield + district "rotated" in the following order: Baker succeeded + Hardin in 1844, Lincoln was elected in 1846, and Logan was + nominated but defeated in 1848. Lincoln publicly declined to + contest the nomination with Baker in 1844; Hardin did the + same for Lincoln in 1846--although both seem to have acted + reluctantly; and Lincoln refused to run against Logan in + 1848. Many persons insist that an agreement among these four + conspicuous Whig leaders to content themselves with one term + each actually existed. There is, however, no proof of any + bargain, although there seems to have been a tacit + understanding of the kind--maintained probably to keep other + and less tractable candidates out of the field. + +The latter's claim seemed to find such favorable lodgment with the party +workers, and his popularity seemed so apparent, that Logan soon realized +his own want of strength and abandoned the field to his late law +partner. The convention which nominated Lincoln met at Petersburg May 1, +1846. Hardin, who, in violation of what was then regarded as precedent, +had been seeking the nomination, had courteously withdrawn. Logan, +ambitious to secure the honor next time for himself, with apparent +generosity presented Lincoln's name to the convention, and there being +no other candidate he was chosen unanimously. The reader need not be +told whom the Democrats placed in the field against him. It was Peter +Cartwright, the famous Methodist divine and circuit rider. An energetic +canvass of three months, followed, during which Lincoln kept his +forces well in hand. He was active and alert, speaking everywhere, and +abandoning his share of business in the law office entirely. He had +a formidable competitor in Cartwright, who not only had an extensive +following by reason of his church influence, but rallied many more +supporters around his standard by his pronounced Jacksonian attitude. +He had come into Illinois with the early immigrants from Kentucky and +Tennessee, and had at one time or another preached to almost every +Methodist congregation between Springfield and Cairo. He had extensive +family connections all over the district, was almost twenty-five years +older than Lincoln, and in every respect a dangerous antagonist. Another +thing which operated much to Lincoln's disadvantage was the report +circulated by Cartwright's friends with respect to Lincoln's religious +views. He was charged with the grave offence of infidelity, and +sentiments which he was reported to have expressed with reference to the +inspiration of the Bible were given the campaign varnish and passed from +hand to hand. His slighting allusion expressed in the address at the +Presbyterian Church before the Washington Temperance Society, February +2d, four years before, to the insincerity of the Christian people +was not forgotten. It, too, played its part; but all these opposing +circumstances were of no avail. Cartwright was personally very popular, +but it was plain the people of the Springfield district wanted no +preacher to represent them in Congress. They believed in an absolute +separation of Church and State. The election, therefore, of such a man +as Cartwright would not, to their way of thinking, tend to promote such +a result. I was enthusiastic and active in Lincoln's interest myself. +The very thought of my associate's becoming a member of Congress was a +great stimulus to my self-importance. Many other friends in and around +Springfield were equally as vigilant, and, in the language of another, +"long before the contest closed we snuffed approaching victory in the +air." Our laborious efforts met with a suitable reward. Lincoln was +elected by a majority of 1511 in the district, a larger vote than Clay's +two years before, which was only 914. In Sangamon county his majority +was 690, and exceeded that of any of his predecessors on the Whig +ticket, commencing with Stuart in 1834 and continuing on down to the +days of Yates in 1852. + +Before Lincoln's departure for Washington to enter on his duties as a +member of Congress, the Mexican war had begun. The volunteers had gone +forward, and at the head of the regiments from Illinois some of the +bravest men and the best legal talent in Springfield had marched. +Hardin, Baker, Bissell, and even the dramatic Shields had enlisted. The +issues of the war and the manner of its prosecution were in every man's +mouth. Naturally, therefore, a Congressman-elect would be expected to +publish his views and define his position early in the day. Although, +in common with the Whig party, opposing the declaration of war, Lincoln, +now that hostilities had commenced, urged a vigorous prosecution. He +admonished us all to permit our Government to suffer no dishonor, and to +stand by the flag till peace came and came honorably to us. He declared +these sentiments in a speech at a public meeting in Springfield, May 29, +1847. In the following December he took his seat in Congress. He was the +only Whig from Illinois. His colleagues in the Illinois delegation were +John A. McClernand, O. B. Ficklin, William A. Richardson, Thomas J. +Turner, Robert Smith, and John Wentworth. In the Senate Douglas had made +his appearance for the first time. The Little Giant is always in sight! +Robert C. Winthrop, of Massachusetts, was chosen Speaker. John Quincy +Adams, Horace Mann, Caleb Smith, Alexander H. Stephens, Robert Toombs, +Howell Cobb, and Andrew Johnson were important members of the House. +With many of these the newly elected member from Illinois was destined +to sustain another and far different relation. + +On the 5th of December, the day before the House organized, Lincoln +wrote me a letter about our fee in a law-suit, and reported the result +of the Whig caucus the night before. On the 13th, he wrote again: "Dear +William:--Your letter, advising me of the receipt of our fee in the bank +case, is just received, and I don't expect to hear another as good a +piece of news from Springfield while I am away." He then directed me +from the proceeds of this fee to pay a debt at the bank, and out of the +balance left to settle sundry dry-goods and grocery bills. The modest +tone of the last paragraph is its most striking feature. "As you are all +so anxious for me to distinguish myself," he said, "I have concluded to +do so before long." January 8 he writes: "As to speech-making, by way of +getting the hang of the House, I made a little speech two or three days +ago on a post-office question of no general interest. I find speaking +here and elsewhere about the same thing. I was about as badly scared, +and no worse, as I am when I speak in court. I expect to make one within +a week or two in which I hope to succeed well enough to wish you to see +it." Meanwhile, in recognition of the assurances I had sent him from +friends who desired to approve his course by a re-election, he says: "It +is very pleasant to me to learn from you that there are some who desire +that I should be re-elected. I most heartily thank them for the kind +partiality, and I can say, as Mr. Clay said of the annexation of Texas, +that, 'personally, I would not object' to a re-election, although I +thought at the time, and still think, it would be quite as well for me +to return to the law at the end of a single term. I made the declaration +that I would not be a candidate again, more from a wish to deal fairly +with others, to keep peace among our friends, and to keep the district +from going to the enemy, than for any cause personal to myself, so that +if it should happen that nobody else wishes to be elected I could not +refuse the people the right of sending me again. But to enter myself as +a competitor of others, or to authorize any one so to enter me, is what +my word and honor forbid." + +His announcement of a willingness to accept a re-election if tendered +him by the people was altogether unnecessary, for within a few days +after this letter was written his constituents began to manifest +symptoms of grave disapproval of his course on the Mexican war question. +His position on this subject was evidenced by certain resolutions +offered by him in the House three weeks before. These latter were called +the "Spot Resolutions," and they and the speech which followed on the +12th of January in support of them not only sealed Lincoln's doom as a +Congressman, but in my opinion, lost the district to the Whigs in 1848, +when Judge Logan had succeeded at last in obtaining the nomination. + +Although differing with the President as to the justice or even +propriety of a war with Mexico, Lincoln was not unwilling to vote, and +with the majority of his party did vote, the supplies necessary to carry +it on. He did this, however, with great reluctance, protesting all the +while that "the war was unnecessarily and unconstitutionally begun by +the President." The "Spot Resolutions," which served as a text for his +speech on the 12th of January, and which caused such unwonted annoyance +in the ranks of his constituents, were a series following a preamble +loaded with quotations from the President's messages. These resolutions +requested the President to inform the House: "_First_, Whether the +_spot_ on which the blood of our citizens was shed as in his messages +declared was or was not within the territory of Spain, at least after +the treaty of 1819, until the Mexican revolution. _Second_, Whether that +spot is or is not within the territory which was wrested from Spain by +the revolutionary government of Mexico. _Third_, Whether that spot is or +is not within a settlement of people, which settlement has existed ever +since long before the Texas revolution, and until its inhabitants fled +before the approach of the United States army." There were eight of +these interrogatories, but it is only necessary to reproduce the three +which foreshadow the position Lincoln was then intending to assume. +On the 12th of January, as before stated, he followed them up with a +carefully prepared and well-arranged speech, in which he made a severe +arraignment of President Polk and justified the pertinence and propriety +of the inquiries he had a few days before addressed to him. The speech +is too long for insertion here. It was constructed much after the manner +of a legal argument. Reviewing the evidence furnished by the President +in his various messages, he undertook to "smoke him out" with this: +"Let the President answer the interrogatories I proposed, as before +mentioned, or other similar ones. Let him answer fully, fairly, +candidly. Let him answer with facts, not with arguments. Let him +remember, he sits where Washington sat; and so remembering, let him +answer as Washington would answer. As a nation should not, and the +Almighty will not, be evaded, so let him attempt no evasion, no +equivocation. And if, so answering, he can show the soil was ours where +the first blood of the war was shed; that it was not within an +inhabited country, or if within such; that the inhabitants had submitted +themselves to the civil authority of Texas or of the United States; and +that the same is true of the site of Fort Brown, then I am with him for +his justification... But if he cannot or will not do this--if, on any +pretence, or no pretence, he shall refuse or omit it--then I shall be +fully convinced of what I more than suspect already--that he is deeply +conscious of being in the wrong; that he feels the blood of this war, +like the blood of Abel, is crying to Heaven against him; that he ordered +General Taylor into the midst of a peaceful Mexican settlement purposely +to bring on a war; that, originally having some strong motive--which +I will not now stop to give my opinion concerning--to involve the +countries in a war, and trusting to escape scrutiny by fixing the public +gaze upon the exceeding brightness of military glory,--that attractive +rainbow that rises in showers of blood, that serpent's eye that +charms to destroy,--he plunged into it, and has swept on and on, till +disappointed in his calculation of the ease with which Mexico might be +subdued, he now finds himself he knows not where. He is a bewildered, +confounded, and miserably perplexed man. God grant that he may be able +to show that there is not something about his conscience more painful +than all his mental perplexity." This speech, however clear may have +been its reasoning, however rich in illustration, in restrained +and burning earnestness, yet was unsuccessful in "smoking out" the +President. He remained within the official seclusion his position gave +him, and declined to answer. In fact it is doubtless true that Lincoln +anticipated no response, but simply took that means of defining clearly +his own position. + +On the 19th inst., having occasion to write me with reference to a note +with which one of our clients, one Louis Candler, had been "annoying" +him, not the least of which annoyance," he complains, "is his cursed +unreadable and ungodly handwriting," he adds a line, in which with +noticeable modesty he informs me: "I have made a speech, a copy of which +I send you by mail." He doubtless felt he was taking rather advanced and +perhaps questionable ground. And so he was, for very soon after, murmurs +of dissatisfaction began to run through the Whig ranks. I did not, +as some of Lincoln's biographers would have their readers believe, +inaugurate this feeling of dissatisfaction. On the contrary, as the law +partner of the Congress-man, and as his ardent admirer, I discouraged +the defection all I could. Still, when I listened to the comments of his +friends everywhere after the delivery of his speech, I felt that he had +made a mistake. I therefore wrote him to that effect, at the same time +giving him my own views, which I knew were in full accord with the +views of his Whig constituents. My argument in substance was: That the +President of the United States is Commander-in-Chief of the Army +and Navy; that as such commander it was his duty, in the absence +of Congress, if the country was about to be invaded and armies were +organized in Mexico for that purpose, to go--if necessary--into the very +heart of Mexico and prevent the invasion. I argued further that it would +be a crime in the Executive to let the country be invaded in the least +degree. The action of the President was a necessity, and under a similar +necessity years afterward Mr. Lincoln himself emancipated the slaves, +although he had no special power under the Constitution to do so. In +later days, in what is called the Hodges letter, concerning the freedom +of the slaves, he used this language: "I felt that measures otherwise +unconstitutional might become lawful by becoming indispensable." Briefly +stated, that was the strain of my argument. My judgment was formed on +the law of nations and of war. If the facts were as I believed them, +and my premises correct, then I assumed that the President's acts became +lawful by becoming indispensable. + +February 1 he wrote me, "Dear William: You fear that you and I disagree +about the war. I regret this, not because of any fear we shall +remain disagreed after you have read this letter, but because if you +misunderstand I fear other good friends may also." + +Speaking of his vote in favor of the amendment to the supply bill +proposed by George Ashmun, of Massachusetts, he continues: + +"That vote affirms that the war was unnecessarily and unconstitutionally +commenced by the President; and I will stake my life that if you had +been in my place you would have voted just as I did. Would you have +voted what you felt and knew to be a lie? I know you would not. Would +you have gone out of the House,--skulked the vote? I expect not. If you +had skulked one vote you would have had to skulk many more before the +close of the session. Richardson's resolutions, introduced before I made +any move or gave any vote upon the subject, make the direct question of +the justice of the war; so that no man can be silent if he would. You +are compelled to speak; and your only alternative is to tell the truth +or tell a lie. I cannot doubt which you would do... I do not mean this +letter for the public, but for you. Before it reaches you you will have +seen and read my pamphlet speech and perhaps have been scared anew +by it. After you get over your scare read it over again, sentence by +sentence, and tell me honestly what you think of it. I condensed all I +could for fear of being cut off by the hour rule; and when I got through +I had spoken but forty-five minutes. + +"Yours forever, + +"A. Lincoln." + +I digress from the Mexican war subject long enough to insert, because +in the order of time it belongs here, a characteristic letter which he +wrote me regarding a man who was destined at a later day to play a far +different rôle in the national drama. Here it is: + +"Washington, Feb. 2, 1848. + +"Dear William: + +"I just take up my pen to say that Mr. Stephens, of Georgia, a little, +slim, pale-faced, consumptive man, with a voice like Logan's, has just +concluded the very best speech of an hour's length I ever heard. My old, +withered, dry eyes are full of tears yet. If he writes it out anything +like he delivered it our people shall see a good many copies of it. + +"Yours truly, + +"A. Lincoln." + +To Wm. H. Herndon, Esq. + +February 15 he wrote me again in criticism of the President's invasion +of foreign soil. He still believed the Executive had exceeded the +limit of his authority. "The provision of the Constitution giving +the war-making power to Congress," he insists, "was dictated, as I +understand it, by the following reasons: kings had always been involving +and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not +always, that the good of the people was the object. This, our convention +understood to be the most oppressive of all kingly oppressions; and they +resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the +power of bringing this oppression upon us. But your view destroys the +whole matter, and places our President where kings have always stood." + +In June the Whigs met in national convention at Philadelphia to nominate +a candidate for President. Lincoln attended as a delegate. He advocated +the nomination of Taylor because of his belief that he could be elected, +and was correspondingly averse to Clay because of the latter's signal +defeat in 1844. In a letter from Washington a few days after the +convention he predicts the election of "Old Rough." He says: "In +my opinion we shall have a most overwhelming glorious triumph. +One unmistakable sign is that all the odds and ends are with +us--Barn-burners, Native Americans, Tyler-men, disappointed +office-seeking Locofocos, and the Lord knows what not.... Taylor's +nomination takes the Locos on the blind side. It turns the war thunder +against them. The war is now to them the gallows of Haman, which they +built for us and on which they are doomed to be hanged themselves." + +Meanwhile, in spite of the hopeful view Lincoln seemed to take of the +prospect, things in his own district were in exceedingly bad repair. I +could not refrain from apprising him of the extensive defections from +the party ranks, and the injury his course was doing him. My object in +thus writing to him was not to threaten him. Lincoln was not a man +who could be successfully threatened; one had to approach him from a +different direction. I warned him of public disappointment over his +course, and I earnestly desired to prevent him from committing what I +believed to be political suicide. June 22d he answered a letter I had +written him on the 15th. He had just returned from a Whig caucus held +in relation to the coming Presidential election. "The whole field of +the nation was scanned; all is high hope and confidence," he said, +exultingly. "Illinois is expected to better her condition in this race. +Under these circumstances judge how heartrending it was to come to my +room and find and read your discouraging letter of the 15th." But still +he does not despair. "Now, as to the young men," he says, "you must +not wait to be brought forward by the older men. For instance, do you +suppose that I should ever have got into notice if I had waited to be +hunted up and pushed forward by older men? You young men get together +and form a Rough and Ready club, and have regular meetings and speeches. +Take in everybody that you can get.... As you go along gather up all the +shrewd, wild boys about town, whether just of age or a little under age. +Let every one play the part he can play best--some speak, some sing, +and all halloo. Your meetings will be of evenings; the older men and the +women will go to hear you, so that it will not only contribute to the +election of 'Old Zack,' but will be an interesting pastime and improving +to the faculties of all engaged." He was evidently endeavoring through +me to rouse up all the enthusiasm among the youth of Springfield +possible under the circumstances. But I was disposed to take a +dispirited view of the situation, and therefore was not easily warmed +up. I felt at this time, somewhat in advance of its occurrence, the +death throes of the Whig party. I did not conceal my suspicions, and one +of the Springfield papers gave my sentiments liberal quotation in its +columns. I felt gloomy over the prospect, and cut out these newspaper +slips and sent them to Lincoln. Accompanying these I wrote him a letter +equally melancholy in tone, in which among other things I reflected +severely on the stubbornness and bad judgment of the old fossils in the +party, who were constantly holding the young men back. This brought from +him a letter, July 10, 1848, which is so clearly Lincolnian and so full +of plain philosophy, that I copy it in full. Not the least singular of +all is his allusion to himself as an old man, although he had scarcely +passed his thirty-ninth year. + +"Washington, July 10, 1848. + +"Dear William: + +"Your letter covering the newspaper slips was received last night. The +subject of that letter is exceedingly painful to me, and I cannot but +think there is some mistake in your impression of the motives of the +old men. I suppose I am now one of the old men; and I declare on my +veracity, which I think is good with you, that nothing could afford me +more satisfaction than to learn that you and others of my young friends +at home were doing battle in the contest and endearing themselves to the +people and taking a stand far above any I have ever been able to reach +in their admiration. I cannot conceive that other men feel differently. +Of course I cannot demonstrate what I say; but I was young once, and I +am sure I was never ungenerously thrust back. I hardly know what to say. +The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself every way he can, +never suspecting that anybody wishes to hinder him. Allow me to assure +you that suspicion and jealousy never did help any man in any situation. +There may sometimes be ungenerous attempts to keep a young man down; and +they will succeed, too, if he allows his mind to be diverted from its +true channel to brood over the attempted injury. Cast about and see if +this feeling has not injured every person you have ever known to fall +into it. + +"Now, in what I have said I am sure you will suspect nothing but +sincere friendship. I would save you from a fatal error. You have been a +laborious, studious young man. You are far better informed on almost all +subjects than I ever have been. You cannot fail in any laudable object +unless you allow your mind to be improperly directed. I have some the +advantage of you in the world's experience merely by being older; and it +is this that induces me to advise. + +"Your friend, as ever, + +"A. Lincoln." + + +[Illustration: Portraits 337] + +Before the close of the Congressional session he made two more speeches. +One of these, which he hastened to send home in pamphlet form, and which +he supposes "nobody will read," was devoted to the familiar subject of +internal improvements, and deserves only passing mention. The other, +delivered on the 27th of July, was in its way a masterpiece; and it is +no stretch of the truth to say that while intended simply as a campaign +document and devoid of any effort at classic oratory, it was, perhaps, +one of the best speeches of the session. It is too extended for +insertion here without abridgment; but one who reads it will lay it down +convinced that Lincoln's ascendency for a quarter of a century among the +political spirits in Illinois was by no means an accident; neither will +the reader wonder that Douglas, with all his forensic ability, averted, +as long as he could, a contest with a man whose plain, analytical +reasoning was not less potent than his mingled drollery and caricature +were effective. The speech in the main is an arraignment of General +Cass, the Democratic candidate for President, who had already achieved +great renown in the political world, principally on account of his +career as a soldier in the war of 1812, and is a triumphant vindication +of his Whig opponent, General Taylor, who seemed to have had a +less extensive knowledge of civil than of military affairs, and +was discreetly silent about both. Lincoln caricatured the military +pretensions of the Democratic candidate in picturesque style. This +latter section of the speech has heretofore been omitted by most of +Mr. Lincoln's biographers because of its glaring inappropriateness as a +Congressional effort. I have always failed to see wherein its comparison +with scores of others delivered in the halls of Congress since that time +could in any way detract from the fame of Mr. Lincoln, and I therefore +reproduce it here: + +"But the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Iverson] further says, we have +deserted all our principles, and taken shelter under General Taylor's +military coattail; and he seems to think this is exceedingly degrading. +Well, as his faith is, so be it unto him. But can he remember no +other military coat-tail, under which a certain other party have been +sheltering for near a quarter of a century? Has he no acquaintance with +the ample military coat-tail of General Jackson? Does he not know that +his own party have run the last five Presidential races under that +coat-tail? and that they are now running the sixth under the same cover? +Yes, sir, that coat-tail was used not only for General Jackson himself, +but has been clung to with the grip of death by every Democratic +candidate since. You have never ventured, and dare not now venture from +under it. Your campaign papers have constantly been 'Old Hickory's,' +with rude likenesses of the old general upon them; hickory poles and +hickory brooms your never-ending emblems. Mr. Polk himself was 'Young +Hickory,' 'Little Hickory,' or something so; and even now your campaign +paper here is proclaiming that Cass and Butler are of the 'Hickory +stripe.' No, sir, you dare not give it up. Like a horde of hungry ticks, +you have stuck to the tail of the Hermitage lion to the end of his life; +and you are still sticking to it, and drawing a loathsome sustenance +from it, after he is dead. A fellow once advertised that he had made a +discovery by which he could make a new man out of an old one and have +enough of the stuff left to make a little yellow dog. Just such a +discovery has General Jackson's popularity been to you. You not only +twice made Presidents of him out of it, but you have enough of the stuff +left to make Presidents of several comparatively small men since; and it +is your chief reliance now to make still another. + +"Mr. Speaker, old horses and military coat-tails, or tails of any sort, +are not figures of speech such as I would be the first to introduce into +discussion here; but as the gentleman from Georgia has thought fit to +introduce them, he and you are welcome to all you have made or can make +by them. + +"If you have any more old horses, trot them out; any more tails, just +cock them and come at us. I repeat, I would not introduce this mode of +discussion here; but I wish gentlemen on the other side to understand +that the use of degrading figures is a game at which they may find +themselves unable to take all the winnings. [A voice 'No, we give it +up.'] Aye! you give it up, and well you may; but for a very different +reason from that which you would have us understand. The point--the +power to hurt--of all figures consists in the truthfulness of their +application; and, understanding this, you may well give it up. They are +weapons which hit you, but miss us. + +"But in my hurry I was very near closing on this subject of military +tails before I was done with it. There is one entire article of the sort +I have not discussed yet; I mean the military tail you Democrats are now +engaged in dove-tailing on to the great Michigander. Yes, sir, all his +biographers (and they are legion) have him in hand, tying him to a +military tail, like so many mischievous boys tying a dog to a bladder of +beans. True, the material is very limited, but they are at it might and +main. He invaded Canada without resistance, and he outvaded it without +pursuit. As he did both under orders, I suppose there was to him neither +credit nor discredit; but they are made to constitute a large part of +the tail. He was not at Hull's surrender, but he was close by; he +was volunteer aid to General Harrison on the day of the battle of the +Thames; and as you said in 1840 Harrison was picking whortleberries two +miles off while the battle was fought, I suppose it is a just conclusion +with you to say Cass was aiding Harrison to pick whortleberries. This is +about all, except the mooted question of the broken sword. Some authors +say he broke it: some say he threw it away; and some others, who ought +to know, say nothing about it. Perhaps it would be a fair historical +compromise to say if he did not break it, he did not do anything else +with it. + +"By the way, Mr. Speaker, did you know I am a military hero? Yes, +sir, in the days of the Black Hawk war, I fought, bled, and came away. +Speaking of General Cass's career, reminds me of my own. I was not at +Stillman's defeat, but I was about as near it as Cass was to Hull's +surrender; and, like him, I saw the place very soon afterward. It is +quite certain I did not break my sword, for I had none to break, but I +bent my musket pretty badly on one occasion. If Cass broke his sword, +the idea is, he broke it in desperation; I bent the musket by accident. +If General Cass went in advance of me picking whortleberries, I guess +I surpassed him in charges upon the wild onions. If he saw any live +fighting Indians, it was more than I did, but I had a good many bloody +struggles with the mosquitos; and, although I never fainted from loss of +blood, I can truly say I was often very hungry. Mr. Speaker, if ever +I should conclude to doff whatever our Democratic friends may suppose +there is of black-cockade Federalism about me, and, thereupon they shall +take me up as their candidate for the Presidency, I protest that they +shall not make fun of me as they have of General Cass by attempting to +write me into a military hero." + +After the adjournment of Congress on the 14th of August, Lincoln went +through New York and some of the New England States making a number +of speeches for Taylor, none of which, owing to the limited facilities +attending newspaper reporting in that day, have been preserved. He +returned to Illinois before the close of the canvass and continued +his efforts on the stump till the election. At the second session of +Congress, which began in December, he was less conspicuous than before. +The few weeks spent with his constituents had perhaps taught him that +in order to succeed as a Congressman it is not always the most politic +thing to tell the truth because it is the truth, or do right because +it is right. With the opening of Congress, by virtue of the election of +Taylor, the Whigs obtained the ascendency in the control of governmental +machinery. He attended to the duties of the Congressional office +diligently and with becoming modesty. He answered the letters of his +constituents, sent them their public documents, and looked after their +pension claims. His only public act of any moment was a bill looking +to the emancipation of the slaves in the District of Columbia. He +interested Joshua R. Giddings and others of equally as pronounced +anti-slavery views in the subject, but his bill eventually found a +lodgment on "the table," where it was carefully but promptly laid by a +vote of the House. + +Meanwhile, being chargeable with the distribution of official patronage, +he began to flounder about in explanation of his action in a sea of +seemingly endless perplexities. His recommendation of the appointment of +T. R. King to be Register or Receiver of the Land Office had produced +no little discord among the other aspirants for the place. He wrote to +a friend who endorsed and urged the appointment, "either to admit it is +wrong, or come forward and sustain him." He then transmits to this same +friend a scrap of paper--probably a few lines approving the selection +of King--which is to be copied in the friend's own handwriting. "Get +everybody," he insists, "(not three or four, but three or four hundred) +to sign it, and then send to me. Also have six, eight, or ten of our +best known Whig friends to write me additional letters, stating the +truth in this matter as they understood it. Don't neglect or delay in +the matter. I understand," he continues, "information of an indictment +having been found against him three years ago for gaming or keeping a +gaming house has been sent to the Department." He then closes with the +comforting assurance: "I shall try to take care of it at the Department +till your action can be had and forwarded on." And still people +insist that Mr. Lincoln was such a guileless man and so free from the +politician's sagacity! + +In June I wrote him regarding the case of one Walter Davis, who was +soured and disappointed because Lincoln had overlooked him in his +recommendation for the Springfield post-office. "There must be some +mistake," he responds on the 5th, "about Walter Davis saying I promised +him the post-office. I did not so promise him. I did tell him that if +the distribution of the offices should fall into my hands he should have +something; and if I shall be convinced he has said any more than this I +shall be disappointed. I said this much to him because, as I understand, +he is of good character, is one of the young men, is of the mechanics, +is always faithful and never troublesome, a Whig, and is poor, with the +support of a widow-mother thrown almost exclusively on him by the death +of his brother. If these are wrong reasons then I have been wrong; but +I have certainly not been selfish in it, because in my greatest need of +friends he was against me and for Baker." + +Judge Logan's defeat in 1848 left Lincoln still in a measure in charge +of the patronage in his district. After his term in Congress expired the +"wriggle and struggle" for office continued; and he was often appealed +to for his influence in obtaining, as he termed it, "a way to live +without work." Occasionally, when hard pressed, he retorted with bitter +sarcasm. I append a letter written in this vein to a gentleman still +living in central Illinois, who, I suppose, would prefer that his name +should be withheld: + +"Springfield, Dec. 15, 1849. + +"------ Esq. + +"Dear Sir: + +"On my return from Kentucky I found your letter of the 7th of November, +and have delayed answering it till now for the reason I now briefly +state. From the beginning of our acquaintance I had felt the greatest +kindness for you and had supposed it was reciprocated on your part. Last +summer, under circumstances which I mentioned to you, I was painfully +constrained to withhold a recommendation which you desired, and shortly +afterwards I learned, in such a way as to believe it, that you were +indulging in open abuse of me. Of course my feelings were wounded. +On receiving your last letter the question occurred whether you were +attempting to use me at the same time you would injure me, or whether +you might not have been misrepresented to me. If the former, I ought +not to answer you; if the latter, I ought, and so I have remained in +suspense. I now enclose you the letter, which you may use if you see +fit. + +"Yours, etc. + +"A. Lincoln." + +No doubt the man, when Lincoln declined at first to recommend him, did +resort to more or less abuse. That would have been natural, especially +with an unsuccessful and disappointed office-seeker. I am inclined to +the opinion, and a careful reading of the letter will warrant it, that +Lincoln believed him guilty. If the recommendation which Lincoln, after +so much reluctance, gave was ever used to further the applicant's cause +I do not know it. + +With the close of Lincoln's congressional career he drops out of sight +as a political factor, and for the next few years we take him up in +another capacity. He did not solicit or contend for a renomination to +Congress, and such was the unfortunate result of his position on public +questions that it is doubtful if he could have succeeded had he done so. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +Immediately following the adjournment of Congress in August, 1848, +Mr. Lincoln set out for Massachusetts to take part in the presidential +campaign. Being the only Whig in the delegation in Congress from +Illinois, he was expected to do gallant work for his chief, General +Taylor. As this chapter in his career seems to have escaped the notice +of former biographers, the writers have thought best to insert here +extracts from the various descriptions which they have been able to +obtain of the tour and its incidents. + +One of the most interesting accounts is from the pen of Hon. Edward L. +Pierce, of Milton, Mass., whose memory is not less tenacious than is his +style happy and entertaining. He says: + +"It is not known at whose instance Mr. Lincoln made his visits to +Massachusetts in 1848. The Whigs of the State were hard pressed at +the time by a formidable secession growing out of General Taylor's +nomination, and led by Henry Wilson, Charles Francis Adams, Charles +Allen, Charles Sumner, Stephen C. Phillips, John G. Palfrey, E. Rockwood +Hoar, Richard H. Dana, Jr., Anson Burlingame, John A. Andrew, and other +leaders who had great weight with the people and were all effective +public speakers. Generally the State had had a sufficient supply of +orators of its own, but in that emergency some outside aid was sought. +Gen. Leslie Coombs was invited from Kentucky, and Mr. Lincoln was +induced to come also, on his way home from Washington at the end of the +session. + +"The Whig State Convention met at Worcester, September 13th. The +Free-Soil secession was greater here than in any part of the State. It +was led by Judge Charles Allen, who was elected to Congress from the +district. There was a meeting of the Whigs at the City Hall on the +evening before the convention. Ensign Kellogg presided and except his +introductory remarks, Mr. Lincoln's speech, which lasted one and a half +or two hours, was the only one. The Boston _Advertiser's_ report was +nearly a column in length. It said: 'Mr. Lincoln has a very tall and +thin figure, with an intellectual face, showing a searching mind and a +cool judgment. He spoke in a clear and cool and very eloquent manner, +carrying the audience with him in his able arguments and brilliant +illustrations, only interrupted by warm and frequent applause. He began +by expressing a real feeling of modesty in addressing an audience "this +side of the mountains," a part of the country where, in the opinion of +the people of his section, everybody was supposed to be instructed and +wise. But he had devoted his attention to the question of the coming +presidential election, and was not unwilling to exchange with all whom +he might meet the ideas to which he had arrived.' This passage gives +some reason to suppose that, conscious of his powers, he was disposed to +try them before audiences somewhat different from those to which he had +been accustomed, and therefore he had come to New England. The first +part of his speech was a reply, at some length, to the charge that +General Taylor had no political principles; and he maintained that the +General stood on the true Whig principle, that the will of the people +should prevail against executive influence or the veto power of the +President. He justified the Whigs for omitting to put a national +platform before the people, and, according to a Free-Soil report, said +that a political platform should be frowned down whenever and wherever +presented. But the stress of his speech was against the Free-Soilers, +whose position as to the exclusion of slavery from the territories, he +claimed, to be that of the Whigs; while the former were subject to the +further criticism that they had but one principle, reminding him of +the Yankee peddler, who, in offering for sale a pair of pantaloons, +described them as 'large enough for any man, and small enough for any +boy,' He condemned the Free-Soilers as helping to elect Cass, who was +less likely to promote freedom in the territories than Taylor and passed +judgment on them as having less principle than any party. To their +defence of their right and duty to act independently, 'leaving +consequences to God,' he replied, that 'when divine or human law does +not clearly point out what is our duty, it must be found out by an +intelligent judgment, which takes in the results of action.' The +Free-Soilers were much offended by a passage which does not appear in +the Whig report. Referring to the anti-slavery men, he said they were +better treated in Massachusetts than in the West, and, turning to +William S. Lincoln, of Worcester, who had lived in Illinois, he remarked +that in that State they had recently killed one of them. This allusion +to Lovejoy's murder at Alton, was thought by the Free-Soilers to be +heartless, and it was noted that Mr. Lincoln did not repeat it in other +speeches. It was probably a casual remark, which came into his mind at +the moment, and meant but little, if anything. Cheers were given at the +end of the speech for the eloquent Whig member from Illinois. The Whig +reports spoke of the speech as 'masterly and convincing' and 'one of the +best ever made in Worcester;' while the Free-Soil report describes it +as 'a pretty tedious affair,' The next morning he spoke at an open-air +meeting, following Benjamin F. Thomas and Ex-Governor Levi Lincoln, but +his speech was cut short by the arrival by train of the delegates from +Boston, who, with the speakers, proceeded at once to the hall. The +convention listened to a long address to the people, reported by a +committee, and then to a brilliant speech from Rufus Choate, followed +by others from Robert C. Winthrop, the Whig Speaker of the House of +Representatives, Charles Hudson, M. C., and Benjamin F. Thomas. Mr. +Lincoln listened to these, but was not himself called out. + +Mr. Lincoln spoke at Washingtonian Hall, Bromfield street, Boston, on +the 15th, his address lasting an hour and a half, and, according to the +report, 'seldom equaled for sound reasoning, cogent argument and keen +satire.' Three cheers were given for 'the Lone Star of Illinois,' on +account of his being the only Whig member from the State. He spoke +at Lowell the 16th, and at the Lower Mills, Dorchester, now a part of +Boston, on Monday, the 18th. At this last place the meeting was held in +Richmond Hall, and the chairman was N. F. Safford, living till 1891, who +introduced him as one of the Lincolns of Hingham, and a descendant of +Gen. Benjamin Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln, as he began, disclaimed descent from +the Revolutionary officer, but said, playfully, that he had +endeavored in Illinois to introduce the principles of the Lincolns of +Massachusetts. A few of his audience are still living. They were struck +with his height, as he arose in the low-studded hall. He spoke at +Chelsea on the 19th, and a report states that his speech 'for aptness of +illustration, solidity of argument, and genuine eloquence, was hard to +beat.' Charles Sumner had defended the Free-Soil cause at the same place +the evening before. Mr. Lincoln spoke at Dedham, in Temperance Hall, on +the 20th, in the daytime. Two Whig nominating conventions met there the +same day, at one of which Horace Mann was nominated for a second term +in Congress. A report states that he 'spoke in an agreeable and +entertaining way.' He left abruptly to take a train in order to meet +another engagement, and was escorted to the station by the Dorchester +band. The same evening he spoke at Cambridge. The report describes +him as 'a capital specimen of a Sucker Whig, six feet at least in his +stockings.' Of his speech, it was said that 'it was plain, direct and to +the point, powerful and convincing, and telling with capital effect upon +the immense audience. It was a model speech for the campaign.' His last +speech was on the 22d, at Tremont Temple, with George Lunt presiding, in +company with William H. Seward, whom he followed, ending at 10.30 P. +M. The Whig newspaper, the _Atlas_, the next morning gave more than a +column to Mr. Seward's speech, but stated that it had no room for the +notes which had been taken of Mr. Lincoln's, describing it, however, as +'powerful and convincing, and cheered to the echo.' The Free-Soil paper +(Henry Wilson's) refers to the meeting, mentioning Mr. Seward, but not +Mr. Lincoln. The next day Mr. Lincoln left Boston for Illinois. The +'Atlas' on Monday contained this paragraph: 'In answer to the many +applications which we daily receive from different parts of the State +for this gentleman to speak, we have to say that he left Boston on +Saturday morning on his way home to Illinois.' + +It is evident from all the contemporaneous reports, that Mr. Lincoln +made a marked impression on all his audiences. Their attention was drawn +at once to his striking figure; they enjoyed his quaintness and humor; +and they recognized his logical power and his novel way of putting +things. Still, so far as his points are given in the public journals, he +did not rise at any time above partisanship, and he gave no sign of the +great future which awaited him as a political antagonist, a master of +language, and a leader of men. But it should be noted, in connection +with this estimate, that the Whig case, as put in that campaign, was +chiefly one of personalities, and was limited to the qualities and +career of Taylor as a soldier, and to ridicule of his opponent, General +Cass. Mr. Lincoln, like the other Whig speakers, labored to prove that +Taylor was a Whig. + +Seward's speech at Tremont Temple, to which Lincoln listened, seems to +have started a more serious vein of thought on slavery in the mind +of the future President. That evening, when they were together as +fellow-lodgers at a hotel, Lincoln said: "Governor Seward, I have been +thinking about what you said in your speech. I reckon you are right. We +have got to deal with this slavery question, and got to give much more +attention to it hereafter than we have been doing." * + + * Seward's Life, vol. ii, p. 80. + +It is curious now to recall how little support, in the grave moments of +his national career which came twelve years later, Mr. Lincoln received +from the Whigs of Massachusetts, then conspicuous in public life, whom +he met on his visit. Mr. Lunt, who presided at Faneuil Hall, was to the +end of his life a pro-slavery conservative. Judge Thomas, in Congress, +during the early part of the civil war, was obstructive to the +President's policy. Mr. Winthrop voted against Lincoln in 1860 and +1864. Mr. Choate died in 1859, but, judged by his latest utterances, his +marvelous eloquence would have been no patriotic inspiration if he had +outlived the national struggle. On the other hand, the Free-Soilers of +Massachusetts, whom Mr. Lincoln came here to discredit, became, to +a man, his supporters; and on many of their leaders he relied as +his support in the great conflict. Sumner was chairman of the Senate +Committee on Foreign Affairs during the war; Wilson was chairman of the +Committee on Military Affairs; Adams was Minister to England; and Andrew +War-Governor of the State. These, as well as Palfrey, Burlingame and +Dana, who, in 1848, almost every evening addressed audiences against +both Taylor and Cass, while Mr. Lincoln was here, were earnest and +steadfast in their devotion to the Government during the civil war; and +the last three received important appointments from him. How the press +treated Mr. Lincoln may be learned from the following editorial in the +Lowell _Journal and Courier_, in its issue of September 18, 1848: + +Whig Meeting. + +The sterling Whigs of Lowell came together last Saturday evening, at the +City Hall. The meeting was called to order by the Chairman of the Whig +Central Committee, Hon. Linus Child. Homer Bartlett, Esq., was chosen +chairman, and A. Gilman, secretary. After a few animating remarks from +the Chairman, he introduced George Woodman, Esq., of Boston, who made +a very pertinent and witty offhand speech, which was frequently +interrupted by the spontaneous plaudits of the audience. At the close of +his speech Mr. Woodman introduced the Hon. Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois. +It would be doing injustice to his speech to endeavor to give a sketch +of it. It was replete with good sense, sound reasoning, and irresistible +argument, and spoken with that perfect command of manner and matter +which so eminently distinguishes the Western orators. He disabused the +public of the erroneous suppositions that Taylor was not a Whig; that +Van Buren was anything more than a thorough Loco-foco on all subjects +other than Free Territory, and hardly safe on that; and showed up, in a +masterly manner, the inconsistency and folly of those Whigs, who, being +drawn off from the true and oldest free-soil organization known among +the parties of the Union, would now lend their influence and votes +to help Mr. Van Buren into the presidential chair. His speech was +interrupted by frequent cheers of the audience. At the close the +secretary, by request, read the letter of General Taylor to Captain +Alison, which had just been received, in which he says: "From the +beginning till now, I have declared myself to be a Whig, on all proper +occasions." + +Ex-Governor Gardner, after a brief history of the Whig Convention at +Worcester, Mass., contributes this pleasing reminiscence: + +"Gov. Levi Lincoln, the oldest living Ex-Governor of Massachusetts, +resided in Worcester. He was a man of culture and wealth; lived in +one of the finest houses in that town, and was a fine specimen of a +gentleman of the old school. It was his custom to give a dinner party +when any distinguished assemblage took place in Worcester, and to invite +its prominent participants. He invited to dine, on this occasion, a +company of gentlemen, among them myself, who was a delegate from +Boston. The dining-room and table arrangements were superb, the dinner +exquisite, the wines abundant, rare, and of the first quality. + +"I well remember the jokes between Governor Lincoln and Abraham Lincoln +as to their presumed relationship. At last the latter said: 'I _hope_ +we both belong, as the Scotch say, to the same clan; but I _know_ one +thing, and that is, that we are both good Whigs.' + +"That evening there was held in Mechanics' Hall (an immense building) +a mass-meeting of delegates and others, and Lincoln was announced to +speak. No one there had ever heard him on the stump, and in fact knew +anything about him. When he was announced, his tall, angular, bent form, +and his manifest awkwardness and low tone of voice, promised nothing +interesting. But he soon warmed to his work. His style and manner of +speaking were novelties in the East. He repeated anecdotes, told stories +admirable in humor and in point, interspersed with bursts of true +eloquence, which constantly brought down the house. His sarcasm of +Cass, Van Buren and the Democratic party was inimitable, and whenever +he attempted to stop, the shouts of 'Go on! go on!' were deafening. He +probably spoke over an hour, but so great was the enthusiasm time could +not be measured. It was doubtless one of the best efforts of his life. +He spoke a day or two afterward in Faneuil Hall, with William H. Seward, +but I did not hear him. + +"In 1861 business called me to Washington, and I paid my respects to the +President at the White House. He came forward smiling and with extended +hand, saying: 'You and I are no strangers; we dined together at Governor +Lincoln's in 1848.' When one remembers the increased burden on the +President's mind at this trying time, the anxieties of the war, the +army, the currency, and the rehabilitating the civil officers of the +country, it seemed astonishing to me to hear him continue: 'Sit down. +Yes, I had been chosen to Congress then from the wild West, and with +hayseed in my hair I went to Massachusetts, the most cultured State +in the Union, to take a few lessons in deportment. That was a grand +dinner--a superb dinner; by far the finest I ever saw in my life. And +the great men who were there, too! Why, I can tell you just how they +were arranged at table. He began at one end, and mentioned the names in +order, and, I verily believe, without the omission of a single one." + +This chapter would be incomplete without the account of Mr. George H. +Monroe, a young man living in Dedham, Mass., in 1848, who, forty years +later, wrote out his recollections of Mr. Lincoln's visit to that +town. Mr. Monroe has a vivid and retentive memory, and has since +been identified with the public life and journalism of Massachusetts:-- + +"Massachusetts, on account of the great defection of Whigs to the +Free-Soilers, and Daniel Webster's sudden and damaging attitude toward +General Taylor's nomination to the presidency, began to be considered +rather doubtful ground for the Whigs. The national committee sent +Mr. Lincoln to the State, after Congress had adjourned, to make some +speeches. Our people knew very little about him then. I lived in Dedham, +the shire town of Norfolk county, and was secretary of a Whig club +there. One of the county courts was in session, and it was determined to +have a meeting in the daytime, before it adjourned. I was commissioned +to go to Boston to engage the speaker. I went at once to see my friend, +Colonel Schouler, of the Boston _Atlas_. He told me that a new man had +just come into the State from Washington, who, he thought, would answer +our purpose exactly, and said he would get him for me if possible. That +man was Abraham Lincoln. When the day for the meeting came I went to +the Tremont House and found Mr. Lincoln there. I remember well how tall, +awkward and ungainly he was in appearance. I remember how reticent he +was, too, but I attributed this to my own youth, for I was only +just past twenty-one years of age. He was as sober a man in point of +expression as ever I saw. There were others in the party later, but in +the journey out in the cars he scarcely said a word to one of us. I did +not see him smile on any part of the journey. He seemed uneasy and out +of sympathy with his surroundings, as it were. I should say that the +atmosphere of Boston was not congenial to him. We took him to one of +the most elegant houses in the town of Dedham, and here he seemed still +less, if possible, at home. The thing began to look rather blue for us. +When we went over to the hall it was not much better. It was a small +hall, and it was only about half full; for Mr. Lincoln had not spoken in +Boston yet, and there was nothing in his name particularly to attract. +But at last he arose to speak, and almost instantly there was a change. +His indifferent manner vanished as soon as he opened his mouth. He went +right to his work. He wore a black alpaca sack, and he turned up the +sleeves of this, and then the cuffs of his shirt. Next he loosened his +necktie, and soon after he took it off altogether. All the time he was +gaining upon his audience. He soon had it as by a spell. I never saw men +more delighted. His style was the most familiar and off-hand possible. +His eye had lighted up and changed the whole expression of his +countenance. He began to bubble out with humor. But the chief charm +of the address lay in the homely way he made his points. There was no +attempt at eloquence or finish of style. But, for plain pungency of +humor, it would have been difficult to surpass his speech. In this +making of points which come home to the general mind, I don't think +Lincoln was ever surpassed by any American orator. I often thought of it +afterward, when he was exhibiting this faculty in a more ambitious way +on a broader field. The speech which I am trying to describe was not a +long one. It abruptly ended in a half-hour's time. The bell that called +to the steam cars sounded. Mr. Lincoln instantly stopped. 'I am engaged +to speak at Cambridge to-night,' said he, 'and I must leave.' The whole +audience seemed to rise in protest. 'Oh, no! go on! finish it!' was +heard on every hand. One gentleman arose and pledged himself to take his +horse and carry him across the country. But Mr. Lincoln was inexorable. +'I can't take any risks,' said he. + +"'I have engaged to go to Cambridge, and I must be there. I came here +as I agreed, and I am going there in the same way.' A more disappointed +audience was never seen; but Mr. Lincoln had fairly wakened it up, and +it stayed through the afternoon and into the evening to listen to other +speakers. We tried to get him to come again, but it was impossible. I +heard the speech finished afterward in Tremont Temple, Boston; and it +is a notable fact that on the same evening, and from the same platform, +William H. Seward also spoke, and made the only political speech he ever +delivered in Boston. Who could have dreamed then that in Lincoln we were +listening to the man who was to be the future president of the United +States, and to leave a reputation second only to that of Washington! Mr. +Lincoln moved his Boston audience in much the same way I have described, +but Mr. Seward made the first speech, and was looked upon as the +chief star, of course. Seward's speech was much more ambitious and +comprehensive than that of Lincoln. The latter had not begun to treat +broad principles in the 1848 campaign. Mr. Seward's argument was a +triumph of intellect, after the most careful preparation. I don't think +Mr. Lincoln had ever written his speech at all. He aimed at not much +more than to be bright, effective and taking with his audience, and his +success was perfect here." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +[Illustration: The Globe Tavern 363] + +Photographed in 1886. + +After the wedding of Lincoln and Miss Todd at the Edwards mansion we +hear but little of them as a married couple till the spring of 1843, +when the husband writes to his friend Speed, who had been joined to his +"black-eyed Fanny" a little over a year, with regard to his life as a +married man. "Are you possessing houses and lands," he writes, "and oxen +and asses and men-servants and maid-servants, and begetting sons and +daughters? We are not keeping house, but boarding at the Globe Tavern, +which is very well kept now by a widow lady of the name of Beck. Our +room (the same Dr. Wallace occupied there) and boarding only costs us +four dollars a week." Gaining a livelihood was slow and discouraging +business with him, for we find him in another letter apologizing for his +failure to visit Kentucky, "because," he says, "I am so poor and make so +little headway in the world that I drop back in a month of idleness as +much as I gain in a year's sowing." But by dint of untiring efforts and +the recognition of influential friends he managed through rare frugality +to move along. In his struggles, both in the law and for political +advancement, his wife shared in his sacrifices. She was a plucky little +woman, and in fact endowed with a more restless ambition than he. She +was gifted with a rare insight into the motives that actuate mankind, +and there is no doubt that much of Lincoln's success was in a measure +attributable to her acuteness and the stimulus of her influence. His +election to Congress within four years after their marriage afforded +her extreme gratification. She loved power and prominence, and when +occasionally she came down to our office, it seemed to me then that she +was inordinately proud of her tall and ungainly husband. She saw in him +bright prospects ahead, and his every move was watched by her with the +closest interest. If to other persons he seemed homely, to her he was +the embodiment of noble manhood, and each succeeding day impressed upon +her the wisdom of her choice of Lincoln over Douglas--if in reality she +ever seriously accepted the latter's attentions. "Mr. Lincoln may not +be as handsome a figure," she said one day in the office during her +husband's absence, when the conversation turned on Douglas, "but the +people are perhaps not aware that his heart is as large as his arms are +long." + +Mrs. Lincoln accompanied her husband to Washington and remained during +one session of Congress. While there they boarded at the same house with +Joshua R. Giddings, and when in 1856 the valiant old Abolitionist came +to take part in the canvass in Illinois, he early sought out Lincoln, +with whom he had been so favorably impressed several years before. On +his way home from Congress Lincoln came by way of Niagara Falls and down +Lake Erie to Toledo or Detroit. It happened that, some time after, +I went to New York and also returned by way of Niagara Falls. In the +office, a few days after my return, I was endeavoring to entertain my +partner with an account of my trip, and among other things described the +Falls. In the attempt I indulged in a good deal of imagery. As I warmed +up with the subject my descriptive powers expanded accordingly. The mad +rush of water, the roar, the rapids, and the rainbow furnished me with +an abundance of material for a stirring and impressive picture. The +recollection of the gigantic and awe-inspiring scene stimulated my +exuberant powers to the highest pitch. After well-nigh exhausting myself +in the effort I turned to Lincoln for his opinion. "What," I inquired, +"made the deepest impression on you when you stood in the presence of +the great natural wonder?" I shall never forget his answer, because it +in a very characteristic way illustrates how he looked at everything. +"The thing that struck me most forcibly when I saw the Falls," he +responded, "was, where in the world did all that water come from?" +He had no eye for the magnificence and grandeur of the scene, for the +rapids, the mist, the angry waters, and the roar of the whirlpool, but +his mind, working in its accustomed channel, heedless of beauty or awe, +followed irresistibly back to the first cause. It was in this light he +viewed every question. However great the verbal foliage that concealed +the nakedness of a good idea Lincoln stripped it all down till he could +see clear the way between cause and effect. If there was any secret in +his power this surely was it. + +After seeing Niagara Falls he continued his journey homeward. At some +point on the way, the vessel on which he had taken passage stranded on a +sand bar. The captain ordered the hands to collect all the loose planks, +empty barrels and boxes and force them under the sides of the boat. +These empty casks were used to buoy it up. After forcing enough of them +under the vessel she lifted gradually and at last swung clear of the +opposing sand bar. Lincoln had watched this operation very intently. It +no doubt carried him back to the days of his navigation on the turbulent +Sangamon, when he and John Hanks had rendered similar service at New +Salem dam to their employer, the volatile Offut. Continual thinking on +the subject of lifting vessels over sand bars and other obstructions in +the water suggested to him the idea of inventing an apparatus for that +purpose. Using the principle involved in the operation he had just +witnessed, his plan was to attach a kind of bellows on each side of the +hull of the craft just below the water line, and, by an odd system of +ropes and pulleys, whenever the keel grated on the sand these bellows +were to be filled with air, and thus buoyed up, the vessel was expected +to float clear of the shoal. On reaching home he at once set to work to +demonstrate the feasibility of his plan. Walter Davis, a mechanic having +a shop near our office, granted him the use of his tools, and likewise +assisted him in making the model of a miniature vessel with the +arrangement as above described. Lincoln manifested ardent interest +in it. Occasionally he would bring the model in the office, and while +whittling on it would descant on its merits and the revolution it was +destined to work in steamboat navigation. Although I regarded the thing +as impracticable I said nothing, probably out of respect for Lincoln's +well-known reputation as a boatman. The model was sent or taken by him +to Washington, where a patent was issued, but the invention was never +applied to any vessel, so far as I ever learned, and the threatened +revolution in steamboat architecture and navigation never came to pass. +The model still reposes in undisturbed slumber on the shelves in the +Patent Office, and is the only evidence now existing of Lincoln's +success as an inventor.* + + * Following is a copy of Lincoln's application for the + patent on his "Improved Method of Lifting Vessels Over + Shoals": "What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure + by letters patent, is the combination of expansible buoyant + chambers placed at the sides of a vessel with the main shaft + or shafts by means of the sliding spars, which pass down + through the buoyant chambers and are made fast to their + bottoms and the series of ropes and pulleys or their + equivalents in such a manner that by turning the main shaft + or shafts in one direction the buoyant chambers will be + forced downwards into the water, and at the same time + expanded and filled with air for buoying up the vessel by + the displacement of water, and by turning the shafts in an + opposite direction the buoyant chambers will be contracted + into a small space and secured against injury. + + "A. Lincoln." + + +Shortly before the close of his term in Congress he appears in a new +rôle. Having failed of a re-election he became an applicant for the +office of Commissioner of the General Land Office. He had been urged to +this step by many of his Whig friends in Illinois, but he was so hedged +about with other aspirants from his own State that he soon lost all +heart in the contest. He was too scrupulous, and lacked too much the +essentials of self-confidence and persistence, to be a successful +suitor for office. In a letter to Joshua Speed, who had written him of +a favorable reference to him by Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky,* he says, +February 20, 1849, "I am flattered to learn that Mr. Crittenden has any +recollection of me which is not unfavorable; and for the manifestation +of your kindness towards me I sincerely thank you." + + * Lincoln had asked Speed to see Crittenden (then Governor + of Kentucky) and secure from the latter a recommendation for + Baker, who wanted a first-class foreign mission. Crittenden + did not approve of Baker, but suggested that he would favor + Lincoln, whom he regarded as a rising man. Speed suggested + to Lincoln to apply for the place himself. "I have pledged + myself to Baker," he answered, "and cannot under any + circumstances consent to the use of my name so long as he is + urged for the same place." + +"Still, there is nothing about me to authorize me to think of a +first-class office, and a second-class one would not compensate me for +being sneered at by others who want it for themselves. I believe that, +so far as the Whigs in Congress are concerned, I could have the General +Land Office almost by common consent; but then Sweet and Dav. Morrison +and Browning and Cyrus Edwards all want it, and what is worse, while I +think I could easily take it myself I fear I shall have trouble to +get it for any other man in Illinois. The reason is that McGaughey, an +Indiana ex-member of Congress, is here after it, and being personally +known he will be hard to beat by any one who is not." But, as the sequel +proved, there was no need to fear the Hoosier statesman, for although he +had the endorsement of General Scott and others of equal influence, +yet he was left far behind in the race, and along with him Lincoln, +Morrison, Browning, and Edwards. A dark horse in the person of Justin +Butterfield, sprang into view, and with surprising facility captured +the tempting prize. This latter and successful aspirant was a lawyer +of rather extensive practice and reputation in Chicago. He was shrewd, +adroit, and gifted with a knowledge of what politicians would call good +management--a quality or characteristic in which Lincoln was strikingly +deficient. He had endorsed the Mexican war, but, strangely enough, had +lost none of his prestige with the Whigs on that account.* + + * The following letter by Butterfield's daughter is not + without interest: + + "Chicago, Oct. l2th, 1888. + + "Mr. Jesse W. Weik. + + "Dear Sir: + + "My father was born in Keene, N. H., in 1790, entered + Williams College, 1807, and removed to Chicago in 1835. + After the re-accession of the Whigs to power he was on the + 21st of June in 1849 appointed Commissioner of the Land + Office by President Taylor. A competitor for the position at + that time was Abraham Lincoln, who was beaten, it was said, + by 'the superior dispatch of Butterfield in reaching + Washington by the Northern route,' but more correctly by the + paramount influence of his friend Daniel Webster. + + "He held the position of Land Commissioner until disabled by + paralysis in 1852. After lingering for three years in a + disabled ana enfeebled condition, he died at his home in + Chicago, October 23d, 1855, in his sixty-third year. + + "Very respectfully, + + "Elizabeth Sawyer." + +The close of Congress and the inauguration of Taylor were the signal +for Lincoln's departure from Washington. He left with the comforting +assurance that as an office-seeker he was by no means a success. Besides +his lack of persistence, he had an unconscious feeling of superiority +and pride that admitted of no such flexibility of opinion as the +professional suitor for office must have, in order to succeed. He +remained but a few days at his home in Illinois, however, before he +again set out for Washington. The administration of President Taylor +feeling that some reward was due Lincoln for his heroic efforts on the +stump and elsewhere in behalf of the Whig party and its measures, had +offered him the office of either Governor or Secretary of Oregon, +and with the view of considering this and other offers he returned to +Washington. Lincoln used to relate of this last-named journey an amusing +incident illustrating Kentucky hospitality. He set out from Ransdell's +tavern in Springfield, early in the morning. The only other passenger +in the stage for a good portion of the distance was a Kentuckian, on his +way home from Missouri. The latter, painfully impressed no doubt with +Lincoln's gravity and melancholy, undertook to relieve the general +monotony of the ride by offering him a chew of tobacco. With a plain +"No, sir, thank you; I never chew," Lincoln declined, and a long period +of silence followed. Later in the day the stranger, pulling from his +pocket a leather-covered case, offered Lincoln a cigar, which he also +politely declined on the ground that he never smoked. Finally, as they +neared the station where horses were to be changed, the Kentuckian, +pouring out a cup of brandy from a flask which had lain concealed in his +satchel, offered it to Lincoln with the remark, "Well, stranger, seeing +you don't smoke or chew, perhaps you'll take a little of this French +brandy. It's a prime article and a good appetizer besides." His tall +and uncommunicative companion declined this last and best evidence +of Kentucky hospitality on the same ground as the tobacco. When they +separated that afternoon, the Kentuckian, transferring to another stage, +bound for Louisville, shook Lincoln warmly by the hand. "See here, +stranger," he said, good-humoredly, "you're a clever, but strange +companion. I may never see you again, and I don't want to offend you, +but I want to say this: my experience has taught me that a man who +has no vices has d------d few virtues. Good-day." Lincoln enjoyed this +reminiscence of the journey, and took great pleasure in relating it. +During this same journey occurred an incident for which Thomas H. +Nelson, of Terre Haute, Indiana, who was appointed Minister to Chili by +Lincoln, when he was President, is authority. "In the spring of 1849," +relates Nelson, "Judge Abram Hammond, who was afterwards Governor of +Indiana, and I arranged to go from Terre Haute to Indianapolis in the +stage coach. An entire day was usually consumed in the journey. By +daybreak the stage had arrived from the West, and as we stepped in +we discovered that the entire back seat was occupied by a long, lank +individual, whose head seemed to protrude from one end of the coach +and his feet from the other. He was the sole occupant, and was sleeping +soundly. Hammond slapped him familiarly on the shoulder, and asked him +if he had chartered the stage for the day. The stranger, now wide awake, +responded, 'Certainly not,' and at once took the front seat, politely +surrendering to us the place of honor and comfort. We took in our +travelling companion at a glance. A queer, odd-looking fellow he was, +dressed in a well-worn and ill-fitting suit of bombazine, without vest +or cravat, and a twenty-five-cent palm hat on the back of his head. +His very prominent features in repose seemed dull and expressionless. +Regarding him as a good subject for merriment we perpetrated several +jokes. He took them all with the utmost innocence and good-nature, and +joined in the laugh, although at his own expense. At noon we stopped +at a wayside hostelry for dinner. We invited him to eat with us, and he +approached the table as if he considered it a great honor. He sat with +about half his person on a small chair, and held his hat under his arm +during the meal. Resuming our journey after dinner, conversation drifted +into a discussion of the comet, a subject that was then agitating the +scientific world, in which the stranger took the deepest interest. He +made many startling suggestions and asked many questions. We amazed him +with words of learned length and thundering sound. After an astounding +display of wordy pyrotechnics the dazed and bewildered stranger asked: +'What is going to be the upshot of this comet business?' I replied +that I was not certain, in fact I differed from most scientists and +philosophers, and was inclined to the opinion that the world +would follow the darned thing off! Late in the evening we reached +Indianapolis, and hurried to Browning's hotel, losing sight of the +stranger altogether. We retired to our room to brush and wash away the +dust of the journey. In a few minutes I descended to the portico, and +there descried our long, gloomy fellow-traveller in the center of an +admiring group of lawyers, among whom were Judges McLean and Huntington, +Edward Hannigan, Albert S. White, and Richard W. Thompson, who seemed +to be amused and interested in a story he was telling. I enquired of +Browning, the landlord, who he was. "Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, +a member of Congress," was the response. I was thunderstruck at the +announcement. I hastened upstairs and told Hammond the startling news, +and together we emerged from the hotel by a back door and went down +an alley to another house, thus avoiding further contact with our now +distinguished fellow-traveller. Curiously enough, years after this, +Hammond had vacated the office of Governor of Indiana a few days +before Lincoln arrived in Indianapolis, on his way to Washington to be +inaugurated President. I had many opportunities after the stage ride to +cultivate Mr. Lincoln's acquaintance, and was a zealous advocate of his +nomination and election to the Presidency. Before leaving his home for +Washington, Mr. Lincoln caused John P. Usher and myself to be invited to +accompany him. We agreed to join him in Indianapolis. On reaching that +city the Presidential party had already arrived, and upon inquiry we +were informed that the President-elect was in the dining-room of +the hotel, at supper. Passing through, we saw that every seat at the +numerous tables was occupied, but failed to find Mr. Lincoln. As we were +nearing the door to the office of the hotel, a long arm reached to my +shoulder and a shrill voice exclaimed, 'Hello, Nelson! do you think, +after all, the world is going to follow the darned thing off?' It was +Mr. Lincoln." + +The benefits and advantages of the territorial posts offered by +President Taylor to Lincoln were freely discussed by the latter's +friends. Some urged his acceptance on the usual ground that when Oregon +was admitted as a State, he might be its first Senator. Lincoln himself +had some inclination to accept. He told me himself that he felt by his +course in Congress he had committed political suicide, and wanted to try +a change of locality--hence the temptation to go to Oregon. But when +he brought the proposition home to his fireside, his wife put her foot +squarely down on it with a firm and emphatic No. That always ended +it with Lincoln. The result of the whole thing proved a fortunate +deliverance for him, the propriety of which became more apparent as the +years rolled by.* + + * About this time Grant Goodrich, a lawyer in Chicago, + proposed to take Lincoln into partnership with him. Goodrich + had an extensive and paying practice there, but Lincoln + refused the offer, giving as a reason that he tended to + consumption, and if he removed to a city like Chicago, he + would have to sit down and study harder than ever. The close + application required of him and the confinement in the + office, he contended, would soon kill him. He preferred + going around on the circuit, and even if he earned smaller + fees he felt much happier. + +While a member of Congress and otherwise immersed in politics Lincoln +seemed to lose all interest in the law. Of course, what practice he +himself controlled passed into other hands. I retained all the business +I could, and worked steadily on until, when he returned, our practice +was as extensive as that of any other firm at the bar. Lincoln realized +that much of this was due to my efforts, and on his return he therefore +suggested that he had no right to share in the business and profits +which I had made. I responded that, as he had aided me and given me +prominence when I was young and needed it, I could afford now to be +grateful if not generous. I therefore recommended a continuation of the +partnership, and we went on as before. I could notice a difference in +Lincoln's movement as a lawyer from this time forward. He had begun +to realize a certain lack of discipline--a want of mental training and +method. Ten years had wrought some change in the law, and more in the +lawyers, of Illinois. The conviction had settled in the minds of the +people that the pyrotechnics of court room and stump oratory did not +necessarily imply extensive or profound ability in the lawyer who +resorted to it. The courts were becoming graver and more learned, and +the lawyer was learning as a preliminary and indispensable condition to +success that he must be a close reasoner, besides having at command +a broad knowledge of the principles on which the statutory law is +constructed. There was of course the same riding on circuit as before, +but the courts had improved in tone and morals, and there was less +laxity--at least it appeared so to Lincoln. Political defeat had wrought +a marked effect on him. It went below the skin and made a changed man +of him. He was not soured at his seeming political decline, but still he +determined to eschew politics from that time forward and devote himself +entirely to the law. And now he began to make up for time lost in +politics by studying the law in earnest. No man had greater power of +application than he. Once fixing his mind on any subject, nothing could +interfere with or disturb him. Frequently I would go out on the circuit +with him. We, usually, at the little country inns occupied the same bed. +In most cases the beds were too short for him, and his feet would hang +over the foot-board, thus exposing a limited expanse of shin bone. +Placing a candle on a chair at the head of the bed, he would read and +study for hours. I have known him to study in this position till two +o'clock in the morning. Meanwhile, I and others who chanced to occupy +the same room would be safely and soundly asleep. On the circuit in +this way he studied Euclid until he could with ease demonstrate all +the propositions in the six books. How he could maintain his mental +equilibrium or concentrate his thoughts on an abstract mathematical +proposition, while Davis, Logan, Swett, Edwards, and I so industriously +and volubly filled the air with our interminable snoring was a problem +none of us could ever solve. I was on the circuit with Lincoln +probably one-fourth of the time. The remainder of my time was spent in +Springfield looking after the business there, but I know that life on +the circuit was a gay one. It was rich with incidents, and afforded the +nomadic lawyers ample relaxation from all the irksome toil that fell to +their lot. Lincoln loved it. I suppose it would be a fair estimate to +state that he spent over half the year following Judges Treat and Davis +around on the circuit. On Saturdays the court and attorneys, if within a +reasonable distance, would usually start for their homes. Some went for +a fresh supply of clothing, but the greater number went simply to spend +a day of rest with their families. The only exception was Lincoln, who +usually spent his Sundays with the loungers at the country tavern, and +only went home at the end of the circuit or term of court. "At first," +* relates one of his colleagues on the circuit, "we wondered at it, +but soon learned to account for his strange disinclination to go home. +Lincoln himself never had much to say about home, and we never felt free +to comment on it. Most of us had pleasant, inviting homes, and as we +struck out for them I'm sure each one of us down in our hearts had a +mingled feeling of pity and sympathy for him." + + * David Davis, MS. + +If the day was long and he was oppressed, the feeling was soon relieved +by the narration of a story. The tavern loungers enjoyed it, and his +melancholy, taking to itself wings, seemed to fly away. In the role of +a story-teller I am prone to regard Mr. Lincoln as without an equal. I +have seen him surrounded by a crowd numbering as many as two and in some +cases three hundred persons, all deeply interested in the outcome of a +story which, when he had finished it, speedily found repetition in every +grocery and lounging place within reach. His power of mimicry, as I have +before noted, and his manner of recital, were in many respects unique, +if not remarkable. His countenance and all his features seemed to take +part in the performance. As he neared the pith or point of the joke or +story every vestige of seriousness disappeared from his face. His little +gray eyes sparkled; a smile seemed to gather up, curtain like, the +corners of his mouth; his frame quivered with suppressed excitement; and +when the point--or "nub" of the story, as he called it--came, no one's +laugh was heartier than his. These backwoods allegories are out of date +now, and any lawyer, ambitious to gain prominence, would hardly dare +thus to entertain a crowd, except at the risk of his reputation; but +with Lincoln it gave him, in some mysterious way, a singularly firm hold +on the people. + +Lincoln was particularly strong in Menard county, and while on the +circuit there he met with William Engle and James Murray, two men who +were noted also for their story-telling proclivities. I am not now +asserting for the country and the period what would at a later day be +considered a very high standard of taste. Art had not such patrons as +to-day, but the people loved the beautiful as Nature furnished it, and +the good as they found it, with as much devotion as the more refined +classes now are joined to their idols. Newspapers were scarce, and the +court-house, with its cluster of itinerant lawyers, disseminated much of +the information that was afterwards broken up into smaller bits at the +pioneer's fireside. A curious civilization indeed, but one through which +every Western State distant from the great arterial river or seaboard +lias had to pass. + +When Lincoln, Murray, and Engle met, there was sure to be a crowd. All +were more or less masters in their art. I have seen the little country +tavern where these three were wont to meet after an adjournment of +court, crowded almost to suffocation with an audience of men who +had gathered to witness the contest among the members of the strange +triumvirate. The physician of the town, all the lawyers, and not +unfrequently a preacher could be found in the crowd that filled the +doors and windows. The yarns they spun and the stories, they told would +not bear repetition here, but many of them had morals which, while +exposing the weaknesses of mankind, stung like a whip-lash. Some were +no doubt a thousand years old, with just enough "verbal varnish" and +alterations of names and dates to make them new and crisp. By virtue of +the last-named application, Lincoln was enabled to draw from Balzac a +"droll story," and locating it in "Egypt"* or in Indiana, pass it off +for a purely original conception. Every recital was followed by its +"storm of laughter and chorus of cheers." After this had all died down, +some unfortunate creature, through whose thickened skull the point had +just penetrated, would break out in a guffaw, starting another wave +of laughter which, growing to the proportions of a billow, would come +rolling in like a veritable breaker. + + * The word Egypt, so frequently used in this book, refers to + that portion of Illinois which lies south of the famous + National Road. + +I have known these story-telling jousts to continue long after +midnight--in some cases till the very small hours of the morning. I have +seen Judge Treat, who was the very impersonation of gravity itself, sit +up till the last and laugh until, as he often expressed it, "he almost +shook his ribs loose." The next day he would ascend the bench and +listen to Lincoln in a murder trial, with all the seeming severity of an +English judge in wig and gown. Amid such surroundings, a leading +figure in such society, alternately reciting the latest effusion of the +bar room or mimicking the clownish antics of the negro minstrel, he +who was destined to be an immortal emancipator, was steadily and +unconsciously nearing the great trial of his life. We shall see further +on how this rude civilization crystallized both his logic and his wit +for use in another day. + +Reverting again to Mr. Lincoln as a lawyer, it is proper to add that he +detested the mechanical work of the office. He wrote few papers--less +perhaps than any other man at the bar. Such work was usually left to me +for the first few years we were together. Afterwards we made good use of +students who came to learn the law in our office. A Chicago lawyer,* in +a letter to me about Mr. Lincoln, in 1866, says: "Lincoln once told +me that he had taken you in as a partner, supposing you had system and +would keep things in order, but that he found out you had no more system +than he had, but that you were in reality a good lawyer, so that he was +doubly disappointed." Lincoln knew no such thing as order or method in +his law practice. He made no preparation in advance, but trusted to +the hour for its inspiration and to Providence for his supplies. In +the matter of letter-writing** he made no distinction between one of a +business nature or any other kind. + + * W. C. Whitney, MS. + + ** "I wish you would learn of Everett what he would take, + over and above a discharge, for all trouble we have been at + to take his business out of our hands and give it to + somebody else. It is impossible to collect money on that or + any other claim here, now, and although you know I am not a + very petulant man, I declare that I am almost out of + patience with Mr. Everett's endless importunities. It seems + like he not only writes all the letters he can himself, but + he gets everybody else in Louisville and vicinity to be + constantly writing to us about his claim. I have always said + that Mr. Everett is a very clever fellow, and I am very + sorry he cannot be obliged; but it does seem to me he ought + to know we are interested to collect his claim, and + therefore would do it if we could. I am neither joking nor + in a pet when I say we would thank him to transfer his + business to some other, without any compensation for what we + have done, provided he will see the court costs paid for + which we are security."--MS. letter to Joshua F. Speed, + March 27, 1842. + +If a happy thought or expression struck him he was by no means reluctant +to use it. As early as 1839 wrote to a gentleman about a matter of +business, observing crustily that "a d------d hawk-billed Yankee is +here besetting me at every turn I take, saying that Robert Kenzie never +received the $80 to which he was entitled." In July, 1851, he wrote +a facetious message to one of his clients, saying: "I have news from +Ottawa that we win our case. As the Dutch justice said when he married +folks, 'Now where ish my hundred tol-lars.'"* + + * The following unpublished letter in possession of C. F. + Gunther, Esq., Chicago, Ills., shows how he proposed to fill + a vacancy in the office of Clerk of the United States Court + It reads like the letter of a politician in the midst of a + canvass for office: + + "Springfield, ILL., December 6,1854. + + "Hon. Justice McLean. + + "Sir: I understand it is in contemplation to displace the + present Clerk and appoint a new one for the Circuit and + District Courts of Illinois. I am very friendly to the + present incumbent, and both for his own sake and that of his + family, I wish him to be retained so long as it is possible + for the Court to do so. + + "In the contingency of his removal, however, I have + recommended William Butler as his successor, and I do not + wish what I write now to be taken as any abatement of that + recommendation. + + "William J. Black is also an applicant for the appointment, + and I write this at the solicitation of his friends to say + that he is every way worthy of the office, and that I doubt + not the conferring it upon him will give great satisfaction. + + "Your ob't servant, + + "A. Lincoln." + + +He was proverbially careless as to habits. In a letter to a +fellow-lawyer in another town, apologizing for failure to answer sooner, +he explains: "First, I have been very busy in the United States Court; +second, when I received the letter I put it in my old hat and buying a +new one the next day the old one was set aside, and so the letter was +lost sight of for a time." This hat of Lincoln's--a silk plug--was an +extraordinary receptacle. It was his desk and his memorandum-book. In +it he carried his bank-book and the bulk of his letters. Whenever in his +reading or researches he wished to preserve an idea, he jotted it down +on an envelope or stray piece of paper and placed it inside the lining. +Afterwards when the memorandum was needed there was only one place to +look for it.* + +How Lincoln appeared and acted in the law office has been graphically +and, I must confess, truthfully told by a gentleman now in New York, +who was for several years a student in our office. I beg to quote a few +lines from him: "My brother met Mr. Lincoln in Ottawa, Ill.,** one day, +and said to him: 'I have a brother whom I would very much like to have +enter your office as a student.' 'All right!' was his reply; 'send him +down and we will take a look at him.' I was then studying law at Grand +Rapids, Mich., and on hearing from my brother I immediately packed +up and started for Springfield. I arrived there on Saturday night. On +Sunday Mr. Lincoln was pointed out to me. I well remember this first +sight of him. He was striding along, holding little Tad, then about six +years old, by the hand, who could with the greatest difficulty keep up +with his father." + + * Lincoln had always on the top of our desk a bundle of + papers into which he slipped anything he wished to keep and + afterwards refer to. It was a receptacle of general + information. Some years ago, on removing the furniture from + the office, I took down the bundle and blew from the top the + liberal coat of dust that had accumulated thereon. + Immediately uuderneath the string was a slip bearing this + endorsement, in his hand: "When you can't find it anywhere + else, look in this." + + ** John H. Littlefield, Brooklyn Eagle, October 16, 1887. + +"In the morning I applied at the office of Lincoln and Herndon for +admission as a student. The office was on the second floor of a brick +building on the public square, opposite the court-house. You went up +one flight of stairs and then passed along a hallway to the rear office, +which was a medium-sized room. There was one long table in the center of +the room, and a shorter one running in the opposite direction, forming a +T, and both were covered with green baize. There were two windows which +looked into the back yard. In one corner was an old-fashioned secretary +with pigeonholes and a drawer, and here Mr. Lincoln and his partner +kept their law papers. There was also a book-case containing about 200 +volumes of law as well as miscellaneous books. The morning I entered the +office Mr. Lincoln and his partner, Mr. Herndon, were both present. Mr. +Lincoln addressed his partner thus: 'Billy, this is the young man of +whom I spoke to you. Whatever arrangement you make with him will be +satisfactory to me.' Then, turning to me, he said, 'I hope you will not +become so enthusiastic in your studies of Blackstone and Kent as did two +young men whom we had here. Do you see that spot over there?' pointing +to a large ink stain on the wall. 'Well, one of these young men got so +enthusiastic in his pursuit of legal lore that he fired an inkstand at +the other one's head, and that is the mark he made.' I immediately began +to clean up about the office a little. Mr. Lincoln had been in Congress +and had the usual amount of seeds to distribute to the farmers. These +were sent out with Free Soil and Republican documents. In my efforts to +clean up, I found that some of the seeds had sprouted in the dirt that +had collected in the office. Judge Logan and Milton Hay occupied the +front offices on the same floor with Lincoln and Herndon, and one day +Mr. Hay came in and said with apparent astonishment: 'What's happened +here?' 'Oh, nothing,' replied Lincoln, pointing to me, 'only this +young man has been cleaning up a little.' One of Lincoln's striking +characteristics was his simplicity, and nowhere was this trait more +strikingly exhibited than in his willingness to receive instruction from +anybody and everybody. One day he came into the office and addressing +his partner, said: 'Billy, what's the meaning of antithesis?' Mr. +Herndon gave him the definition of the word, and I said: 'Mr. Lincoln, +if you will allow me, I will give you an example.' 'All right, John, go +ahead,' said Mr. Lincoln in his hearty manner. 'Phillips says, in his +essay on Napoleon, "A pretended patriot, he impoverished the country; a +professed Catholic, he imprisoned the Pope,'" etc. Mr. Lincoln thanked +me and seemed very much pleased. Returning from off the circuit once he +said to Mr. Herndon: 'Billy, I heard a good story while I was up in the +country. Judge D------ was complimenting the landlord on the excellence +of his beef. "I am surprised," he said, "that you have such good beef. +You must have to kill a whole critter when you want any." "Yes," said +the landlord, "we never kill less than a whole critter." "Lincoln's +favorite position when unravelling some knotty law point was to stretch +both of his legs at full length upon a chair in front of him. In this +position, with books on the table near by and in his lap, he worked up +his case. No matter how deeply interested in his work, if any one came +in he had something humorous and pleasant to say, and usually wound up +by telling a joke or an anecdote. I have heard him relate the same story +three times within as many hours to persons who came in at different +periods, and every time he laughed as heartily and enjoyed it as if it +were a new story. His humor was infectious. I had to laugh because I +thought it funny that Mr. Lincoln enjoyed a story so repeatedly told. + +"There was no order in the office at all. The firm of Lincoln and +Herndon kept no books. They divided their fees without taking any +receipts or making any entries on books. One day Mr. Lincoln received +$5000 as a fee in a railroad case. He came in and said: 'Well, Billy,' +addressing his partner, Mr. Herndon, 'here is our fee; sit down and let +me divide.' He counted out $2,500 to his partner, and gave it to him +with as much nonchalance as he would have given a few cents for a paper. +Cupidity had no abiding place in his nature. + +"I took a good deal of pains in getting up a speech which I wanted to +deliver during a political campaign. I told Mr. Lincoln that I would +like to read it to him. He sat down in one chair, put his feet into +another one, and said: 'John, you can fire away with that speech; I +guess I can stand it.' I unrolled the manuscript, and proceeded with +some trepidation. 'That's a good point, John,' he would say, at certain +places, and at others: 'That's good--very good indeed,' until I felt +very much elated over my effort. I delivered the speech over fifty +times during the campaign. Elmer E. Ellsworth, afterwards colonel of +the famous Zouaves, who was killed in Alexandria, early in the war, +was nominally a student in Lincoln's office. His head was so full of +military matters, however, that he thought little of law. Of Ellsworth, +Lincoln said: 'That young man has a real genius for war!'" + +During the six years following his retirement from Congress, Lincoln, +realizing in a marked degree his want of literary knowledge, extended +somewhat his research in that direction. He was naturally indisposed to +undertake anything that savored of exertion, but his brief public career +had exposed the limited area of his literary attainments. Along with his +Euclid therefore he carried a well-worn copy of Shakespeare, in which he +read no little in his leisure moments. "In travelling on the circuit," +relates one of his associates at the bar,* "he was in the habit of +rising earlier than his brothers of the bar. On such occasions he was +wont to sit by the fire, having uncovered the coals, and muse, +and ponder, and soliloquize, inspired, no doubt, by that strange +psychological influence which is so poetically described by Poe in 'The +Raven.' + + * Lawrence Weldon, letter, Feb. 10,1866, MS. + +On one of these occasions, at the town of Lincoln, sitting in the +position described, he quoted aloud and at length the poem called +'Immortality.' When he had finished he was questioned as to the +authorship and where it could be found. He had forgotten the author, but +said that to him it sounded as much like true poetry as anything he had +ever heard. He was particularly pleased with the last two stanzas." + +Beyond a limited acquaintance with Shakespeare, Byron, and Burns, Mr. +Lincoln, comparatively speaking, had no knowledge of literature. He was +familiar with the Bible, and now and then evinced a fancy for some poem +or short sketch to which his attention was called by some one else, +or which he happened to run across in his cursory reading of books or +newspapers. He never in his life sat down and read a book through, and +yet he could readily quote any number of passages from the few volumes +whose pages he had hastily scanned. In addition to his well-known +love for the poem "Immortality" or "Why should the Spirit of Mortal be +Proud," he always had a great fondness for Oliver Wendell Holmes' "Last +Leaf," the fourth stanza of which, beginning with the verse, "The mossy +marbles rest," I have often heard him repeat. He once told me of a song +a young lady had sung in his hearing at a time when he was laboring +under some dejection of spirits. The lines struck his fancy, and +although he did not know the singer--having heard her from the sidewalk +as he passed her house--he sent her a request to write the lines out for +him. Within a day or two he came into the office, carrying in his hand +a delicately perfumed envelope which bore the address, "Mr. +Lincoln--Present," in an unmistakable female hand. In it, written on +gilt-edged paper, were the lines of the song. The plaintive strain of +the piece and its melancholy sentiment struck a responsive chord in +a heart already filled with gloom and sorrow. Though ill-adapted to +dissipate one's depression, something about it charmed Lincoln, and +he read and re-read it with increasing relish. I had forgotten the +circumstance until recently, when, in going over some old papers and +letters turned over to me by Mr. Lincoln, I ran across the manuscript, +and the incident was brought vividly to my mind. The envelope, still +retaining a faint reminder of the perfumed scent given it thirty years +before, bore the laconic endorsement, "Poem--I like this," in the +handwriting of Mr. Lincoln. Unfortunately no name accompanied the +manuscript, and unless the lady on seeing this chooses to make herself +known, we shall probably not learn who the singer was. The composition +is headed, "The Enquiry." I leave it to my musical friends to render it +into song. Following are the lines: + + "Tell me, ye winged winds + That round my pathway roar, + Do ye not know some spot + Where mortals weep no more? + Some lone and pleasant vale + Some valley in the West, + Where, free from toil and pain, + The weary soul may rest? + The loud wind dwindled to a whisper low, + And sighed for pity as it answered, No. + + "Tell me, thou mighty deep, + Whose billows round me play, + Knows't thou some favored spot, + Some island far away, + Where weary man may find + The bliss for which he sighs; + Where sorrow never lives + And friendship never dies? + The loud waves rolling in perpetual flow + Stopped for awhile and sighed to answer, No. + + "And thou, serenest moon, + That with such holy face + Dost look upon the Earth + Asleep in Night's embrace? + Tell me, in all thy round + Hast thou not seen some spot + Where miserable man + Might find a happier lot? + Behind a cloud the moon withdrew in woe, + And a voice sweet but sad responded, No. + + "Tell me, my secret soul, + Oh, tell me, Hope and Faith, + Is there no resting-place + From sorrow, sin, and death? + Is there no happy spot + Where mortals may be blessed, + Where grief may find a balm + And weariness a rest? + Faith, Hope, and Love, best boon to mortals given, + Waved their bright wings and whispered, + Yes, in Heaven."* + + * Persons familiar with literature will recognize this as a + poem written by Charles Mackay, an English writer who + represented a London newspaper in the United States during + the Rebellion as its war correspondent. It was set to music + as a chant, and as such was frequently rendered in public by + the famous Hutchinson family of singers. I doubt if Mr. + Lincoln ever knew who wrote it. + +Judge S. H. Treat, recently deceased, thus describes Lincoln's first +appearance in the Supreme Court of Illinois. "A case being called for +hearing, Mr. Lincoln stated that he appeared for the appellant and was +ready to proceed with the argument. He then said: 'This is the first +case I have ever had in this court, and I have therefore examined it +with great care. As the Court will perceive by looking at the abstract +of the record, the only question in the case is one of authority. I have +not been able to find any authority to sustain my side of the case, but +I have found several cases directly in point on the other side. I will +now give these authorities to the court, and then submit the case." A +lawyer in Beardstown relates this: * "Lincoln came into my office one +day with the remark: 'I see you've been suing some of my clients, +and I've come down to see about it.' He had reference to a suit I had +brought to enforce the specific performance of a contract. I explained +the case to him, and showed my proofs. He seemed surprised that I should +deal so frankly with him, and said he would be as frank with me; that my +client was justly entitled to a decree, and he should so represent it +to the court; and that it was against his principles to contest a clear +matter of right. So my client got a deed for a farm which, had another +lawyer been in Mr. Lincoln's place, would have been consumed by the +costs of litigation for years, with the result probably the same in the +end." + + * J. Henry Shaw, letter, June 13, 1866, MS. + +A young man once wrote to Lincoln, enquiring for the best mode of +obtaining a thorough knowledge of the law, "The mode is very simple," +he responded, "though laborious and tedious. It is only to get books and +read and study them carefully. Begin with Blackstone's Commentaries, and +after reading carefully through, say twice, take up Chitty's Pleadings, +Greenleaf's Evidence, and Story's Equity in succession. Work, work, +work, is the main thing."* + + * Letter to J. M. Brockman, Sept. 25, 1859, MS. + +Lincoln never believed in suing for a fee. If a client would not pay on +request he never sought to enforce collection. I remember once a man who +had been indicted for forgery or fraud employed us to defend him. The +illness of the prosecuting attorney caused some delay in the case, and +our client, becoming dissatisfied at our conduct of the case, hired some +one else, who superseded us most effectually. The defendant declining to +pay us the fee demanded, on the ground that we had not represented +him at the trial of the cause, I brought suit against him in Lincoln's +absence and obtained judgment for our fee. After Lincoln's return +from the circuit the fellow hunted him up and by means of a carefully +constructed tale prevailed on him to release the judgment without +receiving a cent of pay. The man's unkind treatment of us deserved no +such mark of generosity from Lincoln, and yet he could not resist the +appeal of any one in poverty and want. He could never turn from a woman +in tears. It was no surprise to me or any of his intimate friends +that so many designing women with the conventional widows' weeds and +easy-flowing tears overcame him in Washington. It was difficult for him +to detect an impostor, and hence it is not to be marvelled at that he +cautioned his secretaries: "Keep them away--I cannot stand it." + +On many questions I used to grow somewhat enthusiastic, adopting +sometimes a lofty metaphor by way of embellishment. Lincoln once warned +me: "Billy, don't shoot too high--aim lower and the common people will +understand you. They are the ones you want to reach--at least they +are the ones you ought to reach. The educated and refined people will +understand you any way. If you aim too high your ideas will go over the +heads of the masses, and only hit those who need no hitting." While it +is true that from his peculiar construction Lincoln dwelt entirely in +the head and in the land of thought, and while he was physically a lazy +man, yet he was intellectually energetic; he was not only energetic, but +industrious; not only industrious, but tireless; not only tireless, +but indefatigable. Therefore if in debate with him a man stood on a +questionable foundation he might well watch whereon he stood. Lincoln +could look a long distance ahead and calculate the triumph of right. +With him justice and truth were paramount. If to him a thing seemed +untrue he could not in his nature simulate truth. His retention by a man +to defend a lawsuit did not prevent him from throwing it up in its most +critical stage if he believed he was espousing an unjust cause. This +extreme conscientiousness and disregard of the alleged sacredness of the +professional cloak robbed him of much so-called success at the bar. He +once wrote to one of our clients: "I do not think there is the least use +of doing anything more with your lawsuit. I not only do not think you +are sure to gain it, but I do think you are sure to lose it. Therefore +the sooner it ends the better."* + + * Letter to H. Keeling, Esq., March 3, 1858, MS. + +Messrs. Stuart and Edwards once brought a suit against a client of ours +which involved the title to considerable property. At that time we had +only two or three terms of court, and the docket was somewhat crowded. +The plaintiff's attorneys were pressing us for a trial, and we were +equally as anxious to ward it off. What we wanted were time and a +continuance to the next term. We dared not make an affidavit for +continuance, founded on facts, because no such pertinent and material +facts as the law contemplated existed. Our case for the time seemed +hopeless. One morning, however, I accidentally overheard a remark from +Stuart indicating his fear lest a certain fact should happen to +come into our possession. I felt some relief, and at once drew up a +fictitious plea, averring as best I could the substance of the doubts I +knew existed in Stuart's mind. The plea was as skilfully drawn as I knew +how, and was framed as if we had the evidence to sustain it. The whole +thing was a sham, but so constructed as to work the desired continuance, +because I knew that Stuart and Edwards believed the facts were as I +pleaded them. This was done in the absence and without the knowledge +of Lincoln. The plea could not be demurred to, and the opposing counsel +dared not take the issue on it. It perplexed them sorely. At length, +before further steps were taken, Lincoln came into court. He looked +carefully over all the papers in the case, as was his custom, and seeing +my ingenious subterfuge, asked, "Is this seventh plea a good one?" +Proud of the exhibition of my skill, I answered that it was. "But," +he inquired, incredulously, "is it founded on fact?" I was obliged to +respond in the negative, at the same time following up my answer with +an explanation of what I had overheard Stuart intimate, and of how these +alleged facts could be called facts if a certain construction were put +upon them. I insisted that our position was justifiable, and that our +client must have time or be ruined. I could see at once it failed to +strike Lincoln as just right. He scratched his head thoughtfully and +asked, "Hadn't we better withdraw that plea? You know it's a sham, and +a sham is very often but 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." The plea was withdrawn. By some agency--not +our own--the case was continued and our client's interests were saved. + +I only relate this incident to illustrate Lincoln's far-seeing capacity; +it serves to show how over-cautious he seemed to be with regard to how +his record might look in the future. I venture the assertion that he was +the only member of the bar in Springfield who would have taken such a +conscientious view of the matter. + +One phase of Lincoln's character, almost lost sight of in the +commonly accepted belief in his humility and kindly feeling under all +circumstances, was his righteous indignation when aroused. In such cases +he was the most fearless man I ever knew. I remember a murder case in +which we appeared for the defence, and during the trial of which the +judge--a man of ability far inferior to Lincoln's--kept ruling against +us. Finally, a very material question, in fact one around which the +entire case seemed to revolve, came up, and again the Court ruled +adversely. The prosecution was jubilant, and Lincoln, seeing defeat +certain unless he recovered his ground, grew very despondent. The notion +crept into his head that the Court's rulings, which were absurd and +almost spiteful, were aimed at him, and this angered him beyond reason. +He told me of his feelings at dinner, and said: "I have determined to +crowd the Court to the wall and regain my position before night." From +that time forward it was interesting to watch him. At the reassembling +of court he arose to read a few authorities in support of his position. +In his comments he kept within the bounds of propriety just far enough +to avoid a reprimand for contempt of court. + +He characterized the continued rulings against him as not only unjust +but foolish; and, figuratively speaking, he pealed the Court from +head to foot. I shall never forget the scene. Lincoln had the crowd, a +portion of the bar, and the jury with him. He knew that fact, and it, +together with the belief that injustice had been done him, nerved him +to a feeling of desperation. He was wrought up to the point of madness. +When a man of large heart and head is wrought up and mad, as the old +adage runs, "he's mad all over." Lincoln had studied up the points +involved, but knowing full well the calibre of the judge, relied mostly +on the moral effect of his personal bearing and influence. He was +alternately furious and eloquent, pursuing the Court with broad facts +and pointed inquiries in marked and rapid succession. I remember he made +use of this homely incident in illustration of some point: "In early +days a party of men went out hunting for a wild boar. But the game came +upon them unawares, and scampering away they all climbed the trees save +one, who, seizing the animal by the ears, undertook to hold him, but +despairing of success cried out to his companions in the trees, 'For +God's sake, boys, come down and help me let go.'" The prosecution +endeavored to break him down or even "head him off," but all to no +purpose. His masterly arraignment of law and facts had so effectually +badgered the judge that, strange as it may seem, he pretended to see +the error in his former position, and finally reversed his decision in +Lincoln's favor. The latter saw his triumph, and surveyed a situation of +which he was the master. His client was acquitted, and he had swept the +field. + +In the case of Parker _vs._ Hoyt, tried in the United States Court in +Chicago, Lincoln was one of the counsel for the defendant. The suit +was on the merits of an infringement of a patent water wheel. The trial +lasted several days and Lincoln manifested great interest in the case. +In his earlier days he had run, or aided in running, a saw-mill, and +explained in his argument the action of the water on the wheel in +a manner so clear and intelligible that the jury were enabled to +comprehend the points and line of defence without the least difficulty. +It was evident he had carried the jury with him in a most masterly +argument, the force of which could not be broken by the reply of the +opposing counsel. After the jury retired he became very anxious and +uneasy. The jury were in another building, the windows of which opened +on the street, and had been out for some two hours. "In passing along +the street, one of the jurors on whom we very much relied," relates +Lincoln's associate in the case,* "he being a very intelligent man and +firm in his convictions, held up to him one finger. Mr. Lincoln became +very much excited, fearing it indicated that eleven of the jury were +against him. He knew if this man was for him he would never yield his +opinion. He added, if he was like a juryman he had in Tazewell county, +the defendant was safe. He was there employed, he said, to prosecute +a suit for divorce. His client was a pretty, refined, and interesting +little woman, and in court. The defendant, her husband, was a gross, +morose, querulous, fault-finding, and uncomfortable man, and entirely +unfitted for the husband of such a woman; but although he was able +to prove the use of very offensive and vulgar epithets applied by the +husband to his wife, and all sorts of annoyances, yet there were no such +acts of personal violence as were required by the statute to justify a +divorce. Lincoln did the best he could, and appealed to the jury to have +compassion on the woman, and not to bind her to such a man and such a +life as awaited her if required to live longer with him. The jury took +about the same view of it in their deliberations. They desired to find +for his fair client, but could discover no evidence which would really +justify a verdict for her. At last they drew up a verdict for the +defendant, and all signed but one fellow, who on being approached with +the verdict said, coolly: 'Gentlemen, I am going to lie down to sleep, +and when you get ready to give a verdict for that little woman, then +wake me and not until then; for before I will give a verdict against +her I will lie here till I rot and the pismires carry me out through the +key-hole.' 'Now,' observed Lincoln, 'if that juryman will stick like +the man in Tazewell county we are safe.' Strange to relate, the jury did +come in, and with a verdict for the defendant. Lincoln always regarded +this as one of the gratifying triumphs of his professional life." + + * Grant Goodrich, letter, Nov. 9, 1866, MS. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 1 (of 2), by +William H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ABRAHAM LINCOLN, VOLUME 1 (OF 2) *** + +***** This file should be named 38483-8.txt or 38483-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/4/8/38483/ + +Produced by David Widger + +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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