4 ™ rs & 0% .: fp) +o 2) ~e i |
"How  beautiful  to  see 
Once  more  a  shepherd  of  mankind  indeed, 
Who  loved  his  charge,  but  never  loved  to  lead; 
One  whose  meek  flock  the  people  joyed  to  be, 
Not  lured  by  any  cheat  of  birth, 
But  by  his  clear-grained  human  worth, 
And  brave  old  wisdom  of  sincerity  ! 
They  knew  that  outward  grace  is  dust; 
They  could  not  choose  but  trust 
In  that  sure-footed  mind's  unfaltering  skill, 
And  supple-tempered  will 
That  bent  like  perfect  steel  to  spring  again  and  thrust. 
His  was  no  lonely  mountain-peak  of  mind, 
Thrusting  to  thin  air  o'er  our  cloudy  bars, 
A  sea-mark  now,  now  lost  in  vapors  blind; 
Broad  prairie  rather,  genial,  level-lined, 
Fruitful  and  friendly  for  all  human  kind, 
Yet  also  nigh  to  heaven  and  loved  of  loftiest  stars. 
"  Great  captains,  with  their  guns  and  drums, 
Disturb  our  judgment  for  the  hour, 
But  at  last  silence  comes; 
These  all  are  gone,  and,  standing  like  a  tower, 
Our  children  shall  behold  his  fame, 
The  kindly-earnest,  brave,  foreseeing  man, 
Sagacious,  patient,  dreading  praise,  not  blame, 
New  birth  of  our  new  soil,  the  first  American" 
JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL.
ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 
FROM    AN    UNPUBLISHED    ORIGINAL    DRAWING 
BY    JOHN    NELSON     MARBLE
THE  EVERY-DAY  LIFE  OF 
ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 
A  NARRATIVE  AND  DESCRIPTIVE 
BIOGRAPHY  WITH  PEN-PICTURES 
AND  PERSONAL  RECOLLECTIONS 
BY  THOSE  WHO  KNEW  HIM 
BY 
FRANCIS  FISHER  BROWNE 
Compiler  of  "Golden  Poems,"  "Bugle  Echoes:  Poems  of 
the  Civil  War,"  "Laurel-Crowned  Verse,"  etc. 
NEW    AND    THOROUGHLY    REVISED    EDITION,    FROM    NEW    PLATES,    WITH 
AN    ENTIRELY    NEW    PORTRAIT    OF    LINCOLN,    FROM    A 
CHARCOAL    STUDY    BY    J.    N.    MARBLE 
CHICAGO 
BROWNE   &  HOWELL   COMPANY 
1913
COPYRIGHT,     1913 
BY    BROWNE     <fc     HOWELL    COMPANY 
All  rights  reserved 
Copyright  in  England 
PUBLISHED,    NOVEMBER,    1913 
'•   I     * 
THE- PLIMPTON- PR  ESS 
NORWOOD'  MASS-U-S'A
FRANCIS  FISHER  BROWNE 
18^3-1913 
THE  present  revision  of  "  The  E  very-day  Life  of  Abraham 
Lincoln"  was  the  last  literary  labor  of  its  author.  He 
had  long  wished  to  undertake  the  work,  and  had  talked 
much  of  it  for  several  years  past.  But  favorable  arrange 
ments  for  the  book's  republication  were  not  completed 
until  about  a  year  ago.  Then,  though  by  no  means 
recovered  from  an  attack  of  pneumonia  late  in  the  previous 
winter,  he  took  up  the  task  of  revision  and  recasting  with 
something  of  his  old-time  energy.  It  was  a  far  heavier 
task  than  he  had  anticipated,  but  he  gave  it  practically 
his  undivided  attention  until  within  three  or  four  weeks 
of  his  death.  Only  when  the  last  pages  of  manuscript 
had  been  despatched  to  the  printer  did  he  yield  to  the 
overwhelming  physical  suffering  that  had  been  upon  him 
for  a  long  time  past.  His  death  occurred  at  Santa  Bar 
bara,  California,  on  May  11. 
Francis  Fisher  Browne  was  born  at  South  Halifax, 
Vermont,  on  December  1,  1843.  His  parentage,  on  both 
sides,  was  of  the  purest  New  England  stock.  Early  in 
his  childhood,  the  family  moved  to  Western  Massachu 
setts,  where  the  boy  went  to  school  and  learned  the  print 
ing  trade  in  his  father's  newspaper  office  at  Chicopee.  As 
a  lad  of  eighteen,  he  left  the  high  school  in  answer  to  the 
government's  call  for  volunteers,  serving  for  a  year  with 
the  46th  Massachusetts  Regiment  in  North  Carolina  and 
with  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  When  the  regiment  was 
discharged,  in  1863,  he  decided  to  take  up  the  study  of 
271555
vi          FRANCIS    FISHER    BROWNE 
law.  Removing  to  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  he  entered  a  law 
office  in  that  city;  and  a  year  or  two  later  began  a  brief 
course  in  the  law  department  of  the  University  of  Michi 
gan.  He  was  unable  to  continue  in  college,  however, 
and  returned  to  Rochester  to  follow  his  trade. 
Immediately  after  his  marriage,  in  1867,  he  came  to 
Chicago,  with  the  definite  intention  of  engaging  in  literary 
work.  Here  he  became  associated  with  "The  Western 
Monthly,"  which,  with  the  fuller  establishment  of  his 
control,  he  rechristened  "The  Lakeside  Monthly."  The 
best  writers  throughout  the  West  were  gradually  enlisted 
as  contributors;  and  it  was  not  long  before  the  magazine 
was  generally  recognized  as  the  most  creditable  and 
promising  periodical  west  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  But 
along  with  this  increasing  prestige  came  a  series  of  ex 
traneous  setbacks  and  calamities,  culminating  in  a  com 
plete  physical  breakdown  of  its  editor  and  owner,  which 
made  the  magazine's  suspension  imperative. 
The  six  years  immediately  following,  from  1874  to  1880, 
were  largely  spent  in  a  search  for  health.  During  part  of 
this  time,  however,  Mr.  Browne  acted  as  literary  editor 
of  "The  Alliance,"  and  as  special  editorial  writer  for  some 
of  the  leading  Chicago  newspapers.  But  his  mind  was 
preoccupied  with  plans  for  a  new  periodical  —  this  time 
a  journal  of  literary  criticism,  modeled  somewhat  after 
such  English  publications  as  "The  Athenaeum"  and  "The 
Academy."  In  the  furtherance  of  this  bold  conception 
he  was  able  to  interest  the  publishing  firm  of  Jansen, 
McClurg  &  Co.;  and  under  their  imprint,  in  May,  1880, 
appeared  the  first  issue  of  THE  DIAL,  "a  monthly  review 
and  index  of  current  literature."  At  about  the  same  time 
he  became  literary  adviser  to  the  publishing  department 
of  the  house,  and  for  twelve  years  thereafter  toiled  unre 
mittingly  at  his  double  task- work.  In  1892,  negotiations 
were  completed  whereby  he  acquired  Messrs.  McClurg 
&  Co.'s  interest  in  the  periodical.  It  was  enlarged  in
FRANCIS    FISHER  BROWNE          vii 
scope,  and  made  a  semi-monthly;  and  from  that  time 
until  his  death  it  appeared  uninterruptedly  under  his 
guidance  and  his  control. 
Besides  his  writings  in  THE  DIAL  and  other  periodicals, 
Mr.  Browne  is  the  author  of  a  small  volume  of  poems, 
"  Volunteer  Grain"  (1895).  He  also  compiled  and 
edited  several  anthologies,  —  "Bugle  Echoes,"  a  collec 
tion  of  Civil  War  poems  (1886);  "Golden  Poems  by 
British  and  American  Authors"  (1881);  "The  Golden 
Treasury  of  Poetry  and  Prose  "  (1883) ;  and  seven  volumes 
of  "Laurel-Crowned  Verse"  (1891-2).  He  was  one  of 
the  small  group  of  men  who,  in  1874,  founded  the  Chicago 
Literary  Club;  and  for  a  number  of  years  past  he  has 
been  an  honorary  member  of  that  organization,  as  well 
as  of  the  Caxton  Club  (Chicago)  and  the  Twilight  Club 
(Pasadena,  Cal.).  During  the  summer  of  1893  he  served 
as  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  the  Congress  of  Authors 
of  the  World's  Congress  Auxiliary  of  the  Columbian 
Exposition. 
THE  PUBLISHERS
PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION 
THE  original  edition  of  this  book  was  published  about 
twenty  years  after  Lincoln's  death  at  the  close  of  the 
Civil  War.  At  that  time  many  of  the  men  who  had 
taken  a  prominent  part  in  the  affairs,  military  and  civil, 
of  that  heroic  period,  many  who  had  known  Lincoln  and 
had  come  in  personal  contact  with  him  during  the  war  or 
in  his  earlier  years,  were  still  living.  It  was  a  vivid  con 
ception  of  the  value  of  the  personal  recollections  of  these 
men,  gathered  and  recorded  before  it  was  too  late,  that 
led  to  the  preparation  of  this  book.  It  was  intended  to 
be,  and  in  effect  it  was,  largely  an  anecdotal  Life  of  Lin 
coln  built  of  material  gathered  from  men  still  living 
who  had  known  him  personally.  The  task  was  begun 
none  too  soon.  Of  the  hundreds  who  responded  to  the 
requests  for  contributions  of  their  memories  of  Lincoln 
there  were  few  whose  lives  extended  very  far  into  the 
second  quarter-century  after  his  death,  and  few  indeed 
survive  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  fifty  years,  —  though 
in  several  instances  the  author  has  been  so  fortunate  as 
to  get  valuable  material  directly  from  persons  still  living 
(1913).  Of  the  more  than  five  hundred  friends  and 
contemporaries  of  Lincoln  to  whom  credit  for  material 
is  given  in  the  original  edition,  scarcely  a  dozen  are  living 
at  the  date  of  this  second  edition.  Therefore,  the  value 
of  these  reminiscences  increases  with  time.  They  were 
gathered  largely  at  first  hand.  They  can  never  be 
replaced,  nor  can  they  ever  be  very  much  extended. 
This  book  brings  Lincoln  the  man,  not  Lincoln  the 
tradition,  very  near  to  us.  Browning  asked,  "And  did
x     PREFACE    TO    SECOND    EDITION 
you  once  see  Shelley  plain?  And  did  he  stop  and  speak 
to  you?"  The  men  whose  narratives  make  up  a  large 
part  of  this  book  all  saw  Lincoln  plain,  and  here  tell  us 
what  he  spoke  to  them,  and  how  he  looked  and  seemed 
while  saying  it.  The  great  events  of  Lincoln's  life,  and 
impressions  of  his  character,  are  given  in  the  actual 
words  of  those  who  knew  him  —  his  friends,  neighbors, 
and  daily  associates  —  rather  than  condensed  and 
remolded  into  other  form.  While  these  utterances  are 
in  some  cases  rude  and  unstudied,  they  have  often  a 
power  of  delineation  and  a  graphic  force  that  more  than 
compensate  for  any  lack  of  literary  quality. 
In  a  work  prepared  on  such  a  plan  as  this,  some  repeti 
tions  are  unavoidable;  nor  are  they  undesirable.  An 
event  or  incident  narrated  by  different  observers  is 
thereby  brought  out  with  greater  fulness  of  detail;  and 
phases  of  Lincoln's  many-sided  character  are  revealed  more 
clearly  by  the  varied  impressions  of  numerous  witnesses 
whose  accounts  thus  correct  or  verify  each  other.  Some 
inconsistencies  and  contradictions  are  inevitable,  —  but 
these  relate  usually  to  minor  matters,  seldom  or  never 
to  the  great  essentials  of  Lincoln's  life  and  personality. 
The  author's  desire  is  to  present  material  from  which 
the  reader  may  form  an  opinion  of  Lincoln,  rather  than  to 
present  opinions  and  judgments  of  his  own. 
Lincoln  literature  has  increased  amazingly  in  the  past 
twenty-five  years.  Mention  of  the  principal  biographies 
in  existence  at  the  time  of  the  original  edition  was  included 
in  the  Preface.  Since  then  there  have  appeared,  among 
the  more  formal  biographies,  the  comprehensive  and 
authoritative  work  by  Nicolay  and  Hay,  the  subsequent 
work  by  Miss  Ida  Tarbell,  and  that  by  Herndon  and 
Weik,  besides  many  more  or  less  fragmentary  publica 
tions.  Some  additions,  but  not  many,  have  been  made 
to  the  present  edition  from  these  sources.  The  recently- 
published  Diary  of  Gideon  Welles,  one  of  the  most  valu-
PREFACE    TO    SECOND    EDITION    xi 
able  commentaries  on  the  Civil  War  period  now  available, 
has  provided  some  material  of  exceptional  interest  con 
cerning  Lincoln's  relations  with  the  members  of  his 
Cabinet. 
In  re- writing  the  present  work,  it  has  been  compressed 
into  about  two-thirds  of  its  former  compass,  to  render  it 
more  popular  both  in  form  and  in  price,  and  to  give  it 
in  some  places  a  greater  measure  of  coherency  and  con 
tinuity  as  an  outline  narrative  of  the  Civil  War.  But 
its  chief  appeal  to  the  interest  of  its  readers  will  remain 
substantially  what  it  was  in  the  beginning,  as  set  forth 
in  its  title,  "The  Every-day  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  by 
Those  Who  Knew  Him." 
F.  F.  B. 
SANTA  BARBARA,  CAL.,  April,  1913.
PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION 
THIS  book  aims  to  give  a  view,  clearer  and  more  complete 
than  has  been  given  before,  of  the  personality  of  Abra 
ham  Lincoln.  A  life  so  full  of  incident  and  a  character 
so  many-sided  as  his  can  be  understood  only  with  the 
lapse  of  time.  A  sense  of  the  exhaustless  interest  of  that 
life  and  character,  and  the  inadequacy  of  the  ordinarily 
constructed  biography  to  portray  his  many-sidedness, 
suggested  the  preparation  of  a  work  upon  the  novel  plan 
here  represented.  Begun  several  years  ago,  the  under 
taking  proved  of  such  magnitude  that  its  completion  has 
been  delayed  beyond  the  anticipated  time.  The  exten 
sive  correspondence,  the  exploration  of  available  sources 
of  information  in  the  books,  pamphlets,  magazines,  and 
newspapers  of  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  in  the  scraps 
and  papers  of  historical  collections,  became  an  almost 
interminable  task.  The  examination  and  sifting  of  this 
mass  of  material,  its  verification  amidst  often  conflicting 
testimony,  and  its  final  molding  into  shape,  involved 
time  and  labor  that  can  be  estimated  only  by  those  who 
have  had  similar  experience. 
To  the  many  who  have  kindly  furnished  original  con 
tributions,  to  others  who  have  aided  the  work  by  valuable 
suggestions  and  information,  to  earlier  biographies  of 
Lincoln  —  those  of  Raymond,  Holland,  Barrett,  Lamon, 
Carpenter,  and  (the  best  and  latest  of  all)  that  of  Hon. 
I.  N.  Arnold  —  hearty  acknowledgment  is  made.  Much 
that  was  offered  could  not  be  used.  In  the  choice  of 
material,  from  whatever  source,  the  purpose  has  been  to 
avoid  mere  opinions  and  eulogies  of  Lincoln  and  to  give
xiv     PREFACE    TO    FIRST    EDITION 
abundantly  those  actual  experiences,  incidents,  anec 
dotes,  and  reminiscences  which  reveal  the  phases  of  his 
unique  and  striking  personality. 
It  scarcely  need  be  pointed  out  that  this  work  does  not 
attempt  to  give  a  connected  history  of  the  Civil  War, 
but  only  to  sketch  briefly  those  episodes  with  which 
Lincoln  is  personally  identified  and  of  which  some  knowl 
edge  is  essential  to  an  understanding  of  his  acts  and 
character.  Others  are  brought  into  prominence  only  as 
they  are  associated  with  the  chief  actor  in  the  great 
drama.  Many  of  them  are  disappearing,  —  fading  into 
the  smoky  and  lurid  background.  But  that  colossal 
central  figure,  playing  one  of  the  grandest  roles  ever  set 
upon  the  stage  of  human  life,  becomes  more  impressive 
as  the  scenes  recede. 
F.  F.  B. 
CHICAGO,  October,  1886.
CONTENTS 
CHAPTER  I  PAGE 
Ancestry  —  The  Lincolns  in  Kentucky  —  Death  of  Lincoln's  Grand 
father  —  Thomas  Lincoln  and  Nancy  Hanks  —  Mordecai  Lincoln 
—  Birth   of  Abraham  Lincoln  —  Removal   to   Indiana  —  Early 
Years  —  Dennis  Hanks  —  Lincoln's  Boyhood  —  Death  of  Nancy 
Hanks  —  Early  School  Days  —  Lincoln's  First  Dollar  —  Presenti 
ments  of  Future  Greatness  —  Down  the  Mississippi  —  Removal  to 
Illinois  —  Lincoln's    Father  —  Lincoln    the    Storekeeper  —  First 
Official  Act  —  Lincoln's  Short  Sketch  of  His  Own  Life       .      .     .       1 
CHAPTER  II 
A  Turn  in  Affairs  —  The  Black  Hawk  War  —  A  Remarkable  Mili 
tary  Manoeuvre  —  Lincoln  Protects  an  Indian  —  Lincoln  and 
Stuart  —  Lincoln's  Military  Record  —  Nominated  for  the  Legis 
lature —  Lincoln  a  Merchant  —  Postmaster  at  New  Salem  — 
Lincoln  Studies  Law  —  Elected  to  the  Legislature  —  Personal 
Characteristics  —  Lincoln's  Love  for  Anne  Rutledge  —  Close  of 
Lincoln's  Youth   *.....  35 
CHAPTER  III 
Lincoln's  Beginning  as  a  Lawyer  —  His  Early  Taste  for  Politics 
•^-  Lincoln  and  the  Lightning-Rod  Man  —  Not  an  Aristocrat  — 
Reply  to  Dr.  Early  —  A  Manly  Letter  —  Again  in  the  Illinois 
Legislature  —  The  "Long  Nine" — Lincoln  on  His  Way  to  the 
Capital  —  His  Ambition  in  1836  —  First  Meeting  with  Douglas 
—  Removal    of   the  Illinois  Capital  —  One  of  Lincoln's  Early 
Speeches  —  Pro-Slavery  Sentiment  in  Illinois  —  Lincoln's  Opposi 
tion  to  Slavery  —  Contest  with  General  Ewing  —  Lincoln  Lays 
out  a  Town  — The  Title  "Honest  Abe"   
CHAPTER  IV 
Lincoln's  Removal  to  Springfield  —  A  Lawyer  without  Clients  or 
Money  —  Early  Discouragements  —  Proposes  to  become  a  Car 
penter —  "Stuart  &  Lincoln,  Attorneys  at  Law"  —  "Riding  the 
Circuit"  —  Incidents  of  a  Trip  Round  the  Circuit  —  Pen  Pictures 
of  Lincoln  —  Humane  Traits  —  Kindness  to  Animals  —  Defend 
ing  Fugitive  Slaves  —  Incidents  in  Lincoln's  Life  as  a  Lawyer  — 
His  Fondness  for  Jokes  and  Stories
xvi  CONTENTS 
CHAPTE 
Lincoln  in  the  Legislature  —  Eight  Consecutive  Years  of  Service  — 
His  Influence  in  the  House  —  Leader  of  the  Whig  Party  in  Illinois 
—  Takes  a  Hand  in  National  Politics  —  Presidential  Election  in 
1840  —  A  "Log  Cabin"  Reminiscence  —  Some  Memorable  Politi 
cal  Encounters  —  A  Tilt  with  Douglas  —  Lincoln  Facing  a  Mob 
—  His  Physical  Courage  —  Lincoln  as  a  Duellist  —  The  Affair 
with  General  Shields  —  An  Eye- Witness'  Account  of  the  Duel  — 
Courtship  and  Marriage        .      ...     .-','.  "•<     ••«*«.     •     85 
CHAPTER  VI 
Lincoln  in  National  Politics  — His  Congressional  Aspirations  —  Law- 
Partnership  of  Lincoln  and  Herndon  —  The  Presidential  Campaign 
of  1844  —  Visit  to  Henry  Clay  —  Lincoln  Elected  to  Congress  — 
Congressional  Reputation  —  Acquaintance  with  Distinguished 
Men  —  First  Speech  in  Congress  —  "Getting  the  Hang"  of  the 
House  —  Lincoln's  Course  on  the  Mexican  War  —  Notable  Speech 
in  Congress  —  Ridicule  of  General  Cass  —  Bill  for  the  Abolition 
of  Slavery  —  Delegate  to  the  Whig  National  Convention  of  1848 
—  Stumping  the  Country  for  Taylor  —  Advice  to  Young  Politi 
cians —  "Old  Abe" — A  Political  Disappointment  —  Lincoln's 
Appearance  as  an  Office  Seeker  in  Washington  —  "A  Divinity 
that  Shapes  Our  Ends "    .     .      .   
CHAPTER  VII     W 
Lincoln  again  in  Springfield  —  Back  to  the  Circuit  —  His  Personal 
Manners  and  Appearance  —  Glimpses  of  Home-Life  —  His  Family 
—  His    Absent-Mindedness  —  A    Painful    Subject  —  Lincoln    a 
Man  of  Sorrows  —  Familiar  Appearance  on  the  Streets  of  Spring 
field —  Scenes  in  the  Law-Office  —  Forebodings  of  a  "Great  or 
Miserable  End"  —  An  Evening  with  Lincoln  in  Chicago  —  Lin 
coln's  Tenderness  to  His  Relatives  —  Death  of  His  Father  —  A 
Sensible  Adviser  —  Care  of  His  Step-Mother  —  Tribute  from  Her    109 
CHAPTER  VIII 
Lincoln  as  a  Lawyer  —  His  Appearance  in  Court  —  Reminiscences 
of  a  Law-Student  in  Lincoln's  Office  —  An  "  Office  Copy"  of  Byron 
—  Novel  Way  of  Keeping  Partnership  Accounts  —  Charges  for 
Legal  Services  —  Trial  of  Bill  Armstrong  —  Lincoln  before  a  Jury 
—  Kindness  toward  Unfortunate  Clients  —  Refusing  to  Defend 
Guilty  Men  —  Courtroom  Anecdotes  —  Anecdotes  of  Lincoln  at 
the  Bar  —  Some  Striking  Opinions  of  Lincoln  as  a  Lawyer   .      .    125
CONTENTS  xvii 
CHAPTER  IX  PAGE 
Lincoln  and  Slavery  —  The  Issue  Becoming  More  Sharply  Defined 
—  Resistance  to  the  Spread  of  Slavery  —  Views  Expressed  by  Lin 
coln  in  1850  —  His  Mind  Made  Up  —  Lincoln  as  a  Party  Leader 
— The  Kansas  Struggle  —  Crossing  Swords  with  Douglas  —  A 
Notable  Speech  by  Lincoln  —  Advice  to  Kansas  Belligerents  — 
Honor  in  Politics  —  Anecdote  of  Lincoln  and  Yates  —  Contest 
for  the  U.  S.  Senate  in  1855  —  Lincoln's  Defeat  —  Sketched  by 
Members  of  the  Legislature   
147 
CHAPTER  X 
Birth  of  the  Republican  Party  —  Lincoln  One  of  Its  Fathers  —  Takes 
His  Stand  with  the  Abolitionists  —  The  Bloomington  Convention 
—  Lincoln's  Great  Anti-Slavery  Speech  —  A  Ratification  Meeting 
of  Three  —  The  First  National  Republican  Convention  —  Lin 
coln's  Name  Presented  for  the  Vice-Presidency  —  Nomination  of 
Fremont  and  Dayton  —  Lincoln  in  the  Campaign  of  1856  —  His 
Appearance  and  Influence  on  the  Stump  —  Regarded  as  a  Dan 
gerous  Man  —  His  Views  on  the  Politics  of  the  Future  —  First 
Visit  to  Cincinnati  —  Meeting  with  Edwin  M.  Stanton  —  Stan- 
ton's  First  Impressions  of  Lincoln  —  Regards  Him  as  a  "Giraffe" 
—  A  Visit  to  Cincinnati    i'lllll     '  i  ""   .  '•••.•""  ".  '  '"/"•"  J  i""'1"^1    "\    155 
CHAPTER  XI 
The  Great  Lincoln-Douglas  Debate  —  Rivals  for  the  U.  S.  Senate  — 
Lincoln's  "  House-Divided-against-Itself "  Speech  —  An  Inspired 
Oration  —  Alarming  His  Friends  —  Challenges  Douglas  to  a  Joint 
Discussion  —  The  Champions  Contrasted  —  Their  Opinions  of 
Each  Other  —  Lincoln  and  Douglas  on  the  Stump  —  Slavery  the 
Leading  Issue  —  Scenes  and  Anecdotes  of  the  Great  Debate  — • 
Pen-Picture  of  Lincoln  on  the  Stump  —  Humors  of  the  Campaign 
—  Some  Sharp  Rejoinders —  Words  of  Soberness  —  Close  of  the 
Conflict   
177 
CHAPTER  XII 
A  Year  of  Waiting  and  Trial  —  Again  Defeated  for  the  Senate  — 
Depression  and  Neglect  —  Lincoln  Enlarging  His  Boundaries  — 
On  .the  Stump  in  Ohio  —  A  Speech  to  Kentuckians  —  Second  Visit 
to  Cincinnati  —  A  Short  Trip  to  Kansas  —  Lincoln  in  New  York 
City  —  The  Famous  Cooper  Institute  Speech  —  A  Strong  and 
Favorable  Impression  —  Visits  New  England  —  Secret  of  Lin 
coln's  Success  as  an  Orator  —  Back  to  Springfield  — -Disposing  of 
a  Campaign  Slander  —  Lincoln's  Account  of  His  Visit  to  a  Five 
Points  Sunday  School   
208
xviii  CONTENTS 
CHAPTER  XIII  PAGE 
Looking  towards  the  Presidency  —  The  Illinois  Republican  Con 
vention  of  1860  — A  "Send-Off"  for  Lincoln  — The  National 
Republican  Convention  at  Chicago  —  Contract  of  the  Leading 
Candidates  —  Lincoln  Nominated  —  Scenes  at  the  Convention  — 
Sketches  by  Eye- Witnesses  —  Lincoln  Hearing  the  News  —  The 
Scene  at  Springfield  —  A  Visit  to  Lincoln  at  His  Home  —  Recol 
lections  of  a  Distinguished  Sculptor  —  Receiving  the  Committee 
of  the  Convention  —  Nomination  of  Douglas  —  Campaign  of  1860 
—  Various  Campaign  Reminiscences  —  Lincoln  and  the  Tall 
Southerner  —  The  Vote  of  the  Springfield  Clergy  —  A  Graceful 
Letter  to  the  Poet  Bryant  —  "Looking  up  Hard  Spots*'  .  .  .227 
CHAPTER  (XIV,' 
av 
Lincoln  Chosen  President  —  The  Election  of  1860  —  The  Waiting- 
Time  at  Springfield  —  A  Deluge  of  Visitors  —  Various  Impres 
sions  of  the  President-Elect  —  Some  Queer  Callers  —  Looking  over 
the  Situation  with  Friends  —  Talks  about  the  Cabinet  —  Thurlow 
Weed's  Visit  to  Springfield  —  The  Serious  Aspect  of  National 
Affairs  —  The  South  in  Rebellion  —  Treason  at  the  National 
Capital  —  Lincoln's  Farewell^Visit  to  His  Mother  — The  Old 
Sign,  "Lincoln  &  "Herndon""-  —  The  Last  Day  at  Springfield  — 
Farewell  Speech  to  Friends  and  Neighbors  —  Off  for  the  Capital 
—  The  Journey  to  Washington  —  Receptions  and  Speeches  along 
the  Route  —  At  Cincinnati:  A  Hitherto  Unpublished  Speech 
by  Lincoln  —  At  Cleveland:  Personal  Descriptions  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Lincoln  —  At  New  York  City:  Impressions  of  the  New  Presi 
dent —  Perils  of  the  Journey  —  The  Baltimore  Plot  —  Change 
of  Route  —  Arrival  at  the  Capital   250 
CHAPTER  XV 
Lincoln  at  the  Helm  —  First  Days  in  Washington  —  Meeting  Public 
Men  and  Discussing  Public  Affairs  —  The  Inauguration  —  The 
Inaugural  Address  —  A  New  Era  Begun  —  Lincoln  in  the  White 
House  — The  First  Cabinet  — The  President  and  the  Office- 
Seekers —  Southern  Prejudice  against  Lincoln  —  Ominous  Por 
tents,  but  Lincoln  not  Dismayed  —  The  President's  Reception 
Room  —  Varied  Impressions  of  the  New  President  —  Guarding 
the  White  House   
..281 
CHAPTER  XVI 
Civil  War  —  Uprising  of  the  Nation  —  The  President's  First  Call  for 
Troops  —  Response  of  the  Loyal  North  —  The  Riots  in  Balti 
more —  Loyalty  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas  —  Douglas's  Death  — 
Blockade  of  Southern  Ports  —  Additional  War  Measures  —  Lincoln
CONTENTS  xix 
PAGE 
Defines  the  Policy  of  the  Government  —  His  Conciliatory  Course 
—  His  Desire  to  Save  Kentucky  —  The  President's  First  Message 
to  Congress  —  Gathering  of  Troops  in  Washington  —  Reviews  and 
Parades  —  Disaster  at  Bull  Run  — The  President  Visits  the 
Army  —  Good  Advice  to  an  Angry  Officer  —  A  Peculiar  Cabinet 
Meeting  —  Dark  Days  for  Lincoln  —  A  "Black  Mood"  in  the 
White  House  —  Lincoln's  Unfaltering  Courage  —  Relief  in  Story- 
Telling —  A  Pretty  Good  Land  Title  —  "Measuring  up"  with 
Charles  Sumner  —  General  Scott  "Unable  as  a  Politician" — A 
Good  Drawing-Plaster  —  The  New  York  Millionaires  who  Wanted 
a  Gunboat— A  Good  Bridge-Builder  —  A  Sick  Lot  of  Office- 
Seekers   
312 
CHAPTER  XVII 
Lincoln's  Wise  Statesmanship  —  The  Mason  and  Slidell  Affair  — 
Complications  with  England  —  Lincoln's  "Little  Story"  on  the 
Trent  Affair  —  Building  of  the  "  Monitor  "  —  Lincoln's  Part  in 
the  Enterprise  —  The  President's  First  Annual  Message  —  Dis 
cussion  of  the  Labor  Question  —  A  President's  Reception  in 
War  Time  —  A  Great  Affliction  —  Death  in  the  White  House  — 
Chapters  from  the  Secret  Service  —  A  Morning  Call  on  the  Presi 
dent  —  Gold  win  Smith's  Impressions  of  Lincoln  —  Other  Notable 
Tributes  .  .  340 
CHAPTER  XVIII 
Lincoln  and  His  Cabinet  —  An  Odd  Assortment  of  Officials  —  Mis 
conceptions  of  Rights  and  Duties  —  Frictions  and  Misunder 
standings  —  The  Early  Cabinet  Meetings  —  Informal  Conversa 
tional  Affairs  —  Queer  Attitude  toward  the  War  —  Regarded  as  a 
Political  Affair  —  Proximity  to  Washington  a  Hindrance  to  Mili 
tary  Success  —  Disturbances  in  the  Cabinet  —  A  Senate  Com 
mittee  Demands  Seward's  Removal  from  the  Cabinet  —  Lincoln's 
Mastery  of  the  Situation  —  Harmony  Restored  —  Stanton  be 
comes  War  Secretary  —  Sketch  of  a  Remarkable  Man  —  Next  to 
Lincoln,  the  Master-Mind  of  the  Cabinet  —  Lincoln  the  Dominant 
Power   
T"~r  .~~'.  .  "  7~" .  383 
CHAPTER  XIX 
Lincoln's  Personal  Attention  to  the  Military  Problems  of  the  War 
—  Efforts  to  Push  forward  the  War  —  Disheartening  Delays  —    , 
Lincoln's    Worry     and     Perplexity      Brightening    Prospects  — 
Union  Victories  in  North  Carolina  and  Tennessee  —  Proclamation 
by  the  President  —  Lincoln  Wants  to  See  for  Himself  —  Visits 
Fortress  Monroe — Witnesses  an  Attack  on  the  Rebel  Ram  "  Merri- 
mac" — The  Capture  of  Norfolk  —  Lincoln's  Account  of  the  Affair 
—  Letter  to  McClellan  —  Lincoln  and  the  Union  Soldiers  —  His
xx  CONTENTS 
PAGE 
Tender  Solicitude  for  the  Boys  in  Blue  —  Soldiers  Always  Wel 
come  at  the  White  House  —  Pardoning  Condemned  Soldiers  — 
Letter  to  a  Bereaved  Mother  —  The  Case  of  Cyrus  Pringle  — 
Lincoln's  Love  of  Soldiers'  Humor  —  Visiting  the  Soldiers  in 
Trenches  and  Hospitals  —  Lincoln  at  "The  Soldiers'  Rest "  .  .  380 
CHAPTER  XX 
Lincoln  and  McClellan  —  The  Peninsular  Campaign  of  1862  —  Im 
patience  with  McClellan's  Delay  —  Lincoln  Defends  McClellan 
from  Unjust  Criticism  —  Some  Harrowing  Experiences  —  Mc 
Clellan  Recalled  from  the  Peninsula  —  His  Troops  Given  to  Gen 
eral  Pope  —  Pope's  Defeat  at  Manassas  —  A  Critical  Situation  — 
McClellan  again  in  Command  —  Lincoln  Takes  the  Responsi 
bility —  McClellan?s  Account  of  His  Reinstatement  —  The  Battle 
of  Antietam  —  The  President  Vindicated  —  Again  Dissatisfied 
with  McClellan  —  Visits  the  Army  in  the  Field  —  The  President 
in  the  Saddle  —  Correspondence  between  Lincoln  and  McClellan 
—  McClellan's  Final  Removal  —  Lincoln's  Summing-Up  of 
McClellan  — McClellan's  "Body-Guard"   
403 
CHAPTER  XXI 
Lincoln  and  Slavery  —  Plan  for  Gradual  r  mancipation  —  Anti- 
Slavery  Legislation  in  1862  —  Pressure  Brought  to  Bear  on  the 
Executive  —  The  Delegation  of  Quakers  —  A  Visit  from  Chicago 
Clergymen  —  Interview  between  Lincoln  and  Channing  —  Lin 
coln  and  Horace  Greeley  —  The  President's  Answer  to  "The 
Prayer  of  Twenty  Millions  of  People"  —  Conference  between 
Lincoln  and  Greeley  —  Emancipation  Resolved  on  —  The  Pre 
liminary  Proclamation  —  Lincoln's  Account  of  It  —  Preparing  for 
the  Final  Act  —  The  Emancipation  Proclamation  —  Particulars  of 
the  Great  Document  —  Fate  of  the  Original  Draft  —  Lincoln's 
Outline  of  His  Course  and  Views  Regarding  Slavery  .  .  .  .419 
CHAPTER  XXII 
President  and  People  —  Society  at  the  White  House  in  1862-3  — 
The  President's  Informal  Receptions  —  A  Variety  of  Callers  — 
Characteristic  Traits  of  Lincoln  —  His  Ability  to  Say  No  when 
Necessary  —  Would  not  Countenance  Injustice  —  Good  Sense 
and  Tact  in  Settling  Quarrels  —  His  Shrewd  Knowledge  of  Men  — 
Getting  Rid  of  Bores  —  Loyalty  to  His  Friends  —  Views  of  His 
Own  Position  —  "Attorney  for  the  People"  —  Desire  that  They 
Should  Understand  Him  —  His  Practical  Kindness  —  A  Badly 
Scared  Petitioner  —  Telling  a  Story  to  Relieve  Bad  News  —  A 
Breaking  Heart  beneath  the  Smiles  —  His  Deeply  Religious 
Nature  —  The  Changes  Wrought  by  Grief   
449
CONTENTS  xxi 
CHAPTER  XXIII  PAGE 
Lincoln's  Home-Life  in  the  White  House  —  Comfort  in  the  Com 
panionship  of  his  Youngest  Son  —  "Little  Tad"  the  Bright  Spot 
in  the  White  House  —  The  President  and  His  Little  Boy  Review 
ing  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  —  Various  Phases  of  Lincoln's  Char 
acter  —  His  Literary  Tastes  —  Fondness  for  Poetry  and  Music  — 
His  Remarkable  Memory  —  Not  a  Latin  Scholar  —  Never  Read 
a  Novel  —  Solace  in  Theatrical  Representation  —  Anecdotes  of 
Booth  and  McCullough  —  Methods  of  Literary  Work  —  Lincoln 
as  an  Orator  —  Caution  in  Impromptu  Speeches  —  His  Literary 
Style  —  Management  of  His  Private  Correspondence  —  Knowl 
edge  of  Woodcraft  —  Trees  and  Human  Character  —  Exchanging 
Views  with  Professor  Agassis  —  Magnanimity  toward  Opponents 
—  Righteous  Indignation  —  Lincoln's  Religious  Nature  .  .  .  464 
CHAPTER  XXIV 
Trials  of  the  Administration  in  1863  —  Hostility  to  War  Measures 
—  Lack  of  Confidence  at  the  North  —  Opposition  in  Congress  — 
How  Lincoln  Felt  about  the  "Fire  in  the  Rear"  —  Criticisms 
from  Various  Quarters  —  Visit  of  "the  Boston  Set"  —  The  Gov 
ernment  on  a  Tight-Rope  —  The  Enlistment  of  Colored  Troops 
—  Interview  between  Lincoln  and  Frederick  Douglass  —  Reverses 
in  the  Field  —  Changes  of  Military  Leaders  —  From  Burnside  to 
Hooker  —  Lincoln's  First  Meeting  with  "Fighting  Joe"  —  The 
President's  Solicitude  —  His  Warning  Letter  to  Hooker  —  His 
Visit  to  the  Rappahannock  —  Hooker's  Self-Confidence  the 
"Worst  Thing  about  Him"  —  The  Defeat  at  Chancellorsville  — 
The  Failure  of  Our  Generals  — "Wanted,  a  Man"  .  .  .  .480 
CHAPTER  XXV 
The  Battle-Summer  of  1863  —  A  Turn  of  the  Tide  —  Lee's  Invasion 
of  Pennsylvania  —  A  Threatening  Crisis  —  Change  of  Union  Com 
manders  —  Meade  Succeeds  Hooker  —  The  Battle  of  Gettys 
burg  —  Lincoln's  Anxiety  during  the  Fight  —  The  Retreat  of 
Lee  —  Union  Victories  in  the  Southwest  —  The  Capture  of  Vicks- 
burg  —  Lincoln's  Thanks  to  Grant  —  Returning  Cheerfulness  — 
Congratulations  to  the  Country  —  Improved  State  of  Feeling  at 
the  North  —  State  Elections  of  1863  —  The  Administration  Sus 
tained  —  Dedication  of  the  National  Cemetery  at  Gettysburg  — 
Lincoln's  Address  —  Scenes  and  Incidents  at  the  Dedication  — 
Meeting  with  Old  John  Burns  —  Edward  Everett's  Impressions 
of  Lincoln  .  496
xxii  CONTENTS 
CHAPTER  XXVI  PAGE 
Lincoln  and  Grant  —  Their  Personal  Relations  —  Grant's  Success  at 
Chattanooga  —  Appointed  Lieutenant- General  —  Grant's  First 
Visit  to  Washington  —  His  Meeting  with  Lincoln  —  Lincoln's 
First  Impressions  of  Grant  —  The  First  "General"  Lincoln  had 
Found  —  "That  Presidential  Grub" — True  Version  of  the 
Whiskey  Anecdote  —  Lincoln  Tells  Grant  the  Story  of  Sykes's 
Dog  — "We'd  Better  Let  Mr.  Grant  Have  His  Own  Way" — 
Grant's  Estimate  of  Lincoln    .  516 
CHAPTER  XXVII 
Lincoln's  Second  Presidential  Term  —  His  Attitude  toward  it  — 
Rival  Candidates  for  the  Nomination  —  Chase's  Achillean 
Wrath  —  Harmony  Restored  —  The  Baltimore  Convention  — 
Decision  "not  to  Swap  Horses  while  Crossing  a  Stream"  —  The 
Summer  of  1864  —  Washington  again  Threatened  —  Lincoln 
under  Fire  —  Unpopular  Measures  —  The  President's  Perplex 
ities  and  Trials  — The  Famous  Letter  "To  Whom  It  May  Con 
cern"  —  Little  Expectation  of  Re-election  —  Dangers  of  Assassi 
nation  —  A  Thrilling  Experience  —  Lincoln's  Forced  Serenity  — 
"The  Saddest  Man  in  the  World"  —  A  Break  in  the  Clouds  — 
Lincoln  Vindicated  by  Re-election  —  Cheered  and  Reassured 
—  More  Trouble  with  Chase  —  Lincoln's  Final  Disposal  of  Him 
—  The  President's  Fourth  Annual  Message  —  His  Position  toward 
the  Rebellion  and  Slavery  Reaffirmed  —  Colored  Folks'  Reception 
at  the  White  House  —  Passage  of  the  Amendment  Prohibiting 
Slavery  —  Lincoln  and  the  Southern  Peace  Commissioners  —  The 
Meeting  in  Hampton  Roads  —  Lincoln's  Impression  of  A.  H. 
Stephens  —  The  Second  Inauguration  —  Second  Inaugural  Ad 
dress  —  "  With  Malice  toward  None,  with  Charity  for  All"  —  An 
Auspicious  Omen   
528 
CHAPTER  XXVIII 
Close  of  the  Civil  War  —  Last  Acts  in  the  Great  Tragedy  —  Lincoln 
at  the  Front  —  A  Memorable  Meeting  —  Lincoln,  Grant,  Sher 
man,  and  Porter  —  Life  on  Shipboard  —  Visit  to  Petersburg  — 
Lincoln  and  the  Prisoners  —  Lincoln  in  Richmond  —  The  Negroes 
Welcoming  Their  "Great  Messiah"  — A  Warm  Reception  — Lee's 
Surrender  —  Lincoln  Receives  the  News  —  Universal  Rejoicing  — 
Lincoln's  Last  Speech  to  the  Public  —  His  Feelings  and  Inten 
tions  toward  the  South  —  His  Desire  for  Reconciliation  .  .561
CONTENTS  xxiii 
CHAPTER    XXIX  PAGE 
The  Last  of  Earth  —  Events  of  the  Last  Day  of  Lincoln's  Life  — 
The  Last  Cabinet  Meeting  —  The  Last  Drive  with  Mrs.  Lincoln 
—  Incidents  of  the  Afternoon  —  Riddance  to  Jacob  Thompson  — 
A  Final  Act  of  Pardon  —  The  Fatal  Evening  —  The  Visit  to  the 
Theatre  —  The  Assassin's  Shot  —  A  Scene  of  Horror  —  Particu 
lars  of  the  Crime  —  The  Dying  President  —  A  Nation's  Grief  — 
Funeral  Obsequies  —  The  Return  to  Illinois  —  At  Rest  in  Oak 
Ridge  Cemetery   
582 
INDEX   
601
ILLUSTRATIONS 
Abraham  Lincoln   
Frontispiece 
From  an  Original  Drawing  by  J.  N.  Marble,  never  before  published 
Francis  F.  Browne   
facing  page        vi 
Abraham  Lincoln  1
THE    E  VERY-DAY   LIFE 
OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
CHAPTER  I 
Ancestry  —  The  Lincolns  in  Kentucky  —  Death  of  Lincoln's  Grand 
father  —  Thomas  Lincoln  and  Nancy  Hanks  —  Mordecai  Lincoln 
—  Birth  of  Abraham  Lincoln  —  Removal  to  Indiana 
Ygars  —  Dennis  Hanks  —  Lincolnj^  Boy  hood  —  Death  of  Nancy 
Hanks  —  Early  School  Days  —  Lincoln's  First  Dollar  —  Presenti 
ments  of  Future  Greatness  —  Down  the  Mississippi  —  Removal  to 
Illinois  —  Lincoln's  Father  —  Lincoln  the  Storekeeper  —  First 
Official  Act  —  Lincoln's  Short  Sketch  of  His  Own  Life.  • 
THE  year  1809  —  that  year  which  gave  William  E. 
Gladstone  to  England  —  was  in  our  country  the 
birth-year  of  him  who  wears  the  most  distinguished  name 
that  has  yet  been  written  on  the  pages  of  *  American 
history  —  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  In  a  rude  cabin  in  a 
clearing,  in  the  wilds  of  that  section  which  was  once  the 
hunting-ground  and  later  the  battle-field  of  the  Cherokees 
and  other  war-like  tribes,  and  which  the  Indians  them 
selves  had  named  Kentucky  because  it  was  "dark  and 
bloody  ground,"  the  great  War  President  of  the  United 
States,  after  whose  name  History  has  written  the  word 
"Emancipator,"  first  saw  the  light.  Born  and  nurtured 
in  penury,  inured  to  hardship,  coarse  food,  and  scanty 
clothing,  —  the  story  of  his  youth  is  full  of  pathos.  Small 
wonder  that  when  asked  in  his  later  years  to  tell  something 
of  his  early  life,  he  replied  by  quoting  a  line  from  Gray's 
Elegy: 
"The  short  and  simple  annals  of  the  poor." 
Lincoln's  ancestry  has  been  traced  with  tolerable  cer 
tainty  through  five   generations   to   Samuel   Lincoln   of
2     EVERY-PAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
Norfolk  County,  England.  Not  many  years  after  the 
landing  of  the  "Mayflower"  at  Plymouth  —  perhaps  in 
the  year  1638  —  Samuel  Lincoln's  son  Mordecai  had 
emigrated  to  Hingham,  Massachusetts.  Perhaps  because 
he  was  a  Quaker,  a  then  persecuted  sect,  he  did  not  remain 
long  at  Hingham,  but  came  westward  as  far  as  Berks 
County,  Pennsylvania.  His  son,  John  Lincoln,  went 
southward  from  Pennsylvania  and  settled  in  Rockingham 
County,  Virginia.  Later,  in  1782,  while  the  last  events 
of  the  American  Revolution  were  in  progress,  Abraham 
Lincoln,  son  of  John  and  grandfather  of  President  Lincoln, 
moved  into  Kentucky  and  took  up  a  tract  of  government 
land  in  Mercer  County.  In  the  Field  Book  of  Daniel 
Boone,  the  Kentucky  pioneer,  (now  in  possession  of  the 
Wisconsin  Historical  Society),  appears  the  following  note  of 
purchase : 
"Abraham  Lincoln  enters  five  hundred  acres 
of  land  on  a  Treasury  warrant  on  the  south 
side  of  Licking  Creek  or  River,  in  Kentucky." 
At  this  time  Kentucky  was  included  within  the  limits 
and  jurisdiction  of  Virginia.  In  1775  Daniel  Boone  had 
built  a  fort  at  Boonesborough,  on  the  Kentucky  river,  and 
it  was  not  far  from  this  site  that  Abraham  Lincoln,  Presi 
dent  Lincoln's  grandfather,  located  his  claim  and  put  up 
a  rude  log  hut  for  the  shelter  of  his  family.  The  pioneers 
of  Kentucky  cleared  small  spaces  and  erected  their  humble 
dwellings.  They  had  to  contend  not  only  with  the  wild 
forces  of  nature,  and  to  defend  themselves  from  the  beasts 
of  the  forest,  —  more  to  be  feared  than  either  were  the 
hostile  Indians.  The  settlers  were  filled  with  terror  of 
these  stealthy  foes.  At  home  and  abroad  they  kept  their 
guns  ready  for  instant  use  both  night  and  day.  Many 
a  hard  battle  was  fought  between  the  Indian  and  the 
pioneer.  Many  an  unguarded  woodsman  was  shot  down 
without  warning  while  busy  about  his  necessary  work.
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     3 
Among  these  was  Abraham  Lincoln.  The  story  of  his 
death  is  related  by  Mr.  I.  N.  Arnold.  "Thomas  Lincoln 
was  with  his  father  in  the  field  when  the  savages  suddenly 
fell  upon  them.  Mordecai  and  Josiah,  his  elder  brothers, 
were  near  by  in  the  forest.  Mordecai,  startled  by  a  shot, 
saw  his  father  fall,  and  running  to  the  cabin  seized  the 
loaded  rifle,  rushed  to  one  of  the  loop-holes  cut  through 
the  logs  of  the  cabin,  and  saw  the  Indian  who  had  fired. 
He  had  just  caught  the  boy,  Thomas,  and  was  running 
toward  the  forest.  Pointing  the  rifle  through  the  logs 
and  aiming  at  a  medal  on  the  breast  of  the  Indian,  Morde 
cai  fired.  The  Indian  fell,  and  springing  to  his  feet  the 
boy  ran  to  the  open  arms  of  his  mother  at  the  cabin  door. 
Meanwhile  Josiah,  who  had  run  to  the  fort  for  aid,  re 
turned  with  a  party  of  settlers.  The  bodies  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  and  the  Indian  who  had  been  killed  were  brought 
in.  From  this  time  forth  Mordecai  Lincoln  was  the 
mortal  enemy  of  the  Indian,  and  it  is  said  that  he  sacrificed 
many  in  revenge  for  the  murder  of  his  father." 
In  the  presence  of  such  dangers  Thomas  Lincoln  spent 
his  boyhood.  He  was  born  in  1778,  and  could  not  have 
been  much  more  than  four  years  old  on  that  fatal  day 
when  in  one  swift  moment  his  father  lay  dead  beside  him 
and  vengeance  had  been  exacted  by  his  resolute  boy 
brother.  It  was  such  experiences  as  these  that  made  of 
the  pioneers  the  sturdy  men  they  were.  They  acquired 
habits  of  heroism.  Their  sinews  became  wiry;  their 
nerves  turned  to  steel.  Their  senses  became  sharpened. 
They  grew  alert,  steady,  prompt  and  deft  in  every 
emergency. 
Of  Mordecai  Lincoln,  the  boy  who  had  exhibited  such 
coolness  and  daring  on  the  day  of  his  father's  death,  many 
stories  are  told  after  he  reached  manhood.  "He  was 
naturally  a  man  of  considerable  genius,"  says  one  who 
knew  him.  "He  was  a  man  of  great  drollery.  It  would 
almost  make  you  laugh  to  look  at  him.  I  never  saw  but
4     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
one  other  man  who  excited  in  me  the  same  disposition  to 
laugh,  and  that  was  Artemus  Ward.  Abe  Lincoln  had  a 
very  high  opinion  of  his  uncle,  and  on  one  occasion  re 
marked  that  Uncle  Mord  had  run  off  with  all  the  talents 
of  the  family." 
Thomas  Lincoln  was  twenty-eight  years  old  before  he 
sought  a  wife.  His  choice  fell  upon  a  young  woman  of 
twenty-three  whose  name  was  Nancy  Hanks.  Like  her 
husband,  she  was  of  English  descent.  Like  his,  her 
parents  had  followed  in  the  path  of  emigration  from 
Virginia  to  Kentucky.  The  couple  were  married  by  the 
Rev.  Jesse  Head,  a  Methodist  minister  located  at  Spring 
field,  Washington  County,  Kentucky.  They  lived  for  a 
time  in  Elizabethtown,  but  after  the  birth  of  their  first 
child,  Sarah,  they  removed  to  Rock  Spring  farm,  on 
Nolin  Creek,  in  Hardin  (afterward  LaRue)  County.  In 
this  desolate  spot,  a  strange  and  unlikely  place  for  the 
birth  of  one  destined  to  play  so  memorable  a  part  in  the 
history  of  the  world,  on  the  twelfth  day  of  February, 
1809,  Abraham  Lincoln  the  President  was  born. 
Of  all  the  gross  injustice  ever  done  to  the  memory  of 
woman,  that  which  has  been  accorded  to  Nancy  Hanks 
is  the  greatest.  The  story  which  cast  a  shadow  upon  her 
parentage,  and  on  that  of  her  illustrious  son  as  well,  should 
be  sternly  relegated  to  the  oblivion  whence  it  came.  Mr. 
Henry  Watterson,  in  his  brilliant  address  on  Lincoln, 
refers  to  him  as  "that  strange,  incomparable  man,  of  whose 
parentage  we  neither  know  nor  care."  In  some  localities, 
particularly  in  Kentucky  and  South  Carolina,  the  rumor 
is  definite  and  persistent  that  the  President  was  not  the 
son  of  Thomas  Lincoln,  the  illiterate  and  thriftless,  but  of 
one  Colonel  Hardin  for  whom  Hardin  County  was  named; 
that  Nancy  Hanks  was  herself  the  victim  of  unlegalized 
motherhood,  the  natural  daughter  of  an  aristocratic, 
wealthy,  and  well-educated  Virginia  planter,  and  that  this 
accounted  for  many  of  her  son's  characteristics.  The
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     5 
story  has  long  since  been  disproved.  Efforts  to  verify  it 
brought  forth  the  fact  that  it  sprang  into  being  in  the 
early  days  of  the  Civil  War  and  was  evidently  a  fabrication 
born  of  the  bitter  spirit  of  the  hour. 
It  was  not  from  his  father,  however,  that  Lincoln  in 
herited  any  of  his  remarkable  traits.  The  dark  coarse 
hair,  the  gray  eyes,  sallow  complexion,  and  brawny 
strength,  which  were  his,  constituted  his  sole  inheritance 
on  the  paternal  side.  But  Nancy  Hanks  was  gentle  and 
refined,  and  would  have  adorned  any  station  in  life.  She 
was  beautiful  in  youth,  with  dark  hair,  regular  features, 
and  soft  sparkling  hazel  eyes.  She  was  unusually  intelli 
gent,  and  read  all  the  books  she  could  obtain.  Says  Mr.  * 
Arnold:  "She  was  a  woman  of  deep  religious  feeling,  of 
the  most  exemplary  character,  and  most  tenderly  and 
affectionately  devoted  to  her  family.  Her  home  indicated 
a  love  of  beauty  exceptional  in  the  wild  settlement  in 
which  she  lived,  and  judging  from  her  early  death  it  is 
probable  that  she  was  of  a  physique  less  hardy  than  that 
of  those  among  whom  she  lived.  Hers  was  a  strong, 
self-reliant  spirit,  which  commanded  the  love  and  respect 
of  the  rugged  people  among  whom  she  dwelt." 
The  tender  and  reverent  spirit  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
and  the  pensive  melancholy  of  his  disposition,  he  no  doubt  1 
inherited  from  his  mother.     Amid  the  toil  and  struggle  of  } 
her  busy  life  she  found  time  not  only  to  teach  him  to  read 
and  write  but  to  impress  upon  him  ineffaceably  that  love 
of  truth  and  justice,  that  perfect  integrity  and  reverence 
for  God,  for  which  he  was  noted  all  his  life.     Lincoln 
always  looked  upon  his  mother  with  unspeakable  affection, 
and  never  ceased  to  cherish  the  memory  of  her  life  and 
teaching. 
A  spirit  of  restlessness,  a  love  of  adventure,  a  longing 
for  new  scenes,  and  possibly  the  hope  of  improving  his 
condition,  led  Thomas  Lincoln  to  abandon  the  Rock 
Spring  farm,  in  the  fall  of  1816,  and  begin  life  over  again
6     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
in  the  wilds  of  southern  Indiana.  The  way  thither  lay 
through  unbroken  country  and  was  beset  with  difficulties. 
Often  the  travellers  were  obliged  to  cut  their  road  as  they 
went.  With  the  resolution  of  pioneers,  however,  they 
began  the  journey.  At  the  end  of  several  days  they  had 
gone  but  eighteen  miles.  Abraham  Lincoln  was  then  but 
seven  years  ,pld,  but  was  already  accustomed  to  the  use  of 
axe  and  gun.  He  lent  a  willing  hand,  and  bore  his  share 
in  the  labor  and  fatigue  connected  with  the  difficult 
journey.  In  after  years  he  said  that  he  had  never  passed 
through  a  more  trying  experience  than  when  he  went  from 
Thompson's  Ferry  to  Spencer  County,  Indiana.  On 
arriving,  a  shanty  for  immediate  use  was  hastily  erected. 
Three  sides  were  enclosed,  the  fourth  remaining  open. 
This  served  as  a  home  for  several  months,  when  a  more 
comfortable  cabin  was  built.  On  the  eighteenth  of 
October,  1817,  Thomas  Lincoln  entered  a  quarter-section 
of  government  la.nd  eighteen  miles  north  of  the  Ohio  river 
and  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  present  village  of 
Gentry ville.  About  a  year  later  they  were  followed  by 
the  family  of  Thomas  and  Betsy  Sparrow,  relatives  of 
Mrs.  Lincoln 'and  old-time  neighbors  on  the  Rock  Spring 
farm  in  Kentucky.  Dennis  Hanks,  a  member  of  the 
Sparrow  household  and  cousin  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  came 
also.  He  has  furnished  some  recollections  of  the  Presi 
dent's  boyhood  which  are  well  worth  recording.  "Uncle 
Dennis,"  as  he  was  familiarly  called,  was  himself  a  sfrftdng 
character,  a  man  of  original  manners  and  racy  conversa 
tion.  A  sketch  of  him  as  he  appeared  to  an  observer  in 
his  later  days  is  thus  given:  "Uncle  Dennis  is  a  typical 
Kentuckian,  born  in  Hardin  County  in  1799.  His  face  is 
sun-bronzed  and  ploughed  with  the  furrows  of  time,  but 
he  has  a  resolute  mouth,  a  firm  grip  of  the  jaws,  and  a 
broad  forehead  above  a  pair  of  piercing  eyes.  The  eyes 
seem  out  of  place  in  the  weary,  faded  face,  but  they  glow 
and  flash  like  two  diamond  sparks  set  in  ridges  of  dull
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     7 
gold.  The  face  is  a  serious  one,  but  the  play  of  light  in 
the  eyes,  unquenchable  by  time,  betrays  a  nature  of  sun 
shine  and  elate  with  life.  A  glance  at  the  profile  shows  a 
face  strikingly  Lincoln-like,  —  prominent  cheek  bones, 
temple,  nose,  and  chin;  but  best  of  all  is  that  twinkling 
drollery  in  the  eye  that  flashed  in  the  White  House  during 
the  dark  days  of  the  Civil  War." 
Uncle  Dennis's  recollections  go  back  to  the  birth  of 
Abraham  Lincoln.  To  use  his  own  words:  "I  rikkilect 
I  run  all  the  way,  over  two  miles,  to  see  Nancy  Hanks's 
boy  baby.  Her  name  was  Nancy  Hanks  before  she 
married  Thomas  Lincoln.  'Twas  common  for  connections 
to  gather  in  them  days  to  see  new  babies.  I  held  the  wee 
one  a  minute.  I  was  ten  years  old,  and  it  tickled  me  to 
hold  the  pulpy,  red  little  Lincoln.  The  family  moved  to 
Indiana,"  he  went  on,  "when  Abe  was  about  nine.  Mr. 
Lincoln  moved  first,  and  built  a  camp  of  brush  in  Spencer 
County.  We  came  a  year  later,  and  he  had  then  a  cabin.  | 
So  he  gave  us  the  shanty.  Abe  killed  a  turkey  the  day  we 
got  there,  and  couldn't  get  through  tellin'  about  it.  The 
name  was  pronounced  Linkhorn  by  the  folks  then.  We 
was  all  uneducated.  After  a  spell  we  learnt  better.  I 
was  the  only  boy  in  the  place  all  them  years,  and  Abe  and 
me  was  always  together." 
Dennis  Hanks  claims  to  have  taught  his  young  cousin 
to  read,  write,  and  cipher.  "He  knew  his  letters  pretty 
wellish,  but  no  more.  His  mother  had  taught  him.  If 
ever  there  was  a  good  woman  on  earth,  she  was  one,  —  a 
true  Christian  of  the  Baptist  church.  But  she  died  soon 
after  we  arrived,  and  Abe  was  left  without  a  teacher. 
His  father  couldn't  read  a  word.  The  boy  had  only  about 
one  quarter  of  schooling,  hardly  that.  I  then  set  in  to 
help  him.  I  didn't  know  much,  but  I  did  the  best  I  could. 
Sometimes  he  would  write  with  a  piece  of  charcoal  or  the 
p'int  of  a  burnt  stick  on  the  fence  or  floor.  We  got  a  little 
paper  at  the  country  town,  and  I  made  some  ink  out  of
8     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
blackberry  briar-root  and  a  little  copperas  in  it.  It  was 
black,  but  the  copperas  ate  the  paper  after  a  while.  I 
made  Abe's  first  pen  out  of  a  turkey-buzzard  feather. 
We  had  no  geese  them  days.  After  he  learned  to  write 
his  name  he  was  scrawlin'  it  everywhere.  Sometimes  he 
would  write  it  in  the  white  sand  down  by  the  crick  bank 
and  leave  it  there  till  the  waves  would  blot  it  out.  He 
didn't  take  to  books  in  the  beginnin'.  We  had  to  hire  him 
at  first,  but  after  he  got  a  taste  on't  it  was  the  old  story  — 
we  had  to  pull  the  sow's  ears  to  get  her  to  the  trough,  and 
then  pull  her  tail  to  get  her  away.  He  read  a  great  deal, 
and  had  a  wonderful  memory  —  wonderful.  Never  forgot 
anything." 
Lincoln's  first  reading  book  was  Webster's  Speller. 
"  When  I  got  him  through  that,"  said  Uncle  Dennis,  "I  had 
only  a  copy  of  the  Indiana  Statutes.  Then  Abe  got  hold 
of  a  book.  I  can't  rikkilect  the  name.  It  told  a  yarn  about 
a  feller,  a  nigger  or  suthin',  that  sailed  a  flatboat  up  to  a 
rock,  and  the  rock  was  magnetized  and  drawed  all  the  nails 
out,  and  he  got  a  duckin'  or  drowned  or  suthin',  —  I 
forget  now.  [It  was  the  "Arabian  Nights."]  Abe  would 
lay  on  the  floor  with  a  chair  under  his  head  and  laugh 
over  them  stories  by  the  hour.  I  told  him  they  was  likely 
lies  from  beginnin'  to  end,  but  he  learned  to  read  right  well 
in  them.  I  borrowed  for  him  the  Life  of  Washington  and 
the  Speeches  of  Henry  Clay.  They  had  a  powerful  in- 
fluence  on  him.  He  told  me  afterwards  in  the  White 
House  he  wanted  to  live  like  Washington.  His  speeches 
show  it,  too.  But  the  other  book  did  the  most  amazin' 
work.  Abe  was  a  Democrat,  like  his  father  and  all  of  us, 
he  began  to  read  it.  When  he  closed  it  he  was  a 
Whig,  heart  and  soul,  and  he  went  on  step  by  step  till  he 
became  leader  of  the  Republicans." 
These  reminiscences  of  Dennis  Hanks  give  the  clearest 
and  undoubtedly  the  most  accurate  glimpse  of  Lincoln's 
youth.  He  says  further,  referring  to  the  boy's  unusual
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     9 
physical  strength:  "My,  how  he  would  chop!  His  axe 
would  flash  and  bite  into  a  sugar-tree  or  sycamore,  and 
down  it  would  come.  If  you  heard  him  fellin'  trees  in  a 
clearin'  you  would  say  there  was  three  men  at  work,  the 
way  the  trees  fell.  Abe  was  never  sassy  or  quarrelsome. 
I've  seen  him  walk  into  a  crowd  of  sawin'  rowdies  and  tell  \ 
some  droll  yarn  and  bust  them  all  up.  It  was  the  same 
after  he  got  to  be  a  lawyer.  All  eyes  was  on  him  whenever—'' 
he  riz.  There  was  suthin'  peculiarsome  about  him.  I 
moved  from  Indiana  to  Illinois  when  Abe  did.  I  bought  a 
little  improvement  near  him,  six  miles  from  Decatur. 
Here  the  famous  rails  were  split  that  were  carried  round  in 
the  campaign.  They  were  called  his  rails,  but  you  never 
can  tell.  I  split  some  of  'em.  He  was  a  master  hand  at 
maulin'  rails.  I  heard  him  say  in  a  speech  once,  'If  I 
didn't  make  these  I  made  many  just  as  good.'  Then  the 
crowd  yelled." 
One  of  his  playmates  has  furnished  much  that  is  of  i 
interest  in  regard  to  the  reputation  which  Lincoln  left  | 
behind  him  in  the  neighborhood  where  he  passed  his  boy 
hood  and  much  of  his  youth.  This  witness  says:  "When 
ever  the  court  was  in  session  he  was  a  frequent  attendant. 
John  A.  Breckenridge  was  the  foremost  lawyer  in  the 
community,  and  was  famed  as  an  advocate  in  criminal 
cases.  Lincoln  was  sure  to  be  present  when  he  spoke. 
Doing  the  chores  in  the  morning,  he  would  walk  to  Boone- 
ville,  the  county  seat  of  Warwick  County,  seventeen  miles 
away,  then  home  in  time  to  do  the  chores  at  night,  repeat 
ing  this  day  after  day.  The  lawyer  soon  came  to  know 
him.  Years  afterwards,  when  Lincoln  was  President,  a 
venerable  gentleman  one  day  entered  his  office  in  the  White 
House,  and  standing  before  him  said :  *  Mr.  President,  you 
don't  know  me.'  Mr.  Lincoln  eyed  him  sharply  for  a 
moment,  and  then  quickly  replied  with  a  smile,  *  Yes  I  do. 
You  are  John  A.  Breckenridge.  I  used  to  walk  thirty-four 
miles  a  day  to  hear  you  plead  law  in  Booneville,  and  listen-
L 
0     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
ing  to  your  speeches  at  the  bar  first  inspired  me  with  the 
/  determination  to  be  a  lawyer.' " 
Lincoln's  love  for  his  gentle  mother,  and  his  grief  over 
her  untimely  death,  is  a  touching  story.  Attacked  by  a 
fatal  disease,  the  life  of  Nancy  Hanks  wasted  slowly  away. 
Day  after  day  her  son  sat  by  her  bed  reading  to  her  such 
portions  of  the  Bible  as  she  desired  to  hear.  At  intervals 
she  talked  to  him,  urging  him  to  walk  in  the  paths  of  honor, 
/^goodness,  and  truth.  At  last  she  found  rest,  and  her  son 
Wve  way  to  grief  that  could  not  be  controlled.  In  an 
opening  in  the  timber,  a  short  distance  from  the  cabin, 
sympathizing  friends  and  neighbors  laid  her  body  away 
and  offered  sincere  prayers  above  her  grave.  The  simple 
service  did  not  seem  to  the  son  adequate  tribute  to  the 
memory  of  the  beloved  mother  whose  loss  he  so  sorely 
felt,  but  no  minister  could  be  procured  at  the  time  to  preach 
a  funeral  sermon.  In  the  spring,  however,  Abraham 
Lincoln,  then  a  lad  of  ten,  wrote  to  Elder  Elkin,  who  had 
lived  near  them  in  Kentucky,  begging  that  he  would  come 
>"  and  preach  a  sermon  above  his  mother's  grave,  and  adding 
that  by  granting  this  request  he  would  confer  a  lasting 
favor  upon  his  father,  his  sister,  and  himself.  Although 
it  involved  a  journey  of  more  than  a  hundred  miles  on 
horseback,  the  good  man  cheerfully  complied.  Once 
more  the  neighbors  and  friends  gathered  about  the  grave 
of  Nancy  Hanks,  and  her  son  found  comfort  in  their 
sympathy  and  their  presence.  The  spot  where  Lincoln's 
mother  lies  is  now  enclosed  within  a  high  iron  fence.  At 
the  head  of  the  grave  a  white  stone,  simple,  unaffected, 
and  in  keeping  with  the  surroundings,  has  been  placed. 
It  bears  the  following  inscription : 
NANCY    HANKS    LINCOLN, 
MOTHER    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN, 
DIED    OCTOBER    5,  A.D.    1818. 
AGED    THIRTY-FIVE    YEARS. 
Erected  by  a  friend  of  her  martyred  son.
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     11 
Lincoln  always  held  the  memory  of  his  mother  in  the  _ 
deepest  reverence  and  affection.  Says  Dr.  J.  G.  Holland: 
"Long  after  her  sensitive  heart  and  weary  hands  had 
crumbled  into  dust,  and  had  climbed  to  life  again  in  forest 
flowers,  he  said  to  a  friend,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  'All  that 
I  am  or  ever  hope  to  be  I  owe  to  my  sainted  mother.' "  — ^* 
The  vacant  place  of  wife  and  mother  was  sadly  felt  in 
the  Lincoln  cabin,  but  before  the  year  1819  had  closed  it 
was  filled  by  a  woman  who  nobly  performed  the  duties  of 
her  trying  position.  Thomas  Lincoln  had  known  Mrs. 
Sarah  Johnston  when  both  were  young  and  living  in 
Elizabethtown,  Kentucky.  They  had  married  in  the 
same  year;  and  now,  being  alike  bereaved,  he  persuaded 
her  to  unite  their  broken  households  into  one. 
By  this  union,  a  son  and  two  daughters,  John,  Sarah, 
and  Matilda,  were  added  to  the  Lincoln  family.  All 
dwelt  together  in  perfect  harmony,  the  mother  showing  no 
difference  in  the  treatment  of  her  own  children  and  the 
two  now  committed  to  her  charge.  She  exhibited  a 
special  fondness  for  the  little  Abraham,  whose  precocious 
talents  and  enduring  qualities  she  was  quick  to  apprehend. 
Though  he  never  forgot  the  "angel  mother"  sleeping  on 
the  forest-covered  hill-top,  the  boy  rewarded  with  a  pro 
found  and  lasting  affection  the  devoted  care  of  her  who 
proved  a  faithful  friend  and  helper  during  the  rest  of  his 
childhood  and  youth.  In  her  later  life  the  step-mother  \ 
spoke  of  him  always  with  the  tenderest  feeling.  On  one 
occasion  she  said:  "He  never  gave  me  a  cross  word  or 
look,  and  never  refused,  in  fact  or  appearance,  to  do 
anything  I  requested  of  him." 
The  child  had  enjoyed  a  little  irregular  schooling  while 
living  in  Kentucky,  getting  what  instruction  was  possible 
of  one  Zachariah  Birney,  a  Catholic,  who  taught  for  a 
time  close  by  his  father's  house.  He  also  attended,  as 
convenience  permitted,  a  school  kept  by  Caleb  Hazel, 
nearly  four  miles  away,  walking  the  distance  back  and
12     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
forth  with  his  sister.  Soon  after  coming  under  the  care 
of  his  step-mother,  the  lad  was  afforded  some  similar 
opportunities  for  learning.  His  first  master  in  Indiana 
was  Azel  Dorsey.  The  sort  of  education  dispensed  by 
him,  and  the  circumstances  under  which  it  was  given, 
are  described  by  Mr.  Ward  H.  Lamon,  at  one  time 
Lincoln's  law-partner  at  Springfield,  Illinois.  "Azel 
Dorsey  presided  in  a  small  house  near  the  Little  Pigeon 
Creek  meeting-house,  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  Lincoln 
cabin.  It  was  built  of  unhewn  logs,  and  had  holes  for 
windows,  in  which  greased  paper  served  for  glass.  The 
roof  was  just  high  enough  for  a  man  to  stand  erect.  Here 
the  boy  was  taught  reading,  writing,  and  ciphering. 
They  spelt  in  classes,  and  *  trapped'  up  and  down.  These 
juvenile  contests  were  very  exciting  to  the  participants, 
and  it  is  said  by  the  survivors  that  Abe  was  even  then  the 
equal,  if  not  the  superior,  of  any  scholar  in  his  class.  The 
next  teacher  was  Andrew  Crawford.  Mrs.  Gentry  says 
he  began  teaching  in  the  neighborhood  in  the  winter  of 
1822-3.  Crawford  'kept  school '  in  the  same  little  school- 
house  which  had  been  the  scene  of  Dorsey 's  labors,  and 
the  windows  were  still  adorned  with  the  greased  leaves  of 
old  copybooks  that  had  come  dowrn  from  Dorsey's  time. 
Abe  was  now  in  his  fifteenth  year,  and  began  to  exhibit 
symptoms  of  gallantry  toward  the  other  sex.  He  was 
growing  at  a  tremendous  rate,  and  two  years  later  attained 
his  full  height  of  six  feet  and  four  inches.  He  wore  low 
shoes,  buckskin  breeches,  linsey-woolsey  shirt,  and  a  cap 
made  of  the  skin  of  a  'possum  or  a  coon.  The  breeches 
clung  close  to  his  thighs  and  legs,  and  failed  by  a  large 
space  to  meet  the  tops  of  his  shoes.  He  would  always 
come  to  school  thus,  good-humoredly  and  laughing.  He 
was  always  in  good  health,  never  sick,  had  an  excellent 
constitution  and  took  care  of  it." 
Crawford  taught  "manners"   —  a  feature  of  backwoods 
education  to  which  Dorsey  had  not  aspired.     Crawford
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     13 
had  doubtless  introduced  it  as  a  refinement  which  would 
put  to  shame  the  humble  efforts  of  his  predecessor.  One 
of  the  scholars  was  required  to  retire,  and  then  to  re-enter 
the  room  as  a  polite  gentleman  is  supposed  to  enter  a 
drawing-room.  He  was  received  at  the  door  by  another 
scholar  and  conducted  from  bench  to  bench  until  he  had 
been  introduced  to  all  the  young  ladies  and  gentlemen  in 
the  room.  Lincoln  went  through  the  ordeal  countless 
times.  If  he  took  a  serious  view  of  the  performance  it 
must  have  put  him  to  exquisite  torture,  for  he  was  con 
scious  that  he  was  not  a  perfect  type  of  manly  beauty. 
If,  however,  it  struck  him  as  at  all  funny,  it  must  have 
filled  him  with  unspeakable  mirth  to  be  thus  gravely  led 
about,  angular  and  gawky,  under  the  eyes  of  the  precise 
Crawford,  to  be  introduced  to  the  boys  and  girls  of  his 
acquaintance. 
While  in  Crawford's  school  the  lad  wrote  his  first  com 
positions.  The  exercise  was  not  required  by  the  teacher, 
but,  as  Nat  Grigsby  has  said,  "he  took  it  up  on  his  own 
account."  At  first  he  wrote  only  short  sentences  against 
cruelty  to  animals,  but  at  last  came  forward  with  a  regular 
composition^  on  the  subject.  He  was  annoyed  and  pained 
by  the  conduct  of  the  boys  who  were  in  the  habit  of  catch 
ing  terrapins  and  putting  coals  of  fire  on  their  backs. 
"He  would  chide  us,"  says  Grigsby,  "tell  us  it  was  wrong, 
and  would  write  against  it." 
One  who  has  had  the  privilege  of  looking  over  some  of 
the  boyish  possessions  of  Lincoln  says:  "Among  the  most 
touching  relics  which  I  saw  was  an  old  copy-book  in  which, 
at  the  age  of  fourteen,  Lincoln  had  taught  himself  to  write 
and  cipher.  Scratched  in  his  boyish  hand  on  the  first 
page  were  these  lines: 
Abraham  Lincoln 
his  hand  and  pen. 
he  will  be  good  but 
god  knows  When"
14     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
The  boy's  thirst  for  learning  was  not  to  be  satisfied  with 
the  meagre  knowledge  furnished  in  the  miserable  schools 
was  able  to  attend  at  long  intervals.  His  step-mother 
says:  "He  read  diligently.  He  read  everything  he  could 
lay  his  hands  on,  and  when  he  came  across  a  passage  that 
struck  him  he  would  write  it  down  on  boards,  if  he  had 
no  paper,  and  keep  it  until  he  had  got  paper.  Then  he 
would  copy  it,  look  at  it,  commit  it  to  memory,  and 
repeat  it.  He  kept  a  scrap-book  into  which  he  copied 
everything  which  particularly  pleased  him."  Mr.  Arnold 
further  states:  "There  were  no  libraries  and  but  few 
books  in  the  back  settlements  in  which  Lincoln  lived. 
If  by  chance  he  heard  of  a  book  that  he  had  not  read  he 
would  walk  miles  to  borrow  it.  Among  other  volumes 
borrowed  from  Crawford  was  Weems's  Life  of  Washington. 
He  read  it  with  great  earnestness.  He  took  it  to  bed  with 
him  in  the  loft  and  read  till  his  *  nubbin'  of  candle  burned 
out.  Then  he  placed  the  book  between  the  logs  of  the 
cabin,  that  it  might  be  near  as  soon  as  it  was  light  enough 
in  the  morning  to  read.  In  the  night  a  heavy  rain  came 
Ip  
and  he  awoke  to  find  his  book  wet  through  and  through. 
)rying  it  as  well  as  he  could,  he  went  to  Crawford  and 
told  him  of  the  mishap.  As  he  had  no  money  to  pay  for 
the  injured  book,  he  offered  to  work  out  the  value  of  it. 
Crawford  fixed  the  price  at  three  days'  work,  and  the  future 
President  pulled  corn  for  three  days,  thus  becoming  owner 
of  the  coveted  volume."  In  addition  to  this,  he  was  for 
tunate  enough  to  get  hold  of  ^Esop's  Fables,  Pilgrim's 
Progress,  and  the  lives  of  Benjamin  Franklin  and  Henry 
Clay.  He  made  these  books  his  own  by  conning  them  over 
and  over,  copying  the  more  impressive  portions  until  they 
were  firmly  fixed  in  his  memory.  Commenting  upon  the 
value  of  this  sort  of  mental  training,  Dr.  Holland  wisely 
remarks:  "Those  who  have  witnessed  the  dissipating 
effect  of  many  books  upon  the  minds  of  modern  children 
do  not  find  it  hard  to  believe  that  Abraham  Lincoln's
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     15 
poverty  of  books  was  the  wealth  of  his  life.  The  few  he 
had  did  much  to  perfect  the  teaching  which  his  mother 
had  begun,  and  to  form  a  character  which  for  quaint 
simplicity,  earnestness,  truthfulness,  and  purity,  has  never 
been  surpassed  among  the  historic  personages  of  the 
world." 
It  may  well  have  been  that  Lincoln's  lack  of  books  and 
the  means  of  learning  threw  him  upon  his  own  resources 
and  led  him  into  those  modes  of  thought,  of  quaint  and  apt 
illustration  and  logical  reasoning,  so  peculiar  to  him.  At 
any  rate,  it  is  certain  that  books  can  no  more  make  a 
character  like  Lincoln  than  they  can  make  a  poet  like 
Shakespeare. 
"By  books  may  Learning  sometimes  befall, 
But  Wisdom  never  by  books  at  all,"  — 
a  saying  peculiarly  true  of  a  man  such  as  Lincoln. 
A  testimonial  to  the  influence  of  this  early  reading  upon 
his  childish  mind  was  given  by  Lincoln  himself  many 
years  afterwards.  While  on  his  way  to  Washington  to 
assume  the  duties  of  the  Presidency  he  passed  through 
Trenton,  New  Jersey,  and  in  a  speech  made  in  the  Senate 
Chamber  at  that  place  he  said:  "May  I  be  pardoned  if, 
upon  this  occasion,  I  mention  that  away  back  in  my  child 
hood,  in  the  earliest  days  of  my  being  able  to  read,  I  got 
hold  of  a  small  book  —  such  a  one  as  few  of  the  younger 
members  have  seen,  Weems's  Life  of  Washington.  I 
remember  all  the  accounts  there  given  of  the  battle-fields 
and  struggles  for  the  liberties  of  the  country;  and  none 
fixed  themselves  upon  my  imagination  so  deeply  as  the 
struggle  here  at  Trenton.  The  crossing  of  the  river,  the 
contest  with  the  Hessians,  the  great  hardships  endured 
at  that  time,  all  fixed  themselves  in  my  memory  more  than 
any  single  Revolutionary  event ;  and  you  all  know,  for  you 
have  all  been  boys,  how  these  early  impressions  last  longer 
than  any  others.  I  recollect  thinking  then,  boy  even
16     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
though  I  was,  that  there  must  have  been  something  more 
than  common  that  these  men  struggled  for.  I  am  exceed 
ingly  anxious  that  that  thing  which  they  struggled  for, 
that  something  even  more  than  National  Independence, 
that  something  that  held  out  a  great  promise  to  all  the 
people  of  the  world  for  all  time  to  come,  I  am  exceedingly 
anxious  that  this  Union,  the  Constitution,  and  the  liberties 
of  the  people,  shall  be  perpetuated  in  accordance  with  the 
original  idea  for  which  that  struggle  was  made." 
Another  incident  in  regard  to  the  ruined  volume  which 
Lincoln  had  borrowed  from  Crawford  is  related  by  Mr. 
Lamon.  "For  a  long  time,"  he  says,  "there  was  one 
person  in  the  neighborhood  for  whom  Lincoln  felt  a  decided 
dislike,  and  that  was  Josiah  Crawford,  who  had  made  him 
pull  fodder  for  three  days  to  pay  for  Weems's  Washington. 
On  that  score  he  was  hurt  and  mad,  and  declared  he  would 
have  revenge: — 'BtTtHbeiftg^a  poor  boy,  a  fact  of  which 
Crawford  had  already  takenshameful  advantage  when  he 
extorted  three  days'  labor,  Abe  was  glad  to  get  work  any 
where,  and  frequently  hired  out  to  his  old  adversary. 
His  first  business  in^Crawford's  employ  was  daubing  the 
cabin,  which  was  built  of  unhewn  logs  with  the  bark  on. 
In  the  loft  of  this  house,  thus  finished  by  his  own  hands, 
he  slept  for  many  weeks  at  a  time.  He  spent  his  evenings 
as  he  did  at  home,  —  writing  on  wooden  shovels  or  boards 
with  'a  coal,  or  keel,  from  the  branch.'  This  family  was 
rich  in  the  possession  of  several  books,  which  Abe  read 
through  time  and  again,  according  to  his  usual  custom. 
One  of  the  books  was  the  *  Kentucky  Preceptor/  from 
which  Mrs.  Crawford  insists  that  he*  learned  his  school  ora 
tions,  speeches,  and  pieces  to  write.'  She  tells  us  also  that 
'Abe  was  a  sensitive  lad,  never  coming  where  he  was  not 
wanted' ;  that  he  always  lifted  his  hat,  and  bowed,  when 
he  made  his  appearance;  and  that  *  he  was  tender  and  kind,' 
like  his  sister,  who  was  at  the  same  time  her  maid-of -all- 
work.  His  pay  was  twenty-five  cents  a  day;  'and  when
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     17 
he  missed  time,  he  would  not  charge  for  it.'  This  latter 
remark  of  Mrs.  Crawford  reveals  the  fact  that  her  husband 
was  in  the  habit  of  docking  Abe  on  his  miserable  wages 
whenever  he  happened  to  lose  a  few  minutes  from  steady 
work.  The  time  came,  however,  when  Lincoln  got  his 
revenge  for  all  this  petty  brutality.  Crawford  was  as 
ugly  as  he  was  surly.  His  nose  was  a  monstrosity  —  long 
and  crooked,  with  a  huge  mis-shapen  stub  at  the  end, 
surmounted  by  a  host  of  pimples,  and  the  whole  as  blue 
as  the  usual  state  of  Mr.  Crawford's  spirits.  Upon  this 
member  Abe  levelled  his  attacks,  in  rhyme,  song,  and 
chronicle;  and  though  he  could  not  reduce  the  nose  he 
gave  it  a  fame  as  wide  as  to  the  Wabash  and  the  Ohio. 
It  is  not  improbable  that  he  learned  the  art  of  making  the 
doggerel  rhymes  in  which  he  celebrated  Crawford's  nose 
from  the  study  of  Crawford's  own  '  Kentucky  Preceptor.' " 
Lincoln's  sister  Sarah  was  warmly  attached  to  him,  but 
was  taken  from  his  companionship  at  an  early  age.  It  is 
said  that  her  face  somewhat  resembled  his,  that  in  repose 
it  had  the  gravity  which  they  both  inherited  from  their 
mother,  but  it  was  capable  of  being  lighted  almost  into 
beauty  by  one  of  her  brother's  ridiculous  stories  or  sallies  of 
humor.  She  was  a  modest,  plain,  industrious  girl,  and  was 
remembered  kindly  by  all  who  knew  her.  She  was  mar 
ried  to  Aaron  Grigsby  at  eighteen,  and  died  a  year  later. 
Like  her  brother,  she  occasionally  worked  at  the  houses 
of  the  neighbors.  She  lies  buried,  not  with  her  mother, 
but  in  the  yard  of  the  old  Pigeon  Creek  meeting-house. 
A  story  which  belongs  to  this  period  was  told  by 
Lincoln  himself  to  Mr.  Seward  and  a  few  friends  one 
evening  in  the  Executive  Mansion  at  Washington.  The 
President  said:  "Seward,  you  never  heard,  did  you, 
how  I  earned  my  first  dollar?"  "No,"  rejoined  Mr. 
Seward.  "Well,"  continued  Mr.  Lincoln,  "I  belonged, 
you  know,  to  what  they  call  down  South  the  *  scrubs.' 
We  had  succeeded  in  raising,  chiefly  by  my  labor,  sufficient
18     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
produce,  as  I  thought,  to  justify  me  in  taking  it  down 
the  river  to  sell.  After  much  persuasion,  I  got  the  consent 
of  mother  to  go,  and  constructed  a  little  flatboat,  large 
enough  to  take  a  barrel  or  two  of  things  that  we  had 
gathered,  with  myself  and  the  bundle,  down  to  the  South 
ern  market.  A  steamer  was  coming  down  the  river.  We 
have,  you  know,  no  wharves  on  the  Western  streams;  and 
the  custom  was,  if  passengers  were  at  any  of  the  landings, 
for  them  to  go  out  in  a  boat,  the  steamer  stopping  and 
taking  them  on  board.  I  was  contemplating  my  new 
flatboat,  and  wondering  whether  I  could  make  it  stronger 
or  improve  it  in  any  way,  when  two  men  came  down  to 
the  shore  in  carriages  with  trunks.  Looking  at  the 
different  boats,  they  singled  out  mine  and  asked,  'Who 
owns  this?'  I  answered  somewhat  modestly,  'I  do.' 
*Will  you  take  us  and  our  trunks  to  the  steamer?'  asked 
one  of  them.  'Certainly,'  said  I.  I  was  glad  to  have  the 
chance  of  earning  something.  I  supposed  that  each  of 
them  would  give  me  two  or  three  bits.  The  trunks  were 
put  on  my  flatboat,  the  passengers  seated  themselves  on 
the  trunks,  and  I  sculled  them  out  to  the  steamer.  They 
got  on  board,  and  I  lifted  up  their  heavy  trunks  and  put 
them  on  the  deck.  The  steamer  was  about  to  put  on 
steam  again,  when  I  called  out  to  them  that  they  had 
forgotten  to  pay  me.  Each  man  took  from  his  pocket  a 
silver  half-dollar  and  threw  it  into  the  bottom  of  my  boat. 
I  could  scarcely  believe  my  eyes.  Gentlemen,  you  may 
think  it  a  little  thing,  and  in  these  days  it  seems  to  me  a 
/  trifle;  but  it  was  a  great  event  in  my  life.  I  could  scarcely 
credit  that  I,  a  poor  boy,  had  earned  a  dollar  in  less  than 
a  day,  —  that  by  honest  work  I  had  earned  a  dollar.  The 
world  seemed  wider  and  fairer  to  me.  I  was  a  more 
hopeful  and  confident  being  from  that  time." 
Notwithstanding  the  limitations  of  every  kind  which 
hemmed  in  the  life  of  young  Lincoln,  he  had  an  instinctive 
feeling,  born  perhaps  of  his  eager  ambition,  that  he  should
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     19 
one  day  attain  an  exalted  position.     The  first  betrayal  of 
this  premonition  is  thus  related  by  Mr.  Arnold: 
"Lincoln  attended  court  at  Booneville,  to  witness  a 
murder  trial,  at  which  one  of  the  Breckenridges  from 
Kentucky  made  a  very  eloquent  speech  for  the  defense. 
The  boy  was  carried  away  with  admiration,  and  was  so 
enthusiastic  that,  although  a  perfect  stranger,  he  could 
not  resist  expressing  his  admiration  to  Breckenridge. 
He  wanted  to  be  a  lawyer.  He  went  home,  dreamed  of  ^- 
courts,  and  got  up  mock  trials,  at  which  he  would  defend 
imaginary  prisoners.  Several  of  his  companions  at  this 
period  of  his  life,  as  well  as  those  who  knew  him  after  he 
went  to  Illinois,  declare  that  he  was  often  heard  to  say, 
not  in  joke,  but  seriously,  as  if  he  were  deeply  impressed 
rather  than  elated  with  the  idea:v  'I  shall  some  day  be  \ 
President  of  the  United  States.'  It  is  stated  by  many  I 
of  Lincoln's  old  friends  that  he  often  said  while  still 
an  obscure  man,  'Some  day  I  shall  be  President.'  He 
undoubtedly  had  for  years  some  presentiment  of  this." 
At  seventeen  Lincoln  wrote  a  clear,  neat,  legible  hand,i  i 
was  quick  at  figures  and  able  to  solve  easily  any  arithmet- 1 
ical  problem  not  going  beyond  the  "Rule  of  Three."  Mr. 
Arnold,  noting  these  facts,  says:  "I  have  in  my  posses 
sion  a  few  pages  from  his  manuscript  'Book  of  Examples 
in  Arithmetic.'  One  of  these  is  dated  March  1,  1826, 
and  headed  'Discount,'  and  then  follows,  in  his  careful 
handwriting:  'A  definition  of  Discount,'  'Rules  for  its 
computation,'  'Proofs  and  Various  Examples,'  worked 
out  in  figures,  etc.;  then  'Interest  on  money'  is  treated 
in  the  same  way,  all  in  his  own  handwriting.  I  doubt 
whether  it  would  be  easy  to  find  among  scholars  of  our 
common  or  high  schools,  or  any  school  of  boys  of  the  age 
of  seventeen,  a  better  written  specimen  of  this  sort  of 
work,  or  a  better  knowledge  of  figures  than  is  indicated  by 
this  book  of  Lincoln's,  written  at  the  age  of  seventeen." 
In  March,   1828,  Lincoln  went  to  work  for  old  Mr.
20     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
Gentry,   the  founder  of   Gentry ville.     "Early  the  next 
month  the  old  gentleman  furnished  his  son  Allen  with  a 
boat  and  a  cargo  of  bacon  and  other  produce  with  which 
he  was  to  go  to  New  Orleans  unless  the  stock  should  be 
sooner  disposed  of.     Abe,  having  been  found  faithful  and 
efficient,  was  employed  to  accompany  the  young  man. 
>He  was  paid  eight  dollars  per  month,  and  ate  and  slept  on 
/     board."     The  entire  business  of  the  trip  was  placed  in 
Abraham's  hands.     The  fact  tells  its  own  story  touching 
the  young  man's  reputation  for  capacity  and  integrity. 
He  had  never  made  the  trip,  knew  nothing  of  the  journey, 
was  unaccustomed  to  business  transactions,  had  never 
been  much  upon  the  river,  but  his  tact  and  ability  and 
/Jlonesty  were  so  far  trusted  that  the  trader  was  willing  to 
risk  the  cargo  in  his  care.     The  delight  with  which  the 
youth  swung  loose  from  the  shore  upon  his  clumsy  craft, 
with  the  prospect  of  a  ride  of  eighteen  hundred  miles 
before  him,  and  a  vision  of  the  great  world  of  which  he  had 
read  and  thought  so  much,  may  be  imagined.     At  this 
time  he  had  become  a  very  tall  and  powerful  young  man. 
He  had  reached  the  height  of  six  feet  and  four  inches,  a 
/    length  of  trunk  and  limb  remarkable  even  among  the  tall 
I     race  of  pioneers  to  which  he  belonged. 
Just  before  the  river  expedition,  Lincoln  had  walked 
with  a  young  girl  down  to  the  river  to  show  her  his  flat- 
boat.  She  relates  a  circumstance  of  the  evening  which 
is  full  of  significance.  "We  were  sitting  on  the  banks  of 
the  Ohio,  or  rather  on  the  boat  he  had  made.  I  said  to 
Abe  that  the  sun  was  going  down.  He  said  to  me,  'That's 
not  so;  it  don't  really  go  down;  it  seems  so.  The  earth 
turns  from  west  to  east  and  the  revolution  of  the  earth 
carries  us  under;  we  do  the  sinking,  as  you  call  it.  The 
S  sun,  as  to  us,  is  comparatively  still;  the  sun's  sinking  is 
only  an  appearance.'  I  replied,  'Abe,  what  a  fool  you 
are!'  I  know  now  that  I  was  the  fool,  not  Lincoln.  I 
am  now  thoroughly  satisfied  that  he  knew  the  general
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     21 
laws  of  astronomy  and  the  movements  of  the  heavenly 
bodies.  He  was  better  read  then  than  the  world  knows 
or  is  likely  to  know  exactly.  No  man  could  talk  to  me  as 
he  did  that  night  unless  he  had  known  something  of 
geography  as  well  as  astronomy.  He  often  commented  or 
talked  to  me  about  what  he  had  read,  —  seemed  to  read 
it  out  of  the  book  as  he  went  along.  He  was  the  learned 
boy  among  us  unlearned  folks.  He  took  great  pains  to 
explain;  could  do  it  so  simply.  He  was  diffident,  too." 
But  another  change  was  about  to  come  into  the  life  of 
Abraham  Lincoln.  In  1830  his  father  set  forth  once  more 
on  the  trail  of  the  emigrant.  He  had  become  dissatisfied 
with  his  location  in  southern  Indiana,  and  hearing  favor 
able  reports  of  the  prairie  lands  of  Illinois  hoped  for  better 
fortunes  there.  He  parted  with  his  farm  and  prepared  for 
the  journey  to  Macon  County,  Illinois.  Abraham  visited 
the  neighbors  and  bade  them  goodbye;  but  on  the  morning 
selected  for  their  departure,  when  it  came  time  to  start,  , 
he  was  missing.  He  was  found  weeping  at  his  mother's 
grave,  whither  he  had  gone  as  soon  as  it  was  light.  The 
thought  of  leaving  her  behind  filled  him  with  unspeakable 
anguish.  The  household  goods  were  loaded,  the  oxen 
yoked,  the  family  got  into  the  covered  wagon,  and  Lincoln  « | 
took  his  place  by  the  oxen  to  drive.  One  of  the  neighbors 
has  said  of  this  incident:  "Well  do  I  remember  the  day 
the  Lincolns  left  for  Illinois.  Little  did  I  think  that  I 
was  looking  at  a  boy  who  would  one  day  be  President  of 
the  United  States!" 
An  interesting  personal  sketch  of  Thomas  Lincoln  is 
given  by  Mr.  George  B.  Balch,  who  was  for  many  years  a 
resident  of  Lerna,  Coles  County,  Illinois.  Among  other 
things  he  says:  "Thomas  Lincoln,  father  of  the  great 
President,  was  called  Uncle  Tommy  by  his  friends  and 
Old  Tom  Lincoln  by  other  people.  His  property  consisted 
of  an  old  horse,  a  pair  of  oxen  and  a  few  sheep  —  seven  or 
eight  head.  My  father  bought  two  of  the  sheep,  they
22     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
being  the  first  we  owned  after  settling  in  Illinois.  Thomas 
Lincoln  was  a  large,  bulky  man,  six  feet  tall  and  weighing 
about  two  hundred  pounds.  He  was  large-boned,  coarse- 
featured,  had  a  large  blunt  nose,  florid  complexion,  light 
sandy  hair  and  whiskers.  He  was  slow  in  speech  and  slow 
in  gait.  His  whole  appearance  denoted  a  man  of  small 
intellect  and  less  ambition.  It  is  generally  supposed  that 
he  was  a  farmer;  and  such  he  was,  if  one  who  tilled  so 
little  land  by  such  primitive  modes  could  be  so  called. 
He  never  planted  more  than  a  few  acres,  and  instead  of 
gathering  and  hauling  his  crop  in  a  wagon  he  usually 
carried  it  in  baskets  or  large  trays.  He  was  uneducated, 
illiterate,  content  with  living  from  hand  to  mouth.  His 
death  occurred  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  January,  1851. 
He  was  buried  in  a  neighboring  country  graveyard,  about 
a  mile  north  of  Janesville,  Coles  County.  There  was 
nothing  to  mark  the  place  of  his  burial  until  February, 
1861,  when  Abraham  Lincoln  paid  a  last  visit  to  his  grave 
just  before  he  left  Springfield  for  Washington.  On  a  piece 
of  oak  board  he  cut  the  letters  T.  L.  and  placed  it  at  the 
head  of  the  grave.  It  was  carried  away  by  some  relic- 
hunter,  and  the  place  remained  as  before,  with  nothing 
to  mark  it,  until  the  spring  of  1876.  Then  the  writer, 
fearing  that  the  grave  of  Lincoln's  father  would  become 
entirely  unknown,  succeeded  in  awakening  public  opinion 
on  the  subject.  Soon  afterward  a  marble  shaft  twelve 
feet  high  was  erected,  bearing  on  its  western  face  this 
inscription : 
THOMAS    LINCOLN 
FATHER    OF 
THE    MARTYRED    PRESIDENT. 
BORN 
JAN.  6th,  1778 
DIED 
JAN.  15th,  1851. 
LINCOLN.
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     23 
''And  now,"  concluded  Mr.  Balch,  "I  have  given  all 
that  can  be  known  of  Thomas  Lincoln.  I  have  written 
impartially  and  with  a  strict  regard  to  facts  which  can  be 
substantiated  by  many  of  the  old  settlers  in  this  county. 
Thomas  Lincoln  was  a  harmless  and  honest  man.  Beyond 
this,  one  will  search  in  vain  for  any  ancestral  clue  to  the 
greatness  of  Abraham  Lincoln." 
After  reaching  the  new  home  in  Illinois,  young  Lincoln 
worked  with  his  father  until  things  were  in  shape  for 
comfortable  living.  He  helped  to  build  the  log  cabin, 
break  up  the  new  land  and  fence  it  in,  splitting  the  rails 
with  his  own  hands.  It  was  these  very  rails  over  which 
so  much  sentiment  was  expended  years  afterward  at  an 
important  epoch  in  Lincoln's  political  career.  During  the 
sitting  of  the  State  Convention  at  Decatur,  a  banner 
attached  to  two  of  these  rails  and  bearing  an  appropriate 
inscription  was  brought  into  the  assemblage  and  formally 
presented  to  that  body  amid  a  scene  of  unparalleled 
enthusiasm.  After  that  they  were  in  demand  in  every 
State  of  the  Union  in  which  free  labor  wras  honored.  They 
were  borne  in  processions  by  the  people,  and  hailed  by 
hundreds  of  thousands  as  a  symbol  of  triumph  and  a 
glorious  vindication  of  freedom  and  of  the  right  and 
dignity  of  labor.  These,  however,  were  not  the  first  rails 
made  by  Lincoln.  He  was  a  practiced  hand  at  the 
business.  As  a  memento  of  his  pioneer  accomplishment 
he  preserved  in  later  years  a  cane  made  from  a  rail  which 
he  had  split  on  his  father's  farm. 
The  next  important  record  of  Lincoln's  career  connects 
him  with  Mr.  Denton  Offutt.  The  circumstances  which 
brought  him  into  this  relation  are  thus  narrated  by  Mr.  J. 
H.  Barrett:  "While  there  was  snow  on  the  ground,  at  the 
close  of  the  year  1830,  or  early  in  1831,  a  man  came  to  that 
part  of  Macon  County  where  young  Lincoln  was  living, 
in  pursuit  of  hands  to  aid  him  in  a  flatboat  voyage  down  the 
Mississippi.  The  fact  was  known  that  the  youth  had  once
24     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
made  such  a  trip,  and  his  services  were  sought  for  this  • 
occasion.  As  one  who  had  his  own  subsistence  to  earn, 
with  no  capital  but  his  hands,  he  accepted  the  proposition 
/made  him.  Perhaps  there  was  something  of  his  inherited 
and  acquired  fondness  for  exciting  adventure  impelling 
him  to  this  decision.  With  him  were  also  employed  his 
former  fellow-laborer,  John  Hanks,  and  a  son  of  his  step 
mother  named  John  Johnston.  In  the  spring  of  1831 
Lincoln  set  out  to  fulfil  his  engagement.  The  floods  had 
so  swollen  the  streams  that  the  Sangamon  country  was  a 
vast  sea  before  him.  His  first  entrance  into  that  county 
was  over  these  wide-spread  waters  in  a  canoe.  The  time 
had  come  to  join  his  employer  on  his  journey  to  New 
Orleans,  but  the  latter  had  been  disappointed  by  another 
person  on  whom  he  relied  to  furnish  him  a  boat  on  the 
Illinois  river.  Accordingly  all  hands  set  to  work,  and 
themselves  built  a  boat  on  that  river,  for  their  purposes. 
This  done,  they  set  out  on  their  long  trip,  making  a 
successful  voyage  to  New  Orleans  and  back." 
Mr.  Herndon  says :  "  Mr.  Lincoln  came  into  Sangamon 
County  down  the  North  Fork  of  the  Sangamon  river,  in 
a  frail  canoe,  in  the  spring  of  1831.  I  can  see  from 
where  I  write  the  identical  place  where  he  cut  the  tim 
bers  for  his  flatboat,  which  he  built  at  a  little  village 
called  Sangamon  Town,  seven  miles  northwest  of  Spring 
field.  Here  he  had  it  loaded  with  corn,  wheat,  bacon,  and 
other  provisions  destined  for  New  Orleans,  at  which  place 
he  landed  in  the  month  of  May,  1831.  He  returned  home 
in  June  of  that  year,  and  finally  settled  in  another  little 
village  called  New  Salem,  on  the  high  bluffs  of  the  Sanga 
mon  river,  then  in  Sangamon  County  and  now  in  Menard 
County,  and  about  twenty  miles  northwest  of  Springfield." 
The   practical    and    ingenious    character   of   Lincoln's 
/mind  is  shown  in  the   act  that  several  years  after  his  river 
experience  he  invented  and  patented  a  device  for  over 
coming  some  of  the  difficulties  in  the  navigation  of  western
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     25 
rivers  with  which  this  trip  had  made  him  familiar.  The 
following  interesting  account  of  this  invention  is  given: 
"Occupying  an  ordinary  and  commonplace  position  in 
one  of  the  show-cases  in  the  large  hall  of  the  Patent  Office 
is  one  little  model  which  in  ages  to  come  will  be  prized 
as  one  of  the  most  curious  and  most  sacred  relics  in  that 
vast  museum  of  unique  and  priceless  things.  This  is  a 
plain  and  simple  model  of  a  steamboat  roughly  fashioned 
in  wood  by  the  hand  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  It  bears  date 
1849,  when  the  inventor  was  known  simply  as  a  successful 
lawyer  and  rising  politician  of  Central  Illinois.  Neither 
his  practice  nor  his  politics  took  up  so  much  of  his  time  as 
to  prevent  him  from  giving  some  attention  to  contrivances 
which  he  hoped  might  be  of  benefit  to  the  world  and  of 
profit  to  himself.  The  design  of  this  invention  is  sugges 
tive  of  one  phase  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  early  life,  when  he 
went  up  and  down  the  Mississippi  as  a  flatboatman  and 
became  familiar  with  some  of  the  dangers  and  incon 
veniences  attending  the  navigation  of  the  western  rivers. 
It  is  an  attempt  to  make  it  an  easy  matter  to  transport 
vessels  over  shoals  and  snags  and  'sawyers.'  The  main 
idea  is  that  of  an  apparatus  resembling  a  noiseless  bellows 
placed  on  each  side  of  the  hull  of  the  craft  just  below  the 
water  line  and  worked  by  an  odd  but  not  complicated 
system  of  ropes,  valves,  and  pulleys.  When  the  keel  of 
the  vessel  grates  against  the  sand  or  obstruction  these 
bellows  are  to  be  filled  with  air,  and  thus  buoyed  up  the 
ship  is  expected  to  float  lightly  and  gayly  oVer  the  shoal 
which  would  otherwise  have  proved  a  serious  interruption 
to  her  voyage.  The  model,  which  is  about  eighteen  or 
twenty  inches  long  and  has  the  appearance  of  having  been 
whittled  with  a  knife  out  of  a  shingle  and  a  cigar-box,  is 
built  without  any  elaboration  or  ornament  or  any  extra 
apparatus  beyond  that  necessary  to  show  the  operation  of 
buoying  the  steamer  over  the  obstructions.  It  is  carved 
as  one  might  imagine  a  retired  railsplitter  would  whittle,
26     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
strongly  but  not  smoothly,  and  evidently  made  with  a 
view  solely  to  convey  to  the  minds  of  the  patent  au 
thorities,  by  the  simplest  possible  means,  an  idea  of  the 
purpose  and  plan  of  the  invention.  The  label  on  the 
steamer's  deck  informs  us  that  the  patent  was  obtained; 
but  we  do  not  learn  that  the  navigation  of  the  western 
rivers  was  revolutionized  by  this  quaint  conception.  The 
modest  little  model  has  reposed  here  for  many  years,  and 
the  inventor  has  found  it  his  task  to  guide  the  ship  of  state 
over  shoals  more  perilous  and  obstructions  more  obstinate 
than  any  prophet  dreamed  of  when  Abraham  Lincoln 
wrote  his  bold  autograph  across  the  prow  of  his  miniature 
steamer." 
At  the  conclusion  of  his  trip  to  New  Orleans,  Lincoln's 
employer,  Mr.  Offutt,  entered  into  mercantile  trade  at 
New  Salem,  a  settlement  on  the  Sangamon  river,  in 
Menard  County,  two  miles  from  Petersburg,  the  county 
seat.  He  opened  a  store  of  the  class  usually  to  be  found 
in  such  small  towns,  and  also  set  up  a  flouring-mill.  In 
the  late  expedition  down  the  Mississippi  Mr.  Offutt  had 
learned  Lincoln's  valuable  qualities,  and  was  anxious  to 
secure  his  help  in  his  new  enterprise.  Says  Mr.  Barrett: 
"For  want  of  other  immediate  employment,  and  in  the 
same  spirit  which  had  heretofore  actuated  him,  Abraham 
Lincoln  entered  upon  the  duties  of  a  clerk,  having  an  eye 
to  both  branches  of  his  employer's  business.  This  con 
nection  continued  for  nearly  a  year,  all  duties  of  his 
position  being  faithfully  performed."  It  was  to  this  year's 
humble  but  honorable  service  of  young  Lincoln  that  Mr. 
Douglas  tauntingly  alluded  in  one  of  his  speeches  during 
the  canvas^  of  1858  as  'keeping  a  groggery.' 
While  engaged  in  the  duties  of  Offutt's  store  Lincoln 
began  the  study  of  English  grammar.  There  was  not  a 
text-book  to  be  obtained  in  the  neighborhood;  but  hearing 
that  there  was  a  copy  of  Kirkham's  Grammar  in  the 
possession  of  a  person  seven  or  eight  miles  distant  he
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     27 
walked  to  his  house  and  succeeded  in  borrowing  it.  L.  M. 
Green,  a  lawyer  of  Petersburg,  in  Menard  County,  says 
that  every  time  he  visited  New  Salem  at  this  period 
Lincoln  took  him  out  upon  a  hill  and  asked  him  to  explain 
some  point  in  Kirkham  that  had  given  him  trouble.  After 
having  mastered  the  book  he  remarked  to  a  friend  that  if 
that  was  what  they  called  a  science  he  thought  he  could 
"subdue  another."  Mr.  Green  says  that  Lincoln's  talk 
at  this  time  showed  that  he  was  beginning  to  think  of  a 
great  life  and  a  great  destiny^-  Lincoln  said  to  him  on 
one  occasion  that  all  his  family  seemed  to  have  good  sense 
but  somehow  none  had  ever  become  distinguished.  He 
thought  perhaps  he  might  become  so.  He  had  talked, 
he  said,  with  men  who  had  the  reputation  of  being  great 
men,  but  he  could  not  see  that  they  differed  much  from 
others.  During  this  year  he  was  also  much  engaged  with 
debating  clubs,  often  walking  six  or  seven  miles  to  attend 
them.  One  of  these  clubs  held  its  meetings  at  an  old 
store-house  in  New  Salem,  and  the  first  speech  young 
Lincoln  ever  made  was  made  there.  He  used  to  call  the 
exercising  "practicing  polemics."  As  these  clubs  were 
composed  principally  of  men  of  no  education  whatever, 
some  of  their  "polemics"  are  remembered  as  the  most 
laughable  of  farces.  Lincoln's  favorite  newspaper  at  this 
time  was  the  "Louisville  Journal."  He  received  it  regu 
larly  by  mail,  and  paid  for  it  during  a  number  of  years 
when  he  had  not  money  enough  to  dress  decently.  He 
liked  its  politics,  and  was  particularly  delighted  with  its 
wit  and  humor,  of  which  he  had  the  keenest  appreciation. 
At  this  era  Lincoln  was  as  famous  for  his  skill  in  athletic 
sports  as  he  was  for  his  love  of  books.  Mr.  Offutt,  who 
had  a  strong  regard  for  him,  according  to  Mr.  Arnold, 
"often  declared  that  his  clerk,  or  salesman,  knew  more 
than  any  man  in  the  United  States,  and  that  he  could 
out-run,  whip,  or  throw  any  man  in  the  county.  These 
boasts  came  to  the  ears  of  the  *  Clary  Grove  Boys/  a  set
28     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
of  rude,  roystering,  good-natured  fellows,  who  lived  in  and 
around  Clary's  Grove,  a  settlement  near  New  Salem. 
Their  leader  was  Jack  Armstrong,  a  great  square-built 
fellow,  strong  as  an  ox,  who  was  believed  by  his  followers 
to  be  able  to  whip  any  man  on  the  Sangamon  river.  The 
issue  was  thus  made  between  Lincoln  and  Armstrong  as  to 
which  was  the  better  man,  and  although  Lincoln  tried  to 
avoid  such  contests,  nothing  but  an  actual  trial  of  strength 
would  satisfy  their  partisans.  They  met  and  wrestled 
for  some  time  without  any  decided  advantage  on  either 
side.  Finally  Armstrong  resorted  to  some  foul  play, 
which  roused  Lincoln's  indignation.  Putting  forth  his 
whole  strength,  he  seized  the  great  bully  by  the  neck  and 
holding  him  at  arm's  length  shook  him  like  a  boy.  The 
Clary  Grove  Boys  were  ready  to  pitch  in  on  behalf  of  their 
champion;  and  as  they  were  the  greater  part  of  the 
lookers-on,  a  general  onslaught  upon  Lincoln  seemed 
imminent.  Lincoln  backed  up  against  Offutt's  store  and 
calmly  awaited  the  attack;  but  his  coolness  and  courage 
made  such  an  impression  upon  Armstrong  that  he  stepped 
forward,  grasped  Lincoln's  hand  and  shook  it  heartily, 
saying:  'Boys,  Abe  Lincoln  is  the  best  fellow  that  ever 
broke  into  this  settlement.  He  shall  be  one  of  us.'  From 
that  day  forth  Armstrong  was  Lincoln's  friend  and  most 
willing  servitor.  His  hand,  his  table,  his  purse,  his  vote, 
and  that  of  the  Clary  Grove  Boys  as  well,  belonged  to 
Lincoln.  The  latter 's  popularrtyaniong  them  was  un 
bounded.  They  saw  that  he  would  play  fair.  He  could 
stop  a  fight  and  quell  a  disturbance  among  these  rude 
neighbors  when  all  others  failed." 
Under  whatever  circumstances  Lincoln  was  forced  into 
a  fight,  the  end  could  be  confidently  predicted.  He  was 
sure  to  thrash  his  opponent  and  gain  the  latter's  friendship 
afterwards  by  a  generous  use  of  victory.  Innumerable  in 
stances  could  be  cited  in  proof  of  this  statement.  It  vis 
related  that  "One  day  while  showing  goods  to  two  or  three
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     29 
g 
women  in  Offutt's  store,  a  bully  came  in  and  began  to 
talk  in  an  offensive  manner,  using  much  profanity  and 
evidently  wishing  to  provoke  a  quarrel.  Lincoln  leaned 
over  the  counter  and  begged  him,  as  ladies  were  present, 
not  to  indulge  in  such  talk.  The  bully  retorted  that  the 
opportunity  had  come  for  which  he  had  long  sought,  and 
he  would  like  to  see  the  man  who  could  hinder  him  from 
saying  *  anything  he  might  choose  to  say.  Lincoln,  still 
cool,  told  him  that  if  he  would  wait  until  the  ladies  retired 
he  would  hear  what  he  had  to  say  and  give  him  any  satis 
faction  he  (iesired.  As  soon  as  the  women  were  gone  the 
man  became  furious.  Lincoln  heard  his  boasts  and  his 
abuse  for  a  time,  and  finding  that  he  was  not  to  be  put  off 
without  a  fight,  said,  'Well,  if  you  must  be  whipped,  I 
suppose  I  may  as  well  whip  you  as  any  other  man.'  This 
was  just  what  the  bully  had  been  seeking,  he  said;  so  out 
of  doors  they  went.  Lincoln  made  short  work  of  him. 
He  threw  him  upon  the  ground,  and  held  him  there  as  if 
he  had  been  a  child,  and  gathering  some  'smart- weed' 
which  grew  upon  the  spot  he  rubbed  it  into  his  face  and 
eyes  until  the  fellow  bellowed  with  pain.  Lincoln  did  all 
this  without  a  particle  of  anger,  and  when  the  job  was 
finished  went  immediately  for  water,  washed  his  victim's 
face  and  did  everything  he  could  to  alleviate  his  distress. 
The  upshot  of  the  matter  was  that  the  man  became  his 
life-long  friend  and  was  a  better  man  from  that  day." 
The  chief  repute  of  a  sturdy  frontiersman  is  built  upon 
his  deeds  of  prowess,  and  the  fame  of  the  great,  rough, 
strong-limbed,  kind-hearted  Titan  was  spread  over  all  the 
country  around.  Says  Mr.  Lamon:  "On  one  occasion 
while  he  was  clerking  for  Offutt  a  stranger  came  into  the 
store  and  soon  disclosed  the  fact  that  his  name  was 
Smoot.  Abe  was  behind  the  counter  at  the  moment,  but 
hearing  the  name  he  sprang  over  and  introduced  himself. 
Abe  had  often  heard  of  Smoot  and  Smoot  had  often  heard 
of  Abe.  They  had  been  as  anxious  to  meet  as  ever  two
30     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
celebrities  were,  but  hitherto  they  had  never  been  able  to 
manage  it.  'Smoot,'  said  Lincoln,  after  a  steady  survey 
of  his  person,  'I  am  very  much  disappointed  in  you;  I 
expected  to  see  an  old  Probst  of  a  fellow.'  (Probst,  it 
appears,  was  the  most  hideous  specimen  of  humanity  in  all 
that  country).  'Yes,'  replied  Smoot,  'and  I  am  equally 
disappointed,  for  I  expected  to  see  a  good-looking  man 
when  I  saw  you.'  A  few  neat  compliments  like  the  fore 
going  laid  the  foundation  of  a  lasting  intimacy  between 
the  two  men,  and  in  his  present  distress  Lincoln  knew  no 
one  who  would  be  more  likely  than  Smoot  to  respond 
favorably  to  an  application  for  money."  After  he  was 
elected  to  the  Legislature,  says  Mr.  Smoot,  "he  came  to; 
my  house  one  day  in  company  with  Hugh  Armstrong. 
Says  he,  'Smoot,  did  you  vote  for  me?'  I  told  him  I  did. 
'Well,'  says  he,  'you  must  loan  me  money  to  buy  suitable 
clothing,  for  I  want  to  make  a  decent  appearance  in  the 
Legislature.'  I  then  loaned  him  two  hundred  dollars, 
/  which  he  returned  to  me  according  to  promise." 
Lincoln's  old  friend  W.  G.  Greene  relates  that  while  he 
was  a  student  at  the  Illinois  College  at  Jacksonville  he 
became  acquainted  with  Richard  Yates,  then  also  a  stu 
dent.  One  summer  while  Yates  was  his  guest  during  the 
vacation,  Greene  took  him  up  to  Salem  and  made  him 
acquainted  with  Lincoln.  They  found  the  latter  flat  on 
his  back  on  a  cellar  door  reading  a  newspaper.  Greene 
introduced  the  two,  and  thus  began  the  acquaintance 
between  the  future  War-Governor  of  Illinois  and  the 
future  President. 
Lincoln  was  from  boyhood  an  adept  at  expedients  for 
avoiding  any  unpleasant  predicament,  and  one  of  his 
modes  of  getting  rid  of  troublesome  friends,  as  well  as 
troublesome  enemies,  was  by  telling  a  story.  He  began 
these  tactics  early  in  life,  and  he  grew  to  be  wonderfully 
adept  in  them.  If  a  man  broached  a  subject  which  he 
did  not  wish  to  discuss,  he  told  a  story  which  changed
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     31 
the  direction  of  the  conversation.  If  he  was  called  upon 
to  answer  a  question,  he  answered  it  by  telling  a  story. 
He  had  a  story  for  everything;  something  had  occurred 
at  some  place  where  he  used  to  live  that  illustrated  every 
possible  phase  of  every  possible  subject  with  which  he 
might  have  connection.  He  acquired  the  habit  of  story 
telling  naturally,  as  we  learn  from  the  following  state 
ment:  "At  home,  with  his  step-mother  and  the  children, 
he  was  the  most  agreeable  fellow  in  the  world.  He  was 
always  ready  to  do  everything  for  everybody.  When  he" 
was  not  doing  some  special  act  of  kindness,  he  told  stories 
or  *  cracked  jokes.'  He  was  as  full  of  his  yarns  in  Indiana 
as  ever  he  was  in  Illinois.  Dennis  Hanks  was  a  clever 
hand  at  the  same  business,  and  so  was  old  Tom  Lincoln." 
It  was  while  Lincoln  was  salesman  for  Offutt  that  he 
acquired  the  sobriquet  of  "Honest  Abe."  Says  Mr. 
Arnold:  "Of  many  incidents  illustrating  his  integrity, 
one  or  two  may  be  mentioned.  One  evening  he  found  his 
cash  overran  a  little,  and  he  discovered  that  in  making 
change  for  his  last  customer,  an  old  woman  who  had  come 
in  a  little  before  sundown,  he  had  made  a  mistake,  not 
having  given  her  quite  enough.  Although  the  amount 
was  small,  a  few  cents,  he  took  the  money,  immediately 
walked  to  her  house,  and  corrected  the  error.  At  another 
time,  on  his  arrival  at  the  store  in  the  morning,  he  found 
on  the  scales  a  weight  which  he  remembered  having  used 
just  before  closing,  but  which  was  not  the  one  he  had 
intended  to  use.  He  had  sold  a  parcel  of  tea,  and  in  the 
hurry  had  placed  the  wrong  weight  on  the  scales,  so  that 
the  purchaser  had  a  few  ounces  less  of  tea  than  had  been 
paid  for.  He  immediately  sent  the  quantity  required  to 
make  up  the  deficiency.  These  and  many  similar  incidents 
are  told  regarding  his  scrupulous  honesty  in  the  most 
trifling  matters.  It  was  for  such  things  as  these  that 
people  gave  him  the  name  which  clung  to  him  as  long  as  he 
lived."
32     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
It  was  in  the  summer  of  1831  that  Abraham  Lincoln 
performed  his  first  official  act.  Minter  Graham,  the 
school-teacher,  tells  the  story.  "On  the  day  of  the 
election,  in  the  month  of  August,  Abe  was  seen  loitering 
»  about  the  polling  place.  It  was  but  a  few  days  after  his 
arrival  in  New  Salem.  They  were  *  short  of  a  clerk'  at 
the  polls;  and,  after  casting  about  in  vain  for  some  one 
competent  to  fill  the  office,  it  occurred  to  one  of  the 
judges  that  perhaps  the  tall  stranger  possessed  the  needful 
qualifications.  He  thereupon  accosted  him,  and  asked  if 
he  could  write.  He  replied,  'Yes,  a  little.'  'Will  you 
/act  as  clerk  of  the  election  to-day?'  said  the  judge.  'I 
will  try,'  returned  Abe,  'and  do  the  best  I  can,  if  you  so 
request.'"  He  did  try  accordingly,  and,  in  the  language 
of  the  schoolmaster,  "performed  the  duties  with  great 
.facility,  firmness,  honesty,  and  impartiality.  I  clerked 
/with  him,"  says  Mr.  Graham,  "on  the  same  day  and  at 
the  same  polls.  The  election  books  are  now  in  the  city 
of  Springfield,  where  they  can  be  seen  and  inspected 
any  day." 
That  the  foregoing  anecdotes  bearing  on  the  early  life 
of  Abraham  Lincoln  are  approximately  correct  is  borne 
out  by  Lincoln  himself.  At  the  urgent  request  of  Hon. 
Jesse  W.  Fell,  of  Bloomington,  Illinois,  Lincoln  wrote  a 
sketch  of  himself  to  be  used  during  the  campaign  of  1860. 
In  a  note  which  accompanied  the  sketch  he  said:  "Here 
with  is  a  little  sketch,  as  you  requested.  There  is  not 
much  to  it,  for  the  reason,  I  suppose,  that  there  is  not 
niuch  of  me.  If  anything  be  made  out  of  it  I  wish  it  to  be 
modest  and  not  to  go  beyond  the  material."  The  letter  is 
as  follows: 
I  was  born  Feb.  12, 1809,  in  Hardin  County,  Kentucky. 
My  parents  were  both  born  in  Virginia,  of  undistinguish- 
able  families  —  second  families,  perhaps  I  should  say. 
My  mother,  who  died  in  my  tenth  year,  was  of  a  family  of 
the  name  of  Hanks,  some  of  whom  now  reside  in  Adams,
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     33 
and  others  in  Macon  Counties,  Illinois.  My  paternal 
grandfather,  Abraham  Lincoln,  emigrated  from  Rocking- 
ham  County,  Virginia,  to  Kentucky,  about  1781  or  '2, 
where,  a  year  or  two  later,  he  was  killed  by  Indians,  not 
in  battle,  but  by  stealth,  when  he  was  laboring  to  open  a 
farm  in  the  forest.  His  ancestors,  who  were  Quakers, 
went  to  Virginia  from  Berks  County,  Pennsylvania.  An 
effort  to  identify  them  with  the  New  England  family  of 
the  same  name,  ended  in  nothing  more  than  a  similarity 
of  Christian  names  in  both  families,  such  as  Enoch,  Levi, 
Mordecai,  Solomon,  Abraham,  and  the  like. 
My  father,  at  the  death  of  his  father,  was  but  six  years 
of  age,  and  he  grew  up  literally  without  education.  He 
removed  from  Kentucky  to  what  is  now  Spencer  County, 
Indiana,  in  my  eighth  year.  We  reached  our  new  home 
about  the  time  the  State  came  into  the  Union.  It  was  a 
wild  region,  with  many  bears  and  other  wild  animals  still 
in  the  woods.  There  I  grew  up.  There  were  some 
schools,  so  called,  but  no  qualification  was  ever  required 
of  a  teacher  beyond  'readin',  writin'  and  cipherin"  to  the 
Rule  of  Three.  If  a  straggler,  supposed  to  understand 
Latin,  happened  to  sojourn  in  the  neighborhood,  he  was 
looked  upon  as  a  wizard.  There  was  absolutely  nothing 
to  excite  ambition  for  education.  Of  course  when  I  came 
of  age  I  did  not  know  much.  Still,  somehow,  I  could 
read,  write,  and  cipher  to  the  Rule  of  Three,  but  that  was 
all.  I  have  not  been  to  school  since.  The  little  advance 
I  now  have  upon  this  store  of  education,  I  have  picked  up 
from  time  to  time  under  the  pressure  of  necessity. 
I  was  raised  to  farm  work,  which  I  continued  till  I  was 
twenty- two.     At  twenty-one  I  came  to  Illinois,  and  passed 
the  first  year  in  Macon  County.     Then  I  got  to  New  - 
Salem,  at  that  time  in  Sangamon,  now  in  Menard  County, 
where  I  remained  a  year  as  a  sort  of  clerk  in  a  store.     Then 
came  the  Black  Hawk  War,  and  I  was  elected  a  Captain  of  / 
Volunteers  —  a  success  which  gave  me  more  pleasure  than 
any  I  have  had  since.     I  went  through  the  campaign, 
was  elated,  ran  for  the  Legislature  the  same  year  (1832),  -" 
and  was  beaten  —  the  only  time  I  have  ever  been  beaten 
by  the  people.     The  next,  and  three  succeeding  biennial  / 
elections,  I  was  elected  to  the  Legislature.     I  was  not  a 
candidate  afterwards.     During  this  legislative  period  I 
had  studied  law,  and  removed  to  Springfield  to  practice
34     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
it.  In  1846  I  was  once  elected  to  the  Lower  House  of 
Congress,  but  was  not  a  candidate  for  re-election.  From  * 
1849  to  1854,  both  inclusive,  practiced  law  more  assidu 
ously  than  ever  before.  Always  a  Whig  in  politics,  and 
generally  on  the  Whig  electoral  tickets,  making  active 
canvasses.  I  was  losing  interest  in  politics,  when  the 
repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  aroused  me  again. 
What  I  have  done  since  then  is  pretty  well  known. 
If  any  personal  description  of  me  is  thought  desirable, 
it  may  be  said,  I  am  in  height,  six  feet,  four  inches,  nearly; 
lean  in  flesh,  weighing,  on  an  average,  one  hundred  and 
eighty  pounds;  dark  complexion,  with  coarse  black  hair, 
and  gray  eyes.  No  other  marks  or  brands  recollected. 
Yours  very  truly, 
A.  LINCOLN.
CHAPTER  II 
A  Turn  in  Affairs  —  The  Black  Hawk  War  —  A  Remarkable  Military 
Manoeuvre  —  Lincoln  Protects  an  Indian  —  Lincoln  and  Stuart 
—  Lincoln's  Military  Record  —  Nominated  for  the  Legislature  — 
Lincoln  a  Merchant  —  Postmaster  at  New  Salem  —  Lincoln 
Studies  Law  —  Elected  to  the  Legislature  —  Personal  Charac 
teristics  —  Lincoln's  Love  for  Anne  Rutledge  —  Close  of  Lincoln's 
Youth. 
THE  spring  of  1832  brought  a  new  turn  in  Lincoln's 
career.  The  year  had  been  one  of  great  advance 
ment  in  many  respects.  He  had  made  new  and  valuable 
acquaintances,  read  many  books,  mastered  the  grammar 
of  his  own  tongue,  won  a  multitude  of  friends.  Those 
who  could  appreciate  intelligence  and  character  respected 
him,  and  those  whose  highest  ideas  of  a  man  related  to  his 
physical  prowess  were  devoted  to  him.  Everyone  trusted 
him.  He  was  judge,  arbitrator,  referee,  authority  in  all 
disputes,  games,  and  matches  whether  of  man-flesh  or 
horse-flesh.  He  was  the  peacemaker  in  all  quarrels. 
He  was  everybody's  friend  —  the  best-natured,  most 
sensible,  best-informed,  most  modest,  unassuming,  kindest, 
gentlest,  roughest,  strongest,  best  young  fellow  in  all  New 
Salem  or  the  region  about.  But  Mr.  Offutt's  trading  enter 
prises  ended  disastrously  in  the  year  1832.  The  store 
was  closed,  the  mill  was  shut  down,  and  Lincoln  was  out 
of  business. 
At  the  very  moment,  however,  that  he  found  himself 
adrift  Illinois  was  filled  with  excitement  over  the  Black 
Hawk  War.  The  centre  of  alarm  was  in  the  Rock  Valley, 
in  the  northern  part  of  the  State,  which  had  been  formerly 
the  home  of  the  Sac  tribe  of  Indians.  Discontented  with 
their  life  on  the  reservation  west  of  the  Mississippi,  to
36     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
which  they  had  been  removed,  the  Sacs,  with  several  other 
tribes,  resolved  to  recover  their  old  hunting-grounds. 
The  warlike  chief,  Black  Hawk,  was  at  the  head  of  the 
revolt,  and  his  march  toward  the  Rock  river  was  signalized 
by  a  number  of  massacres.  Governor  Reynolds  of  Illinois 
issued  a  proclamation  calling  "for  volunteers  to  aid  the 
regular  troops  in  the  emergency.  Lincoln  was  one  of  the 
first  to  answer  the  call,  the  brave  "Clary  Grove  Boys" 
also  coming  promptly  to  the  rescue.  "The  volunteers 
gathered,"  writes  Mr.  Arnold,  "at  Rushville,  in  Schuyler 
County,  at  which  place  they  were  to  be  organized,  and 
elected  officers.  Lincoln  was  a  candidate  for  the  place 
of  captain,  and  in  opposition  to  him  was  one  William 
Kirkpatrick.  The  mode  of  election  was  novel.  By 
agreement,  each  candidate  walked  off  to  some  distance 
and  took  position  by  himself.  The  men  were  then  to 
form,  and  those  who  voted  for  Kirkpatrick  were  to  range 
on  a  line  with  their  candidate.  When  the  lines  were 
formed,  Lincoln's  was  three  times  as  long  as  that  of 
Kirkpatrick,  and  so  Lincoln  was  declared  elected.  Speak 
ing  of  this  affair  when  President,  he  said  that  he  was  more 
gratified  with  this  his  first  success  than  with  any  other 
election  of  his  life.  Neither  Lincoln  nor  his  company 
was  in  any  engagement  during  the  campaign,  but  there 
was  plenty  of  hardships  and  fatigue,  and  some  incidents 
occurred  to  illustrate  his  courage  and  power  over  men." 
Many  years  afterward  —  in  fact,  while  Lincoln  was 
President  —  he  referred  to  those  early  scenes  in  a  way 
that  illustrates  his  wonderful  memory  and  his  power  of 
recalling  the  minutest  incidents  of  his  past  life.  Meeting 
an  old  Illinois  friend,  he  naturally  fell  to  talking  of  Illinois, 
and  related  several  stories  of  his  early  life  in  that  region. 
Particularly  he  remembered  his  share  in  the  Black  Hawk 
War.  He  referred  to  his  part  of  the  campaign  lightly, 
and  said  that  he  saw  but  very  little  fighting.  But  he 
remembered  coming  on  a  camp  of  white  scouts  one  morn-
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     37 
ing  just  as  the  sun  was  rising.  The  Indians  had  surprised 
the  camp  and  killed  and  scalped  every  man.  "  I  remember 
just  how  those  men  looked,"  said  Lincoln,  "as  we  rode 
up  the  little  hill  where  their  camp  was.  The  red  light  of 
the  morning  sun  was  streaming  upon  them  as  they  lay, 
heads  toward  us,  on  the  ground,  and  every  man  had  a 
round  red  spot  on  the  top  of  his  head,  about  as  big  as 
a  dollar,  where  the  ^redskins  had  taken  his  scalp.  It 
was  frightful,  but  it  was  grotesque,  and  the  red  sunlight 
seemed  to  paint  everything  all  over."  Lincoln  paused 
as  if  recalling  the  vivid  picture,  and  added,  somewhat 
irrelevantly,  "I  remember  that  one  man  had  buckskin 
breeches  on." 
Lincoln  also  told  a  good  story  of  his  first  experience 
in  drilling  raw  troops  during  the  Black  Hawk  War.  He 
was  crossing  a  field  with  a  front  of  twenty  men  when  he 
came  to  a  gate  through  which  it  was  necessary  to  pass. 
In  describing  the  incident  he  said:  "I  could  not,  for  the 
life  of  me,  remember  the  proper  word  of  command  for 
getting  my  company  endwise,  so  that  it  could  pass  through 
the  gate.  So,  as  we  came  near  the  gate,  I  shouted,  'Halt! 
this  company  is  dismissed  for  two  minutes,  when  it 
will  fall  in  again  on  the  other  side  of  the  gate.'"  The 
manoeuvre  was  successfully  executed. 
During  this  campaign  an  incident  occurred  which  well 
serves  to  show  Lincoln's  keen  sense  of  justice,  his  great 
common  sense,  and  his  resoluteness  when  aroused.  One 
day  there  came  to  the  camp  an  old  Indian,  footsore  and 
hungry.  He  was  provided  with  a  letter  of  safe-conduct 
from  General  Cass ;  but  there  was  a  feeling  of  great  irrita 
tion  against  the  Indians,  and  the  men  objected  strongly 
to  receiving  him.  They  pronounced  him  a  spy  and  his 
passport  a  forgery,  and  were  rushing  upon  the  defenseless 
Indian  to  kill  him,  when  the  tall  figure  of  their  captain, 
Lincoln,  suddenly  appeared  between  them  and  their 
victim.  His  men  had  never  seen  him  so  aroused,  and
38     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
they  cowed  before  him.  "Men,"  said  he,  "this  must 
not  be  done!  He  must  not  be  killed  by  us!'*  His  voice 
and  manner  produced  an  effect  on  the  mob.  They 
paused,  listened,  fell  back,  and  sullenly  obeyed  him, 
although  there  were  still  some  murmurs  of  disappointed 
rage.  At  length  one  man,  probably  thinking  he  spoke 
for  the  crowd,  cried  out:  "This  is  cowardly  on  your  part, 
Lincoln!"  Lincoln  only  gazed  with  contempt  on  the 
men  who  would  have  murdered  one  unarmed  Indian  but 
who  quailed  before  his  single  hand.  "If  any  man  thinks 
I  am  a  coward,"  said  he,  "let  him  test  it."  "Lincoln," 
was  the  reply,  "you  are  larger  and  heavier  than  any  of 
us."  "That  you  can  guard  against,"  responded  the 
captain.  "  Choose  your  weapons ! "  The  insubordination 
ended,  and  the  word  "coward"  was  never  associated  with 
Lincoln's  name  again.  He  afterward  said  that  at  this 
time  he  felt  that  his  life  and  character  were  both  at  stake, 
and  would  probably  have  been  lost  had  he  not  at  the 
supreme  moment  forgotten  the  officer  and  asserted  the 
man.  His  men  could  hardly  have  been  called  soldiers. 
They  were  merely  armed  citizens,  with  a  military  organiza 
tion  in  name  only.  Had  he  ordered  them  under  arrest  he 
would  have  created  a  serious  mutiny;  and  to  have  them 
tried  and  punished  would  have  been  impossible. 
It  was  while  Lincoln  was  a  militia  captain  that  he  made 
the  acquaintance  of  a  man  who  was  destined  to  have  an 
important  influence  on  his  life.  This  was  Major  John  T. 
Stuart,  afterwards  his  law-partner.  Stuart  was  already 
a  lawyer  by  profession.  During  the  Black  Hawk  War  he 
commanded  one  of  the  Sangamon  County  companies,  and 
was  soon  afterward  elected  major  of  a  spy  battalion  formed 
from  some  of  these  companies.  He  had  the  best  of 
opportunities  at  this  time  to  observe  the  merits  of  Captain 
Lincoln,  and  testifies  that  the  latter  was  exceedingly 
popular  among  the  soldiers  on  account  of  his  excellent 
care  of  the  men  in  his  command,  his  never-failing  good
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     39 
nature,  and  his  ability  to  tell  more  stories  and  better  ones 
than  any  man  in  the  service.  He  was  popular  also  among 
these  hardy  men  on  account  of  his  great  physical  strength. 
For  several  years  after  the  Black  Hawk  War  Lincoln 
retained  his  military  title  and  was  usually  addressed  as 
"Captain  Lincoln."  But  this  in  time  was  discontinued. 
Stuart's  title  of  "Major,"  on  the  contrary,  adhered  to 
him  through  life.  He  was  best  known  as  "Major  Stuart" 
down  to  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  early  in  the 
winter  of  1886. 
The  time  for  which  Captain  Lincoln's  company  enlisted 
soon  ran  by,  but  the  trouble  with  the  Indians  not  being 
ended  Governor  Reynolds  called  for  a  second  body  of 
volunteers.  Lincoln  again  responded,  and  was  enrolled 
as  a  private  in  the  independent  company  commanded  by 
Elijah  lies  of  Springfield.  A  note  of  this  occurrence, 
made  in  1868  by  Captain  lies,  contains  the  following 
statement:  "The  term  of  Governor  Reynolds's  first  call 
being  about  to  expire,  he  made  a  second  call,  and  the  first 
levy  was  disbanded.  I  was  elected  a  captain  of  one  of  the 
companies.  We  were  mustered  into  service  on  the  29th 
of  May,  1832,  at  the  mouth  of  Fox  river,  now  Ottawa,  by 
Lieutenant  Robert  Anderson,  Assistant  Inspector  General 
in  the  United  States  Army." 
One  day  during  the  Black  Hawk  War  there  were  in  the 
camp  on  Rock  river  four  men  afterward  famed  in  the 
history  of  the  country.  It  was  while  Lincoln  was  a 
member  of  the  company  under  command  of  Captain  lies. 
These  men  were  Lieutenant  Colonel  Zachary  Taylor, 
Lieutenant  Jefferson  Davis,  Lieutenant  Robert  Anderson, 
and  Private  Abraham  Lincoln.  Lincoln  and  Anderson 
did  not  meet  again  until  1861,  after  the  latter  had  evacu 
ated  Fort  Sumter.  Major  Anderson  then  visited  Wash 
ington  and  called  at  the  White  House  to  pay  his  respects 
to  the  President.  After  having  expressed  his  thanks  to 
Anderson  for  his  conduct  in  South  Carolina,  Lincoln  said,
40     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
"Major,  do  you  remember  ever  meeting  me  before?" 
"No,  Mr.  President,  I  do  not  remember  having  had  the 
pleasure  before,"  said  Anderson.  "Well,"  said  Lincoln, 
"my  memory  is  better  than  yours.  You  mustered  me 
into  the  service  of  the  United  States  in  1832  at  Dixon's 
Ferry,  during  the  Black  Hawk  War." 
\  *  Lincoln  displayed  the  same  courage  and  fidelity  in 
\T  performing  the  duties  of  a  soldier  that  had  marked  his 
conduct  in  all  other  relations  of  life.  Father  Dixon,  the 
guide  who  was  attached  to  Captain  Iles's  company  of 
mounted  rangers,  remarks  that  in  their  marches  when 
scouts  were  sent  forward  to  examine  thickets  and  ravines 
in  which  it  was  thought  the  enemy  might  be  lurking  it 
often  became  necessary  for  many  of  the  men  to  dismount 
and  attend  to  their  riding  gear.  Whenever  Lincoln  was 
detailed  for  such  service,  however,  his  saddle  was  always 
in  order. 
During  the  contest  between  General  Lewis  Cass  and 
General  Zachary  Taylor  for  the  Presidency,  in  the  year 
1848,  Lincoln  made  a  speech  in  Congress  in  which  he 
referred  to  his  services  in  the  Black  Hawk  War  with 
characteristic  humor: 
"By  the  way,  Mr.  Speaker,"  he  said,  "did  you  know 
that  I  am  a  military  hero?  Yes,  sir.  In  the  days  of  the 
Black  Hawk  War  I  fought,  bled,  and  came  away.  Speak 
ing  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  afterwards.  It  is  quite  certain  that  I  did  not 
bre*ak  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  that  he  broke  it  in  desperation.  I  bent 
my  musket  by  accident.  If  General  Cass  went  ahead  of 
me  in  picking  whortleberries,  I  guess  I  surpassed  him  in 
charges  upon  the  wild  onions.  If  he  saw  any  live  fighting 
Indians,  it  is  more  than  I  did,  but  I  had  a  good  many
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     41 
bloody  struggles  with  the  mosquitos,  and  although  I  never 
fainted  from  loss  of  blood  I  can  truly  say  that  I  was  often 
very  hungry.  Mr.  Speaker,  if  I  should  ever  conclude  to 
doff  whatever  our  Democratic  friends  may  suppose  there 
is  in  me  of  black-cockade  Federalism,  and  thereupon  they 
shall  take  me  up  as  their  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  I 
protest  they  shall  not  make  fun  of  me  as  they  have  of 
General  Cass  by  attempting  to  write  me  into  a  military 
hero." 
Lincoln's  popularity  among  his  comrades  in  the  field 
was  so  great  that  at  the  close  of  his  military  service,  which 
had  lasted  three  months,  he  was  nominated  as  a  candidate 
for  the  State  Legislature.  "His  first  appearance  on  the 
stump  in  the  course  of  the  canvass  was  at  Pappsville,  about 
eleven  miles  west  of  Springfield,  upon  the  occasion  of  a 
public  sale.  The  sale  over,  speech-making  was  about  to 
begin,  when  Lincoln  observed  some  strong  symptoms  of 
inattention  in  his  audience,  which  had  taken  that  particu 
lar  moment  to  engage  in  a  general  fight.  Lincoln  saw 
that  one  of  his  friends  was  suffering  more  than  he  liked, 
and  stepping  into  the  crowd  he  shouldered  them  sternly 
away  from  his  man  until  he  met  a  fellow  who  refused  to 
fall  back.  Him  he  seized  by  the  nape  of  the  neck  and  the 
seat  of  his  breeches,  and  tossed  him  'ten  or  twelve  feet 
easily.'  After  this  episode  —  as  characteristic  of  him  as 
of  the  times  —  he  mounted  the  platform  and  delivered 
with  awkward  modesty  the  following  speech :  '  Gentlemen 
and  Fellow-Citizens,  I  presume  you  all  know  who  I  am. 
I  am  humble  Abraham  Lincoln.  I  have  been  solicited  by 
my  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
42     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
Lincoln's  friend,  Mr.  A.  Y.  Ellis,  who  was  with  him 
during  a  part  of  this  campaign,  says:  "He  wore  a  mixed- 
jeans  coat,  claw-hammer  style,  short  in  the  sleeves  and 
bobtail,  —  in  fact,  it  was  so  short  in  the  tail  that  he  could 
not  sit  down  on  it,  —  flax  and  tow  linen  pantaloons,  and  a 
straw  hat.  I  think  he  wore  a  vest,  but  I  do  not  remember 
how  it  looked.  He  wore  pot-metal  boots.  I  went  with 
him  on  one  of  his  electioneering  trips  to  Island  Grove, 
and  he  made  a  speech  which  pleased  his  party  friends  very 
well,  although  some  of  the  Jackson  men  tried  to  make 
sport  of  it.  He  told  several  good  anecdotes  in  the  speech, 
and  applied  them  very  well,  I  thought." 
The  election  took  place  in  August,  and  although  Lincoln 
was  defeated  he  received  two  hundred  and  seventy-seven 
out  of  the  two  hundred  and  eighty-four  votes  cast  in  his 
precincts.  He  was  so  little  known  outside  of  New  Salem 
that  the  chances  of  election  were  hopelessly  against  him, 
yet  the  extraordinary  evidence  of  favor  shown  by  the  vote 
of  his  fellow-townsmen  was  a  flattering  success  in  the  midst 
of  defeat.  His  failure  to  be  elected,  however,  left  him 
once  more  without  occupation.  He  was  without  means, 
and  felt  the  necessity  of  undertaking  some  business  that 
would  provide  him  an  income,  however  small.  It  seems 
that  at  this  time  he  considered  seriously  learning  the 
blacksmith's  trade,  but  while  entertaining  the  idea  an 
event  occurred  which  opened  the  way  in  another  direction. 
The  particulars  of  this  event  are  given  by  Mr.  W.  G. 
Greene.  "A  man  named  Reuben  Radford,"  says  Mr. 
Greene,  "was  the  keeper  of  a  small  store  in  the  village  of 
New  Salem.  A  friend  told  him  to  look  out  for  the  *  Clary 
Grove  boys'  or  they  would  smash  him  up.  He  said  he 
was  not  afraid.  He  was  a  great  big  fellow.  But  his 
friend  said,  'They  don't  come  alone.  If  one  can't  whip 
you,  two  or  three  can,  and  they'll  do  it.'  One  day  he  left 
his  store  in  charge  of  his  brother,  with  injunctions  that  if 
the  *  Clary  Grove  boys'  came  he  must  not  let  them  have
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     43 
more  than  two  drinks  apiece.  All  the  stores  in  those  days 
kept  liquor  to  sell  and  had  a  corner  for  drinking.  The 
store  was  nicely  fitted  up,  and  had  many  things  in  glass 
jars  nicely  labelled.  The  '  Clary  Grove  boys '  came,  and 
took  two  drinks  each.  The  clerk  refused  them  any  more 
as  politely  as  he  could.  Then  they  went  behind  the 
counter  and  helped  themselves.  They  got  roaring  drunk 
and  went  to  work  smashing  everything  in  the  store.  The 
fragments  on  the  floor  were  an  inch  deep.  They  left 
and  went  off  on  their  horses  whooping  and  yelling.  Com 
ing  across  some  herds  of  cattle,  they  took  the  bells  from 
their  necks,  fastened  them  to  the  tails  of  the  leaders, 
and  chased  them  over  the  country  yelling  like  mad. 
Radford  heard  them,  and,  mounting  his  horse,  rode  in 
hot  haste  to  the  store.  I  had  been  sent  that  morning  with 
grist  to  the  mill,  and  had  to  pass  the  store.  I  saw  Radford 
ride  up,  his  horse  a  lather  of  foam.  He  dismounted,  and 
looked  in  upon  the  wreck  through  the  open  door.  He 
was  aghast  at  the  sight,  and  said,  'I'll  sell  out  this  thing 
to  the  first  man  that  comes  along.'  I  rode  up  and  said, 
'I'll  give  you  four  hundred  dollars  for  it.'  'Done!'  said 
he.  'But,'  I  said,  'I  have  no  money.  I  must  have  time.' 
'How  much?'  'Six  months.'  'Agreed.'  He  drew  up  a 
note  for  four  hundred  dollars  at  six  months,  and  I  signed 
it.  I  began  to  think  I  was  stuck.  Then  the  boys  came  in, 
and  among  them  was  Lincoln.  'Cheer  up,  Billy,'  he  said. 
'It's  a  good  thing.  We'll  take  an  inventory.'  'No  more 
inventories  for  me,'  said  I,  not  knowing  what  he  meant. 
He  explained  that  we  should  take  an  account  of  stock  to 
see  how  much  was  left.  We  found  that  it  amounted  to 
about  twelve  hundred  dollars.  Lincoln  and  Berry  con 
sulted  over  it,  and  offered  me  two  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars  for  my  bargain.  I  accepted,  stipulating  that  they 
should  assume  my  notes.  Berry  was  a  wild  fellow  —  a 
gambler.  He  had  a  fine  horse,  with  a  splendid  saddle  and 
bridle.  He  turned  over  the  horse  as  part  pay.  Lincoln
44     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
let  Berry  run  the  store,  and  it  soon  ran  out.  I  had  to  pay 
the  note.  Lincoln  said  he  would  pay  it  some  day  and  did, 
with  interest."  This  ended  Lincoln's  brief  career  as  a 
country  merchant. 
Many  of  the  anecdotes  in  the  foregoing  pages  touch 
upon  Lincoln's  ambition  to  fit  himself  for  a  public  speaker. 
Even  at  this  early  day  the  settlers  in  New  Salem  were 
infected  with  the  general  desire  to  join  in  the  march 
toward  intellectual  improvement.  To  aid  in  this  object, 
they  had  established  a  club  entitled  the  New  Salem 
Literary  Society.  Before  this  association,  the  studious 
Lincoln  was  invited  to  speak.  Mr.  R.  B.  Rutledge,  the 
brother  of  Anne  Rutledge,  says  of  the  event:  "About 
the  year  1832  or  1833,  Mr.  Lincoln  made  his  first  effort  at 
/public  speaking.  A  debating  club,  of  which  James 
Rutledge  was  president,  was  organized  and  held  regular 
meetings.  As  Lincoln  arose  to  speak,  his  tall  form  towered 
above  the  little  assembly.  Both  hands  were  thrust  down 
deep  in  the  pockets  of  his  pantaloons.  A  perceptible 
smile  at  once  lit  up  the  faces  of  the  audience,  for  all 
anticipated  the  relation  of  some  humorous  story.  But 
he  opened  up  the  discussion  in  splendid  style,  to  the 
infinite  astonishment  of  his  friends.  As,  he  warmed  with 
his  subject,  his  hands  would  forsake  his  pockets  and  en 
force  his  ideas  by  awkward  gestures,  but  would  very  soon 
seek  their  easy  resting-places.  He  pursued  the  question 
with  reason  and  argument  so  pithy-  and  forcible  that  all 
were  amazed.  The  president,  after  the  meeting,  remarked 
to  his  wife  that  there  was  more  in  Abe's  head  than  wit  and 
fun;  that  he  was  already  a  fine  speaker;  that  all  he  lacked 
was  culture  to  enable  him  to  reach  the  high  destiny  which 
he  knew  was  in  store  for  him." 
On  the  7th  of  May,  1833,  Lincoln  was  appointed 
postmaster  at  New  Salem  by  President  Jackson.  The 
duties  of  the  position  were  light,  there  being  only  a  weekly 
mail,  and  the  remuneration  was  correspondingly  small.
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     45 
"The  office  was  too  insignificant  to  be  considered  politi 
cally,  and  it  was  given  to  the  young  man  because  every 
body  liked  him,  and  because  he  was  the  only  man  willing 
to  take  it  who  could  make  out  the  returns.  He  was  ex 
ceedingly  pleased  with  the  appointment,  because  it  gave 
him  a  chance  to  read  every  newspaper  that  was  taken  in 
the  vicinity.  He  had  never  been  able  to  get  half  the  news 
papers  he  wanted,  and  the  office  gave  him  the  prospect  of 
a  constant  feast.  Not  wishing  to  be  tied  to  the  office, 
as  it  yielded  him  no  revenue  that  would  reward  him  for 
the  confinement,  he  made  a  post-office  of  his  hat.  When 
ever  he  went  out,  the  letters  were  placed  in  his  hat.  When 
an  anxious  looker  for  a  letter  met  the  postmaster  he  found 
also  the  post-office,  and  the  public  official,  taking  off  his 
hat,  looked  over  and  delivered  the  mail  wherever  the 
public  might  find  him.  He  kept  the  office  until  it  was 
discontinued,  or  was  removed  to  Petersburg." 
A  small  balance  due  the  government  remained  in  the 
hands  of  Lincoln  at  the  discontinuance  of  the  office. 
Time  passed  on,  and  he  had  removed  to  Springfield  and 
was  practicing  law,  having  his  place  of  business  in  Dr. 
Henry's  office.  Meanwhile  his  struggle  with  poverty  was 
unabated,  and  he  had  often  been  obliged  to  borrow  money 
from  his  friends  to  purchase  the  barest  necessities.  It 
was  at  this  juncture  that  the  agent  of  the  United  States 
called  for  a  settlement  of  his  post-office  accounts.  The 
interview  took  place  in  the  presence  of  Dr.  Henry  who 
thus  describes  it:  "I  did  not  believe  he  had  the  money 
on  hand  to  meet  the  draft,  and  I  was  about  to  call  him  aside 
and  loan  him  the  money,  when  he  asked  the  agent  to  be 
seated  a  moment.  He  went  over  to  his  trunk  at  his 
boarding-house  and  returned  with  an  old  blue  sock  with  a 
quantity  of  silver  and  copper  coin  tied  up  in  it.  Untying 
the  sock,  he  poured  the  contents  on  the  table  and  proceeded 
to  count  the  coin,  which  consisted  of  such  silver  and  copper 
pieces  as  the  country  people  were  then  in  the  habit  of  using
46     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
in  paying  postage.     On  counting  it  up,  there  was  found  the 
exact  amount  of  the  draft  to  a  cent,  and  in  the  identical 
coin  which  had  been   received.     He  never,   under   any  )/ 
circumstances,  used  trust  funds." 
When  Lincoln  was  about  twenty-three  years  of  age, 
some  time  in  1832,  he  began  studying  law,  using  an  old 
copy  of  Blackstone's  Commentaries  which  he  had  bought 
at  auction  in  Springfield.  This  work  was  soon  mastered, 
and  then  the  young  man  looked  about  him  for  more. 
His  friend  of  the  Black  Hawk  War,  Major  John  T.  Stuart,  ^_ 
had  a  considerable  law  library  for  those  days,  and  to  him 
Lincoln  applied  in  his  extremity.  The  library  was  placed 
at  his  disposal,  and  thenceforth  he  was  engrossed  in  the 
acquisition  of  its  contents.  But  the  books  were  in  Spring 
field,  where  their  owner  resided;  and  New  Salem  was 
some  fourteen  miles  distant.  This  proved  no  obstacle  in 
the  way  of  Lincoln,  who  made  nothing  of  the  walk  back 
and  forth  in  the  pursuit  of  his  purpose.  Mr.  Stuart's 
partner,  Mr.  H.  C.  Dummer,  who  took  note  of  the  youth 
in  his  frequent  visits  to  the  office,  describes  him  as  "an 
uncouth  looking  lad,  who  did  not  say  much,  but  what  he 
did  say  he  said  straight  and  sharp."  "He  used  to  read 
law,"  says  Henry  McHenry,  "barefooted,  seated  in  the 
shade  of  a  tree  just  opposite  Berry's  grocery,  and  would 
'grind  around  with  the  shade,  occasionally  varying  his 
attitude  by  lying  flat  on  his  back  and  putting  his  feet  up 
the  tree,"  a  situation  which  might  have  been  unfavorable 
to  mental  application  in  the  case  of  a  man  with  shorter 
extremities.  "The  first  time  I  ever  saw  Abe  with  a  law- 
book  in  his  hand,"  says  Squire  Godbey,  "he  was  sitting 
astride  Jake  Bates 's  woodpile  in  New  Salem.  Says  I, 
*  Abe,  what  are  you  studying?'  'Law,' says  Abe.  'Good 
God  Almighty!'  responded  I."  It  was  too  much  for 
Godbey;  he  could  not  suppress  the  exclamation  of  surprise 
at  seeing  such  a  figure  acquiring  learning  in  such  an  odd 
situation.  Mr.  Arnold  states  that  Lincoln  made  a  practice
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     47 
of  reading  in  his  walks  between  Springfield  and  New 
Salem;  and  so  intense  was  his  application  and  so  absorbed 
was  he  in  his  study  that  he  would  pass  his  best  friends 
without  observing  them,  and  some  people  said  that  Lincoln 
was  going  crazy  with  hard  study. 
He  soon  began  to  make  a  practical  application  of  his 
legal  knowledge.  He  bought  an  old  form-book  and  began 
to  draw  up  contracts,  deeds,  leases,  mortgages,  and  all 
sorts  of  legal  instruments  for  his  neighbors.  He  also 
began  to  exercise  his  forensic  ability  in  trying  small  cases 
before  justices  of  the  peace  and  juries,  and  soon  acquired 
a  local  reputation  as  a  speaker,  which  gave  him  consider 
able  practice.  But  he  was  able  in  this  way  to  earn  scarcely 
money  enough  for  his  maintenance.  To  add  to  his  means, 
he  took  up  the  study  of  surveying,  and  soon  became, - 
like  Washington,  a  skilful  and  accurate  surveyor.  John 
Calhoun,  an  intelligent  and  courteous  gentleman,  was  at 
that  time  surveyor  of  the  county  of  Sangamon.  He 
became  interested  in  Lincoln  and  appointed  him  his 
deputy.  His  work  was  so  accurate  and  the  settlers  had 
such  confidence  in  him  that  he  was  much  sought  after  to 
survey,  fix,  and  mark  the  boundaries  of  farms,  and  to  plot 
and  lay  off  the  town  of  Petersburg.  His  accuracy  must 
have  been  attained  with  some  difficulty,  for  when  he  began 
to  survey  his  chain  was  a  grape-vine.  He  did  not  specu 
late  in  the  land  he  surveyed.  Had  he  done  so  the  rapid 
advance  in  the  value  of  real  estate  would  have  made  it 
easy  for  him  to  make  good  investments.  But  he  was  not 
in  the  least  like  one  of  his  own  appointees  when  President, 
—  a  surveyor-general  of  a  Western  territory,  who  bought 
up  much  of  the  best  land,  and  to  whom  the  President  said, 
"I  am  told,  sir,  you  are  monarch  of  all  you  survey." 
The  nomination  of  Lincoln  for  the  State  Legislature  on 
his  return  from  the  Black  Hawk  War  was  premature. 
The  people  of  New  Salem  voted  for  him  almost  to  a  man, 
but  his  acquaintance  had  not  then  extended  into  the
48     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
surrounding  district  far  enough  to  insure  his  election. 
In  the  campaign  of  1834  the  choice  of  a  candidate  again 
fell  upon  him,  and  this  time  there  was  a  prospect  of  success. 
Lincoln  entered  into  the  contest  with  earnestness,  and 
used  every  legitimate  means  to  secure  a  victory.  Mr. 
Herndon  relates  the  following  incident  of  this  campaign: 
"Lincoln  came  to  my  house,  near  Island  Grove,  during 
harvest.  There  were  some  thirty  men  in  the  field.  He 
had  his  dinner,  and  then  went  out  into  the  field  where  the 
men  were  at  work.  I  introduced  him,  and  the  boys  said 
they  would  not  vote  for  a  man  unless  he  could  'make  a 
hand.'  'Well,  boys,'  he  said,  'if  that  is  all  that  is  needed 
I  am  sure  of  your  votes.'  He  took  hold  of  the  cradle  and 
led  the  way  all  around  with  perfect  ease.  The  boys  were 
satisfied.  I  don't  think  he  lost  a  vote  in  that  crowd.  The 
next  day  there  was  speaking  at  Berlin.  He  went  from  my 
house  with  Dr.  Barnett,  who  had  asked  me  who  this  man 
Lincoln  was.  I  told  him  he  was  a  candidate  for  the 
Legislature.  He  laughed  and  said,  '  Can't  the  party  raise 
better  material  than  that?'  I  said,  'Go  to-morrow  and 
hear  him  before  you  pass  judgment.'  When  he  came  back 
I  said,  'Doctor,  what  have  you  to  say  now?'  'Why,  sir,' 
he  said,  'he  is  a  perfect  take-in.  He  knows  more  than  all 
the  rest  of  them  put  together.'" 
The  result  of  the  election  was  that  Lincoln  was 
chosen  to  represent  the  Sangamon  district.  When  the 
Legislature  convened  at  the  opening  session,  he  was  in  his 
place  in  the  lower  house;  but  he  bore  himself  quietly  in 
his  new  position.  He  had  much  to  learn  in  his  novel 
situation  as  one  of  the  lawmakers  of  the  State,  and  as  a 
co-worker  with  an  assembly  comprising  the  most  talented 
and  prominent  men  gathered  from  all  parts  of  Illinois. 
He  was  keenly  watchful  of  the  proceedings  of  the  House, 
weighing  every  measure  with  scrutinizing  sagacity,  but 
except  in  the  announcement  of  his  vote  his  voice  was 
seldom  heard.  At  the  previous  session,  Mr.  G.  S.  Hub-
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     49 
bard,  afterwards  a  well-known  citizen  of  Chicago,  had 
exerted  himself  to  procure  the  passage  of  an  act  for  the 
construction  of  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal.  His 
effort  was  defeated;  but  he  continued,  as  a  lobbyist,  to 
push  the  measure  during  several  winters,  until  it  was 
finally  adopted.  Lincoln  lent  him  efficient  aid  in  the 
accomplishment  of  his  object.  "Indeed,"  remarks  Mr. 
Hubbard,  "  I  very  much  doubt  if  the  bill  could  have  passed 
as  easily  as  it  did  without  his  valuable  help."  "We  were 
thrown  much  together,"  continues  Mr.  Hubbard,  "our 
intimacy  increasing.  I  never  had  a  friend  to  whom  I  was 
more  warmly  attached.  His  character  was  almost 
faultless;  possessing  a  warm  and  generous  heart,  genial, 
affable,  honest,  courteous  to  his  opponents,  persevering, 
industrious  in  research,  never  losing  sight  of  the  principal 
point  under  discussion,  aptly  illustrating  by  his  stories 
which  were  always  brought  into  good  effect.  He  was  free 
from  political  trickery  or  denunciation  of  the  personal 
character  of  his  opponents.  In  debate  he  was  firm  and 
collected.  'With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for 
all,'  he  won  the  confidence  of  the  public,  even  his  political 
opponents." 
Of  all  the  stories  of  Lincoln's  boyhood  and  youth,  the 
most  profoundly  touching  is  that  of  his  love  for  Anne 
Rutledge.  The  existence  of  this  romance  was  brief,  but 
it  is  believed  by  many  that  it  was  the  memory  of  it  which 
threw  over  Lincoln  that  indescribable  ^jnelancholy  which 
seemed  to  shadow  his  whole  life.  The  Rutledges  from 
whom  Anne  was  descended  were  an  eminent  family  of  the 
Carolinas.  She  was  about  nineteen  years  old  when 
Lincoln  knew  her  first.  It  was  shortly  after  the  Black 
Hawk  War.  She  was  a  winsome  girl,  with  fair  hair  and 
blue  eyes,  and  Lincoln's  heart  was  captivated  by  her 
sweet  face  and  gentle  manners.  So  attractive  a  girl  was*, 
not,  of  course,  without  suitors,  and  Anne  had  been  wooed 
by  one  James  McNeill,  a  young  man  who  had  come  to
50     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
New  Salem  soon  after  the  founding  of  the  town.  He  had 
been  more  than  ordinarily  successful,  and  had  bought  a 
large  farm  a  few  miles  north  of  the  village.  He  was 
unmarried  —  at  least  he  so  represented  himself  —  and 
paid  devoted  attention  to  Anne.  They  were  engaged, 
although  both  had  acquiesced-in-the  wishes  of  Anne's 
parents  that  they  should  not  be  married  until  ^sEe  was 
older. 
About  this  time  Lincoln  appeared  in  New  Salem  and 
went  to  board  at  the  Rutledge  tavern.  Here  he  saw 
Anne,  and  was  much  in  her  company.  During  the  next 
year  McNeill  became  restless  and  discontented.  He 
said  it  was  because  he  wanted  to  see  his  people.  So  he 
decided  to  go  East  on  a  visit.  He  sold  out  his  interests  in 
New  Salem  —  an  act  not  at  all  necessary  if  he  were  going 
only  on  a  visit,  and  which  in  the  light  of  after  events  had 
much  significance  —  telling  Anne  that  it  was  his  hope  to 
/*  bring  his  father  and  mother  back  with  him  and  establish 
them  upon  his  farm.  "This  done,"  he  said,  "we  will  be 
married."  He  then  set  out  on  his  journey. 
It  was  late  in  the  summer  before  Anne  heard  from  him. 
He  explained  that  he  had  been  taken  ill  with  chills  and 
fever  on  the  way,  and  had  been  long  delayed  in  getting 
home.  But  the  long  wait  had  been  a  great  strain  upon 
Anne.  Lincoln,  meanwhile,  had  become  the  postmaster 
in  New  Salem,  and  it  was  to  him  that  Anne  came  to 
inquire  for  letters.  He  watched  her  anxiety  with  sym 
pathy,  and  in  a  way  became  her  confidant.  His  tender 
heart,  which  never  could  resist  suffering,  was  deeply 
touched  at  sight  of  her  distress.  Finally  McNeilTs  letters 
ceased  altogether;  and  then  Anne  confided  to  Lincoln 
something  which  McNeill  had  told  her  before  he  left,  and 
which  until  now  she  had  kept  secret,  —  namely,  that  his 
name  was  not  McNeill  but  McNamar.  He  had  explained 
to  her  that  he  had  made  this  change  because  his  father  had 
failed  in  business  and  that  as  his  oldest  son  it  was  his
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     51 
duty  to  retrieve  the  family  fortunes.  So  he  had  changed 
his  name,  and  come  West,  hoping  to  return  in  a  few  years 
to  his  family  a  rich  man.  All  this  Anne  had  believed,  and 
had  not  repeated  until  now.  V 
All  New  Salem  joined  in  declaring  McNamar  an  impostor 
and  his  story  a  fabrication.  "Who  knew  how  many  wives 
he  had?"  they  said.  With  one  accord  Anne's  friends 
denounced  him;  and  although  his  story  turned  out  after 
ward  to  be  not  altogether  false,  it  is  small  wonder  that 
Anne  herself  at  last  came  to  believe  that  either  he  was 
dead  or  had  ceased  to  love  her. 
While  matters  were  in  this  state,  Lincoln  ventured  to 
show  his  love  for  Anne.  It  was  a  long  time  before  she 
would  listen;  but,  convinced  at  last  that  her  former  lover 
had  deserted  her,  she  promised,  in  the  spring  of  1835,  to 
become  his  wife.  But  Lincoln  had  nothing  on  which  to 
support  a  family,  —  in  fact,  could  hardly  support  himself. 
Besides,  Anne  was  anxious  to  go  to  school  another  year. 
So  it  was  decided  that  she  should  spend  the  winter  in  an 
academy  in  Jacksonville,  while  Lincoln  devoted  himself  to 
the  study  of  the  law.  Then,  when  she  should  return  from 
school,  he  would  be  a  member  of  the  bar  and  they  could 
be  married. 
A  happy  spring  and  summer  followed.  All  their  friends 
took  an  interest  in  the  lovers,  and  their  prospects  seemed 
bright.  But  Anne's  health  began  to  fail.  She  could  not 
rid  herself  of  her  haunting  memories.  There  was  a 
possibility  that  she  had  wronged  McNamar.  What  if 
he  should  love  her  still,  and  should  return  and  find  her 
wedded  to  another?  Had  she  wronged  both  men?  In 
her  thoughts  was  perpetual  conflict.  The  old  love  still 
persisted.  Her  conscience  troubled  her.  She  doubted, 
and  was  morbidly  melancholy.  All  this  wore  upon  her; 
she  fell  ill.  At  last  her  condition  became  grave,  then 
hopeless.  Lincoln  was  sent  for.  Anne's  last  hour  was 
passed  alone  with  him.  She  died  at  sunset,  August  25,
52     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
1835.  An  old  neighbor  who  saw  Lincoln  just  after  his 
parting  with  the  dying  girl  says:  "There  were  signs  of  the 
most  terrible  distress  in  his  face.  His  grief  became  frantic. 
He  lost  alLself -control,  even  the  consciousness  of  his  own 
identity;  and  his  closest  friends  in  New  Salem  pronounced 
s1  him  insane,  crazy,  mad.  They  watched  him  with  especial 
vigilance  on  dark  and  stormy  days.  At  such  times  he 
raved  piteously,  often  saying,  *I  can  never  be  reconciled 
to  having  the  snow  fall  and  the  rain  beat  upon  her  grave/  " 
His  old  friend,  Bowlin  Greene,  alone  seemed  possessed  of 
the  power  to  quiet  him.  He  took  him  to  his  own  home  and 
kept  him  for  several  weeks,  an  object  of  undisguised 
solicitude.  At  last  it  seemed  safe  to  permit  him  to  return 
to  his  old  haunts.  Greene  urged  him  to  go  back  to  the 
law;  and  he  did  so,  but  he  was  never  the  same  man  again. 
He  was  thin,  haggard,  and  careworn.  He  was  as  one  who 
had  been  at  the  brink  of  the  grave.  A  long  time  after-, 
ward,  when  the  grass  had  for  nearly  thirty  years  grown 
over  the  grave  of  Anne  Rutledge,  Lincoln  was  one  day 
introduced  to  a  man  named  Rutledge  in  the  White  House. 
He  looked  at  him  a  moment,  then  grasped  his  hand  and 
said  with  deep  feeling:  "I  love  the  name  of  Rutledge  to 
this  day.  Anne  was  a  lovely  girl.  She  was  natural, 
well-educated.  She  would  have  made  a  good,  loving 
wife.  I  did  honestly  and  truly  love  her,  and  I  think 
often,  often  of  her  now."  Mr.  Herndon  has  said 
that  the  love  and  the  death  of  this  young  girl  shattered 
Lincoln's  purposes  and  tendencies.  "He  threw  off  his 
/  infinite  sorrow  only  by  leaping  wildly  into  the  political 
arena.  He  needed  whip  and  spur  to  save  him  from 
despair." 
//  The  period  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  boyhood  and  youth 
had  closed  when  he  stood  by  the  grave  of  Anne  Rutledge. 
He  had  long  been  a  man  in  stature.  He  was  now  a  man 
in  years;  yet  the  rough  path  he  had  been  forced  to  travel 
had  made  his  progress  toward  maturity  painfully  slow.
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     53 
In  spite  of  his  low  birth,  of  his  dire  poverty,  of  the  rudeness 
and  illiteracy  of  his  associates,  of  the  absence  of  refine 
ment  in  his  surroundings,  of  his  scanty  means  of  education, 
of  his  homely  figure  and  awkward  manners,  of  his  coarse 
fare  and  shabby  dress,  he  dared  to  believe  there  was  an 
exalted  career  in  store  for  him.  He  hewed  out  the  founda 
tions  for  it  with  indomitable  spirit.  It  was  to  be  grounded 
>  on  manly  virtues.  It  seems  as  though  the  boy  felt  the 
consecration  of  a  high  destiny  from  the  very  dawn  of  his 
intelligence,  and  it  set  him  apart,  secure  amid  the  tempta 
tions  and  safe  from  the  vices  that  corrupt  many  men. 
In  the  rough  garb  of  the  backwoodsman  he  preserved  the 
instincts  of  a  gentleman.  He  was  the  companion  of 
bullies  and  boors.  He  shared  their  work  and  their  sports, 
but  he  never  stooped  to  their  vulgarity.  He  very  seldom 
drank  with  them,  and  they  never  heard  him  speak  an  oath. 
He  could  throw  the  stoutest  in  a  wrestling  match,  and  was 
ready,  when  brought  to  it,  to  whip  any  insolent  braggart 
who  made  cruel  use  of  his  strength.  He  never  flinched 
from  hardship  or  danger,  yet  his  heart  was  as  soft  and 
tender  as  a  woman's.  The  great  gentle  giant  had  a  feeling 
of  sympathy  for  every  living  creature.  He  was  not 
ashamed  to  rock  a  cradle,  or  to  carry  a  pail  of  water  or 
an  armful  of  wood  to  spare  a  tired  woman's  arms.  Though 
|  destitute  of  worldly  goods,  he  was  rich  in  friends.  All  the 
people  of  his  acquaintance  knew  they  could  count  on  his 
doing  the  right  thing  always,  so  far  as  he  was  able.  Hence 
they  trusted  and  loved  him;  and  the  title  of  "Honest 
Abe,"  which  he  bore  through  life,  was  a  seal  of  knighthood 
rarer  and  prouder  than  any  king  or  queen  could  confer 
with  the  sword.  Abraham  Lincoln  was  one  of  nature's 
noblemen.  He  showed  himself  a  hero  in  every  circum 
stance  of  his  boyhood  and  youth.  The  elements  of 
greatness  were  visible  even  then.  The  boy  who  was  true 
to  duty,  patient  in  privation,  modest  in  merit,  kind  to 
every  form  of  distress,  determined  to  rise  by  wresting
54     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
opportunities  from  the  grudging  hand  of  fate,  was  sure  to 
make  a  man  distinguished  among  his  fellows,  —  a  man 
noted  among  the  great  men  of  the  world,  as  the  boy  had 
been  among  his  neighbors  in  the  wilds  of  Spencer  County 
and  New  Salem. 
The  site  of  the  town  where  Lincoln  spent  the  last  three 
years  of  the  period  covered  in  this  portion  of  his  biography 
is  now  a  desolate  waste.  A  gentleman  who  visited  the 
spot  during  the  summer  of  1885  thus  describes  the  mourn 
ful  scene:  "From  the  hill  where  I  sit,  under  the  shade  of 
three  trees  whose  branches  make  one,  I  look  out  over  the 
Sangamon  river  and  its  banks  covered  apparently  with 
primeval  forests.  Around  are  fields  overgrown  with 
weeds  and  stunted  oaks.  It  was  a  town  of  ten  or  twelve 
years  only.  It  began  in  1824  and  ended  in  1836.  Yet  in 
that  time  it  had  a  history  which  the  world  will  not  let  die 
as  long  as  it  venerates  the  memory  of  the  noble  liberator 
and  martyr  President,  Abraham  Lincoln.'*
CHAPTER  III 
Lincoln's  Beginning  as  a  Lawyer  —  His  Early  Taste  for  Politics  — 
Lincoln  and  the  Lightning-Rod  Man  —  Not  an  Aristocrat  —  Reply 
to  Dr.  Early —  A  Manly  Letter  —  Again  in  the  Illinois  Legislature 
—  The  "  Long  Nine  "  —  Lincoln  on  His  Way  to  the  Capital  —  His 
Ambition  in  1836  —  First  Meeting  with  Douglas  —  Removal  of 
the  Illinois  Capital  —  One  of  Lincoln's  Early  Speeches  —  Pro- 
Slavery  Sentiment  in  Illinois  —  Lincoln's  Opposition  to  Slavery  — 
Contest  with  General  Ewing  —  Lincoln  Lays  out  a  Town  —  The 
Title  "  Honest  Abe." 
rf<T 
\  BRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  career  as  a  lawyer  covered 
<L\.  a  period  of  a  quarter  of  a  century,  beginning  about 
1834  or  '35,  and  ending  with  his  election  to  the  Presidency, 
in  November,  1860.  When  he  began  his  professional  life 
he  was  an  obscure  and  unpromising  youth  of  twenty-five, 
with  but  little  learning  and  fewer  accomplishments,  and 
without  advantages  of  social  influence  or  wealthy  friends. 
Step  by  step,  with  patient  industry  and  unflinching  de-  \ 
termination,  he  climbed  the  ladder  of  professional  advance-  —  *• 
ment  until  he  stood  among  the  foremost  lawyers  of  the 
West.  He  had,  indeed,  won  a  national  reputation;  and 
when  he  laid  aside  his  law  books,  a  mature  man  of  fifty, 
it  was  to  enter  upon  the  great  honors  and  responsibilities 
of  the  Presidency  of  the  American  Republic. 
Lincoln  was  devoted  to  his  profession,  and  his  success-^ 
in  it  was  earned  by  hard  and  constant  application.  But 
his  natural  taste  for  politics  led  him  to  take  a  full  share  in 
the  activities  of  political  life.  He  had  already  served  a 
term  in  the  Illinois  Legislature  (1834-35),  and  so  well 
satisfied  were  his  constituents  that  they  renominated  him 
for  the  succeeding  term.  In  the  canvass  which  followed 
he  distinguished  himself  as  a  stump-speaker;  showing,  \
56     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
by  his  tact  and  ability,  by  the  skill  and  ingenuity  with 
which  he  met  his  opponents  in  debate,  by  his  shrewdness 
in  attack  and  readiness  in  retort,  how  much  he  had  profited 
by  the  training  of  the  previous  years. 
An  incident  illustrating  his  ready  wit  and  his  keen 
insight  into  human  nature  occurred  early  in  this  campaign, 
at  Springfield,  where  a  public  discussion  was  held  between 
the  opposing  candidates.  An  interesting  version  of  this 
incident  is  given  by  Mr.  Arnold:  "There  lived  at  this  time 
in  the  most  pretentious  house  in  Springfield  a  prominent 
citizen  named  George  Forquer.  He  had  been  long  in 
public  life,  had  been  a  leading  Whig  —  the  party  to  which 
Lincoln  belonged  —  but  had  lately  gone  over  to  the 
Democrats,  and  had  received  from  the  Democratic  admin 
istration  an  appointment  to  the  lucrative  post  of  Register 
of  the  Land  Office  at  Springfield.  Upon  his  handsome 
new  house  he  had  lately  placed  a  lightning-rod,  the  first 
one  ever  put  up  in  Sangamon  County.  As  Lincoln  was 
riding  into  town  with  his  friends,  they  passed  the  fine  house 
of  Forquer,  and  observed  the  novelty  of  the  lightning-rod, 
discussing  the  manner  in  which  it  protected  the  house 
from  being  struck  by  lightning.  In  this  discussion  there 
were  seven  Whig  and  seven  Democratic  candidates  for 
the  lower  branch  of  the  Legislature;  and  after  several  had 
spoken  it  fell  to  Lincoln  to  close  the  arguments.  This  he 
did  with  great  ability.  Forquer,  though  not  a  candidate, 
then  asked  to  be  heard  for  the  Democrats  in  reply  to 
Lincoln.  He  was  a  good  speaker  and  well-known  through 
out  the  county.  His  special  task  that  day  was  to  attack 
and  ridicule  the  young  man  from  Salem.  Turning  to 
Lincoln,  who  stood  within  a  few  feet  of  him,  he  said: 
'This  young  man  must  be  taken  down,  and  I  am  truly 
sorry  that  the  task  devolves  upon  me.'  He  then  pro 
ceeded,  in  a  very  overbearing  way,  and  with  an  assumption 
of  great  superiority,  to  attack  Lincoln  and  his  speech. 
Lincoln  stood  calm,  but  his  flashing  eye  and  pale  cheek
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     57 
showed  his  indignation.  As  soon  as  Forquer  had  closed 
he  took  the  stand  and  first  answered  his  opponent's  argu 
ments  fully  and  triumphantly.  So  impressive  were  his 
words  and  manner  that  a  hearer  believes  that  he  can 
remember  to  this  day,  and  repeat,  some  of  the  expressions. 
Among  other  things,  he  said:  'The  gentleman  com 
menced  his  speech  by  saying  that  this  young  man  —  allud 
ing  to  me  —  must  be  taken  down.  I  am  not  so  young 
in  years  as  I  am  in  the  tricks  and  trades  of  a  politician; 
but/  said  he,  pointing  to  Forquer,  'live  long  or  die  young, 
I  would  rather  die  now,  than,  like  the  gentleman,  change 
my  politics  for  a  three  thousand  dollar  office,  and  then 
feel  obliged  to  erect  a  lightning-rod  over  my  house  to 
protect  a  guilty  conscience  from  the  vengeance  of  an 
offended  God!'" 
"It  is  difficult  to-day,"  says  Mr.  Arnold,  "to  appreciate 
the  effect  on  the  old  settlers,  of  this  figure.  This  light 
ning-rod  was  the  first  which  most  of  those  present  had  ever 
seen.  They  had  slept  all  their  lives  in  their  cabins  in 
conscious  security.  Here  was  a  man  who  seemed,  to  these 
simple-minded  people,  to  be  afraid  to  sleep  in  his  own 
house  without  special  and  extraordinary  protection  from 
Almighty  God.  These  old  settlers  thought  nothing  but 
the  consciousness  of  guilt,  the  stings  of  a  guilty  conscience, 
could  account  for  such  timidity.  Forquer  and  his  light 
ning-rod  were  talked  over  in  every  settlement  from 
Sangamon  to  the  Illinois  and  the  Wabash.  Whenever 
he  rose  to  speak  thereafter,  they  said,  'There  is  the  man 
who  dare  not  sleep  in  his  own  house  without  a  lightning- 
rod  to  keep  off  the  vengeance  of  the  Almighty.'" 
Another  amusing  incident  of  the  same  campaign,  and 
one  which  illustrates  Lincoln's  love  of  a  practical  joke,  is 
given  as  follows:  "Among  the  Democrats  stumping  the 
county  at  this  time  was  one  Dick  Taylor,  a  most  pompous 
person,  who  was  always  arrayed  in  the  richest  attire  — 
ruffled  shirts,  seals,  etc.,  besides  a  rich  embroidered  vest.
58     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
Notwithstanding  this  array,  he  made  great  pretentions  of 
being  one  of  the  *  hard-handed  yeomanry/  and  ridiculed 
with  much  sarcasm  the  *  rag  barons '  and  '  manufacturing 
lords '  of  the  Whig  party.  One  day,  when  he  was  particu 
larly  aggravating  in  a  speech  of  this  kind,  Lincoln  decided 
on  a  little  sport,  and  sidling  up  to  Taylor  suddenly  threw 
open  the  latter's  coat,  showing  to  the  astonished  spectators 
a  glittering  mass  of  ruffled  shirt,  gold  watch,  and  glittering 
jewels.  The  crowd  shouted  uproariously.  Lincoln  said: 
'While  he  [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  flatboat  at  eight 
dollars  a  month,  and  had  only  one  pair  of  breeches  to  my 
name,  and  they  were  buckskin,  —  and  if  you  know  the 
nature  of  buckskin,  when  wet  and  dried  by  the  sun  it  will 
shrink,  —  and  mine  kept  shrinking  until  they  left  several 
inches  of  my  legs  bare  between  the  tops  of  my  socks  and 
the  lower  part  of  my  breeches.  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.'" 
"The  Saturday  evening  preceding  the  election,"  says 
Mr.  Lamon,  "the  candidates  were  addressing  the  people 
in  the  Court  House  at  Springfield.  Dr.  Early,  one  of 
the  candidates  on  the  Democratic  side,  made  some 
charge  which  Mr.  N.  W.  Edwards,  one  of  the  candidates 
on  the  Whig  side,  deemed  untrue.  Edwards  climbed  on 
a  table,  so  as  to  be  seen  by  Early  and  by  everyone  in  the 
house,  and  at  the  top  of  his  voice  told  Early  that  the 
charge  was  false.  The  excitement  that  followed  was  in 
tense  —  so  much  so  that  fighting  men  thought  a  duel 
must  settle  the  difficulty.  Lincoln,  by  the  programme, 
followed  Early.  He  took  up  the  subject  in  dispute  and
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     59 
handled  it  fairly  and  with  such  ability  that  everyone 
astonished  and  pleased.  So  that  difficulty  ended  there. 
Then  for  the  first  time,  aroused  by  the  excitement  of  the 
occasion,  he  spoke  in  that  tenor  intonation  of  voice  that 
ultimately  settled  down  into  that  clear,  shrill  monotone 
style  that  afterwards  characterized  his  public  speaking, 
and  enabled  his  audience,  however  large,  to  hear  distinctly 
the  lowest  sound  of  his  voice."  Mr.  Arnold  says  that 
Lincoln's  reply  to  Dr.  Early  was  "often  spoken  of  as 
exhibiting  wonderful  ability,  and  a  crushing  power  of 
sarcasm  and  ridicule.  When  he  began  he  was  embar 
rassed,  spoke  slowly  and  with  some  hesitation  and  diffi 
culty.  But  becoming  excited  by  his  subject,  he  forgot 
himself  entirely,  and  went  on  with  argument  and  wit, 
anecdote  and  ridicule,  until  his  opponent  was  completely 
crushed.  Old  settlers  of  Sangamon  County  who  heard 
this  reply  speak  of  his  personal  transformation  as  wonder 
ful.  When  Lincoln  began,  they  say,  he  seemed  awkward, 
homely,  unprepossessing.  As  he  went  on,  and  became 
excited,  his  figure  rose  to  its  full  height  and  became  com- 
manding  and  majestic.  His  plain  face  was  illuminated 
and  glowed  with  expression.  His  dreamy  eye  flashed  with 
inspiration,  and  his  whole  person,  his  voice,  his  gestures, 
were  full  of  the  magnetism  of  powerful  feeling,  of  conscious 
strength  and  true  eloquence." 
The  inflexible  honesty  and  fine  sense  of  honor  which 
lay  at  the  foundation  of  Lincoln's  character  are  nobly 
exhibited  in  the  following  letter  to  a  former  friend  but 
now  political  opponent,  Col.  Robert  Allen: 
DEAR  COLONEL:  —  I  am  told  that  during  my  absence 
last  week,  you  passed  through  this  place,  and  stated  pub 
licly  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;
60     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
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  Sanga- 
mon  County  is  sufficiently  evident;  and  if  I  have  since  done 
anything,  either  by  design  or  misadventure,  which  if  known 
would  subject  me  to  a  forfeiture  of  that  confidence,  he 
who  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  more  mature  reflection  you  will 
view  the  public  interest  as  a  paramount  consideration, 
and  therefore  determine  to  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  pub 
lish  both  if  you  choose. 
Very  respectfully, 
A.  LINCOLN. 
COL.  ROBERT  ALLEN. 
The  campaign  resulted  in  Lincoln's  election  to  the 
Legislature  of  1836.  The  nine  delegates  from  Sangamon 
County  happened  to  be  men  of  remarkable  stature, 
each  one  measuring  six  feet  or  more  in  height;  and 
very  naturally  they  were  nicknamed  the  "Long  Nine." 
Lincoln  overtopped  all  the  rest,  and  as  a  consequence 
was  called  "the  Sangamon  Chief."  The  State  capital 
was  then  at  Vandalia;  and  Lincoln's  journey  there 
from  Springfield  wras  made  mainly  on  foot.  As  he 
was  trudging  along  the  muddy  road,  he  fell  in  with 
Judge  John  Dean  Caton,  one  of  the  early  lawyers 
of  Illinois,  afterwards  Chief  Justice  of  the  State,  who 
became  an  intimate  friend  of  Lincoln.  Judge  Caton 
gives  an  interesting  account  of  their  first  meeting, 
which  occurred  at  this  time.  "I  first  met  Mr.  Lincoln,"
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     61 
says  Judge  Caton,  "about  the  last  of  November,  1835, 
when  on  my  way  to  Vandalia  to  join  the  Supreme  Court, 
which  met  there  the  first  Monday  in  December,  at  the 
same  time  as  the  meeting  of  the  Legislature.  There  were 
a  great  many  people  and  all  sorts  of  vehicles  on  the  road 
from  Springfield  to  Vandalia.  The  roads  were  very  bad, 
and  most  of  the  passengers  got  out  and  walked  a  con 
siderable  portion  of  the  distance.  It  seemed  almost  like 
the  movement  of  a  little  army.  While  walking  thus  along 
the  side  of  the  road  I  met  Mr.  Lincoln  for  the  first  time, 
and  in  the  course  of  a  two  days'  journey  we  became  quite 
well  acquainted.  If  he  had  been  admitted  to  the  bar  at 
that  time,  he  had  not  become  known  as  a  lawyer  out  of 
his  own  immediate  circuit.  He  was  going  to  Vandalia  as 
a  member  of  the  Legislature.  He  was  one  of  the  'Long 
Nine,'  as  it  was  called,  from  Sangamon  County,  who  by 
their  successful  manoeuvring  and  united  efforts  succeeded 
in  getting  the  seat  of  government  moved  from  Vandalia 
to  Springfield.  During  my  stay  of  a  few  weeks  in  Vandalia 
I  frequently  met  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  was  a  very  pleasant 
companion;  but  as  we  walked  along  the  road  on  the  occa 
sion  referred  to,  talking  about  indifferent  subjects,  nothing 
impressed  me  with  any  idea  of  his  future  greatness." 
When  Lincoln  took  his  seat  in  the  first  session  of  the 
new  Legislature  at  Vandalia,  his  mind  was  full  of  new 
projects.  His  real  public  service  was  now  about  to  begin, 
and  having  spent  his  time  in  the  previous  Legislature 
mainly  as  an  observer  and  listener  he  was  determined  dur 
ing  this  session  to  identify  himself  conspicuously  with  the 
"liberal"  progressive  legislation,  dreaming  of  a  fame  far 
different  from  that  he  actually  obtained  as  an  anti- 
slavery  leader.  As  he  remarked  to  his  friend  Speed,  he 
hoped  to  obtain  the  great  distinction  of  being  called  "the 
De  Witt  Clinton  of  Illinois." 
It  was  at  a  special  session  of  this  Legislature  that 
Lincoln  first  saw  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  his  great  political
62     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
antagonist  of  the  future,  whom  he  describes  as  "the  least 
man"  he  ever  saw.  Douglas  had  come  into  the  State 
from  Vermont  only  the  previous  year,  and  having  studied 
law  for  several  months  considered  himself  eminently 
qualified  to  be  State's  attorney  for  the  district  in  which 
he  lived.  General  Linder  says  of  the  two  men  at  this 
time:  "I  here  had  an  opportunity,  better  than  any  I  had 
previously  possessed,  of  measuring  the  intellectual  stature 
of  Abraham  Lincoln.  He  was  then  about  twenty-seven 
years  old  —  my  own  age.  Douglas  was  four  years  our 
junior;  consequently  he  could  not  have  been  over  twenty- 
three  years  old.  Yet  he  was  a  very  ready  and  expert 
debater,  even  at  that  early  period  of  his  life.  He  and 
Lincoln  were  very  frequently  pitted  against  each  other, 
being  of  different  politics.  They  both  commanded 
marked  attention  and  respect." 
A  notable  measure  effected  by  the  "Long  Nine"  during 
this  session  of  the  Legislature  was  the  removal  of  the 
State  Capital  from  Vandalia  to  Springfield.  It  was  ac 
complished  by  dint  of  shrewd  and  persistent  management, 
in  which  Lincoln  was  a  leading  spirit.  Mr.  Robert 
L.  Wilson,  one  of  his  colleagues,  says:  "When  our  bill  to 
all  appearance  was  dead  beyond  resuscitation,  and  our 
friends  could  see  no  hope,  Lincoln  never  for  a  moment 
despaired.  Collecting  his  colleagues  in  his  room  for 
consultation,  his  practical  common-sense,  his  thorough 
knowledge  of  human  nature,  made  him  an  overmatch  for 
his  compeers,  and  for  any  man  I  have  ever  known." 
Lincoln's  reputation  as  an  orator  was  gradually  extend 
ing  beyond  the  circle  of  his  friends  and  constituents.  He 
was  gaining  notice  as  a  ready  and  forcible  speaker,  with 
\  shrewd  and  sensible  ideas  which  he  expressed  with  striking 
*  originality  and  independence.  He  was  invited  to  address 
the  Young  Men's  Lyceum  at  Springfield,  January  27, 
1837,  and  read  a  carefully  prepared  paper  on  "The  Per 
petuation  of  Our  Political  Institutions,"  which  was  after-
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     63 
wards  published  in  the  Springfield  "Weekly  Journal." 
The  address  was  crude  and  strained  in  style,  but  the  feeling 
pervading  it  was  fervent  and  honest,  and  its  patriotic 
sentiment  and  sound  reflection  made  it  effective  for  the 
occasion.  A  few  paragraphs  culled  from  this  paper,  some 
of  them  containing  remarkable  prophetic  passages,  afford 
a  clue  to  the  stage  of  intellectual  development  which 
Lincoln  had  reached  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven,  and  an 
interesting  contrast  with  the  terser  style  of  his  later  years. 
In  the  great  journal  of  things  happening  under  the  sun, 
we,  the  American  people,  find  our  account  running  under 
date  of  the  nineteenth  century  of  the  Christian  era.  We 
find  ourselves  in  the  peaceful  possession  of  the  fairest 
portion  of  the  earth,  as  regards  extent  of  territory,  fertility 
of  soil,  and  salubrity  of  climate.  We  find  ourselves  under 
the  government  of  a  system  of  political  institutions  con 
ducing  more  essentially  to  the  ends  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty  than  any  of  which  the  history  of  former  times  tells 
us.  We,  when  mounting  the  stage  of  existence,  found 
ourselves  the  legal  inheritors  of  these  fundamental  bless 
ings.  We  toiled  not  in  the  acquisition  or  establishment  of 
them;  they  are  a  legacy  bequeathed  us  by  a  once  hardy, 
brave  and  patriotic,  but  now  lamented  and  departed  race 
of  ancestors.  Theirs  was  the  task  (and  nobly  they  per 
formed  it)  to  possess  themselves,  and,  through  them 
selves,  us,  of  this  goodly  land,  and  to  uprear  upon  its  hills 
and  valleys  a  political  edifice  of  liberty  and  equal  rights; 
'tis  ours  only  to  transmit  these  —  the  former  unprof aned 
by  the  foot  of  an  invader,  the  latter  undecayed  by  the 
lapse  of  time  and  untorn  by  usurpation  —  to  the  latest 
generation  that  fate  shall  permit  the  world  to  know. 
This  task,  gratitude  to  our  fathers,  justice  to  ourselves, 
duty  to  posterity,  all  imperatively  require  us  faithfully 
to  perform. 
How,  then,  shall  we  perform  it?  At  what  point  shall  we 
expect  the  approach  of  danger?  Shall  we  expect  some 
transatlantic  military  giant  to  step  the  ocean  and  crush  us 
at  a  blow?  Never!  All  the  armies  of  Europe,  Asia,  and 
Africa  combined,  with  all  the  treasure  of  the  earth  (our 
own  excepted)  in  their  military  chest,  with  a  Bonaparte 
for  a  commander,  could  not,  by  force,  take  a  drink  from
64     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
the  Ohio,  or  make  a  track  on  the  Blue  Ridge,  in  a  trial  of 
a  thousand  years !  At  what  point,  then,  is  the  approach  of 
danger  to  be  expected?  I  answer,  if  it  ever  reach  us,  it 
must  spring  up  amongst  ourselves.  It  cannot  come  from 
abroad.  If  destruction  be  our  lot,  we  must  ourselves  be 
its  author  and  finisher.  As  a  nation  of  free  men,  we  must 
live  through  all  time,  or  die  by  suicide.  I  hope  I  am  not 
over- wary;  but,  if  I  am  not,  there  is  even  now  something 
of  ill-omen  amongst  us.  I  mean  the  increasing  disregard 
for  law  which  pervades  the  country,  the  growing  disposi 
tion  to  substitute  the  wild  and  furious  passions  in  lieu  of 
the  sober  judgment  of  the  courts,  and  the  worse  than 
savage  mobs  for  the  executive  ministers  of  justice.  This 
disposition  is  awfully  fearful  in  any  community;  and  that 
it  now  exists  in  ours,  though  grating  to  our  feelings  to  ad 
mit  it,  it  would  be  a  violation  of  truth  and  an  insult  to  our 
intelligence  to  deny.  Accounts  of  outrages  committed  by 
mobs  form  the  e very-day  news  of  the  times.  They  have 
pervaded  the  country  from  New  England  to  Louisiana; 
they  are  neither  peculiar  to  the  eternal  snows  of  the  former, 
nor  the  burning  sun  of  the  latter.  They  are  not  the 
creature  of  climate;  neither  are  they  confined  to  the 
slaveholding  or  non-slaveholding  States.  Alike  they 
spring  up  among  the  pleasure-hunting  masters  of  Southern 
slaves  and  the  order-loving  citizens  of  the  land  of  steady 
habits.  Whatever  their  course  may  be,  it  is  common  to 
the  whole  country.  Here,  then,  is  one  point  at  which 
danger  may  be  expected.  The  question  recurs,  How  shall 
we  fortify  against  it?  The  answer  is  simple.  Let  every 
American,  every  lover  of  liberty,  every  well-wisher  to  his 
posterity,  swear  by  the  blood  of  the  Revolution,  never  to 
violate  in  the  least  particular  the  laws  of  the  country,  and 
never  to  tolerate  their  violation  by  others.  As  the  patriots 
of  *  seventy-six '  did  to  the  support  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  so  to  the  support  of  the  Constitution  and  the 
Laws  let  every  American  pledge  his  life,  his  property,  and 
his  sacred  honor;  let  every  man  remember  that  to  violate 
the  law  is  to  trample  on  the  blood  of  his  father,  and  to 
tear  the  charter  of  his  own  and  his  children's  liberty.  Let 
reverence  for  the  laws  be  breathed  by  every  American 
mother  to  the  lisping  babe  that  prattles  on  her  lap.  Let  it 
be  taught  in  schools,  in  seminaries,  and  in  colleges.  Let 
it  be  written  in  primers,  spelling-books,  and  in  almanacs.
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     65 
Let  it  be  preached  from  the  pulpit,  proclaimed  in  legisla 
tive  halls,  and  enforced  in  courts  of  justice.  And,  in  short, 
let  it  become  the  political  religion  of  the  nation. 
During  the  years  of  Lincoln's  service  in  the  Illinois 
Legislature  the  Democratic  party  was  strongly  dominant 
throughout  the  State.  The  feeling  on  the  subject  of 
slavery  was  decidedly  in  sympathy  with  the  South.  A 
large  percentage  of  the  settlers  in  the  southern  and  middle 
portions  of  Illinois  were  from  States  in  which  slave  labor 
was  maintained;  and  although  the  determination  not  to 
permit  the  institution  to  obtain  a  foothold  in  the  new 
commonwealth  was  general,  the  people  were  opposed  to 
any  action  which  should  affect  its  condition  where  it 
was  already  established.  During  the  sessions  of  1836-7 
resolutions  of  an  extreme  pro-slavery  character  were 
carried  through  the  Legislature  by  the  Democratic  party, 
aiming  to  prevent  the  Abolitionists  from  obtaining  a 
foothold  in  the  State.  Lincoln  could  not  conscientiously 
support  the  resolutions,  nor  hold  his  peace  concerning 
them.  He  did  not  shrink  from  the  issue,  but  at  the 
hazard  of  losing  his  political  popularity  and  the  gratifying 
prospects  that  were  opening  before  him  he  drew  up  a 
protest  against  the  pro-slavery  enactment  and  had  it 
entered  upon  the  Journal  of  the  House.  The  state  of 
public  opinion  in  Illinois  at  that  time  may  be  judged  by 
the  fact  that  of  the  hundred  Representatives  in  the  House 
only  one  had  the  courage  to  sign  the  protest  with  him. 
Lincoln's  protest  was  as  follows: 
March  3,  1837. 
The  following  protest,  presented  to  the  House,  was  read 
and  ordered  to  be  spread  on  the  journals,  to  wit : 
Resolutions  upon  the  subject  of  domestic  slavery  having 
passed  both  branches  of  the  General  Assembly  at  its  pres 
ent  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  promulga-
66     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
tion  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  con 
tained  in  the  said  resolutions,  is  their  reason  for  entering 
this  protest. (Signed)  DAN  STONE, 
A.  LINCOLN, 
Representatives  from  the  County  of  Sangamon. 
The  great  financial  panic  which  swept  over  the  country 
in  1837  rendered  expedient  an  extra  session  of  the  Legisla 
ture,  which  was  called  together  in  July.  General  Lee  D. 
Ewing  had  been  elected  to  this  session  from  Fayette 
County  for  the  express  purpose  of  repealing  the  law  re 
moving  the  capital  from  Vandalia  to  Springfield.  "Gen 
eral  Ewing  was,"  says  Mr.  Linder,  "a  man  of  considerable 
notoriety,  popularity,  and  talents.  He  had  been  a 
member  of  Congress  from  Illinois,  and  had  filled  various 
State  offices  in  his  time.  He  was  a  man  of  elegant  man 
ners,  great  personal  courage,  and  would  grace  either  the 
salons  of  fashion  or  the  Senate  chamber  at  Washington. 
The  Legislature  opened  its  special  session  (I  was  there  as  a 
spectator),  and  General  Ewing  sounded  the  tocsin  of  war. 
He  said  that '  the  arrogance  of  Springfield,  its  presumption 
in  claiming  the  seat  of  government,  was  not  to  be  endured; 
that  the  law  had  been  passed  by  chicanery  and  trickery; 
that  the  Springfield  delegation  had  sold  out  to  the  internal 
improvement  men,  and  had  promised  their  support  to 
every  measure  that  would  gain  them  a  vote  to  the  law 
removing  the  seat  of  government.'  He  said  many  other 
things,  cutting  and  sarcastic.  Lincoln  was  chosen  by
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     67 
his  colleagues  to  reply  to  Ewing;  and  I  want  to  say  here 
that  this  was  the  first  time  that  I  began  to  conceive  a  very 
high  opinion  of  the  talents  and  personal  courage  of  Abra 
ham  Lincoln.  He  retorted  upon  Ewing  with  great  severity, 
denouncing  his  insinuations  imputing  corruption  to 
him  and  his  colleagues,  and  paying  back  with  usury  all 
that  Ewing  had  said,  when  everybody  thought  and 
believed  that  he  was  digging  his  own  grave;  for  it  was 
known  that  Ewing  would  not  quietly  pocket  any  insinua 
tions  that  would  degrade  him  personally.  I  recollect  his 
reply  to  Lincoln  well.  After  addressing  the  Speaker,  he, 
turned  to  the  Sangamon  delegation,  who  all  sat  in  the 
same  portion  of  the  house,  and  said:  'Gentlemen,  have 
you  no  other  champion  than  this  coarse  and  vulgar  fellow 
to  bring  into  the  lists  against  me?  Do  you  suppose  that 
I  will  condescend  to  break  a  lance  with  your  low  and 
obscure  colleague?'  We  were  all  very  much  alarmed  for 
fear  there  would  be  a  personal  conflict  between  Ewing  and 
Lincoln.  It  was  confidently  believed  that  a  challenge 
must  pass  between  them;  but  friends  on  both  sides  took 
the  matter  in  hand,  and  it  was  settled  without  anything 
serious  growing  out  of  it." 
When  the  legislative  session  ended,  in  February,  1837, 
Lincoln  returned  to  a  job  of  surveying  which  he  had 
begun  a  year  before  at  Petersburg,  near  his  old  home  at 
Salem.  He  spent  a  month  or  two  at  Petersburg,  com 
pleting  the  surveying  and  planning  of  the  town.  That 
his  work  was  well  and  satisfactorily  done  is  attested  by 
many  —  among  them  by  Mr.  John  Bennett,  who  lived  in 
Petersburg  at  the  time.  "My  earliest  acquaintance  with 
Lincoln,"  says  Mr.  Bennett,  "began  on  his  return  from 
Vandalia,  where  he  had  spent  the  winter  as  a  member 
of  the  Legislature  from  Sangamon  County.  Lincoln  spent 
most  of  the  month  of  March  in  Petersburg,  finishing  up 
the  survey  and  planning  of  the  town  he  had  commenced 
the  year  before.  I  was  a  great  deal  in  his  company,  and
68     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
formed  a  high  estimate  of  his  worth  and  social  qualities, 
which  was  strengthened  by  many  years  of  subsequent 
social  intercourse  and  business  transactions,  finding  him 
always  strictly  honest.  In  fact,  he  was  now  generally 
spoken  of  in  this  region  as  'Honest  Abe.*  After  Menard 
County  was  formed  out  of  a  portion  of  Sangamon  County, 
and  the  county  seat  established  at  Petersburg,  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  a  regular  attendant  at  the  courts.  I  was  then  keeping 
a  hotel,  and  he  was  one  of  my  regular  customers.  Here 
he  met  many  of  his  old  cronies  of  his  early  days  at  Salem, 
and  they  spent  the  most  of  the  nights  in  telling  stories  or 
spinning  long  yarns,  of  which  Mr.  Lincoln  was  particularly 
fond."
CHAPTER  IV 
Lincoln's  Removal  to  Springfield  —  A  Lawyer  without  Clients  or  Money 
—  Early  Discouragements  —  Proposes  to  Become  a  Carpenter  — 
"Stuart  &  Lincoln,  Attorneys  at  Law"  —  "Riding  the  Circuit"  — 
Incidents  of  a  Trip  Round  the  Circuit  —  Pen  Pictures  of  Lincoln  — 
Humane  Traits  —  Kindness  to  Animals  —  Defending  Fugitive 
Slaves  —  Incidents  in  Lincoln's  Life  as  a  Lawyer  —  His  Fondness 
for  Jokes  and  Stories. 
LINCOLN'S  removal  from  New  Salem  to  Springfield, 
where  his  more  active  life  as  a  lawyer  began,  oc 
curred  in  April,  1837,  soon  after  the  completion  of  his 
survey  work  at  Petersburg.  The  event  was  closely 
connected  with  the  removal  of  the  State  capital  from 
Vandalia  to  Springfield,  the  law  for  which  was  passed  at 
the  legislative  session  of  1836-7.  As  has  been  stated, 
Lincoln  was  a  member  of  that  Legislature  and  was  active 
in  procuring  the  passage  of  the  bill.  The  citizens  of 
Springfield  were  very  desirous  of  the  removal  of  the 
capital  to  their  town,  and  many  of  them  were  present  at 
the  session  when  the  measure  was  up  for  discussion.  They 
had  thus  become  acquainted  with  Lincoln;  they  were 
favorably  impressed  as  to  his  abilities  and  character,  and 
pleased  with  his  efforts  in  the  matter  in  which  they  were 
so  greatly  interested.  Through  their  influence  and 
encouragement  he  chose  Springfield  as  his  future  home. 
Lincoln's  first  interview,  after  his  arrival  in  Springfield, 
was  with  Mr.  Joshua  F.  Speed,  with  whom  he  already  had 
a  slight  acquaintance,  and  who  details  the  circumstances 
of  their  meeting.  "He  had  ridden  into  town,"  says  Mr. 
Speed,  "on  a  borrowed  horse,  with  no  earthly  property 
save  a  pair  of  saddle-bags  containing  a  few  clothes.  I  was 
a  merchant  at  Springfield,  and  kept  a  large  country  store,
70     EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN 
embracing  dry  goods,  groceries,  hardware,  books,  medi 
cines,  bed-clothes,  mattresses,  —  in  fact,  everything  that 
country  people  needed.  Lincoln  came  into  the  store 
with  his  saddle-bags  on  his  arm,  and  said  he  wanted  to 
buy  the  fixings  for  a  single  bed.  The  mattresses,  blankets, 
sheets,  coverlid,  and  pillow,  according  to  the  figures  made 
by  me,  would  cost  seventeen  dollars.  He  said  that  was 
perhaps  cheap  enough,  but  small  as  the  sum  was  he  was 
unable  to  pay  it.  But  if  I  would  credit  him  till  Christmas, 
and  his  experiment  as  a  lawyer  was  a  success,  he  would 
pay  then;  adding,  in  the  saddest  tone,  'If  I  fail  in  this, 
I  do  not  know  that  I  can  ever  pay  you.'  As  I  looked  up 
at  him  I  thought  then,  and  think  now,  that  I  never  saw  a 
sadder  face.  I  said  to  him,  'You  seem  to  be  so  much 
pained  at  contracting  so  small  a  debt,  I  think  I  can  suggest 
a  plan  by  which  you  can  avoid  the  debt  and  at  the  same 
time  attain  your  end.  I  have  a  large  room  with  a  double 
bed  up-stairs  which  you  are  very  welcome  to  share  with 
me.'  'Where  is  your  room?'  said  he.  'Up-stairs,'  said 
I,  pointing  to  a  pair  of  winding  stairs  which  led  from  the 
store  to  my  room.  He  took  his  saddle-bags  on  his  arm, 
went  up-stairs,  set  them  down  on  the  floor,  and  came 
down  with  the  most  changed  countenance.  Beaming  with 
pleasure,  he  exclaimed,  'Well,  Speed,  I'm  moved!'  Lincoln 
was  then  twenty-eight  years  old.  He  was  a  lawyer  with 
out  a  client,  with  no  money,  all  his  earthly  wealth  con 
sisting  of  the  clothes  he  wore  and  the  contents  of  his 
saddle-bags." 
Lincoln  shared  the  same  room  with  Mr.  Speed  during  his 
early  residence  in  Springfield,  taking  his  meals  with  his 
companion  at  the  house  of  Mr.  William  Butler,  with 
whom  he  boarded  for  five  years.  His  professional  ad 
vancement  at  first  was  slow,  and  he  had  periods  of  great 
discouragement.  An  old  settler  of  Illinois,  named  Page 
Eaton,  says:  "I  knew  Lincoln  when  he  first  came  to 
Springfield.  He  was  an  awkward  but  hard-working
EVERY-DAY    LIFE    OF    LINCOLN     71 
young  man.     Everybody  said  he  would  never  make  a 
good  lawyer  because  he  was  too  honest.     He  came  to  my 
shop  one  day,  after  he  had  been  here  five  or  six  months, 
and  said  he  had  a  notion  to  quit  studying  law  and  learn 
carpentering.     He  thought  there  was  more  need  of  car 
penters  out  here  than  lawyers."     Soon  after  Lincoln's 
settlement  in  Springfield,  he  formed  a  law  partnership 
with  Major  John  T.  Stuart,  whom  he  had  known  for  some 
years  and  who  already  had  a  good  position  at  the  bar. 
This  partnership  began,  according  to  the  statement  of 
1  Major  Stuart,  on  April  27,  1837.     It  continued  just  four 
years,  when  it  was  dissolved,   and  Lincoln  and  Judge 
\  Stephen  T.  Logan  became  partners.     This  latter  partner- 
;  ship  continued  about  two  years,  when,  on  September  20, 
j 
1843,  the  firm  of  Lincoln  &  Herndon  was  formed,  and 
it  continued  to  the  time  of  Lincoln's  death. 
When  Lincoln  began  to  practice  law,  it  was  the  custom 
in  Illinois  to  "ride  the  circuit,"  a  proceeding  of  which  the 
older  communities  of  the  East  know  nothing.  The  State 
of  Illinois,  for  instance,  is  divided  into  a  number  of  districts, 
each  composed  of  a  number  of  counties,  of  which  a  single 
judge,  appointed  or  elected  as  the  case  may  be,  for  that 
purpose,  makes  the  circuit,  holding  courts  at  each  county 
seat.  Railroads  being  scarce,  the  earlier  circuit  judges 
made  their  trips  from  county  to  county  on  horseback  or 
in  a  gig;  and  the  prominent  lawyers  living  within  the 
limits  of  the  circuit  made  the  tour  of  the  circuit  with  the 
judge.  It  is  said  that  when  Lincoln  first  began  to 
"ride  the  circuit"  he  was  too  poor  to  own  a  horse  or 
vehicle,  and  was  compelled  to  borrow  from  his  friends. 
But  in  due  time  he  became  the  proprietor  of  a  horse,  which 
he  fed  and  groomed  himself,  and  to  which  he  was  very 
much  attached.  On  this  animal  he  would  set  out  from 
home,  to  be  gone  for  weeks  together,  with  no  baggage  but 
a  pair  of  saddle-bags  containing  a  change  of  linen,  and  an 
old  cotton  umbrella  to  shelter  him  from  sun  or  rain.