The Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, Ohio) 1853-1861, 1860-07-19
RE STUDIES LAW.

He bought an old copy of Blackstone, one day
auction. in Springfield, and on his return tc
New Salem, attacked the word with character
istic energy. His favorte place of study wal
II wooded knoll near New Salem, where he threw
himself under wide spreading oak, and ex
psnsively made reading desk of the hillside
II re he would pore over Blackstone day aile
day, shifting his position MS the sun rose anu
sank so to keep IN the shsde. aud utterly
unconscious OF everything bnt the principles o
common law. People went by, aud he took no
account Of them the sautations of acquont
anccs were returned with silence, or vacant
starr and altogether the manner of the ab.
snrhed student was not unlike that of dis
trnught.
Since that day his habits of study have
chang d someW hat but his ardor remains una
hatrd, aud hr is now regarded as one Of the bes
informed, as he Is certainly The ablest man III
Illinois.
When praclicins law, before his election to
Congress, copy OF Burns was his insopsrablS
companion on the circnit and this he perSum
so constantly, that il is said he has now by
hesrt every line of his iavorite poet. He is also
dilIgrnt student olShakspear, ito know whom
is liberal education
The bent Of his mind, however, is mathemat
zeal aud metaphysical, and he is therefore
pleased with the absolute ant log cal method o
Poe's tales and sketches, IN which the problem
Ot mystery is given, and wrought out into every
day iacts by processes Of cunning snalysis.
ia said that he suffers no year to pass withou
the persusI of this author.
Books Oi all sorts, the eager student devouIeC
with an Unsuitable appetite and newspaper:
were no less precious To him. The first publ
Cation for winch he ever subscribed was th,
Louisville J0urnul which he paid for when h,
4 tI,l, - 81,
expense Of physical comfort.
II was day OF great rriOlcing with Lincoln
when President Jackson appointed him post
master at New Salem. IL was Wing, but
the office was OF so little prcunlory significance
that II was bestowed irrespective Of politics
Lincoln, indeed was the only person in the
community whose accomplishments were equa
TO the task Of making out the mail returns iO
the Deparm ment.
AL acquaintance says that the Presidency
can never make our candidate happier than tht
post office did then. lie foresaw unlimited op
porunllles for reading newspapers and of sat
isiyiug his appetite for knowledge.
BuD it was not through rcsding alone tha
Lincoln cultivated his intellect The graveonC
praclical American N nd has always found en-
tertainmcnt and profit in dispurattoG, and the
debating clubs are what every American youth
is subject 10. They are useful in many ways
They safely vent the mental exuberancp ofyouth
those whom destiny intended for the bar snc
the Senate, they sssist those who have a mis-.
~Linco'n expressly stated, in reply to some
badinsge of u1las, during the debates of 1858
that he never kept a grocery anywhere. Out
West, grocery is understood to be place
where the chief artcly of commerce is whisky.
Llncoln's establishment was, in the Western
sense, store that is he sod tea coffee. sugar,
powder lead, and other luxuries and necessaries
Of pioneer existence. Very probably his store
was not without the "elixir of liIe.' wi h which
nearly every body renewed the aoweI Of youth
in hose days; though this is not a matter OF
absolute history, nor perhaps of vital conse-
quence.
mir. w. T. Green. now one Of the most in
6uenIial Ond wealthy men Of this par, OF Hi
nois.