Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1867-02-27
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
A Talk with the Late Presiden t's
Law Partner.
SPINGFIELD, ILL.,, Jan. 25, 1885,

When history makes u. its mind I
commemorate place, NJ special col
respondence cap keep pace with it,
After Mr.. Lincoln's nomination to tn
Presideney-the most Republicans G
all e0ups d. etat-the little city of fSprine
field assembled at a bound from tn
commonplace to the memorable. Cara
vans of patriots from all the othe
States wended across the prairies t
visit it. From market town, wher
eggs were duly exchanged for calico
and the father of the family reporteC
himself twice year to get stone drunl
it rose to be the home of q President
and sent him across the continent I,
usefulness and martyrdom. His bod,
lies near by it-shrine which any cit
might oovet-and his prim frame resi-
dence, practical and mud colored,
have walked around these two nights
to find my curiosity shared by a half
dozen couples, looking upon itas if tn
tall ghost of its former owner nigh
possibly appear.
l came here to lecture; two days leis
ure spared me 1 have passed one-hal
OF each In conversation with man VIII
knew the great citizen of Springfield
for 20 years anterior to his Chief Mag
istracy better and closer than any hu
man being. Until very lately yoV
might have read upon bare stairway
opposite the State House Square, the
sign of Lincoln & Herndon. A yea
ago it gave place to the name Of Hern
don & Zane. Ascending the stairs one
flight, you see two doors opening L
your right hand. That in the real
leads to what was for one generation
the law Office of the President. With
in, it is dismAntled room, strewp with
faded briefs and leaves of books
no desks nor chairs remaining; its sin
gle bracket Of gas darkened in the cen.
ter, by whose flame he whom our chill
dren's children shall lreverently name
prepared, perhaps, his gentle, sturdy
utterances; and out of its window you
get a sweep of stable-roofs and dingy
back yards, where he must have looked
a thousand times, pondering Freedom
and Empire with his eye upon ash
heaps and Growing cocks and young
Americans sledging or ball-playing.-
As simple an Office, even for q country
lawyer, as ever saw in my life, it il
now in the transition condition of be-
ing prepared for another tenant. In
the middle of the room the future
President sat at table side, and in the
adjoining front room this table and all
the furniture of the place is still re-
tanned, while in its back corner, look
ing meditatively at the cylinder stove,
you see Mr.. Herndon. the partner,
and authority l have referred to.
He has given me permission to write
what choose of himself and his dead
friend, and among all the men 1 have
ever met, he is the readiest to under
stand a question and to give even and
direct answers. He resembles Mr.. Lin
col so much, and in his present quar-
ters, garb, and worldly condition, Is so
nearly reproduction of A. Lincoln,
lawyer, as he lived before Fame drove
chariot through this second story,
that we may as well take turn around
the surviving man and the loom.
Lincoln was the taller and older,
and senior partner; be had been in
two or three associations with lawy srs;
one of his early partners, by fraud or
mismanagement, got him into debt,
and he carried the burden of it about
ten years /; his latest partner, except
ing Herndon, was anxious to be a can
didate for the Legislature, and as Mr..
Lincoln desired the same honor at the
same time, dissolution was inevitable,
and then to Herndon's great surprise,
for he was very young and obscure,
Lincoln said: BILLY, let US go into
business together" Herndon accept
ep the proposition thankfully. Mr..
Lincoln arranged the terms of partner
ship, and the new "shingle" went up
directly, never to be removed till the
bullet of Booth had done its errand.
How young Herndon might have
looked 25 years ago we can scarcely
infer from the Safron-faced, blus-blsck
haired man before as, bearded bushily
at the throat, disposed to shut one eye
for accuracy in conversation, this teeth
discolored by tobacco, and over his an
gular features, which suggests Mr..
Lincoln's in smpleness and shape, the
same half-tender melancholy, the re-
suit in both cases. perhaps, Of hard
frontier work, poor pay, thoughtful
and . disposition to share
the sorrows of mankind.
Oh why should the spirit Q! mortal be proud
is the sentiment of herndon's face, as
it was of Mr.. Lincoln's-a gravity that
BELTS greatness Wsll,- when it comes,
and in the dress of the firm Of Lin
colin and Herndon you see this senti-
ment practicalized. "Mr. Lincoln"
,aid Mr.. Herndon, "cared so little
abont clothes that sometimes he did
not put all of them on. He was brought
Up barefoot" Mr.. Herndon, by par al
el, wears to-day bright yellow pair
of breeches, turned up twice at the
bottoms, and looks to be 4 wind.har-
1ened farmer, rather than one Of the
pest lawyers in the State, and, as q
public man, is charged with delivering |
he best stump speeches in Illinois, on |
he Republican side, during the last |
election. His address is homely in |
orm, commencing with, Friend! I'll
LnsWer you;" and this he does with
,ut equiVocation, with his long fore
inger extended, and with such fund |
If new information upon the revered /
memory in question that although the /
Lincoln biographers, from Holland up,
lave talked with him, he seems to be
)rimful of new "reminiscences. With |
N extraordinary memory, great facili-
y of inference, and q sturdy originali-
y of opinion, he had the effect upon
ne TO stagger all my notions of the
lead Presidents character. He has
,een = wonderful desultory reader, and
n his law library you may see the ano-
nalous companions for Prairie sttor-
ley of Bsiley's Festils, SchlegePs Criti-
Iues, Comete's Philosophy, Louis Blame
nd many of the disobedient essayists.
Ie has one of the best private libra
les in the West, and in this respect is
mike Mr.. Lincoln, who seldom bought
new book, and seldom read one
1r. Lincoln's education was almost
ntirely a newspaper one. He was one
f the most thorough newspaper read (
RS in America, and for fifteen years
efore his election to the Presidency
absorbed regularly to The Riehmond I
'ngtiirer and The ChGrLestoH MerelfTy.-l Z
Ie grew slowly, therefore, as public i
pinien grew, and as an anti-slaYery /
ian a gradual convert, whereas Hern- 5
on, years before, embraced at leap q
I the social reforms, read all the agi- J
tors, and talked human liberty to c
r.. Lincoln, gravely listening, till t
of sentiment developed, and c
,out the year 1874 the coming eman- +