The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-02-12
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Sketch of the Life of the Great President
Whose Birthday Anniversary Is To-Day.

tied section of the country in the interior OF the
| State Of Kentucky. His father was poor. I'M
educated, but honest and hard working man,
and the early life Of the child. destined to such
| llustrious fame, was passed amidst scenes of
! poverty, hardship and struggles, from which the
| young boy of to-day would turn with shudder
Almost from infancy young Lincoln was COM
| PEELED to nearn his bread by the sweat of his
brow" and twas with great difficulty that he was
| even given sufficient schooling to enable him to
read and write the rudiments of which, how
| ever he succeeded in acquiring by the time he
was eight years DID, when his father sold out
what little he had in Kentucky and moved to
| Spencer county. Indiana. and engaged in farm
| ing, in which occupation he had before been en-
| gagged Abraham assisted him in it, and spend
| ing what leisure time he had in working out by
the days work among his neighbors and devot-
ing his evenings and part of. the winter months
| to improving his uncultiyated mind. Thus
passed his early life until he was nineteen years
| old, when he engaged in the business of rafting
on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, which he fol-
lowed for a WHILE when his father moved to
Macon county Illinois.
| After they had been established in their new
mined to try his own fortunes in the world, and
he left homo and succeeded in getting employ
ment as clerk in country store. He followed
this for few years, still reading, and studying,
and rising by his fair dealing and pleasant, prac-
| teal ways, in the estimation of the people.
! When the Black Hawk war broke out, compa-
ny was raised in the vicinity in which he lived,
| and Lincoln enlisted as a private. When the
| time came for choosing captain the names Of
Lincoln and Dir. kirkpatrick were proposed
for the Office To decide who should
| didates were to stand a short distance
from the company and the men told to 60 to the
| one they preferred for their commander. AL
most the whole company soon gathered around
| Lincoln and he was chosen captain. The COM
pany Joined the regiment of which Zachary Tay-
lor, the twelfth President of the United States,
| was colonel, and, although the war only lasted
| for short time, Lincoln proved that he would
have made brave officer. had destiny called him
! to the vocation of soldier.
Upon his return home his name was proposed
! as candidate for the State Legislature. aud,
although he received nearly every vote in his
| precinct, his Democratic opponent elected,
and, with partner. he again went into the
failure and financial loss to him
self. General jackson was then in the
presidential chair. and he appointed Lincoln the
postmaster at New Salem, which Office was so
small that it is said he kept his postofice in his
hat and delivered the letters as he CHANGED to
| meet those to whom they were addressed on the
| street This was probably not very lucrative
Office, and in connection with it he acted as
| surveyor, science which he had managed to
acquire.
In 1884, being then twenty five years of age,
he again became the Wing candidate for the
State Legislature and was triumphantly elected.
The capital of the State was hundred miles
distant and the newly-elected member walked
the entire distance with his pack on his back, to
enter upon his duties. He was silent, studi-
Gus member, and during the session commenced
the study of law to which he bent
all the energies of his now ambitious
mind, and in a political speech which he made at
Springfield so electrified the people that he was
at once recognized of the most elegant
speakers Of the State. He was re elected to the
Legislature in 1886 and again in 1888 when Mr..
Stuart, his law preceptor offered him a partner
ship in the law business, which he accepted.
Still continuing in the Legislature, he devoted
himself to his new profession rising rapidly In
public esteem, and soon became one of the most
successful attorneys as we'll as one of the abiest
and most impressive pleaders at the bar, and in
1912 he was married to Miss Mary Todd, daughter
of Hon. Robert S. Todd, of Lexington, KY.
During the presidential contest of 1874, Mr.. Lin
coin took the stump for his political idol Henry
speaker that in 1916 he was nominated and tri-
umphantly elected the member of Congress from
his district, serving however, Tor only one term
when he returned to Springfield, ILL.,,
and devoted himself to his law practice
From the very commencement of his political
career Lincoln had taken strong grounds against
slavery, and whom, in 1854 the discussions of
this question came up over the Kansas Nebraska
DILL, as it was called he took active part in it.
His forcible and ontspoken mode of handling the
question brought him in contact with Stephen A
Douglas then one OF the most brilliant Demo-
cratic orators of Illinois, and in 1858 these two
representatives OF their parties held series of
joint discussions which attracted the attention of
the Nation it being understood that either would
be the nominee of his party for the United States
Senate in the event of the State Legislature be-
ing either Democratic or Republican The Dem
ocrats carried the Legislature, and Stephen A.
Douglas was chosen Senator. After the cleo
ton Lincoln was asked how he felt. II feel,r
said he, like the boy who stubbed his toe-too
bad to laugh and to big to cry"
The contest. however, gave him a national
notoriety. and in the political campaigns that
followed he visited Kansas, Ohio New York and
several other States. making speeches, and was
received everywhere with unbounded enthusi-
aSm.
In 1860 when the Democratic convention met
at Charleston, s. c., and after bitter and pro-
tracted struggle nominated Stephen A Douglas
for the presidency, and the boilers, dissatisfied
with the choice met and nominated John c..
Breckenridge, and a Union convention met and
nominated John Bell. it seemed to be evident
that whoever the Republicans would nominate
for that position would be elected. Their con-
vention met at Chicago on the 18th day of June,
and VIM H. Seward and Abraham Lincoln were
the two candidates developing the most strength
The first two ballots they were about even,
Seward receiving 1874 and Lincoln 181 votes, but
on the third ballot Ohio transferred four of her
votes to Lincoln, nominating him amidst the
widest enthusiasm. Mr.. Lincoln was sitting in
his law Office at Springfield, with some friends,
when he received the telegram announcing his
success. Hastily picking up his hat, he said:
Excuse me, gentlemen, for there is little
woman on Eighth street who has some interest
in this matter" and left the Office to tell the joy
full news to his wife.
The campaign that followed was an exciting
and hardly fought one, and as result of the
election Lincoln received $50 electoral votes
Breckenridge ", Bell 80 and Douglass II, elect
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