The herald., 1895-04-22
SKETCHES FROM THE LIFE OF LINCOLN

uay ana age L attended the school he
taught, whom was boy, in Springfield,
and was In later years clerk of the city
under his administration as mayor. Lin
coin, / know, respected and admired him.
After Lincolns removal to Springfield
they frequently held joint debates on po-
litical questions. At one time, remember,
they discussed the tariff question in the
courthouse, using up the better part of
two evenings in the contest. Calhoun
was polite, affablo and an honest debater,
mover lodging any question. This made
him formidable antagonist in argunen-
tative controversy, l have heard Lincoln
say that Calhoun gave him more trouble
in his debates than Douglas ever did, be-
cause he was moro captivating in his man.
ner and more learned man than Doug
las
As Surveyor.
But to resume The recommendation of
Lincoln friends was sufficient to induce
Calhoun to appoint him one of his depu
ties. At tho time he received notice of his
selection by Calhoun, Lincoln was out in
the woods near New Salem splitting rails.
A friend named Pollard Simmons who
still survives and has related the incident
to me, walked out to the point where he
was working with the cheering news.
Lincoln, being Wing and knowing Cal
houn's pronounced Democratic tendencies,
inquired If ho had to sacrifice any princi-
pie in accepting the position. IF ! can
be perfectly free in my political action, I
will take the Office" he remarked, but if
my sentiments or even expression Of them
is to be abridged in any way, l would not
have it or any other Office" A young man
hampcred by poverty as Lincoln was at
hi -bI bod tno to o1
with public Office as be did, was certainly
made of unalloycd material. No wonder
in after years. when he was defeated by
Douglas, he could inspire his friends by
the aGmonition not to give up after one
nor one hundred defeats "
Honors were now crowding thick and
fast upon him. On May Z, 1888, he was
commissioned postmaster at New Salem,
the first office he over held under the fed
eral government The salary was proper
tionate to the amount of business done.
Whether Lincoln solicited the appoint
ment himself or whether it was given him
without the asking 1 do not know, but
certain it is his administration" gave
general satisfaction. The mail arrived
once week. and we can imagine the ex-
tent of time and labor required to distrib-
ute it when it is known that she carried
the Office around in his hat" Mr.. Lincoln
used to tell me that when he had call to
go to the country to survey piece of land
he placed inside his hat all the letters be-
longing to people in the neighborhood and
distributed them along the way. He mado
headquarters in Samuel Hills store, and
thcro the office may be said to have been
located as Hill himself had been post
master before Lincoln. Between tho rev.
enuc derived from tho postoffce and his
income from land surveys Lincoln was in
the expressive language CT the day. get
ting along well enough" Suddenly, how
ever, smooth sailing ceased, and all his
prospects of easy times ahead worc again
brought to naught. One Van Bergen
brought suit against him and obtained
Judgment on ono of tho notes given in
payment of tho store debt, relic of the
unfortunate partnership with Berry. His
personal effects were levied ON and sold,
his horse and surveying instruments going
with the rest But again friend, ono
James Short, whose favor he had gained,
interposcd, bought in the property and
restored it to the hopeless young surveyor.
1t will be seen now what kind of friends
Lincoln was gaining. The bonds he was
thus making wcro destined to stand tho
sovcrest of tests. His case never became SO
desperate but n friend came out of the
darkness to relieve him.
Natures Stamp of Greatness.
No little of Lincoln's influence with the
men of New Salem can be attributed to
his extraordinary fcats of strength. By
an arrangement of ropes and straps, har-
messed about his hips, bo was enabled one
day at tho mill to astonish crowd of vii
lago celebrities by lifting box of stones
weighing near l 900 pounds. There is 10
fiction either, as suggested by some of his
biographers, in the story that he lifted
barrel of whisky from tho ground and
drank from the bung, but In performing
this latter almost incredible feat he did
not stand erect and elevate the barrel, but
squattcd down and lifted it to his knees,
rolling it over until his mouth came op-
posite the bung His strength, kindness of
manner love of fairness and justice, his
original and unique sayings, his power of
mimicry, his persevcrance-all made
com animation rarely met with on the from
tier. Nature had burned him in her holy
fire and stamped him with the seal of her
greatness.
In the summer of 1S43 Lincoln deter
mined to make another race for the legis-
lature, but this time lie ran distinctly as
w lllS. IIC ]Hduc, 10 pICSuuCu uuO USUAL
number of speeches, but as the art of
newspaper reporting had not reached the
perfection it has since attained wo are
not favored with even the substance of his
efforts on tho stump. I have Lincoln's
word for it that it was more of a hand
shaking campaign than anything else.
The election took place in August. Lin
coins friend, John II. Stuart was also
candidate on the legislative ticket. He
encouraged Lincoln's canvass in every
way even at the risk of sacrificing his
own chances. But both wero elected. The
four successful candidates were Dawson,
who received 1890 votes, Lincoln 1876
Carpenter l, ITO and Stuart 1,164.
AT last Lincoln had been elected to the
Legislature and by very flattcring ma
jority. In order, as he himself said, 'to
make decent appearance in the logisa-
ture,' he had to borrow money to buy suit
able clothing and to maintain his now
dignity. Coleman Smoot, one of his
friends, advanced him $500, which he re-
turned, relates the generous Smoot, 'ac-
cording to promise" Here We leave our
rising young statesman to take up diff
fcrent but very interesting period of his
history.