The herald., 1895-06-01
SKETCK.S FROM THE LIFE OF LINCOLN

studying law at Grand Rapids, Mich.
and on hearing from my brother l i'm
mcdiately packed up and started for
Springfield I arrived there on Saturday
night On Sunday Mr.. Lincoln was point
ed out to me. well remember this first
sight Of him. He was striding along,
holding little Tad, then about years old,
by tho hand, who could with tho greatest
difficulty keep up with his father. In the
morning applied at the office of Lincoln
& Herndon for admission MS n student
A Modest Ofice.
1.-The office was on the second floor OF
brick building on the public square, oppo-
site the courthouse. You went up ono
flight of stairs and then passed along a
hallway to the rear Office, which was me-
dlum sized room. There was ono long ta-
bic in tho center of the room and shorter
one running in tho opposite direction,
forming Z, and both were covered with
green baize. There were two windows
which looked into the back yard. In one
corner was an old fashioned secretary with
pigeonholes and a drawer, and hero Mr..
Lincoln and his partner kept their law pa
pers. There was also a bookcase contain
ing about 200 volumes of law as well as
miscellaneous books. Tho morning en-
tered the Office Mr.. Lincoln and his part
ner, Mr.. Herndon, were both present Mr..
Lincoln addressed his partner thus: Billy,
this is the young man Of whom spoke to
you. Whatever arrangement you make
with him will be satisfactory to me-
Then, turning to me, he said: I hope you
will not become so enthusiastic iii your
studies of Blackstone and Kent as did two
young men whom we had here. Do you
SEQ that spot over there?' pointing to a
large ink stain on the wall. We'll, ono Of
these young men got SO enthusiastic In
his pursuit Of legal lore that he fred an
inkstand at the other one $ head, and that
is the mark ho made Immediately be-
gan to clean up about the Office little.
Mr.. Lincoln had been in congress and had
the usual amount Of seeds to distribute to
the farmers. These were sent out with
Free Soil and Republican documents. In
my efforts to clean up found that some
of the seeds had sprouted in the dirt that
had collected in the Office. Judge Logan
and Milton Hay occupied the front offices
on the same floor with Lincoln and Hern-
don, and one day Mr.. Hay came in and
said, with apparent tastonishment, What's
happened here?' 'Oh, nothing replied
Lincoln, pointing to me, only this young
man has been cleaning up little One
of Lincoln's striking characteristics WAS
his simplicity, and nowhere was this trait
more strikingly exhibited than in his will
ingness to receive instruction from any
body and everybody. One day he came into
the office, and addressing his partner said,
Billy, what's the meaning OF antithesist'
Mr. Herndon gave him the definition Of
the word, and l said, Mr.. Lincoln, II you
xpi1 oil 7 xyS1l
ple.' All right, John, 60 ahead, said
Mr. Lincoln in his hearty manner. Phil
lips says in his essay on Napoleon, IA
pretended patriot, he Impoverished the
country; professed Catholic, he impris-
oned the pope, ETC.. Mr. Lincoln thanked
me and seemed very much pleased. Re-
turning from off the circuit once, he said
to Mr.. Herndon: Billy, heard good
story while l was up in the country.
Judge d. was complimenting the landlord
on the excellence Of his beef. II am sur
pirsed," he said, "that you have such good
beef. You must have to kill q whole crit
ter when you want any," "Yes," said tho
landlord, I'VE never kill less than whole
oritter."'
''Linooln's favorite position when un-
raveling some knotty law point was to
stretch both Of his legs at full length upon
q chair In front of him. In this position,
with books on tho table near by and in
his lap, he worked up his case No matter
how deeply interested in his work, IL any
one came in he had something humorous
and pleasant to say, and usually wound
up by telling n joke or an anecdotc.
have heard him relate the same story three
times within as many hours to persons
who came in at different periods, and ev-
cry time he laughed as heartily and en-
joyed it as if it were new story. His hu.
NOR was infectious. l had to laugh be.
cause thought 1T funny that Mr.. Lincoln
enjoyed story so repeatedly told.
Dividing the Fees.
'There was no order in the office at all.
The firm of Lincoln & Hcrndon kept no
books. They divided their fees without
taking any receipts or making any entries
on books. One day Mr.. Lincoln received
5000 as a fee in a railroad case. He
came in and snid, We'll, Billy, addressing
his partner, Mr.. Herndon, here is our fec.
Sit down and let me divide. He counted
out So, 500 to his partner and gave it to
him with as much nonchalance as he
would have given few cents for paper.
Cupidity had no abiding place in his ma.
ture.
up speech which I wanted to deliver
during a political campaign. I told Mr..
Lincoln that would like to road it to
him. Ho sat down in ono chair, put his
feet into another one and said: John,
you can fire away with that speech. l
guess can stand it. unrolled tho man.
uscript and proceeded with somo trepida-
tion. That's good point, john ho
would say at certain places, and at others,
That's good-vory good indeed, until /
felt very much clated over my effort.
delivered the speech over 80 times during
the campaign. Elmer Il. Ellsworth, after
colonel of tho famous zouaves, who was
killed in Alexandria early in tho war, was
nominally student in Lincoln's office.
His head was SO full of military matters,
however, that he thought little Of law. or
Ellsworth Lincoln said, That young
man has real genius for warP
His Mothers Maiden Name.