The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-02-12

which he would shave off and then
begin again. He soon attained his fun
physical growth. feet 4 inches. and
great strength. so that he could do .
mans work before he was q man.
When he was nineteen he went down
to New Orleans on fiat boat One
night he attacked gang Of maraud-
ers and put them to flight and he
mAnasDd and sold the cargo With sue
cess. Two years later his father emf
grated to Illinois and after weeks OF
weary tramping new cabin was put
up on the Sangamon river where Lin
coin plowed q fifteen acre field and
split the rails which fenced 1t in. In
the campaign Of 1860 two Of these
rails electrified the state convention
and kindled the enthusiasm Of the
country. But Lincoln now left the
clearing and moved to the little town
Of New Salem
Makes Flat Boat Trip.
Again uS WCuI " NSW 1IlShub III
flat boat and there seeing the ne
sroes chained. maltreated and scourg-
ed, his heart bled for them and he
formed his lasting opinion of slavery.
At New Salem he was q clerk In a
grocery store. known for his sterling
honesty as well as for his ability to
thrash the DULLES of the neighbor-
hood. He was elected captain in the
Black Hawk war and when his COM
pany was mustered out he re-enlisted
as q private but saw little fight
ing. When he returned to New Salem,
he was Wing candidate for the leg
islature. In the handful which an
nounced his candidacy. he said: II
have no ambition 50 great as that Of
being truly esteemed of my fellow
men. by rendering myself worthy Of
their esteem. I was born and have
ever remained in the most humble
walks of life. have no wealthy or
powerful relations or friends to rec
ommend me. My case il thrown ex-
clusively upon the independent voters
Of the county: and, ii elected, they
win have conferred favor upon me,
for which I shall be unremitting in
my labors to compensate. But IL the
good people In their wisdom shall see
ut to keep me In the background,
have been too familiar with disap-
pointments to be very much cha
grined."
Made Few Speeches.
He had time to make a few speech
es In his canvas. The meetings. were
sometimes disorderly. Once when he
saw 2 ruffian attack friend he came
down from the stand. seized the as
sailant b.. the neck, threw him 'some
ten feet" and then mounted to his
place and finished his speech. He was
not successful in his canvass. though
the vote from his own neighborhood
was almost unanimous in his favor.
He could whip any man no mat, yet
he never sought quarrel. He was
everybody's friend and yet used no
liquor or no tobacco. He had scarcely
ever been at school. yet he was well
informed. intelligent and not given to
profanity or scandal. This time his
majority led that Of all the other can
didates. He took no specially con-
spicuous position in the legislature.
In 4 speech In answer to Douglas,
Lincoln thus spoke Of the authors OF
the Declaration of Independence:
They did not mean to assert the OBJ
vious untruth that all were then act
ually enjoying that equality, or yet
that they were about to confer It Inn
mediately upon them. In fact they had
no power to confer such boon They
meant simply to declare tho right, so
that the enforcement Of 1t might fol-
low rs fast as circumstances should
permit. They meant to set up q stan
dard maxim for free society. which
should be familiar to all. and revered
by all: constantly looked to. constant
" labored for. and even though new
err perfectly attained, constantly APP
and thereby constantly
spreading and deepening its influence