The Snowflake herald., 1922-02-03
CHAPTER XIII.

| Which Presents the Pleasant Comedy
of Individuaism in the New Capital,
and the courtship Of Lincoln and
Mary Todd.
Samson, with "Mr. Nimble' on a
| pad stuffed with straw in front of
him, logged across the prairies and
waded the creeks and sloughs on his
way to Springfield The little lad was
in his fourth year that summer. He
slept and talked much on the way and
kept Samson busy with queries about
| the sky and the creeks and the great
fiowery meadows.
They camped the first night in a
belt of timber and Samson writes that
the boy ''slept snug against me with
his head on my arm. He went to sleep
crying for his mother" He adds:
at reminded me of the old days of
my young fatherhood. Mr.. Nimble'
wanted to pick all the flowers and
splash his bare feet in every stream.
In the evening he would talk to the
stars as If he were playing with them.
He is like some of the grown folks in
Chicago. He would sit hanging on to
the reins. and talk to the horse and
to God by the hour. He used to tell
me that God was friend of his and
1 think he was right. 1t was good
luck to get back to Sarah and the
children. They took the little stran-
ger into their hearts. Heart room,
house room is the motto of this part
of the country"
1t was a new town to which Samson
returned. The governor and the state
officers had moved to Springfield. The
new capitol was nearing completion.
The hard times which had followed
the downfall Of 81 had unjustly dim
inished Mr.. Lincoln's confidence in his
ability as a legislator. He enjoyed
the practice of the law, which had be-
gun to turn his interest from the az
fairs of state. But the pot Of political
science boiled before the fireplace in
the rear of Joshua Speeds store every
evening that Lincoln and his associ-
ates were in Springfield. The wit and
wisdom which bubbled into it's vapors
and the heat that surrounded 1t were
the talk of the town. Many came
to witness the process and presently
it was moved, for a time, to more
accommodating quarters. Before
crowd of people in the Presbyterian
church, Lincoln, Logan, Baker and
Browning for the Wings, and Douglas,
Calhoun, Lamborn and Thomas for
the Democrats, having assiduously
prepared for the trial, debated the
burning issues of the time. The effort
Of each filed an evening and LincOln's
speech gave him new hope Of himself
Wise men began to have great conf
dence in his future. He had taken
the style of Webster for his model.
He no longer used the broad humor
which had characterized his efforts on
the stump. A study of the best
speeches of the great New Englander
had made him question its value in
a public address. Dignity, clear rea
soning and impressiveness were the
chief aims of his new method, the lat
ter of which is aptly illustrated by
this passage from his speech in reply
to Douglas in the debate mentioned:
eff I ever feel the soul within me
sions not wholly unworthy of its AL
mighty Architect, it is when | con-
template the cause of my country de-
serted by all the world besides, and
l standing up boldly and alone and
hurting defiance at her victorious Op-
pressors. Here without contemplating
consequences before high heaven and
in the face of the world l swear eter-
nal fidelity to the just cause, as /
deem it, of the land of my life, my
liberty and my love-"
In these perfervid utterances one
may find little to admire save great
spirit seeking to express itself and
lacking as yet the refinement of taste
equal to his undertaking. He was
no heaven-born genius sprung in full
panoply from the head of Jove." He
was just one of the slow, common
folk, with a passion for justice and
human rights, slowly feeling his way
upward. His spirit was growing.
Strong in it's love and knowledge OF
common men and of the things neces-
sary to their welfare, it was beginning
to seek and know ''the divine power
of words" Every moment of leisure
he gave to the study of Webster and
Burke and Byron and Shakespeare and
Burns. He had begun to study the
art of Irving and Walter Scott and OF
a new writer OF the Oame of Dickens.
There were four men who slept with
him in the room above Speeds store,
and one of them has told how he used
to lie sprawled on the moor, with MS
pillow and candle, reading long after
the others had gone to sleep. Samson
tl(N