near asking advice about anything was when he read to a few friends the questions he proposed to put in the Senatorial contest and asked them to answer from the point of view of Douglas. He heard everybody, asked questions, told stories, and kept his own counsel. No more did he answer any of the accusations made against him. He was again charged with Know-Nothingism, purely for campaign purposes, but he refused to reply. Of course nothing could be farther than that party's principles from all Lincoln's convictions. He was, indeed, so much in favor of extending rather than restricting the suffrage that Herndon tells of Lincoln's refusing to argue a law case because it involved the restrictive view of that question.

As the campaign progressed the chances all pointed to Lincoln's election, and the only danger was that by a fusion of the two Democratic parties in some states the election might be thrown into the House of Representatives. The fall state election increased Republican confidence. When the election was held November 6, 1860, the result was as follows:

Shortly after the election Lincoln had a vision, which was thus related by him to Noah Brooks:

"It was just after my election in 1860, when the news had been coming in thick and fast all day, and there had been a great Hurrah boys!' so that I was well tired out, and went home to rest, throwing myself down on a lounge in my chamber. Opposite where I lay was a bureau, with a swinging glass upon it"— (and here he got up and placed furniture to illustrate the position), "and, looking in that glass, I saw myself reflected, nearly at full length; but my face, I noticed, had two separate and distinct images, the tip of the nose of one being about three inches from the tip of the other. I was a little bothered, perhaps startled, and got up and looked in the glass, but the illusion vanished. On lying down again I saw it a second time-plainer, if possible, than before; and I noticed that one of the faces was a little paler, say five shades, than the other. I got up and the thing melted away, and I went off, and, in the excitement of the hour, forgot all about it — nearly, but not quite, for the thing would once in a while come up, and give me a little pang, as though something uncomfortable had happened. Later in the day, I told my wife about it, and a few days after I tried the experiment again, when (with a laugh), sure enough, the thing came again; but I never succeeded in bringing the ghost back after that, though I once tried very industriously to show it to my wife, who was worried about it somewhat. She thought it was 'a sign' that I was to be elected to a second term of office, and that the paleness of one of the faces was an omen that I should not see life through the last term."