and when the punishment was over, the good-natured young giant was ready to soothe the feelings of the vanquished. When he had knocked down and mauled a bully, and had rubbed his face with smart-weed, by way of ridiculous discipline, he let him up, helped him to compose his disorder and brought him water to assuage the woes of his irritated countenance. Lincoln was no fighter. He was brave, absolutely unafraid of anybody or any thing. He never played cards, nor gambled, nor smoked, nor used profane language, nor addicted himself to any of the rude vices of the times. But far and wide he was reckoned a hero, worshipped by the stalwart wrestlers and runners of the region, cordially liked by the women, respected as a rising and brave young fellow by the elders, and earning for himself the title that stuck to him through life, "honest Abe." Abe Lincoln became, by general consent, the peacemaker, the arbitrator of all the petty quarrels of the neighborhood. Shunning vulgar brawls himself, he attempted to keep others out of them. An absolutely honest man, he advised exact justice to all who sought his advice; and, whenever there was too much violence developed in debate around Offutt's store door, the tall form of the young manager was sure to be seen towering over the conflict; and when argument failed to quell the disturbance, the terrific windmill of those long arms invariably brought peace. In all his activities, however, Lincoln never for one moment knew what it was to "let up" on his reading and studies. There is something saddening in the record of his struggles to master every thing that he thought worth knowing that was within his reach. Very poor he was, but he skimped himself and went without what many boys would call necessary clothing to subscribe to the Louisville Courier, then edited by that famous whig, George D. Prentice, a witty and most brilliant man. This was, as he afterwards said, his greatest luxury. He read every word, and some of its articles were committed to memory by sheer force of habit. Pondering over the editorial articles of his favorite newspaper, he attempted to discover how they were constructed, and what were the rules by which language was composed and sentences framed. Application to the village schoolmaster gave him a hint as to grammar, and he was not satisfied until he had hunted down, somewhere in the region, a copy of "Kirkham's Grammar." This he carried home, borrowed, in great triumph, nor did he pause until he had mastered its contents. Speaking of it, long afterwards, he said that he was surprised to find how little there was in a work that was made so much of by the schoolmaster. He had "collared" it in a week, and had returned the book to its owner. Young Lincoln's Growing Passion for Knowledge-Candidate for the State Legislature-Captain in the Black Hawk War-A Gathering of Men Since Famous-Hardships of the Volunteer Soldiers-Stump-Speaking and Defeat-Lincoln as a Country Merchant-Lawyer and Surveyor. P to this time, Lincoln had never held any office, except that of an occasional clerk of election. So far as we know, he never had any ambition for office-holding. But the spring of 1832 found him out of business, out of work. Offutt's store had gone to pieces, that gentleman's numerous irons in the fire having at last proved too many for him. If ever Lincoln was at liberty to try his hand at politics, this was the time. He had been trained, or rather had grown up, in the backwoods, had gradually made the acquaintance of mankind, had meditated and read as no young man ever before had meditated and read, and had accustomed himself to speaking extemporaneously. He was a good story-teller, alert, quick-witted, full of apt illustration and anecdote, was so close a student of human nature that he was always able to adapt himself to his little audience, whether it was the group of loungers about the black |