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the meeting, in all probability. This angered him at once. Being a stout man, the bloodrush filled his face and throat to the point of choking his free utterance; but, stammering it out as best he could, he remarked, rising and pacing the floor in a state of suppressed agitation, because it was Lincoln, bringing his heavy fist down on a table of books that shook and rattled every one of them, he said in his deciding sort of emphasis, "We will not support such an Abolitionist, such an outspoken one as Lovejoy; and we are sure that Swett can defeat him," and, pointing his finger almost in Mr. Lincoln's face, inquired, “Do n't you believe it?"

Mr. Lincoln turned about in his chair, with his face breaking into a smile, and said: "Judge, I understand it all. As I was crossing over to the court-house, I met Mr. Swett, who told me that you had offered him a sort of nomination for Congress, but that he would under no circumstances accept it, and asked me whether he was right. I told him, as I tell you, that he was wise in having nothing to do with it, and that the very best thing for all of us is to unite, and not to divide, and elect Mr. Lovejoy to Congress; for he has fairly earned and deserves re-election." Lincoln was evidently much affected by the remarkable fervor of Davis's opposition and the excitement he had worked himself into. They had been intimate friends for years, which no doubt restrained him; but his statements, although pleasantly spoken, had no lack of firm and positive expression. He sat for awhile thoughtful and motionless, save the penetrating cast of his rolling brown eyes. Finally, in minutes or moments-none of us remembered which-his humor came; and with a great broad smile he turned to Davis, who was still striding the floor in a sort of growl. He said: "Judge, Lovejoy is only a little ahead of us. We will soon catch up. And, by the way, did you know that they say Seward is ahead of him now, and that he has taken a notion to Lovejoy, and is giving him his full sympathy and

countenance as he can? You know it is not wise to antagonize him. He is one of the prophets. And, by the way, Judge, did you ever hear Lovejoy? He fills the benches with new converts every night, as the Methodist brethren say. He is one of the most powerful and convincing speakers in the country, and, without doubt, the ablest we have in our State. He can talk to twice as many people as I can; and I tell you, Judge, it won't do for us to be selfish and try to turn him out; and, further, we might not succeed if we tried."

In reply, Davis sounded out a kind of guttural, smothered, "No, I never have, and I do n't know that I ever will." The temper and tone were away down and softened. Lincoln's reference to Seward had developed Davis's predominating caution; for above all other things, his desire was to be a National figure in public affairs. Although he would not tolerate such an Abolitionist as Lovejoy at home, he could bear them just as well as not in New York or Massachusetts, or even as near as Chase in Ohio, if he regarded them as prominent and influential leaders.

The distinct result of this transaction was the suppression of Davis in the most skillful and effectual way. Lincoln calmed the domineering judge in his fit of rage, or the appearance of it. Realizing this at once, and that his plan was working, he continued saying: "Judge, Lovejoy will be here on a date near at hand. He is an entertaining speaker, and what I like so much about him is that he is always so much in earnest that you know he believes what he says. You will be delighted. I am going to be here to meet him. He has sustained Douglas, and says that his opposition to Lecompton was the greatest defeat slavery ever had in Congress. I don't want him to follow Douglas too far. We will all go and hear him; and the first one of us that do n't support him, seeing that his nomination was regular and fair every way, we will have to discipline in some

way; but we won't turn anybody out of the church, for just now we are weak, and we want all of the converts we can get. Our good-natured friend here-Robert-is young and ambitious. He will get over it and forgive everybody and vote for the first Old-line Whig we put up."

Davis yielded in silence, although there was small probability that he supported Lovejoy. At the best, his candidate declined his "sort of nomination," and his opposition to Lovejoy was shorn of all its power, save his own vote; for at that day no one acting with the party would have undertaken the serious task of opposing Mr. Lincoln, least of all conservatives like Davis, who stood waiting, "ready for a better office."

TH

CHAPTER XXXIV.

unpleasant episode that amused and provoked me for several days was what drew Mr. Lincoln, in his great, sympathetic nature, nearer to me than anything that had happened between the kind-hearted man and the boy and growing man, who trusted Lincoln as a father. After leaving the court-house he remarked: "Robert, it is past noon. We will go and get our dinner. Then we will go out to the grove, and hear Judge Douglas this afternoon. As you are to return by the way of Clinton, we can go that far together. I am to speak there to-morrow. We will leave here on the late train, after my speech to-night, when I intend something of a reply to Douglas, after hearing him."

This plan of something to do changed my gloomy reflections on the harassing episode. The invitation was so open and cordial that the disagreeable things passed from mind, and I was pleased at the thought of passing the day and evening with the great leader of the common people. I had not had such an opportunity for something like three years. It was in the time when the correspondence was about completed that resulted in the joint debate of that year. When the day was gone, and we parted, long after midnight, the pleasure and the hopes of the morning had been far more than realized. I had been all day with God's prophet-leader of the people, and in a conscious but inexpressible way I knew and felt the full power of the man and his leadership. I had seen his power in the morning, how exerted, and how easily he turned and smoothed and VOL. II.-12

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managed the wrathful and, to other men, unmanageable judge. In the evening I had seen so much that was beautiful and charming in character, sympathy, and integrity as to make me feel the effect of it all my days.

When I saw him at night, and knew the man better whom I had known so well for years, and yet had never known, I left him, amazed and astonished at his inspiration, his exaltation, which I never had doubts of afterward. As we passed along to the hotel, he recognized and greeted almost everybody, and was as warmly received in return; for although the town was full of the thousands who were there to hear Douglas in the daytime and Lincoln at night, he knew almost every man at sight, and most of them by name, besides a great many of their wives and children. He spent a full hour on our way to dinner, going two or three hundred yards. In illustration he was so genial, kind, and attentive to all of them, that no one man, woman, or child, was passed by who desired his friendly recognition. His stature, his unequaled strength, remarkable and apparent as he mingled in that multitude of strong, rugged farmers, his majestic presence and bearing that gave him the strength of a lion and the gentleness of a child, proved him at once a leader among men without an equal, and still one of them whose virtues and power were growing and gaining ascendency the more they met and the better they knew him.

He had worked hard in travel and what we have related all the morning, and was a big, hungry man as we sat down to a well-cooked Illinois dinner. He told the waiter, "Bring us a plain, well-cooked dinner, and plenty of it, with cornbread, a good, big slice of fat corned-beef, and, if you can get it, a quart of fresh buttermilk." This was his dinner, and it made a hearty one, which he fully enjoyed.

In the afternoon we walked out half a mile to a grove to the Douglas meeting. The trees were thick enough to give good shade and a pleasant grassy sward, as convenient

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