with it, if we get too previous. Keep your legs under ye, and yer head on top, and we'll take the town after the next ballot."

The call was everywhere in the Convention and outside, "Vote! vote!" It took level heads and determination to prevent a stampede from the Seward forces. Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa could barely be held for another vote. When the roll was called through to the bottom, a full thousand tablets, envelopes, and scraps of paper had the result: Seward 180, a loss of four and a half, and Lincoln 231 and a half, technically lacking one and a half votes, but virtually nominated. For a moment everything was still. Then four delegates were asking recognition. Carter, of Ohio, got it, and reported a change of four votes to Lincoln. A thousand tally-keepers shouted, "Lincoln!" almost at once at the top of their voices. Our Illinois people had a cannon on the roof of the Wigwam. A delegate pulled the signal, and the double-loaded gun began the outside noise for Lincoln instantly.

When the roll-call was complete, the chairman announced, "Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, having received three hundred and sixty-four votes, is declared our candidate for President of the United States." Mr. Evarts then gracefully moved to make the nomination unanimous, which was carried with a shout. The news spread by every means and avenue of communication. The wires were ready, and wherever they went the event so anxiously expected was announced. The mails were full. The papers were soon full of it, and the thousands of visitors began their homeward return, scattering the details of the news to every city, village, and railway station on their route. On that evening a general rejoicing was held all over Illinois and most of Indiana, and in many other places from Maine to California. In a few minutes Senator Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, was selected as candidate for Vice-President. A bet

ter man could hardly have been chosen. The appointment of some committees finished the labors of the Convention. The management for Lincoln was wisely and well done. Of the conspicuous leaders, all were prominent men in public affairs, except Mr. Gridley, who had capacities and means at hand for effective help and co-operation such as no other person had.

In this situation some one had to take the lead, keep everything going, and trust to others for remuneration when it came, if ever. This part of it Mr. Gridley undertook and carried on to notable success. He was the leading spirit, not only with his means, but in methods which could not have been bettered. The plans went regularly and smoothly on. He had the help of several able and efficient men; but in the business of what could have been properly called the Committee of Ways and Means, he was the heart and soul, and kept everything moving forward.

Chicago was then small for such a gathering. In addition it was before the days of competent general and local committees. In all his operations there was no useless waste of money; neither was there a lack of it for any necessary purpose. Mr. Swett was with him as much as any one and well informed of his progress. Swett was asked frequently how the business went on. He was always willing enough to answer those whom he thought it would benefit and who had the right to know. His estimate was, in the statements he frequently made: "There was not a dollar wasted or improperly used that I ever heard of. The work progressed with such regularity, symmetry, and adaptability that it was soon established what a master Gridley was in such operations. You want to know how much he advanced and about how much he was out in the end? Of the former, we counted it up and kept the run of it until it was considerably over one hundred thousand dollars. Of the other, that is, how much he ever got back, he only said that whatever

the amount was that he was out, it went willingly, and he would have doubled it any day when there was necessity. It was never a question of how much, but how best to use the means honestly for Lincoln's success.'

The railroads met all the extra expenses of preparing and getting ready for the transportation of the crowds, and made a nice sum out of it. They made the lowest possible rates, and used every kind of cars that the people would ride in. The people themselves, with some occasional help from the towns they lived in, paid their fares and generally for their subsistence. The lowest items of expense were for printing, stationery, music, postage, and clerk hire. The largest were for the building of the Wigwam and the rent of the hotels for the committees and for headquarters. These made an immense sum in the aggregate to take care of Mr. Lincoln's interests in the assembled multitude.

On the adjournment of the Convention, Mr. Ashmun, the president of the Convention, with a committee of delegates, repaired to Springfield, where Mr. Lincoln was, and formally notified him of his nomination. The gentlemen of the committee were generously entertained in the Lincoln household and by the people of Springfield, who heartily appreciated the distinguished honor conferred on their fellow-citizen.

Mr. Lincoln's reply to the committee's address was extemporaneous, and not preserved. His letter of acceptance is as follows:

"SPRINGFIELD, ILL., May 23, 1860. "Hon. George Ashmun, President of the Republican National Committee:

"SIR,-I accept the nomination tendered me by the Convention over which you presided, of which I am formally apprised in the letter of yourself and others acting as a committee for that purpose.

"The declaration of principles and sentiments which accompanies your letter meets my approval, and it shall be my care not to violate it in any part.

"Imploring the assistance of Divine Providence, and with due regard to the views and feelings of all who were present and represented in the Convention, to the rights of all the States and Territories and people of the Nation, to the inviolability of the Constitution, and the perpetual Union, harmony, and prosperity of all, I am now happy to co-operate for the practical success of the principles declared by the Convention.

"Your obliged friend and fellow-citizen,

"A. LINCOLN."

Mr. Herndon said: "The news of his nomination found him in the office of the Springfield Journal. Naturally enough he was nervous, restless, and laboring under more or less suppressed excitement. He had been tossing ball, a pastime frequently indulged in by the lawyers of that day, and had played a few games of billiards to keep down, as another has expressed it, the excitement that possessed him. When the telegram containing the result of the last ballot came in, although calm and apparently unmoved, a close observer could have detected in the compressed lips and serious countenance evidences of deep and unusual emotion. As the balloting progressed, he had gone to the office of the Journal, and was sitting there in a large arm-chair when the news of his nomination came. What a line of scenes must have broken in upon his vision as he hurried from the newspaper office to tell a little woman down the street the news! In the evening his friends and neighbors called to congratulate him. He thanked them feelingly, taking each one of them by the hand. A day later the committee from the Convention, with the chairman, called and delivered the formal notice of his nomination."

CHAPTER XLVI.

HUS Abraham Lincoln was nominated for the highest

TH

position and office within the gift of the American

people at the age of fifty-one years, in the full strength of his manhood. He was well fitted for every public dutya genius in his intellectual endowment and a Hercules in his physical powers.

It was his formulation of the nature and evils of slavery more than personal considerations that determined his selection. It was his characteristics as a man, leader, and statesman that made him the ideal man of the people. In all the relations of life he gained the confidence of his fellow-men as they knew more and more of him. He had never reached any position by accident, but by the most earnest thought, action, and preparation that was possible. He was kind, considerate, and wise, and in his great-hearted nature knew more of what was in the human heart, its sorrows, and its woes, as it appeared to his friends, than any other living man. He grew to be the hope of all men and of a race of men in bondage. He had never been-no matter how deeply you fathomed him-other than the true and constant friend of his fellow-men. No power could intimidate or dissuade, and no emolument or fortune could tempt him one moment from the defense of his fellow-men who required his help. This was Lincoln. Such he lived, and such he died. It would be a world's victory for freedom to have another like him.

The nomination made little change in his habits or manner of living. If there was difference, he was more friendly and familiar with his neighbors and the hundreds