666

Hullo, Lincoln!' said he; 'going to the courthouse? Come in, and I will give you a seat.'

"Well, I got in, and Smith went on reading his papers. Presently, the wagon struck a stump on one side of the road, then it hopped off to the other. I looked out, and the driver was jerking from side to side in his seat; so I said, 'Judge, I think your coachman has been taking a drop too much this morning.'

"Well, I declare, Lincoln,' said he, 'I should not much wonder if you are right, for he has nearly upset me half a dozen times since starting.' So, putting his head out of the window, he shouted, 'Why, you infernal scoundrel, you are drunk.’

"Upon which, pulling up his horses, and turning around with great gravity, the coachman said: ‘Be dad! but that's the first rightful decision your honor has given for the last twelve months!'"

An amusing incident occurred in connection with riding the circuit, which gives a deep glimpse into the good lawyer's heart. He was riding by a deep slough, in which, to his exceeding pain, he saw a pig struggling, and with such faint efforts that it was evident that he could not extricate himself from the mud. Mr. Lincoln looked at the pig and the mud which enveloped him, and then looked at some new clothes with which he had but a short time before arrayed himself. Deciding against the claims of the pig, he rode on, but he could not get rid of the vision of the poor brute; and, at last, after riding two miles, he turned back determined to rescue the animal, even at the expense of his new clothes. Arrived at the spot, he tied his horse, and with considerable difficulty succeeded in rescuing the pig from its predicament. Washing his hands in the

nearst brook, he remounted his horse and rode on. He then fell to examining the motive that sent him back to release the pig. At first thought, it seemed pure benevolence, but at length he came to the conclusion that it was selfishness, for he certainly went to the pig's relief in order to "take a pain out of his own mind."

To a client who had carefully stated his case, to which Mr. Lincoln had listened with the closest attention, he said:

"Yes, there is no reasonable doubt that I can gain your case for you. I can set a whole neighborhood at loggerheads, I can distress a widowed mother and her six fatherless children and thereby get for you $600, which rightfully belongs, it appears to me, as much to the woman and her children as to you. You must remember that some things which are legally right are not morally right. I shall not take your case, but will give you a little advice, for which I will charge you nothing. You seem to be a sprightly, energetic man. I would advise you to try your hand at making $600 some other way."

Soon after he entered upon his profession at Springfield, he was engaged in a criminal case, in which there seemed to be little chance of success.

By dint of hard work he succeeded in gaining the case and received for his services five hundred dollars. A legal friend, calling upon him next morning, found him sitting before a table upon which his money was spread. "Look here, Judge," said he, "see what a heap of money I've got from the case. Did you ever see

1 Browne's "Life of Lincoln."

anything like it? Why, I never had so much money in my life before, put it all together." Then crossing his arms across the table, his manner sobering down, he added, "I have got five hundred dollars; if it were only seven hundred and fifty dollars, I would go directly and purchase a quarter-section of land, and settle it upon my old stepmother."

His friend said, if the deficiency was all he needed, he would loan him the amount, taking his note, to which Mr. Lincoln instantly acceded.

His friend than said: "Lincoln, I would not do just what you have indicated. Your stepmother is getting old, and will not probably live many years. I would settle that property upon her for her use during her lifetime to revert to you upon her death."

With much feeling Lincoln replied: "I shall do no such thing. It is a poor return, at the best, for all the good woman's devotion and fidelity to me, and there is not going to be any half-way business about it;" and so saying, he gathered up his money and proceeded to carry into execution his long-cherished plan.

CHAPTER VII.

LINCOLN was again elected to the Legislature in 1838, and served his term with acceptance. In 1840 he did not seek a re-election, as his business needed. his close attention. His partner, Major Stuart, had been elected to Congress, and for three or four years he had attended to all the business of the firm, rendering a scrupulous account of every transaction to his partner.

In 1841 the partnership was dissolved, and he entered the office of Judge Logan as junior partner. For the first time he was associated with a man of thorough scholarship and his influence was just that of which Lincoln stood most in need. He was thus led to closer study and to take a deeper and broader view of the duties and responsibilities of his profession.

In 1840 he had acquired sufficient political celebrity to be nominated for elector on the Whig ticket, and he spent much time speaking in its interests during the campaign in various parts of the State and in Indiana. This campaign, known as the "log-cabin and hard cider" campaign was the most unique one ever carried on in the country. General Harrison had been nominated by the Whigs, which party had been disastrously defeated in the last two Presidential campaigns. After his nomination the Democratic orators made slighting allusions to his obscure origin

and his supposed taste for hard cider. These were seized upon as the rallying cry of the campaign, and log-cabins sprang up, as if by the stroke of a magician s wand, in every part of the country. Many of these cabins were mounted on wheels, and drawn from one place to another, amid demonstrations of the wildest enthusiasm, in a sort of rude triumphal procession. The by-word and reproach of the enemy became the slogan of victory, and the tide set strongly in favor of the Whigs.

The financial measures of Van Buren's administration had been of such a character, as to weaken, for a time, the confidence of the people in the Democratic policy and leaders, and Harrison was elected by a large majority, only to die within one month of his inauguration.

Lincoln shared in the prevailing enthusiasm and contributed in no small degree to the vast increase in the Whig vote in Illinois. His peculiar ability in argument and discussion was often called into play, and several times he was pitted against Douglas, who was destined to be, in the future, his opponent in the great debates that attracted the attention of the English-speaking race. The discussions were more in the character of rough-and-tumble contests than of conflicts between trained gladiators, and Lincoln generally carried off the palm. His political work was performed at the expense of his legal practice, however, and at the end of the campaign he found himself richer in political influence, but with a financial loss which he could ill afford.

It was shortly after the close of the "Log-Cabin" campaign that he met Mary Todd, who was destined