ary degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him by Knox College at Galesburg, Illinois, on July 3, 1860, and in 1864 the same honorary degree was conferred upon him by the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University).

AT

CHAPTER II

IN THE COURTS

T the time of Mr. Lincoln's admission to the bar of Illinois he had just entered upon the twenty-ninth year of his age. He had been a resident of the State seven years and at that time was serving his second term as a member of the lower house of the state legislature. The proceedings in all the courts of Illinois were then much less dignified and formal than they have since become in all courts of record. Judges and lawyers held more intimate social relations than can well prevail between members of the bar and the busy members of the judiciary at the present day.

The opening of the Circuit Court in any county of the State at that time brought together many of the people from the surrounding country, and as there were few places of amusement where the evenings could be whiled away, all gathered about or within the country tavern and there regaled each other with songs and anecdotes. When evening came it was not thought improper for the judge who had presided as the minister of justice during the day to cast aside judicial dignity and join with

his professional brethren in unrestrained efforts to contribute his share toward the impromptu entertainment of those assembled.

Life on the circuit in those days, as in every new community, had its sunshine and its shadow; but every hardship had its compensation in the goodfellowship which always prevailed among those sturdy pioneers. The judge was usually a man of genial personality and entered heartily into every enterprise which promised to afford relief from the day's monotony. That they did so detracted not in the least from the respectful deference due them, as the representatives of the judiciary; for when the moment arrived for the opening of court, they resumed their seats on the bench with due solemnity; nor were they less impartial in hearing and determining the cases before them for having mingled with their professional brethren and their clients upon a common level during the time which intervened between the sessions of the court.

The experiences of Mr. Lincoln on the circuit were not unlike those of other lawyers of that day. At the time he began the practice of his profession there was little business which required great skill or much learning in the law. The interests involved in civil cases were chiefly trivial, if measured by a monetary standard, but they involved many of the

same principles of law and equity that invite the attention of the courts and demand the professional consideration of the lawyers of to-day. The catalogue of statutory crimes has been greatly enlarged in both state and nation since those primitive times, and many acts then thought to be morally sound are now condemned by the moral sense of the people and denounced by statute as crimes against the state. By reason of this there has been a vast increase in the business of the criminal courts, and the great development of higher ideals, which an enlightened public opinion demands shall control the methods of conducting commerce and business of all kinds, has created means for affording more effective protection to property rights, such as were unknown in those early days. As a result, the labors of the legal profession, and the jurisdiction of the courts in civil and criminal cases, have been much enlarged.

There were in those days no large manufacturing corporations. Transportation of both passengers and freight was chiefly accomplished by steamboats and flatboats on the navigable streams, or overland by animal power. Luxuries were almost unknown, and the wants of the people were easily satisfied. No lawyer, however prominent in his profession, deemed the most insignificant case un

worthy of his professional attention, and each attended to whatever business came to him, whether his services were required before a justice of the then as now peace or before the Supreme Court the highest tribunal of the State; and Mr. Lincoln was no exception to this rule.

In the nisi prius courts Mr. Lincoln was called upon to try a great variety of cases. There were in those days no "specialists" among the members of the bar of Illinois. Railroads and other vast corporate interests, as commonly understood to-day, were almost unknown in the western country; but whatever the class of litigation might chance to be, whether civil or criminal, the lawyer of that period prepared himself as best he could to render efficient service to his client.

When Mr. Lincoln was admitted to the bar of Illinois, he was in the midst of his second term of service in the legislature of Illinois and had already acquired a considerable reputation as a member of that body. He was known as a fluent speaker and effective debater and was accustomed to address popular assemblages. The newspapers of those days were few in number and made little pretense of contributing much toward the education of the people as a whole. The people assembled at public meetings to listen to a discussion of the questions of the day