face with smartweed till he begged lustily for quarter. Then he let him up, got water and washed his face, and made the bully and his associates his friends by the operation. A few other such experiences with the rough elements of that community won them all to him. They could always get fun but never a fight out of him; and he soon became their ideal good fellow. His imperturbable good nature made him the master of every situation and won him the victory in every coarse onslaught upon him.

While engaged in Offutt's store, Abraham began the study of English grammar, borrowing a copy of Kirkham's grammar of L. M. Green, a lawyer of Petersburg, and walking eight miles to get it. He used to talk with Mr. Green of his aspirations and ambitions; said his family seemed to have good common sense, but none of them had become distinguished; that possibly he might. He had talked with some men who had the reputation of being great, and he could not see as they differed much from other men. It is evident, from all we get of him at this period, that he had begun to feel the ground-swell of the grand impulses that were in him and to think of the greatness possible to all true souls and the service they may render their country and kind. He read much while at New Salem. He devoured newspapers, particularly the Louisville "Journal," so long edited by the witty and brilliant Prentice.

LINCOLN A SOLDIER.

While Mr. Lincoln was at New Salem the Black Hawk war broke out. Mr. Lincoln enlisted himself, and enough in his vicinity to make a company. When the company was ready to organize, two men were named for the captaincy, Lincoln and a Mr. Kirkpatrick, who had been such an oppressive employer of young Lincoln, at one time, that he had left him. When the company was collected the two candidates stood at a little distance, and each man in the company went to the man he wanted for captain. When the word was given nearly all went to Lincoln, and those that did not immediately left the other man and went over to him. Lincoln said of it: "I felt badly to see

him cut so." Here was an opportunity to be avenged for his old employer's abuse of him; but he seemed to have no such feelings, but rather pitied him.

In the army Captain Lincoln was a great favorite. His wonderful fund of good humor; his kindness to his men; his patient industry and tireless energy; his readiness to join in all their sports and outdo them all in their athletic feats, made him captain indeed.

Mr. Lincoln often spoke of his early war-experience in a jocose spirit, but it had lessons and opportunities for him, as everything he touched seemed to have. Zachary Taylor was in the Black Hawk war also, so that two embryo presidents had a part in conquering the fierce savage.

When the soldiers from Sangamon county reached home, an election was just coming on. They at once proposed Captain Lincoln as a candidate for the legislature. He was now twentythree years old, just emerging from obscurity. He was a whig, an admirer of Henry Clay, the story of whose life had captivated him when a boy. Andrew Jackson then led the democratic hosts. Sangamon was a democratic county, and Illinois was a democratic state. There was apparently no hope for the promotion of a whig. Yet Abraham Lincoln had adopted the politics of the minority, and accepted the nomination as a minority candidate. In New Salem he got almost the entire vote, but in other parts of the county he lost the election.

Mr. Offutt had failed in business. Mr. Lincoln was mustered out of the military service, was not elected to the civil service, and therefore was without employment. What should he do? He thought of learning the blacksmith trade. He was handy with tools; something of a general mechanic; he must do something. While meditating upon this matter, a friend bought the goods in the store in New Salem, at a venture, and asked Mr. Lincoln to take an account of his stock of goods. The result of it was that Mr. Lincoln and another man bought the goods. The other man proved a trifler and Mr. Lincoln's speculation brought him considerable in debt to his friend of whom he had bought. He afterward spoke jocosely of this

indebtedness as "the national debt." While in this store he was appointed postmaster, by President Jackson. This he liked, for he could read all the newspapers; but when the store "winked out" as he said, he put the postoffice in his hat and carried it wherever he went.

LINCOLN A SURVEYOR.

But now again came the question, what should he do? Just as he was considering this, the county surveyor proposed to him to do the surveying about New Salem. He knew nothing of surveying, but arranged to do the job, went right at the study, and soon was running lines and staking out lots. It is said that his surveying has stood the test of time. This surveying led him to a wide acquaintance in the county. He was much among the farmers, in their homes, at their gatherings. He was in the villages professionally, and came close to all the people. And everywhere he was a marked man. Everybody liked him. His quaint ways, his fascinating stories, his knowledge and common sense, his freedom from selfishness, his warm friendship and readiness to lend everywhere a helping hand, and his transparent simplicity and good nature, with his long, gaunt, peculiar figure, made him the most popular man in the county.

LINCOLN A LEGISLATOR.

In 1834, two years after his first candidacy, he was again a candidate for the legislature. Now his friends persuaded him to make speeches, which he said he would do if they "wouldn't laugh at him." His quaint speeches told. They were like himself, somehow, strangely influential. He was elected. In the same legislature was Major John T. Stuart, who had conceived a strong personal interest in him in the Black Hawk war. Mr. Lincoln said and did but little in this legislature, but observed and thought much. It was a school to him.

Mr. Stuart suggested to him to study law, and offered to lend him books. He walked to Springfield for the books and studied and surveyed by turns. He was often buried in his

studies, lost to everything else. Some said he was crazy. He was simply absorbed in his life's work, now open to him after a singular succession of experiences, that seemed to have no relation to this study, yet led him in a roundabout way to it.

In 1836 he was renominated to the legislature. The canvass was a very warm and able one. Many strong men were in the field. Mr. Lincoln had now had two years of thorough study. His mind had been stirred to action. The political field was alive with agitation. He had recast his thoughts in his late studies, and now with a man's grasp of mind he used them in his speeches. There was a meeting of candidates at Springfield for discussion, and a great gathering of the people. Ninian W. Edwards opened the discussion for the whigs. Doctor Early followed him for the democrats. He was then the great debater in Illinois on that side. He had the faculty of merciless severity which he used against his antagonist, who desired an immediate reply; but Mr. Lincoln got the floor and proved himself master of the situation. He took up Early's speech and riddled its weak places, shook it to pieces and ridiculed it, all the time weaving in his own views with such masterly adroitness that he aroused a great enthusiasm in the audience. Cheer on cheer followed his strong points. He kindled into a flame of impassioned speech. His countenance was transformed. were fire; his stature majestic; his voice powerful and persuasive. The effect of his speech was so electrical and triumphant, that from that hour he was held as one of the great orators of the state. And yet he was but twenty-seven years old. went to the legislature that year with a strong body of men, himself recognized as their peer. Among them were several who afterward held high national positions; one of them was Stephen A. Douglas.

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The great work of that legislature was to institute a system of internal improvements and remove the capitol to Springfield, both of which objects were included in one bill. Mr. Lincoln was put forward to do the leading work for the bill. The bill was carried and it made him a very popular man in his county, and especially in Springfield.

But this session of the legislature was more remarkable for what seemed to be an insignificant matter. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas met here for the first time. Mr. Douglas was but twenty-three years old, the youngest and smallest man in the house-"the least man I ever saw," Lincoln said. The state was overwhelmingly democratic. The slavery agitation was getting strong all over the country. The democratic party was pro-slavery; the whig party not anti-slavery, but complacent and conciliatory toward "the institution." To show its loyalty, the democratic party in the Illinois legislature, took pains to pass some pro-slavery resolutions. Stephen A. Douglas was zealous for these resolutions, and then and there took his public position on the side of slavery and its bad policy and inhumanity, to be carried on to an untimely grave and a disappointed and unfruitful life. Abraham Lincoln had seen slaves sold in New Orleans, and had felt a pang of sorrow for the poor victims of human cupidity and power. His judgment, his conscience, his heart, were against slavery. Politically he held it as bad policy to hold slaves even where the constitution allowed it. Into the territories the constitution could not carry. slavery, he said. Only the people of the territories could establish it there. So on this mild anti-slavery ground he took his stand in this legislature, against the democratic policy, in advance of the whig policy, in what seemed a hopeless minority, to rise in power and influence and win a victory for his principles throughout the world and an immortality of glory and renown for himself.

When the resolutions were passed, Mr. Lincoln and Dan Stone, whig members from Sangamon, entered their protest upon the Journal of the House, with their reasons, which were, that "While the Congress of the United States has no power to interfere with the institution of slavery in the different states, and while the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than abate its evils, still the institution of slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy, and Congress has power, under the constitution, to abolish slavery in the District