meeting and conversing with Lincoln, said to a friend: That young man has talent enough in him to make a President." Similar enconiums were frequently made by those who were familiar with and proper judges of Lincoln's habits and nobility of character. These expressions of admiration, by friends, of his labors and efforts for success, and in winning and securing the esteem and confidence of the people, which came to his knowledge and notice, strengthened his purposes and gave him zeal and encouragement to overcome obstacles and master emergencies. Mr. Offutt continued his business some twelve months at New Salem, under the supervision of Lincoln. The enterprise in connection with the mills not proving as remunerative as he expected, he closed his business at that place and left for other fields of speculation.

About the time that Offutt closed his business in New Salem some parties became interested in steamboating, for the purpose of running up the Sangamon river to a point on the river six miles west of Springfield, the county seat, and thirty miles above New Salem, believing that the river could be navigated by steamer several months in the year. Lincoln and the writer now being out of employment, and believing that New Salem offered good facilities for a shipping point, in connection with the steamboat enterprise, purchased a large log building at this point on the river and made preparation before the arrival of the steamer for a storage, forwarding and commission business. As was anticipated, in due time the steamer arrived freighted with flour, groceries and merchandise for traders in the interior. The arrival of the steamer was an event of great interest to the citizens of the village and adjacent country, who had assembled in large numbers on the bank of the river to witness the success of an enterprise which was of importance to the town and county. The boat landed a part of her cargo at the warehouse and proceeded up the river to its point of destination, where it arrived in safety. The success of the enterprise now seemed assured. The return of the steamer, however, was now looked for with much interest and solicitude. If the return should be successful the enterprise would have succeeded as desired. On the fourth day the steamer made its appearance on its return in a ruinous condition. Difficulties in descending the river had been encountered which had not been anticipated and which could not be avoided or overcome; the river was found to be rapid, narrow and crooked and difficult of navigation down stream by steamboats. The steamer was continually running into the banks of the river and into the tops of trees that grew on and over the banks of the river, and the result was that the cabin and upper parts of the boat were badly broken and injured. From New Salem the steamer floated down the river, with long oars on stern and bow to keep her as near as possible in the middle of the river. After several

days, with difficulty the steamer reached Beardstown, badly injured, and the enterprise was abandoned. The failure of the steamboat undertaking carried with it the warehouse enterprise of Lincoln and the writer of these memoirs, and with this failure was closed the daily business relations for fifteen months, of Lincoln and the writer. The very pleasant, friendly and intimate fellowship which had grown up during that period continued during the life of Lincoln and was most kindly and fully manifested towards the writer during the period of President Lincoln's administration. The failure of the warehouse enterprise left Lincoln at liberty to respond to the call of his fellow.citizens, which soon came, calling him to a different vocation, which position he accepted and duly honored.

The past fifteen months of Lincoln's history may not appear to the casual observer as a period of remarkable or of special interest, but it was otherwise. He had laid the foundation of his future life. He had made the first advance, the first step on that long and toilsome road that led him onward and upward to that summit of honor and renown which he so honorably attained. It was at this time he took his stand for freedom, for the oppressed of every clime and color, for our soil to be ever dedicated to freedom and to the principles of home protection as advocated by the great American statesman, Henry Clay. He had chosen the profession of law. He had read and studied much and had made himself acquainted with the history of his country and the position and standing of the statesmen and politicians of the day, and was preparing himself for any step in advance that might offer. His employment had given him opportunities to make numerous, and to him, valuable acquaintances, which became warm and useful friends, whose respect and esteem he ever afterwards enjoyed.

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CHAPTER IV.

OUTLINE OF PRINCIPLES AND CHARACTER.

Mr. Lincoln, in the days of his prosperity and popularity, often referred to his advent into New Salem and his employment as clerk in Offutt's store as the period in which was laid the foundation of his success in after life. He came there an entire stranger, without means or influential friends, but he came with a disposition for usefulness and faithfulness for his employer, with a heart noble and true and with a determination to improve all opportunities for advancement and progress. The employment seemed favorable and timely. He would necessarily form an extensive acquaintance, and his opportunity for appication to study and acquiring knowledge and information was favorable. While he was attentive to business and to all the interests of his employer, he gave his leisure hours to study and to the acquisition of useful information. In studying Murray's Grammar he often remarked, "that it was very dry reading, but that he would master the general principles," which he did; but his correct mastery of the language was acquired more from reading and writing than from study. From Blackstone's Commentaries he acquired those moral, legal and political principles that gave bias to his character and form to his study. The selection of books for reading and study indicated a mind and judgment rarely found in one of his age and attainments. It was usual for him, after reading and studying Murray or Blackstone for two or three hours, to take up Burns' poems, which he read much and admired greatly. He read with that hilarity which usually was so peculiar to him, some of the most humorous productions of that versatile poet, his favorite selections being Tom O'Shanter, Address to the Dial, Highland Mary, Bonny Jeane and Dr. Hornbook. Having a very retentive memory he soon became familiar with these poems and many others; and his frequent quotations from them indicated the humorous inclination of his mind in his early life. There were times, however, when his countenance and actions indicated more serious thoughts, and memory was busy with incidents of his boyhood days. He

then would read the Cotter's Saturday Night, or Grey's Elegy, or one of Cowper's poems. The reading of the poets was subordinate to his general studies. He often said that he only read them as a relish or dessert after taking the more solid and substantial food. At a more advanced period, when he became engaged in his law studies, those works were laid aside; but their contents were retained in his memory, and he often made quotations from them when an occasion offered.

His close application to his books, his studious habits, his desire and efforts to obtain information relative to the character and principles of the statesmen and politicians of the country and age, brought him in that respect into marked distinction and contrast with the people, and he was looked upon at that time as one who would in the near future make himself distinguished in the history of the State.

The question has often been asked, and perhaps to some never satisfactorily answered, what were Lincoln's Christian principles and belief in his early life? We are prepared to say that at no period of Lincoln's life did he ever doubt the authenticity, truth and inspiration of the Holy Bible. Its sacred truths, which were implanted in his heart by a fond Christian mother, lost none of their worth or value to him in his youth or mature years. Its moral precepts were the rule of his conduct, which his life exhibited in Christian acts and deeds.

Lincoln was naturally secretive and taciturn in all matters in which the public were not particularly interested, and this peculiarity in regard to his Christian experience, which was passive, tended to silence and reserve on that subject. He said on one occasion, “When any church will inscribe over its altar as its sole qualification for membership, the Savior's condensed statement of the substance of both law and gospel: 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and thy neighbor as thyself,' that church I will join with all my heart and all my soul."

In a preceding chapter reference was made to Lincoln's occasionally attending a debating club in New Salem. On one occasion a subject was brought forward for debate in which he took part, which is worthy of note here, as the question involved unfolded the great and ruling principles of Lincoln's political life. The question for debate was: "Are the principles and policy of African slavery so unjust, and the evils thereof of such magnitude as to make the colonization and emancipation of the enslaved colored race in the United States necessary and desirable for the welfare of the American people?" The subject was suggested by Lincoln, and as it was known that he would take part in the debate a large number were in attendance, both men and women, from the town and country. The occasion

called out the best talent, ministers, doctors and school teachers taking part in the debate. Lincoln assumed the affirmative of the question. We can only note some of the principal points in his argument. He first spoke of the natural rights of all men-"Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Those rights were all coequal and inalienable, and no argument or sophistry could establish or prove the right or justice of African slavery. "But," said Lincoln, "there is a national and personal view to take of this question. The object and aim of our Government is and should be to elevate and dignify free labor, to make the laboring man a peer of any employed in the different avocations and pursuits of life. We see and know that the effects and results of slavery are to degrade labor and to make it despicable and to bring it into contempt. Those of us who came from the slave States know from observation and experience that the condition of the poor white man there is a hopeless one, and that by the side of slavery, which brands labor with degradation and disgrace, the condition of the poor white laborer and his family is without hope in the present as well as for the future. Society there takes the form of an aristocracy instead of an equality, and caste, which is inimical to our republican institutions, becomes a fixed and deleterious principle in our body politic. Nor is this all. Emigration from rather than to the slave States is the consequence, an absence of enterprise and skill in the manufacturing and mechanical arts is everywhere apparent, and the avenues of distinction, honor and preferment are closed except to the few, and this is the state and condition of society in the slave States which is thus fostered and created. Nor are these the worst and saddest features of the direful incubus resting upon the glory and prosperity of our country. Already we see and hear premonitions of danger to our nation and our free institutions. A spirit of opposition to slavery is abroad in the free States and is growing, and it requires no prophet to tell the result. This much we may say here, that it portends the creation of a state of feeling between the free and the slave States which is fearful to contemplate, and which bodes no good to our country and to our free institutions. If we remove this disturbing element by colonization and emancipation, the evils I have stated will vanish and pass away; our Union will continue firm and united and our unsettled vast public domain will become the homes of a free, happy and prosperous people."

The writer has here briefly given an outline of Lincoln's argument on that occasion. They are recollections of his notes written in the store evenings previous to their delivery.

Thus early in his life, before political influences or prospect of place or power had warped his judgment or corrupted his principles, he clearly enunciated the great and fundamental truths which he had resolved to support