stories. It was an evening often referred to with many expressions of pleasure by Mr. Van Buren in after-life.

"My sides ached from laughing," he was wont to say. (')

Although the marriage engagement between Mr. Lincoln and Mary Todd had been suddenly suspended, the friendship had not been irrevocably sundered. Again he was a welcome guest at the hospitable home of Governor Edwards. A renewal of

friendship led to a re-engagement, resulting in their marriage, November 4, 1842. The officiating clergyman, Rev. Mr. Dresser, used the marriage service of the Episcopal Church, which was new to one of the guests, Judge Thos. C. Browne, an early settler of that section of the country. Mr. Lincoln placed the ring upon the bride's finger, and solemnly repeated the words: "With this ring I thee wed, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow." Suddenly there came an exclamation from the judge not found in the service: "Good gracious, Lincoln, the statute fixes all that!" To an old-time, straightforward country lawyer the formula was needless superfluity. A ripple of laughter went round the room; but the clergyman, recovering his self-possession, proceeded with the service.

MARTIN VAN BUREN.

The newly-married couple found accommodations at the Globe Tavern. Soon after his marriage Mr. Lincoln associated himself in his profession with William H. Herndon. It was a congenial partnership. Mr. Herndon was an Abolitionist, and was holding correspondence with William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and other leading agitators for the immediate abolition of slavery. Antislavery publications found their way to the office of Lincoln & Herndon. Mr. Lincoln thought an immediate abolition of slavery was not possible. He hated the institution, but saw that it was intrenched in State and Church alike. It was recognized by the Constitution of the United States; it existed in half the States composing the Union. Public opinion regarding slavery must change before laws could be changed. The Abolitionists denounced the Constitution and the Union because the Constitution recognized slavery. Mr. Lincoln believed the government of the people under that agree

ment was the best the world had ever seen, notwithstanding the existence of slavery. He read the speeches of the Abolitionists, but did not accept their premises or conclusions. He believed emancipation must be gradual. He did not comprehend the aggressiveness of the slave power.

1844.

When Henry Clay was nominated for President, Abraham Lincoln became his ardent supporter. He made speeches in Illinois and Indiana. He went to Pigeon Creek, and addressed the people of that section of the country. Those who had stood with him in the old log school-house, and remembered how he surpassed them all in "speaking pieces" and in everything else, were not surprised to find him one of the foremost speakers in the political campaign. He confidently expected that Mr. Clay would be elected, and was much disappointed by the election of the Democratic candidate, Mr. Polk, of Tennessee. A greater disappointment awaited him. He had never seen Mr. Clay, but learning that he was to give an address at Lexington, Ky., on the gradual emancipation of the slaves, he determined to make a trip to that town to hear one whom he regarded with such veneration and honor. Not many of us like to have our idols shattered. It is not pleasant to have illusions which we have fondly cherished rudely blown away. Mr. Lincoln entered the hall in Lexington a stranger to all about him. He beheld a brilliant assembly of men and women who

had gathered to listen to the man who, for nearly half a century, had electrified audiences by his eloquence. But time had turned many furrows on his brow. The fire of early years was dying out. He had held many places of honor and trust, but had not reached the goal to the attainment of which he had directed all his energies-the Presidency. Never again could there be a flaming up of the old-time enthusiasm upon any theme. The address which he had prepared was not upon a subject calculated to win the applause of his hearers. No thrilling words fell from his lips. In that evening hour the illusions of many years were fading away from the eyes of the man who had taken the journey from Illinois to Lexington.

But a keener disappointment was to come. Henry Clay had been born in poverty, had made his way against adverse circumstances to an exalted position. From his first entrance into public life he had been accustomed to receive adulation and homage. Men approached him as if he were a superior being; sycophants had fawned around him. Through many years he had maintained a dignified public life. He gave a courteous reception to the man from Illinois, who had been making speeches in his behalf-courteous, nothing more. Mr. Clay was polite, affable, agreeable in conversation, but cold, distant, patronizing in manner. His was not a hearty grasp of the hand. He manifested no great pleasure in meeting the Illinois lawyer who, without hope or expectation of reward, had labored to make him President. Hundreds had also been making speeches, and it is possible that Mr. Clay may not have heard that a man by the name of Lincoln was stumping Illinois in his behalf, and so received him politely, but without marked cordiality. Beneath the oaks, elms, and ashes casting their shade over the home of the great statesman at Ashland, Abraham Lincoln became disenchanted. (*) Whether he himself was acquainted with men or not, whether they had labored for or against him, whether men were rich or poor, whether occupying humble or exalted positions, it made no difference to him; to all there was the hearty grasp of his hand. It was Abraham Lincoln's way, but not Mr. Clay's.

1846.

The Congressional districts in Illinois were Democratic, except that in which Abraham Lincoln resided. The Democratic party nominated Rev. Peter Cartwright, a Methodist minister, who had preached in nearly every school district, and who was known to everybody. The Whig party believed Mr. Lincoln would prove to be more popular than the minister. He was nominated and elected. Some of his friends, knowing that he had but little money, contributed $200 tow

ards meeting his expenses while travelling through the district and making speeches, and were much surprised to receive the following letter from him, returning $199.25:

"I have ridden my own horse. My friends have entertained me at

night. My only outing has been 75 cents for some cider, which I bought for some farm-hands."

He saw no harm in the drinking of cider. He may have thought a little given to a gang of men whom he met in the harvest-field would not harm them, and might be of some benefit to himself on election-day.

1847.

In the Capitol at Washington, as a member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Lincoln met men whose names are inseparably associated with the history of the country: Robert C. Winthrop, of Massachusetts, Speaker of the House; John Quincy Adams, ex-President of the United States, member of the House; George Ashmun, from the same State; Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana; Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee; Alexander H. Stephens, Howell Cobb, and Robert Toombs, of Georgia; and Barnwell Rhett, of South Carolina. On the same day Stephen A. Douglas became a Senator from Illinois, meeting Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts; John P. Hale, of New Hampshire; John Adams Dix, of New York; Lewis Cass, of Ohio; Thomas R. Benton, of Missouri; Simon Cameron, of Pennsylvania; John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky; James M. Mason, and R. M. T. Hunter, of Virginia; John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina; and Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, all of whom were to appear in the great drama in which Abraham Lincoln was to take the leading part.

Mr. Lincoln was meeting the foremost men of the nation as their equal in making laws for the country. He introduced a resolution calling upon the President to furnish the House with a statement of facts relating to the war with Mexico, and advocated its passage in a very able speech.

While member of Congress he was greatly exercised at seeing gangs of slaves in chains marched away from the slave-prison to be sold in Southern markets. He looked upon it as a national disgrace. Mr. Galt, member from New York, introduced a resolution prohibiting the slave trade in the District of Columbia. Mr. Lincoln was in favor not only of prohibiting slavery in the district, but he would make free all children born after January 1, 1850; and if owners of slaves were willing to part with them, he would have the Government purchase their freedom. He soon discovered, however, that the members from the slave-holding States were bitterly opposed to any such beneficent measure. They would not listen to any proposition which in the remotest degree would interfere with the institution.

General Lewis Cass, of Michigan, was the candidate of the Demo