i@iiw : M " MAKERS OF AMERICAN HISTORY " SERIES ABRAHAM LINCOLN M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY CHICAGO NEW YORK Copyright, 1917, by SAM’L GABRIEL SONS & COMPANY NEW YORK Made in U. S. A / CONTENTS PAGE Chapter I . . . 5 Birth of Abraham Lincoln and First Years in Kentucky — Removal to Indiana — Death of Kis Mother— Early Struggles for an Education — Removal to Illinois. Chapter II . . . 19 Lincoln Beginning Life in Illinois — Impressed by a Ne¬ gro Slave Auction in New Orleans — In Politics — His Defeat and Later Election to the Legislature — Made Postmaster of New Salem — Settling in Springfield — Prac¬ tising Law — Lincoln Married. Chapter III . . . . . 33 Lincoln Elected to Congress — Becomes Leader of New Republican Party — His Opposition to Slavery — His De¬ bates with Stephen A. Douglas — Nominated for Senator and Defeated. Chapter IV . 47 Lincoln Nominated for President — His Election — South¬ ern States Secede from the Union — “Confederate States of America” Formed — Trouble with the South on the Slavery Question. Chapter V . . . . ... 58 Lincoln Bids Farewell to Springfield — His Journey to Washington — His Inauguration — Bombardment of Fort Sumter by the Confederates — The Beginning of the Civil War — The Call to Arms. Chapter VI . . Battle of Bull Run — General Grant’s Victories in Ten¬ nessee and Mississippi — Battle between the “Merrimac” and the “Monitor” — Battle of Antietam — Emancipation Proclamation — Battle of Gettysburg — Grant Made Lieu¬ tenant-General — Lincoln’s Address at Gettysburg. Chapter VII . Lincoln’s Second Presidential Campaign — His Re-election and Inauguration — General Sherman’s March through Georgia — The Surrender of General Lee — End of the Civil War — Lincoln Assassinated — Funeral Ceremonies. CHAPTER I BIRTH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND FIRST YEARS IN KENTUCKY - REMOVAL TO INDIANA - DEATH OF HIS MOTHER — EARLY STRUGGLES FOR AN EDUCATION — REMOVAL TO ILLINOIS - 1809-1830 V-> IN the heart of the State of Kentucky, near Hodgensville, a splendid granite building has been erected about an old log cabin to protect it from the wind and weather. It is an ugly little cabin, but its warped logs are dear to Americans. This strong protection has been provided about the cabin so that not only you, but the children of a hun- 6 ABRAHAM LINCOLN dred years from now, may visit it and look upon it. Why should any one want to look at such a poor little tumble-down house ? I shall tell you. It is because “This little hut was the cradle of one of the great sons of men.” On the 12th of February, 1809, a little boy was born there, named Abraham Lincoln. He was the son of plain people, and was born to make men free. For nearly two hundred years, his forefathers had been brave men, always pushing ahead into the wil¬ derness. When we look at the great United States, with their smiling grain fields and orchards, their mighty factories and busy cities, their schools and li¬ braries and temples of worship, we must not forget such men as the ancestors of Abraham Lincoln. They were the path-finders and scouts, running far ahead of civilization. With strength of hand and mind and heart, they struggled with nature, made their homes and built their settlements, in spite of the attacks of wild beasts and savage men. They cut trails through the trackless forests, where now we ride on steel rails or smooth-paved roads. Knowing nothing of ease, they cleared the way for comfortable homes. Untaught, they made places for schools. They were the men whose love of liberty has laid, one after another, westward to the Pacific, the foun¬ dations of the states. They lived in poverty and often met cruel and sudden death. When Abraham Lincoln’s grandfather, also named Abraham, came to Kentucky, the state was a pathless wilderness. He set to work to build a home. He felled trees with his strong arms and trimmed the ABRAHAM LINCOLN 7 logs and laid them in place to form a cabin. He had three sons ; Thomas, the youngest, was only six years old. Each boy had his part in building the house and clearing the farm. One early morning, while going to their day’s work, a shot rang out in the forest and the boys saw their father fall dead. The oldest boy ran to the cabin for the gun, which always hung over the door. The sec¬ ond boy fled to the nearest fort for help, while little Thomas knelt beside his dead father. Running out of the cabin with the gun, the oldest boy saw an In¬ dian in war-paint just stooping over, ready to seize 8 ABRAHAM LINCOLN his little brother. He took quick and deadly aim at a bright ornament over the heart of the savage, fired and killed him. Thomas escaped and ran into the house, as Indians swarmed out of the woods. They were kept off by the big brother, who fired at them through cracks between the logs, until help came from the fort. The little lad, whose life was so narrowly saved, was one day to become the father of Abraham Lincoln. Without the father, the new home had to be given up, and the mother and three boys had a hard time to make a living. As soon as Thomas was old enough to work, he drifted about wherever he could find a job. He grew up to be “a wandering laboring boy,” without any education and with very little ambition. But he was sober and honest. His friends liked him for his good humor and for the good stories he told. He was tall and stalwart and successful in the ath¬ letic contests of those days. He learned the trade of a carpenter, and married the pretty niece of the man in whose shop he worked. Her name was Nancy Hanks. She, too, was an orphan and had had a hard life. She was as poor as her husband, but she knew how to read and write and taught him to sign his name. When they were married, they had a great wedding feast of bear meat and venison, wild turkey and duck. A cake of maple sugar was swung on a string, to be bitten off for sweetening whisky or coffee. There were gourds filled with sirup and wild honey, and a whole sheep was roasted over the coals in a pit. When Thomas and Nancy were married, they owned ABRAHAM LINCOLN 9 a cow, a feather-bed, a loom and a spinning-wheel, and they went to housekeeping in a tiny one-roomed cabin. After awhile, a little girl was born. They named her Sarah. No one seemed to need much carpenter work, so Thomas Lincoln bought a farm on credit and moved into the cabin already built upon it. The land was poor, but had a fine spring on it, and this gave it the name of “Rock Spring Farm.” In this rough and poverty-stricken home, on the banks of Nolin’s Creek, Abraham Lincoln was born and here he lived for four years. Then the family moved to a somewhat better farm. The mother was of a sweet and refined nature, and wanted her children to have a better education and a better chance in life than their parents had. There were few schools in Ken¬ tucky in those days, though sometimes a school teacher would come along and teach for a few weeks in one of the cabins. Abraham and his sister went to such a teacher for a little while. They had to walk four miles through the forest to reach his cabin. Before the children had time to learn much, their father decided to move to Indiana, a new part of the country. He sold his farm for $20 and four hundred gallons of whisky. Loading all his goods upon a raft, which he launched on the creek near his cabin, he set out alone to select a new home. He floated down to the Ohio River and landed on the Indiana shore. After exploring the forest, he chose a spot on Pigeon Creek. He could not return up-stream on his raft, so he sold it, left his goods with a settler, and walked back home to get his family. Two horses 10 ARKAhLAM L1JNUUUN were borrowed, for the mother and children to ride, and the family traveled a hundred weary miles to the place where their things had been left. It took three days to go from the Ohio River to the new home, a distance of sixteen miles, for the father had to cut a way with his ax so the wagon he had borrowed to haul their goods, could pass through the dense forest. The cold nights of autumn had come and no shelter awaited them. The first thing to do was to cut down small trees and as quickly as possible make a’ camp. Little Abe was then only seven, but he was strong and sturdy, and could swing an ax with the rest of them, for he had played in the forest, eaten only simple food, and slept in the open air. He helped his father to build their “half faced camp.5' It was closed on three sides, but the fourth, before which a fire was built, stood open to the weather. There was no floor. Wind and rain beat in between the poles. Even the bear in the forest had a cosier winter home than the Lincolns, but they lived there a whole year, while Abe helped his father chop down the big trees. They thus cleared a field for corn and used the logs for a cabin, which they had ready for the next winter. (1817.) Sometimes, in building a cabin, the bark was left on the logs, but usually they were smoothed inside. The bedstead was made in the angle of the cabin, by sticking poles between the logs and supporting the corner by a crotched stick driven into the ground. For coverings, they used the skins of bear and deer. If there was a floor, it was made of logs hewed with an ax on one side and laid close together. A slab, ABRAHAM LINCOLN 11 cut out of a big log, with poles for legs, formed the table, and rough, three-legged stools served as seats. The Lincolns moved into their cabin without a floor, a door, or a window. When Abe went to bed, he had to scramble up to the loft by pegs driven into the wall, and he slept on a pile of dry leaves. When they needed meal for bread, he was sent seven miles on horseback with a bag of corn, to have it ground by a neighbor who owned a hand mill. The only meat they had was supplied by game from the woods. They wore garments and moccasins made of deer skin. Their caps were made of raccoon skins, with the tails hanging behind. For pins, they used sharp thorns. Abe was too tender-hearted to kill the wild years old, his father be¬ ing absent, he shot a wild turkey. The hardships of this life were too much for Nancy Lincoln. When she became ill, there was no help for her, as the nearest doctor was thirty miles away. Just be¬ fore Abe’s ninth birth¬ day, she died, telling her sobbing little boy to be good and to love God. Her husband cut down things in the woods. He did not like hunting, though once, when eight 12 ABRAHAM LINCOLN a great pine tree and sawed out rough boards for a coffin, in which her body was laid away in a clearing in the forest. The little boy’s heart was grieved by this sad burial. Months later, when a traveling minister came by, the boy asked him to say a prayer above his mother’s grave. Little Abe was very lonely, but he went about his work bravely, helping his father wherever he could. Sarah was only eleven years old, and che care of even their poor household was too heavy for her small hands, but she did her best, and they struggled through the winter and the summer. Long after¬ ward, Lincoln said, “Those were pretty pinching times.” In the autumn of 1819, the father went back to Kentucky to find some one to mother his children. He found a fine and sensible woman, Sally Bush Johnston, who consented to marry him, and go back with him to Indiana. She was a widow, with a son and two little daughters, and was so well off that a four-horse wagon was needed to carry her goods to her new home. She had homespun blankets and quilts, and, among her things, there was a bureau. A nice feather-bed soon replaced Abe’s pallet of leaves, and for the first time in his life, he had a pil¬ low. The stepmother put a wash-stand outside the door and scrubbed these neglected little children and put decent clothing on them. She made their father hang a door, put down a floor and cut windows in the cabin and fill them with greased paper, to let in the light and keep out the rain. The “pinching ABRAHAM LINCOLN 13 times” gave place to times of cheer and comfort. The lonely children now had playmates and a good mother. Forlorn little Abe, youngest of all, was taken right into his stepmother’s warm and generous heart. She loved him dearly and encouraged him to study and improve himself. He had not been to school in Indiana and had forgotten the little he had learned in Kentucky. But whenever a traveler came by, he eagerly . asked questions, often vexing his father, who could not understand his thirst for knowl¬ edge. Once a wagon broke down in the road and a woman and two little girls waited in their cabin while it was being mended. Lincoln said afterward, 4 'The woman had books and read us stories. They were the first I ever heard.” There had never been a book nor a paper in their home, so you can imagine how much Abe enjoyed the stories. The stepmother insisted that all the children should go to school, though the father thought this unnecessary. Abe took every chance to learn, often walking many miles through the forest to the home of a teacher. From the forest itself he learned much. He knew the stars and the winds and the trees, and the little wild things that ran across his path. He knew the notes of the birds and he knew when the slanting shadows foretold a change of season. In the forest he learned to think for himself and to think right, which is the greatest lesson the greatest school can teach. There really was very little schooling possible, however. Abe went to school for a time when he was - H ABRAHAM LINCOLN pay for it: Ate pulled fodder for three da yz ten, again at fourteen and later at seventeen; including these periods and the time in Ken¬ tucky, he spent, alto¬ gether, less than a year of his life in school. He never neglected his share of the family labor and worked for the neigh¬ bors whenever they needed him. But he put in all the time he could, reading and adding to what he had learned in school. He had no slate, no pencils, and paper was very scarce. To practice his arithmetic, he used the wooden fire shovel. Sitting by the fireside and working in its flickering light, he covered the shovel with sums, done with a bit of charcoal, and then he whittled it clean again for a fresh start. He had a Bible and whenever he heard of any one owning a book, he would trudge any distance to borrow it. In this way, he read “Robinson Crusoe,33 “iEsop’s Fables,35 “Pil¬ grim’s Progress,33 a “History of the United States33 and Parson Weems’s “Life of Washington.33 He read every book within a circle of fifty miles. When¬ ever he read a word or a sentence he wanted to re¬ member, he scrawled it on the logs of the cabin or on a smooth chip, till he could write it on paper. Paper was so scarce that he wrote only the best words and ABRAHAM LINCOLN 15 sentences that he read and those he wished most to remember. His pen was made from a turkey quill and his ink, of briar-root juice. He practiced writ¬ ing until he wrote well and clearly. He learned to spell so well that he was not allowed to take part in the spelling matches, because he was so sure to out-do the other pupils. The “Life of Washington” was so interesting to him that he carried it to bed with him one night, so as to have it to read as soon as daylight came. He put it between the logs of the cabin, but a rain came down in the night, beat into the cracks and soaked the book. Abe pulled fodder three days to pay the owner of the book for it ! By the time he was fourteen, Abe walked every week into the village of Gentryville to read the Louisville papers. When he had read all the books he could find, he began on the Statutes of Indiana, which belonged to the constable. In this book of the state laws, he found the Declaration of Independence, the Consti¬ tution of the United States and the Ordinance (law) forbidding slavery in the Northwest Territory. An old dictionary at this time found its way into his hands and he even read that, page by page. Now all this sounds as though Abe were only a “dig” or a book-worm. As a matter of fact, he was full of fun and jokes, and, because of his reading and good mem¬ ory, he became the best of story-tellers, adding greatly to the pleasure of any gathering of people. His neighbors all liked to hear Abe talk. He was always pleasant at home. His stepmother i6 ABRAHAM LINCOLN said, “Abe never gave one a cross word or look, and never refused to do anything I asked him. He was the best boy I ever saw or expect to see/’ He was always gentle and kind and polite. No doubt his mother’s sweet nature lived again in her backwoods boy. House-raisings and corn huskings and athletic con¬ tests were among Abe’s pleasures. By the time he was nineteen, he had grown to be six feet, four inches tall and had long arms and legs. The country folks called him “Long Shanks” and laughed at his shins showing below his outgrown trousers. But he could outrun and outwrestle all the boys and split more rails and lift heavier logs than any of them. He was proud of his great strength, but in his heart he wanted to learn to talk dike the preachers and lawyers; to read and spell like the school teachers and to write like the men who made books and newspapers. He loved to stand on a stump and make a speech, or to imitate the sermon of some traveling preacher, or keep a crowd roaring with laughter at his jokes and stories. Until he was twenty-one years old, his time be¬ longed to his father. He either worked on the farm, or was hired out to a neighbor, his wages going to his father. A “day” was from sunrise to sunset, and for a day’s work he received twenty-five cents, unless he had missed a little time and was “docked” for it! When he was about sixteen, he had a chance to work on a ferry-boat on the Ohio River for thirty- seven cents a day. He enjoyed this, for he saw many travelers passing east and west. A lawyer became so ABRAHAM LINCOLN 17 interested in him that he wanted to take Abe into his office. It was just what he longed to do, but the boy said his parents were too poor and needed all the money he could earn. While working on the river, he earned a whole dollar one day by rowing two men and their trunks out to a steamboat waiting for them in midstream. He had never before earned so much money in a day and it gave him new hope and cour- age. About this time, Mr. Gentry (the storekeeper and founder of Gentryville, Indiana), loaded a flat-boat with pork and corn, bacon and flour. He wanted to find a strong, honest, intelligent young man to take the boat a thousand miles down the Mississippi River, sell the cargo at the cotton plantations and bring back the money. It did not take him long to select young Lincoln, to whom he paid $8 a month and his fare home on the steamboat. Allan Gentry, the storekeeper's son, went with him and the voyage was successfully made. Lincoln learned a thousand new things from all he heard and saw. By the time Abe was grown up, their home was no longer on the frontier. Hundreds of canvas-covered wagons had come over the mountains from the East, and Indiana was now full of people. Settlers were pushing westward and as Thomas Lincoln watched these “prairie schooners” disappear toward the set¬ ting sun, he longed to follow them. He seemed to forget all the hardship of making a home in the wil¬ derness and he decided to go on to Illinois. Abe was almost twenty-one, at which time he would be free to work for himself, but he helped his father “move.” i8 ABRAHAM LINCOLN His sister had died, and the neighbors were sorry to lose Abe. One of his friends planted a cedar as a token of remembrance. An ox-cart carried their scanty possessions. The cart wheels were formed of round blocks cut from a big oak log, and the roads were muddy trails. He helped his father move Creeks and rivers had to be forded. The journey must have been rougher than we can imagine in our days of fine roads, good springs and rubber tires. Abe was the driver, and on this journey, he managed to do a little business. He had saved up thirty dol¬ lars and with them bought a supply of needles, thread, buttons and other little things, which he knew would be scarce in the wilderness, and which he peddled to settlers along the way. He doubled his money by this deal. CHAPTER II LINCOLN BEGINNING LIFE IN ILLINOIS - IMPRESSED BY A NEGRO SLAVE AUCTION IN NEW ORLEANS - IN POLI¬ TICS - HIS DEFEAT AND LATER ELECTION TO THE LEGISLATURE - MADE POSTMASTER OF NEW SALEM - SETTLING IN SPRINGFIELD - PRACTICING LAW - LINCOLN MARRIED - 183O-1846 lie studied mstkemstics WHEN they reached Illinois in the spring of 1830, the family chose a place on the Sangamon River and built a cabin, fenced hi ten acres of ground, and raised a crop 19 20 ABRAHAM LINCOLN of corn that season. Abe wanted to make his stepmother as comfortable as he could, in return for all her goodness to him. Their first winter in Illinois was very dreary and desolate; it was intensely cold and was known as the winter of the “deep snow.” When spring came again and Abe had given his father an extra year, he left home to seek his fortune. With his ax over his shoulder and a little bundle holding all his possessions, he set out, in March, 1831. He was soon engaged, with his stepbrother and cousin, by a man named Denton Offutt, to take a flat- boat, loaded with hogs and corn, to New Orleans from Sangamon, Illinois. The wages were fifty cents a day. The young men built the boat, loaded and launched it on the Sangamon River. At the village of New Salem, it stuck on a dam, with one end high in the air and the other in the water. All the village folk came out to look and laugh. Poor Abe, tall and thin and sad-faced, in ragged coat, bat¬ tered hat and torn trousers, was forlorn enough to be the object of their jokes! But he was good-natured and won their respect by thinking of a smart way to get the boat off. He bored a hole into the bottom of it at the bow, and managed to lift the stern so the water ran out of the hole in the front, and the boat went over the dam while he plugged up the hole! This delayed them a day and a night. They had some other adventures, but reached New Orleans safely and sold the hogs and corn. When Abe went to see the sights of the city, the thing which impressed him most, and which he never, never forgot, was a negro slave auction. He saw ABRAHAM LINCOLN 21 a young woman being sold and felt so sorry for her that he said, “If I ever get a chance to hit this thing, I’ll hit it hard!” They returned by steamboat to St. Louis and from there Abe walked across Illinois to visit his father’s farm. Then he went to New Salem, where Mr. Offutt had promised to employ him as clerk in a store. The people remembered him and wel¬ comed him warmly. An election was drawing near and Lincoln was asked if he could write. He answered that he could “make a few rabbit tracks on paper,” and he was hired to help the clerk at the election. This gave him an acquaintance with the voters, who stayed to hear his droll stories. Among them was the schoolmaster, Mentor Graham, who ever after was Lincoln’s warm friend. 22 ABRAHAM LINCOLN % Mr. Offutt opened his store, bought a mill and put Abe in charge of both, for he trusted him com¬ pletely. He boasted that his clerk could beat anyone running and fighting. In those days, each settlement had its champion wrestler and the “Clary’s Grove Boys” bet Mr. Offutt $10 that their leader, Jack Armstrong, could beat his clerk. Abe did not enjoy fighting, but saw that he must, to keep his place. All the village flocked to see the match. Lincoln won the fight, and he fought so fairly that he also won the ad¬ miration of everybody and the lasting friendship of Jack Armstrong. At New Salem, many tales were told of his strength. One was that he lifted a barrel of whisky until, standing erect, he could drink out of the bung-hole. The story says he did not swallow the whisky, for he hated the influence of liquor on the people and did all he could for the cause of temperance. Strong as his body was, Lincoln’s character was stronger, and he had a kind word as well as a helpful deed for every one in trouble. His hands were ready to lift a wagon out of the mire, rock a cradle, split wood for a neighbor or wait on the sick. He was fond of children and kittens and puppies. Away back in Indiana, he had written articles against cru¬ elty to animals. If he happened to make a mistake in weight or change, he did not sleep till he had made it right, even though he had to walk miles to do it. He very early earned the nickname ‘‘Honest Abe.” But he did not really want to be a storekeeper all his life. He wanted knowledge, and liked to think and study and talk. When he had read all the books ABRAHAM LINCOLN 23 in New Salem, he “had a notion to study Eng¬ lish Grammar.” His friend, Mentor Graham, told him it was a fine plan, but the nearest grammar was six miles away. Abe walked out and borrowed this “Kirkham’s Grammar,” and soon knew all that it contained. With the schoolmaster’s help, he studied mathematics and covered all the wrapping paper in the store with his problems. A political discussion was a great pleasure to Lin¬ coln, and when he was twenty-three, he made up his mind to be a candidate for election to the State Legis¬ lature. (Law-making branch of the State Govern¬ ment.) “Internal Improvements,” meaning the building of roads and bridges and the clearing and damming of rivers, interested the people more than anything else that was to be considered by the legisla¬ ture. Abe thought it would increase his chance for election, if he would promise the people to have the legislature improve the river and make it deeper, so bigger boats could pass up and down. He published a fine letter in the newspaper, addressed to the people of the county, saying what he thought ought to be done by the legislature. It closed with the words, “Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. I can say that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed by my fellow men, by rendering my¬ self worthy of their esteem.” Before the election took place, the Indian “Black Hawk,” who had been pushed across the Mississippi, led his warriors back to the land that had belonged to their fathers. The Governor of Illinois called for volunteers to protect the state. A company was 24 ABRAHAM LINCOLN formed at New Salem and the men chose Lincoln for their captain. This pleased him, though he knew nothing of the duties of his new office. The boys in his company were full of pranks, for which he, as their captain, was punished. Once he had to wear a wooden sword two days, because they stole whisky from the officers. They enlisted for only a few weeks, but as the “war” did not end so soon, Lincoln reenlisted as a private. His military service lasted about three months. Soon after his re¬ turn home, the election was held and Abe was de¬ feated. His neighbors voted for him, but he was not very widely known in the county. Mr. Offutt’s store failed and Abe went into part¬ nership with a man named Berry. They bought a store on credit, but Abe read and Berry drank all the time, so the business was neglected. One day a man, moving west, asked them to buy a barrel of odds and ends, for which he had not room in his wagon. Lincoln gave him fifty cents and put the barrel away. Months later, he dumped its con¬ tents on the floor and found Blackstone’s great law book, which is one of the first books studied by all lawyers. He had always wanted to study law, and now the store was all but forgotten. Lying under a great tree, with his feet against the trunk and “grind¬ ing around with the shade,” he spent hours pouring over his treasure. In a year, the store “winked out” and Berry left without paying his share of the indebt¬ edness. Lincoln bravely shouldered this burden, calling it the “National Debt,” because it looked so big to him. He owed $1100 and had no way to get ABRAHAM LINCOLN 25 money except in very small wages for odd jobs. He promised his creditors that he would pay it all and he did, although it took seventeen years of patient labor and saving ! He worked at everything he could get to do and was appointed, in 1833, Postmaster of New Salem. It was not much of a position, for mail came only twice a week and there was little of it. It is said that he carried the “post office” in his hat and whenever he met a man for whom he had a let¬ ter, he would take off his hat and deliver the mail ! But this position brought him newspapers to read full of the speeches of Daniel Webster and Henry Clay and other men in Congress. He devoted all the time he could spare from his work, to his reading, often tramping to Spring- field, twenty miles away, to borrow law books. In the evenings, he went to the cooper’s shop, where he made a fire of shavings and read by its light. As soon as he could help his neighbors with his knowl¬ edge, he began to draw up legal papers for them, without charge. A chance to do some surveying (marking off.^ land) came to him. He knew nothing about it, but bought the instru- Xt a said that he carried, die post-office m his hat: 26 ABRAHAM LINCOLN ments and a book and “went at it.” After a few weeks of hard study, he was ready for work. Like Washington, he made a splendid surveyor and set¬ tled many disputed boundaries. He felt that now he had a way to make a living and was more hopeful about his future, when one of his creditors (men to whom he owed money) had his horse, saddle and in¬ struments seized and sold by the sheriff. But Lin¬ coln, who had so often helped others, did not lack a friend in his time of need. A man named Bolin Greene, a staunch friend of Lincoln’s, bought the things, gave them back, and told him to pay for them when he could. Two years after his defeat for the legislature, there was another election. By this time, Abe had made many friends in the county and announced that he would again be a candidate. He visited the people on their farms. He attended all the gatherings, horse-races, house-raisings, shooting matches and auctions, where he took part in everything that went on and then made speeches. He was elected (1834) by a large majority and entered on the career of which he had dreamed for years. It is hard for us to realize how poor Lincoln had al¬ ways been. He wore rough, home-made, cow-hide shoes, when he was not barefoot, and his clothing was of coarse homespun. But the gentle kindness of his face and manner and the fun and wisdom in his talk made friends for him. When he went to Vandalia, then the capital of Illinois, he borrowed $200, with which to buy some blue jeans clothing, pay his fare ABRAHAM LINCOLN 27 on the stage-coach and have some money in his pocket when he arrived. He was nearly twenty-six years old at this time and had never lived in a town, for New Salem was merely a group of a few cabins in the forest. He had never lived where there was a church, though he had always attended when some traveling minister preached in a neighboring cabin. He had never seen a college, or even a properly built schoolhouse. V an- dalia, with its three taverns, four doctors, five lawyers, two newspapers, its stores, church and schoolhouse, seemed a great city to him! Whenever Lincoln found himself in new sur¬ roundings, he made it his rule to keep still and watch and learn “what others were doing. So he took little part in the debates in the legislature, but he listened, became acquainted and made friends. Among the members of the legislature was a man named Stephen A. Douglas, as noticeable for his shortness as Lincoln was for his height. He played an im¬ portant part in Lincoln’s later life. Douglas had come from Vermont the year before, with thirty-seven cents in his pocket, and had begun the practice of law. He was a Democrat and Lincoln was a Whig. At the end of the meeting of the legislature, Lincoln, having done all he could about the Sangamon River, returned to New Salem, and to his work of survey¬ ing, studying law and distributing mail. During this time, he was in love with the tavern- keeper’s daughter, pretty Ann Rutledge. Her re¬ finement and strength of mind and character at- 28 ABRAHAM LINCOLN * tracted him when he was a humble helper about the tavern. He dared not offer himself to her until his fortunes improved, but after he returned from Van- dalia, they were engaged. The marriage was put off a year, as she was only seventeen and wanted to spend a winter in the academy at Jacksonville. But this first real happiness was destroyed before many months. His sweetheart died and her death caused him the deepest sorrow. Of all the disappointments in his life, this was the greatest, but through it he learned a lesson of bravery and patience. He had need to learn these lessons early, for his life was to be full of sorrow. In 1836, Lincoln was again elected to the legisla¬ ture. He said, at this time, he was in favor of letting everybody vote who paid taxes, “not excluding fe* males.” This is interesting, because people then were not talking about “votes for women!” His friends had raised $200 for his campaign expenses. After election, he handed back $1 99.25', saying his only expense had been seventy-five cents for a barrel of cider, to which some farmers had insisted upon being treated. At this session, he took a prominent part in all de¬ bates. Among other things, he helped to have the state capital moved from Vandalia to Springfield. But the most important thing he did passed unno¬ ticed at the time. Slavery was becoming a vexed question all over the country. Those who believed the slaves should be free were called “Abolition¬ ists.” The Illinois people had nearly all come from the South and at this time favored slavery. So the ABRAHAM LINCOLN 29 legislature passed some resolutions, disapproving of the abolitionists. Lincoln, whose heart had been touched when he saw slaves being sold in New Or¬ leans, was almost the only member who refused to vote for the resolutions. He drew up a protest against them, but only one other man would sign it with him. In the beginning of his career, he took his stand on the subject of slavery, though it was so un¬ popular, and he never changed his opinion because he believed he was right. Like the store, New Salem and the post office “winked out.” Lincoln had $ 1 7 of post office money which he kept tied up in an old sock for several years, until the inspector called for it. No matter how much he needed it, he had never borrowed a cent of this fund. “I never touch any money but my own,” he said. ' He put all he owned into a pair of saddle-bags, borrowed a horse and rode to Springfield to live. It was a city of almost two thousand people and a good deal of style. Lincoln said there was a “consider¬ able flourishing about in carriages.” When he ar¬ rived, he was not only almost penniless, but he was deeply in debt. Inquiring at a store the price of a bed, he said, when told, it was probably cheap enough, but he could not pay so much for one. The store¬ keeper, Joshua Speed, felt sorry for him and offered to let Lincoln room with him. “Where is your room?” Lincoln asked, and was told “upstairs.” He ran up with his saddle-bags and was back in a mo¬ ment, crying, “Well, Speed, I’ve moved!” He also lived with a man named Butler, who prob- 30 ABRAHAM LINCOLN ably Hid not ask him to pay any board. Lincoln never forgot these good friends whose help made it possible for him to get a start. He formed a law part¬ nership, but he made his headquarters at Speed’s store, where the young men of the town gathered every evening. Stephen A. Douglas was one of them, and there were others who also became famous lawyers and statesmen in after years. The center of the group was the earnest and witty Lincoln. They had long debates about the affairs of the country. Lincoln always looked at the moral prin¬ ciple behind a question, without any thought of his own popularity. He took a strong stand on the tem¬ perance question, which was not in much favor at that time. He worked hard and patiently at his profession, and his absolute honesty won him the confidence of all His sense of right and wrong was so keen that he would not take a case that could not be won justly. If convinced that a man was guilty, he would not defend him. He had no use for the tricks of the law, but was quick to see and foil any used against him by opposing lawyers. He discouraged people from beginning lawsuits when they could be avoided. For six successive years, Lincoln was elected to the legislature, which met in Springfield each winter. In spring and autumn, in company with other lawyers and the district judge, he traveled around the circuit (certain towns where court was held) , try¬ ing cases in the county towns. There were very few newspapers and many people were unable to read, ABRAHAM LINCOLN 3i and so they depended upon the lawyers to explain the laws to them and tell them what was going on in the country. Lincoln was a great favorite and the people crowded to hear him talk — either in the court-room or at the tavern, where the judge and all the lawyers “put up.” He was poor enough in earthly possessions, but he was rich in sympathy and tenderness of heart. His hard life of struggle for better things, amid disappointments and discourage¬ ments, had given him a certain sadness which he never could overcome. Though he was poorly dressed, he had many friends, for people thought more of his character than of his appearance. His growing name as a forceful speaker, his wit and his reputation as a lawyer, gave him a place in the best society of the little frontier capital. He was a leader among the really brilliant young men of Springfield. When Mary Todd, twenty-one and spirited, pretty and well educated, came from Kentucky to visit her married sister, the house was soon filled with her beaux. Towering above the well dressed and graceful young fellows who called on her, Lin¬ coln, in spite of his height and awkwardness, took her fancy. They became engaged, but her family ob¬ jected and the engagement was broken. Lincoln felt so bad that his friend Speed carried him off for a visit to his own home in Kentucky. When Lincoln returned, Miss Todd and another girl were writing letters to the newspaper, making fun of the State Au¬ ditor, a man named Shields. He was very angry, and to protect the girls, Lincoln took the blame for the let¬ ters. Shields challenged him to a duel. Lincoln ac- 32 ABRAHAM LINCOLN cepted, but made the conditions so ridiculous that every one was in a gale of laughter over it and the quarrel was settled peaceably. Miss Todd then mar¬ ried her penniless knight, in spite of her family — No¬ vember 4, 1842. The “National Debt55 still hung over him, but his bride loyally accepted his poverty. Too poor to have a home, they boarded for some time at the “Globe Tavern55 for four dollars a week! Lincoln dearly loved little children, and was verv happy as one after another four sons were born to them— Robert, Edward, William and Thomas. Ed¬ ward died while a baby; ^William lived to be eleven years of age, and Thomas, eighteen. Robert grew up and went to Harvard University and served his country in positions of trust. i /Arjftrfi .iS' •- ; ' Lincoln H«rnd . iiiiiiiiiiii - 1 1 i v V* ♦.« ■ ' ■ : : '. ' ■ '.': :. '- ■ " . : .. ' ■' > ' ' .1' ■' /!'. :- , I .. ' • ^ l Mi • i pi „iyv iwtMBgl /v ■■■'■■ - i