example and early teaching.

Her death, the affection he bore her, the sad and solemn rites of her burial, were never obliterated from his mind and heart.

He had, in all, about one year's schooling; but his mother stimulated his natural love of books, and he read everything he could find to read in the backwoods, seeking, by every possible means, to improve himself. He read the Bible, and committed a large portion of it to memory, Esop's Fables, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Weem's life of Washington, a life of Henry Clay, and an odd volume of Burns' Poems. These books constituted his library, and these he read and reread, until large portions of them became indelibly fixed in his memory; thus laying the foundation of a character that became, in its maturity, the wonder and admiration of his country. Here, in the far backwoods, he toiled upon the farm, until he was nineteen years of age. Then he took charge of a flat-boat and cargo, down the rivers Ohio and Mississippi, to New Orleans. He had become a tall, athletic man, having attained the height of six feet four inches.

In readiness to extricate himself from a dilemma, to do promptly the wisest thing which could be done under the circumstances in which he might be placed, he was the equal of any yankee in New England. A gentleman reports that the first time he ever saw Lincoln, he was "in the Sangamon river, his trowsers rolled up five feet more or less, trying to pilot a flat-boat over a mill dam. The boat was so full of water it was hard to manage. Lincoln got the scow partly over, bored a hole through the projecting part, and let the water run out."

In 1830, the Lincoln family removed to a place in Macon county, Illinois, near Decatur, and it was here that the powerful young man performed those wonderful feats in railsplitting, in aiding his father to fence his farm, which earned for him the sobriquet of "the rail-splitter." At this period of his life, he was a simple, hard working, rough, kindly, genial, studious laborer, with no bad habits nor vicious tastes, but striving, always, to improve himself; dressed in the homely domestic homespun cloth of the country, he was an ungainly giant, utterly unconscious of the great intellectual

powers, which were slowly, but surely, growing and maturing in the silent solitude of his life. A friend of his, sketched a picture of the future President, at this period of his life, while pursuing his studies. He is represented as lying on a trundle-bed, with one leg stretched out, rocking the cradle containing the child of his hostess, while he, himself is absorbed in the study of English grammar. He pursued his studies diligently, and whatever he undertook, he thoroughly mastered. Most of his life, up to the period of his majority, was passed in the solitude of the frontier. With few neighbors, and these absorbed in the laborious struggle for subsistence, he passed the years of his childhood and youth. For the rest, as Bancroft says, "from day to day he lived the life of the American people, walked in its light, reasoned with its reason, thought, with its power of thought, felt the beatings of its mighty heart, and so in every way was a child of nature, a child of the West, and a child of America." His character and intellect developed slowly. Indeed down to the period of his death, Abraham Lincoln was, as facts will prove, constantly growing in intellectual power, improving and perfecting his moral and religious nature; so that, when he fell, he was a far more perfect man than at any previous period of his life. Solitude and self-culture and slow growth are, for minds of high capacity, most favorable to strong and full development. It is doubtful whether, with all the teaching of the schools, Abraham Lincoln would have been better adapted to his great mission, than by the teachings of the life and circumstances in which he was reared. Perhaps, as Byron says:

"Must such minds be nourished in the wild,
Deep in the unpruned forest, midst the roar
Of cataracts, where nursing nature smiled
On infant Washington."

But his education was, as yet, scarcely begun, and was to be fashioned by after events the faintest glimmer of which had not yet dawned upon the simple hearted boy.

In 1832, difficulties between the Sac Indians, under their Chief, Black Hawk, and the whites, occurred, known as the Black Hawk war. Volunteers were called for by Governor

Reynolds, of Illinois, and a company was raised in Menard county and neighborhood. Among the volunteers was Lincoln. He, and a man by the name of Kirkpatrick, were candidates for the position of Captain. The mode of election was for each candidate to take his position by himself, and the men were directed to arrange themselves in line, with the one they preferred for their leader. Lincoln's line was three times as long as Kirkpatrick's, and he was triumphantly elected. Speaking of this incident, when President, he said that he was more elated over this, his first triumph, than any other election in his life. He was very popular among the volunteers, on account of his great physical strength, and his ability to tell more and better stories than any other man in the little army. He served during the campaign, but had no opportunity of testing his prowess against the Indians. After the war, he held, for a short time, the office of Postmaster at New Salem.

On his return from the campaign of the Black Hawk war, Lincoln being twenty-three years of age, his neighbors brought him out as a candidate for the Legislature. The vote given for him by the people of New Salem was unanimous. There were two candidates for Congress voted for, and their aggregate vote was 206, Mr. Lincoln received 207. This unanimous vote showed his personal popularity. The people of New Salem asked and obtained for him the appointment of Postmaster. He accepted it, because it gave him an opportunity to read all the newspapers taken in the town. It was in relation to the funds received by him as Postmaster, that an incident occurred that gave a striking illustration of his scrupulous integrity. He had left New Salem, and had removed to Springfield, and was struggling with poverty; indeed he was so poor that he had difficulty in supplying the necessaries of life. After his removal to Springfield, and some years after he had ceased to be Postmaster, a draft was sent out for collection for the balance, $16.00, of Post-office money received by him. It was contrary to the regulations of the Post Office Department for him to pay this balance until it was drawn for. My informant, Dr. Henry, accompanied the agent with the draft, to Mr. Lincoln's office, where

it was presented for payment. Knowing Lincoln's poverty, and doubting whether he had the money on hand to meet the draft, the doctor had accompanied the officer, with the intention of loaning him the money to pay it.

Upon the drafts being presented, Lincoln asked the officer to be seated a moment, went to his boarding house, and directly returned with an old stocking with a quantity of silver, and copper coin, tied up in it. Untieing the stocking, he poured the contents upon the table and proceeded to count the coin. It was in the small silver and copper coin, sixpences, shillings, quarter dollars, and half dollars and cents, such as the country people were in the habit of using in those days, in paying postage. On counting the coin, it was found to be the exact amount of the draft, and the identical coin which had been received. Lincoln never used, even temporarily, any money that was not his. He said he felt that the money belonged to the Government, and that he had no right to exchange or use it for any purpose of his own. This evidence of strict integrity and fidelity to trust was the more striking, because he had frequently during the period he had held this money, been compelled to make large discounts upon notes he had received for fees, and sometimes to borrow money to pay his small bills.

At this period of his life Lincoln became like Washington, an accurate, practical surveyor. He commenced reading law while living at New Salem. Major John T. Stuart encouraged him, loaned him books, which he carried in his arms to his home, and there read law part of the time, and practiced surveying to pay for his board and clothing. In 1834, he was elected to the Legislature of Illinois and walked to Vandalia, more than one hundred miles, to take his seat. He was reelected in 1836. At the session of 1836, he met, as a fellow member,8. A. Douglas, and these two men, taking opposite sides, soon became prominent leaders, Lincoln of the whig, and Douglas of the democratic party of Illinois. In 1838, Mr. Lincoln was again elected to the Legislature, and he received the vote of his party for Speaker, lacking but one vote of being elected. In 1840, he was again elected and again

received the vote of the whig members of the Legislature, for Speaker.

The popularity of Mr. Lincoln and his position as a leader, is established by the fact, that he received, again and again, the votes of his party friends, for Speaker. The legislation. at this period of the history of Illinois, consisted mainly, in passing acts for the opening of roads, the passage of local bills, and for the construction of a canal, to connect Lake Michigan and the Mississippi, by the Illinois river; known as the Illinois and Michigan Canal; the adoption of a general system of internal improvements by railroads, and the promotion of education. In regard to all these measures Lincoln was an active and influential member. In March, 1837, resolutions of an extremely pro-slavery character, were introduced into the Legislature and carried through by large majorities. Illinois, at that time, was made up largely, of emigrants from the slave States, filled with the prejudices of that section, and the feeling against anti-slavery men was violent and almost universal. Lincoln was one of the two men, who had the moral courage to put on record, at that period, a protest against these pro-slavery resolutions. In this protest, he and his associate, Dan Stone, declared their belief, that slavery was founded in both injustice and bad policy.

Lincoln had been admitted, in 1837, as an attorney and counsellor at law, by the Supreme Court of Illinois, but his duties as a member of the Legislature interfered, materially, with his practice. Upon his retirement, he devoted himself with great energy and zeal to his profession.

Illinois was, at this time, divided into several judicial circuits; each circuit consisting of several counties, and the Judges of these circuits, meeting together, at the Capital, constituted the Supreme Court; to which cases were taken, by appeal, and writ of error. The Judges and leading members of the bar, generally started together, to "ride the circuit." There were few, and frequently no lawyers in those counties, where there was no considerable village or town, and the members of the bar, traveled on horseback following the court, from county to county.