It was not only Burns and Shakespeare that interfered with the
grocery-keeping: Lincoln had begun seriously to read law. His first
acquaintance with the subject had been made when he was a mere lad in
Indiana, and a copy of the "Revised Statutes of Indiana" had fallen
into his hands. The very copy he used is still in existence and,
fortunately, in hands where it is safe. The book was owned by Mr.
David Turnham, of Gentryville, and was given in 1865 by him to Mr.
Herndon, who placed it in the Lincoln Memorial collection of Chicago.
In December, 1894, this collection was sold in Philadelphia, and
the "Statutes of Indiana" was bought by Mr. William Hoffman Winters,
Librarian of the New York Law Institute, and through his courtesy I
have been allowed to examine it. The book is worn, the title page is
gone and a few leaves from the end are missing. The title page of
a duplicate volume which Mr. Winters kindly showed me reads: "The
Revised Laws of Indiana adopted and enacted by the General Assembly
at their eighth session. To which are prefixed the Declaration of
Independence, the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution
of the State of Indiana, and sundry other documents connected with the
Political History of the Territory and State of Indiana. Arranged and
published by authority of the General Assembly. Corydon, Printed by
Carpenter and Douglass, 1824."
[Illustration: DANIEL GREEN BURNER, BERRY AND LINCOLN'S CLERK.
From a recent photograph. Mr. Burner was Berry and Lincoln's clerk. He
lived at New Salem from 1829 to 1834. Lincoln for many months lodged
with his father, Isaac Burner, and he and Lincoln slept in the same
bed. He now lives on a farm near Galesburg, Illinois, past eighty.]
[Illustration: THE REV. JOHN M. CAMERON.
From a photograph in the possession of the Hon. W.J. Orendorff, of
Canton, Illinois. John M. Cameron, a Cumberland Presbyterian minister,
and a devout, sincere, and courageous man, was held in the highest
esteem by his neighbors. Yet, according to Daniel Green Burner, Berry
and Lincoln's clerk--and the fact is mentioned merely as illustrating
a universal custom among the pioneers--"John Cameron always kept a
barrel of whiskey in the house." He was a powerful man physically, and
a typical frontiersman. He was born in Kentucky in 1791, and, with
his wife, moved to Illinois in 1815. He settled in Sangamon County in
1818, and in 1829 took up his abode in a cabin on a hill overlooking
the Sangamon River, and, with James Rutledge, founded the town of New
Salem.
According to tradition, Lincoln, for a time, lived with the Camerons.
In the early thirties they moved to Fulton County, Illinois; then,
in 1841 or 1842, to Iowa; and finally, in 1849, to California. In
California they lived to a ripe old age--Mrs. Cameron dying in 1875,
and her husband following her three years later. They had twelve
children, eleven of whom were girls. In 1886 there were living nine
of these children, fifty grandchildren, and one hundred and one
great-grandchildren. Mr. Cameron is said to have officiated at the
funeral of Ann Rutledge in 1835.--_J. McCan Davis._]
[Illustration: JAMES SHORT, WHO SAVED LINCOLN'S HORSE AND
SURVEYING INSTRUMENTS FROM A CREDITOR.
From a photograph taken at Jacksonville, Illinois, about thirty years
ago. James Short lived on Sand Ridge, a few miles north of New Salem,
and Lincoln was a frequent visitor at his house. When Lincoln's horse
and surveying instruments were levied upon by a creditor and sold,
Mr. Short bought them in, and made Lincoln a present of them. Lincoln,
when President, made his old friend an Indian agent in California. Mr.
Short, in the course of his life, was happily married five times. He
died in Iowa many years ago. His acquaintance with Lincoln began in
rather an interesting way. His sister, who lived in New Salem, had
made Lincoln a pair of jeans trousers. The material supplied by
Lincoln was scant, and the trousers came out conspicuously short in
the legs. One day when James Short was visiting with his sister, he
pointed to a man walking down the street, and asked, "Who is that man
in the short breeches." "That is Lincoln," the sister replied; and Mr.
Short went out and introduced himself to Lincoln.--_J. McCan Davis._]
[Illustration: SQUIRE COLEMAN SMOOT.
Coleman Smoot was born in Virginia, February 13, 1794; removed to
Kentucky when a child; married Rebecca Wright March 17, 1817; came to
Illinois in 1831, and lived on a farm across the Sangamon River from
New Salem until his death, March 21, 1876. He accumulated an immense
fortune. Lincoln met him for the first time in Offutt's store in 1831.
"Smoot," said Lincoln, "I am disappointed in you; I expected to see
a man as ugly as old Probst," referring to a man reputed to be the
homeliest in the county. "And I am disappointed," replied Smoot; "I
had expected to see a good-looking man when I saw you." From that
moment they were warm friends. After Lincoln's election to the
legislature in 1834, he called on Smoot, and said, "I want to buy some
clothes and fix up a little, so that I can make a decent appearance
in the legislature; and I want you to loan me $200." The loan was
cheerfully made, and of course was subsequently repaid.--_J. McCan
Davis._]
[Illustration: SAMUEL HILL--AT WHOSE STORE LINCOLN KEPT THE
POST-OFFICE.
From an old daguerreotype. Samuel Hill was among the earliest
inhabitants of New Salem. He opened a general store there in
partnership with John McNeill,--the John McNeill who became betrothed
to Ann Rutledge, and whose real name was afterwards discovered to
be John McNamar. When McNeill left New Salem and went East, Mr. Hill
became sole proprietor of the store. He also owned the carding machine
at New Salem. Lincoln, after going out of the grocery business,
made his headquarters at Samuel Hill's store. There he kept the
post-office, entertained the loungers, and on busy days helped Mr.
Hill wait on customers. Mr. Hill is said to have once courted Ann
Rutledge himself, but he did not receive the encouragement which was
bestowed upon his partner, McNeill. In 1839 he moved his store to
Petersburg, and died there in 1857. In 1835 he married Miss Parthenia
W. Nance, who still lives at Petersburg.--_J. McCan Davis._]
[Illustration: MARY ANN RUTLEDGE, MOTHER OF ANN MAYES RUTLEDGE.
From an old tintype. Mary Ann Rutledge was the wife of James Rutledge
and the mother of Ann. She was born October 21, 1787, and reared
in Kentucky. She lived to be ninety-one years of age, dying in Iowa
December 26, 1878. The Rutledges left New Salem in 1833 or 1834,
moving to a farm a few miles northward. On this farm Ann Rutledge died
August 25, 1835; and here also, three months later (December 3, 1835),
died her father, broken-hearted, no doubt, by the bereavement. In the
following year the family moved to Fulton County, Illinois, and some
three years later to Birmingham, Iowa. Of James Rutledge there is no
portrait in existence. He was born in South Carolina, May 11, 1781. He
and his sons, John and David, served in the Black Hawk War.--_J.
McCan Davis._]
[Illustration: JOHN CALHOUN, UNDER WHOM LINCOLN LEARNED SURVEYING.
From a steel engraving in the possession of R.W. Diller, Springfield,
Illinois. John Calhoun was born in Boston, Massachusetts, October 14,
1806; removed to the Mohawk Valley, New York, in 1821; was educated
at Canajoharie Academy, and studied law. In 1830 he removed to
Springfield, Illinois, and after serving in the Black Hawk War was
appointed Surveyor of Sangamon County. He was married there December
29, 1831, to Miss Sarah Cutter. He was a Democratic Representative in
1838; Clerk of the House in 1840; circuit clerk in 1842; Democratic
presidential elector in 1844; candidate for Governor before the
Democratic State convention in 1846; Mayor of Springfield in 1849,
1850, and 1851; a candidate for Congress in 1852, and in the same year
again a Democratic presidential elector. In 1854, President Pierce
appointed him Surveyor-General of Kansas, and he became conspicuous in
Kansas politics. He was president of the Lecompton Convention. He died
at St. Joseph, Missouri, October 25, 1859. Mr. Frederick Hawn, who was
his boyhood friend, and afterward married a sister of Calhoun's wife,
is now living at Leavenworth, Kansas, at the age of eighty-five years.
In an interesting letter to the writer, he says: "It has been related
that Calhoun induced Lincoln to study surveying in order to become
his deputy. Presuming that he was ready to graduate and receive his
commission, he called on Calhoun, then living with his father-in-law,
Seth R. Cutter, on Upper Lick Creek. After the interview was
concluded, Mr. Lincoln, about to depart, remarked: 'Calhoun, I am
entirely unable to repay you for your generosity at present. All that
I have you see on me, except a quarter of a dollar in my pocket.' This
is a family tradition. However, my wife, then a miss of sixteen, says,
while I am writing this sketch, that she distinctly remembers this
interview. After Lincoln was gone she says she and her sister,
Mrs. Calhoun, commenced making jocular remarks about his uncanny
appearance, in the presence of Calhoun, to which in substance he made
this rejoinder: 'For all that, he is no common man.' My wife believes
these were the exact words."--_J. McCan Davis._]
We know from Dennis Hanks, from Mr. Turnham, to whom the book
belonged, and from other associates of Lincoln's at the time, that he
read this book intently and discussed its contents intelligently. It
was a remarkable volume for a thoughtful lad whose mind had been
fired already by the history of Washington; for it opened with that
wonderful document, the Declaration of Independence, a document
which became, as Mr. John G. Nicolay says, "his political chart
and inspiration." Following the Declaration of Independence was the
Constitution of the United States, the Act of Virginia passed in 1783
by which the "Territory North Westward of the river Ohio" was conveyed
to the United States, and the Ordinance of 1787 for governing this
territory, containing that clause on which Lincoln in the future based
many an argument on the slavery question. This article, No. 6 of the
Ordinance, reads: "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of
crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted: provided
always, that any person escaping into the same, from whom labour or
service is lawfully claimed in any one of the original States,
such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person
claiming his or her labour or service, as aforesaid."
[Illustration: LINCOLN'S SADDLE-BAGS--PHOTOGRAPHED FOR McCLURE'S
MAGAZINE.
These saddle-bags, now in the Lincoln Monument at Springfield, are
said to have been used by Lincoln while he was a surveyor.]
Following this was the Constitution and the Revised Laws of Indiana,
three hundred and seventy-five pages of five hundred words each of
statutes--enough law, if thoroughly digested, to make a respectable
lawyer. When Lincoln finished this book, as he had probably before
he was eighteen, we have reason to believe that he understood the
principles on which the nation was founded, how the State of Indiana
came into being, and how it was governed. His understanding of the
subject was clear and practical, and he applied it in his reading,
thinking, and discussion.
[Illustration: REPORT OF A ROAD SURVEY BY LINCOLN--HITHERTO
UNPUBLISHED.
Photographed for McCLURE'S MAGAZINE from the original, now on file
in the County Clerk's office, Springfield, Illinois. The survey
here reported was made in pursuance of an order of the County
Commissioners' Court, September 1, 1834, in which Lincoln was
designated as the surveyor.]
It was after he had read the Laws of Indiana that Lincoln had free
access to the library of his admirer, Judge John Pitcher of Rockport,
Indiana, where undoubtedly he examined many law-books. But from the
time he left Indiana in 1830 he had no legal reading until one day
soon after the grocery was started, when there happened one of those
trivial incidents which so often turn the current of a life. It
is best told in Mr. Lincoln's own words.[2] "One day a man who was
migrating to the West drove up in front of my store with a wagon which
contained his family and household plunder. He asked me if I would
buy an old barrel, for which he had no room in his wagon, and which
he said contained nothing of special value. I did not want it, but to
oblige him I bought it, and paid him, I think, half a dollar for it.
Without further examination, I put it away in the store, and forgot
all about it. Some time after, in overhauling things, I came upon the
barrel, and emptying it upon the floor to see what it contained, I
found at the bottom of the rubbish a complete edition of Blackstone's
Commentaries. I began to read those famous works, and I had plenty
of time; for, during the long summer days, when the farmers were busy
with their crops, my customers were few and far between. The more
I read"--this he said with unusual emphasis--"the more intensely
interested I became. Never in my whole life was my mind so thoroughly
absorbed. I read until I devoured them."
[Illustration: A MAP MADE BY LINCOLN OF A PIECE OF ROAD IN MENARD
COUNTY, ILLINOIS--HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED.
Photographed from the original for McCLURE'S MAGAZINE. This map,
which, as here reproduced, is about one-half the size of the original,
accompanied Lincoln's report of the survey of a part of the road
between Athens and Sangamon town. For making this map, Lincoln
received fifty cents. The road evidently was located "on good ground,"
and was "necessary and proper," as the report says, for it is still
the main travelled highway leading into the country south of Athens,
Menard County.]