The best thing which Lincoln did in the canvass of 1834 was not
winning votes; it was coming to a determination to read law, not for
pleasure but as a business. In his autobiographical notes he says:
"During the canvass, in a private conversation Major John T. Stuart
(one of his fellow-candidates) encouraged Abraham to study law. After
the election he borrowed books of Stuart, took them home with him, and
went at it in good earnest. He never studied with anybody." He seems
to have thrown himself into the work with an almost impatient ardor.
As he tramped back and forth from Springfield, twenty miles away, to
get his law-books, he read sometimes forty pages or more on the way.
Often he was seen wandering at random across the fields, repeating
aloud the points in his last reading. The subject seemed never to be
out of his mind. It was the great absorbing interest of his life. The
rule he gave twenty years later to a young man who wanted to know how
to become a lawyer, seems to have been the one he practised.[4]
Having secured a book of legal forms, he was soon able to write deeds,
contracts, and all sorts of legal instruments; and he was frequently
called upon by his neighbors to perform services of this kind. "In
1834," says Daniel Green Burner, Berry and Lincoln's clerk, "my
father, Isaac Burner, sold out to Henry Onstott, and he wanted a deed
written. I knew how handy Lincoln was that way, and suggested that we
get him. We found him sitting on a stump. 'All right,' said he, when
informed what we wanted. 'If you will bring me a pen and ink and a
piece of paper I will write it here.' I brought him these articles,
and, picking up a shingle and putting it on his knee for a desk, he
wrote out the deed." As there was no practising lawyer nearer than
Springfield, Lincoln was often employed to act the part of advocate
before the village squire, at that time Bowling Green. He realized
that this experience was valuable, and never, so far as known,
demanded or accepted a fee for his services in these petty cases.
Justice was sometimes administered in a summary way in Squire Green's
court. Precedents and the venerable rules of law had little weight.
The "Squire" took judicial notice of a great many facts, often going
so far as to fill, simultaneously, the two functions of witness and
court. But his decisions were generally just.
James McGrady Rutledge tells a story in which several of Lincoln's old
friends figure and which illustrates the legal practices of New Salem.
"Jack Kelso," says Mr. Rutledge, "owned or claimed to own a white
hog. It was also claimed by John Ferguson. The hog had often wandered
around Bowling Green's place, and he was somewhat acquainted with it.
Ferguson sued Kelso, and the case was tried before 'Squire' Green. The
plaintiff produced two witnesses who testified positively that the hog
belonged to him. Kelso had nothing to offer, save his own unsupported
claim.
"'Are there any more witnesses?' inquired the court.
"He was informed that there were no more.
"'Well,' said 'Squire' Green, 'the two witnesses we have heard have
sworn to a ---- lie. I know this shoat, and I know it belongs to Jack
Kelso. I therefore decide this case in his favor.'"
An extract from the record of the County Commissioners' Court
illustrates the nature of the cases that came before the justice
of the peace in Lincoln's day. It also shows the price put upon the
privilege of working on Sunday, in 1832:
JANUARY 29, 1832.--Alexander Gibson found guilty of
Sabbath-breaking and fined 12-1/2 cents. Fine paid into court.
"(Signed) EDWARD ROBINSON, J.P."