Mr. Lincoln went into partnership in the grocery business in New Salem.
Ill., with a man named Berry. This man Berry mismanaged the business
while Lincoln was away surveying. Eventually he died, leaving Lincoln to
pay a debt of eleven hundred dollars contracted by the firm. In those
days it was the fashion for business men who had failed to “clear out,”
that is, skip the town and settle elsewhere. Not so with “Abe.” He
quietly settled down among the men he owed and promised to pay them. He
asked only time. For several years he worked to pay off this debt, a load
which he cheerfully and manfully bore. He habitually spoke of it to his
friends as the “national debt,” it was so heavy. As late as 1848, when he
was a member of Congress, he sent home a part of his salary to be applied
on these obligations. All the notes, with the high interest rates then
prevailing, were finally paid.