CLERKING AND WORKING
HE COULD "MAKE A FEW RABBIT TRACKS"
It was in August, 1831, that Abraham Lincoln appeared in the village of
New Salem, Illinois. Neither Denton Offutt nor his merchandise had
arrived as promised. While paying the penalty of the punctual man--by
waiting for the tardy one--he seemed to the villagers to be loafing. But
Abraham Lincoln was no loafer. He always found something useful and
helpful to do. This time there was a local election, and one of the
clerks had not appeared to perform his duties. A New Salem woman wrote
of Lincoln's first act in the village:
"My father, Mentor Graham, was on that day, as usual, appointed to be a
clerk, and Mr. McNamee, who was to be the other, was sick and failed to
come. They were looking around for a man to fill his place when my
father noticed Mr. Lincoln and asked if he could write. He answered that
he could 'make a few rabbit tracks.'"
PILOTING A FAMILY FLATBOAT
A few days after the election the young stranger, who had become known
by this time as the hero of the flatboat on Rutledge's dam four months
before, found employment as a pilot. A citizen, Dr. Nelson, was about to
emigrate to Texas. The easiest and best mode of travel in those days
was by flatboat down the river. He had loaded all his household goods
and movable property on his "private conveyance" and was looking about
for a "driver." Young Lincoln, still waiting, unemployed, offered his
services and took the Nelson family down the Sangamon River--a more
difficult task in August than in April, when the water was high on
account of the spring rains. But the young pilot proceeded cautiously
down the shallow stream, and reached Beardstown, on the Illinois River,
where he was "discharged" and walked back over the hills to New Salem.
ANNOYED BY THE HIGH PRAISES OF HIS EMPLOYER
Denton Offutt and his stock for the store arrived at last, and Lincoln
soon had a little store opened for business. A country store seemed too
small for a clerk of such astounding abilities, so the too enthusiastic
employer bought Cameron's mill with the dam on which Lincoln had already
distinguished himself, and made the clerk manager of the whole business.
This was not enough. Offutt sounded the praises of the new clerk to all
comers. He claimed that Abraham Lincoln "knew more than any man in the
United States." As Mr. Offutt had never shown that he knew enough
himself to prove this statement, the neighbors began to resent such rash
claims. In addition, Offutt boasted that Abe could "beat the county"
running, jumping and wrestling. Here was something the new clerk could
prove, if true, so his employer's statement was promptly challenged.
When a strange man came to the village to live, even though no one
boasted of his prowess, he was likely to suffer at the hands of the
rougher element of the place. It was a sort of rude initiation into
their society. These ceremonies were conducted with a savage sense of
humor by a gang of rowdies known as the "Clary's Grove Boys," of whom
the "best fighter" was Jack Armstrong.
Sometimes "the Boys" nailed up a stranger in a hogshead and it was
rolled down hill. Sometimes he was ingeniously insulted, or made to
fight in self-defense, and beaten black and blue by the whole gang. They
seemed not to be hampered by delicate notions of fair play in their
actions toward a stranger. They "picked on him," as chickens, dogs and
wolves do upon a newcomer among them.
So when young Lincoln heard his employer bragging about his brain and
brawn he was sufficiently acquainted with backwoods nature to know that
it boded no good to him. Even then "he knew how to bide his time," and
turned it to good account, for he had a good chance, shortly to show the
metal that was in him.
"The Boys" called and began to banter with the long-legged clerk in the
new store. This led to a challenge and comparison of strength and
prowess between young Lincoln and Jack Armstrong. Abe accepted the
gauntlet with an alacrity that pleased the crowd, especially the chief
of the bully "Boys," who expected an easy victory. But Jack was
surprised to find that the stranger was his match--yes, more than his
match. Others of "the Boys" saw this, also, and began to interfere by
tripping Abe and trying to help their champion by unfair means.
This made young Lincoln angry. Putting forth all his strength, he seized
Armstrong by the throat and "nearly choked the exuberant life out of
him." When "the Boys" saw the stranger shaking their "best fighter" as
if he were a mere child, their enmity gave place to admiration; and when
Abe had thrown Jack Armstrong upon the ground, in his wrath, as a lion
would throw a dog that had been set upon him, and while the strong
stranger stood there, with his back to the wall, challenging the whole
gang, with deep-set eyes blazing with indignation, they acknowledged him
as their conqueror, and declared that "Abe Lincoln is the cleverest
fellow that ever broke into the settlement."
The initiation was over, and young Lincoln's triumph complete. From that
day "the Clary's Grove Boys" were his staunch supporters and defenders,
and his employer was allowed to go on bragging about his wonderful clerk
without hindrance.
GIVING ANOTHER BULLY "A DOSE OF SMARTWEED"
A bumptious stranger came into the store one day and tried to pick a
quarrel with the tall clerk. To this end he used language offensive to
several women who were there trading. Lincoln quietly asked the fellow
to desist as there were "ladies present." The bully considered this an
admission that the clerk was afraid of him, so he began to swear and use
more offensive language than before. As this was too much for Abraham's
patience, he whispered to the fellow that if he would keep quiet till
the ladies went out, he (Lincoln) would go and "have it out."
After the women went, the man became violently abusive. Young Lincoln
calmly went outside with him, saying: "I see you must be whipped and I
suppose I will have to do it." With this he seized the insolent fellow
and made short work of him. Throwing the man on the ground, Lincoln sat
on him, and, with his long arms, gathered a handful of "smartweed" which
grew around them. He then rubbed it into the bully's eyes until he
roared with pain. An observer of this incident said afterward:
"Lincoln did all this without a particle of anger, and when the job was
finished he went immediately for water, washed his victim's face and did
everything he could to alleviate the man's distress. The upshot of the
matter was that the fellow became his life-long friend, and was a better
man from that day."
HOW HE MADE HIS FELLOW CLERK GIVE UP GAMBLING
Lincoln's morals were unusually good for that time and place. Smoking,
chewing, drinking, swearing and gambling were almost universal among
his associates. Offutt hired a young man, William G. Greene, after the
purchase of the mill. This assistant first told many of the stories, now
so well known, concerning Abe at this period of his career:
Young Greene was, like most of the young men in New Salem, addicted to
petty gambling. He once related how Lincoln induced him to quit the
habit. Abe said to him one day:
"Billy, you ought to stop gambling with Estep." Billy made a lame
excuse:
"I'm ninety cents behind, and I can't quit until I win it back."
"I'll help you get that back," urged Lincoln, "if you'll promise me you
won't gamble any more."
The youth reflected a moment and made the required promise. Lincoln
continued:
"Here are some good hats, and you need a new one. Now, when Estep comes
again, you draw him on by degrees, and finally bet him one of these hats
that I can lift a forty-gallon barrel of whisky and take a drink out of
the bunghole."
Billy agreed, and the two clerks chuckled as they fixed the barrel so
that the bunghole would come in the right place to win the bet, though
the thing seemed impossible to Greene himself. Estep appeared in due
time, and after long parleying and bantering the wager was laid. Lincoln
then squatted before the barrel, lifted one end up on one knee, then
raised the other end on to the other knee, bent over, and by a Herculean
effort, actually succeeded in taking a drink from the bunghole--though
he spat it out immediately. "That was the only time," said Greene long
afterward, "that I ever saw Abraham Lincoln take a drink of liquor of
any kind." This was the more remarkable, as whisky was served on all
occasions--even passed around with refreshments at religious meetings,
according to Mrs. Josiah Crawford, the woman for whom Abe and Nancy had
worked as hired help. Much as Abe disapproved of drinking, he considered
that "the end justified the means" employed to break his fellow clerk of
the gambling habit.
HOW HE WON THE NAME OF "HONEST ABE"
Abe Lincoln could not endure the thought of cheating any one, even
though it had been done unintentionally. One day a woman bought a bill
of goods in Offutt's store amounting to something over two dollars. She
paid Abe the money and went away satisfied. That night, on going over
the sales of the day, Abe found that he had charged the woman six and
one-fourth cents too much. After closing the store, though it was late,
he could not go home to supper or to bed till he had restored that
sixpence to its proper owner. She lived more than two miles away, but
that did not matter to Abe Lincoln. When he had returned the money to
the astonished woman he walked back to the village with a long step and
a light heart, content with doing his duty.
Another evening, as he was closing the store, a woman came in for a
half-pound of tea. He weighed it out for her and took the pay. But early
next morning, when he came to "open up," he found the four-ounce weight
instead of the eight-ounce on the scales, and inferred that he had given
that woman only half as much tea as he had taken the money for. Of
course, the woman would never know the difference, and it meant walking
several miles and back, but the honest clerk weighed out another quarter
pound of tea, locked the store and took that long walk before breakfast.
As a "constitutional" it must have been a benefit to his health, for it
satisfied his sensitive conscience and soothed his tender heart to "make
good" in that way.
Drink and misdirected enthusiasm interfered with Denton Offutt's
success. After about a year in New Salem he "busted up," as the
neighbors expressed it, and left his creditors in the lurch. Among them
was the clerk he had boasted so much about. For a short time Abe Lincoln
needed a home, and found a hearty welcome with Jack Armstrong, the best
fighter of Clary's Grove!
J. G. Holland wrote, in his "Life of Abraham Lincoln," of the young
man's progress during his first year in New Salem:
"The year that Lincoln was in Denton Offutt's store was one of great
advance. He had made new and valuable acquaintances, read many books,
won multitudes of friends, and become ready for a step further in
advance. Those who could appreciate brains respected him, and those
whose ideas of a man related to his muscles were devoted to him. It was
while he was performing the work of the store that he acquired the
nickname, 'Honest Abe'--a characterization that he never dishonored, an
abbreviation that he never outgrew. He was everybody's friend, the
best-natured, the most sensible, the best-informed, the most modest and
unassuming, the kindest, gentlest, roughest, strongest, best fellow in
all New Salem and the region round about."