CHAPTER XIV_The Story of Young Abraham Lincoln

MOVING TO SPRINGFIELD

New Salem could no longer give young Lincoln scope for his growing power

and influence. Within a few weeks after the Lincoln-Stone protest, late

in March, 1837, after living six years in the little village which held

so much of life and sorrow for him, Abe sold his surveying compass,

marking-pins, chain and pole, packed all his effects into his

saddle-bags, borrowed a horse of his good friend "Squire" Bowling Green,

and reluctantly said good-bye to his friends there. It is a strange fact

that New Salem ceased to exist within a year from the day "Honest Abe"

left it. Even its little post office was discontinued by the Government.

Henry C. Whitney, who was associated with Lincoln in those early days,

describes Abe's modest entry into the future State capital, with all his

possessions in a pair of saddle-bags, and calling at the store of Joshua

F. Speed, overlooking "the square," in the following dialogue:

Speed--"Hello, Abe, just from Salem?"

Lincoln--"Howdy, Speed! Yes, this is my first show-up."

Speed--"So you are to be one of us?"

Lincoln--"I reckon so, if you will let me take pot luck with you."

Speed--"All right, Abe; it's better than Salem."

Lincoln--"I've been to Gorman's and got a single bedstead; now you

figure out what it will cost for a tick, blankets and so forth."

Speed (after figuring)--"Say, seventeen dollars or so."

Lincoln (countenance paling)--"I had no _idea_ it would cost half that,

and I--I can't pay it; but if you can wait on me till Christmas, and I

make anything, I'll pay; if I don't, I can't."

Speed--"I can do better than that; upstairs I sleep in a bed big enough

for two, and you just come and sleep with me till you can do better."

Lincoln (brightening)--"Good, where is it?"

Speed--"Upstairs behind that pile of barrels--turn to the right when you

go up."

Lincoln (returning joyously)--"Well, Speed, I've moved!"

STUART & LINCOLN

Major Stuart had grown so thoroughly interested in Lincoln, approving

the diligence with which the young law student applied himself to the

books which he had lent him, that, after his signal success in bringing

about the removal of the State capital to Springfield, the older man

invited the younger to go into partnership with him.

Abe had been admitted to the bar the year before, and had practiced law

in a small way before Squire Bowling Green in New Salem. Greatly

flattered by the offer of such a man, Abe gladly accepted, and soon

after his arrival in Springfield this sign, which thrilled the junior

partner's whole being, appeared in front of an office near the square:

------------------------------

| STUART & LINCOLN |

| ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW |

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"I NEVER USE ANYONE'S MONEY BUT MY OWN"

After a while Lincoln left Speed's friendly loft and slept on a lounge

in the law office, keeping his few effects in the little old-fashioned

trunk pushed out of sight under his couch.

One day an agent of the Post Office Department came in and asked if

Abraham Lincoln could be found there. Abe arose and, reaching out his

hand, said that was his name. The agent then stated his business; he had

come to collect a balance due the Post Office Department since the

closing of the post office at New Salem.

The young ex-postmaster looked puzzled for a moment, and a friend, who

happened to be present, hastened to his rescue with, "Lincoln, if you

are in need of money, let us help you."

Abe made no reply, but, pulling out his little old trunk, he asked the

agent how much he owed. The man stated the amount, and he, opening the

trunk, took out an old cotton cloth containing coins, which he handed to

the official without counting, and it proved to be the exact sum

required, over seventeen dollars, evidently the very pieces of money Abe

had received while acting as postmaster years before!

After the department agent had receipted for the money and had gone out,

Mr. Lincoln quietly remarked:

"I never use anyone's money but my own."

DROPS THROUGH THE CEILING TO DEMAND FREE SPEECH

Stuart & Lincoln's office was, for a time, over a court room, which was

used evenings as a hall. There was a square opening in the ceiling of

the court room, covered by a trap door in the room overhead where

Lincoln slept. One night there was a promiscuous crowd in the hall, and

Lincoln's friend, E. D. Baker, was delivering a political harangue.

Becoming somewhat excited Baker made an accusation against a well-known

newspaper in Springfield, and the remark was resented by several in the

audience.

"Pull him down!" yelled one of them as they came up to the platform

threatening Baker with personal violence. There was considerable

confusion which might become a riot.

Just at this juncture the spectators were astonished to see a pair of

long legs dangling from the ceiling and Abraham Lincoln dropped upon the

platform. Seizing the water pitcher he took his stand beside the

speaker, and brandished it, his face ablaze with indignation.

"Gentlemen," he said, when the confusion had subsided, "let us not

disgrace the age and the country in which we live. This is a land where

freedom of speech is guaranteed. Mr. Baker has a right to speak, and

ought to be permitted to do so. I am here to protect him and no man

shall take him from this stand if I can prevent it." Lincoln had opened

the trap door in his room and silently watched the proceedings until he

saw that his presence was needed below. Then he dropped right into the

midst of the fray, and defended his friend and the right of free speech

at the same time.

DEFENDING THE DEFENSELESS

A widow came to Mr. Lincoln and told him how an attorney had charged her

an exorbitant fee for collecting her pension. Such cases filled him with

righteous wrath. He cared nothing for "professional etiquette," if it

permitted the swindling of a poor woman. Going directly to the greedy

lawyer, he forced him to refund to the widow all that he had charged in

excess of a fair fee for his services, or he would start proceedings at

once to prevent the extortionate attorney from practicing law any longer

at the Springfield bar.

If a negro had been wronged in any way, Lawyer Lincoln was the only

attorney in Springfield who dared to appear in his behalf, for he always

did so at great risk to his political standing. Sometimes he appeared in

defense of fugitive slaves, or negroes who had been freed or had run

away from southern or "slave" States where slavery prevailed to gain

liberty in "free" States in which slavery was not allowed. Lawyer

Lincoln did all this at the risk of making himself very unpopular with

his fellow-attorneys and among the people at large, the greater part of

whom were then in favor of permitting those who wished to own, buy and

sell negroes as slaves.

Lincoln always sympathized with the poor and down-trodden. He could not

bear to charge what his fellow-lawyers considered a fair price for the

amount of work and time spent on a case. He often advised those who came

to him to settle their disputes without going to law. Once he told a man

he would charge him a large fee if he had to try the case, but if the

parties in the dispute settled their difficulty without going into court

he would furnish them all the legal advice they needed free of charge.

Here is some excellent counsel Lawyer Lincoln gave, in later life, in

an address to a class of young attorneys:

"Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever

you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often the real

loser--in fees, expenses and waste of time. As a peacemaker a lawyer has

a superior opportunity of becoming a good man. There will always be

enough business. Never stir up litigation. A worse man can scarcely be

found than one who does this. Who can be more nearly a fiend than he who

habitually overhauls the register of deeds in search of defects in

titles whereon to stir up strife and put money in his pocket. A moral

tone ought to be infused into the profession which should drive such men

out of it."

YOUNG LAWYER LINCOLN OFFERS TO PAY HALF THE DAMAGES

A wagonmaker in Mechanicsville, near Springfield, was sued on account of

a disputed bill. The other side had engaged the best lawyer in the

place. The cartwright saw that his own attorney would be unable to

defend the case well. So, when the day of the trial arrived he sent his

son-in-law to Springfield to bring Mr. Lincoln to save the day for him

if possible. He said to the messenger:

"Son, you've just got time. Take this letter to my young friend, Abe

Lincoln, and bring him back in the buggy to appear in the case. Guess

he'll come if he can."

The young man from Mechanicsville found the lawyer in the street playing

"knucks" with a troop of children and laughing heartily at the fun they

were all having. When the note was handed to him, Lincoln said:

"All right, wait a minute," and the game soon ended amid peals of

laughter. Then the young lawyer jumped into the buggy. On the way back

Mr. Lincoln told his companion such funny stories that the young man,

convulsed with laughter, was unable to drive. The horse, badly broken,

upset them into a ditch, smashing the vehicle.

"You stay behind and look after the buggy," said the lawyer. "I'll walk

on."

He came, with long strides, into the court room just in time for the

trial and won the case for the wagonmaker.

"What am I to pay you?" asked the client delighted.

"I hope you won't think ten or fifteen dollars too much," said the young

attorney, "and I'll pay half the hire of the buggy and half the cost of

repairing it."

LAWYER LINCOLN AND MARY OWENS

About the time Mr. Lincoln was admitted to the bar, Miss Mary Owens, a

bright and beautiful young woman from Kentucky, came to visit her

married sister near New Salem. The sister had boasted that she was going

to "make a match" between her sister and Lawyer Lincoln. The newly

admitted attorney smiled indulgently at all this banter until he began

to consider himself under obligations to marry Miss Owens if that young

lady proved willing.

After he went to live in Springfield, with no home but his office, he

wrote the young lady a long, discouraging letter, of which this is a

part:

"I am thinking of what we said about your

coming to live in Springfield. I am afraid you

would not be satisfied. There is a great deal

of flourishing about in carriages here, which

it would be your doom to see without sharing

it. You would have to be poor without the means

of hiding your poverty. Do you believe that you

could bear that patiently? Whatever woman may

cast her lot with mine, should any ever do so,

it is my intention to do all in my power to

make her happy and contented, and there is

nothing I can imagine that could make me more

unhappy than to fail in that effort. I know I

should be much happier with you than the way I

am, provided I saw no sign of discontent in

you.

"I much wish you would think seriously before

you decide. What I have said, I will most

positively abide by, provided you wish it. You

have not been accustomed to hardship, and it

may be more severe than you now imagine. I know

you are capable of thinking correctly on any

subject, and if you deliberate maturely upon

this before you decide, then I am willing to

abide by your decision.

"Yours, etc.,

"LINCOLN."

For a love letter this was nearly as cold and formal as a legal

document. Miss Owens could see well enough that Lawyer Lincoln was not

much in love with her, and she let him know, as kindly as she could,

that she was not disposed to cast her lot for life with an enforced

lover, as he had proved himself to be. She afterward confided to a

friend that "Mr. Lincoln was deficient in those little links which make

up the chain of a woman's happiness."

THE EARLY RIVALRY BETWEEN LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS

Soon after Mr. Lincoln came to Springfield he met Stephen A. Douglas, a

brilliant little man from Vermont. The two seemed naturally to take

opposing sides of every question. They were opposite in every way.

Lincoln was tall, angular and awkward. Douglas was small, round and

graceful--he came to be known as "the Little Giant." Douglas was a

Democrat and favored slavery. Lincoln was a Whig, and strongly opposed

that dark institution. Even in petty discussions in Speed's store, the

two men seemed to gravitate to opposite sides. A little later they were

rivals for the hand of the same young woman.

One night, in a convivial company, Mr. Douglas's attention was directed

to the fact that Mr. Lincoln neither smoked nor drank. Considering this

a reflection upon his own habits, the little man sneered:

"What, Mr. Lincoln, are you a temperance man?"

"No," replied Lincoln with a smile full of meaning, "I'm not exactly a

temperance man, but I am temperate in this, to wit:--I _don't drink_!"

In spite of this remark, Mr. Lincoln _was_ an ardent temperance man. One

Washington's birthday he delivered a temperance address before the

Washingtonian Society of Springfield, on "Charity in Temperance Reform,"

in which he made a strong comparison between the drink habit and black

slavery.

LOGAN & LINCOLN

In 1841 the partnership between Stuart and Lincoln was dissolved and the

younger man became a member of the firm of Logan & Lincoln. This was

considered a long step in advance for the young lawyer, as Judge Stephen

T. Logan was known as one of the leading lawyers in the State. From

this senior partner he learned to make the thorough study of his cases

that characterized his work throughout his later career.

While in partnership with Logan, Mr. Lincoln was helping a young fellow

named "Billy" Herndon, a clerk in his friend Speed's store, advising him

in his law studies and promising to give the youth a place in his own

office as soon as young Herndon should be fitted to fill it.

WHAT LINCOLN DID WITH HIS FIRST FIVE HUNDRED DOLLAR FEE

During the interim between two partnerships, after he had left Major

Stuart, and before he went into the office with Logan, Mr. Lincoln

conducted a case alone. He worked very hard and made a brilliant success

of it, winning the verdict and a five hundred dollar fee. When an old

lawyer friend called on him, Lincoln had the money spread out on the

table counting it over.

"Look here, judge," said the young lawyer. "See what a heap of money

I've got from that case. Did you ever see anything like it? Why, I never

in my life had so much money all at once!"

Then his manner changed, and crossing his long arms on the table he

said:

"I have got just five hundred dollars; if it were only seven hundred and

fifty I would go and buy a quarter section (160 acres) of land and give

it to my old stepmother."

The friend offered to lend him the two hundred and fifty dollars needed.

While drawing up the necessary papers, the old judge gave the young

lawyer this advice:

"Lincoln, I wouldn't do it quite that way. Your stepmother is getting

old, and, in all probability, will not live many years. I would settle

the property upon her for use during her lifetime, to revert to you upon

her death."

"I shall do no such thing," Lincoln replied with deep feeling. "It is a

poor return, at best, for all the good woman's devotion to me, and there

is not going to be any half-way business about it."

The dutiful stepson did as he planned. Some years later he was obliged

to write to John Johnston, his stepmother's son, appealing to him not to

try to induce his mother to sell the land lest the old woman should lose

the support he had provided for her in her declining years.

IN LOVE WITH A BELLE FROM LEXINGTON

Lincoln's popularity in Sangamon County, always increasing, was greatly

strengthened by the part he had taken in the removal of the capital to

Springfield, which was the county seat as well as the State capital. So

he was returned to the Legislature, now held in Springfield, time after

time, without further effort on his part. He was looked upon as a young

man with a great future. While he was in the office with Major Stuart

that gentleman's cousin, Miss Mary Todd, a witty, accomplished young

lady from Lexington, Kentucky, came to Springfield to visit her sister,

wife of Ninian W. Edwards, one of the "Long Nine" in the State Assembly.

Miss Todd was brilliant and gay, a society girl--in every way the

opposite of Mr. Lincoln--and he was charmed with everything she said and

did. Judge Douglas was one of her numerous admirers, and it is said that

the Louisville belle was so flattered by his attentions that she was in

doubt, for a time, which suitor to accept. She was an ambitious young

woman, having boasted from girlhood that she would one day be mistress

of the White House.

To all appearances Douglas was the more likely to fulfill Miss Todd's

high ambition. He was a society man, witty in conversation, popular with

women as well as with men, and had been to Congress, so he had a

national reputation, while Lincoln's was only local, or at most confined

to Sangamon County and the Eighth Judicial Circuit of Illinois.

But Mr. Douglas was already addicted to drink, and Miss Todd saw

doubtless that he could not go on long at the rapid pace he was keeping

up. It is often said that she was in favor of slavery, as some of her

relatives who owned slaves, years later, entered the Confederate ranks

to fight against the Union. But the remarkable fact that she finally

chose Lincoln shows that her sympathies were against slavery, and she

thus cut herself off from several members of her own family. With a

woman's intuition she saw the true worth of Abraham Lincoln, and before

long they were understood to be engaged.

But the young lawyer, after his recent experience with Mary Owens,

distrusted his ability to make any woman happy--much less the belle from

Louisville, so brilliant, vivacious, well educated and exacting. He

seemed to grow morbidly conscious of his shortcomings, and she was

high-strung. A misunderstanding arose, and, between such exceptional

natures, "the course of true love never did run smooth."

Their engagement, if they were actually betrothed, was broken, and the

lawyer-lover was plunged in deep melancholy. He wrote long, morbid

letters to his friend Speed, who had returned to Kentucky, and had

recently married there. Lincoln even went to Louisville to visit the

Speeds, hoping that the change of scene and friendly sympathies and

counsel would revive his health and spirits.

In one of his letters Lincoln bemoaned his sad fate and referred to "the

fatal 1st of January," probably the date when his engagement or "the

understanding" with Mary Todd was broken. From this expression, one of

Lincoln's biographers elaborated a damaging fiction, stating that

Lincoln and his affianced were to have been married that day, that the

wedding supper was ready, that the bride was all dressed for the

ceremony, the guests assembled--but the melancholy bridegroom failed to

come to his own wedding!

If such a thing had happened in a little town like Springfield in those

days, the guests would have told of it, and everybody would have

gossiped about it. It would have been a nine days' wonder, and such a

great joker as Lincoln would "never have heard the last of it."

THE STRANGE EVENTS LEADING UP TO LINCOLN'S MARRIAGE

After Lincoln's return from visiting the Speeds in Louisville, he threw

himself into politics again, not, however, in his own behalf. He

declined to be a candidate again for the State Legislature, in which he

had served four consecutive terms, covering a period of eight years. He

engaged enthusiastically in the "Log Cabin" campaign of 1840, when the

country went for "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too," which means that General

William Henry Harrison, the hero of the battle of Tippecanoe, and John

Tyler were elected President and Vice-President of the United States.

In 1842 the young lawyer had so far recovered from bodily illness and

mental unhappiness as to write more cheerful letters to his friend Speed

of which two short extracts follow:

"It seems to me that I should have been entirely happy but for the

never-absent idea that there is one (Miss Todd) still unhappy whom I

have contributed to make so. That still kills my soul. I cannot but

reproach myself for even wishing to be happy while she is otherwise. She

accompanied a large party on the railroad cars to Jacksonville last

Monday, and at her return spoke, so I heard of it, of having 'enjoyed

the trip exceedingly.' God be praised for that."

* * * * *

"You will see by the last _Sangamon Journal_ that I made a temperance

speech on the 22d of February, which I claim that Fanny and you shall

read as an act of charity toward me; for I cannot learn that anybody has

read it or is likely to. Fortunately it is not long, and I shall deem it

a sufficient compliance with my request if one of you listens while the