One who afterward became one of Lincoln’s most devoted friends and
adherents tells this story regarding the manner in which Lincoln
received him when they met for the first time:
“After a comical survey of my fashionable toggery,--my swallow-tail
coat, white neck-cloth, and ruffled shirt (an astonishing outfit for a
young limb of the law in that settlement), Lincoln said:
“‘Going to try your hand at the law, are you? I should know at a glance
that you were a Virginian; but I don’t think you would succeed at
splitting rails. That was my occupation at your age, and I don’t think I
have taken as much pleasure in anything else from that day to this.’”