Lincoln had periods while “clerking” in the New Salem grocery store
during which there was nothing for him to do, and was therefore in
circumstances that made laziness almost inevitable. Had people come to
him for goods, they would have found him willing to sell them. He sold
all that he could, doubtless.
The store soon became the social center of the village. If the people
did not care (or were unable) to buy goods, they liked to go where they
could talk with their neighbors and listen to stories. These Lincoln
gave them in abundance, and of a rare sort.
It was in these gatherings of the “Four Hundred” at the village store
that Lincoln got his training as a debater. Public questions were
discussed there daily and nightly, and Lincoln always took a prominent
part in the discussions. Many of the debaters came to consider “Abe
Linkin” as about the smartest man in the village.