Lincoln’s next business venture was with William Berry in a general
store, under the firm name of Lincoln & Berry, but did not take long
to show that he was not adapted for a business career. The firm failed,
Berry died and the debts of the firm fell entirely upon Lincoln. Many of
these debts he might have escaped legally, but he assumed them all
and it was not until fifteen years later that the last indebtedness of
Lincoln & Berry was discharged. During his membership in this firm he
had applied himself to the study of law, beginning at the beginning,
that is with Blackstone. Now that he had nothing to do he spent much of
his time lying under the shade of a tree poring over law books, borrowed
from a comrade in the Blackhawk War, who was then a practicing lawyer at
Springfield.