When he returned to active practice he saw at once that the courts
had grown more learned and dignified and that the bar relied more upon
method and system and a knowledge of the statute law than upon the stump
speech method of early days.
Mr. Herndon tells us that Lincoln would lie in bed and read by candle
light, sometimes until two o’clock in the morning, while his famous
colleagues, Davis, Logan, Swett, Edwards and Herndon, were soundly and
sometimes loudly sleeping. He read and reread the statutes and books of
practice, devoured Shakespeare, who was always a favorite of his, and
studied Euclid so diligently that he could easily demonstrate all the
propositions contained in the six books.
Mr. Lincoln detested office work. He left all that to his partner. He
disliked to draw up legal papers or to write letters. The firm of which
he was a member kept no books. When either Lincoln or Herndon received
a fee they divided the money then and there. If his partner were not in
the office at the time Mr. Lincoln would wrap up half of the fee in a
sheet of paper, on which he would write, “Herndon’s half,” giving the
name of the case, and place it in his partner’s desk.
But in court, arguing a case, pleading to the jury and laying down the
law, Lincoln was in his element. Even when he had a weak case he was a
strong antagonist, and when he had right and justice on his side, as he
nearly always had, no one could beat him.
He liked an outdoor life, hence he was fond of riding the circuit. He
enjoyed the company of other men, liked discussion and argument, loved
to tell stories and to hear them, laughing as heartily at his own
stories as he did at those that were told to him.