LINCOLN AS A CLERK
Young Lincoln’s successful trip to New Orleans led to his engagement for
a similar trip in the early part of 1831. With him were associated John
Hanks and John Johnston. Their employer was a Mr. Denton Offutt, of
Lexington, Kentucky, and a part of the cargo consisted of a drove of
hogs. Each of the three was to be paid at the rate of fifty cents per
day, and the round sum of sixty dollars divided between them. Abe
considered this very good pay, and was very glad to make the engagement.
The three young men not only managed the boat, but built it, and this
retarded the expedition. We read with some interest that while they were
boarding themselves at Sangamontown, while building the boat, Abe
officiated as cook to the entire satisfaction of his associates.
“At New Orleans,” says John Hanks, “we saw negroes chained, maltreated,
whipped, and scourged. Lincoln saw it; his heart bled, he said nothing
much, was silent from feeling, was sad, looked bad, felt bad, was
thoughtful and abstracted. I can say, knowing it, that it was on this
trip that he formed his opinions of slavery. It run its iron in him then
and there,--May, 1831. I have heard him say so often and often.”
One day, soon after his return from his second river trip, Abe received
a visit from a muscular, powerfully-built man, who accosted him thus:
“You are Abe Lincoln, I reckon?”
“Yes,” said Abe; “you are right there.”
“I’ve heard you can wrestle some,” continued the stranger.
“A little,” answered young Lincoln, modestly.
“I’ve come to wrestle with you to see who’s the best man. My name’s
Daniel Needham.”
The stranger announced his name with evident pride, and young Lincoln
recognized it as that of a man who had a high reputation as an amateur
pugilist.
“I’m glad to know you,” said Lincoln, “and I don’t mind accepting your
challenge.”
Abe valued his popularity among the boys, and, though he did not feel
sure of the result, he felt that it would not do to back out. He would
lose his reputation, which was considerable.
“Where shall it be?” asked Needham.
“Just where and when you like,” answered Abe, promptly.
So the meeting was fixed in the “greenwood” at Wabash Point, and there
it was that the two met in friendly rivalry.
Though Daniel Needham was older and more firmly knit, Lincoln was sinewy
and strong, and his superior height, and long arms and legs gave him a
great advantage--sufficient to compensate for his youth and spareness.
The result was that Abe achieved victory in short order. He threw his
older opponent twice with so much ease that Needham rose to his feet
very much mortified as well as astonished.
“Lincoln,” said he, making the confession reluctantly, “you have thrown
me twice, but you can’t whip me.”
“Are you satisfied that I can throw you?” asked Abe. “If you are not,
and must be convinced through a thrashing, I will do that too for your
sake.”
“I reckon we’ll put it off,” said Needham, finding his young rival more
willing than he had expected. He had hoped that, though not shrinking
from a friendly wrestling contest, Abe might hesitate to meet him in a
more serious encounter.
I have told this story partly because I know my young readers would be
interested in it, partly to give an idea of the strength and athletic
power of the hero of my story.
But wrestling contests would not earn a living for young Lincoln. He was
in search of employment, and found it. As one thing leads to another,
the same man who had sent him to New Orleans in charge of a flat-boat,
opened a store at New Salem, and needing a clerk, bethought himself of
young Lincoln. Abe unpacked the goods upon their arrival, and worked
energetically to put them in order. With a new store-book, serving as a
ledger, and a pen behind his ear, he made his début as a “first clerk”
of the leading mercantile establishment in the town. In the readiness
with which he turned from one thing to another, Abe might well be taken
for a typical Yankee, though born in Kentucky.
We are now to look upon the future President in a new capacity. As a
clerk he proved honest and efficient, and my readers will be interested
in some illustrations of the former trait which I find in Dr. Holland’s
interesting volume.
One day a woman came into the store and purchased sundry articles. They
footed up two dollars and six and a quarter cents, or the young clerk
thought they did. We do not hear nowadays of six and a quarter cents,
but this was a coin borrowed from the Spanish currency, and was well
known in my own boyhood.
The bill was paid, and the woman was entirely satisfied. But the young
store-keeper, not feeling quite sure as to the accuracy of his
calculation, added up the items once more. To his dismay he found that
the sum total should have been but two dollars.
“I’ve made her pay six and a quarter cents too much,” said Abe,
disturbed.
It was a trifle, and many clerks would have dismissed it as such. But
Abe was too conscientious for that.
“The money must be paid back,” he decided.
This would have been easy enough had the woman lived “just round the
corner,” but, as the young man knew, she lived between two and three
miles away. This, however, did not alter the matter. It was night, but
he closed and locked the store, and walked to the residence of his
customer. Arrived there, he explained the matter, paid over the six and
a quarter cents, and returned satisfied. If I were a capitalist, I would
be willing to lend money to such a young man without security.
Here is another illustration of young Lincoln’s strict honesty:
A woman entered the store and asked for half a pound of tea.
The young clerk weighed it out, and handed it to her in a parcel. This
was the last sale of the day.
The next morning, when commencing his duties, Abe discovered a
four-ounce weight on the scales. It flashed upon him at once that he had
used this in the sale of the night previous, and so, of course, given
his customer short weight. I am afraid that there are many country
merchants who would not have been much worried by this discovery. Not so
the young clerk in whom we are interested. He weighed out the balance
of the half pound, shut up store, and carried it to the defrauded
customer. I think my young readers will begin to see that the name so
often given, in later times, to President Lincoln, of “Honest Old Abe,”
was well deserved. A man who begins by strict honesty in his youth is
not likely to change as he grows older, and mercantile honesty is some
guarantee of political honesty.
There is another incident for which I am also indebted to Dr. Holland:
The young clerk was waiting upon two or three ladies, when a noted bully
entered the store, and began to talk in a manner offensive not only to
the ladies, but to any person of refinement.
Young Lincoln leaned over the counter, and said quietly, “Don’t you see
that ladies are present?”
“What is that to me?” demanded the bully.
“Out of respect for them, will you stop your rough talk?”
“I will talk as I please, and I should like to see the man that will
stop me,” answered the bully, arrogantly. “If you think you are the
better man, we’ll try it on the spot.”
Lincoln began to see that the man meant to
[Illustration: ABE’S EARLY HOME. THE LOG CABIN. Page 9]
force a quarrel upon him, and he did not shrink from it.
“If you will wait till the ladies retire,” he said quietly, “I will give
you any satisfaction you wish.”
The ladies had by this time completed their purchases, and were glad to
leave the store.
No sooner had they left than the bully broke out into a storm of abuses
and insults. The young clerk listened with the quiet patience habitual
to him, and finally observed: “Well, if you must be whipped, I suppose I
may as well whip you as any other man.”
“That’s what I’m after,” answered the bully.
“Come outdoors, then,” said Lincoln.
Abe, when they were fairly outside, thought there was no need of further
delay. He grappled with the bully, threw him upon the ground with ease,
and, holding him there, rubbed some “smart-weed” in his face and eyes
till he bellowed for mercy.
“Do you give up?” asked Abe, in no way excited.
“Yes, yes!”
Upon this, Lincoln went for some water, washed his victim’s face, and
did what he could to alleviate his sufferings. It is safe to say that
the fellow never wanted another dose of the same medicine. It will
further interest my young readers to learn that, so far from feeling a
grudge against Lincoln, the bully became his fast friend, and behaved
henceforth in a more creditable manner.