Part 4 (1/2)

”Representatives froa speech which was fortunately heard by Joshua Speed, and he has given an account of it Be it re rods were rare and attracted an unreasonable amount of attention One Forquer, as Lincoln's opponent, had recently rodded his house--and every one knew it Thishis opponent, his bigness, his aardness, his dress, his youth Lincoln heard hih without interruption and then took the stand and said:

”The gentle man would have to be taken down, and he was sorry the task devolved upon hi in years as I a or die young, I would rather die now than, like the gentlee receive an office worth three thousand dollars a year, and then have to erect a lightning-rod over uilty conscience from an offended God”

It need hardly be said that that speech clung to its victim like a burr Wherever he went, souilty conscience and the lightning-rod The house and its lightning- rod were long a center of interest in Springfield Visitors to the city were taken to see the house and its lightning-rod, while the story was told with great relish

Having served eight terress He was, however, defeated at the pri hi him to vote for his successful rival, Baker

This did not interrupt the friendshi+p which united the two for , indeed, until the death of Colonel Baker on the field of battle

In 1846 he renewed his candidacy, and this ti preacher, Peter Cartwright, idely known in the state and had not a little persuasive power In this contest Cartwright's ”arguments” were two: the first, that Lincoln was an atheist, and the second that he was an aristocrat These ”argu, and Lincoln was elected by a handso far ahead of his ticket This was, at the tiht of his aress, though I a done it, has not pleased ress was uneventful Twice his humor bubbled over

Once hen he satirized the claims that Cass was a military hero, in the speech alreadythe resolutions known as the ”spot resolutions” The president had sent to congress an inflae, in which he insisted that the war had been begun by Mexico, ”by invading our territory and shedding the blood of our citizens on our own soil” The resolutions requested from the president the information:

”_First_ Whether the spot on which the blood of our citizens was shed, as in his es declared, was or was not within the territory of Spain, at least after the treaty of 1819, until the Mexican revolution”

”_Second_ Whether that spot is or is not within the territory which rested froovernment of Mexico”

”_Third_ Whether the spot is or is not, etc, etc It is the recurrence of the word _spot_ which gave the naht years in the legislature and one ter of politics He was never a ti unwise He knein votes and he knehat to do with himself when the votes on He held the confidence of his constituency His was a constantly growing popularity He could do everything but one,--he could not dishonor his conscience His belief that ”slavery was founded on injustice” was the only reason for his protest He never hesitated to protest against injustice The Golden Rule had a place in practical politics The Sermon on the Mount was not an iridescent dream

CHAPTER VIII

ENTERING THE LAW

In treating of this topic, it will be necessary to recall certain things already uished Lincoln all through his life was thoroughness When he was President a man called on him for a certain favor, and, when asked to state his case, reat mess of it, for he had not sufficiently prepared hiave hih,” and he brought his hand down on the table with the crash of a h” It was his own method After a successful practise of twenty years he advised a young law student: ”Work, work, work is the ” He spoke out of his own experience

There is one re here, since it gives an insight into the thoroughness of thisis quoted froational church in Norwich, Conn It was a part of a conversation which took place shortly after the Cooper Institute speech in 1860, and was printed in _The Independent_ for September 1, 1864

”Oh, yes! 'I read law,' as the phrase is; that is, I becafield, and copied tedious documents, and picked up what I could of law in the intervals of other work But your question reminds me of a bit of education I had, which I am bound in honesty toI constantly caht, at first, that I understood its , but soon became satisfied that I did not I said to myself, What do I do when I _demonstrate_ more than when I _reason_ or _prove_? How does _demonstration_ differ from any other proof? I consulted Webster's Dictionary They told of 'certain proof,' 'proof beyond the possibility of doubt'; but I could forreat s were proved beyond the possibility of doubt, without recourse to any such extraordinary process of reasoning as I understood _demonstration_ to be I consulted all the dictionaries and books of reference I could find, but with no better results You ht as well have defined _blue_ to a blind man At last I said,--Lincoln, you never can make a lawyer if you do not understand what _defield, went hoive any proposition in the six books of Euclid at sight I then found out what _demonstrate_ means, and went back to h student?

He, like every one else, had his library within the library Though he read everything he could lay his hands on, yet there are five books to be mentioned specifically, because from childhood they furnished his intellectual nutriress, Burns, and Shakespeare These were his ht and iination ”Fear the hly were they his that he was truly for and study; they made it a thousand tiet the ance of his Gettysburg address? The answer is here

While Lincoln was postent reader of the newspapers, of which the chief was the Louisville _Journal_ It was edited by George D Prentice, as, and is, second to no other editor in the entire history of American journalishts with such poas a e aroused in Lincoln a burning desire to obtain coue He applied for counsel to a friend, a schoolmaster by the narammar, and told him that a copy of one ned by a man who lived six miles away Lincoln walked to the house, borrowed the book--”collared” it, as he expressed it--and at the end of six days had hness

The first law book he read was ”The Statutes of Indiana” This hen he was a lad living in that state, and he read the book, not for any special desire to know the subject but, because he was in the habit of reading all that came into his hands

His next book was Blackstone's ”Coained possession of, and read, this book is of sufficient interest to narrate in his oords It was shortly after he got into the grocery business:

”One day ato the West drove up in front of on which contained his family and household plunder He asked me if I would buy an old barrel for which he had no roo of special value I did not want it, but to oblige hiht it, and paid him, I think, half a dollar for it Without further exaot all about it Sos, I ca it upon the floor to see what it contained, I found at the bottom of the rubbish a coan to read those fa summer days, when the farmers were busy with their crops, my customers were few and far between The more I read, the more intensely interested I becahly absorbed I read until I devoured them”

All thisstore in that ha better than the success of the nificent store in New York