Part 6 (1/2)

Against this Lincoln protested Not by serious argument, but by the merciless satire which he kneell how to use upon occasion Under the pseudonyfield _Journal_ The letter ritten in the style of Josh Billings, and purported to co in the ”Lost Townshi+ps” It was an atteh down the unjust measure, and in pursuance of this the writer plied shi+elds with ridicule The toas convulsed with laughter, and shi+elds with fury The wrath of the little Irishhbors increased

Miss Todd and Miss Jayne entered into the spirit of the fun Then they wrote a letter in which Aunt Rebecca proposed to soothe his injured feelings by accepting shi+elds as her husband This was followed by a doggerel rhy the event

shi+elds' fury knew no bounds He went to Francis, the editor of the _Journal_, and demanded the name of the author of the letters

Francis consulted with Lincoln The latter was unwilling to permit any odium to fall on the ladies, and sent word to shi+elds that he would hold himself responsible for those letters

If shi+elds had not been precisely the kind of a ht have been explained and settled a and peree When Lincoln becaht, as the challenged party, of choosing the weapons He selected ”broadswords of the largest size” This was another triuainst the giant of six feet four inches, who possessed the strength of a Hercules, and the weapons were-- ”broadswords of the largest size”

The bloody party repaired to Alton, and thence to an island or sand-bar on the Missouri side of the river There a reconciliation was effected, honor was satisfied all around, and they returned hoood spirits

For some reason Lincoln was always ashamed of this farce Why, we do not know It may have been because he was drawn into a situation in which there was a possibility of his shedding huaement between Lincoln and Miss Todd was renewed, and they were quietly married at the home of the bride's sister, Mrs Edwards, Noveent husband Mrs

Lincoln made a home that was hospitable, cultured, unostentatious They lived together until the death of the husband, more than twenty-two years later

They had four children, all boys Only the eldest, Robert Todd Lincoln, grew to manhood He has had a career which is, to say the least, creditable to the name he bears For a few months at the close of the war he was on the staff of General Grant He was Secretary of War under Garfield and retained the office through the administration of Arthur Under President Harrison, froland He is a lawyer by profession, residing in Chicago--the city that loved his father--and at the present writing is president of the Pullman Company In every position he has occupied he has exercised a notably wide influence

CHAPTER XI

THE ENCROACHMENTS OF SLAVERY

It is necessary at this point to take a glance at the history of American slavery, in order to understand Lincoln's career In 1619, or one year before the landing of the _Mayflower_ at Plyo of slaves at Jainia For nearly two centuries after this the slave trade was h unevenly, over all the colonies But as time passed, differences appeared In the North, the public conscience ake to the injustice of the institution, while in the South it was not There were many exceptions in both localities, but the public senti, was as stated

There was another difference Slave labor was more valuable in the South than in the North This was due to the cliors of the North, while in the South the heat, which is excessive to the white ro In the course of years, therefore, there cae nuenerally conceded that the founders of our governradual extinction of slavery In the first draft of the Declaration of Independence, Tho's part in the slave traffic But it was felt that such rerace froe was stricken out It was, however, provided that the slave trade should cease in the year 1808

The Ordinance of 1787 recognized the difference in sentiment of the two portions of the country on the subject, and was enacted as a compromise Like several subsequent enactitation of the subject for ever at rest This ordinance provided that slavery should be excluded from the northwestern territory At that time the Mississippi river formed the western boundary of the country, and the territory thus ordained to be free was that out of which the five states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin were subsequently formed It was not then dreamed that the future acquisition of new territory, or the sudden appreciation of the value of the slave, would reopen the question

But three facts changed the entire complexion of the subject It was discovered that the soil and clirowth of cotton Then the development of steaoods created a sudden and enormous deland for American cotton There remained an obstacle to the supply of this de the cotton fiber froro woman was able to clean about a pound of cotton in a day

In 1793, Eli Whitney, a graduate of Yale college, was teaching school in Georgia, and boarding with theof General Greene Certain planters were co of Mrs Greene, of the difficulty of cleaning cotton, when she declared that the Yankee school teacher could solve the difficulty, that he was so ingenious that there was alht to Whitney's attention, who protested that he knew nothing of the subject,--he hardly knew a cotton seed when he saw it Nevertheless he set to work and invented the cotton gin By thisa crank; could clean fifty pounds of cotton a day The effect of this was to put a new face upon the cotton trade It enabled the planters todemand for raw cotton

It had an equal influence on the slavery question Only negroes can work successfully in the cotton fields There was a phenoro labor And this was fifteen years before the time limit of the slave trade in 1808

There soon ca and the non-slave-holding portion of the country which continually increased At the time of the Ordinance of 1787 the two parts of the country, were about evenly balanced Each section kept a vigilant watch of the other section so as to avoid losing the balance of power

As the country enlarged, this balance was preserved by the admission of free and slave states in turn Vermont was paired with Kentucky; Tennessee with Ohio; Louisiana with Indiana; and Mississippi with Illinois In 1836, Michigan and Arkansas were admitted on the same day

on the same day This indicates that the jealousy of the two parties was growing more acute