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seated at the desk, clad in a linen duster, with a pile of letters and a wooden inkstand before him. He had a hearty welcome for all who came. There was no sign of elation. To friends, neighbors, old acquaintances, and strangers alike he was simply Abraham Lincoln. He saw two tall young men-farmers, he judged by their appearance-bashfully looking into his office.

"How do you do, gentlemen? What can I do for you? Won't you come in and take a seat?"

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DESK UPON WHICH PRESIDENT LINCOLN WROTE HIS FIRST INAUGURAL.

Jim stood against the wall of the room, and Mr. Lincoln placed a cane on the top of his head-the end against the plastering.

"That is your height.

what I can do."

Now, you hold the cane, and let me see

He steps under the cane, wags his hair against it.

"Well, young man, you are good at guessing. We are exactly the same height."(^)

The act was in keeping with his good-nature. Did he lose anything by gratifying their curiosity? Did he not rather gain their friendship?

A farmer's wife drove into Springfield, bringing butter and eggs to sell, and called to see the man who had been selected as candidate for the Presidency.

"I thought I'd call and shake hands with you once more," she said. Mr. Lincoln tried to remember when and where she had shaken hands with him.

"Oh, don't you remember? Why, you've stopped at our house to get something to eat when you've been riding the circuit."

"Oh yes. Now I know. Well, I'm right glad to see you once more."

"Don't you remember, Mr. Lincoln, that day when you called and I hadn't anything to eat?"

"No, I don't remember the time, for you always had a good dinner." "But you called one day when we had finished dinner and eat up every scrap, and I hadn't nothing but some bread-and-milk for you, and you smacked your lips and said it was good enough for the President of the United States, and now you are going to be President. I'm right glad to see you so pert." (')

They were not flattering words, but a sincere and honest expression of her regard for him.

While the Republican Convention was in session in Chicago, the two Democratic Conventions were reassembling in Baltimore. Mr.

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LINCOLN & HERNDON'S OFFICE IN THE THIRD BUILDING FROM THE CORNER. [From a photograph taken by the auther in October, 1890.]

Douglas's friends nominated him for the Presidency, with Herschel V. Johnson, of Georgia, for Vice-president. The delegates from the cot

ton-producing States

nominated John C.

Breckinridge, of
Kentucky, for Presi-
dent and Joseph
Lane, of Oregon, for
Vice-president.

I remained in the vicinity of Springfield several weeks. Every train brought people to that city to see Mr. Lincoln. Politicians who wanted to be Secretary of War, or of the Navy; who wanted to be made Minister Plenipotentiary or Consul in some foreign coun

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try, position in a custom-house, surveyor of lands, Governor or Secretary of a Territory, postmaster somewhere-all thinking to take time by the forelock by making the acquaintance of Mr. Lincoln in advance of his election. So many came that the Governor of the State kindly allowed him the use of the executive chamber in the State-house, where he courteously welcomed all those who wanted office, as well as those who only wished to shake hands with him.

NOTES TO CHAPTER XI.

(1) "Century Magazine," September, 1887.

(2) Letter to N. B. Judd, December 9, 1859, quoted in "Century Magazine," September, 1887.

(3) I. N. Arnold, "Life of Abraham Lincoln," p. 163.
(4) J. G. Holland, "Life of Abraham Lincoln," p. 233.
(5) Ibid., p. 235.

1860.

CHAPTER XII.

THE ELECTION, 1860.

THE HE campaign was one of intense excitement and unbounded enthusiasm on the part of the Republicans, who felt that with the Democratic Party divided they could bring about the election of Mr. Lincoln. Mass meetings were held throughout the Northern States. The vital questions of the hour were the aggressions of the slave power, the attempt to force slavery into the Territories and the Free States, the Dred Scott decision, and the preservation of the Union. The young men organized "Wide Awake" clubs. They wore uniforms and carried torches. Little did they, in their enthusiasm, comprehend what would be the ultimate outcome of their midnight drilling and marching. Further on we shall see them making other midnight marches as soldiers of the Grand Army of the Republic.

The friends of Senator Douglas saw from the outset that they were doomed to defeat. The men who supported the nomination of Bell and Everett in the Northern States endeavored to awaken enthusiasm by ringing bells mounted on wagons and drawn by horses, as their processions paraded the streets of towns and cities.

Breckinridge had not many supporters in the Northern States. It was but a small portion of the Democratic Party that followed his lead.

We are not to think because there was an uprising of people to restrict the further extension of slavery, the party supporting Abraham Lincoln was for its immediate abolition. The printer imprisoned at Baltimore thirty years before for saying the slave-trade was piracy, took no part in advocating the election of Abraham Lincoln, who was not an Abolitionist. Public sentiment cannot be changed in a day. Many good men in the Northern States, including ministers, lawyers, judges, opposed the Republican Party. They said it was sectional, and its success would bring about a dissolution of the Union. The slaveholders were threatening to secede, and establish a Southern Confederacy if Lincoln should be elected. He saw a dark and forbidding

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