the mass of people that surrounded it. The meeting was one of unusual interest because of him who was to make the principal address. It was at the time of his greatest physical strength. He was tall, and perhaps a little more slender than in later life, and more homely than after he became stouter in person. He was then only thirty-one years of age, and yet he was regarded as one of the ablest of the Whig speakers in that campaign. There was that in him that attracted and held public attention. Even then he was the subject of popular regard because of his candid and simple mode of discussing and illustrating political questions. At times he was intensely logical, and was always most convincing in his arguments. The questions involved in that canvass had relation to the tariff, internal public improvements by the federal government, the distribution of the proceeds of the sales of public lands among the several States, and other questions that divided the political parties of that day. They were not such questions as enlisted and engaged his best thoughts; they did not take hold of his great nature, and had no tendency to develop it. At times he discussed the questions of the time in a logical way, but much time was devoted to telling stories to illustrate some phase of his argument, though more often the telling of these stories was resorted to for the purpose of rendering his opponents ridiculous. That was a style of speaking much appreciated at that early day. In that kind of oratory he excelled most of his contemporaries—indeed, he had no equal in the State. One story he told on that occasion was full of salient points, and well illustrated the argument he was making. It was not an impure story, yet it was not one it would be seemly to publish; but rendered, as it was, in his inimitable way, it contained nothing that was offensive to a refined taste. The same story might have been told by another in such a way that it would probably have been regarded as transcending the proprieties of popular address. One characterizing feature of all the stories told by Mr. Lincoln, on the stump and elsewhere, was that although the subject matter of some of them might not have been entirely unobjectionable, yet the manner of telling them was so peculiarly his own that they gave no offence even to refined and cultured people. On the contrary, they were much en

joyed. The story he told on this occasion was much liked by the vast assembly that surrounded the temporary platform from which he spoke, and was received with loud bursts of laughter and applause. It served to place the opposing party and its speakers in a most ludicrous position in respect to the question being considered, and gave him a most favorable hearing for the arguments he later made in support of the measures he was sustaining."

Although so active as a Whig politician Lincoln was not prominent at this period as a legislator. Few bills originated with him. Among these few one of interest is the Illinois law requiring the examination of school teachers as to their qualifications, and providing for the granting of official certificates of authority to teach. In the pioneer days, any person whom circumstances forced into the business was permitted to teach. On December 2, 1840, Lincoln offered the following resolution in the Illinois House of Representatives:

"Resolved, That the committee on education be instructed to inquire into the expediency of providing by law for the examination as to the qualification of persons offering themselves as school teachers, that no teacher shall receive any part of the public school fund who shall not have successfully passed such examination, and that they report by bill or otherwise."

Within

A motion to table this resolution was defeated. the ensuing three months the legislature passed "an act making provision for organizing and maintaining common schools"-the act which was the foundation of the common school system of Illinois. Section 81 of this act, providing for the qualification of teachers embodied Lincoln's idea. This section made it the duty of the school trustees in every township "to examine any person proposing to teach school in their vicinity in relation to the qualifications of such person as a teacher," or they might appoint a board of commis

sioners to conduct the examination; and a certificate of qualification was to be issued by a majority of the trustees or commissioners. Since then, of course, all the States have passed laws providing for the examination of teachers. In Illinois, no material change has been made in Lincoln's plan (for this section of the law was very likely drawn by Lincoln), except that the power of examination has been transferred from the trustees or commissioners to the county superintendent of schools an office then unknown.

CHAPTER XI

LINCOLN'S ENGAGEMENT TO MARY TODD-BREAKING OF THE ENGAGEMENT-LINCOLN-SHIELDS DUEL

Busy as Lincoln was with law and politics the first three years after he reached Springfield, he did not by any means fail to identify himself with the interests of the town and of its people. In all the intellectual life of the place he took his part. In the fall of 1837 with a few of the leading young men he formed a young men's lyceum. One of the very few of his early speeches which has been preserved was delivered before this body, its subject being the Perpetuation of our Political Institutions. At the request of the members of the Lyceum this address was published in the “Sangamon Journal" for February 3, 1838.

The most pleasing feature of his early life in the town was the way in which he attracted all classes of people to him. He naturally, from his political importance and from his relation to Mr. Stuart, was admitted to the best society. But Lincoln was not received there from tolerance of his position only. The few members left of that interesting circle of Springfield in the thirties are emphatic in their statements that he was recognized as a valuable social factor. If indifferent to forms and little accustomed to conventional usages, he had a native dignity and self-respect which stamped him at once as a superior man. He had a good will, an easy adaptability to people, which made him take a hand in everything that went on. His name appears in every list of banqueters and merrymakers reported in the Springfield papers. He even served as committeeman for cotillion parties. "We liked Lincoln