through her tears, saw no cause for hope from earthly aid.

At this juncture the widow received a letter from Mr. Lincoln, volunteering his services in an effort tc save the youth from the impending stroke. Gladly was his aid accepted, although it seemed impossible for even his sagacity to prevail in such a desperate case; but the heart of the attorney was in his work, and he set about it with a will that knew no such word as fail. Feeling that the poisoned condition of the public mind was such as to preclude the possibility of impanelling an impartial jury in the court having jurisdiction, he procured a change of venue and a postponement of the trial. He then went studiously to work, unravelling the history of the case, and satisfied himself that his client was the victim of malice, and that the statements of the accuser were a tissue of falsehoods.

When the trial was called on, the prisoner, pale and emaciated, with hopelessness written on every feature, and accompanied by his half-hoping, half-despairing mother, whose only hope was in a mother's belief of her son's innocence, in the justice of the God she wor shipped, and in the noble counsel, who, without hope of fee or reward upon earth, had undertaken the cause,took his seat in the prisoner's box, and with a stony firmness listened to the reading of the indictment. Lincoln sat quietly by, whilst the large auditory looked on him as though wondering what he could say in defence of one whose guilt they regarded as certain.

The examination of the witnesses for the State was begun, and a well-arranged mass of evidence, circumstantial and positive, was introduced, which seemed to impale the prisoner beyond the possibility of extrication. The counsel for the defence propounded but few ques

tions, and those of a character which excited no uneasi ness on the part of the prosecutor; merely, in most cases, requiring the main witnesses to be definite as to the time and place. When the evidence of the prosecution was ended, Lincoln introduced a few witnesses to remove some erroneous impressions in regard to the previous character of his client, who, though somewhat rowdyish, had never been known to commit a vicious act, and to show that a greater degree of ill-feeling existed between the accuser and the accused than the accused and the deceased.

The prosecutor felt that the case was a clear one, and his opening speech was brief and formal. Lincoln arose, while a deathly silence pervaded the vast audience, and in a clear and moderate tone began his argument. Slowly and carefully he reviewed the testimony; pointing out the hitherto unobserved discrepancies in the statements of the principal witness. That which had seemed plain and plausible he made to appear crooked as a serpent's path. The witness had stated that the affair took place at a certain hour in the evening, and that, by the aid of a brightly shining moon, he saw the prisoner inflict the death-blow with a slung-shot. Mr. Lincoln showed that at the hour referred to the moon had not yet appeared above the horizon, and consequently the whole tale was a fabrication.

An almost instantaneous change seemed to have been wrought in the minds of his auditors, and the verdict of "Not Guilty" was at the end of every tongue. But the advocate was not content with this intellectual achievement. His whole being had for months been bound up in this work of gratitude and mercy; and as the lava of the over-charged crater bursts from its imprisonment, so great thoughts and burning words leaped forth from

the soul of the eloquent Lincoln. He drew a picture of the perjurer, so horrid and ghastly that the accuser could sit under it no longer, but reeled and staggered from the court-room, whilst the audience fancied they could see the brand upon his brow. Then, in words of thrilling pathos, Lincoln appealed to the jurors, as fathers of some who might become fatherless, and husbands of wives who might be widowed, to yield to no previous impressions, no ill-founded prejudice, but to do his client justice; and as he alluded to the debt of gratitude which he owed the boy's sire, tears were seen to fall from many eyes unused to weep.

It was near night when he concluded by saying, that, if justice was done, -as he believed it would be,-before the sun should set, it would shine upon his client a free man. The jury retired, and the court adjourned for the day. Half an hour had not elapsed, when, as the officers of the court and the volunteer attorney sat at the tea-table of their hotel, a messenger announced that the jury had returned to their seats. All repaired immediately to the court-house; and whilst the prisoner was coming from the jail, the court-room was filled to overflowing with citizens from the town. When the prisoner and his mother entered, silence reigned as completely as though the house were empty. The foreman of the jury, in answer to the usual inquiry from the court, delivered the verdict of "Not Guilty!" The widow dropped into the arms of her son, who lifted her up, and told her to look upon him as before, free and innocent. Then with the words, "Where is Mr. Lincoln ?" he rushed across the room and grasped the hand of his deliverer, whilst his heart was too full for utterance. Lincoln turned his eyes towards the west, where the sun still lingered in view, and then, turning to the youth.

said, "It is not yet sundown, and you are free!" I confess that my cheeks were not wholly unwet by tears, and I turned from the affecting scene. As I cast a glance behind, I saw Abraham Lincoln obeying the divine injunc tion by comforting the widowed and fatherless.

Three times was Mr. Lincoln, after this, elected to the Legislature, and there commenced his political acquaintance with Stephen A. Douglas. He then remained several years in private life, practising law with good success. In 1842, he married Miss Mary Todd, daughter of Hon. Robert Todd of Lexington, Kentucky. Their children have been four in number: "Robert, recently a captain on Gen. Grant's staff, born in 1843; a second son, born in 1846, and William, born in 1850, both of whom are dead; and Thaddeus, born in 1853, who stands beside his father in the last photograph taken of the President.

"It gives some idea of the prominence of Mr. Lincoln in Illinois, that, though elected to the Legislature only in 1834, he was a Whig candidate for presidential elector at every election from 1836 to 1852. An ear's and warm admirer of Henry Clay, he came forward, in 1844, and stumped the entire State of Illinois in his favor, and then crossed into Indiana, attracting attention by the homely force, humor, energy, and eloquence of his addresses. Thus thrown again into active politics, he was elected to Congress in 1846, from the Central District of Illinois, by a majority of fifteen hundred, being the only Whig member from the State. Called now into the great council of the nation, Mr. Lincoln took his seat among great men. In the Senate, Clay, Calhoun, Webster, Benton, still shaped the destinies and restrained the passions of men; and men of great ability stood forth in the lower House. Mr. Lincoln was opposed to the annexation of Texas and to the Mexican War. He voted many

imes-about forty,' he once said for the Wilmot Proviso; thus as early as 1847 showing himself the same friend of freedom in the Territories which he was afterwards when 'bleeding Kansas' received his sympathy. 'On other great questions which came before Congress, Mr. Lincoln, being a Whig, took the ground which was held by the great body of his party. He believed in the right of Congress to make appropriations for the im provement of rivers and harbors. He was in favor of giving the public lands, not to speculators, but to actual occupants and cultivators, at as low rates as possible; and he was in favor of a protective tariff, and of abolishing the franking privilege.'"*

In 1858, Mr. Lincoln was nominated by the Republicans as candidate for the United-States Senate. Mr. Douglas was his rival on the Democratic ticket. Both stumped the State, and finally held personal debates with each other without personal animosity on the dif ferent political views they held. Judge Douglas had the grace, at Springfield, to say, "I take great pleasure in bearing testimony to the fact that Mr. Lincoln is a kindhearted, amiable, good-natured gentleman, with whom no man has a right to pick a quarrel, even if he wanted one. He is a worthy gentleman. I have known him for twenty-five years; and there is no better citizen, and no kinder-hearted man. He is a fine lawyer, possesses high ability; and there is no objection to him, except the monstrous revolutionary doctrines with which he is identified."

In July, 1858, Lincoln threw down the gauntlet, which Douglas lifted, and seven debates followed, at Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesborough, Charleston, Galesburg, Quincy, and Alton. They are said to be unsurpassed in campaign * Raymond's “Life of Lincoln."