giant strength, he flung Armstrong in the air, the legs of the champion of the Clary's Grove boys whirling madly around his head. At this astounding performance the entire party made a dead set against the new-comer, who was calmly waiting their onset, when the vanquished champion chivalrously demanded a truce. Shaking Lincoln by the hand, he said: "Boys, Abe Lincoln is the best fellow that ever broke into this settlement. He shall be one of us." Lincoln by general consent became the peacemaker and the arbitrator of all the petty quarrels of the neighborhood; shunning vulgar brawls himself, he attempted to keep others out of them, and when debate around the door of the cross-roads store grew too animated and blows came in to settle disputes, the terrific windmill of Lincoln's long arms invariably brought peace. One of the luxuries of that time with him was a subscription to the Louisville Courier, then edited by that famous Whig, George D. Prentice, and to secure the paper Lincoln denied himself necessary clothing. He was studying politics.

The Black Hawk War, a disturbance in the northern part of Illinois in 1832, called forth his patriotism and energies, and at the head of a little company of volunteers he marched to the relief of the panic-stricken country. It was here that he secured his first and only martial honor. It was the title of Captain. In this capacity he saved the life of an old savage who had strayed from his own camp, and was res

cued from instant death by Lincoln, who inter posed, at the risk of his own life, between his soldiers and the wanderer. Returning home -the war soon over-he was a candidate for the Legislature, and was brought into contact with many of the prominent men of the State, and he took the stump in his own behalf. In this venture he was defeated; but the next year he was more successful, and then served in the State Legislature three terms. It was here that his political ambition became aroused, and espousing the then popular policy of the Whigs -internal improvements-he helped to project a great variety of improvements, very few of which ever took on material shape. But he did, however, plume himself greatly on his success in changing the capital from Vandalia to Springfield-a piece of political management which in later years he regarded with amusement and contempt. In Springfield he now "hung out his shingle" as a lawyer. He had read Blackstone-almost committed the work to memoryand had by practising in a small way among his neighbors secured a fair legal education, and was readily admitted to the Bar. He had undertaken small cases on trial before the local justice of the peace, and had been "everybody's friend." He had tried his hand, too, at surveying, and was in fact a jack-of-all-trades, readily turning his hand to every form of activity required in a raw, new country like that in which he lived. His very first case in the United States Circuit Court he threw up, with the dec

laration that on careful examination he found all the authorities on the other side and none on his. This characteristic honesty of purpose and frankness of opinion was only part and parcel of his character, already well formed. He was the protector of the innocent and the oppressed, the prosecutor of wrong-doing, and, with his habit of going thoroughly to the bottom of things, was usually able to convince any jury of the justice of his case; and the appeals he made to reason were so fervid that his hearers were often astonished and, as we may say, convinced against their will.

On the stump, as a frequent candidate for the Legislature, or an advocate of the political claims of other men, he made himself so acceptable to the gatherings of the neighborhood that he always drew a crowd wherever he went; and in the chats that followed as the concourse broke up into groups when speaking was over, Lincoln learned the ways and manners of the different. communities that came together, weaving their lines of limited travel to and fro as these occasions came and went. His knowledge of human nature and of the plain people, already very great, was wonderfully increased by these experiences. He early put himself on record as opposed to the further extension of the American system of human slavery. He was one of two signers to a protest on the subject of domestic slavery, which was received and spread on the journals of the General Assembly of Illinois. The backwoods stories, the legends of Indian

fightings and superstitions, the folk-lore of a generation, and the latest political and social gossip of the frontier were poured into the receptive mind of the man who in later years was to be a thoroughly equipped master of human nature as human nature is developed in the life. of the American people.

In 1846 he was elected a Representative in Congress, after several disappointments. His competitor on the Democratic ticket was Peter Cartwright, a famous backwoods preacher and exhorter, whose popularity was supposed to be so great that Lincoln would be literally nowhere in the race; but when Lincoln took the stump for himself he had plenty of material for his addresses to the people. The new State of Texas had been just admitted to the Union, and the slavery question was now once more before the people for adjustment. One of the first acts of his Congressional career, which was not an especially brilliant one, was to offer a series of resolutions calling on the President (James K. Polk) to inform the House as to certain facts involved in the war which followed the annexation of Texas. Another was the introduction of a bill to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia. Thus early did he take his stand on the burning question which was destined to occupy so much of his life and energy in the years to come.

His term in Congress over, he sought from the new Whig President, General Taylor, the place of Commissioner of the General Land Office, where he hoped to make useful the knowledge

that he had acquired as a land-surveyor, and to help carry out some of his ambitious schemes for internal improvements. He was disappointed, and later on, when the Territorial Governorship of Oregon was offered to him, he hesitated, but finally declined it. Returning to Springfield, he

took up his duties as an attorney, and again plunged into politics, when the Kansas-Nebraska bill of 1854 roused the country once more to a sense of impending danger from slavery. It was at this time that he went to the Eastern Statesone of the few liberal Whigs of the West-to support the nominees for the party. He appeared