dation caused by the iniquitous system. His heart was tender and easily touched by suffering, even when inflicted upon the lower animals, and the sight of men and women bending beneath the burdens of inhuman servitude must have been abhorrent to him. It may not be too much to say that the Emancipation Proclamation germinated in this trip. It is certain that, from this time on, he pondered deeply upon the great problems of American politics and humanity, and sought long and patiently for their solution.

He learned much from the trip and returned home more than ever eager to fit himself for usefulness in a higher and wider sphere than that into which he had been born.

The venture was a financial success, owing to his shrewd management. Mr. Lamon says that at one place, where they sold a quantity of provisions, they received in payment a counterfeit bill, which they did not discover until they were at some distance from the town. When his companion bewailed the loss, Lincoln remarked, by way of consolation, "Never mind, I guess it will soon slip out of our fingers." And it did.

CHAPTER III.

IN 1830, Mr. Lincoln became once more uneasy and dissatisfied with his surroundings and determined to move again, influenced in part by the unhealthful character of the Gentryville farm and locality. Reports of the peculiar fertility of the great State to the westward had been brought to his ears and he decided to emigrate to Illinois.

This great commonwealth had been a member of the Union twelve years, and contained, at this time, a population of about a quarter of a million. The broad prairies in the central and northern portions of the State, now occupied by prosperous communities and populous cities, were then wholly without inhabitants. The immigrants from other States passed over. these great plains, uususpicious of their marvellous fertility, believing them to be only fit for pasturage, and settled in the forests and oak openings of the south or along the water-courses near the borders of the State. There were no large settlements. Cairo, Alton, Galena, Decatur and a few other villages, now developed into large and prosperous cities, were then struggling to maintain a bare existence amid the adverse influences by which they were surrounded. Nature has been very kind to Illinois and has granted it munificent gifts. Its broad and fertile prairies, its beautiful water-courses and the great coal

measures that underlie it, are treasure-houses that have developed its population from thousands to millions, and made it one of the wealthiest States in the Union. There was, however, but little to hint of its coming glory in 1830, although it attracted immigrants in increasing numbers from year to year.

The population was mostly made up of families from the border States, especially Kentucky. There were few people from the East, and the "Yankees " were not regarded with any degree of tolerance, being always the objects of suspicion and aversion.

While the people of the State had decided by a large majority not to permit slavery to be introduced, yet their sympathies were largely with the institution, sometimes even to the verge of persecuting its outspoken opponents, who lived in their midst. That there was deep feeling on the subject, is proven by the murder of Owen Lovejoy, some years later, at Alton, because he persisted in publishing an Abolition paper.

The most of the people coming from Kentucky, had become familiar with slavery in its less deplorable aspects, and, while they would not introduce it into Illinois, would suffer no one to openly stigmatize it as an unjust or iniquitous institution.

In the light of history it is easy to see how exactly the circumstances were adapted to the development of the peculiar personality of Lincoln. When he entered Illinois he was a tall, gaunt youth of twentyone, unaccustomed to society and wholly ignorant of the ways of the world, yet with the strong, innate consciousness that he was destined to better things, and that his capabilities were greater than those of

the men with whom he was accustomed to associate. Brute force and physical prowess were still in the ascendant in this pioneer State. The men of intelligence and culture were to be found almost entirely in the larger settlements and in the practice of law. Lincoln was physically stronger than his associates, and this, with his great length of limb, made him easily the champion in the rough sports in which the young men were wont to engage. His reputation

spread far and wide, both for his strength and his skill in wrestling. Many a redoubted champion, who had never before met his match, came from a distance to dispute for his laurels with the new arrival and went away ignominiously defeated.

The people were generally ignorant, few of them being able to read or write. In learning, Lincoln far surpassed them all, not only being able to read and write, but having also acquired a considerable stock of general knowledge. Had he been of higher birth than his associates, this might have been an occasion for jealousy and ill feeling, but he was as poor as they and of even humbler lineage, hence they were proud of his accomplishments and boasted of his wonderful knowledge, as if credit was thereby cast upon the whole community.

His poverty and consequent struggles for a bare living contributed to strengthen his independence of character and honesty, which, in a less positive man, would have produced cringing servility and dishonesty.

One of the most marked features of his career, as it was of the career of Washington, was the profound impression he made upon everybody with whom he

This was,

was brought into close personal contact. no doubt, owing to his intense and harmonious personality, and in part to the quaint charm of his conversation.

From early boyhood he had been accustomed to embellish his conversation with numberless stories and anecdotes of which he had an inexhaustible store and a skill of adaptation to the point in hand-which has never been excelled. His early practice had given him a degree of proficiency in public speaking in which he made use of a rude and fervid eloquence which seldom failed to carry the audience along in sympathy with him. In those days, when men would go thirty or forty miles to hear a lawyer's speech in court or a political discussion, this was a commanding gift and quickly earned a local reputation for its possessor.

Thomas Lincoln, with his family, settled first in Macon County; but he shortly afterwards moved to the vicinity of the present city of Mattoon, in Coles County. Young Lincoln took hold with energy to help his father settle in his new home. He chopped down trees and split rails and helped to fence in the whole farm.

He now told his father, that, as he was of age and the law gave him his liberty, he desired to shift for himself and left his home never to return to it again except for a brief visit. His father, with his wandering instinct unimpaired, continued to move from one place to another, hardly able to keep the wolf from the door, until he died, at the age of seventy-three, and was buried on the old homestead near Mattoon. Mrs. Lincoln outlived her illustrious step