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thing saddening in the record of his struggles to master everything that he thought worth knowing that was within his reach. Very poor he was, but he skimped himself and went without what many boys would call necessary clothing to subscribe to the Louisville Courier, then edited by that famous Whig George D. Prentice, a witty and most brilliant man. This was, as he afterwards said, his greatest luxury. He read every word, and some of its articles were committed to memory by sheer force of habit. Pondering over the editorial articles of his favorite newspaper, he attempted to discover how they were constructed, and what were the rules by which language was composed and sentences framed. Application to the village schoolmaster gave him a hint as to grammar, and he was not satisfied until he had hunted down, somewhere in the region, a copy of "Kirkham's Grammar." This he carried home, borrowed, in great triumph, nor did he pause until he had mastered its contents. Speaking of it, long afterwards, he said that he was surprised to find how little there was in a work that was made so much of by the schoolmaster. He had "collared" it in a week, and had returned the book to its owner.

CHAPTER V.

A PLUNGE INTO POLITICS.

Young Lincoln's Growing Passion for Knowledge-Candidate for the State Legislature-Captain in the Black Hawk War-A Gathering of Men Since Famous-Hardships of the Volunteer Soldiers -Stump-Speaking and Defeat-Lincoln as a Country Merchant -Lawyer and Surveyor.

UP

'P to this time, Lincoln had never held any office, except that of an occasional clerk of election. So far as we know, he never had any ambition for office-holding. But the spring of 1832 found him out of business, out of work. Offutt's store had gone to pieces, that gentleman's numerous irons in the fire having at last proved too many for him. If ever Lincoln was at liberty to try his hand at politics, this was the time. He had been trained, or rather had grown up, in the backwoods, had gradually made the acquaintance of mankind, had meditated and read as no young man ever before had meditated and read, and had accustomed himself to speak extemporaneously. He was a good story-teller, alert, quickwitted, full of apt illustration and anecdote, was so close a student of human nature that he was always able to adapt himself to his little audience, whether it was the group of loungers about the blacksmith's shop at the crossroads, or the knot of farm laborers that gathered about to hear him "make a speech"

on internal improvements. And, above all, by his unvarying good-nature and helpfulness, he had made friends of all who ever met him.

One historian, who happened to see him about this time, says he found him lying on a trundle-bed, reading intently while he rocked a cradle with his foot. He had plenty of leisure; he was ready to lend a hand (or foot) to any overworked housewife, but he could not neglect his book. Always a book was ready to his hand, and it is said of him that when he had nothing else to do he laid himself at length in the shade of a tree, wheeling around with the sun all day long, reading, reading, always reading. At the bottom of a barrel of "trash" that Offutt had bought of some speculative person, or had taken in exchange for goods, Lincoln found two old law books. On these he fell like a hungry child, and he never left them until he had mastered their contents, dry and indigestible though they might have seemed to the average youngster of his day. In this way, Lincoln had absorbed a great deal of useful knowledge. He was always thirsty for information. If he heard of a new book—and new books were pretty scarce in those days he was restless until he had got a sight at it. For this purpose he walked many a mile, counting no labor, no privation, anything if it brought him nearer the coveted information of men and things. He was accounted very learned by those of his neighbors who knew aught of his studies; not that his knowledge was aired with any pride, but they argued that nobody could read so much as he and not be very erudite. And in the village debates,

held in the country store or at other lounging-places, the admiring community united in the verdict that "Abe Lincoln could out-argue any ten men in the settlement."

Lincoln resolved to become a candidate for representative to the Legislature, and in a circular, dated March 9, 1832, he appealed to his friends and fellowcitizens to vote for him. He had by this time become a pronounced Whig in politics, following in the footsteps of his great chief and pattern, Henry Clay. But he hoped, and not without reason, to secure many of the votes of those who knew and liked him for his manly and admirable qualities. Before the election came on, however, there was a call for volunteers to repel hostile Indians. The famous chief Black Hawk was on the warpath. During the previous year, the Sacs, of whom Black Hawk was the recognized leader, had given much trouble to the settlers along the east bank of the Mississippi, in Illinois. By treaty, the band had gone to the west of the river and had given up all claim to their old hunting-grounds and corn-fields on the other side of the stream; but they insisted that they had been wrongfully dealt with by the white man, and that they still had a right to "make corn" in their old haunts. It is a matter of record, too, that they had been shamefully treated by some of the settlers, and that, on the least provocation, they were made to suffer the white man's vengeance. These troubles came to a head in May, 1832, when Black Hawk, at the head of about forty braves, crossed the Mississippi near the mouth of the Rock River, in the

northern part of the State, and pursued his way upstream in a leisurely manner. The governor of the State called for two thousand volunteers. The country was panic-stricken.

Lincoln was among the first to volunteer. Whether he went from pure love of adventure, or because he thought his services in the expected war would help him in his canvass, we can only guess. At the head of a party of Sangamon County men, among whom were many of the Clary's Grove boys, Lincoln made his way to the north, where General Atkinson, then in command of the small United States force operating in the region, was encamped. The company was organized in Rushville, Schuyler County, and Lincoln was chosen captain. The only other candidate for martial honors was one Kirkpatrick, a substantial trader from the New Salem country, with whom Lincoln had had a slight difference before that, owing to Kirkpatrick's overbearing manners towards the young backwoodsman. The Clary's Grove boys insisted that nobody but Lincoln should lead them to the war. Word was given that all in favor of Lincoln should range themselves by his side, as he stood on the village green, and all who favored Kirkpatrick should take position near him. When the lines were formed, Lincoln's was three times as long as Kirkpatrick's, and so he was joyfully declared to be elected. This unsought honor, the first elective office that he ever held, gave Lincoln so much pleasure that years after, when he was President, he said that nothing that came to him afforded him so much solid satisfaction.

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