Page:Abraham Lincoln, A Story and a Play.djvu/40

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ABRAHAM LINCOLN

saddle bags, was on his way up the stairs, as joyful as he had been sad before. Leaving them in the middle of the floor, he ran down again, crying out:

"Well, Speed, I'm moved."

Another friend offered to give him his board free, so he managed to get along till he could earn his own living. It was not long before the people began to praise the wise and clever speeches of the new lawyer. Besides, they honored him for his honesty and kindness. He was unlike many lawyers.

He was not willing to work for a man if he thought him in the wrong. But if he believed that man had been treated unjustly, he did not count the time and thought spent in winning the case. Moreover, he worked just as willingly for a person who was too poor to pay him, as he did for the rich man who could give him a large sum of money. Always and everywhere it was the right that interested Abraham Lincoln.

In those days lawyers went about the country to attend court in different places. They usually travelled on horseback, for there were few railroads. On one of these trips Lincoln went with a party of other lawyers. As they entered a