327
The Editor's Bag of ’37. He had already been a mem ber of the legislature for two terms, and as the leader of the ‘Long Nine’ had done more than any other man to bring about the removal of the state capital from Vandalia to Springfield. They
of ten, but I thought my father must
may have called him ‘Abe’ in Indiana, and out here in New Salem, where he
well dressed, drove about in their own
spent his boyhood and youth, but not here in Springfield. Naturally, many
vants.
have wished to make it appear that
they were intimate with Mr. Lincoln, but, unfortunately for their stories, when they speak of calling him ‘Abe’ they simply disprove their claim.” That he was ambitious to become a
man of distinction in public life there can be no manner of doubt. In 1832 he was splitting rails in the Sangamon
be insane to say such a thing.
I had
seen two governors, Ninian Edwards of Belleville, and Joseph Duncan of Jack sonville; ing men from they Mr. wereLincoln. very different They look— were
carriages and were attended by ser Mr. Lincoln made no such show
ing as this. My father's prophecy seemed ridiculous; but time proved my father's foresight much better than his son 5. But Lincoln's ambition was neither selfish nor mean. When he came to
Springfield to enter upon the study of law he made his home with Joshua
years later, after having been elected twice to the legislature, he is every
Speed, a merchant, and a warm, per sonal friend. One day in a conversa tion of a somewhat serious nature, he said: “Speed, when I am dead I want my friends to remember that I always
where regarded as a man of far more than ordinary promise. Dr. Jayne, who,
life certainly attested this, in its fullest
bottoms and dreaming dreams.
Five
by the way, was made Territorial Gov ernor by Mr. Lincoln during his first administration, met him for the first time in 1836. "At that time," said Dr. Jayne in a little chat some time ago, "he was still living at New Salem, where he was surveyor and postmaster; even then there was something about the ungainly, poorly-clad young man that foretold, to an observing mind, a
bright future for him in public life. "He was often in Springfield while living in New Salem, and it was when on one of these visits that I first saw him. My father and I took dinner
pluck a thorn and plant a rose."
His
sense; but he was not a god, and while he abhorred notoriety in its grosser forms, he did not disdain praise nor decline thefriendship of the great; and,
although his tastes were simple, they were catholic, but catholic without being
coarse. After his debate with Douglas, and
after he had been named for the presi dency, he was still reluctant to be made conspicuous, so much so, indeed, that
mon dining-room of the Rutledge Tav
when Mr. Scripps of the Chicago Trib une came to him asking material for a campaign biography, he hesitated to aid him, first, because he disliked anything that savored of display, and secondly, we may fairly take it, because he felt
ern.
at the same table with him in the com I heard my
that there was very little in his life out
father say to N. W. Edwards, his partner in a store at Huron, and long afterwards Mr. Lincoln's brother-in-law, ‘That
of which such a biography could be
young man Lincoln will some day be
romance, nothing heroic in my early life; the story can be condensed into
Later in the day
governor of Illinois.’
I was then a boy
constructed.
In going over the matter
with Mr. Scripps, he said: “There is no
