& Lincoln shall be of good behavior and observe all the laws of this State relative to tavern keepers-then this obligation to be void or otherwise remain in full force.

One day a man who was migrating to the West drove up in front of my store with a wagon which contained his family and household plunder. He asked me if I would buy an old barrel for which he had no room in his wagon and which he said contained nothing of special value. I did not want it, but to oblige him I bought it, and paid him, I think, half a dollar for it. Without further examination I put it away in the store and forgot all about it. Some time after, in overhauling things, I came upon the barrel, and emptying it upon the floor to see what it contained, I found at the bottom of the rubbish a complete edition of Blackstone's Commentaries. I began to read those famous works, and I had plenty of time; for during the long summer days, when the farmers were busy with their crops, my customers were few and far between. The more I read the more intensely interested I became. Never in my whole life was my mind so thoroughly absorbed, I read until I devoured them.

May. Appointed postmaster at New Salem-the office being too insignificant to make my politics an objection. The store winked out.

Firm of Lincoln and Berry fails leaving a heavy debt which Lincoln assumes. This debt embarrasses him for fifteen years.

Autumn. That debt was the greatest obstacle I have ever met in my life; I had no way of speculating, and could not

earn enough money except by labor, and to earn by labor eleven hundred dollars besides my living seemed the work of a lifetime. There was, however, but one way. I went to the creditors, and told them that if they would let me alone I would give them all I could earn over my living, as fast as I could earn it.

The surveyor of Sangamon offered to depute to me that portion of his work which was within my part of the county. Accepted, procured a compass and chain, studied Flint and Gibson a little, and went to it. This procured bread, and kept soul and body together.

Autumn, 1834. The election of 1834 came, and I was then elected to the Legislature by the highest vote ever cast for any candidate. Major John T. Stuart, then in full practise of the law, was also elected. During the canvass, in a private conversation he encouraged me to study law. After the election I borrowed books of Stuart, took them home with me, and went at it in good earnest. I studied with nobody. I still mixed in the surveying to pay board and clothing bills.

He continues also to be postmaster at New Salem, and to eke out a very scanty livelihood.

December. When the Legislature met, the law books were dropped, but were taken up again at the end of the session.

1835, New Salem.

Love affair of Lincoln and Ann Rutledge. Her sudden death of an epidemic, in August, casts him into desperate melancholy from which he emerges slowly.

Autumn. I can never be reconciled to have the snow, rains and storms beat upon her grave!

(At the grave of Ann Rutledge.) My heart is buried there. 1836. Stands for re-election to the Legislature.

June 13th. (To the Editor of the Journal.) In your paper of last Saturday, I see a communication, over the signature of "Many Voters," in which the candidates who are announced in the Journal are called upon to "show their hands." Agreed. Here's mine.

I go for all sharing the privileges of the government who assist in bearing its burdens. Consequently, I go for admitting all whites to the right of suffrage who pay taxes or bear arms (by no means excluding females).

If elected, I shall consider the whole people of Sangamon my constituents, as well those that oppose as those that support me.

While acting as their Representative, I shall be governed by their will on all subjects upon which I have the means of knowing what their will is; and upon all others, I shall do what my own judgment teaches me will best advance their interests. Whether elected or not, I go for distributing the proceeds of the sales of the public lands to the several States, to enable our State, in common with others, to dig canals and construct railroads without borrowing money and paying the interest on it.

If alive on the first Monday in November, I shall vote for Hugh L. White for President.

June 21st. (To Robert Allen.) I am told that during my absence last week you passed through this place, and stated publicly that you were in possession of a fact or facts, which if known to the public, would entirely destroy the prospects of N. W. Edwards and myself at the ensuing elections, but that through favor to us, you should forbear to divulge them. No one has needed favors more than I, and, generally, few have been less unwilling to accept them, but in this case favor to me would be injustice to the public, and therefore I must beg your

pardon for declining it. That I once had the confidence of the people of Sangamon is sufficiently evident; and if I have since done anything, either by design or misadventure, which if known would subject me to a forfeiture of that confidence, he that knows of that thing, and conceals it, is a traitor to his country's interest.

I find myself wholly unable to form any conjecture of what fact or facts, real or supposed, you spoke; but my opinion of your veracity will not permit me for a moment to doubt that you at least believed what you said. I am flattered with the personal regard you manifested for me; but I do hope that, on more mature reflection, you will view the public interest as a paramount consideration, and therefore determine to let the worst come.

I assure you that the candid statement of facts on your part, however low it may sink me, shall never break the tie of personal friendship between us.

I wish an answer to this, and you are at liberty to publish both, if you choose.

During the campaign of 1836–

(Attacking an opponent accused of graft, whose residence carried an enormous lightning-rod.) The gentleman commenced his speech by saying that this young man would have to be taken down, and he was sorry the task devolved upon him. I am not so young in years as I am in the tricks and trade of a politician; but live long or die young, I would rather die now than, like the gentleman, change my politics and simultaneous with the change, receive an office worth three thousand dollars a year, and then have to erect a lightning-rod over my house to protect a guilty conscience from an offended God.

(To some farmers after he had been driving with a more prosperous opponent.) I am too poor to own a carriage, but

my friend has generously invited me to ride with him. I want you to vote for me if you will; but if not, then vote for my opponent, for he is a fine man.

Re-elected to the Legislature.

September 9th. Obtains a license to practise law. In a sort of desperate reaction after the tragedy of Ann Rutledge he becomes entangled in a curious love affair.

November. (To Mrs. O. H. Browning.) In the autumn of 1836, a married lady of my acquaintance, and who was a great friend of mine, being about to pay a visit to her father and other relatives residing in Kentucky, proposed to me that on her return she would bring a sister of hers with her on condition that I would engage to become her brother-in-law with all convenient despatch. I, of course, accepted the proposal, for I could not have done otherwise had I really been adverse to it; but I was most confoundedly well pleased with the project. I had seen the said sister some three years before, thought her intelligent and agreeable, and saw no good objection to plodding life through hand in hand with her. Time passed on, the lady took her journey and in due time returned, sister (Mary Owens) in company, sure enough. This astonished me a little; for it appeared to me that her coming so readily showed that she was a trifle too willing; but on reflection it occurred to me that she might have been prevailed on by her married sister to come, without anything concerning me having been mentioned to her; and so I concluded that if no objection presented itself, I would consent to waive this. All this occurred to me on hearing of her arrival in the neighborhood; for, be it remembered, I had not seen her, except about three years previous, as above mentioned. In a few days we had an interview, and although I had seen her before, she did not look