turn of ill-luck, he directed his attention to law, and borrowing a few books from a neighbor, which he took from the office in the evening and returned in the morning, he learned the rudiments of the profession in which he has since become so distinguished.

Mr. Lincoln was in his youth known as the swiftest runner, the best jumper, and the strongest wrestler, among his fellows; and when he reached manhood and his physical frame became developed, the early settlers pronounced him the stoutest man in the State. His abstemious habits and his hardy physical discipline strengthened his constitution and gave vigor to his mind. He improved every opportunity to cultivate his intellect, often studying his law-books far into the night by the reflection of the log-fire in his farm-home on the prairies. He was early distinguished for a disputational turn of mind, and many are the intellectual triumphs of his in the country or village lyceum selected by old settlers who remember him as he then appeared. His strong, natural, direct, and irresistible logic marked him there as it has ever since, as an intellectual king.

Its

The deep snow which occurred in the winter of 1830-31, was one of the chief troubles endured by the early settlers of Central and Southern Illinois. consequences lasted through several years. The people were illy prepared to meet it, as the weather had been mild and pleasant- unprecedentedly so up to Christmas-when a snow-storm set in, which lasted two days; something never before known even among the traditions of the Indians, and never approached in the weather of any winter since. The pioneers who came

into the State (then a territory) in 1800, some of whom are still living, say the average depth of snow was never, previous to 1830, more than knee deep to an ordinary man, while it was breast high all that winter, not in drifts but over a whole section. "For three months," say the old settlers, "there was not a warm. sun upon the surface of the snow." It became crusted over, so as (in some cases) to bear teams. Cattle and horses perished, the winter wheat was killed, the meagre stocks of provisions ran out, and the most wealthy settlers came near starving, while some of the poorer ones actually did. It was in the midst of such scenes that young Abraham Lincoln attained his majority, and commenced his career of bold and manly independence. It was this discipline that was to try the soul of the future President. Communication between house and house was often entirely obstructed for teams, so that the young and strong men had to do all the travelling on foot; carrying from one neighbor what of his store he could spare to another, and bringing back somethiug in return sorely needed. Men living five, ten, twenty, and thirty miles apart were called "neighbors" then. Young Lincoln was always ready to perform these acts of humanity, and foremost im the counsels of the settlers when their troubles seemed gathering like a thick cloud about them.

"About this time," says one of Mr. Lincoln's friends, "the Whigs of this county conferred upon him a nomination for the Legislature. He was successful in this and three succeeding elections, by triumphant majorities. While a member of the Legislature he first gave indications of his superior powers as a debater, and he

increased, by frequent practice, his natural faculty for public speaking. He improved industriously the opportunities that were here offered of self-cultivation. From the position of a subaltern in the ranks `of the Whig party, a position that was appropriately assigned him by his unaffected modesty and humble pretensions, he soon became recognized and acknowledged as a champion and leader, and his unvarying courtesy, good nature, and genial manners, united with an utter disinterestedness and abnegation of self, made him a universal favorite.

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During his legislative period he continued his law studies, and removing to Springfield he opened an office aud engaged actively in practice. Business flowed in upon him, and he rose rapidly to distinction in his profession. He displayed remarkable ability as an advocate in jury trials, and many of his law arguments were master-pieces of logical reasoning. There was no refined artificiality in his forensic efforts. They all bore the stamp of masculine common sense; and he had a natural easy mode of illustration, that made the most abstruse subjects appear plain. His success at the bar, however, did not withdraw his attention from politics. For many years he was the 'wheel-horse' of the whig party of Illinois, and was on the electoral ticket in several Presidential campaigns. At such time he canvassed the State with his usual vigor and ability. He was an ardent friend of Henry Clay, and exerted himself powerfully in his behalf, in 1844, traversing the eutire State of Illinois, and addressing public meetings daily until near the close of the campaign, when becoming convinced that his labors in that field would be unavailing, he crossed over into Indiana, and continued his efforts up to the day of election. The contest of that year in Illinois was mainly on the tariff question. Mr. Lincoln, on the whig side, and John Calhoun on the democratic side, were the heads of the opposing electoral tickets. Calhoun, late of Nebraska,

now dead, was then in the full vigor of his powers, and was accounted the ablest debater of his party. They stumped the State together, or nearly so, making speeches usually on alternate days at each place, and each addressing large audiences at great length, sometimes four hours together. Mr. Lincoln, in these elaborate speeches, evinced a thorough mastery of the principles of political economy which underlie the tariff question, and presented arguments in favor of the protective policy with a power and conclusiveness rarely equalled, and at the same time in a manner so lucid and familiar, and so well interspersed with happy illustrations and apposite anecdotes, as to establish a reputation which he has never since failed to maintain, as the ablest leader in the Whig and Republican ranks in the great West."

PART SECOND.

IN CONGRESS.

IN 1846, Mr. Lincoln was elected to Congress from the central district of Illinois.

He took his seat in Congress on the first Monday in December, of the year 1847. It was the ThirtiethCongress, and the House of Representatives to which he was elected was presided over by Mr. Winthrop of Massachusetts. The House was composed of 117 Whigs, 110 Democrats, and 1 Native American. Illinois then had seven representatives, and all were Democrats but Mr. Lincoln. He alone from that State held up the old Whig banner. With him, from other States, were associated such well-known names as the following: Collamer, Marsh, Ashmun, Truman Smith, Hunt, Tallmadge, Ingersoll, Botts, Goggin, Clingman, Stephens, Toombs, Gentry, and Thompson. Opposed to him in politics were men like Wilmot, Brodhead, Boyd, Bocock, Rhett, Brown, Linn Boyd, Andrew Johnson, etc., etc. In the Senate were Webster, Calhoun, Dayton, Davis, Dix, Dickinson, Hunter, Hale, Bell, Crittenden, and Corwin. It was a Congress full of the most talented men-crowded with the real statesmen of the country, and such a one in these and other respects as the country rarely elects to make its laws. It turned out to be one of the most excited, agitated, and agitating ever convened.