one the next day, the old one was set aside,
so the letter was lost sight of for the time.' This hat of Lincoln's--a
silk plug--was an extraordinary receptacle. It was his desk and his
memorandum book. In it he carried his bank-book and the bulk of his
letters. Whenever in his reading or researches, he wished to preserve
an idea, he jotted it down on an envelope or stray piece of paper and
placed it inside the lining; afterwards, when the memorandum was needed,
there was only one place to look for it." Herndon makes no bones about
confessing that their office was very dirty. So neglected was it that a
young man of neat habits who entered the office as a law student under
Lincoln could not refrain from cleaning it up, and the next visitor
exclaimed in astonishment, "What's happened here!"(3)

"The office," says that same law student, "was on the second floor of a
brick building on the public square opposite the courthouse. You went
up a flight of stairs and then passed along a hallway to the rear office
which was a medium sized room. There was one long table in the center of
the room, and a shorter one running in the opposite direction forming a
T and both were covered with green baize. There were two windows which
looked into the back yard. In one corner was an old-fashioned secretary
with pigeonholes and a drawer; and here Mr. Lincoln and his partner kept
their law papers. There was also a bookcase containing about two hundred
volumes of law and miscellaneous books." The same authority adds, "There
was no order in the office at all." Lincoln left all the money matters
to Herndon. "He never entered an item on the account book. If a fee was
paid to him and Herndon was not there, he would divide the money,
wrap up one part in paper and place it in his partner's desk with the
inscription, 'Case of Roe versus Doe, Herndon's half.' He had an odd
habit of reading aloud much to his partner's annoyance. He talked
incessantly; a whole forenoon would sometimes go by while Lincoln
occupied the whole time telling stories."(4)

On the circuit, his story-telling was an institution. Two other men,
long since forgotten, vied with him as rival artists in humorous
narrative. These three used to hold veritable tournaments. Herndon has
seen "the little country tavern where these three were wont to meet
after an adjournment of court, crowded almost to suffocation, with
an audience of men who had gathered to witness the contest among the
me