her, good feeling in the main prevailed. Something being
pardoned to the spirit of debate, the amenities were well observed.
They had been personally well known to each other for many years; had
served together in the Legislature when the State Capitol was at
Vandalia, and at a later date, Lincoln had appeared before the
Supreme Court when Douglas was one of the judges. The amusing
allusions to each other were taken in good part. Mr. Lincoln's
profound humor is now a proverb. It never appeared to better
advantage than during these debates. In criticising Mr. Lincoln's
attack upon Chief Justice Taney and his associates for the Dred
Scott decision, Douglas declared it to be an attempt to secure a
reversal of the high tribunal by an appeal to a town meeting.
It reminded him of the saying of Colonel Strode that the judicial system
of Illinois was perfect, except that "there should be an appeal
allowed from the Supreme Court to two justices of the peace."
Lincoln replied, "That was when you were on the bench, Judge."
Referring to Douglas's allusion to him as a kind, amiable, and
intelligent gentleman, he said:

"Then as the Judge has complimented me with these pleasant titles,
I was a little taken, for it came from a great man. I was not very
much accustomed to flattery and it came the sweeter to me. I
was like the Hoosier with the gingerbread, when he said he reckoned
he loved it better and got less of it than any other man."

In opening the debate at Ottawa, Douglas said:

"In the remarks I have made on the platform and the position of
Mr. Lincoln, I mean nothing personally disrespectful or unkind
to that gentleman. I have known him for twenty-five years. There
were many points of sympathy between us when we first got acquainted.
We were both comparatively boys, and both struggling with poverty in
a strange land. I was a school-teacher in the town of Winchester,
and he a flourishing grocery-keeper in the town of Salem. He
was more successful in his occupation than I was in mine, and hence
more fortunate in this world's goods. Lincoln is one of those
peculiar men who perform with admirable skill everything which they
undertake. I made as good a school-teacher as I could, and when a
cabinet-maker I made a good bedstead and table, although my old boss
said I succeeded better with bureaus and secretaries than anything
else. I met him in the Legislature and had a sympathy with him
because of the up-hill strugg