e miles from New Salem. The son had strayed from the footsteps of
the father, for he was a hard drinker, a gambler, a fighter, and "a
very wicked young man." Lincoln cannot in truth be said to have chosen
such a partner, but rather to have accepted him from the force of
circumstances. It required only a little time to make it plain that
the partnership was wholly uncongenial. Lincoln displayed little
business capacity. He trusted largely to Berry; and Berry rapidly
squandered the profits of the business in riotous living. Lincoln
loved books as Berry loved liquor, and hour after hour he was
stretched out on the counter of the store or under a shade tree,
reading Shakespeare or Burns.

[Illustration: LINCOLN EARLY IN 1861.--PROBABLY THE EARLIEST PORTRAIT
SHOWING HIM WITH A BEARD.

From a photograph in the collection of H.W. Fay of De Kalb, Illinois,
taken probably in Springfield early in 1861. It is supposed to have
been the first, or at least one of the first, portraits made of Mr.
Lincoln after he began to wear a beard. As is well known, his face
was smooth until about the end of 1860; and when he first allowed his
beard to grow, it became a topic of newspaper comment, and even of
caricature. A pretty story relating to Lincoln's adoption of a beard
is more or less familiar. A letter written to the editor of the
present Life, under date of December 6, 1895, by Mrs. Grace Bedell
Billings, tells this story, of which she herself as a little girl was
the heroine, in a most charming way. The letter will be found printed
in full at the end of this article, on page 240.]

His thorough acquaintance with the works of these two writers
dates from this period. In New Salem there was one of those curious
individuals sometimes found in frontier settlements, half poet, half
loafer, incapable of earning a living in any steady employment, yet
familiar with good literature and capable of enjoying it--Jack Kelso.
He repeated passages from Shakespeare and Burns incessantly over the
odd jobs he undertook or as he idled by the streams--for he was
a famous fisherman--and Lincoln soon became one of his constant
companions. The taste he formed in company with Kelso he retained
through life. William D. Kelley tells an incident which shows that
Lincoln had a really intimate knowledge of Shakespeare. Mr. Kelley
had taken McDonough, an actor, to call at the White House; and Lincoln
began the conversation by saying:

[Illustration: LINCOLN IN