AND LINCOLN'S STORE IN 1895.

From a recent photograph by C.S. McCullough, Petersburg, Illinois. The
little frame store-building occupied by Berry and Lincoln at New Salem
is now standing at Petersburg, Illinois, in the rear of L.W. Bishop's
gun-shop. Its history after 1834 is somewhat obscure, but there is no
reason for doubting its identity. According to tradition it was bought
by Robert Bishop, the father of the present owner, about 1835, from
Mr. Lincoln himself; but it is difficult to reconcile this legend with
the sale of the store to the Trent brothers, unless, upon the flight
of the latter from the country and the closing of the store, the
building, through the leniency of creditors, was allowed to revert
to Mr. Lincoln, in which event he no doubt sold it at the first
opportunity and applied the proceeds to the payment of the debts of
the firm. When Mr. Bishop bought the store building, he removed it to
Petersburg. It is said that the removal was made in part by Lincoln
himself; that the job was first undertaken by one of the Bales, but
that, encountering some difficulty, he called upon Lincoln to assist
him, which Lincoln did. The structure was first set up adjacent to Mr.
Bishop's house, and converted into a gun-shop. Later it was removed to
a place on the public square; and soon after the breaking out of the
late war, Mr. Bishop, erecting a new building, pushed Lincoln's
store into the back-yard, and there it still stands. Soon after the
assassination of Mr. Lincoln, the front door was presented to some
one in Springfield, and has long since been lost sight of. It is
remembered by Mr. Bishop that in this door there was an opening for
the reception of letters--a circumstance of importance as tending to
establish the genuineness of the building, when it is remembered that
Lincoln was postmaster while he kept the store. The structure, as it
stands to-day, is about eighteen feet long, twelve feet in width, and
ten feet in height. The back room, however, has disappeared, so
that the building as it stood when occupied by Berry and Lincoln
was somewhat longer. Of the original building there only remain the
frame-work, the black-walnut weather-boarding on the front end and
the ceiling of sycamore boards. One entire side has been torn away by
relic-hunters. In recent years the building has been used as a sort
of store-room. Just after a big fire in Petersburg some time ago,
the city council condemned the Lincoln stor