tually stands out as a surprising figure from among the other
lawyers and little politicians of Illinois, as any great man does from
any crowd, but some tribute is due to the undistinguished and
historically uninteresting men whose generous appreciation gave rapid
way to the poor, queer youth, and ultimately pushed him into a greater
arena as their selected champion.

In 1831, at the age of twenty-two, Lincoln, returning from his New
Orleans voyage, settled in New Salem to await the arrival of his
patron, Denton Offutt, with the goods for a new store in which Lincoln
was to be his assistant. The village itself was three years old. It
never got much beyond a population of one hundred, and like many
similar little towns of the West it has long since perished off the
earth. But it was a busy place for a while, and, contrary to what its
name might suggest, it aspired to be rather fast. It was a
cock-fighting and whisky-drinking society into which Lincoln was
launched. He managed to combine strict abstinence from liquor with
keen participation in all its other diversions. One departure from
total abstinence stands alleged among the feats of strength for which
he became noted. He hoisted a whisky barrel, of unspecified but
evidently considerable content, on to his knees in a squatting posture
and drank from the bunghole. But this very arduous potation stood
alone. Offutt was some time before he arrived with his goods, and
Lincoln lived by odd jobs. At the very beginning one Mentor Graham, a
schoolmaster officiating in some election, employed him as a clerk, and
the clerk seized the occasion to make himself well known to New Salem
as a story-teller. Then there was a heavy job at rail-splitting, and
another job in navigating the Sangamon River. Offutt's store was at
last set up, and for about a year the assistant in this important
establishment had valuable opportunities of conversation with all New
Salem. He had also leisure for study. He had mentioned to the
aforesaid Mentor Graham his "notion to study English grammar," and had
been introduced to a work called "Kirkham's Grammar," which by a walk
of some miles he could borrow from a neighbour. This he would read,
lying full length on the counter with his head on a parcel of calico.
At other odd times he would work away at arithmetic. Offutt's kindly
interest procured him distinction in another field. At Clary's Grove,
near New Salem, lived a formidable set of