dian who had fallen among them. A letter of credentials,
which the helpless creature produced, was pronounced a forgery and he
was about to be hanged as a spy, when Lincoln appeared on the scene,
"swarthy with resolution and rage," and somehow terrified his
disorderly company into dropping their prey.

The war ended in time for a brief candidature, and a supporter of his
at the time preserved a record of one of his speeches. His last
important speech will hereafter be given in full for other reasons;
this may be so given too, for it is not a hundred words long: "Fellow
Citizens, I presume you all know who I am. I am humble Abraham
Lincoln. I have been solicited by many friends to become a candidate
for the Legislature. My politics are short and sweet like the old
woman's dance. I am in favour of a national bank. I am in favour of
the internal improvement system and a high protective tariff. These
are my sentiments and political principles. If elected, I shall be
thankful; if not, it will be all the same."

To this succinct declaration of policy may be added from his earlier
letter that he advocated a law against usury, and laws for the
improvement of education. The principles of the speech are those which
the new Whig party was upholding against the Democrats under Jackson
(the President) and Van Buren. Lincoln's neighbours, like the people
of Illinois generally, were almost entirely on the side of the
Democrats. It is interesting that however he came by his views, they
were early and permanently fixed on the side then unpopular in
Illinois; and it is interesting that though, naturally, not elected, he
secured very nearly the whole of the votes of his immediate
neighbourhood.

The penniless Lincoln was now hankering to become a lawyer, though with
some thoughts of the more practicable career of a blacksmith.
Unexpectedly, however, he was tempted into his one venture, singularly
unsuccessful, in business. Two gentlemen named Herndon, cousins of a
biographer of Lincoln's, started a store in New Salem and got tired of
it. One sold his share to a Mr. Berry, the other sold his to Lincoln.
The latter sale was entirely on credit--no money passed at the time,
because there was no money. The vendor explained afterwards that he
relied solely on Lincoln's honesty. He had to wait a long while for
full payment, but what is known of storekeeping in New Salem shows that
he did very well for himself in getting out of