modest and simple home everything was
orderly and refined, and there was always, on the part of both Mr. and
Mrs. Lincoln, a cordial and hearty Western welcome which put every guest
at ease. Yet it was the wit and humor, anecdote, and unrivalled
conversation of the host which formed the chief attraction and made a
dinner at Lincoln's cottage an event to be remembered. Lincoln's income
from his profession was now from $2,000 to $3,000 per annum. His
property consisted of his house and lot in Springfield, a lot in the
town of Lincoln which had been given to him, and 160 acres of wild land
in Iowa which he had received for his services in the Black Hawk War. He
owned a few law and miscellaneous books. All his property may have been
of the value of $10,000 or $12,000."

Lincoln was at this time the father of two sons: Robert Todd, born on
the 1st day of August, 1843; and Edward Baker, born on the 10th of
March, 1846. In a letter to his friend Speed, dated October 22 of the
latter year, Lincoln writes: "We have another boy, born the 10th of
March. He is very much such a child as Bob was at his age, rather of a
_longer_ order. Bob is 'short and low,' and I expect he always will be.
He talks very plainly, almost as plainly as anybody. He is quite smart
enough. I sometimes fear he is one of the little _rare-ripe_ sort that
are smarter at about five than ever after. He has a great deal of that
sort of mischief that is the offspring of much animal spirits. Since I
began this letter a messenger came to tell me Bob was lost; but by the
time I reached the house his mother had found him and had him whipped.
By now, very likely, he is run away again."

December 21, 1850, a third son, William Wallace, was born to him; and on
April 4, 1853, a fourth and last child, named Thomas.

"A young man bred in Springfield," says Dr. Holland, "speaks of a vision
of Lincoln, as he appeared in those days, that has clung to his memory
very vividly. The young man's way to school led by the lawyer's door. On
almost any fair summer morning he would find Lincoln on the sidewalk in
front of his house, drawing a child backward and forward in a little
gig. Without hat or coat, wearing a pair of rough shoes, his hands
behind him holding to the tongue of the gig, and his tall form bent
forward to accommodate himself to the service, he paced up and down the
walk forgetful of everything around him and intent only on some subject
that absorbed his mind. The y